Cholamandalam Investment plans to raise Rs 300 crore

Business & Economy

CholamandalamCF14aug2013

May look raising the money through private equity, QIP and other routes

The Rs 22,500 crore Murugappa Group’s NBFC arm Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Co Ltd is planning to raise around Rs 300 crore. The company has said it may look raising the money through private equity, QIP and other routes.

Speaking to Business Standard on the sidelines of company’s annual general meeting on Wednesday, Vellayan Subbiah, managing director, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Co Ltd said that in 2014-15 the company plans to raise the money but the exact timing will depend on the environment.

“Mode we have not decided yet, we will look at traditional routes including QIP. PE is also an option, we are yet to take a final call on the route,” said Subbiah.

It may be noted in 2012-13, the company raised equity capital of Rs 300 crore through QIP route. The company also raised Rs 698 crore through perpetual debt and subordinated debt instruments to meet the CAR and business volumes.

The company is looking at growing by around 15-20% during the current fiscal, said Subbiah.

He added, “Current year is definitely going to be more challenging than last year and the company sees significant head winds in the economy. But we are convinced that its going to be a good year,” he said.

He added that company’s CAR is currently at 18%, which is higher than RBI’s norm.

De-risking strategy

In the last fiscal, the company has entered into three more lending areas, which Subbiah says was part of company’s de-risking strategy.

In the long run, the company doesn’t want to see itself fully dependant on the two businesses – vehicle finance and home equity – which account for nearly 98% of the loan book currently, said Subbiah. The company entered into home loan, rural and MSME lending during the last fiscal.

While ticket size for home loan is around Rs 20 lakh, for SMEs the ticket size will be around Rs 30-50 lakh, he said.

The two existing businesses will continue to grow, but over time it will tapper and our intention is to grow other businesses, which are currently being experimented and once we reach the comfortable position the company will accelerate the growth. At this stage these businesses contributes 3% of company’s book, he added.

Meanwhile, the company has decided to withdraw gold loan offering. It may be noted the company started gold loan in fiscal 2012 as a pilot project. Considering the turbulence and the several regulatory changes witnessed in the gold loan business, the company decided to withdraw gold loan offering, M B N Rao, chairman of the company told the shareholders at the AGM today.

Company’s gold loan disbursed and outstanding stood at Rs 19 crore which constituted less than 1% of the net managed assets.

Rao said, the company realigned its corporate finance business and reduced its finance against shares portfolio in line with its revised focus and strategy in this business.

Chola Invest reported a 30% growth in profit after tax during the first quarter ended June 30, 2013 at Rs 91 crore as against Rs 70 crore, a year ago. Total Income rose to Rs 762 crore from Rs 558 crore in the first quarter of 2012 -13 registering a growth of 37%.

While disbursements in vehicle finance growing by 29% and disbursements in home equity loans grew by 34% compared to the same period last year.

The Company disbursed Rs 2,609 crore in Vehicle Finance as against Rs 2,026 crore in Q 1 of 2012 – 13 and disbursed Rs 662 crores in Home Equity loans as against Rs 493 crore in Q1 of 2012–13.

Disbursements from new businesses were Rs 8 crore for the quarter. The aggregate disbursements of the company for the quarter are Rs 3,279 crore as against Rs 2,535 crore in the first quarter of 2012-13 registering a growth of 29%.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> Companies> News /by T E Narashmhan / Chennai – August 01st, 2013

Erode farmer sets record in rice yield

Business & Economy, Green Initiatives/ Environment, Nature, Records, All

Coimbatore :

In what could be a milestone in rice farming in the state, a farmer from Varathampalayam village in Sathyamangalam in Erode district has raised a bumper crop of the hybrid variety CORH3. The farmer, M Palanisamy, has harvested about 1,400kg of hybrid seeds which will be procured by Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) and the department of agriculture at a rate of Rs 110 per kg.

Palanisamy, who employed cutting-edge technology, has earned Rs 1.88 lakh from the harvest and after meeting the expenses of Rs 40,000, he will get a net profit of Rs 1,48,000 at the rate of Rs 74,000 per acre, a remarkable achievement in rice farming.

During Navarai season in 2010-11, production of hybrid rice seeds was taken up in five hectares of land in and around Sathyamangalam. Besides, he has harvested 3,000 kg of produce from the male parent (R’ line) which will be sold in the market at minimum support price of Rs 10 per kg. “The R’ line is the sterile male line and is sown alternatively with the female line for pollination,” said S Robin, professor and head, department of rice of the TNAU. The TNAU organised a field visit cum awareness campaign in Varathampalayam on May 17 in order to inspect the hybrid rice seed production field and to create awareness among local farmers on advantages of hybrid rice seed production.

