Maruti Suzuki developing two facilities in Gujarat

Maruti, the largest subsidiary of Japanese carmaker Suzuki, has charted out its future production model on the lines of Haryana operations, where it operates five plants from two separate locations in Gurgaon and Manesar.

To finalise its Gujarat plans, SMC chairman Osamu Suzuki is making an unscheduled trip to India on January 24 and 25. Maruti is now directly acquiring a 480-acre plot at Ughroz and Ukarade villages in Gujarat from farmers. This is in addition to the 700 acres allotted to Maruti Suzuki for a manufacturing facility in Mehsana by the Gujarat government.

The company plans to invest around 4,000 crore in Gujarat in the first phase that would go into acquiring the land and constructing the proposed plant, which will have an initial annual capacity of 2.5 lakh cars. The company has planned new models for India along with a strategy to export more cars from the modern Manesar factory and the upcoming Gujarat facility.

"We are looking for a second location and the land is being acquired currently. We are saturated in Haryana with no scope of expansion. We would have a similar two-location model in Gujarat that would be developed and expanded in accordance with market demand," Maruti Suzuki chairman RC Bhargava had recently told reporters.

According to a top executive, Maruti has already started the process of acquiring additional land as it has learnt a few lessons from the increased land prices at its Manesar locations. A court order has recently asked the company to pay many times the 20 lakh per acre it shelled out to acquire around 600 acres in 2005. "To avoid further complexities, the company has decided to acquire more land on its own. The acquisition would be done directly from land owners keeping in mind its future needs. Land price have already started moving north in Gujarat," the executive added.

Purchase of new plots of lands is in accordance with the Maruti management's long-term agenda to expand its Indian manufacturing facilities, which will help Maruti meet future market demand in Asia. These new plants will be located around 100 km from Ahmedabad, and will be within a 300-km radius of the Mundra port, which has been developed by Maruti keeping in view its long-term export plans.

source: ET

Gujarat substantially expands area under organic farming

Availing a key horticulture promotion scheme of the government, Gujarat has made the most of it by substantially expanding its area under organic farming.
Under the organic component coverage as part of National Horticulture Mission (NHM), 2047 hectares has been reported across the country in 2010-11, with Gujarat alone accounted for 2000 hectares, an Agriculture Ministry's monthly review report said.
Chhattisgarh's share of coverage under organic farming was 45 hectare while the rest 2 hectare was in Kerala, the sources added.
Organic farming is the form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and control pests on a farm.
It excludes or strictly limits the use of manufactured fertilisers, pesticides (which include herbicides, insecticides and fungicides), plant growth regulators such as hormones, livestock antibiotics, food additives, and
genetically modified organisms.
Gujarat has been front-runner in usage of funds under NHM scheme.
The NHM progress report for the last year reveal that the state's expenditure of the central fund under the head was 115%.
Against release of Rs 5,497 crore up to February 2011, Gujarat had spent a sum of Rs 6,351.30 crore, a surplus of Rs 854 crore, the report added.
Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Naduand Uttar Pradesh also saw impressive performance under the scheme.

Gujarat's Amul ranked No.1 Indian brand

The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF)-owned Amul has been ranked the leading Indian brand in a study on Asia's top 1,000 brands. The study, by Campaign magazine published from Hong Kong and Singapore, has ranked Amul as the No 1 Indian brand for the third consecutive year. Amul is also ranked as the leading dairy brand, ahead of Asian rivals like Dutch Lady, Dumex and Magnolia.
The survey was conducted in Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. Other Indian brands which find their way in the survey include Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher, Kishore Biyani's Big Bazaar, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India and leading telecom services provider Airtel.
The survey was conducted by research firm TNS, across over 3,000 consumers in 10 countries, a statement released by GCMMF said.

Apart from butter and packaged and loose milk, Amul sells cheese, ice-cream, yogurt and desserts like shrikhand. GCMMF had announced last fortnight that its sales had crossed $2.2 billion (Rs 9,774 crore) in the 2010-11 fiscal.

