PE investments dip 67% in Q3; 9 month figure drops by 38%

Private Equity firms invested about $1.3 billion across 75 deals, during the quarter ended September 2013, registering a decline of 67 per cent over the corresponding period last year, a report says.

According to research firm Venture Intelligence, the latest numbers take PE investments in the first nine months of 2013 to $5,059 million through 281 investments.

This is down 38 per cent compared to the corresponding period of 2012 when deals worth $8,152 million were made via 373 investments.

There were only two PE investments worth over $100 million during the third quarter of 2013 compared to five such transactions in the same period last year and eight during the immediate previous quarter, the Venture Intelligence analysis showed.

Baring Private Equity Asia's Rs 1,687 crore ($260 million) buyout of 41.8 per cent stake in publicly listed IT Services firm Hexaware Technologies was the top PE deal of the Q3 2013.

Including the mandatory open offer for an additional 26 per cent stake, the deal value could go up by another Rs 1,058 crore, the report said.

The second largest transaction reported during Q3 2013 was e-tailer Flipkart's raising of an additional $200 million from existing investors including Tiger Global, Accel India, Iconiq Capital and South Africa-based strategic investor Naspers.

Led by the Hexaware and Flipkart deals and accompanied by the $75 million commitment by Softbank to another e-tailer Snapdeal.com, IT & ITES companies grabbed almost 45 per cent of the PE investments (by value) in the third quarter of this calender year.

IT & ITES ($582 million across 25 investments) was followed by manufacturing ($185 million across nine investments) and healthcare and life sciences ($140 million across 14 investments) as the most favoured industries for PE investments in Q3 2013, the report added.

India’s GDP growth likely to be at 5.2% in 2013: UNCTAD

New Delhi, Sep 12:  

The Indian economy is likely to grow at 5.2 per cent in 2013 calendar year on the back of rising domestic demand, says a report by UN agency UNCTAD.

In its release of Trade and Development Report 2013, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said the Indian economy is expected grow at 5.2 per cent in calendar year 2013 as against 3.8 per cent in 2012.

UNCTAD’s India growth forecast at 5.2 per cent for 2013 is however lower than the International Monetary Fund’s projection of 5.6 per cent for the year.

In case of China, the UNCTAD report said, the growth rate is expected to moderately decline to about 7.6 per cent in 2013 from 7.8 per cent last year.

“Growth in some large developing economies such as India, Brazil, Argentina and Turkey, which was subdued in 2012 is forecast to accelerate in 2013,” the report said.

Developing nations continue to be the main drivers of growth, contributing about two—thirds of global growth in 2013. In many of them, growth has been driven more by domestic demand than by exports, as external demand, particularly from developed countries has remained weak, it said.

Developing countries may grow at a rate of 4.5-5 per cent in 2013.

However, several other developing economies including South Africa seem unlikely to be able to maintain their previous year’s growth rates.

“Their expected growth deceleration partly reflects the accumulated effect of continuing sluggishness in developed economies and lower prices for primary commodity exports.

Also, the decreasing policy stimuli which were relatively weak would affect the growth,” it said.

The combination of these factors may also affect China’s growth rate, which is expected to slow down moderately from 7.8 per cent in 2012 to about 7.6 per cent in 2013, it said, adding, “even though this would be only a mild deceleration, it is likely to disappoint many of China’s trading partners.”

India’s economic growth fell to a decade’s low of 5 per cent in 2012—13 fiscal. The RBI has projected a growth rate of 5.5 per cent for the current fiscal.

Onion prices decline by about 20 per cent in New Delhi in two weeks

Retail onion prices in the capital have declined by about 20 per cent to Rs 60-65 per kg over the past two weeks.

Onion arrivals in Delhi and in the major markets of Maharashtra, the biggest producer of onions, have been going up in last few days.

In Delhi, the average arrival price for wholesale onion dipped from Rs 5,555 per quintal on September 17 to Rs 3,639 on September 30, a drop of over 34 per cent. The declining trend at the wholesale level is expected to reflect at the retail level with a further drop in prices this month, said a wholesaler at Delhi's Azadpur market.

The harvest of the onion kharif crop has been good in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. In October, arrivals will pick up in Maharashtra and Rajasthan. The two states account for one-third of country's output. October's nine day long Navratri celebrations - when people avoid eating onions - are also likely to lead to a drop in consumption and prices. With a 244 per cent rise in prices in August, onions were instrumental in driving up the August wholesale price inflation to  a six month high of 6.1 per cent.India produces about 16 million tonnes of onion but consumes only 10-11 million tonnes. Higher domestic prices had led to a resumption in imports of onion after a gap of two years and onions from countries like Egypt, China and Pakistan have found a market in India.

Remunerative domestic prices and the imposition of a higher minimum export price have slowed onion exports. In August, onion exports fell sharply to 29,247 tonnes compared to 156,165 tonnes in July and 150,512 tonnes in June. India exported 1.82 million tonnes of onion in 2012/13, valued at Rs 2,295 crore. In the first five months of current fiscal year, exports have only been 697,028 tonnes.

