by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Entrepreneurship, Investing, Large Enterprise, Startup Basics, Startup Financing
Nandan Nilekani
Bengaluru : Canadian institutional fund CDPQ on Thursday said it had invested $20 million in Indian venture Fundamentum, promoted by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani and Helion founder Sanjeev Agarwal.
“La Caisse de depot et placement du Qurbec (CDPQ) joins Fundamentum board by investing $20-million (Rs 130 crore) in its first growth fund,” said the city-based seed firm in a statement here.
The unspecified equity stake will enable the Montreal-based CDPQ to explore direct investments in Fundamentum’s portfolio firms.
As a scale-up platform for mid-stage tech firms in India, Fundamentum benefits from the rich experience of Nilekani and Aggarwal along with a network of Indian entrepreneurs and key investors.
“With $100-million target, Fundamentum Partnership-Fund I will invest $15 million in start-ups in consumer and enterprise technology businesses across retail, logistics, travel and outsourcing,” it said in the statement.
Fundamentum will also combine financial and intellectual capital to scale the businesses across verticals.
The strategic investment will help CDPQ to diversify its activities in India, which is a priority market.
“We will benefit from CDPQ’s knowledge of global trends and investment expertise. Both the partners are bullish on the opportunity to build global organisations out of India over the decade and beyond,” said Nilekani.
Lauding the track record of Fundamentum management team in the tech sector, CDPQ Chief Executive Michael Sabia said by fostering investments and mentoring new firms, his team gave entrepreneurial approach aligned with its fund.
“As India ranks as the world’s third largest start-up hub, our partnership will enable the selected start-ups to scale their businesses and participate in the fast-growing parts of the country’s economy,” he said.
With $238 billion net assets, CDPQ invests globally in major financial markets, private equity, infrastructure, real estate and private debt. As a long-term investor, it manages funds primarily for public and insurance plans.
Fundamentum will lead investment rounds from $10-25 million in companies that have attained the product market fit, have an initial momentum and are looking to scale up.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business Summit, Corporate, Corporate Buzz, Corporate Governance, Economy, Events, Investing, News, Politics
Lucknow : Industry captains heaped wholesome praise on the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for bringing a turn around in the state’s environment within a year as they committed to investments of over Rs 4.35 lakh crore over the next three years on the first day of the Investors Summit here on Wednesday.
A visibly-elated Adityanath announced at the inaugural session of the two-day summit that more than 1,200 MoUs had been signed with a total amount which was almost equal to the state’s budget for 2018-19.
In his address, he said that he was happy that the investors had taken note of the transformational changes in the state and were willing to partner the growth story that had been set rolling by the BJP government in the last 11 months. He also assured the investors that his government had taken their safety and security on top priority and had done a lot to turn around the law and order situation.
Adityanath assured that all the MoUs that have been signed would be followed up seriously and it would be ensured that the facilities offered to them were adhered to in full and that they have no problems in setting up industries in the state. He also said that a a cell has set up to follow up on the investment promises and that he would personally monitor them on a case to case basis.
In his address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that his government will establish a Rs 20,000-crore defence industrial production corridor in Bundelkhand — a region divided between Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh — that will generate 250,000 jobs and bring development to one of the most impoverished regions of the country.
Stressing that Uttar Pradesh had a vast potential for development but needed policy, planning, and performance, he lauded the efforts of Adityanath for setting the state on the path to give a “super hit” performance.
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani too praised the Chief Minister whom he called him a “karma yogi” while many others like Adani Group chief Gautam Adani, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrashekharan, Apollo Hospitals Vice Chairperson Shobana Kamineni, Essel Group Chairman Subhash Chandra, Mahindra and Mahindra Chairman Anand Mahindra also complimented him for “setting things right enough” to set pace for more investment in the state.
Adani announced that his company would invest more than Rs 35,000 crore for projects including a 1,000 MW solar plant, developing a storage capacity of 6 lakh tonnes, multi-model logistics parks, 5,000 MW solar parks, world class food and agri-complexes and a world class multi-disciplinary university and skill development center in Noida.
Kumarmangalam Birla of the Aditya Birla Group said UP was set for its front ranking place in the nation with the “hallmark leadership style of Yogi”. “I am impressed by the inexhaustible energy of the Chief Minister… am very bullish about the prospects of UP under him” he said while committing Rs 25,000 crore for the state in the next five years.
Mahindra reminisced about his mother’s early life in Allahabad and then as a history teacher at IT College in Lucknow, saying his visit was like a “home coming”.
He also thanked the Chief Minister for his promising ideas and announced that if the spirit went on course in future too he would be setting up an electric vehicle manufacturing unit in the state.
