INDIA NEWS ON FASTMOVING

Bentonville, Ark. – The Indian central bank is reportedly reviewing findings of an investigation into whether Wal-Mart Stores broke that country’s investment rules in 2010.  read more

The Indian beer market is expected to grow 20 times in next 20 years in view of changing lifestyles, a burgeoning middle class and government policy to promote low alcoholic drinks in the country.  read more

Cape Town - The global wine industry is worth $230bn a year and the potential yields for the South African industry have never been as great, nor the pitfalls as plenty, according to Linda Buckley, director of executive education at UCT’s Graduate School of Business (GSB). read more

US retail major WalMart recently announced a top level change in its Indian operations with President Raj Jain being replaced by Ramnik Narsey, who is currently Senior Vice-President for Walmart International, with immediate effect.  read more

Tipplers will have to shell out more to buy liquor in the capital with the Delhi Government approving a hike in alcohol rates as part of new excise policy, late last month.  read more

FMCG major Procter & Gamble (P&G) India is enhancing its manufacturing capabilities and expanding its footprint by setting up its largest plant at Kothur Mandal in Mahaboobnagar district of Andhra Pradesh. The company will be investing R370 crore in the plant through Procter & Gamble Home Products.  read more

Lenovo Group Ltd’s bold acquisitions in its flagship PC business, a foray into mobile gadgets, and a relatively light debt load are setting it apart from PC rivals as industry shipments take their steepest fall in decades. read more

Indian to head world’s top liquor company Mumbai: India-born Ivan Menezes is the new CEO of Diageo, the world's largest drinks company-a development that reinforces the growing trend of Indians heading high-profile global corporate giants.  read more

New Delhi: Liquor prices are set to rise in the coming weeks as the cabinet cleared the new excise policy on Monday. While the policy leaves the licence fee untouched for the financial year 2013-2014, Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) will be dearer by 5% and country liquor by 11% once the new rates are notified in June.  read more

An Indian business delegation was in Botswana last week to seek investment opportunities and strengthen ties with local stakeholders.  read more

United Breweries Ltd. (UBBL), India’s largest brewer, expects sales of Heineken NV’s (HEIA) namesake brand to climb more than 50 percent in the country this fiscal year as it ramps up distribution of the pricier foreign beer. read more

Dube TradePort is set to be the main KwaZulu-Natal beneficiary of new multibillion-rand Chinese and Indian deals to come out of the Brics summit hosted in Durban last week.  read more

Johannesburg - Growth in the manufacturing base will enable the Brics countries to achieve their desired economic growth and job creation, Indian Minister of Commerce Anand Sharma said on Wednesday.  read more

Bangalore: While Americans and Europeans prefer their beer to be light on alcohol content, Indians have traditionally been partial to a stronger brew, a preference that’s become further accentuated of late along with an improvement in the image associated with such beverages. read more

Johannesburg - South African conglomerate the Bidvest Group [JSE:BVT] offered around $665m in cash and shares for control of the country's second-largest but under-performing drugmaker Adcock Ingram Holdings [JSE:AIP]. read more

Mumbai - Indian drugmaker Cipla on Thursday sweetened its offer by 17% to take over South Africa's third-largest drugmaker, Cipla Medpro South Africa [JSE:CMP], ending the uncertainty of an earlier offer that had been put on hold by the Indian company. read more

Johannesburg - The acting chief executive officer of Cipla Medpro said on Monday the generic drug firm has not received any communication from its Indian suitor, Cipla that an acquisition deal has been put on hold. read more

London - Global consumer confidence dipped at the end of last year, a survey showed on Monday, and more than 60 percent of respondents said the next 12 months would not be a good time to spend. read more

Johannesburg/Mumbai - Drug company Cipla Medpro South Africa [JSE:CMP] is expected to demand more than the $215m on offer from Indian suitor Cipla Ltd to reflect a lucrative government contract win that will increase its earnings power.  read more

Bentonville, Arkansas - Wal-Mart Stores has alerted its global suppliers that it will immediately drop them if they subcontract their work to factories that haven't been authorised by the discounter. read more

Delhi, India -- A Monday report by Bloomberg said that Ikea has received the go-ahead from the Indian government to open outlets in the country, making it perhaps the first major foreign retailer to set up its own stores in the region. read more

Max Hypermarket India Private Limited (“Max Hypermarkets”) has rebranded its existing ‘SPAR’ stores in Bengaluru and Mangalore to Auchan, saying this will offer a fresh perspective to attract customers. read more

Mumbai, Jan 8, Global liquor major Diageo Plc has submitted details sought by market regulator SEBI regarding its Rs 5,441-crore open offer for buying stake in the Vijay Mallya-led United Spirits. read more

The Indian government ordered a probe yesterday into the spending on lobbying by US retail giant Walmart to facilitate its entry into India.  read more

Diageo Plc (DGE), the world’s largest distiller, ended talks about the future of the Cuervo tequila brand with JB y Compania SA de C.V. and Lanceros S.A. de C.V. and will now work to cease the current distribution agreement. read more

Pantaloon Retail India Ltd. (PF) rose to the highest in more than a year, leading gains among retailers after India’s lower house of parliament voted to endorse a government decision to allow foreign investment in supermarkets. read more

New Delhi - The Indian government bowed to intense opposition pressure and agreed on Thursday to a vote on its decision to let foreign supermarkets set up shop in India, taking a major step towards ending a deadlock that has paralysed parliament for days. read more

