The year 2009 saw the industry combating the shadows of global slowdown. A year full of challenges, which kick-started with the Vibrant Gujarat summit, was also a blessing in disguise in some cases especially with pharma companies returning homewards to Gujarat or brain drain from the reputed insitutes like IITs and IIMs being contained for the time being. While acquisitions and mergers gained some momentum in the later half of 2009, some of the special economic zone projects were hit. Companies responded with more innovative solutions while waking up to newer challenges. Problems in land acquisitions continue to remain although the process has been far more peaceful in Gujarat as compared to other states. This can be guaged from the fact that the first Nano by Tata Motors at Sanand got ready this year
JANUARY
Vibrant Gujarat defies slowdown
It’s easy to figure out the reason for Modi’s soaring ambition. Vibrant Gujarat 2009, which ended on January 12, saw investment commitments to the tune of $240 billion, or Rs 12 lakh crore, which is 30 per cent more than the country’s gross fixed capital formation in the first half of the current fiscal. The total MoUs signed in the previous three such summits saw total investment commitments of $185 billion (Rs 6.5 lakh crore). Not everyone was impressed with these figures as doubts have been expressed over the conversion rate of these commitments. The Congress, which is the main opposition party in the state, says Vibrant Gujarat is too much of hype as the conversion rate is only 25 per cent. The state government predictably trashes this. Around 60 per cent of investment commitments have actually come, officials say. If these numbers are correct, it’s a significant achievement by any yardstick. And industrialists say there are solid reasons for this enthusiasm, one of them being the state’s ability to execute projects in double-quick time. In his speech on the opening day, Tata group Chairman Ratan Tata said, "States usually take 90-180 days to give clearances for land and other issues. When we were in the process of moving our Nano project to Gujarat, the state government gave us the clearances in just three days. It has never happened before."
The leading lights of Indian industry — Mukesh Ambani, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Shashi Ruia, Anand Mahindra, Tulsi Tanti etc. — who were present seem to agree, going by the fact that each of them committed mega investments in the state. Vibrant Gujarat was also a personal victory of sorts for Modi. For the summit saw the world opening up to the state, which had slid in the world’s view after the 2002 riots. While Japan was a partner to the two-day Summit, the event saw participation from over 40 countries, including Germany, Spain, Italy, the US, the UK, Canada, France, Kenya, Uganda and Sri Lanka.
Earlier, over 110 MPs passed an early-day motion in UK’s House of Commons to support the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit 2009. And this was for the brainchild of a man who was in 2005 denied a diplomatic visa to visit that country because of the post-Godhra riots slur.
FEBRUARY
Also Read
Adani plans to merge three SEZs
For the first time since its inception in 2006, the Board of Approval on special economic zones (SEZs) in its March meeting took up a proposal from a developer to merge these tax-free industrial enclaves for exports. The Adani group sought the board’s approval to merge its three SEZs at Mundra in Gujarat. The merger will result in lesser expenses on infrastructure, utilities and administration. The three adjacent Adani SEZs are situated near the Mundra Port which too has been promoted by the group. While two of these are multi-product zones, the third is a power SEZ. The combined area of the three SEZs is well over 6,000 hectares.
MARCH
Ahmedabad set to become Vodafone's services hub
In a bid to increase efficiency, telecom major Vodafone Essar is set to relocate over 1,500 of its employees to Ahmedabad from all over the country. With Vodafone planning to make Ahmedabad its services hub, the city is all set to see an influx of telecom professionals from across 23 circles of the company. What’s more, Vodafone also plans to integrate certain international services at the hub. Vodafone, which is setting up a shared-service centre in Ahmedabad at an investment of Rs 200 crore, had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Gujarat government for this purpose.
Meltdown contains brain-drain
Thanks to the global meltdown, the brain-drain to foreign countries from major institutes like the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) is on the wane as of now. Not everyone is calling it a trend, but Indian companies, especially government-owned ones, aren’t complaining. "With fewer foreign companies visiting campus for placements, students are now increasingly open to domestic companies, especially from the public sector. Students have also become more affordable for Indian firms," said Samir Barua, director of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A). "The fascination that students had for foreign companies has gone down," he added.
