Reserve Bank of India has suspended the license of Asia’s  oldest Cooperative bank: Anyonya Co-operative Bank Limited (ACBL) Vadodara(Gujarat) for six months after examining all options for their revival. RBI has also ordered to stop all transactions.

The Reserve Bank of India  ordered the bank to stop most of its operations under Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, on September 14, 2007, and ABCL closed in March 2008. Its annual general meeting in September 2008 formed a committee to re-open the bank.

The fate of the bank has been uncertain after the Reserve Bank of India  (RBI) clamped restrictions on it for failing to reduce its non-performing assets (NPAs). Revival, merger and liquidation have all been discussed for the bank, but nothing worked. Due to liquidity problems and high NPAs, the bank has been placed under directions under Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act 1949 (As Applicable to Cooperative Societies) order placing a ceiling on repayment of deposits per depositor.

In a desperate bid to make the bank survive, Vadodara mayor and MP Balkrishna Shukla along with ACBL chairman Dilip Kelkar and director Vrushal Revadandekar  had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in March 2010 after seeking an appointment. The PM had said that he would take up the matter with the RBI and help us out. Shukla had also raised the issue in Parliament on March 4 and said that the institute should be granted a heritage status.

ACBL was established in 1889 by Vitthalrao Kavthekar under the guidance of Lokmanya Tilak with the name Anyonya Sahayakari Mandali Co-operative Bank Limited, with a primary objective of providing an alternative to exploitation by moneylenders for Baroda’s residents. When it was started in 1889 it had just 23 members and 76 Indian rupees (Rs) of capital, which grew to Rs 873 in the first year.  By 2006, it had grown up to more than 23,000 share holders and more than ten branches which are mainly located within Baroda city and some small towns surrounding it. Its administration is governed by a group of nine board directors, three of whom are elected every year for a three year term.

Shiv, a landmark property on Ashram Road, was single screen theatre closed for some years due to advent of multiplexes in the city. Shiv is the second single-screen converted into multiplex model after Cinemax acquired Red Carpet in Ahmedabad.  It has a capacity of 657 seats including 75 reacliner seats with state of the art ambience and facilities. It will also offer patrons to enjoy a personalized cafe service while enjoying their favorite movies. With this launch of its sixth multiplex in Gujarat, the company now has a pan India presence with 97 screens and 25,830 seats across 30 properties.

“About Rs 1.5-2 crore is required for each screen, depending on the market location. We are planning to add two more theatres in Gujarat in Baroda and Surat by March. With a Rs 195 crore topline last year, we expect a growth of 30-35 per cent for our multiplex business,” said Devang Sampat- President for Cinemax India Ltd.

The new multiplex —Cinemax-Shiv, will be the second single-screen converted into multiplex model after Cinemax acquired Red Carpet in Ahmedabad. Sampat added that the company has received many proposals from single screen theatres in Ahmedabad for conversions into multiplex, but has not shortlisted any for the near future.

“The corporation has invested Rs 19,452 crore in Gujarat till March 31, 2010. Of this, Rs 5,488-crore investment was done in the last fiscal alone,” Divisional Manager, LIC Ahmedabad, M K Kemmu said today.

“Of the total investment, LIC has invested Rs 6,222 crore in the Gujarat Government securities up to the year ended March. Of this, Rs 2,150 crore was invested in the last financial year,” Kemmu said.

“State of Gujarat is emerging as a favourable investment destination for the corporation,” he said.

“The corporation made a fresh investment of Rs 2,971 crore in the last fiscal in shares and debentures of private and public sector companies of Gujarat origin,” Kemmu said.

Besides, LIC has made an investment of Rs 1,255 crore in the social sector of Gujarat till the year ended March. Of this, Rs 365 crore was invested in last fiscal, he said.

In the current fiscal, Ahmedabad division collected new premium of Rs 315 crore, a 140 per cent growth over Rs 131 crore netted in the corresponding period a year ago.

“The new policies have shown a growth of 18 per cent this fiscal as compared to last year,” Kemmu said, adding so far 1.32 lakh policies had been sold against 1.11 lakh policies in the same period a year ago.

Chief Minister Modi invited Mr. Sofer an senior delegation of Israel to participate in Vibrant Gujarat summit 2011.

The port will cost a total of Rs 1,150 crore, almost half of which has already been infused.

“Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone (MPSEZ) announces commencement of operations of the dry bulk cargo port at Dahej,” the company said in a statement here.

The port is being set up by Adani Petronet Port Pvt Ltd in a joint venture with Petronet LNG at a cost of Rs 1,150 crore. Petronet, which owns 24 per cent in the joint venture, is already operating an LNG import terminal at Dahej, along with a berth for ships.

The operations at the port started with the arrival of the first ship (M V Sesa Star Cosmos) today containing a consignment of coal docks at Dahej.

“With the commencement of operations at Dahej, it would be the second operational port in Gujarat for MPSEZ and the only one which has become operational in the private port category in the last 4-5 years,” it further said.

The infrastructure sector-focused group is increasingly looking to acquire coal assets overseas to feed its power generation capacity.

Adani Enterprises, the flagship company of the group led by billionaire Gautam Adani, had posted an over three-fold jump in profits to Rs 407 crore for the first quarter of the current fiscal, mainly due to strong performance by its non-core businesses including the power segment.

Earlier this month, Adani Enterprises, which is the country’s largest coal importing company, sealed a ASD 3 billion deal to buy the coal assets of Australia’s Linc Energy, to support its plan to expand power generation capacity to 20,000 MW by 2020.

It was recently awarded preferred proponent status for developing the Dudgeon point terminal in Macay, Queensland, Australia.

The company has also entered a USD 1.65 billion tripartite pact with an Indonesian firm to source coal. Its subsidiary, Adani Power, is working on 4,620-MW project in Mundra, Gujarat. It has also announced two power projects in the state, at Hazira and Dahej.

As one of the Middle East’s multi-awarded and fastest growing free trade zones, RAK FTZ provides quality service for a wide variety of businesses, especially SMEs and recognises that with the burgeoning business and entrepreneurial spirit within India, the Indian market holds a huge potential.

“As we celebrate our 10th anniversary this year, we are looking to strengthen our positioning as a business hub geared at helping SMEs connect to emerging market economies. Our target is to increase registrations by 15 per cent by the end of the year. We are also focusing on providing more value added services for our clients with the launch of our Mazeed Services. Ahmedabad, as a region, presents huge potential, with a large number of SMEs operating in different sectors, which want to expand overseas. We welcome businessmen, entrepreneurs and potential investors with full information on how they can expand their business operations in the Middle East,” commented Oussama El Omari, RAK FTZ CEO.

The RAK FTZ trade team will hold an orientation on the first day, introducing RAK FTZ and detailing the products and services the free zone has to offer with special focus on its cutting-edge technology; value-added services, such as the RAK FTZ Liaison Office in Mumbai, to make it easier for international office to receive information and assistance; friendly staff; and a no-hassle, no-red tape, transparent business policy. All sessions are interactive with participants welcome to inquire and register during the sessions.

“RAK FTZ has developed an array of first-class business centres across the UAE, which offer a wide range of business solutions to meet the evolving and ever-growing business demands. Our offices and facilities offer turn-key solutions and provide an instant and comprehensive business environment with flexible terms and minimal investment, enabling companies to establish a powerful business presence throughout the world by shortening their incubation period,” he expounded.

Aircel, the fifth largest service provider in India, launched its GSM (Global System for Mobile) mobile services in Gujarat and became the ninth GSM provider in the state.

The company  roped in Bollywood actress Prachi Desai to launch its services, who was exited about “Pocket Internet” facility of Aircel.

Gujarat, with population of more than 6 crore, has mobile subscription of more than 3.5 crore with mobile density of around 60%. For the first time, Gujarat crossed the mark of 3 crore mobile phone customer base in January, 2010 and in the next six months, added 50 lakh new mobile phone connections.

The same period has also seen the entry of three new mobile operators. It started with Tata Docomo, followed by Videocon, Uninor and Etisalat. Aircel, in alliance with Dishnet will become fifth new entrant in this year.

Qualified institutional investors’ portion closed on Wednesday, which got subscribed 13.2 times. Till August 25, non-institutional and retail investors subscribed 1.2 times & 0.92 times, respectively.

The price band for the issue was at Rs 42-48 per share. Along with fresh issue of shares, there is an offer for sale of upto 1,17,07,369 equity shares by the Infrastructure Fund of India, LLC and the India Infrastructure Fund, LLC.

