Upcoming Projects in India

6975 Rs 20,000 crore are sanctioned for various road development projects in Konkan area of the state alone," Gadkari performed the ground-breaking ceremony for the four-laning of Kashedi-Parshuram Ghat section of the NH-66 near Hatkhamba junction. "We not merely announce the road projects but also see to it that they get completed within stipulated period of time. We are going to complete all the road widening projects in next two years," The four-laning of the entire Mumbai-Goa highway would cost about Rs 3,570 crore. Gadkari said that besides development of roads, water transport will be promoted in Konkan and Goa. "The current truck container traffic on the Mumbai-Goa highway should be converted into water transport. In near future, container and shipping transport will be started on Konkan coatal line,

6974 Saint-Gobain formally inaugurated a 120,000-sq-ft global research facility in Chennai. Saint-Gobain Research India, the seventh global research facility for the French glass and construction and building products manufacturer, is located at the IITM Research Park. It is a built-to-suit facility which the company has taken on long term lease from IITM Research Park. Addressing media persons at the launch, Pierre-Andre De Chalendar, Chairman and CEO, Saint-Gobain, said it is among the most advanced facilities for materials related R&D and will develop sustainable solutions for hot and humid climates. The €41-billion multinational company spends about €400 million (Rs.2,800 crore) on R&D. Its aim is to ensure continuous product development to meet market needs and new products — less than five years in the market — account for 25 per cent of the company’s offerings. New products offer better value to the customer and to the company, he said. Increasingly specialised products made in India are being exported to West Asia because of cost benefit and logistics reasons.

6973 Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers’ Rs.1,650-crore multi-layer board plant was formally commissioned today. The greenfield factory in Tiruchi district with a capacity of two lakh tonnes a year will make high-end, multi-layer double-coated board for use in the packaging industry, according to an official press release. This plant will generate over 2,000 jobs directly and indirectly and takes TNPL’s production capacity to a total of six lakh tonnes a year, including four lakh tonnes of printing and writing paper. The Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa inaugurated the TNPL factory over a video conferencing facility from the Secretariat today. TNPL also inaugurated a paper products park where downstream converters can use the company’s products to make products such as notebooks and packaging boxes. This facility at Karur District has been established at an investment of Rs.30 crore. The company has also expanded its cement factory, a unit that uses the lime sludge waste generated from paper factory as raw material to make cement. The factory has been expanded to 900 tonnes a day from 600 tonnes earlier.

6972 M/s. Polar Cements Company proposes to set up a standalone cement grinding unit of 300 TPD capacity in two Phases in Sy No: 429, Kanipedu Village, Katpadi taluk, Vellore District, Tamil Nadu in an area of 2.60 acres.Total cost estimated for the project is Rs. 135 Lakhs. The cement market is currently showing a tremendous growth due to the government policies as well as the boost to infrastructure projects like housing, road projects, etc Cement demand is anticipated to grow about 7‐8% mainly through road projects, housing projects, etc. Continuous demand for exports to other countriesalong with the increased requirement of the domestic sector has lead to a number of cement manufacturers in the country to plan for increased capacities.

6971 Mehboob Cement Industries is planning a 600 TPD cement manufacturing project at Village Wuyan Bala, dist. Pulwama,Jammu and Kashmir. The project is awaiting environmental clearance. Thhe total plot area for the proposed project is 136,579.46 square meters. The total project cost envisaged for the proposed Plant is Rs. 13509.50 Lakhs. The proposed capacity of the Cement Manufacturing Unit is 600 TPD. The unit shall produce OPC and PPC. The power requirement is about 4500 KW, which shall be met from the 33 kV, nearest grid station of J&K Power Development department.

6970 Ambey Laboratories, a part of Ambey Group, is planning an expansion of its pesticide manufacturing unit at Village Sotanala, dist. Alwar, Rajasthan. The project is waiting for environmental clearance. Work on the project is expected to commence in March 2016. The project is planned for completion by 2016

6969 Chinese mobile handset firm Oppo said it will invest Rs 100 crore to start its own manufacturing unit in India by August this year. "We have long term plan for India. We will invest Rs 100 crore to start our mobile manufacturing unit by August 2016," Oppo Global VP and President of Oppo India, Sky Li said at the launch of selfie phone F1 and F1 Plus here today. He said that Oppo has already started its mobile handset production in India at electronic manufacturing services firm Foxconn's plant. "We expect to grow our business volume significantly. We have sold 40 million handsets in China so far and expect India business to grow similarly. Oppo is looking at producing 10 million handset units per year in India at our own plant. We will continue our relationship with Foxconn as well," Li said. The company is focussing on mobile photography and launch F1 and F1 Plus around this strategy. Oppo is positioning F1 as selfie expert which will sell for Rs 15,990. It has 8 megapixel front camera with a wide aperture lens and a one-fourth inch sensor.

