TPT January 2011

G lobal M arketplace

“Africa looks remarkably similar to what India was 15 years ago,” BusinessWeek was told by Firdhose Coovadia, director of African operations at Essar Group. This $15 billion multinational conglomerate, based in Mumbai, has interests mainly in steel and energy. Said Mr Coovadia, “We can’t lose this opportunity.” Messrs Srivastava and Sharma noted that Indian companies also see Africa as a hedge against a possible slowdown at home. Apollo Tyres, India’s No. 2 tyre maker, bought South Africa’s Dunlop Tyres for $62 million in 2006, giving the Indian firm two manufacturing plants on the continent and brand rights in 32 African countries.

› Coal India Ltd is considering the acquisition of assets inAustralia, Indonesia, and the US, its chairman Partha Bhattacharyya said on 25 October. As noted by Bloomberg News [12 November], mines overseas would help state-run Coal India meet demand from power stations that is rising faster than production in Asia’s No. 2 energy- consuming nation. The Kolkata-based company, which held $8.7 billion in cash and bank deposits at the end of June 2010, has set aside $1.3 billion for acquisitions in the year ending March 2011. A rumoured American purchase, for less than $1 billion, is a mine in Central Appalachia owned by Massey Energy Co (Richmond, Virginia). Dorothy Fabian , Features Editor (USA)

Apollo’s managing director Neeraj Kanwar said, “If tomorrow the Indian economy were to take a U-turn, then at least you have other markets which are growing.” › With all its appeal to Indian companies seeking new markets, Africa by no means represents the limit of their motivation or their range. According to the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), Indian firms are increasingly buying up businesses abroad as strategic acquisitions, indicating the growing competitiveness in the Indian corporate sector. The website of the IBEF, a public-private partnership between the Government of India and the Confederation of Indian Industry, offers some striking statistics: ◆ In 2009, Indian companies were the second-largest foreign corporate employers in Britain, after US corporations; ◆ Also in 2009, close to 75% of India’s outward-bound investments were in Singapore, Sudan, Mauritius, the British Virgin Islands and the United Arab Emirates. The value of these investments, to gain full or minority ownership, totalled $8.4 billion; ◆ Over the first half of 2010, Indian companies invested in 129 companies outside their borders with a total value of $18.3 billion; ◆ According to a recent analysis by Grant Thornton India, cited in Epoch Times (20 October), in August 2010 alone Indian companies closed on 15 negotiated overseas business deals worth $28 million. By comparison, in August 2009 such deals amounted to $8 million.

71

www.read-tpt.com

J anuary 2011

›