CEE Jul-Sep-2012

Alongside, the company could also consider carving out its closed spun pipe and heavy chemicals business, according to Ganguli. He refused to disclose any further details. Shares of Kesoram closed 3.38 per cent up at Rs.150 each on BSE on a day when the exchange's benchmark index fell 0.73 per cent. Courtesy: The Mint, Kolkata, 12.07.2012. 'INDIA NEEDS $40 BN FOR DEVELOPING AIRPORTS' India will require $40 billion (over Rs. 2 lakh crore at a rate of Rs. 55 to a dollar) in developing its airports by 2025 to meet the needs of its growing air passenger traffic, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) has said in its report. "Our projections show that airport passenger traffic will grow from 143 million in 2010- 11 to 452 mill ion by 2020- 2021. Over the same period the scheduled airline fleet is expected to grow from 430 to 1,030 ai rcraft, while general aviation could see even faster growth from 750 to over 2,000 aircraft," CAPA has projected , basing it on a gross domestic product growth of 8 per cent per annum. Taking an optimistic view of the country's air passenger growth scenario, the aviation think tank has said that the recent slowdown in growth is a short-term phenomenon . "It will not be long before Indi a resumes sustained double-digit traffic growth and , at many airports across the country, capacity constraints will be encountered sooner rather than later," says the report. Domestic passenger numbers, which has seen double-digits growth in the last two years, has witnessed a fall in the last three months. Analysts say the decline is on the fall in capacity of Kingfisher Airlines (which dropped from being the second largest carrier in terms of passengers flown to the lowest in July) and rise in fares that has increased by over 25 per cent. The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation report also mentions that going ahead, availability of land will become a major challenge for the implementation of road projects in India. "McKinsey estimates that India's urban population will grow from 20 per cent of the total in 1991 to 37 per cent by 2025. By 2030 India is expected to have 55 cities with a population of more than one million. Airports have massive land requirements and will have to fight with other users of land, for what will be an increasingly expensive asset," the latest report says. "In fact, the cost of land may ultimately impact the viability of many airport projects," the report adds. At present, India has 93 operationa l airports, including six airports run by private operators. There are plans to built three greenfield airports in Goa, Mumbai and Pune. To increase air connectivity in smaller towns of the country, the government is also planning to subsidize operations by airlines in non-profit making routes connecting smaller cities through the creation of a fund called Essential Air Services Fund or EASF. Courtesy: The Indian Express, New Delhi, 20.08.2012. International Country Profile GLOBAL CEMENT DEMAND TO REACH 4 BILLION TONNES BY 2013 Kerem ER EN, Esra B Y KYA ICI T(:MB, Ankara, Turkey The latest Global Cement Volume Forecast Report (GCVFR) by the CW Group - the lead ing global cement industry analytics and consulting firm - shows global cement consumption growth will trend around six per cent in 2012, reaching 3.78 billion tonnes. The increase is a decli ne from the nine per cent consumption volume growth in 2011 when worldwide cement demand reached 3.56 billion tonnes. The chief driver of global consumption growth will conti nue to be China, which will consume 2.22 billion tonnes of cement by 2012. On a regional basis, the results, as well as the forecasts for 2012 are a mixed with regard to consumption, capacity, and utilization. Western Eu ropean consumption remained virtually stalled while North American managed two per cent growth in 201 1. The CW Group expects little change in consumption growth for these markets through 201 3. However, notable recoveries were seen in select core European markets such as France and Germany. For Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Middle East regi ons, the forecast is more heartening as these regions will trend just slightly lower than the global average. Strength in Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Poland in particular is sustaining expansion in these regions. Projections for Africa and most of Asia have been resilient in light of unrest and economic headwinds. We note exceptions for 2011 in these regions where growth has been strong such as Indonesia and Nigeria, but offset by weakness in cement demand in Egypt, South Korea and the Philppines. 37 I r