6968 The Centre on Thursday announced the list of cities which have bagged the coveted ‘smart city tag’ under the government’s flagship mission. The 20 cities are Bhubaneswar, Pune, Jaipur, Surat, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Jabalpur, Visakhapatnam, Solapur, Dhavangiri, Indore, New Delhi Municipal Corporation, Coimbatore, Kakinada, Belgaum, Udaipur, Guwahati, Chennai, Ludhiana and Bhopal. "The results reveal the unrecognised strength of our federal system," Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said at a press conference here. Interestingly, only five of these 20 cities are capitals of states. As many as 97 cities were in the race to secure funding in the first round of the smart cities challenge. The three teams constituted by the Centre to scrutinise the proposals submitted by the cities had to complete the evaluation and ranking process by January 16. The proposals have been judged on credibility of implementation, city vision and strategy, economic and environmental impacts, cost effectiveness, innovation and scalability and processes followed, including citizen implementation. While the Centre had announced the ‘100 smart cities challenge’, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir are yet to nominate one city each under their allotted quotas, and Telangana wants to replace Hyderabad with another city, leaving the race open for 97 cities. The Centre will provide Rs.200 crore per city in the first year, followed by Rs.100 crore each year for the next three years to as many as 20 ‘top’ cities. The remaining cities will be asked to address deficiencies before participating in the second and third rounds of the challenge.

6967 Videocon Industries Ltd on Thursday said it plans to set up mobile handset assembly plant in Punjab, entailing an investment of Rs.500 crore over three years. The company will assemble mobile handsets along with the manufacturing of set top boxes, said Anirudh Dhoot director of Videocon. The company expects this move to create an employment opportunity for 3,000 people.

6966 The state-owned Power Grid Corporation of India today said it would invest about Rs 328 crore in ramping up two transmission projects. These investment proposals were approved by the company’s board of directors at a meeting on January 27, Power Grid said in a regulatory filing. Investment approval for Western Region System Strengthening Scheme-XIV in Southern Region at an estimated cost of Rs 120.67 crore with a commissioning schedule of 30 months from the date of investment approval has been accorded by the board, the company said in a statement. It added that the board has also approved an investment for 400-kv bays extension at 400-kv Vemagiri sub-station at an estimated cost of Rs 207.9 crore, with a commissioning schedule of 30 months progressively from the date of investment approval.

6965 EF Holdings, a diversified group that specialises in innovative offsite construction technology, has opened its joinery and fit-out factory at the KEF Infra One Industrial Park in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu. Built at an investment of Rs120 crore, the facility is one of the 10 factories at the 42-acre park. KEF Infra One will be the largest fully integrated one-stop ‘offsite construction’ destination. Faizal E Kottikollon, Chairman, KEF Holdings, said the facility is equipped with advanced technology from leading international specialists, the joinery and fit-out factory. The unit builds on automation technology realised through robotic systems that are run by computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing software to eliminate wastage in the production line as well as reduce time and building costs,

6964 Bearings and seals maker SKF India has set up a 1-MW roof-top solar plant at its Pune facility, taking the capacity of such solar generated power across its campuses in Pune and Bengaluru to 2.1 MW. The initiative is part of a solar mission announced by the company that envisages 3.3 MW of roof-top solar capacity and reduction of carbon emissions of up to 4,000 tonnes by 2017. “Business cannot grow at the cost of environment and so we launched the project SustEn three years ago to make the operations sustainable and energy efficient,” Shishir Joshipura, Managing Director and Country Head, SKF India, said. The next addition of solar capacity could come at Ahmedabad or Mysore, he added. The roof-top power project has been commissioned by ReNew Power that has invested in setting up 4,100 panels, and entered into a contract with SKF to purchase the power generated for a 25-year period. The installation is expected to generate 1.5 GwH of power and cut carbon dioxide emission from Pune by 1,200 tonnes per annum.

6963 n a bid to boost the eco-tourism sector, the Odisha government is to invest Rs.100 crore to develop eco-tourism spots in the state. The government also decided to put in place a centralised online system for advance booking of accommodations at eco-tourist spots. The decisions were taken in a high-level meeting held under the chairmanship of chief secretary Aditya Parsad Padhi here on Wednesday. Forest and Environment secretary Suresh Mohapatra said as of now 20 eco-tourism sites have been taken up and 40 new destinations have been identified for development. The target has been set to develop all these spots within a period of five years, with investment of around Rs.100 crore from state government funding. The accommodation facilities for 15 to 20 families will be developed at each major spot, he added. It was also decided that a centralised online system for booking of accommodation at eco-tourist places would be developed and put in place within two months.

6962 The Karnataka government has approved a Rs.99 crore expansion proposal by ride-hailing service Uber Technologies Inc. and a Rs.67 crore expansion proposal by Reliance Communications Infrastructure Ltd. A single window clearance committee, which met on Tuesday, has approved the proposals in principle but an official order will be issued only around the “Karnataka investor meet” slated for 3 February, said a government official who did not want to be named. In the proposal to the government, reviewed by Mint, Uber has sought permission to expand its existing unit at HSR Layout in Bengaluru, in order to strengthen online transaction tools and other aspects of its business. The expansion will add 100,000 driver-partner jobs to the current 20,000 and around 200 full-time jobs in the state, Uber said in the proposal.

