Farmers, pest bodies react adversely to ban on Endosulfan

NEW DELHI: Farmers and pesticide bodies today said the Supreme Court order banning the production, sale and use of Endosulfan ahead of the coming kharif season would harm the interests of growers, particularly those with small holdings, and hoped the ban does not continue for long.

Reacting to the apex court's order banning the controversial Endosulfan pesticide for eight weeks, Pesticides Manufacturer and Formulators Association of India President Pradeep Dave told PTI, "We respect the court's judgement, but the decision would harm interest of farmers and industries engaged in the manufacture and sale of cheap pesticide (Endosulfan)".

He said the country annually produces around 12 million litres of Endosulfan, of which 5-6 million litres is used during the kharif season. Kharif sowing starts from June and harvesting begins from October.

Federation of Farmers Association Chairman P Chengal Reddy said small farmers would be the main "sufferers" from the ban on cheap Endosulfan pesticide.

Already the crop loss annually due to pests and diseases is around Rs 30,000-40,000 crore and with the ban on Endosulfan, this loss could mount to Rs 1 lakh crore in a year," he added.

Reddy said Endosulfan is used mainly in horticulture and a ban could have an adverse affect on food inflation too.

They hoped the ban does not continue for long. While ordering ban on Endosulfan, the SC bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia also ordered two separate detailed studies on the adverse effects of Endosulfan on human life and the environment by two committees headed by the Indian Council of Medical Research ( ICMR )) Director General and the Agricultural Commissioner and sought their reports within eight weeks.

The court passed its order on the basis of a petition filed by the CPI(M)'s youth wing, the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), seeking a country-wide ban on the sale and production of endosulfan in its present form or any other derivatives in the market.

Value of pirated software nearly $59 billion: study

WASHINGTON: The commercial value of pirated software increased 14 per cent last year to nearly $59 billion, with emerging economies accounting for over half the total, according to a published study.

Businesses and consumers around the world bought $95 billion worth of legal personal computer (PC) software in 2010, according to the Business Software Alliance (BSA), but they installed another $58.8 billion in pirated software.

This means that for every dollar spent on legitimate software in 2010, an additional 63 cents worth of unlicensed software also made its way into the market,” the BSA said.

At $31.9 billion, emerging economies accounted for over half the commercial value of pirated software last year, the BSA said in its eighth Global Software Piracy Study.

While PC shipments to emerging economies accounted for half the world’s total last year, the value of paid software licenses in those economies accounted for less than 20 per cent of the world total, the study said.

While the value of pirated software rose, the global piracy rate for PC software dropped by a single per centage point in 2010 to 42 per cent, the study found.

Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America had the world’s highest piracy rate, with 64 per cent of PC software pirated, while North America had the lowest, with 21 per cent, the study found.

Software piracy was also found to be rampant in the Asia-Pacific region, with a piracy rate of 60 per cent, followed by The Middle East with 58 per cent and Western Europe with 33 per cent.

And while the United States was tied with Japan for the lowest piracy rate, at 20 per cent, it ranked at the top in terms of the commercial value of pirated PC software, estimated at $9.5 billion dollars.

It was followed by China, with $7.8 billion, and Russia, with $2.8 billion.

The study was carried out with technology research firm IDC and covered 116 countries and regions. The piracy rate dropped last year in 51 of the 116 areas studied and went up in 15, the BSA said.

It said the most common form of software piracy was to buy a single copy of software and install it on multiple computers, a practice which 51 per cent of PC users surveyed in emerging markets mistakenly believe is legal.

There’s an awareness gap where many people don’t even understand that they’re stealing software,” BSA president Matt Reid said.

Governments need to be investing in educating the public about the value of intellectual property. They also need to make sure that the right laws are in place, and then they need to get out and enforce those laws.”

Galaxy Surfactants IPO opens; should you subscribe?

The initial public offering of Galaxy Surfactants, surfactants and specialty chemicals manufacturer, has opened for subscription.

The price band of the issue of 59.3 lakh shares has fixed at Rs 325-340 a share. The issue size will be Rs 192.72 crore at the lower band and Rs 201.62 crore at the upper band.

