by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Commodity Market, Investing, Large Enterprise, World
Canberra : Australia’s Port of Newcastle, the world’s biggest coal port, has announced a transition away from fossil fuels, saying “continued investment in Australian coal is a losing proposition”.
It said on Sunday that the long-term outlook for coal was a threat to the port and it needed to diversify its business.
Rob Henderson, a former chief markets economist at the National Australia Bank (NAB), said the Port of Newcastle’s announcement was indicative of the shift underway in the world of power generation and investment.
“Newcastle, the world’s largest coal port, is now transitioning to a lower carbon world and is actively planning for the time when less of the Hunter’s wealth and income will be generated from coal,” he said in a statement on Monday.
“It should reaffirm to investors that the transition away from coal is taking place rapidly now, that continued investment in Australian coal is a losing proposition in the medium to long term and that diversification is critical.”
The Port of Newcastle is currently the world’s largest coal export port by volume. It is the economic and trade centre for the resource rich Hunter Valley in Australia, an area blessed with enormous agriculture, viticulture and tourism export opportunities.
Coal exports currently represent just under 90 per cent of tonnage through the port. It currently handles more than 2,258 ship visits per annum.
Roy Green, who was appointed chairman of the Port of Newcastle on Sunday, said the port would pursue a strategy of diversification with a new container port and cruise terminal in the pipeline.
“Coal has been at the heart of the Hunter’s economy for the better part of two centuries, and it will continue to be central to the prosperity of the region and Port of Newcastle for some time to come,” Green said. “However, there is also an urgent need to diversify the Hunter economy and the port’s business.”
Henderson, the former Chief Economist (Markets) at NAB, said: “Renewables seem to have reached a tipping point, with many countries now reporting that the cost of electricity supply is coming in well beneath present tariffs for coal fired power.”
“The economics of rising relative costs of coal generation is driving investors away from fossil fuels, especially coal, towards wind, solar and hydro. This shift will only accelerate ahead.”
“Of course, this means that the government’s continued backing for the mega Adani coal mine in Queensland’s Galilee Basin is backing a dead horse. The government should rule out NAIF funding for Adani and follow the Port of Newcastle’s lead by using NAIF funds for environmentally sustainable and economically justifiable projects in Northern Australia.”
“The Port of Newcastle if following the money trail, by adopting the position taken by major Australian banks, including my former employer NAB, over recent weeks, who have sought to distance themselves from financial ties with new coal projects and focus on the growth industries of the future,” Henderson added.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Buzz, Corporate finance, Corporate Reports, Investing
New Delhi : India expects investment of up to $13 billion in infrastructure through the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), even as the government seeks to monetise older assets built through public money for undertaking new projects, a senior official said on Tuesday.
Speaking at an event here, Economic Affairs Secretary S.C. Garg also cited the example of the national carrier Air India, where the government is in the process of selling its stake to the private sector.
“We have established NIIF. That is our first experience in trying to use the sovereign wealth. We put out $3 billion in the NIIF.
“We would raise the equal or higher amount from other participants, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, other private sector participants to raise a corpus of about $7-8 billion, and then the co-investment will also come in.
“So we expect about A$12-13 billion in investments in infrastructure mobilised through NIIF,” he said.
Citing the government’s decision to divest from Air India, Garg said: “Lot of public assets which are yielding regular kind of return, it is possible to free up invested resources thereby converting them using the InVit (Infrastructure Investment Trust) model so matured assets can be transfered to trusts.”
The government is looking at newer ways of financing infrastructure, he said.
“So how do we get them interested to invest, and therefore we are looking at a number of ways, policy on permitting FPIs (foreign portfolio investors), policy on AIF (Alternative Investment Funds). In short, in financing, these are the major issues and developments,” he said.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Investing, Muslim World
Kuala Lumpur : Muslim countries and affinity customers should tap into the green sukuk market as it is in line with the Shariah-compliant standards, said CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd Chief Executive Officer Rafe Haneef.
He said there was growing demand for green sukuk, capitalizing on projects related to environmental sustainability and green environment infrastructure projects.
“Last year, the environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks investment globally amounted to around $23 trillion and compared with the Islamic finance industry, the total size is about $2 trillion, it was 12 times higher.”
“And look at the actual demand for the ESG-compliant assets which is $45 trillion, the demand is almost double of what we have regarding supply, Bernama News reported.
“So, there is certainly a good reason why we should tap into green sukuk,” he said during the second-panel discussion on Green Financing/Green Sukuk at the third Annual Symposium 2017 on Islamic Finance here on Tuesday.
—SM/OIC-UNA
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Commodity Market, Emerging Businesses, Entrepreneurship, Investing, Medium Enterprise, SMEs, Startup Basics
Mumbai : Munaf Kapadia, who won reality TV series “Grilled”, says the show was a crash course in restaurant management for him. He is looking forward to start working on setting up his two-and-a-half-year-old concept of The Bohri Kitchen with the prize.
He received mentorship and an investment of Rs 1.5 crore for his food start-up The Bohri Kitchen by food and beverage tycoon Riyaaz Amlani, who is also CEO of Impresario Entertainment and Hospitality Pvt Ltd.
“The show was a crash course in restaurant management for me. From purchasing to planning to cooking to service and marketing, the show offered invaluable experience on many things that one needs to know to run a successful restaurant business. It truly was a win-win situation for me,” Kapadia said in a statement.
“On one hand, it’s great publicity to be on the show, on the other hand it also tests you in every possible way if you are capable of running a food business. The competition tested all of us on various parameters like handling people, leading a team, menu planning, costing, kitchen management and so much more,” he added.
Kapadia is currently in talks with Amlani to finally set up and expand his two-and-a-half-year-old concept of The Bohri Kitchen.
The Fox Life show’s finale, involving a three-fold challenge, happened on Monday.
The first part of the challenge was menu construction where finalists presented the entire menu of their restaurants. The second was to present two of their signature dishes (one vegetarian, one non-vegetarian) in which they were judged solely by the diners at the restaurant. The final challenge was the decision-making round where the finalists had to convince the judges with their innovative business pitches.
The 10-part reality series premiered in October with 12 aspiring food entrepreneurs battling to make their food business dreams turn into reality. Apart from Amlani, the show’s judges included Vishal Dadlani and Sarah Todd.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Business Summit, Economy, Emerging Businesses, Events, Investing, News, World
By Gaurav Sharma,
Beijing : Nearly 300 Chinese companies attended a business seminar in the country’s southwest which was organised by the Indian Embassy to attract more investment into India.
The India-China Business Seminar was held in Guizhou’s capital Guiyang where Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian Embassy, Amit Narang, encouraged the companies to visit and invest in India.
He also talked about India’s remarkable jump in the ranking of Ease of Doing Business.
“The seminar received an overwhelming response with more than 400 representatives from more than 280 Chinese companies attending it,” said an official statement.
The representatives of Chinese companies raised specific queries on the taxation structure in India and the incentives offered to Chinese investors in India, especially in the Renewable Energy Sector.
This event saw senior level participation from the local government.
—IANS