APRIL
ONGC-TERI in race to clean Gulf oil spill
ONGC–Teri Biotech Ltd (OTBL), a joint venture between Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) and The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri), is competing to get a contract for cleaning the huge oil spill left over from the 1991 Gulf war in Kuwait. The contract has been floated by Kuwait Oil Company and backed by the United Nations. ONGC has qualified for final bidding of the first phase of the bioremediation project, worth $3 billion. OTBL had first used the microbial product, Oilzapper, in a water body at Mehsana in Gujarat to eliminate an oil spill and manage the sludge created from the first oil well in the region.
MAY
IPL gets a clone in APL
Indian Premier League (IPL) fever may have gripped the country, but in Ahmedabad, cricket fanatics are coping with it in their own way — a mini, amateur version of the Twenty20 tournament called the Ahmedabad Premier League (APL), which began on May 7. The 79-match tournament replicates IPL in almost every way, complete with team franchisees and quirky names, though not the big bucks. Overall, 18 teams were bought and 160 players auctioned on a point system in a span of five hours. This is how it worked. Each owner was given 1,000 points by way of an ‘asset value’ in exchange for Rs 2,350 to buy a team and an additional 8,520 points as ‘liquid points’ to buy players from other teams. Another similarity with the IPL is that the local teams also have some innovative names — Ahmedabad Fakers, Spartans, King Dons, Bullishers, Dark Horse Riders, Devil King Warriors, M United, Rising Star, D Vintage, Splenetics, Youth XI and Wizards to name a few.
Diamond industry comes out of the shadow of global meltdown
Surat diamond industry regained its lost sparkle. The diamond trade had taken a major hit due to global financial crisis. Out of the total 2,500 to 3,000 diamond cutting and polishing units operational before Diwali vacation in 2008, only 1,000 units could start their operations after the recession had taken its toll on the industry. In May 500 more units resumed work signalling recovery in the market.
JUNE
SEZ dreams hit roadblock in Gujarat
The plunge in the economic growth dented the SEZ dreams of some leading IT & steel players in Guajrat in 2009. Pune-based Vascon Engineers Limited decided to put the project on hold for time indefinite in June this year . The Rs 350 crore project, which was announced in mid 2008, was to be jointly developed by Vascon alongwith Agrawal Estate Organisers of Gujarat and Pristine Properties of Pune. The same month saw DLF deciding to go ahead with its four IT park projects in Gujarat, Haryana, Orissa and West Bengal, sans the SEZ status. DLF had planned 25-acre IT SEZ in Gandhinagar. A few other heavy-weight SEZ projects met with the same fate.
The dip in overseas steel market together with revival in domestic demand changed the SEZ plans of Essar Steel and Welspun Gujarat Stahl Rohren Ltd, two leading players in the steel industry, in September. While Essar Steel may scrap its proposed steel SEZ at Hazira, Welspun Gujarat is considering shifting its existing unit outside the Engineering SEZ at Anjar in Gujarat. Essar has so far invested about Rs 8,000 crore in three manufacturing units and about Rs 200 crore of a proposed Rs 1,000 crore as a developer.
Kandla Port Based Special Economic Zone (KPBSEZ), the country’s first port-based SEZ to come up near Kandla in 5,000 hectares also landed in choppy waters.The developer has chalked out project cost of Rs 7,300 crore for development of the zone however the project the development work failed to start even after over two years of getting notified.
JULY
Japan plans Rs 2k crore eco-town in Dahej
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is aiming to set up an eco-town at Dahej on the lines of Kitakyushu Eco Town. The project is expected to be a part of the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), the first phase of which will come up in Gujarat. The investment for the project could to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore, said a government official familiar with the development. The project titled 'Gujarat Re-cycle and Waste Management Zone' will envisage setting up eco-towns at various places in Gujarat including Dahej and Panoli. Dahej which falls in the Dahej Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) will be the main hub.
