Today's Biz Bit

• Setting up industrial units, including SEZs, may become more difficult in areas inhabited by tribal population from next year. As per the proposals in the draft tribal policy, which would be put before a group of ministers for approval soon, land acquisition in tribal areas would have to be guided by the principle of land for land, market value of land, concept of net present value (NPV) of assets and social impact assessment. Besides, the land acquirer would have to ensure lifelong livelihood of entire tribal community of the area in terms of providing job in the industrial units or imparting training to them for their employability. (ET)
  

• The Justice Wadhwa committee, set up by SEBI to work out an equitable method to compensate individual investors, who were short-changed in IPOs between 2003 and 2005, has recommended that they be compensated in monetary terms. The committee has worked out a compensation of Rs 92 crore for investors who had applied for shares in the retail category in 21 IPOs. (ET)
  

• Phoenix Lamps, who was acquired by PE firm Actis last year, is in advanced talks with Surya Roshni for its lighting business. If the deal with Surya goes through, Phoenix would become a strong No. 2 player behind Philips in India. (ET)
  

• The automobile industry is witnessing the second wave of alliances and JVs between global and Indian cos. Foreign cos want to leverage India’s engineering skills for cost-efficient manufacturing and source components from India for both global and local operations. (ET)
  

• The govt. is planning to introduce the concept of ‘deemed approval’ for various regulatory agencies to fast-track consolidation. The new company law and rules will prescribe time-frames for all regulatory approvals and if the regulators do not meet the deadline, it will be presumed that approval has been granted. Besides M&A, corporate restructuring endorsed by three-fourths of secured creditors will also have to be approved within a time frame. (ET)
  

• Telecom Secretary DS Mathur, in a letter to the MoF has stated that a change in the entry fee that operators must pay for a telecom license cannot be considered since the matter was approved by the cabinet in October 2003. The letter was in response to a letter by Finance Secretary D Subbarao, who had requested the department of telecommunications (DoT) to “stay” the issue of new licences and those for cross-over technology (from CDMA to GSM services). (ET)
  

• According to the deputy governor of Bank Indonesia, Indian banks, including SBI and ICICI are looking at acquiring Indonesian banks. SBI acquired a controlling stake in PT Bank IndoMonex in 2005. More acquisitions in Indonesia would expectedly increase SBI’s presence in the ASEAN region. It is also vital for SBI’s strategy to become a global bank and is in line with the vision of the MoF, which wants SBI to become a large global bank with presence in top international markets. (FE)
  

• Ford Motor Co is poised to name Tata Motors the preferred bidder for its Jaguar and Land Rover brands, Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper reported. An announcement to this effect could come in the next fortnight, with the Tatas expected to pay about 1 billion pounds ($2 billion) for the brands, it added. The Tatas are competing in the auction for the 2 iconic brands with Mahindra & Mahindra and PE firm One Equity Partners. (FE)
  

• A study by economic think-tank ICRIER has said that India and Pakistan have a trade potential of $11.7 billion , provided that 2 countries take proactive measures to exploit untapped areas of economic cooperation. The study is based on surveys of business people and has identified export potential of $2.2 billion from Pakistan to India. On the other hand, India can ship goods worth $9.5 billion per annum to its neighbour. (FE)