6961 Norwest is bullish on food tech contrary to other funds, as well as vertically integrated e-commerce and financial technology firms Norwest Venture Partners, one of the largest venture capital firms globally which has invested $700 million (about Rs.4,730 crore) in the country so far, will step up startup investments here in 2016. “In the past 15 to 18 months we have not been investing actively. We had put in less than $60 million (about Rs.400 crore) here last year. We will at least double if not triple this number in 2016,” Norwest Venture Partners managing director Niren Shah said. “We had not met internal numbers on new deployment, but we’re getting there,” he added. He pointed out that valuations were a concern. “They were at least six times of what’s ‘fair’. It’s now more reasonable. Companies have started focussing on unit economics rather than growing fast,” he said. The Silicon Valley-based firm, which has backed Uber and Spotify, has just closed a $1.2 billion global fund and will invest in startups across the US, China, India and Israel.

6960 Godrej Properties has signed a development management agreement with NCR-based builder Lotus Greens to build a housing project on 36 acre land parcel in sector 150 of Noida. This is its first foray into the Noida market. This plot of land is part of the 300 acre sports township that builder Lotus Greens had acquired in late 2014 with the backing of private equity funds Clearwater Capital (now called Altico Capital) and SSG Capital Management. The two funds had put in Rs 450 crore together to help the builder make the first tranche of the payment for the land to Noida Authority. The total value pof the land is around Rs 2,500 crore.

6959 Mankind Pharma plans to invest around Rs.300 crore to set up a manufacturing plant in New Jersey, US as part of its strategy to become a leading player in the world’s largest drug market. The investment in the US is being strategically done with an eye to place the company among top three Indian pharma firms in the US, Mankind Pharma on Thursday said in a statement. “We wish to become a multinational pharma company by tapping the foreign markets. At the same time, we aim to place our self amongst the top three pharmaceutical companies of India. Therefore, US market will come up with new innovative products which will further distinguish us from others,” Mankind Pharma chairman and founder R.C. Juneja said.

6958 Leading rigid PVC-U pipes and fittings manufacturer Finolex Industries Ltd (FIL) plans to invest Rs 100 crore in adding 1,00,000 tonnes of pipes capacity over the next three years. "We are investing Rs 100 crore in expanding our pipes capacity by 1,00,000 tonnes over the next three years period. After expansion, our pipes manufacturing capacity will go up to 350,000 tonnes," Finolex Industries Managing Director Saurabh Dhanorkar told "We are mainly into pipes and PVC resins manufacturing and keep adding capacities to meet the growing demand from agri and construction sectors. We have added 30,000 tonnes capacity in FY16," he said. The Rs 100 crore expansion will be funded through internal accruals only as the company generates around Rs 150-200 crore cash flows every year, Dhanorkar said. The company's current debt is estimated at Rs 500 crore and it aims to become debt free in three years, he added.

6957 State-owned ONGC has got environmental clearance for drilling 45 development wells and other related infrastructure involving a cost of over Rs. 53,000 crore in the Krishna-Godavari basin in Andhra Pradesh. “Last week, we gave clearance to ONGC for the project of drilling 45 development wells at Block KG-DWN-98/2, KG offshore. The environmental clearance has been given subject to specific and general conditions,” a senior Environment Ministry official told PTI. It is expected that the proposed development drilling and subsequent development of fields would lead to production of 51.33 billion cubic meters of gas over a period of 16 years and 26.71 million cubic meters of oil in 12 years, he said. Among specific conditions, ONGC has been asked to obtain CRZ (coastal regulation zone) clearance, approval from Directorate General of Shipping for commencement of drilling, and comply with all recommendations and conditions specified by Andhra Pradesh Coastal Zone Management Authority. ONGC has also been asked to use high efficiency diesel generator sets, adopt conservation measures to protect marine life and develop waste minimisation plan, among others. ONGC’s proposal is to drill 45 development wells, set up a FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading) facility, offshore fixed platform, subsea production systems and subsea pipelines connecting landfall point to existing onshore terminal for custody transfer to GAIL. The proposed project, which would cost Rs. 53,058 crore, will be implemented in the northern discovery area of NELP-I offshore block KG-DW N-98/2 that covers an area of 7,294.6 sq km and is located within 25-80 km from nearest coast. The block is divided into Northern Discovery Area (NDA) having deep waters with depth of upto 1,800 meters and the other one is Southern Discovery Area (SDA) which has ultra-deep waters having depth of upto 3,100 meters.

6956 With about 10 people dying and an equal number getting grievously injured on the Central Railway tracks in Mumbai every day, the zonal railway has suggested an overall investment of ₹ 21,021 crore to convert Mumbai’s suburban railways into metro-like services. This will increase the frequency of trains and reduce the waiting time to two minutes, thereby bringing down the crowd on trains. New train sets According to a draft report submitted by the Central Railways to the Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC), of the total amount, ₹10,500 crore will be spent on 150 new train sets. This is a long-term plan and its implementation will depend on fund availability for the project. The Central Railway has only ₹ 524 crore as sanctioned project. The PAC had visited the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus of Mumbai and interacted with the officials of Central Railways and other Railway Ministry officials on improving the passenger amenities. The panel is preparing a report on the modernisation of railway stations. Earlier, the members visited the Old Delhi and New Delhi Railway stations to study the condition of the stations.

6955 Skipper Ltd, a power transmission tower and pole maker, has set up a galvanising plant in Uluberia (West Bengal). The plant is meant for structures which are 2.5 m in diameter and 12 m in length. The plant would have a galvanising capacity of 8,000 tonnes per month, the company said.

