Former Gujarat Metro chief Sanjay Gupta to launch PE fund

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Ahmedabad, Sept 3:  

Bureaucrat-turned-entrepreneur Sanjay Gupta, who resigned recently as Executive Chairman of the Rs 22,000-crore Metro-link Express for Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad (MEGA), to return to his own businesses, is floating a private equity fund to initially raise Rs 250-300 crore from India and abroad to fund his enterprises as well as those of others.

Gupta, who last week said he was following in N. R. Narayana Murthy's footsteps while returning to his businesses, told Business Line here that in his fresh endeavour to raise a PE fund, he is following the example of the Tatas to fund his own companies, besides those of others.

He has already approached the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in this regard and hopes to obtain its regulatory approvals in the next couple of months for operationalising the fund.

His PE fund, called Let India Fly for Ever, or LIFE, will focus on the media, hospitality, healthcare and lifestyle businesses. This is being done with a vision to accelerate the growth of upcoming SMEs and profit-focused start-ups from different industry sectors.

The first scheme to be launched under this PE fund is titled ‘India Aspiration Scheme’ which will focus on SMEs and industries with a turnover between Rs 20 crore to Rs 200 crore. The LIFE fund falls under Category II–AIS SEBI regulations.

In view of entrepreneurs facing challenges in finding growth capital, LIFE will infuse capital in select enterprises to overcome bottlenecks and accelerate the country’s growth, Gupta said.

Apart from infusing financial support to the SMEs, LIFE fund will also provide business intelligence and a support network pertaining to a range of businesses depending upon their need and situation.

An IAS officer of the 1985 batch of the Gujarat cadre, Gupta had resigned after Narendra Modi became the Chief Minister in October 2001. The former bureaucrat, known for his networking expertise and turning around the GSPC Group, joined the Adani Group as an Advisor and later became an entrepreneur. He had joined MEGA, the special purpose vehicle for the Metro project, in April 2011. “Following its financial closure achieved last week, anybody can now implement the project,” he added.

Before stepping down as Metro chief on health grounds and to focus on his string of businesses, Gupta said a consortium of 10 public banks headed by Punjab National Bank (PNB) had sanctioned a debt of Rs 4,700 crore, of which Rs 3,100 crore has been allocated for Phase-IA, that would be implemented by August 2017.

Gupta is the promoter of business conglomerate Neesa Group with interests in a 1,200-room hotel chain, infrastructure, food and agritech, real estate, construction, IT and media business.

Raghuram Rajan to take over as RBI Governor on Thursday

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Mumbai, Sept 3:  

Raghuram Rajan will take over as the RBI Governor on Thursday. He takes over at a time when the country is battling a rapid fall in the rupee, high inflation, low growth and burgeoning current account deficit.

A former chief economist with the International Monetary Fund and economic advisor to the Finance Ministry, 50-year-old Rajan will take over a difficult assignment from Duvvuri Subbarao on his completing five years in Mint Road.

Rajan has already said that he has no magic wand to face the challenge before the country but would deal with them one at a time.

The Government, which was at the receiving end of Subbarao’s unrelenting focus on inflation control at the cost of low interest rates, would hope that the new incumbent would reverse some of those policies.

“We have enough ideas. It is not just the currency, it is financial inclusion, it is growth. I think there is a lot to do. There are challenges in the economy... These things are not going to be overcome overnight. There is no magic wand.

But there are undoubtedly solutions to many of the problems that the RBI can tackle and the job is to go ahead and do it.

“We will do it one step at a time. Make sure that it progresses every day,” he told reporters yesterday on his last day of office at the Finance Ministry.

Rajan, who was appointed as the Chief Economic Advisor in the Finance Ministry in August last year, brings to the RBI a vast experience gained at the IMF and during the brief stint in the government.

Known for his frank views, Rajan, who will be the 23rd Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), was acclaimed for predicting the 2008 global financial crisis. In 2005, he had delivered a lecture critical of the financial sector, arguing that a financial disaster might be looming.

Bajaj Hindusthan appoints Anand Kumar Kanodia as CFO

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New Delhi, Sept 3:  

The country’s largest sugar firm Bajaj Hindusthan today appointed Anand Kumar Kanodia as the new Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

The decision was taken at the meeting of the Audit Committee held today, the firm said in a filing to the BSE.

Kanodia will replace Manoj Maheshwari, who will continue as a whole-time director of the company in new role as Director and Group CFO, it said.

The company also said that its Board has approved the extension of current financial year by six months till March 31, 2014 instead of September 30, 2013.

The company has reported a net loss of Rs 157.47 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal ended on June 30.

Bajaj Hindusthan has 14 sugar plants in Uttar Pradesh with a sugarcane crushing capacity of 136,000 TCD (tonnes crushed per day) and a distillery capacity to produce 8 lakh litres of alcohol a day.

The company scrip closed at Rs 12.63, down 5.96 per cent at the BSE.

Eastern Railway passenger earnings up 12% during April-July

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Kolkata, Sept 3:  

Eastern Railway posted a 12 per cent growth in passenger earnings to nearly Rs 636 crore between April and July this year, as against a little more than Rs 567 crore during the year-ago period.

According to a release, ER’s miscellaneous earnings (particularly penalties collected from passengers) were nearly 7 per cent higher at Rs 14.33 crore during the period.

Anil Group announces restructuring of its businesses

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Ahmedabad, Sept 3:  

Announcing a major restructuring and realignment of businesses at the Rs 1,000-crore Anil Group, the food-and-agri major said on Tuesday the initiative would consolidate the different synergistic businesses and add value and higher returns to its stakeholders.

The Board of Directors of Anil Ltd, the Rs 700 crore flagship company of the Group listed on the BSE, approved the restructuring on Monday. The process is expected to be completed by the end of this financial year after all the requisite approvals from shareholders, regulators, creditors, the High Court of Gujarat and other agencies concerned are obtained, Amol Sheth, Chairman and Managing Director, said in a statement here.

As per the restructuring plan, the Group’s existing corn wet milling (CWM) and bio-industrials business of Anil Bioplus Ltd (ABL) will now come under Anil Lifesciences Ltd, which will also get listed on the BSE subsequently. Anil Infraplus Ltd will be merged into Anil Ltd and Anil Technoplus Ltd, a subsidiary of Anil Infraplus Ltd, will become a subsidiary of Anil Ltd after this re-alignment.

Sheth said the proposed realignment will bring synergies between similar businesses thereby putting them on an accelerated growth path. KPMG was engaged to undertake this exercise of realignment and restructuring.