Mumbai: The pricing of the preferential share sale by United Spirits Ltd (USL) to Diageo may face some resistance from minority shareholders following the surge in the USL stock price, market participants said.  read more

GlaxoSmithKline Plc plans to spend more than $1 billion to raise stakes in its Indian and Nigerian consumer healthcare arms, as Britain's biggest drugmaker deepens its emerging markets and non-prescription consumer health footprint.  read more

Dubai: The world’s largest mall to be built in Dubai could cost approximately Dh10 billion, according to some analyst estimates. read more

Indian authorities are investigating claims that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. violated foreign exchange rules when it invested $100 million in a domestic unit owned by its wholesale joint-venture partner, a law enforcement official said. read more

New Delhi - India's inflation accelerated to a 10-month high, hitting 7.81% in September, data on Monday showed, diminishing chances of an interest rate cut to jumpstart a sharply weaker economy. read more

Singapore - Crude oil prices sank in Asian trade on Wednesday on concerns over the world economy after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its global growth forecasts.  read more

New Delhi - Shopkeepers, traders and labourers in India blocked railway lines and closed markets on Thursday to protest against reforms allowing in foreign retail giants such as Walmart and Tesco. read more

The Indian government’s decision Friday to let big department stores like Wal-Mart Stores into the country could dramatically impact everything from the country’s food chain to its roads.  read more

New Delhi - India has quietly revised a slew of key economic data ahead of new GDP figures due out on Friday, a move economists say raises questions about the reliability of the country's financial records.  read more

New Delhi - Indian ministers will meet on Tuesday to discuss measures to deal with a feared drought, including curbs on commodity derivatives, extra subsidies to farmers and the distribution of seeds, but are not expected to ban farm exports. read more

Adcock Ingram Healthcare Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Adcock Ingram Group registered in India, has reached agreement to acquire certain assets of Cosme Farma Laboratories Limited, a pan-Indian pharmaceutical company based in Goa, India. read more

New Delhi - A dispute over sourcing regulations is clouding plans by Sweden's IKEA to open 25 of its trademark blue-and-yellow stores in India as it seeks new markets for its flat-pack furnishings. read more

Rice production in India, the second-largest grower, is set to climb to a record after local prices were raised, potentially allowing the nation to sustain exports for a second year and swelling a global cereal glut. read more

Walmart recommends that its employees in “certain countries” make payments to police officers if they feel threatened by the officer’s behaviour.  read more

New York - Lawyers for Wal-Mart Stores have identified Brazil, India, China and South Africa along with Mexico as areas having the biggest risk for corruption, according to a letter from two congressmen who are doing their own investigation into the allegations of bribery in its Mexico operations. read more

The third consecutive year of record rice production is poised to expand inventories to the most in more than a decade, driving down prices and helping to contain the more than $1 trillion spent on food imports annually. read more

Walmart has said it is planning to source an increasing volume of agricultural products locally in the sub-continent.  read more

India's farm ministry wants a ban on cotton exports to be revoked as the curbs will hurt farmers in the world’s second-biggest producer, minister Sharad Pawar said. Futures surged for a second day to the highest level in more than two weeks.  read more

Adidas has expressed concern that Indian regulations requiring foreign companies operating single brand stores in the country to source 30% of goods locally are overly restrictive. read more

Indians sip only two liters of beer a year, just one-twentieth the amount consumed by Chinese and less than one-fortieth by Americans. SABMiller Plc (SAB), Anheuser- Busch InBev NV (ABI) and Carlsberg A/S (CARLB) see that as an opportunity. read more

World oil prices inched upwards on Tuesday in a subdued market after Moody's warned it could downgrade ratings on three top-rated eurozone members amid continued international tensions read more

Traders are betting that the biggest sugar glut since 2007 will shrink in the next harvest, reversing expectations from six months ago and ending the largest decline in prices in a decade. read more

Sales of consumer electronics from smartphones to digital cameras will exceed $1 trillion for the first time this year, driving tin consumption higher just as stockpiles of the metal slump to a 33-month low.  read more

Kraft Foods has boosted spending in India by more than half, targeting annual sales growth of 30 percent for chocolate, a product it expects to resist any consumer slump.  read more

Falling consumption and a record crop will see cotton prices fall significantly next year according to analysts of the cotton market as stockpiles reach their biggest since 2005. read more

Giants like Walmart blocked from India until consensus can be reached, pro-foreign lobby says move will send a "bad signal" to investors read more

Like the opening of a new superstore in town, the world's largest retailers have been queuing up to get access to the as-yet-closed-off Indian market. But when last week the Indian government announced it would be flinging wide the doors for foreign investment, the Wal-Marts and the Carrefours had plenty to worry about. read more

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has rejected calls to reverse major retail market reforms, saying the entry of foreign supermarket giants would help modernise the $450 billion (R3.8 trillion) sector and fight stubbornly high inflation. read more

Exports to the European Union (EU) are set to become more expensive when proposals to introduce a shipping tax next year are adopted by the bloc, trade policy analyst Peter Draper said yesterday. read more

New Delhi - India will open the country’s retail industry to foreign supermarkets, a cabinet minister told reporters on Thursday, a much-delayed reform expected to help unclog supply bottlenecks and ease inflation over time. read more