6954 The Netherlands-based Paques Group, a green energy company specialising in harnessing industrial waste water through treating biological waste, has commenced work on its plant at Sri City in Andhra Pradesh. The company, which started its wholly-owned subsidiary, Paques Environmental Technology India in Chennai, is now establishing a manufacturing base at Sri City. Marking the start of construction, Suba Ganesan, Controller of the company, along with other senior officials broke the ground and laid the foundation stone at Sri City on Friday. The plant, which will be built on a 2-acre plot with an investment of Rs. 30 crore during the initial phase, will be commissioned by this July. The factory would provide employment opportunity for about 75 people. The unit will manufacture reactors for waste water treatment and gas treat.

6953 Goa Investment Promotion Board (GIPB) has granted in-principle approval to various proposals by Vedanta Ltd for the expansion of existing capacities at its pig iron plant (PIP). The company had submitted a proposal for the enhancement of its pig iron, coke, sinter and power plant at Navelim village, about 30 km from here, a senior GIPB member told PTI. The company has sought expansion of its pig iron capacity by 0.45 mtpa from the existing 0.74 mtpa. When commissioned, the company will achieve additional 61 per cent increase in pig iron capacity, he said. GIPB, which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, had last evening granted approval to various proposals by Vedanta along with several other projects, including starred hotels and industrial expansions. Vedanta has also proposed the expansion of sinter plant at its PIP facility to cater to the requirement of sinter feed for the new blast furnaces which will result in 50 per cent capacity increase. The company also plans to increase its power generation by 30 MW capacity (addition of 33 per cent to existing capacity) after the expansion of non-recovery coke oven plant which is a raw material to generate electricity.

6952 The Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF), is planning to expand its franchise network across the country. For opening brand’s outlet, the company is looking for enterprising individuals with vast or no experience in food retailing. The business venture requires an investment of Rs 5-6 lakh along with an area of 80-200 sq.ft. Presently, the brand is operating 18 outlets, of which 13 are franchise owned. Talking about brand’s future plans, Sanjeev Pant, Vice-President, Charoen Pokphand (India) Pvt Ltd, says: “We are planning to open 50 outlets by this year end. To extend our footprints further, we will be targeting tier I and II cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Cochin, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerela.” The company is strongly committed to meet consumer’s demand and satisfaction by adding more value to create ready meal products in several menus to serve customer specifications and to bring more opportunity to purchase.

6951 Government is looking into possibilities of setting up new petrochemical complexes near the 16 petroleum refineries in the country, Fertiliser Minister Ananth Kumar said today. The petrochemical industry is a sunrise industry having a size of Rs 6 lakh crore and there is a huge potential to raise its capacity substantially, we should milk the crude as much as we can. So we are looking into the possibilities that petrochemical complexes can come near the 16 refineries in the country. We are evaluating all the options," Kumar said. Under the Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemical Investment Regions ( PCPIR) policy, the government had approved the setting up of four PCPIRs such as Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, Dahej in Gujarat, Paradeep in Odisha and Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu. he Minister was speaking at the National Awards for Technology Innovation in Petrochemical and Downstream Plastics Processing Industry, organised by the Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology (CIPET). He said the country needs more value addition of the refinery output so that the polymer industry grows up fast, and creates new products and does import substitution. Emphasising on the plastic sector, Kumar said after information-technology and biotechnology the new buzz word in the country should be plastic technology.

6950 Wow Momo, a quick service restaurant (QSR) chain which sells different versions of Tibetan dumplings, is planning to open over 40 outlets by March 2017 as it looks to strengthen its presence beyond its key market, Kolkata. Besides Kolkata, Wow Momo Foods Pvt Ltd operates in seven cities including Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kochi, Noida and Pune with 64 outlets. Delhi which currently has seven outlets will have at least 25-30 of the new outlets. The rest would be planned across the five cities. These would include a mix of kiosks and quick service restaurants. “We are not looking at any new cities right now but growing in the cities where we are present. We have achieved huge success in Kolkata, we want to replicate that in Delhi NCR (national capital region) and grow more in Bangalore, Chennai and other markets,” said Sagar Daryani, co-founder and chief executive officer. He added that capex for a QSR outlet is Rs.12-30 lakh and that of the restaurant is almost Rs.35 lakh. The company is also looking to raise $15-20 million by September for its expansion.

6949 JBM Solar(P) Ltd, part of the Gurgaon-based conglomerate JBM Group, will commission the "largest" solar power plant in Haryana by April 2016. With a total investment of Rs 120 crore, the solar power plant once commissioned, would have a capacity to produce 20 MW electricity. "The plant will be commissioned in April 2016 and will be the largest on-ground solar power plant till date in Haryana The project was awarded to the company by the Haryana government in June last year with an aim to increase the share of renewable power in its total energy consumption, it said. JBM Group Chairman S K Arya today laid the foundation stone of the solar power plant at Barwas village in Bhiwani, Haryana.

6948 Suzlon Energy and Axis Energy Group have signed up with Andhra Pradesh for setting up of 4,000 MW of wind, solar and hybrid renewable energy projects. Ajay Jain, State Secretary Energy, Tulsi Tanti, Chairman Suzlon Group, and K Ravi Kumar Reddy, Managing Director, Axis Energy Group, had signed memorandums of understanding in the presence of the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, late on Friday. Under this MoU, Suzlon and Axis will set up solar, wind and hybrid plants with an estimated production capacity of 4,000 MW in Anantapur and Nellore districts over the next five years. They will also set up a 1,000 MW wind turbine generator unit.

