NTPC may offload its 16.5% stake in PTC India as it wants to concentrate on its own trading company NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam

State-owned NTPC Ltd is believed to have approached the power ministry for selling off its 16.5% stake in PTC India Ltd as the company plans to focus on its own power-trading business, reports PTI.

PTC India is a government initiated Public-Private Partnership (PPP) power trading solutions provider, which is primarily focused on developing a commercially vibrant power market in the country. NTPC, NHPC Ltd, Power Finance Corp and Power Grid Corp currently hold 16.5% stake each in PTC India.

NTPC would like to offload its stake in PTC India as PTC is already off the ground, sources in the know said.

The power generator would want to concentrate on its own trading company NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam, sources said.

NTPC is in discussions with the power ministry regarding the same, sources said, adding that NTPC is of the view that PTC India is already on its feet and does not require its support.

The main objective of NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam will be to purchase electricity generated from both conventional and non-conventional sources.
 

After a year of diminished venture investments, the VC community appears positive that a rebound in deal volumes would occur this year

The venture capital (VC) industry is optimistic about renewed investments this year, with focus shifting primarily to the green technology sector, a survey by global consultancy KPMG has said.

According to a poll of around 200 investors, venture capitalists and bankers, after a year of diminished venture investments, the VC community appears positive that a rebound in deal volumes would occur this year.

The survey found that 67% of respondents expect venture capital investment to increase in 2010, a drastic shift from only 23% predicting a rise in last year's survey. Only 7% see a decline in investment levels for 2010 compared to more than half (56%) predicting a year-to-year drop last year.

The survey indicated that the green-tech sector would be more attractive to investors this year.

About 77% of those surveyed say venture investment in green technology would increase this year as compared to 2009, including 15% who project investment to jump by more than 20%.

"There is no doubt that the green-tech sector remains an attractive investment area, but the difficult economic environment had investors operating in a cautious fashion in 2009," KPMG's venture capital practice co-leader Brian Hughes said.

"Our 2010 data shows that investors are more bullish in their investment projections and with all the federal funding and programs, the green-tech sector will undoubtedly benefit from the improving investment environment," Mr Hughes added.

Outside the US, venture capitalists expect green-tech investment to be focused primarily in Asia and then in Europe.

In addition to the expected increase in venture investment in 2010, respondents in the KPMG survey agreed that the government would play an increased role in green-tech activity.

As much as 65% of those surveyed anticipate an increase of federal funding for green-tech initiatives and 92% expect more public-private partnerships to initiate green projects.

KPMG conducted the survey in conjunction with AlwaysOn, a venture capital new media organisation.
 

Reliance Capital was ranked the topmost retirement fund manager overall by the EPFO for providing good returns and investing money in quality assets, while State-run SBI finished at the bottom

ADAG-promoted Reliance Capital Ltd was ranked the topmost retirement fund manager overall by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) for providing good returns and investing money in quality assets, while State-run State Bank of India (SBI) finished at the bottom.

HSBC Asset Management (India) Pvt Ltd and ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd, which are the two other retirement fund managers, have been ranked second and third respectively for their performance during the nine-month period ending December 2009, as per EPFO analysis, said a labour ministry source.

The analysis placed before EPFO's key advisory body, the Finance and Investment Committee, last week, pointed out that HSBC AMC churned out the highest yield (return) of 8.43% followed closely by Reliance Capital at 8.41%.

Interestingly, the country's largest public sector lender SBI has been placed at the lowest position on all parameters including yield, maturity profile and asset quality profile.

On the basis of the maturity profile, Reliance Capital AMC continues to perform the best on the said parameter followed by ICICI Pru AMC, HSBC AMC and SBI in that order. On asset quality profile, ICICI Pru AMC is ahead followed by Reliance Capital, HSBC AMC and SBI.

However, among all fund managers appointed in July 2008, ICICI Pru has been ranked first on an overall basis for managing funds since 17 September 2008 till 31 December 2009 followed by HSBC AMC, Reliance Capital and SBI.

A major chunk of EPFO's funds are invested in government schemes and securities having poor yields—less than 8%. Hence, the government brought in four fund managers to churn out better returns.

The EPFO manages PF deposits of over 4.71 crore subscribers with a corpus of around Rs2.57 lakh crore. Its incremental deposits every year are close to Rs25,000 crore.

EPFO is maintaining an interest rate of 8.5% for depositors since 2005-06 because of low return of government securities, schemes and instruments. Before that it was 9.5% for the three consecutive fiscals from 2002-03.

It gave 11% and 11.25% interest on PF deposits in 2000-01 and 2001-02, respectively. It maintained an interest rate as high as 12% for 10 years between 1989-90 and 1999-2000.