Commercial vehicle sales drop sharply in March

Commercial vehicle sales dropped steeply in March 2014.

Tata Motors' sales of commercial vehicles dropped 41 per cent, while Ashok Leyland reported a 27 per cent drop in commercial vehicle sales when compared to the same period in the previous year.

For both companies, the most affected segment was the light commercial vehicles (LCVs). Ashok Leyland reported a 41 per cent drop with sales of 2,563 LCVs, while Tata Motors dropped more steeply by 50 per cent to 20,938 LCVs.

For the full fiscal, Tata Motors sold 1,10,231 medium and heavy commercial vehicles and 2,68,117 light commercial vehicles. Sales were down by about 30 per cent for the full year.

During the same period, Ashok Leyland sold 60,437 medium and heavy commercial vehicles and 28,995 light commercial vehicles. Sales for the full fiscal were down 22 per cent.

Rupee up 26 paise at 59.69 on FII inflows

The rupee was trading strong by 26 paise at 59.69 against the dollar at 11.05 a.m. local time.

The rupee opened 15 paise higher at 59.80 per dollar against the previous close of 59.95 against the American currency on the back of heavy inflows in the domestic equity market.According to a report, the immediate support for USDINR spot is at 59.60. Trading range for the USD/INR is expected to be within 59.60 to 60.20.

Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan did not spring any surprises by keeping the policy rates unchanged in the central bank’s first bi-monthly monetary policy announcement. As expected, the RBI retained the repo rate at 8 per cent (rate at which it provides overnight funds to banks).The amount of cash that banks have to park with the RBI — the cash reserve ratio — has also been left unchanged at 4 per cent of deposits.

Kolte Patil buys 30 acres for residential project in Pune

Pune-based developer Kolte Patil has acquired a 30-acre land parcel at Kondhwa in Pune in association with its partner ASK Real Estate Fund. The land parcel has 1.5 million square feet development potential and will be launched in Q1FY15 itself.

The deal is valued at Rs 160 crore, and the land will be used to build a residential housing project, Kolte Patil said in a filing to the BSE.While the acquisition diversifies Kolte Patil’s existing land bank in the city, this is ASK’s fourth investment in Pune.

“We have already obtained all the approvals for the project. This will lead to a revenue of Rs 700-800 crore over the next 3-4 years and we have a 50 percent share in it,” explains Kalele. Kalele expects to earn realizations to the tune of Rs 5000-6000 crore in the current market.

Aurobindo gains on completing acquisition of select Western European Businesses of Actavis

Aurobindo Pharma has completed the acquisition of certain commercial operations in Western Europe from Actavis plc. The agreement to acquire the Actavis operations was announced in January 2014. The company acquired personnel, commercial infrastructure, products, marketing authorizations and dossier licence rights in seven European countries. Actavis and Aurobindo have also entered into a long term commercial and supply arrangement.

Following receipt of clearances from competent authorities, Aurobindo now intends to combine the strength of both enterprises (including its vertically integrated platform and existing commercial infrastructure) in these markets and to identify and maximize all opportunities to improve performance.The acquisition will make the company one of the leading Indian pharmaceutical companies in Europe. The acquisition will also enable Aurobindo to achieve critical mass in Western Europe with a top 10 position in several key markets."We will continue to collaborate with Actavis to ensure business continuity and a smooth transition. In parallel, we will work closely with the acquired management teams to achieve a rapid and successful integration," he added.