13 INDIAN FIRMS IN FORBES ASIA'S FABULOUS 50 LIST

As many as 13 Indian companies, including Reliance Industries, Infosys Technologies and Tata Steel, have made it to the list of Forbes' 50 best listed companies in the Asia-Pacific region.

In the Forbes list, there are four Indian entities – Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, Infosys Technologies and Tata Consultancy Services – among the top ten firms in terms of market value, while Reliance Industries and Tata Steel feature in the top ten league in terms of sales. Other than RIL, Infosys and Tata Steel, the other Indian firms that have made it to the prestigious list include - Adani Enterprise, Axis Bank, Bharat Heavy Electricals, Bharti Airtel, HDFC bank, Jindal Steel & Power, Larsen and Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro.


The Economic Times

Reliance, MTN Tie-Up Meets Financiers

Barclays Capital, Calyon and Lehman Brothers are close to arranging the financing behind Reliance Communications’ takeover bid for MTN, Africa’s biggest mobile phone company, following the collapse of talks between MTN and Bharti Airtel. Reliance, India’s second largest mobile phone operator, began discussing a possible merger with MTN only this week. Bankers involved in the financing say talks are at a very early stage. One banker said it was very likely that the banking group would be enlarged before any financing package was sealed.

The Euromoney Institutional Investor
http://www.emii.com/Article.aspx?ArticleId=1940048

Entertainment, media record 17% growth in 2007

The entertainment & media (E&M) industry has recorded a growth of 17% in 2007 to cross the Rs 50,000-crore-plus mark, according to a report. The E&M industry has reached an estimated Rs 51,300 crore in 2007, up from Rs 43,800 crore in 2006, according to a Ficci PricewaterhouseCoopers 2008 report on Indian entertainment and media industry for 2007.

The Financial Express
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/
Entertainment-media-record-17-growth-in-2007/285173/

India’s market cap crosses Rs 70 lakh crore-mark

Investors’ wealth on the Indian bourses has crossed Rs 70,00,000-crore milestone for the first time in history, with an average increase of over Rs 40 crore in every minute of trading during 2007. The total wealth, measured in terms of cumulative market capitalisation of all the listed Companies on the Bombay Stock Exchange, has surged to a record high of Rs 70,38,538 crore (over $1.7 trillion), the latest data available with the bourses show. This marks a ten-fold surge in the total market value in just about four and a half years. It stood at about Rs 7,00,000 crore in May 2003. The investors’ wealth has grown by Rs 34,14,181 crore, or about $970 billion, since the beginning of 2007. Taking into account the 249 days of trading so far this year, this means an average gain of about Rs 13,711 crore a day or about Rs 41 crore a minute.

The Financial Express
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/
Indias-market-cap-crosses-Rs-70-lakh-croremark/255870/

Spiralling rentals hit retail boom

First came political misgivings and then street protests by small-store owners across the country, who were afraid they would be put out of business by the deep pockets and discounting powers of the retail chains. But that perhaps didn’t worry Indian tycoons as much as the surge in rentals and space shortages they are now battling in a bid to open thousands of stores and change the way the subcontinent shops.

Mint
http://www.livemint.com/2007/12/23235111/
Spiralling-rentals-hit-retail.html

The IndusView Publication - Volume 3, Issue 6

Genpact IPO on NYSE

Genpact Ltd, India’s largest Business Process Outsourcing firm is expected to reach a market capitalization of about $3 billion, when it lists on the New York Stock Exchange later this year. That valuation is based on that of its peers, WNS (Holdings) Ltd and ExlService Holdings, which have already listed on U.S. exchanges.

The public offering will provide a healthy return to its principal investors, Oak Hill and General Atlantic, which invested $800 million for a 60% stake in the company two years ago. The remaining 40% is held by General Electric, which started Genpact as an in-house offshore facility 10 years ago.

IT: A $100 Billion Industry

India’s information technology (IT) and IT-enabled Services (ITeS) industry will be worth $100 billion by 2011 from about $48 billion in 2006, according to a report by IDC India, the Indian affiliate of Massachusetts-based market research firm IDC. The report suggests that the Indian IT industry will register a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18% during these five years.

The estimate, however, seems conservative considering the 31% growth rate marked by the Indian IT industry in 2006. The industry, which has grown more than 30% annually for the past four years, according to the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), the industry body representing more than 1,100 Indian IT companies.

The IDC report suggested rising domestic sales, previously a weak segment. IDC forecasts IT & ITeS sales in India will grow at a CAGR of 20% to $41 billion in 2011 from $17 billion in 2006.

Indian Contenders

Indian companies are apparently better positioned to challenge the global blue-chip companies. Rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) annual ‘Global Challengers List’ included eight Indian companies out of the 300 firms listed from 37 countries, compared with four companies from China. The list that identifies mid-size public listed companies exhibiting the strongest growth characteristics includes ACC Ltd., one of the oldest manufacturer of cement and ready mix concrete; Hotel Leela Venture Ltd, an Indian hotel company that owns four deluxe hotel in the cities of Mumbai, Bangalore, Kovalam and Goa; Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd, the country’s largest manufacturer of irrigation systems, pipes and fittings; Lakshmi Machine Works Ltd, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of textile spinning machinery; Marico Industries, one of the leading FMCG companies; Titan Industries, the world's sixth largest wrist watch manufacturer and part of the Tata Group, India's largest private sector business group; The Indian Hotels Company Ltd, a part of the Tata Group that operates Taj Hotels chain of luxury hotels.

Oil Tips a Perfect Balance

If India could discard its oil import bill, it will reach a perfect trade balance. During the fiscal year 2006-07, India's exports grew by 24% to reach at $125 billion, while non-oil imports increased to $124 billion from $99.5 billion during the same period. Its trade deficit, however, widened to $57 billion from $40 billion only due to the crude oil imports bill that rose by the same amount, i.e. $57 billion in 2006-07 from $44 billion in the previous year.

With the Indian economy estimated to grow at the rate of 8%-10% per annum in the coming years, the oil import bill will only increase as demand for energy rises to 200 Giga Watts by 2012 from the current installed capacity of 125 Giga Watts. It makes a clear case for large investments in alternative energy sources such as wind energy, nuclear energy and solar energy. Wind energy has added about 6,000 megawatts of power supply in the past five years, and it is estimated to create additional capacity of about 8,500 megawatts by 2012.

Large oil and gas discoveries announced by Reliance Industries Ltd., country's most valuable firm with a market value of $37.2 billion and Cairn India Ltd, subsidiary of Edinburgh, Scotland based Cairn Energy Plc strengthen India’s efforts to reduce dependence on oil imports.

Bundeep Singh Rangar
Chairman, IndusView
Bundeep.Rangar@IndusView.com
www.indusview.com
www.indusreal.com