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@Financial Express: The informal climate change ministerial talks in Geneva hosted by the Swiss government to overcome the hurdle of long-term financing of mitigation and adoption measures and its regulation on climate change evoked mixed responses from the players and NGOs.

Issues related to fund raising, coordination of funds and new sources of financing and how the private sector should be brought on board were discussed in the meeting among other points. Pledging of funds was on the agenda, with the US upping its offer of $7 bn from the Copenhagen pledge of $2.5 bn for the period upto 2012. Out of 45 participating countries, 20 ministers attended, including India’s environment minister Jairam Ramesh.

@Economic Times: Budget carriers are expanding aggressively at a time when full-service airlines are struggling to minimize losses, making many wonder whether the lessons of the recent aviation crisis sparked by excess capacity got lost on them.

Low-cost carriers such as IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir are expected to more than double the number of aircraft on domestic sectors to around 130 from 58 at present. Independent budget carriers, which operate a quarter of the 250-odd aircraft in the domestic sector, have captured more than 35% of the market. The industry is slated to grow at 8-10% annually to around 400 aircraft by 2015, and the three low-cost carriers are expected to operate at least half of them, according to industry estimates.

@MoneyControl: Rana Sugars has sold 0.15 mn carbon credits granted by the United Nations Framework Convention on climate change (UNFCCC) for the period 2003-2008.

The company has sold the carbon credits for approximately INR 110 mn as its power co-generation plant in north India is recognized by UNFCCC and qualifies to earn carbon credits.

@Business Standard: Market pricing becomes uncertain after UN probe into data laundering. Prices of carbon credit certificates on the European climate exchange have risen after the regulator disallowed credits from greenhouse gas HFC-23 from a number of projects.

Credits from such projects account for around 10 % of total carbon emission certificates (CERs).

@India Infoline: Blue Dart Express and DHL Express India together won several awards at the prestigious Growth Innovation and Leadership (GIL) Global 2010, Frost & Sullivan’s flagship Global Congress that was recently held in Bangalore. Designed for accelerating corporate growth and thought leadership, these awards are considered to be one of the industry’s foremost accolades in India for Logistics.

Blue Dart won the award for Best Logistics Service Provider in the Pharma segment while DHL Express won the awards for Best International Service Provider and Best Logistics Service Provider in the Textile segment. The Awards by Frost & Sullivan are given to companies and market participants that have made their mark in their respective industries. This could be through product innovation, creating or using new technologies, customer service, business development or competitive strategy.

@The Economic Times: India is looking forward for Canadian companies to invest in the growing food processing sector of India. The food processing minister of India quotes the growth rate of this sector at 14%. Many Canadian companies have also evinced interest for the same.

This would yield fruitful results for the Indian sector because the penetration level of Canadian FDI in India is very low. While Indian FDI in Canada is about USD 3 bn, Canadian FDI in India is just USD 600 mn. Canadian companies would like to take advantage of the opportunities in the food processing sector of India as it would also raise the level of the two-way trade between the two countries which currently stands at USD 4 bn.

The government has also signed three MoUs with Canadian universities to link them with the Indian Institute Crop Processing Technology at Thanjavur. It is also looking at more exchanges of students and scientists to boost cooperation in this sector.

@VC Circle: Siva Group is betting big on the global edible oil market with an initial investment of USD 22.5 mn in a new joint venture company formed with Equatorial Palm Oil plc (EPO), the AIM-listed, Liberia-focussed sustainable oil palm plantation developer. The company already holds about 13% in edible oil company Ruchi Soya.

EPO has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Biopalm Energy Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Siva Ventures Ltd, to form a USD 60 mn 50:50 Joint Venture company to accelerate the development of EPO’s c.169,000 hectare land position and palm oil operations in Liberia.

Apart from the USD 22.5 mn cash plus arrange, Biopalm will guarantee a USD 30 mn loan facility to the JV, while EPO will contribute USD 7.5 mn in cash to the JV which will, on completion, hold all of EPO’s current land position in Liberia.

@India Infoline: K12 Techno Services Pvt. Ltd. raised USD 15 mn from Sequoia Capital and Song Advisors. It manages approximately 60 schools under the Gowtham Model School and Orchids – the International school brand. The company offers specialized education services towards bettering the quality of education provided. Primary services include curriculum development, infrastructure development, pre-school management, teacher training and marketing solutions with a special focus on development of communication skills.

@India Infoline: Metropolis Healthcare Ltd, India’s only multi-national chain of diagnostics center, has entered into a partnership with Gurunanak Hospital in Bandra to provide a wide array of sophisticated medical testing services with faster turnaround times. This alliance is a part of the rapid expansion project Metropolis has undertaken under its HLM (Hospital Laboratory Management) services ambit.

Through the HLM partnership, it would avail the lab area of Gurunanak Hospital and perform testing within the lab premises. The expert diagnostic testing will be performed on fully automated systems by trained technologists. The partnership will help Gurunanak Hospital achieve greater turnaround time and also saves the cost and time to set up a full-fledged, technologically advanced laboratory.

@Sify Finance: Lucknow-based Organic India, which manufactures and exports herbal food products, has spread its organic farming profile to 50,000 hectares in Uttar Pradesh. The company is also looking to rope in more state farmers to cultivate herbs and organically grown fruits and plants used in the manufacturing process of its products.

The company’s product line, includes organic spices, herbal tea, medicines, Ayurvedic supplements, chawanprash and organic food grain. US is its primary export destination and it also has tie-ups with the major organized sector retailers for marketing its products.