Cadila-Novavax to produce swine-flu vaccines
I A Modi-controlled Cadila Pharmaceuticals joins hands with US-based biotechnology firm Novavax to produce swine flu (H1N1) vaccine. Under the JV CPL Biologicals, the company aims to roll out 10 million doses of swine flu vaccine (H1N1) in the first phase from January-February next year while it can ramp up the production to 250 million doses over a period of time. CPL Biologicals is creating a manufacturing facility at Dholka for about Rs 100 crore where it will produce for virus-like particle-based (VLP-based) vaccines including H1N1. Currently the company is awaiting a nod from Drug Controller General of India for conduting H1N1 clinical trails.
AUGUST
Denim firms flooded with export orders as global economy revives
After witnessing a sluggish trend for the past couple of quarters, denim manufacturers have reason to cheer. With various countries recovering from the global financial meltdown, orders have started pouring in for many denim companies. The revival has been such that denim players are experiencing a tsunami of orders. Arvind Limited, India’s largest denim producer based in Ahmedabad, has its hands full with export orders. The firm has a denim production capacity of 75 lakh metres a month.
PMT under GPCB scanner for oil spill
Gujarat Pollution Control Board has got cracking into the mysterious crude oil spillage incident that has polluted the coasts of South Gujarat. A team of GPCB has also been rushed to look into the Panna Mukta Tapti (PMT) western offshore operation. A leakage in a subsea oil evacuation pipeline system was observed about few days ago, said a senior official of GPCB. The field was producing about 40,000 barrels of crude per day. The PMT oil fields are jointly operated by Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), Reliance Industries and BG India. ONGC holds 40% stake in these gas fields, while Reliance Industries and BG India own 30% each. Following the sub-sea leak, production at the three fields in western offshore was halted about a fortnight ago.
SEPTEMBER
Reliance Jamnagar SEZ set to become country’s largest SEZ
Coming out of the shadows after facing a slump in the economy, Reliance Industries’ (RIL) special economic zone (SEZ) in Jamnagar is likely to emerge as the largest SEZs in the country. Reliance SEZ is expected to export goods worth at least Rs 50,000 crore by March 2010. Exports from the refinery have already touched Rs 18,000 crore till August 31.In 2008-09 exports from SEZs in Gujarat stood at Rs 26,000 crore.
Clinton Foundation to set up five solar parks in Gujarat
Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI), a programme of US based William J Clinton Foundation, signed an memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Gujarat government for setting up solar parks in Gujarat. Each park will serve as a concentrated zone of solar development and will include 3,000 plus megawatts of solar generation as well as manufacturing facilities for an overall investment of about Rs 50,000 crore. The Foundation is aiming to set up one of the projects in a special economic zone for solar park that has been jointly proposed by the state and the Centre.
Godrej Properties acquires land for township in Ahmedabad
In what could be the first major land deal in Ahmedabad after Tata Motors parked their Nano project at Sanand a year ago, Godrej Properties - the realty vertical of Godrej Group has completed acquisition of over 100 acres near Ahmedabad for its 'Godrej Garden City' project.
OCTOBER
India's first full-fledged BRT system launched in Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS), touted as the country's first such full fledged project, was launched on Wednesday. With the launch, the city now gets around 25 BRTS buses plying on a 12.5 km stretch from RTO to Chandranagar of the total 55 km of phase one. At a project cost of Rs 80 crore, the 12.5 km long first section of phase one was launched by Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat from Chandranagar. "This is the first such full fledged BRTS project in the country because similar projects in Delhi and Pune do not carry systems like control room, IT infrastructure, dedicated buses, etc. The Delhi BRT, rather, is primarily a road infrastructure project or high-capacity bus service in which all types of buses run in a lane designed for the BRTS," said Dilip Mahajan, deputy municipal commissioner, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC). Officially named as 'Janmarg' by Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, Ahmedabad BRTS is being rolled out under the the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme of the Central government. The project's phase one will be completed by March 2010, Mahajan added.