Mahindra also announced that its flagship Club Mahindra would set up a 200 bed time share unit in Varanasi circuit while Subhash Chandra also assured all help and support in Adityanath’s initiative to make UP a front-ranking state of the country.
Chandrashekharan also announced that TCS would now on not wrap up its Lucknow operations, as was the case earlier but would now also set up a 30,000 people new campus of the TCS in the state.
“TCS will continue to be in Lucknow and also strengthen its presence elsewhere in the state,” he said, also saying an IT centre would be set up in Varanasi, Modi’s parliamentary constituency.
Kamineni, who is also industry lobby CII’s President, said that she had not long ago brought with her a delegation of 60 top CEOs and announced that the Apollo Hospital was working with Cisco on an important project in Varanasi.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Business Summit, Economy, Emerging Businesses, Events, Finance, Investing, Markets, News, Politics, SMEs
By Mohit Dubey,
Lucknow : The eleven-month-old Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh is pulling out all stops to make the UP Investors Meet on February 21-22 a grand success and a spectacle to remember — with promises to bring in investments of Rs 1 lakh crore (about $15 billion).
The government machinery in the state capital is on overdrive — over 1,000 rooms have been booked in plush five- and four-star properties, four different menus of seven-course meals have been finalised, over 2,500 policemen have been requisitioned for the VVIP gathering and a fleet of dozens of cars has been booked.
That’s not all. Gallons of paint have been sanctioned to spruce up the road sides, roads are being relaid, the entire route to be taken by the guests has been lit up with LED lights. Murals of prominent city monuments are being painted on the walls of flyovers, new greenery is being planted and more than a dozen bureaucrats are burning the midnight oil to make the event a mega success.
With President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley flying into the city for the two-day jamboree, the bureaucracy and the state government are trying to finalise the minutest of details and to ensure that the state is showcased in the best of ways to attract maximum investment.
A Who’s Who of the business world, including Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, and top executives from majors like Cadila, Mahindra and Mahindra, Torrent and Essel, have confirmed their attendance at the event, which is aimed at hard-selling the state which for years has had promises made but negligible investments.
A war room has been created at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Bhavan where dozens of bureaucrats, assisted by top company executives, are working “almost 24×7” to ensure that the loose ends are tied before the mega event. Alok Pandey, a Gujarat cadre IAS officer on deputation to Uttar Pradesh, who is also the nodal officer for the investors meet, informed IANS that “almost every day, all officials involved leave the war room only around midnight”. Other top bureaucrats involved are being led by Industrial and Infrastructure Development Commissioner (IIDC) Anoop Chandra Pandey and Principal Secretary Navneet Sehgal and many more.
Sources told IANS that MoUs for more than Rs 1 lakh crore investment have been signed and would be exchanged on the inaugural day in the presence of the Prime Minister.
The Adani group has shown its willingness to set up a Mega Logistics Hub in the NCR (National Capital Region). It has also offered to set up a private university in the NCR and the mandarins in the state government are scurrying for land for these projects. Some 1,000 acres have been offered in Bulandshahr, neighboring the NCR, and to show its seriousness to investors, the state government has also sent a proposal to the Union government to expand the NCR up to Bulandshahr, an official said.
The IIDC Pandey told IANS that the “state government is determined like never before to get investments and to ensure that the investors get the best possible facilities in return”. It is for the first time in the state that sector-wise policies are being made under the Investment and Employment Promotion Policy, officials said. With the state and the Centre ruled by the BJP, the “seriousness and convertibility of promises looks tempting”, averred a senior bureaucrat.
“There have been similar events by predecessor governments on a smaller scale, but with very little returns. This is possibly the last chance for the state to salvage its image as a promising destination for investment and to sell all that it has,” Kiron Chopra, a prominent city industrialist, pointed out, adding it should not be just to invite people with no deliverables.
A private PR company has been hired to handle the promotions and social media, and its staff is stationed at the war room to ensure that every event — like the five road shows in various cities of the country — are telecast live on social media and all pictures and news related to the event are posted on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Youtube.
The opposition is, however, unimpressed. Chief spokesman of the main opposition Samajwadi Party Rajendra Chowdhary said “public money is being wasted” by the BJP government to “hide its failures in the 11 months of its rule in the state and four years at the Centre”.
He further accused the Yogi Adityanath government of trying to hoodwink the people with such grand events even as the state suffers from poor law and order, soaring crime and distress among the farmers.
Stuti Kaul, an old Lucknowite, however, is less cynical and more optimistic. She is happy that the city is being spruced up like never in the past and pats the BJP government for “at least trying”.