6947 SB Energy, (formerly known as SBG Cleantech), a three way joint venture between Japan headquartered telecommunications and Internet major SoftBank Group Corp. (“SoftBank”), leading Indian business conglomerate Bharti Enterprises Limited (“Bharti”) and Taiwan-based top design and manufacturing services provider Foxconn Technology Group (“Foxconn”), won the NTPC bid to develop a 350MW solar plant under the Phase-II, Batch-II, Tranche-I of National Solar Mission at a 25-year tariff of Rs. 4.63/ kWh. The project is to be developed in the Ghani Sakunala Solar Park, Kurnool District in the state of Andhra Pradesh. This is SoftBank’s first step towards realising its $ 20 billion commitment to promote clean and safe energy in India. This solar project, under the flagship Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), is located in Andhra Pradesh in the state-owned solar park, which provides land and facilities such as roads, drainage and evacuation to developers. Winning the bid reaffirms the commitment made by SB Energy to commission 20GW in India.

6944 Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide today said it is planning to open five new properties in India in 2016 as part of its aggressive expansion of footprint in South Asia. "Our growth continues to be fuelled by strong domestic demand for quality and branded accommodations in Tier 1 and Tier 2 markets. India is already Starwood's fourth largest market in terms of number of hotels and will soon be its third after the US and China. "We are planning to open five new properties this year in India," Starwood Hotels & Resorts Managing Director India and Regional Vice President (South Asia) Dilip Puri said in a statement here. The US-based hotel chain is planning to open W Retreat & Spa in Goa, Westin Pushkar Resort and Spa in Rajasthan, Westin Kolkata, Aloft in Goa and Aloft in Delhi Aerocity. The momentum of 2015, Puri said, will continue in 2016 too, with the company planning to open 8 to 10 hotels in South Asia. Since January 2015, the company has opened nine hotels in the region and signed deals for 16 new ones. Starwood has had tremendous success converting independent and branded hotels into its portfolio in 2015 and the strategy has significantly mitigated the development risks typically associated with the slow pace of development and regulatory issues here, Puri said. The company recently surpassed its 50-mark hotel in the region. It currently operates 54 properties in South Asia with another 34 under development.

6943 Yoga guru Ramdev has expressed interest in using produce from Maharashtra's forests for his ayurveda company, officials said on Wednesday. Ramdev met state Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar late on Tuesday and expressed a desire to provide a broader market to medicines prepared by processing the forest produce. Mostly collected by the tribal communities, the forest produce helps them lead a better life. Ramdev assured that he would source honey, amla, aloe vera, giloh plant and other products from the forest department. The Patanjali group, founded by Ramdev in 2006, and the state forest department will soon sign an MoU by which the department will get a fixed amount for the forest produce, Mungantiwar said at the meeting. The yoga guru estimated that there could a minimum annual turnover of around Rs.240 crore from the sale of forest produce, benefitting the tribals living in forests across the state. Forest department officials will now hold another meeting in Haridwar with Patanjali officials to finalise the deal. Mungantiwar said the state government has launched the Shyamaprasad Mukherji Janvan Yojana under which the Joint Forest Management Committee provides a wider selling platform to ayurvedic medicines. Besides, Ramdev sought support for his group's plans to plant two crore saplings on July 3 this year with the help of 300,000 volunteers. He also announced plans to construct a huge Food Park in Nagpur, on the lines of the Patanjali Food Park in Haridwar.

6942 At a time when grocery sites are shutting shop due to lack of funds, online grocery shopping network aaramshop is planning to raise ₹12 million as part of Series A funding, to expand its operations across new markets like Sri Lanka and Dubai. “We are in an advanced stage of raising $12 million from VC funds by March as part of Series A funding, and offloading between 20-30 per cent stake in the company,” said Vijay Singh, CEO and MD of aaramshop. Having raised $1 million as seed funding since the start of operations, it is being asset-light, which has helped it get profitable unlike other grocery retailers that have been reeling under losses due to high logistics cost. “We help digitise local grocers and kiranas by lifting their inventory, but do not bear the cost of delivery. Most of the hyper local grocery players will not be able to turn profitable as their biggest cost is delivery,” observes Singh. While it does charge grocers a miniscule percentage of the sales, the bulk of its revenue comes through FMCG brands themselves and their advertising spends on its portal and app. Roping in 10,000 small grocers across 90 cities, aaramshop is now planning to emulate its business model across neighbouring countries, with the help of franchises. “We already have operations in Pakistan and Kenya. Next would be places like Dubai and Sri Lanka as these are countries that have similar shopping practices like our own.

6941 New Delhi, January 20: India and the World Bank on Wednesday signed a $250 million financing agreement for Bihar Kosi Basin development project. “The objective is to enhance resilience to floods and increase agricultural production and productivity in the targeted districts in the Kosi River Basin, and to enhance Bihar’s capacity to respond promptly and effectively to an eligible crisis or emergency,” said a Finance Ministry release. The loan is for an implementation period of five years. The Bihar government would be the implementing agency. The project would have five components – improving flood risk management; enhancing agricultural productivity and competitiveness; augmenting connectivity; contingent emergency response; and implementation support. The primary beneficiaries will be rural producers and households in the Kosi river basin that is regularly flooded.