$1.78 Billion to be Invested in Asia's Largest Solar Park (500 MW) in Gujarat

The government of the western state of Gujarat in India has announced the establishment of Asia's largest solar park that will provide 800 million units of power in two years when commissioned with a power production capacity of 500 MW.
The state-owned Gujarat Power Corporation is developing the solar park, which will cover 2,000 hectares of land, 1,000 hectares of which was government wasteland, in Charanka village near Santalpur in Patan district, northern Gujarat.
The companies like GMR and Lanco, will invest $1.78 billion in the proposed project and already received the allotment letter for the solar power generation under the Gujarat Solar Mission.
In the first phase of the operation, Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation will set up a power pooling station to collect the generated power from 150 solar power production companies that will generate around 176 MW. Out of the total allotted amount of $286 million, an amount of $78 million will be spent for the purchase of land and setting up of the power infrastructure and $139 million towards evacuation facilities. The project when completed will generate around 800 million units of power.
"We would have around 100 MW solar power capacity commissioned by the end of this year, as part of the 500 MW solar park project. Overall, we have allotted 274 MW capacity to companies. Around Rs 15 crore ($3.33 million) would go into setting up every MW of power," D J Pandian, principal secretary (energy) in the state government said.
he proposed project has received one time additional investment worth of 210 crore from the Central Planning Commission and received soft loans worth of $100 million from Asian Development Bank for smart grid infrastructure development.
Gujarat had announced a solar policy in January 2009 with an ambitious target of installing 1000 MW of solar power capacity by the end of 2012 and 3000 MW in the next five years. The state has already signed power purchase agreements of 934 MW.

Gujarat State villages moving towards urbanization: Census

 Gujarat's urbanization process is all set to offer major surprises. If the latest Census of India figures handed over to the Gujarat government last week are any guide, it is not just the big cities which are contributing towards massive urbanization of the state, which is already 42.6 per cent of 6.04 crore population in Gujarat, next only to Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
The rural areas, especially villages adjoining the industrial areas in the Golden Corridor from Vapi in South Gujarat to Mehsana in North Gujarat, as elsewhere, have shown a very sharp movement towards urbanization.
The figures show that as many as 153 villages with a population of 5,000 or above have qualified to become urban townships. "Identified as 'census towns' in the official jargon, these are the villages where 75 per cent of the population is dependent on non-agricultural activities", a senior Sachivalaya official told TOI, adding, "This is compared to just 73 villages with a population of 5,000 plus which fulfilled the 'census town' criterion in the 2001 Census. The expectation in the government is, the new revelation would add many of these to the list of Gujarat's statutory towns."


As many as 73 of these villages have 5,000 to 10,000 population, another 70 have a population between 10,000 to 20,000, and the rest of 10 have 20,000 plus living in each of them. Three dozen villages, currently ruled by panchayats, can immediately be converted into municipalities, as their population has achieved its basic criterion of 15,000 plus population. Top ten among them are Kotharia in Rajkot district, Bopal in Ahmedabad district, Madhapar and Mundra in Kutch district, Jhadeshwar, Gadkhol and Bholav in Bharuch district, and Sachin, Kadodara and Chalthan in Surat district.
Kotharia, whose population was 20,857 in 2001, today has 53,821 people living in it. Similarly, Bopal which had the population of 12,181 in 2001, today houses 34,030 people. Mundra village, next to which the Adani port and SEZ have already been established, currently has 20,329 people living in it, though in 2001 its population was 12,931. Most of these villages have more than doubled their population because of the urbanization process having overtaken them. "If one adds urban outgrowth around these towns, their population would be even higher", the official insisted.
Similarly, Census of India figures suggest that there are 10 towns which have already become very large municipalities and, if one adds their "urban outgrowth" into them, they can easily be turned into municipal corporations. These are Gandhidham, Nadiad, Anand, Morvi, Mehsana, Surendranagar, Navsari, Vareval, Bharuch and Vapi. The population of first four has already crossed 2 lakh. One can see the growth of these towns – Gandhidham's population stood at 1.51 lakh in 2001, but now it is 2.48 lakh. Vapi's population was 71,406 in 2001, but now it is 1.63 lakh.

Bachchan casts a spell on Gujarat’s tourism sector

The Gujarat government, with Amitabh Bachchan in tow, is inching towards its goal to prove to its critics that the land of Mahatma Gandhi, or rather Narendra Modi, can attract tourists even without the bubbly flowing freely in the dry state.

With the arrival of rains, the famous Gir wildlife sanctuary, the only abode of Asiatic lions, near Junagadh shut its doors on holidayers on June 16 for four months but tourism officials will not be twiddling their thumbs.

Egged on by the just-announced Rs1.5-billion Central aid for developing the state’s three tourist spots, hectic preparations are now on for the third visit of the Hindi film superstar next month to shoot for short films to promote tourism in Champaner, Pavagadh, Ambaji and Saputara, a picturesque hill station, where the department is also organising a four-week monsoon festival.

Bachchan, who first came to Somnath, Girnar, and Bhuj and then shot at Ahmedabad, Porbandar and Dwarka during his second trip, has not been charging any fee from the Modi government and has proved to be a boon for debt-ridden Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Limited.

