IndiaConnected

Hyundai Motor’s India is planning for a stock market listing in Mumbai, which comes just as Indian stock markets are trading near record highs. Hyundai counts India as a crucial growth market where it has two manufacturing units and has invested $5 billion, with commitments to pump in another $4 billion over the next decade. The world’s biggest car market after China and the United States is the company’s third-biggest revenue generator globally. The Hyundai draft prospectus filed gave no details of the pricing of the IPO or the company’s valuation, but sources have said Hyundai aims to raise around $2.5 to $3 billion at a valuation of up to $30 billion. Hyundai, India’s second-biggest car maker behind Maruti Suzuki, will not issue new shares in the IPO, which will involve its South Korean parent selling part of its stake in the wholly owned unit to retail and other investors via a so-called “offer for sale” route. The listing is seen putting Hyundai Motor India on a stronger footing versus Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and other rivals as it could make future fundraising easier, without the need to depend on its Korean parent. Hyundai expects the listing of the equity shares in India “will enhance our visibility and brand image,” and “provide liquidity and a public market” for the shares, the company said in the draft prospectus filed on Saturday. With the IPO, Hyundai aims to unlock value for the Indian business and also help the Korean automaker shed its valuation discount compared to global and Asian peers. Benchmark Indian stock indices have doubled between 2019 and 2023, while Seoul’s KOSPI index has risen just 30% over the same period. Source: CNN Photo: Reuters/Francis Mascarenhas #India #automotive #hyundai #mumbai #stockexchange #BSELimited

A Modi-led coalition government is good news for India’s economic growth, writes Kapil Sharma, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center. The Indian electorate handed Modi and the BJP a historic third consecutive five-year term. With this Modi, the BJP, and their coalition members have secured a mandate to continue their political and economic agenda—albeit with more political maneuvering and a much stronger opposition.  Modi’s win was not a surprise, although it was not expected to be under a coalition government. Even so, this is good news for India’s economic growth and business environment. Modi's agenda will continue to include reforms for industrial manufacturing, infrastructure, digitization, regional trade, supply chain agreements, and even land reform—with a coalition government even more likely to emphasize economics. While the Indian equities markets have not reacted favorably to the news of a coalition government, businesses will welcome continued certainty. But as the results have shown, the voters need to feel the success of these policies on the ground with jobs and economic growth. At this stage, there are three big takeaways from this election: 1) Democracy is alive and well in India; 2) Indians want jobs, jobs, and jobs; and 3) the Indian voter will hold the government to growing the economy over religion. The BJP struggled to translate its economic policies and benefits to the average voter. Coupled with a stronger anti-incumbency mood and operating under a coalition government, the BJP will need to work hard to maintain its position as India’s largest party. The BJP and its coalition government are now operating in a “now or never” moment. Read all the election analysis of the Atlantic Council experts here: https://lnkd.in/eXiV5FNq #india #elections #modi #economy

Farmers in India are weary of politicians' lackluster response to their climate-driven water crisis - India's 120 million farmers share fast-shrinking water resources as groundwater is pumped out faster than rain can replenish it. As the country continues to vote in its marathon six-week election, farmers are looking for longer-term solutions to the water problem, like building canal networks from distant rivers. But politicians have promised and done little to secure water for them, with activists saying that big businesses and large farms are being prioritized instead. In western Maharashtra state, successive droughts caused in part by human-caused climate change have compounded the problems for farmers, forcing them to take out loans to buy crops. Besides the water shortages farmers in India have to deal with, they also wrestle with a shortage of technological solutions in the sector. According to researchers from the Tamil Nadu Agriculture University, India throws away billions of dollars worth of fresh fruit and vegetables every year. This is due to lack of proper harvesting methods, no or inadequate transport, poor or no cold storage facilities and/or refrigerated transport. Although India is one of the largest producers of fruits and vegetables, its export potential is not being realised. Agtech aimed at rationalising supply chains and improving agricultural efficiency in India has an estimated potential of US$ 170 billion. Therefore European knowledge and agricultural technology is highly sought after in India. Does your company have those needed innovative fertigation or automation solutions that can easily be adapted to the Indian climate and market? In this article we share the opportunities there are for your products in India: https://lnkd.in/ecM33p7R #india #agriculture #agtech #climatechange #watershortage

