Organized retail comes to Hubli in a big way

Organized retail comes to Hubli in a big way
TOI

Organized retail chains are targeting Hubli, the commercial hub of north Karnataka, in a big way. With the Kishore Bayani group having launched its Big Bazar outlet in the city recently, the stage is set for the Reliance group’s fruits and vegetable outlets.

Reliance Retail’s fruits and vegetable arm, Reliance Fresh, is slated to simultaneously open a dozen outlets in Hubli-Dharwad to cater to the green groceries requirements of this second largest urban centre in the state with huge potential for growth in the future.


Work on the interiors of its first store on station Road here is complete and is expected to open sometime soon while bigger outlets are planned in Deshpande Nagar, Vidyanagar and the residential hotspot on Gokul Road leading to the local airport.

Though Reliance Retail officials are tightlipped about their future plans for the twin cities, the market is abuzz with reports that they will have nine outlets in Hubli and three in Dharwad. Considering the vegetable and fruit growing potential of north Karnataka region, these sound credible.

The city has recently witnessed a metamorphosis in the retail, food and entertainment scenario, with arrival Pizza Hut and café Coffee day, Food Court and branded retail chain store Girias before Big Bazaar, and the prospects of at least two malls and one multiplex taking shape in the near future.

A leading film distributor and exhibitor of the region, Raiker Entertainments, may be the first to come up with mall-cum-multiplex on P B Road in Vidyanagar, the educational hub of Hubli. He has already got a cinema license from the authorities to go ahead with the building plan.

Designed by Kembhavi Architecture Foundation, it will have two underground levels plus five upper floors; with a total built-up area of 2.5 lakh sq.ft. It will be the first centrally air-conditioned mall-cum-multiplex with full power back-up outside of Bangalore and Mangalore in Karnataka.

Ramesh Raiker of Raiker Entertainments told The Times of India: “The mall multiplex will have five theaters with capacities ranging from 150 to 350 seats. It will be first such facility in north Karnataka to have escalators from the ground level atrium to the top two floors housing the theatres.”

The underground levels will have parking space and hyper market for groceries and green groceries. The parking area will have elevators up to the upper floors.

The mall will accommodate anchor stores, retail stores for branded products, and food outlets of various sizes and formats to suit varying budgets.

Another mall-cum-multiplex is likely to come up on Gokul Road, which is fast emerging as the future residential and commercial hub of the city. A Bangalore-based real estate developer has plans to develop a shop ping mall near Court Circle in the heart of Hubli.

Tata mulls Rs 10,000-cr capex

Tata mulls Rs 10,000-cr capex
Press Trust of India ,Thursday,May 29,2008(Mumbai)

Tata Motors, has drawn up a Rs 10,000-crore capex plan over the next three years. It also expects to complete the Jaguar and Land Rover acquisitions by June and launch its small car, Nano, this fiscal, a top company official said.
“We have finalized a Rs 10,000-crore capital expenditure plan for the next three years, which includes launching 100 new products/variants, streamlining of existing production facilities and setting up four new greenfield units,” said Ravi Kant, Tata Motors' Managing Director.

“We are in the process of completing the Jaguar and Land Rover deals in the current quarter,” he added.

Tata Motors had agreed to buy the premium brands from Ford Motor Co for $2.3-billion in March.

Tata will begin selling its 623-cc Nano this year at a price expected to be around Rs 1 lakh this year.

“The Rs 10,000-crore capex would be funded through debt and internal accruals,” said Tata Motors' Chief Financial Officer, C Ramakrishnan.

The company said it was raising Rs 7,200 crore to finance its Jaguar and Land Rover acquisitions through three simultaneous but unlinked rights issues. It also proposed to raise about $500 or 600 million through an appropriate issue of securities in overseas markets on terms to be decided at a later date.

Tata had already raised $3 billion by way of a bridge loan from banks for 15 months and it plans to replace this by selling stakes in units, Ramakrishnan said, adding that it is yet to decide on listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Ravi Kant said that the company hoped to improve its market position by launching 100 new products/variants in the next 3-4 years. It has also received permission to manufacture an eco-friendly car in a joint venture at Thailand. The company's focus will be on fuel efficient new products both in utility vehicles as well as passenger vehicles.

