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India’s industry is in trouble, with the index of industrial production declining by 0.4% in October 2008. Recent months have seen a distinct slowdown of production but this is the first time that there has been a decline. The main cause is a 1.2% decline in the manufacturing index even as the mining and electricity indices grew a bit.
The US FDA had issued a warning letter to Sun Pharma’s subsidiary Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories on Oct 31, 2008. The letter is now available on the FDA site detailing the reasons why the warning was issued. It points out deviations from current Good Manufacturing Practice (CGMP) regulations for medicines. These deviations were detected in an inspection between May 1 to June 11 2008, and are mainly due to issues related to quality control.
Continue ReadingCrisil, the credit rating agency, has sold a majority stake in Gas Strategies Group, in a management buyout transaction. Crisil had paid 1.5mn pounds to acquire a 100% stake in the Gas Strategies Group (then known as EconoMatters) in December 2003. As of December 2007, it held 400,000 shares of Gas Strategies Group with a book value of Rs 16.2 crore.
The government has issued 7% fertiliser bonds worth Rs 10,000 crore to 23 companies, representing the subsidy given during FY09. These bonds are not eligible to be kept with banks as SLR but can be bought by insurance companies, in the ‘other approved securities’ list and as special bonds by PF/Gratuity/Superannuation funds. Moreover, they can also be eligible for repo transactions.
Company fixed deposits (FD) were once hot with companies and investors. They enticed investors with slightly higher interest rates and offered a little more to shareholders and investors. But as the fund raising options before corporates increased and India entered into a stable and falling interest rate regime, companies began to close their FD schemes. The main reasons were the slightly higher interest rates, commission to agents, administrative costs and compliance which made it unatttractive.
Continue ReadingBeing part of the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty is a privilege for a company, a sign that you have arrived. Apart from the snob value, it gives a relative boost to a company’s market capitalisation.
Maruti Suzuki’s sales flash for November’08 looks scary and explains why the auto industry is going on a production slowdown. It sold 52,711 cars during November 2008, down a fifth from the same period last year, and domestic sales were down 27% to 47,704 vehicles. In October –which people thought was a bad month– the respective figures were 7% and 8% respectively.
Carborundum Universal (Cumi), the Murugappa group owned industrial abrasives company, is adding to its silicon carbide capacity in Russia, through Volzhsky Abrasive Works (VAW), the company it acquired in September 2007. It will spend $50mn or about Rs 250 crore to build a new plant in the Volgograd region, Russia.
Sun Pharmaceuticals has acquired Chattem Chemicals Inc, a US-based pharmaceutical company, which makes $26mn in revenues from selling bulk drugs. Chattem had been acquired by Elcat Inc in 1995 from Chattem Inc, for $25mn. Sun has not disclosed the acquisition price but we will try to make some educated guesses.
JSW Steel, India’s third largest steel-maker, will make steel structurals in a joint venture with Severfield Structures. JSW Severfield Structures will be a 50:50 JV, with JSW’s investment being routed through a subsidiary, JSW Building Systems. The JV will spend ₤30mn pounds or Rs 220 crore to set up a plant that will fabricate 35,000 tonnes of structural steel.