Corporation bosses, indeed, admit that the tourist arrivals to Gujarat have increased by at least by 15 per cent after gripping television promos featuring the Bollywood legend were released last year.

Union Tourism Minister Subodhkant Sahai’s announcement last week to offer Rs500 million each for Dwarka (a pilgrim centre), Porbandar (Mahatma Gandhi’s birthplace) and Bharuch’s Kabir Vad (a 300-year-old gigantic single banyan tree spread over 2.5 acres) has also administered a shot in the arm of the dormant tourism industry.

In order to bring in tourists to Gujarat, and to market its sight-seeing places, the state tourism department has also entered into a pact with Rajasthan, Karnataka and Punjab for inter-state tourism.

While Gujarat is desperate to woo tourists visiting Rajasthan, the neighbouring state is targeting the non-resident Gujaratis who return to their home towns in Gujarat during the winter.

While Gujarat wants foreign tourists from Rajasthan, it is trying to woo religious tourists from Punjab. And if Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra tourism department, too, tie up, Gujarat will be able to offer the entire western part of India to any tourist as one single destination.

The next in line is Goa, where Gujarat wants to promote its wildlife and religious tourism along with beach tourism on its 1,600-km coastline, the longest in the country.

According to Tourism Minister J N Vyas, his department has selected 16 ‘ill-equipped’ beaches, many of them virgin, for promoting ‘beach tourism’ with a view to attracting domestic and foreign tourists to the state.

A master plan has been prepared for each of these beaches, including levelling along a three-kilometre stretch of each beach, landscaping, benches, kiosks, toilets, lighting and caravan facilities, etc.

For a novel project, Rs60 million has been sanctioned by the Gujarat government to upgrade the Balasinor Dinosaur Fossil Park in Raioli, home to the one of the largest dinosaur fossils sites in the world and where you can touch dinosaur remains and hold a 65-million-year-old egg in your hands.

Aaliya Sultana Babi, the former princess of Balasinor and owner of a heritage hotel, is an enthusiastic promoter and protector of the dinosaur legacy and conducts tours to the site, in an effort to boost heritage tourism in the state.

Wankaner Palace’s Digvijay Singh, yet another family member of royal families of erstwhile princely states in Gujarat, also takes tourists on a memorable visit to the state’s 1935-built step-well in the middle of a river.

The 30-odd heritage hotel owners, not happy with the incentives being offered now, are meeting Modi on June 19 in the hope of receiving better sops for their eye-catching properties on the lines of ones given in Rajasthan.

Well, with ambitious plans for intra-state budget flights, 11 new airports, whale shark tourism, medical tourism was well as Sardar Patel tours and a Sufi circuit, Gujarat is sure to go places even without lifting the age-old liquor ban despite losing excise revenues worth Rs25 billion a year.

After all, following the promotional advertisments videographed with the Bollywood megastar Big B, the state has seen an increase in tourist flow by nearly 1.3 million in the five months ending December last what with the number of foreign tourists also shooting up by 65 per cent — from mere 84,442 in 2009 to 1,42,175 now.

Gujarat State second top destination for investments: Assocham

Karnataka has emerged as the preferred destination after Gujarat for industrial investments. The state has witnessed second highest amount of investment to the tune of Rs 9.1 lakh crore from 1,528 projects in the last decade, a study conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) has revealed.
Gujarat has emerged as the top investment destination with an investment of Rs 13.35 lakh crore from 1,455 projects, the study said.

Releasing the findings of the study, here today, Dilip Modi, President, Assocham said, “In the post-recession economic recovery, Karnataka has been ranked on top with new projects worth Rs 4.7 lakh crore during March 2009 and December 2010, marking a 8.4 per cent increase on a quarterly basis. The state has Rs 7.4 lakh crore worth of investments or 7.1 per cent share of the total investments in the country.”

Out of the Rs 9.1 lakh crore of investments attracted by Karnataka, nearly 44 per cent are in the manufacturing sector followed by 22.4 per cent in services, 15 per cent in power and 14 per cent in real estate. The projects are in their different stages of implementation, the chamber said.
Investment flows into the manufacturing sector marked a 107.8 per cent jump in 2010 at Rs 3,99,682 crore by December 2010 compared to Rs 1,92,319 crore received as of December 2009. The investments in the services sector registered a healthy growth of 76.5 per cent at Rs 2,03,916 crore. Investments in real estate and irrigation sectors witnessed 30.2 per cent and 19.3 per cent growth at Rs 1,26,370 crore and Rs 31,452 crore respectively during the same period.
Some states have opted for fiscal incentives over developing infrastructure for attracting private capital. The efficacy of such fiscal incentives in promoting development is very limited but the resultant revenue foregone is significant.
The Assocham study said these incentives in the long term will not increase flow of private investments as investors go to states that have good infrastructure, flexile labour laws and transparent administrative rules.
“Karnataka must reduce the unproductive subsidies,” the study said.
Making some suggestions to the state government, Assocham called for special focus on micro, small and medium enterprises and capitalizing on the existing sectoral capacities. The state should promote industrial estates in backward regions in public private partnership mode by announcing special incentives.
“Power is a growth bottleneck in Karnataka. Both availability as well as the quality of available power is serious concerns. Major power projects are yet to see completion and commissioning in order to realize the actual benefits of these investments. It is essential to fix ‘definite time line’ for achieving financial closure and operationalisation of the projects,” the Assocham study said.