The company plans to streamline its facilities at Pune and Lucknow and set up four new greenfield facilities at Uttarakhand, Singur, Dharwad and Ranjangaon, Ravi Kant said.

Commenting on pressure on the company's bottomline, Ravi Kant said, the Indian automobile industry is passing through a tough time due to an unprecedented increase in input costs amid difficult global economic conditions. Our margins were under pressure due to rising interest rates and constraints in availability of vehicle financing from outside sources.

Asked about the company's Singur plant which had come under attack from political parties, Ravi Kant said that "we are working whole-heartedly to meet our deadline (of launching the Nano car)."

Inox looks at tier II cities for expansion

Inox looks at tier II cities for expansion

Praveen Bose / Chennai/ Bangalore April 07, 2008

Business Standard

Multiplex scene may be getting crowded in places like Mumbai, but in Bangalore and other cities multiplex operators see a big untapped market waiting to be explored.

Bangalore, which many of the multiplex operators believe, is underscreened has space for another 15 or so multiplexes. Hence, there is lot of action being seen in the state.

Multiplex operators are taking their operations to tier II cities now. Inox, the multiplex operator, which claims to be the first to move into untapped markets, now plans to enter Belgaum and Hubli with multiplexes of 4-screen.

It has two multiplexes in Bangalore and plans to add another one in the city, adding six screens to its capacity in Bangalore. It plans to have a four-screen multiplex in Belgaum and another four screens in Hubli.

In January, it added three more screens in Bangalore with the start of its three-screen multiplex in Jayanagar in Bangalore. With that it now has eight-screens in Bangalore, with five screens in Garuda Mall.

It has signed up developers in Hubli and Belgaum for setting up its multiplexes. The eight screens will be operational by February-March ‘09. The multiplex operator spends an average of Rs 2.5 crore per screen.

By March 2009, Bangalore will see Inox adding another five screens in Bangalore with the expansion of its facility in Malleswaram in Western Bangalore at a Mantri Developers’ property. By July 2010, it is set to have its five screen multiplex up and running in Mangalore.

As of today, it has 26 properties running in the country, with 93 screens. Alok Tandon, COO, Inox Leisure said, “We have always believed in being the first to enter a market.”

In Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, it plans to set up around 50 screens and has already signed up properties. Inox looks at a payback time of five years.

Inox’s expansion plans for Bangalore comes close on the heels of major developments in the city on the multiplex front. Shringar Cinemas recently opened a multiplex at Fame Lido and is planning another one which is set to come up where once stood the Symphony theatre.

Wockhardt Hospitals to raise funds through PE

Wockhardt Hospitals to raise funds through PE

 

Economic Times

6 Apr, 2008, 1618 hrs IST, PTI

MUMBAI: After aborting its Initial Public Offer in February, Wockhardt Hospitals on Sunday said it is looking at raising funds through private equity.
"We are looking at raising funds through private equity. We are going through the process," Wockhardt Hospitals' CEO Vishal Bali said.
Wockhardt Hospitals was looking at raising Rs 800 crore through the IPO to repay debt and fund its expansion plans that included setting up 17 new hospitals by 2010.
But its IPO received poor response and was withdrawn. Its IPO was the second this calendar year to be withdrawn, the The first one being that of real estate player Emaar MGF.
Of the Rs 800 crore Wockhardt Hospitals had planned to raise, Rs 569 crore would have gone to expansion and the rest to repay unsecured debt, Wockhardt Hospitals MD Anil Kamath had said in January.
However, the delay in raising funds is not going to affect the expansion plans of the hospital, Bali said.
Wockhardt Hospitals plans to set up 17 new hospitals across the country by 2010 to take the total number of its healthcare facilities to 32. Of the proposed 17, 11 would be brownfield and the remaining six would be greenfield.
The new hospitals are planned in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata while the brownfield hospitals would come up in Tier II cities such as Goa, Bhopal, Bhavnagar, Nashik, Ludhiana, Jabalpur, Bhuj, Patna, Hubli and Varanasi.