Companies in India

Various companies in India are foraying into joint ventures (JV) or are making investments abroad to increase their global footprints. Companies in India like Adani Enterprises, has acquired an Australian coal asset of Linc Energy in a cash and royalty deal worth US$ 2.7 billion (Rs 12,500 crore). Companies in India have marked their presence globally.

Furthermore, information technology (IT) service providers, Cognizant, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys have topped the latest ranking of service providers in Europe, in a survey done by EquaTerra, an IT advisory service provider. Pharmaceutical companies in India have also increased their penetration in the US generic market. Companies in India like Lupin Pharmaceuticals, Zydus Cadila, Glenmark, Aurobindo, and Torrent Pharma have increased their ranking in US generic market, as per the data released by IMS Health, a global market research agency.

Following the same line of thought, the Fast Moving Consumer Goods(FMCG) companies are also foraying into acquisitions to increase their global footprints. The FMCG, Marico Limited has acquired the over-the-counter healthcare brand, Ingwe at an estimated investment of Rs 10 crore (US$ 2.14 million) through its subsidiary, Marico South Africa (MSA).

Similarly, the FMCG company, Dabur India Ltd has announced a US$ 69 million acquisition of Turkish personal care products company Hobi Kozemtik Group. The acquisition of Hobi Kozmetik is in line with Dabur’s strategy to aggressively expand its scale of operations and strengthen its presence in the FMCG space across the globe. Looking forward the FMCG firm, Godrej Hershey, a 51:49 joint venture between the Godrej Group and American chocolate maker Hershey’s, plans to roll out some key brands from abroad — Kisses, Reese’s and Hershey’s Chocolate — in the country.

The telecom sector in India is experiencing a push with more and more mobile phone companies venturing into the indigenization effort by bringing global component vendors to set shop in India. The move is part of a strategy to make India a global manufacturing hub for mobile phones, rather than just undertake their assembly. The telecom sector further received an impetus with Pune-based anti-virus solution provider, Quick Heal Technologies Pvt Ltd launching it’s ‘PC2Mobile Scan’, which provides for virus-scan of mobile phones by connecting them to a PC or a laptop.

The Science and Technology in India will witness an important development with Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) planning to launch SARAL by 2011, a satellite to monitor sea water levels made in collaboration with the French National Space Agency. Moreover, Mr Praful Patel, Minister for Civil Aviation has launched the final operational phase of the Global Positioning System (GPS) Aided Geo Augmented Navigation system (GAGAN) to further boost the science and technology sector.

Retail Industry in India

The retail industry in India is emerging to attract new investments in the retail sector in the country.

Bharti Retail Ltd operates about 80 stores and owns a chain of grocery outlets and easyday market hypermarkets to cater to the retail market in India . Owned by billionaire Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Group, the company plans to open 140 retail stores in India in 2010, said Raj Jain, managing director of the group’s venture with Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

He added that Wal-Mart can open a large number of retail stores in India if the government allows foreign direct investment in the South Asian country’s retail industry.

The company awaits policy changes in the retail market in India. The Bharti-Walmart JV runs the BestPrice Modern Wholesale stores to cater to the retail sector in North India. This is a 50:50 cash and carry joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and WalMart. The company will require additional manpower as it plans to open more cash-and-carry stores in the retail sector in the country. At present, it has two stores in India (in Punjab) and employs 450 workers.

The government has been in talks to open the multi-brand retail sector for FDI. At present, up to 51 per cent foreign investment is allowed in single brand retail and 100 per cent FDI in wholesale, but none in multi-brand.

The company has recently launched the second Bharti-Walmart Training Centre in New Delhi by entering into a public-private partnership with the Delhi Government. The centre would enroll up to 2,000 students a year to impart free of cost training in sectors, such as retail, BPOs and hospitality. The centre was inaugurated by Sheila Dikshit, Chief Minister of Delhi and would work to fill up the shortage in skilled workers for organised retail and cash-and-carry stores.

At a recent function, the Daniele Smadja, Head of the Delegation of the EU to India, said “We would like India to further open its economy to EU investments.

Furthermore, Nokia India is focussing on the retail distribution model. It is for the first time the world’s largest mobile phone company has initiated a retail distribution model for its services venture.

In yet, another format of the retail market in India, the major retail players proved to be a boon to the small food processing vendors as they helped the latter put in a system which in turn attracted FMCG companies to hire the same vendors on account of quality.

Similarly the retail market in India is foraying into various sectors. Retail in healthcare sector is witnessing an immense interest from private equity investors. The upturn in the retail industry in India is attracting PE investors, gearing them to maximise their profits with the highest deal volumes being in various sectors including retail. According to V Jayasankar, Head, Private Equity, Kotak Investment Banking, “There is high level of interest in the retail sector as it directly feeds on consumption.

Additionally, the airport retail market in India is witnessing a renaissance with the fast pace of development in the expanding airport facilities in the country and the increasing number of passengers. With people on a constant move the target audience is easily available and the round the clock mode of retail sector available on airport gives that strategic advantage to the retail players.