Whether the results of the mega event will show up or not is up to the future. It’s wait and watch till then as the state, for now, soaks itself in the spirit of the investors meet.
(Mohit Dubey can be contacted at mohit.d@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Investing, Opinions, Property
By Taponeel Mukherjee,
As India’s Finance Minister is days away from presenting Budget 2018, there are two key issues that he must address to boost investment and growth in the country. They are: Non-tax revenues from land bank monetisation of public institutions, and full tax-exempt status for income from debt instruments issued by Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) in India.
The budget must pay attention to non-tax sources of revenues especially with a view to partially monetising the land banks of large public institutions such as the Indian Railways and the Airport Authority of India (AAI).
Land bank monetisation solves two core problems for India — lack of available land for infrastructure and lack of financing for infrastructure. It also leads to productive use of an asset of great value that is lying idle. Land utilised for infrastructure will be land that will be used for productive purposes and therefore will create jobs, a much-needed requirement for a young and growing population.
While talk of land bank monetisation has been around for over a decade, little has been done by way of a fully structured policy and its consequent implementation. What the budget needs to outline is a strategy around land bank monetisation much beyond simply stating numbers.
First and foremost, the budget will have to create an incentive mechanism based on the attractiveness of the land. Not all parcels of land can be sold to the investor for an upfront payment. Given the time involved with utilising land parcels to set up infrastructure projects, the government needs to create a mechanism that allows for a partial upfront payment of the land value followed by a revenue-share model to incentivise private investments.
In addition, the payment from the land monetisation needs to be specifically earmarked for use within the institution whose land bank is monetised. For instance, if Indian Railways’ land bank is monetised it should contribute towards reducing the dependency of the Railways on central budgetary allocations. This mechanism of specifically earmarking funds to be used leads to public institutions getting a cash inflow through the land monetisation and subsequent payments from the infrastructure created. Hence the public institution is partially weaned of central budgetary allocations with greater internal fund generation capacity.
We cannot overemphasise the need for accountability regarding fund utilisation. An effective policy of land bank monetisation in the budget and a thorough implementation of the policy will go a long way towards creating and financing much needed infrastructure in India.
The second key issue that the budget needs to address is regarding taxation of debt issued by Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs). From a policy perspective, it is important to realise that the REITs and InvITs aren’t merely investment vehicles but an alternative to the capital markets. A fully functional REITs and InvITs regime will allow real estate and infrastructure companies to utilise their assets to generate capital that they can reinvest in their businesses. A fully functional REITs and InvITs regime will also allow transparency and clarity around asset quality, thus allowing investors to separate the good investments from the rest of the pack.
What is needed to propel investments in this space is to give interest income from debt securities issues by InvITs and REITs fully tax-exempt status on the lines of municipal bonds in the US. It is important to not look at this tax-exemption as “lost revenues”, given the fact that not a single REIT has listed in India yet. On the contrary giving interest income from debt securities issued by REITs and InvITs fully tax-exempt status encourages institutional investors to provide capital to these investment vehicles and get compensated for risk.
A vibrant investment vehicle environment in India where asset recycling through REITs and InvITs can take place efficiently has significant multiplier effects such as bringing down the cost of credit, boosting new project creation, and creation of much needed infrastructure for the public.
In summary, the Finance Minister must view land bank monetisation and tax-exemption of debt securities issued by REITs and InvITs as aiding in the expansion of capital markets in India. These two strategies make public institutions a lot more self-sufficient than earlier and enable a better investment ecosystem around real estate and infrastructure investments. Budget 2018 must give infrastructure and real estate sectors the much-needed push to propel the India growth story forward.
(Taponeel Mukherjee heads Development Tracks, an infrastructure advisory firm. He can be contacted at taponeel.mukherjee@development-tracks.com or @taponeel on Twitter)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Investing, Large Enterprise
New York : US auto giant Ford will massively increase investments in electric vehicles and roll out 40 hybrid and electric models by 2022, Executive Chairman Bill Ford said.
The Detroit-based company previously said that it would invest $4.5 billion in electric products by 2020, and on Sunday it said that this number would rise to $11 billion.
“The 11 billion you’re seeing means we’re all-in now,” Xinhua quoted Ford as saying. He added that the only question is whether the customers will be there with them.
Ford believed that the answer would be positive.
According to Ford executives, the company plans to add 16 electric and 24 hybrid vehicles to its global line-up by 2022.
At the 2018 North American International Auto Show here, Ford also announced that by 2020 it would build a hybrid F-150 pickup, its bestselling vehicle.
“We want to show that the company is electrifying all iconic vehicles,” said Jim Farley, President Global Markets for Ford.
—IANS