6940 Buoyed by a 50 per cent growth in data revenues in 2015 and a 200 per cent increase in 3G users, Aircel will set up 150 3G-enabled towers by March 2016 across West Bengal (apart from Kolkata). These will come up in addition to its 3,000-odd existing sites. The network expansion will help 3G users enjoy a maximum speed of 21 Mbps. In telecom parlance, Kolkata and the rest of West Bengal are considered as separate circles (in terms of operations). According to Anand Prakash, Business Head, Rest of West Bengal, Aircel, there has been a “significant growth” in the number of 3G users. “Data has made significant contribution to our gross revenue on month-on-month basis largely driven by rise in 3G users,” he said as per a release issued by Aircel. The telco is also planning to have 503 more Aircel Sewa Kendras (for activation of new connections and other services, recharges and plan / tariff changes) in the first phase in West Bengal.

6939 ApnaComplex, a startup which has developed products that keeps track of apartment utilities, is planning to raise $2 million to expand its footprint to more cities. The company, after developing products like ‘Collection Gateway’ and ‘Water Monitor’ is operating in 20 cities and is exploring business beyond these. “Revenue generation in that sense is primarily funded by its paying customers. Also, after developing products, we are now exploring expansion to 10 more cities, where apartment culture has picked up and need these solutions,” Raja Sekhar Kommu, co-founder of ApnaComplex, told BusinessLine. “For expansion, we are eyeing tier-II and III cities. To fund this, we are looking to raise $2 million in the next three to five months.

6938 The Hyderabad-based CVR group-led Krishnapatnam Power Corporation has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Andhra Pradesh to build 2780 MW (3X660 MW and 1X800 MW) capacity of thermal power projects with an investment of Rs. 16,680 crore. The project is proposed to be located on the coastal region of Bay of Bengal in Tamminapatnam Mommidi revenue panchayat villages, close to the Krishnapatnam Port in SPS Nellore District, Andhra Pradesh. The project is expected to create direct/indirect employment opportunities for approximately 1,500 people. Chinta Sasidhar, Director, Krishnapatnam Power Corporation, said, “The recent agreement has tremendously fortified our commitment and contribution towards the macro scheme of ‘Infrastructure Mission’ of Andhra Pradesh which envisions the creation of world class infrastructure for excellent connectivity and augmenting power generation capacity”.

6937 Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group on Monday signed a portfolio agreement with Mushtaq Group of Hotels to open seven hotels in Jammu and Kashmir comprising 817 rooms under the brands Radisson Blu, Radisson and Country Inns & Suites By Carlson. The first hotel is expected to open in the fourth quarter of 2016 in Srinagar, a statement from the hotel company said. Raj Rana, CEO, South Asia, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, said, “With the signing of this portfolio, we will make inroads into the summer and winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir, as well as provide our Club Carlson members an international brand choice in high demand leisure driven markets such as Srinagar, Pahalgam and Gulmarg. ” Radisson Blu Srinagar is a 225-key new build hotel in the heart of Srinagar and is scheduled to open in the second quarter of 2020. Radisson Blu Resort Tangmarg is a 150-key new build hotel scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of 2021, the statement added. Radisson Srinagar is an 89-key conversion scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of 2016, while Radisson Pahalgam Golf View Resort is a 118-key conversion scheduled to open in the third quarter of 2018. Country Inn & Suites By Carlson Gulmarg is an 80-key conversion. It is scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2020. Country Inn & Suites By Carlson Jammu is a 55-key conversion scheduled to open in the third quarter of 2017, while Country Inn & Suites By Carlson Sonamarg is a 100-key new build hotel scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of 2018. Carlson Rezidor has close to 120 hotels in operation and under development in India. By 2020, it expects to have more than 170 hotels in operation and pipeline in India.

6936 M/s Raipur Iron & Steel Co. Pvt. Ltd. (RISCPL) is proposed to establish a mi ni integrated steel plant (incorporating sponge iron plant, induction furnace, rolling mill, ferro-alloy plant, coal based TPP, WHRB, FBC and coal washery) at village Kirarama, Tehsil Lakhanpur, District Jharsuguda, Orissa. The project has received the environmental clearance.

6935 13 airports have been identified to develop city-side with help from private players, With the public-private partnership (PPP) strategy over developing Kolkata, Chennai and Jaipur airports in limbo, Airports Authority of India (AAI) is looking towards regional airports to shore up its non-aeronautical revenue. The plan is to develop city-side infrastructure in regional airports, with help from private players that will include building of hotels, carparks and other facilities. RITES - the engineering company under the ministry of railways - will advise it on city-side development of 13 regional airports across the country.

6934 Financial services firm ASK group today said it has invested Rs 365 crore in a housing project of Rajesh Lifespaces at Vikhroli in Mumbai. "ASK Group has committed the amount from its two domestic funds," the company said in a statement. This is the largest investment by the group so far. The project, spread over 10.5 acres with revenue potential of more than Rs 3,000 crore, is to be completed in phases by 2020.