Brokerage houses are bullish on the issue but Investment Advisor SP Tulsian has recommended avoiding the issue.

"The company is undertaking significant capacity expansion over the next 18 months, but an IPO price of Rs. 300 per share would have been reasonable, considering the current lack-lustre state of primary markets and subsequent poor show on listing of several recent IPOs. Even in the secondary market, many identical players are available at a PE of 6 to 9 times. Upper band of Rs. 340 looks to be the expected secondary market price after 3 months, thus offering no incentives to apply in the IPO," Tulsian said.

KR Choksey believes GSL is poised for strong growth considering its rich product profile, marquee clientele and overall growth in the home & personal care segment coupled with capacity expansion plans already in place. "We recommend investors to subscribe the issue with a long term investment perspective," the firm said.

"Galaxy’s revenues from FY08-10 have grew at a CAGR of ~29% with the end user industry (personal care segment) growing at ~10% during the same period. Hence, with the personal care expected to grow at 15% CAGR from FY10-15E we believe the Galaxy’s revenues would witness robust growth. Also, with the ramping up of existing capacity and expanding through other Greenfield operations the company would maintain its market leadership by successfully meeting the rising demand. The company’s turnover and profits for FY11 (annualized) stand at Rs 859 crore and Rs 57.1 crore respectively with an EPS post issue at Rs 24.1. At the issue price of Rs 325-340/share the stock would be trading at a P/E of 13.5-14.1x its FY11E EPS of Rs 24.1; hence valuation seems justified," ICICIDirect.com said in its report.

Mehta Equities too recommended subscribing the issue. "India as well as in developed countries, there is a gradual shift in consumer preferences for natural ingredients-based FMCG products. This is a positive for GSL which mainly focuses on natural ingredients-based surfactants for personal and home care products. While globally GSL is a small player, it has a dominant position in the Indian market with more than 60% market share in its range of personal care performance chemicals."

On overall valuations parse at the upper band of the price Rs.340,the stock trades at 14x on its FY11E earnings with EPS of Rs 24.1 which is high as compared to its peers domestically and globally. Strong growth in the domestic FMCG market and GSL ability to leverage its dominant position has enabled its domestic revenues to grow at a strong pace. With the above rationales we recommend to invest in this IPO," Mehta Equities said in a report.

SC rejects Govt's plea on Andhra Off Shore

The Supreme Court today said that the Delhi High Court can't hear the government plea to conduct arbitration in Malaysia on a dispute over revenue share in Andhra Pradesh offshore oil fields with a consortium of Videocon Industries, Cairn and Ravva Oil.

The Supreme Court set aside the orders of the High Court which said that it has jurisdiction to hear the petition of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to conduct the arbitration in Kuala Lumpur and not in London, as asked by the consortium.

A bench of justices R V Raveendran and G S Singhvi held that as per the agreement between the government and the consortium, the arbitration should be governed by the English law only.

"We hold that the Delhi High Court did not have jurisdiction to entertain the petition filed by the government ...," the bench said. The apex court further held that the High Court had no power to entertain the plea filed by the government seeking arbitration in Malaysia and governed by the Indian laws.

"The parties had agreed that the arbitration agreement contained in Article 34 shall be governed by laws of England," said the bench.

The government had awarded Andhra Pradesh offshore oil field to a consortium of Videocon, Cairns, Ravva Oil and ONGC in 1994.

However, later some dispute arose over the revenue sharing, profit correctness of certain cost recoveries and the matter was referred to arbitration in Malaysia. In March 2005, a tribunal passed an interim award in favour of the consortium and the government challenged it before the High Court of Malaysia two months after that.

This was opposed by the Videocon and other contending that the award could not be challenged in the High Court of Malaysia as the agreement was governed by the English laws.

The government had also requested the Malaysian High court to conduct the remaining arbitral proceedings at Kuala Lumpur, but the request was rejected in April 2006.

After that the government approached the Delhi High Court for stay of the arbitral proceedings.

This was again opposed by the consortium. However, the high court overruled their objections and held that it has jurisdiction to entertain the petition. It was challenged by Videocon before the apex court.