Dr. K. Thiyagarajan, director of the Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics of the TNAU, explained that hybrid seed is a proven modern rice production technology, which helps farmers produce and earn more. Burgeoning population and shrinking resources like land and water put the onus on farmers to produce more per area. Rice, being the single most important food crop of the state, requires added attention as production constraints are enlarging and total rice area is shrinking.

TNAU, which developed the country’s first hybrid rice CORH1 in 1994, has so far released four rice hybrids with the latest being the short duration CORH3. Pilot studies were conducted over several years in Tamil Nadu, to standardise the locations for taking up hybrid rice seed production, he said. India  ranks first in total area under rice.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Coimbatore> Tamil Nadu Agricultural University / by Nandhu Sundaram / May 27th, 2011

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University advices rice farmers to carry out pest control

Green Initiatives/ Environment, Nature, Science & Technologies

Coimbatore : 

Advising farmers in rice growing areas to carry out integrated pest and disease management in rice, the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) has said that farmers growing samba rice in Cauvery delta and other rice growing areas should be vigilant against the possible infection of diseases. In its monthly pest and disease forecasting report, Centre for Plant Protection Studies of TNAU, cautioned that insects and pests like thrips and caseworms are expected in the nursery during this samba season. “It is recommended to adopt methods like wet seed treatment and seedling root dip to tackle this issue”, said a communique from TNAU.

Under the wet seed treatment method, seeds should be treated with carbendazim, a fungicide before sowing. Under the seedling root dip method nursery seedlings should be dipped in a solution dissolved with pseudomonas fluorescens before planting. Light trap to monitor adult moths and other insects, applying neem cake and spraying neem oil can be followed for controlling insects. Further details can be had from the department of agricultural entomology of TNAU at 0422-6611226.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Coimbatore> Tamil Nadu Agricultural University / TNN / August 02nd, 2013

Maruti, Anand lead in Dakshin Dare Rally

Sports

Erode pair of Karthik Maruti and navigator Sankar Anand took a slender lead over National TSD Rally champions Satish Gopal Krishnan and Savera D’Souza, the husband-wife tandem from Bangalore  as just 42 seconds separated the top seven in the verall classification at the end of Leg 1 of the Endurance category in the 5th Maruti Suzuki  Dakshin Dare Rally here Monday.

While Maruti (0:00:12) led Gopalkrishnan (0:00:24) by 12 seconds, in third place was Kolkata pair of Sudip Kumar Ghosh and Arindam Ghosh (0:00:26). Incidentally, the Kolkata duo led the field in the Car OE category.

Maurti and Gopalkrishnan also took the top two spots in the SUV Open category, followed by Mysore’s K. Prasad and Nishanth who had a penalty of 54 seconds.

Another Erode combination of Ganesh Moorthy and T. Nagarajan led the field in the Car Open category with a penalty of 29 seconds that also placed them fourth overall, while Raveendra (Velmurugan) were second in the Car Open category with one minute, 47 seconds penalty, well ahead of Ashwin Reddy (Supreeth S) who tallied 10 minutes, 33 seconds.

Trailing Sudhip and Arindam in the Car OE category were Palthuna Raghavendra (Jeevarathinam) with a penalty of four minutes, three seconds, followed by Narayanan Iyer (Shrinivasa) who were docked 19 minutes, 14 seconds.

In all, 41 competitors took the start from Bangalore early Monday morning with 37 completing the first leg and they will head to Ooty for the second leg Tuesday.

Provisional classification (Leg 1 – Endurance):

Overall: Karthik Maruthi / Sankar Anand 1 (0:00:12secs penalty); Satish Gopalkrishnan / Savera D’Souza 2 (0:00:24); Sudip Kumar Ghosh / Arindam Ghosh 3 (0:00:26).

SUV Open: Maruthi / Anand 1; Gopalkrishnan / D’Souza 2; K Prasad / Nishanth 3 (0:00:54).

Car Open: Ganesh Moorthy / T Nagarajan 1 (0:00:29); Raveendra / Velmurugan 2 (0:01min, 47secs); Aswin Reddy / Supreeth S 3 (0:10:33).

Car OE: Sudhip Kumar Ghosh / Arindam Ghosh 1; Palghuna Raghavendra / Jeevarathinam 2 (0:04:03); Narayanan Iyer /Shrinivasan 3 (0:19:14).

Manufacturer (Suzuki Maruti): Jagmeet Gill / Musthafa 1 (0:00:31); Somdeb Chanda / Amit Saha 2 (0:00:38); Deepak Chahal / Amit Kumar Garg 3 (0:20:25).

Corporate: Pavan AK / Sagar 1 (0:06:16); Manjunath GM / Avinash 2 (0:11:05); Philip Baklin / David Sharon 3 (0:13:02).

Corporate Select: Pramod Vig / Abhilash 1 (0:39:58); Ashish Gupta / Ashvind Ratnakaran 2 (1hr, 15mins, 07secs).