6933 Steel Exchange India Limited (SEIL), part of Vizag Profiles group has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with government of Andhra Pradesh for expansion if its steel plant in the state at an investment of Rs 7,937 crore. The MoU was signed during the 22nd CII Partnership Summit and the 1st Sunrise Andhra Pradesh Investment Meet. SEIL will raise the capacity of its steel plant to 1.25 million tonne at Sreerampuram village, in L. Kota Mandal, Vizianagaram district, in two phases. The expansion is expected to generate 1500 new jobs. The MoU was signed by Bandi Satish Kumar, chairman of SEIL and Kartikeya Misra, Director of Industries, government of Andhra Pradesh. Vizag Profiles, the group flagship will also invest Rs 500 crore in setting up warehouses and cold chain warehouse along the coastline of Andhra Pradesh from Srikakulam to Nellore depending on the land allotment by the GoAP. The CII Summit, organized to showcase investment opportunities in 'Sunrise Andhra Pradesh', envisaged signing of MoUs for investment worth Rs 5 lakh crore.

6932 he Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has roped in a Japanese consultancy firm for an ambitious project to design and plan a tunnel under Film City in Goregaon — an underground road that will be part of the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road — to be built at a cost of at least Rs 1,300 crore. The firm, Pedico, has been contracted at a cost of Rs 2.3 crore to design and plan the 6-km tunnel which will be the first such underground road in the city. The only other tunnel along Mumbai’s roads is on the Eastern Freeway, where a part of a tunnel had to be tunneled through. The 14.66-km Goregaon Mulund Link Road is being seen as an important east-west connectivity for the suburbs. Work on the three-year project is scheduled to begin from April, civic officials said. In the first of three phases, construction of the road over bridge (RoB) in Nahur will start, following which widening and removal of encroachments on the 150-metre A K Vaidya Marg will be conducted. The tunnel will be constructed in the final phase. “Tenders for the RoB will be floated in April and the road widening will begin in May. We expect work on the tunnel to begin by the end of this year,” said Additional Municipal Commissioner Sanjay Mukherjee. “Pedico will study the geo-technical aspects and will design the tunnel, which will be the first such tunnel in the city. People can then cover the entire distance in a maximum of 20 minutes,” said Mukherjee. Officials said regular work in Film City will not be disrupted during the construction of the underground tunnel. The earlier plan was to widen Aarey Road to accommodate four lanes till Saki Vihar and then construct an elevated road till Mulund cutting through IIT campus, defence lands, the Bhandup water treatment complex as well as across crucial pipelines to the city. “The previous alignment would affect water supply operations. We thus designed an alternate route which will now go under Film City,” said Mukherjee. While the total cost of the bridge is estimated to be Rs 1300 crore, the civic officials expect the cost to increase. “The Nahur RoB will cost about Rs 92 crore and the tunnel will take up 60 -70 per cent of the funds. We have been working with the estimate of the project when it was an elevated road. But we have to construct two tube tunnels comprising two lanes each, which will be more expensive,” said a senior official.

6931 State-run BHEL has commissioned the second 660 MW supercritical unit of Lalitpur Super Thermal Power Project (STPP) in Uttar Pradesh. "The year 2016 has started on a bright note for the state of Uttar Pradesh with the commissioning of the 660 MW supercritical unit of Lalitpur Super Thermal Power Project (STPP) by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL)," the company said in a statement. Last month, BHEL has successfully commissioned the first unit of 3x660 MW Prayagraj Super Thermal Power Project (STPP) at Bara in Allahabad district of Uttar Pradesh. The unit has been synchronised by BHEL four months ahead of the schedule agreed with the developer. The commencement of generation from the unit will result in a significant improvement of power availability. "Extra efforts were put in by BHEL for early readiness of the unit to enable the state to tide over its acute power shortage," it said. The main plant of the 3x660 MW Lalitpur STPP is being executed by BHEL. Located in Lalitpur in Bundelkhand district of Uttar Pradesh, Lalitpur STPP is being developed by Lalitpur Power Generation Company Limited (LPGCL)-promoted by the Bajaj Hindustan group. Besides, the balance 660 MW super-critical Units, two each at Lalitpur and Bara, BHEL is also executing a 500 MW units at Anpara 'D' TPS of Uttar Pradesh Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd (UPRVUNL) in Uttar Pradesh, it said. All these units are in advanced stages of completion. With the commissioning of these units, in addition to two recently commissioned 660 MW units, the state of UP would have an additional power generation capacity of 4,460 MW.

6930 Amara Raja Group has committed an investment of Rs 5,000 crore in Andhra Pradesh across business verticals such as electronics, auto, IT, energy and infrastructure. The company signed an MoU with the Andhra Pradesh government yesterday during the 22nd CII Partnership Summit and 1st Sunrise Andhra Pradesh Investment Summit being held here, Amara Raja Group (ARG).

6928 The Reliance Group will set up a world-class naval shipbuilding facility for strategic platforms at Rambilli near here with an investment of Rs.5,000 crore. The group, which has hinted at a total investment of up to Rs.10,000 crore in this segment, entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Andhra Pradesh Government here on Sunday. Reliance Defence, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Infrastructure, will implement the project. This was announced by its Chairman Anil D Ambani at the inaugural session of the AP Partnership Summit. The proposed investment in Rambilli, located in 70 km south of Visakhapatnam, is the largest investment by any company at a single location in Andhra Pradesh. “Given its critical location from a geo-political and strategic perspective on the East coast, and its proximity to India’s naval establishment, including the Coast Guard, and BARC, Vizag is ideally suited for the manufacture of strategic assets such as nuclear sub-marines and aircraft carriers, critical areas of naval defence capability where we need to catch up with the rest of the world,” Ambani said.

