Paving new paths to growth

Indian firms continued in their mission to expand their presence in emerging markets around the world. Hero plans South-east Asia solar unit

Hero Future Energies is planning to set up a large grid-connected solar plant of up to 100 MW capacity in South-east Asia, the Hero Group firm's founder and MD Rahul Munjal has confirmed. The project is backed by $125-million investment by the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC). IFC, together with IFC Global Infrastructure Fund, a private equity fund managed by IFC Asset Management Company, will invest $125 million in equity that will enable the company to set up 1 GW Greenfield solar and wind plants in the next 12 months. Mengistu Alemayehu, regional director, IFC South Asia, said: "With this partnership with Hero Future Energies, IFC is helping accelerate the transition of the renewable energy generation business to mainstream power sector. Through the Global Infrastructure Fund, IFC is also bringing in the support of international institutional investors. "Such a development will boost confidence of other large business groups and international investors to contribute to India′s ambitious renewable energy targets and make a significant difference in ramping up renewable-energy capacity in the country.” Hero Future Energies has plans to expand its presence in Africa and across India, according to Indian media reports. Reliance in Russian petrochem pact

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) announced the signing of a joint venture agreement with Russian petrochemical giant SIBUR to set up South Asia's first butyl rubber halogenation unit at RIL's integrated petrochemical site in Jamnagar, Gujarat. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed at the 2017 Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar earlier this month. RIL said in a statement that the unit will produce 60,000 mt of halogenated butyl rubber annually under Reliance Sibur Elastomers Pvt Ltd (RSEPL), a joint venture in which RIL owns 74.9 per cent, while SIBUR owns 25.1 per cent. Apart from the planned halogenation unit, the JV owns a 1,20,000-mt per annum butyl rubber plant, currently under construction at the same venue. It will provide the necessary butyl rubber feed to the halogenation unit. Construction of the plant has kicked off in Jamnagar and commissioning is targeted for 2018. India, Rwanda sign agreements

India and Rwanda have signed three agreements during the visit of Vice-President Hamid Ansari to the country boost bilateral relations, which include the establishment of an entrepreneurship development centre in Kigali. According to the memoranda of understanding (MoUs) signed between Rwanda and India, Rwanda Air will soon begin services to India, and the two countries will mutually exempt visa requirements for diplomatic and official passport holders. Rwandan Prime Minister Anastase Murekezi said the MoUs will boost economic and business ties with India. He said: "We have 54 years of fruitful bilateral relationship. Rwanda and India share important ties and we are committed to make this relationship grow stronger." Ansari, who is on a five-day tour to Rwanda and Uganda, launched an innovation growth programme and addressed business leaders and experts from the two countries. India plans to Zoomcar overseas Bengaluru-based, self-drive car rental start-up Zoomcar is planning an overseas foray, targeting South Asian and African nations, including Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Kenya, Senegal and Cameroon. According to Greg Moran, CEO and co-founder of Zoomcar India Pvt Ltd, the company is yet to finalise the expansion countries but that overseas growth was central to its agenda. The growth in these geographies as well as domestically in India will be driven by its asset-light marketplace model, which it has branded as 'ZAP'. An asset-light model for Zoomcar will mean not owning a fleet of its own but playing the role of an aggregator which connects the owner of a car to a prospective customer. “We are looking to expand in India and overseas. But we are not looking at any particular market as of yet,” Moran told reporters on the sidelines of the launch of ZAP in Kolkata recently. Jain Irrigation Systems gets Aussie team

Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd (JISL) has acquired the technology and core team of Australia's Observant Pty Ltd, which provides in-field hardware and cloud based applications for precision farm water management. The acquisition will combine Observant's broad field monitoring and control technology with Jain's global irrigation manufacturing and precision agriculture technology (Ag Tech) platform to provide farmers with a broad suite of capabilities to increase crop yields while, at the same time, responsibly and profitably manage limited resources. Anil Jain, managing director of Jain Irrigation Systems Limited, said: “In combination with our complementary products technologies from the US, Australia, India, and Israel, we have unmatched capabilities to help farmers deliver on our promise of 'More Crop per Drop'.” India's NMDC eyes Vietnam mine India's state-owned iron ore miner NMDC Ltd. is in talks with Vietnam-based Masan Resources JSC to acquire a considerable stake in its Nui Phao polymetallic mine, media reports have indicated. The mine, which has rich reserves of tungsten mineral, is located in Thai Nguyen province in Northern Vietnam. At present, India mostly imports tungsten for its domestic requirements due to high production cost of the metal. NMDC is interested in acquiring a considerable stake in the mine as Ministry of Defence has also expressed interest to buy the metal from NMDC. Officials of NMDC declined to comment on the issue, saying they have signed a non-disclosure agreement with the Vietnamese firm. The Nui Phao polymetallic mine is the first tungsten mine successfully developed for production in the last 15 years. It has probable ore reserves of 66 million tonnes. Sun Pharma opens Egypt unit

Sun Pharma, an Indian multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered at Mumbai, opened its first production unit in Egypt involving a total investment of $12.5 million. India's Ambassador to Egypt, Sanjay Bhattacharyya, recently inaugurated Sun Pharma's Egypt factory in October City, the first facility of the company in Egypt. “This is a particularly proud moment for us to raise the flag of India next to the flag of Egypt and that of Sun Pharma,” he said, adding that India and Egypt share a partnership that goes back to millennia. “We have seen over the years that Indian investments had continued to come to Egypt because India believes in the long term prospects of Egypt,” he said. Sun Pharma is known for offering a wide range of healthcare products and medicines such as capsules, tablets, injectable, ointments, inhalers, creams, liquids and other dosages at affordable prices. “In the early 1990s we started our operation in Egypt and by mid of 2004 we wanted to establish the first factory in the Middle East and Egypt has been chosen to be the premises,” said Hany Mashaal, Country General Manager at Sun Pharma.