Amul Cafe the next big thing for Amul

After touching a figure of 6,000 parlours across India, Amul, a milk and milk products brand owned and marketed by Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), is now betting on quick service restaurants called Amul Cafes. Tasting success with the two federation owned outlets of Amul Cafes at Ahmedabad, GCMMF is eying to spread the network of cafes across the country in the coming two years. Meanwhile, the country's leading dairy major has crossed the $2 billion mark (Rs 9774 crore) in turnover during 2010-11 fiscal.
Continuing its focus on retail operations, GCMMF plans to open at least 10 Amul Cafe outlets across the major cities of Gujarat within this year. Post that, the dairy major is setting its eye on pan-India expansion starting with Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu among other markets. "Apart from Gujarat, we are coming up with one outlet in Bangalore shortly. We are working on our pan-India network expansion plan, and would decide on the plan of action within the next two months," said R S Sodhi, managing director, GCMMF.
He added that the investment per outlet is in the range of Rs 20-25 lakh. The federation now owns and operates two outlets in Ahmedabad, which have a turnover of Rs 1 lakh per day per outlet. Amul Cafe is a quick service restaurant concept spread over an area of 1,000 square feet and serves recipes like Amul Butter pavbhaji, Amul pizzas, Amul cheese burgers, sandwiches, ice cream, sundaes and milk shakes. "We have started serving dosas as well," Sodhi said.

Amul has added 1,000 new Amul Parlours during 2010-11, taking the total strength to 6,000 outlets. These parlours that retail the entire range of Amul products under one roof, have generated business of Rs 406 crore during the 2010-11 fiscal, growing by 37 per cent on a year-on-year basis. "The contribution of retailing operations in GCMMF’s business reached four per cent. The average throughput per parlour has also increased by 17 per cent," Parthibhai G Bhatol, chairman, GCMMF said. Amul is targeting a milestone of 10,000 Amul parlours by the end of March 2012.
He added that apart from conventional locations like residential and commercial areas, Amul Parlours are also coming up at educational institutions, railway stations, bus stands and other high traffic locations. "We have already created 160 parlours at railway stations and 177 parlours are operating at various centers of excellence. Our Amul Ice Cream Scooping Parlours continue to be popular among individuals and families for relishing value-added Ice cream in attractive ambience. More than 150 ice cream parlours were added during 2010-11, taking their total tally to 375," Bhatol said.
Meanwhile, the turnover of the apex body of dairy cooperatives has crossed the $2 billion (Rs 9774 crore) mark in 2010-11. During the year, GCMMF sales grew by 22.1 per cent to reach Rs 9774.27 crore from Rs 8005.36 crore in 2009-10.
Commenting on the performance, Bhatol noted that the organisation was able to achieve the first one billion dollar mark after 33 years of its operations, and it took just four more years to add another one billion dollar to its turnover. GCMMF has registered a compounded annual growth rate of 23 per cent in the last four years.
Amul has done well in most of the value-added consumer packs. While sales of Amul milk in pouches has grown by 34 per cent in value terms, Amul Butter has shown a value growth of 26 per cent, sales of Amul Processed Cheese has grown by 29 per cent. Amul's beverage range including Flavoured milk, Buttermilk and Lassee has shown a growth of 28 per cent in value terms over last year. Sales of Amul Masti Dahi grew by 39 per cent.
"With enhanced focus on fresh and fermented products, we launched Amul Probiotic Lassee in ready to drink cups, Amul Probiotic Buttermilk in PET bottles and flavoured yoghurt under the brand name Amul Flaavyo. In the infant milk food category, our brand Amulspray registered a value growth of 20 per cent and achieved the unique distinction of becoming a Rs 1000 crore mega-brand," Bhatol said.
In the dairy whitener segment, Amulya recorded a growth of 21 per cent.
In the milk-based dessert range, Amul re-launched Amul Gulab Jamuns with new round shape, registering a quantum growth of 53 per cent.