6927 Decks have been cleared for Shapoorji Pallonji group to set up a supercritical thermal power project in Gujarat. Shapoorji Pallonji Energy Gujarat Private Ltd (SPEGPL) has recently been granted a CRZ (Coastal Regulatory Zone) approval by the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) for the power plant.

6926 Leading forging major Bharat Forge today announced plans to set up an integrated auto components hub in Nellore in Andhra Pradesh at an investment of about Rs 1,200 crore. "We plan to set up a fairly large integrated automotive component manufacturing hub in Nellore district with an investment of about Rs 1,200 crore and will employ 3,000-odd people directly and almost similar amount indirectly and hopefully create a substantial ancillary economic structure.

6925 Gulf-based company LuLu Group International on Monday pledged to invest Rs.1,000 crore to set up an international convention centre, a five-star hotel and a mall in Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow, if the state government helped in fast-tracking the required clearances. Making this announcement, Lulu Group managing director M.A. Yousuf Ali told Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav at a gathering of the Indian diaspora at the first UP Pravasi Diwas in Agra that he was impressed by the work being done in the state and was ready to invest. He urged Yadav to inaugurate two sporting facility complexes constructed at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) with a donation of Rs.5 crore each given by him. LuLu has over 35,600 employees of various nationalities and is one of the largest retail chains in Asia and is the biggest in the Middle East with 118 outlets in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and one in Kochi in Kerala. Research firm Deloitte recently placed it among the world's 50 fastest growing retailers. Responding to the offer, Yadav said the state government would extend all possible help in the shortest time to ensure that LuLu Group sets up base in the state. "I assure you that very soon the state government would do its bit in facilitating the investment proposal

6924 The Karnataka government has planned to develop three new industrial townships along the Bengaluru Mumbai Industrial Corridor. The move, apart from developing various parts of the state, will also help decongest Bengaluru city, a top state government official said. "The government has identified three clusters in Chitradurga-Davanagere, Hubballi-Dharwad and Belagavi along the Bengaluru-Mumbai Industrial Corridor. The government of India has agreed to support these clusters," said Ratna Prabha, additional chief secretary, department of commerce and industries. She said the government has a land bank of 40,000 acres available for allotment for industrial purposes. The government has also identified 12,500 acres at Tumakuru for developing a National Investment and Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ), she told at the annual members' meeting of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), here today. A lot of industries have come forward to establish their plants at Vasanth Narasapur, where a node on the Chennai-Bengaluru-Chitradurga corridor is identified. The Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers Association has asked for 500 acres land for setting up a Machine Tool Park. Japanese and Germany companies want to develop their clusters there, she said. "The government has also decided to reduce application fee by 50 per cent for new industrial projects, which will help the small and medium scale industries," she said. The department of commerce and industries has moved a cabinet note in this regard and waiting for the approval, she said. Currently, the state government charges between Rs 20,000 to Rs 30 lakh as application fee depending on the size of the investment. The state government is keen on developing other parts of the state and decongest Bengaluru city, she said adding that special incentives would be provided to those who are ready to set up industries outside the state capital. The government is creating good infrastructure facilities in places like Hubballi, Dharwad, Mangaluru, Belagavi, Yadgir and Vijayapura among others. Ratna Prabha said the government has acquired 3,300 acres land at Yadgir in north Karnataka for industrial development. Land prices will be finalized in about a week's time. Already, major companies like Hindustan Coca Cola have shown interest to establish manufacturing facilities in Yadgir. About 500 acres will be earmarked for a pharma park at Yadgir, she said adding that recently some 50 pharma companies from Hyderabad have expressed their willingness to relocate to Yadgir. A textile park is also being developed at Yadgir, she added. To make things easy for investors coming to the state, the department has simplified application process by making one common application form for ten departments. This will enable industries to take key approvals through online portal. The Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board has been told to upload on their website information about the land available across the state with survey numbers To fast track approval process, investment proposals up to Rs 100 crore will be approved by chief secretary of the state and large investment proposals above Rs 100 crore will be cleared by the committee headed by chief minister.

6923 Burman GSC, a joint venture between some promoters of Dabur and US-based private equity fund GSC, has readied an investment of up to Rs 5,000 crore for new projects in the next five years. Burman GSC recently forayed into this market with its first project, The Spectrum, at Gurgaon. Quite a few corporate houses have entered the realty sector, the latest being the Bharti Group, announcing the launch of a housing project in Faridabad under group company Bharti Realty. Godrej Properties, Tata Housing and Mahindra Lifespaces are the other realty companies of big corporate groups. “We will focus on the National Capital Region, Mumbai and Pune in the first phase, unless we find a compelling opportunity elsewhere. We will prefer quality over scale but will have the capacity to launchprojects to the tune of Rs 3,000-5,000 crore over the next five years,” Gaurav Pandey, chief executive at Burman GSC, told this newspaper.