Riverfront could displace over 1 lakh: study
Uncertainty lurks over rehabilitation of people to get displaced due to the ambitious Sabarmati River Front Development project. According to a study by IIM-A, over one lakh people from the riverbed and surrounding areas are likely to get displaced and a proper rehabilitation plan is yet to be made public. The findings are part of a larger study project undertaken by Ghanshyam Shah and Navdeep Mathur at IIM-A in collaboration with Ford Foundation called 'The Globalizing This is in stark contrast to figures given by government officials of about 7,000 families. Livelihoods have been poorly understood in the larger visions of policy elites, mischaracterized as ‘jobs’, the study pointed out. Assets have been misunderstood and narrowly constructed in both policymaking as well as existing legal frameworks, it said.
World’s first convertible stadium to come up in Ahmedabad
TransStadia, a Setco group company promoted by the Sheths, is building the world’s first convertible multipurpose stadium in Ahmedabad. The company is investing approximately Rs 300 crore for the project. TransStadia is in discussions with leading private equity players and strategic investors for the initiative. It is also in discussions with various state governments and private parties to create integrated sporting complexes. The other cities where such facilities can be developed are Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Lucknow and Pune.
NOVEMBER
ONGC close to big oil find in North Kadi
The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has found traces of a new oil reserve in Gujarat which could increase the company’s total onshore oil production by about 20 per cent. This could be the largest onshore find for the company in the last one decade. The new hydrocarbon structure located at North Kadi in the Mehsana area is likely to produce at least 1 mmtpa of oil. This is a little less than half the oil production from Mehsana, the company’s largest onshore field with a production of 2.2 mmtpa. ONGC has about 1,200 drilling wells in Mehsana. The new location will require about 500 wells to be drilled and the estimated investment for this would be about Rs 500 crore, industry sources said. ONGC has completed the seismic study of the area and will start drilling once it gets the requisite permissions.
Land trouble may trip N-power in Gujarat
Nuclear Power Corporation is facing protests from farmers for its 6000 Mw nuclear plant, who are refusing to make way for the Rs 50,000 crore project, the first major initiative after the civilian nuclear agreement between India and the US. Villagers at Jasapara and 30 other nearby villages have collectively signed a petition and informed the authorities about their stand. About 1,000 hectare of land has been surveyed by government officials in the recent past. Though the name given to the project is Mithi Virdi Atomic Power Project, the area identified is about two km away from Mithi Virdi and is called Jasapara.
DECEMBER
Tata Motors readies first Nano at Sanand mother-plant
Tata Motors commenced trial production of the first batch of the Nano at the new mother plant at the Sanand facility last week. The company will start commercial production of the ‘People’s Car’ from March onwards.
Holidays ending, Gujarat pharma cos return home
Gujarat-based pharma companies are turning homewards, as their honeymoon period in the tax-free havens of hill states like Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand ends in March 2010.
Telangana row hits Surat's synthetic textile industry
Political instability and violence following the demand to carve a separate state out of Andhra Pradesh has dented the Rs 40,000-crore Surat-based synthetic textile industry. The industry is losing Rs 5-6 crore business daily due to the turbulence. With shops shut almost everyday in the southern state, the demand for synthetic fabric and finished goods from Surat has also taken a hit and the situation is getting worse, with the festive season of Pongal approaching amid such a crisis, according to industry sources. Surat, which trades Rs 110 crore worth of synthetic fabric a day, supplies about 10 per cent of the total fabric to Andhra Pradesh.
Kiri Dyes acquires DyStar
City-based Kiri Dyes and Chemicals Ltd (KDCL) became the much-talked about company in the chemical sector after the acquisition of DyStar Group, a global market leader for dyes and textile solutions. Kiri Dyes acquired the Rs 5,440 crore German giant that filed for insolvency in September. The deal size is estimated at about 100-125 million euro that will be used in restructuring and paying the liabilities of the company.