Couples: Sreejith PA / Krishnaveni KC 1 (0:11:27). All Ladies: Gauri Gupta / Poulami Dutta 1 (0:56:46)

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> News – IANS> Sports / by IANS – Mysore , August 05th, 2013

Librarians go for digital makeover

Education, Records, All

 

Staff at Egmore Connemara library take a closer look at old books preserved by the library on Monday. — DC
Staff at Egmore Connemara library take a closer look at old books preserved by the library on Monday. — DC

Chennai:

As the Internet becomes the platform to study and research, and libraries are trying to keep pace with the digital wave, librarians in the city talk of adapting to this change on Na­tional Library Day.

Meenakshi Murugan, assistant librarian at Connemara public library in Egmore for the last 32 years, says, “Changing reading habits and increased dependence on internet are some of the changes happening across the domain,” but asserts that the responsibility of the librarian remains unaltered. “The librarian is still the guide when it comes to conveying to the reader the know-how of which books to refer and where.”

The day is celebrated on the birth anniversary of S. R. Ranganathan, mathematician and librarian, and also the father of library sciences in India.

T. Vijayalakshmi, librarian at the British Council,  for the past 11 years seconds the opinion and adds, “We are looking at integrating physical resources (books) with online academic material.”

Speaking of the cause that led her to her choice of profession she says, “My interests since childhood were books and that triggered the choice.”

She says, “Being a librarians is a profession where being updated about a new book and what is of interest to the reader is imperative.”

Talking of the new tech in the library, Vijayalakshmi adds, “At the British Council library, books are enabled with radio frequency identification technology which minuses the librarian’s role of issuing a book; a swipe with the chip fitted on the book is all that’s needed.

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> News> Current Affairs / by Jackson Jose, DC / August 13th, 2013

Heritage of Chennai: Multi-media presentation contest – Registration on

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence

In connection with the Madras Day celebration, Mylapore Times, a neighbourhood newspaper is organising a Multi-media presentation contest for the city schools on Aug. 20, 2013.

The subject of the contest is The Old Houses of our City.

Students of classes 8 to 12 can participate in teams of three. The teams need to be registered through their schools and each school can send only one team.

The contest requires study of a old / heritage house located in Chennai and present in on PowerPoint and narration by the students on the spot.

The best presentation will take home a rolling trophy for their school and three top presentations will receive trophies and gifts. All the participants will receive certificates.

Registration for the contest is open to 20 schools on first-come-first-served basis.

More details of the contest is at – http://themadrasday.in/heritage-of-chennai-multimedia-presentation-contest-for-city-schools/

source: http://www.yocee.in / YOCee.in / Home> What’s On / by Team YOCee / August 01st, 2013

Students get rare chance to know about Kangayam cattle

Business & Economy, Green Initiatives/ Environment, Nature
School students seen at the Kangayam tract in Tirupur district. / by Special Arrangement / The Hindu
School students seen at the Kangayam tract in Tirupur district. / by Special Arrangement / The Hindu

For the group of 37 school students from Coimbatore, the two-day stay at Senaapathy Kangayam Cattle Research Foundation (SKCRF) and Kangayam cattle tract offered a different experience. Not only did they get an opportunity to know about the cattle but they also went back richer with the knowledge of making some unique value-added products from the cow’s urine and dung.

Kathiyawadi horse

They also got a glimpse of the Kathiyawadi horse, a rare breed of horse from the North-Western belt of the country, reared at the facility. “We are facilitating and encouraging these type of visits by youngsters only to ensure that the future of the animal-species that face extinction like Kangayam cattle will be safe in the hands of the next generation,” K.S.M. Karthikeya, managing trustee of SKCRF, told The Hindu.

Jeeva Amirtham

Apart from teaching the students the origin and benefits of Kangayam cattle to the farming community, the resource persons from SKCRF explained the techniques to make Jeeva Amritham, a product that can be made from urine of Kangayam cattle and used as a substitute for nitrogenous fertilizers. Another product that was usually made from Kangayam cattle’s urine and dung is Bij Amritham, used for seed treatment due to its anti-fungal properties.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Coimbatore / by R Vimal Kumar / Tirupur – August 06th, 2013

SRM University to honour eleven Tamil scholars, writers

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All

Chennai :

SRM University will honour Tamil scholars, researchers and authors for their contribution to the growth and development of the language. The university will present 11 experts in Tamil with the Tamil Academy Awards  on August 24, which is also the birthday of university chancellor TR Pachamuthu.

University officials said the third edition of the awards would carry a total cash prize of Rs 20.5 lakh.

The Lifetime Parivendhar Achievement Award, carrying a cash award of Rs 5 lakh, will be given to Tamil scholar Tamizhannal. The Parithimaar Kalaignar Award for the best Tamil scholar would be given to Kovai Gnani. It carries a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh.