GPPL is the developer and operator of APM Terminals Pipavav, which has multi-cargo and multi-user operations. It has the exclusive rights to develop and operate APM Terminals Pipavav and related facilities until September 2028 pursuant to the Concession Agreement with GMB and the GoG.

The company had received commitment of Rs 92.17 crore from 20 anchor investors on August 21 as against allocation of 2.04 crore equity shares at Rs 45 per share. The anchor investors include: HDFC MF, Tata MF, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Securities, DSP Blackrock, Govt of Singapore, JM Financial MF, Axis MF, Credit Suisse Singapore, Canara Robeco MF, Lloyd George IM, Govt Pension Fund Global, Intl Opp Fund, PI Opp Fund, Amansa Investments among others.

The issue proceeds are proposed to be utilised for (a) prepayment of loans; (b) investment in capital expenditure; (c) investment in capital equipment; and (d) general corporate purposes.

As Gujaratis are known for their huge spending in tourist activities, the state is lucrative place for anyone offering good tourism deal. Therefore this time, there were 350 stalls in TTF, and 27 states were officially participating.

Ahmedabad’s new Gujarat University indoor AC hall has done wonder for the city. In any season, one can organize large events without tension. TTF which was earlier organized in Rajpath Club’s relatively cramp AC hall, is now organized in better way at Gujarat University hall, for last two years.

Most of the stalls in TTF were targeting retail tourists. Only one or two stalls were meant exclusively for travel agents.

Foreign participants countries in TTF Ahmedabad were Egypt, Thailand, Japan, Philippines, and Nepal(forgive if forget any other name).

On Kashmir stall, everyone was asking about safety. This was bit embarrassing for a Muslim with beard from Kashmir representing J&K Tourism department. He answered the visitors that the stone pelting and other events of violence will end in ten days.

Ditto situation was at Jharkhand, and Chhttisgarh stalls in somewhat lower proportions. The visitors would ask about Maoist menace. And the were answered that the Maoist would not harm tourists. The tourism activities are in normal non-forest areas.

Too many stalls of Uttarakhand and Kerala occupying whole lane or say an entire wing, were creating confusion in tourists about what to choose and where to go. While some dry states  were having token presence with one or two tourist place option,  various stalls of the states like Uttarakhand and Kerala were offering dozens of options within their territory.

Several tourist boards had organized live events, like Bhangra, Garba, Rajasthani songs etc at their stall, or at common place.

One stall from Jaipur based Thai Spa service was offering its service in three chairs inside their stall. It was entertaining to see Gujarati gentlemen getting massage service of Thai young ladies in public!

Several hotels from Punjab’s Amritsar were seen participating in TTF. One of the hotels had put LCD screen showing a video on Wagah border ceremony of BSF/Pakistani rangers. And a group of people was there to see this video. Really interesting.

One interesting innovative product spotted was Musical drama on Taj Mahal. This drama is held at a theatre in Agra for tourists everyday in the evening with ticket prices ranging from Rs 250 to Rs 750. Options to attend this event in various languages are available through recorded audio and headphone. This product attracts large amount of tourists who visit Taj Mahel in daytime and come to this show in the evening to know the history of Taj Mahel through musical play, performed by 60 artists with a real look like model of Taj Mahel in the background.

Gujarat Tourism stall was facilitating small tourism sector players to showcase their products. There were small operators present from places like Jambughoda, Jamnagar, Sasan Gir etc.

Gujarat Tourism stall had Kutch Rann Utsav publicity material too. Kutch Rann Utsav is scheduled to be held in December, and the tariff is Rs 7500 for non AC tent and Rs 8500 for AC tent. And yes, the Amitabh bachchan advertisements are not released, and therefore brand ambassador’s any photograph or material was absent in Gujarat Tourism stall. Perhaps in next TTF, the Gujarat Tourism stall will be full of Amitabh Bachchan material.

Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry(GCCI) new President Chintan parikh(right) and Vice President Shri Mahendra Patel(on left)

Chintan Parikh, Chairman and CEO of Ashima ltd is new President of Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry(GCCI). Parikh was appointed today by High Power Committee of GCCI.

Leading industrialist of Gujarat, Parikh is IIM Ahmedabad alumni and board member. He is known in Ahmedabad for his public service works including redevelopment and upkeeping of city’s Law Garden.

High Power Committee has appointed Mamta Group’s Mahendra Patel as new Senior Vice President of GCCI. Shri Prakash Bhagawati has been selected as new Vice President.