Private equity targets India’s healthcare sector with record investments Buyout funds are piling into Indian hospital chains and medical firms, lured by rising spending on healthcare in the world’s most populous nation, with the sector providing a rare bight spot amid a downturn in overall deal activity. Private equity and venture capital investment in India’s health and pharmaceutical sector hit a record of about 5.5 billion dollars in 2023, a 25 per cent jump on the previous year, according to a report published by Bain & Company on Thursday. Global private equity executives from firms including Bain Capital and Blackstone Group, as well as KKR co-founder Henry Kravis, have visited India in recent months, talking up its economic potential and pledging multibillion-dollar acquisitions. This year had got “off to a good start”, said Prabhav Kashyap, a New Delhi-based partner at Bain. “Assets are reaching the right scale . . . more are coming to the market.” KKR made its latest move in India’s rapidly expanding health sector this week, purchasing medical device manufacturer Healthium Medtech from Apax Partners. Advent International last month said it would invest nearly $300mn in a digital and pharmacy arm of Apollo Hospitals, India’s largest corporate chain. “Almost all hospitals of size have been invested in by private equity and that trend is not coming down,” said Bhavin Shah, private equity and deals leader at PwC India, who highlighted rising health costs and insurance coverage among the country’s 1.4 billion population. As Indian incomes steadily climb, the spread of non-communicable health issues, such as diabetes, is also on the increase. The medical industry is expanding with the “growing incidence of lifestyle diseases”, according to government agency Invest India, which estimates hospital revenues will hit about 219 billion dollars by 2027, more than doubling from 2021. Read more about the opportunities the Indian healthcare sector offers European companies in this article of the FT: #india #healthcare #privateequity #investment

Intellectual property laws in #India meet international standards and Indian courts can act quickly in the event of infringement. But what options do you have to protect your patents, trademarks, copyrights and designs when setting up your entity in India? Our lawyer Van Lavanya lists them for you. 1. Non-disclosure agreement (#NDA). Commercial business strategies such as trade secrets, know-how, production methods or any kind of information that is kept confidential to maintain an advantage over competitors are covered by trade secrets. India has no statutory or legal basis guaranteeing the protection of trade secrets. Therefore, if you are going to work with a partner in India, you should take steps to protect this #IP yourself. You do this by making arrangements with you partner(s) and recording them in a non-disclosure agreement. Any confidential information that cannot be registered as a patent, trademark, copyright or design with the Indian IP office must be protected in an NDA. If one expects to share confidential information in order to do business or collaborate, an NDA ensures that this information is not disclosed to outsiders. An NDA can also include agreements on the use of a Background IP. This is the intellectual property that a company already has before partnering with a company in India. In a collaboration, the company will develop new intellectual property together. It is therefore important to clearly define agreements around the use of the new IP. This is important in India because much of the technology coming to India from Europe needs to be modified or localized, either to reduce cost or to make it workable for the Indian context. In the absence of clear agreements on the new IP, this IP will be free from infringement by others. It becomes very difficult at a later stage to protect that IP or to dispute that the IP was developed based on the background technology. 2. Provisional Patent Application (#PPA). For trade secrets that a European company wants to share with an Indian partner, a PPA registration can also be used: a Provisional Patent Application. A PPA means that an owner of confidential information (both patents and unregistered trade secrets) can register that information under secrecy with the Indian IP office. They provide a certificate stating that the owner submitted his information by a certain date. This information, unlike formal patent applications, will never be made public. The PPA certificate can be added as an attachment to an NDA to prove at all times that the information shared at the start of the collaboration originated from the European party and is confirmed as such by the Indian IP office. This sends a strong signal to the Indian party to respect confidentiality. It also makes legal action easier because it can be shown that everything possible was done to protect the information. Do you have specific questions about IP protection in India? Get in touch with us!

As the Indian economy grows, India's demand for energy is rising and its importing 50% of its natural gas needs. But India's government has found a new, bio alternative that can be made in house: using cow dungs to produce biomethane. To spur the biogas industry, from 2025 the government has ordered gas suppliers to blend natural gas with 1% biomethane, rising to 5% by 2028. As well as reducing India's imports of gas, biogas can also cut air pollution, as stubble that was previously burnt, can instead be sent to bioreactors. In addition, the material left after the bioreactor has done its work can be used as fertiliser. With state and federal government support, bigger and bigger bioreactors are being built. Asia's biggest compressed biogas (CBG) plant is in Lehragaga, in the northern Indian state of Punjab. Opened in late 2022, it can turn 300 tonnes of paddy straw into 33 tonnes of biogas every day. Rajiv Kumar is responsible for collecting cow dung for the plant. He remembers the early days when farmers could not really understand why he wanted the waste. "It was hard to convince them to sell cow dung to us. They used to look at us with suspicion. But now waste has created a source of income for them and they don’t have to do anything, so its win-win situation for them,” he says. But it has become a sizeable business. Today Singh has around 200 people working from him collecting farming waste from 10 villages. "It’s a labour-intensive job. Before the harvest begins, I visit most of the villages to convince the farmers to sell me their agriculture residue. It has to be dry so we have to be very quick. Residues are chopped or shredded to a specific size for efficient digestion in the biogas plant. During collection we are very careful about the moisture content and contaminants.” Read more about India's energy sector and the need for bio- and green solutions and technology here: https://lnkd.in/g5eijRsu #india #greenenergy #technology #sustainability