The Vipulanandar Award, instituted this year, will be presented to an author who has published Tamil books abroad. A Muthulingam will be the first to get this award for his book titled ‘Amerikakkari’. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 1.5 lakh.

Jayamohan’s ‘Aram’ has been selected for the Pudumaipithan Award for short stories and drama, while the Bharathiyar Poet Award goes to Elakkumi Kumaran Gnana Draviyam for his book ‘Perunayaipuraithal.’

The Valliappa Child Literary Award will be shared by three authors this year. The GU Pope Translation Award will go to MA Suseela for the book ‘Asadan’ and the Appuswamy Scientific Tamil Award will go to Mohan Sundararajan for his book ‘Nano : the Next Revolution.’

The Anandakumaraswamy Fine Arts Award will go to Kudavayil Balasubramanian for his book ‘Raja Rajecharam,’ and the Muthuthandavar Tamil Isai award for E Angayarkanni, while the Development Tamil Award will go to K Jawahar. These awards carry a cash prize of Rs 1.5 lakh.

Vice-chancellor of the university M Ponnavaiko said 523 entries were received for the 11 awards. The best five were shortlisted and circulated among eminent scholars to bring down the choice  to two. The final choice was made by a panel of jurists.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai> SRM University / by M. Ramya, TNN / August 02nd, 2013

Double digit investment growth for TN: Study

Business & Economy

Tamil Nadu has attracted domestic and foreign investment worth over Rs 10 lakh crore in the last eight years, almost seven per cent of the total investment commitments made across India, according to a study.

The study titled ‘Realising double digit growth in Tamil Nadu’ — released by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India southern region council chairperson Ravindra Sannareddy, chairman of India-SAARC business promotion council Ravi Wig and national secretary general D S Rawat ­— says Tamil Nadu is ranked sixth among industrialised states attracting investments. Clocking a year-on-year growth rate of over 10 per cent, Tamil Nadu has successfully attracted investment proposals worth over `10 lakh crore as of June 2013, the report says.

“The electricity sector with a share of 44.5 pc in total investment is the main investment absorber. The State is witnessing investments in both conventional and non-conventional energy resources and has 132 proposals absorbing investment worth over `4 lakh crore, clocking year-on-year growth of over 30 per cent,” the study says.

After power, the services (29.1 per cent) and manufacturing (16 per cent) sectors are the important investment destinations in Tamil Nadu, the report says.

The real estate sector has attracted 9.1 per cent of the total investment, while the irrigation and mining sectors have gotten lower shares in investment.

As for the implementation status of investment projects, more than 52.8 per cent of these investments are under implementation and 40.4 per cent are in announcement stage, the report says.

Tamil Nadu has acquired a share of over nine per cent and over five per cent in the total investments made by government and private sources respectively across India, it states.

Recording a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of about 10 per cent, the services sector accounted for the highest contribution of over 61 per cent to the State Domestic Product (SDP). The report states that the industrial sector in Tamil Nadu grew at nine per cent CAGR, thereby contributing over 30 pc to the SDP.

The study also points out that agriculture is increasingly transforming into a failing economic activity.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Education> Student / by Express News Service – Chennai / August 02nd, 2013

Grafica to launch “nano-prinTag” at KnitShow in Tirupur

Business & Economy, Science & Technologies

Grafica Flextronica, manufacturer and exporter of screen printing machines and allied products for textile, graphics and industrial printing sectors, will unveil the nano-prinTag, world’s fastest and first all electrical-mechanical automatic direct-to-garment tagless label screen printing machine at the forthcoming KnitShow exhibition, which is scheduled for 11-13 August 2013 in Tirupur, Tamil Nadu.

Bhargav Mistry, managing director, Grafica, said, “This is yet another breakthrough product from Grafica. The machine is designed, keeping in mind the minimum power consumption and minimum maintenance requirement. It runs without a compressor because there is no pneumatics inside, which makes the machine fastest and trouble free.”

Mistry: "Yet another breakthrough product from Grafica"
Mistry: “Yet another breakthrough product from Grafica”

Over the last three years, Grafica has been regularly introducing a range of Nano series screen printing machines such as Nano-Print, Nano-Screen Maker 5-in-1, Nano-UV, Nano-Squeegee Sharpener,  Nano-Print plus, Nano-PrinTex, Nano-Texdryer, Nano-flashTex and allied products to meet the global market demands.

“Each machine has found to be having tremendous potential and has been doing well with many repeat orders within a year of their launch. And now, we are introducing Nano-PrinTag, which is expected to be another revolutionary product,” concluded Mistry.

source: http://www.printweek. in / Print Week India / Home> News> Press Room / by Sidhesh Kanade / July 31st, 2013