TCS sees companies spend on social media like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn at $19 mn

Companies across the globe, including India, will spend an average $19 million (Rs 119 crore) on social media this year, a global study by IT services major TCS said today. It further said that since 2010, 64 per cent of the firms covered have assigned at least one full-time equivalent (FTE) to use public social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
According to the Mumbai-headquartered company's Global Trend Report on social media, this average spending will rise to $24 million (about Rs 150 crore) by 2015.
"Companies will spend an average of nearly $19 million per company this year on social media and will increase that to $24 million by 2015," said the report titled 'Mastering Digital Feedback: How the best consumer companies use social media'.
Most consumer companies have become serious about social media in just the last three years, it added.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)'s Global Trend Report explores how 11 global consumer industries and large firms in the world's 4 largest economic regions are using social media. This is the fourth report TCS has published since 2011, the last being on Big Data, it said.
Market research firm ResearchNow surveyed 655 respondents from mostly $1 billion plus consumer companies in June and July this year, the average revenue of which was $15.6 billion (median of $4.9 billion), it added.
"56 per cent of respondents have measured the return on social media investments and most of them say it has been positive," the report said.
Marketing and customer service are the functions that most regularly view consumers' comments on social media, it added.
"The three biggest success factors for using social media effectively are protecting consumer data, having a corporate culture that values consumer opinions and responding rapidly to consumers who have issues about a company or its products," the report said.
Only 10 per cent of enterprises are realising significant improvements to their business as a result of social media investments. Despite the hype and increased investments, it seems that enterprises are still struggling to make the most

Indian rupee up 14 paise to 62.46 vs US dollar on CAD, US shutdown

The Indian rupee today rose 14 paise to 62.46 against the US dollar, supported by better-than-expected current account data and a weakening US currency.
Fresh dollar sales by exporters also helped the rupee. However, capital outflows capped the gains, a dealer said.
The rupee resumed stable at the previous closing level of 62.60 a dollar and touched a low of 62.61 at the interbank foreign exchange market. It later climbed to a high of 62.17 as local equities recovered and exporters sold dollars.

The rupee pared its mid-session gains on late dollar demand from importers and fell to settle at 62.46, a rise of 14 paise or 0.22 per cent.
Traders said the US government shutdown is seen having a negative impact on economic growth, which may delay the tapering of the Fed's massive bond-purchase programme.
"Yesterday, the current account data was released, which was better than expectations and that helped the rupee to post gains against the US dollar," said Abhishek Goenka, CEO of India Forex Advisors. "It came out at $21 billion against expectations of $23 billion for the April-June quarter. Today, after the news came regarding US government's shutdown, the rupee reacted positively as the US dollar index fell."
The 30-share S&P BSE Sensex firmed up 137.38 points or 0.71 per cent. Foreign institutional investors sold a net $83.55 million of shares yesterday, as per Sebi data.
"Dollar index is losing for the second consecutive day as the US government began a partial shutdown on Tuesday...which helped the rupee to trade strong," said Pramit Brahmbhatt, CEO of Alpari Financial Services (India).
The dollar index was down 0.21 per cent against key rival currencies after the US government entered a partial shutdown following the failure of lawmakers to break a budget impasse.
Forward dollar premiums fell on fresh receipts by exporters.
The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in March dipped to 268-272 paise from 273-1/2-277-1/2 paise previously and far-forward contracts maturing in September ended lower at 486-491 paise from 493-497 paise.
The RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 62.3555 and for the euro at 84.5365.

NHPC's Rs 1,000 cr tax free bonds issue likely on Oct 15

Siliguri: State-run power producer NHPC is likely to hit the market with its maiden tax-free bonds issue worth Rs 1,000 crore on October 15.

For the issue, the company filed the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with capital market regulator Sebi on Monday.

"We are expecting to come out with Rs 1,000 crore tax-free bonds issue on October 15," NHPC Director (Finance) A B L Srivastava said.

The company would come out with the issue in a single tranche, he told reporters late on Monday.

For this fiscal, NHPC's construction budget is Rs 3,450 crore. Out of that amount, around Rs 1,831 crore is planned to be garnered by way of debt.

The country's largest hydro power is awaiting approvals for about ten projects having total capacity of 8,801 MW.

When asked about government selling stake in the company, Srivastava said it would be decided by the Department of Disinvestment.

The disinvestment is likely through the Offer for Sale (OFS) route, he added.

Inflation for factory workers slips to 10.75% in August

New Delhi: Retail inflation for industrial workers eased marginally to 10.75 percent in August as compared to 10.85 percent in the previous month, mainly on account of lower prices of fruits, vegetables and edible oil.

However, retail inflation measured in terms of all India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) during August was higher than 10.31 recorded in the same month last year.

"The year-on-year inflation measured by monthly CPI-IW stood at 10.75 percent for August, 2013 as compared to 10.85 percent for the previous month and 10.31 percent during the corresponding month of the previous year," a Labour Ministry statement said.

"... The food inflation stood at 13.91 percent against 14.10 percent of the previous month and 12.20 percent during the corresponding month of the previous year," it stated.

The largest upward pressure to the change in current index came from food group, contributing 1.58 percentage points to the total change.

At item level, rice, wheat, wheat atta, goat meat, dairy milk, milk (cow & buffalo), onions, chillies, tea (readymade), firewood, doctors' fee, private tuition fee, secondary school books, petrol, tailoring charges are responsible for the rise in index.

However, this was compensated to some extent by groundnut oil, fish, fresh vegetables and fruit items, putting downward pressure on the index.

According to a press release, all-India CPI-IW for August rose by 2 points, and pegged at 237. On a one-month percentage change, it increased by 0.85 percent between July and August compared with 0.94 percent between the same two months a year ago.

At centre level, Chindwara recorded the highest increase of 8 points each followed by Jalpaiguri and Siliguri (7), Durgapur (10) and Ranchi, Hatia, Nagpur, Kolkata, Asansol and Tiruchirapally (6 each).

Among others, 5 points rise was registered in 8 centres, 4 points in 6 centres, 3 points in 12 centres, 2 points in 13 centres and 1 point in 19 centres.

On the contrary, Goa reported a decline of 5 points, followed by Ernakulam, Quilon and Surat (2 each) and 3 other centres by 1 point each. Rest of the 6 centres'indices remained stationary.

The indices of 39 centres are above All-India Index and other 38 centres' indices are below national average. The index of Tiruchirapally centre remained at par with all-India index.