Posts from — September 2009

At least for the state-run Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), there is no recession. The company owns and operates massive steel plants in Rourkela, Bhilai, Bokaro and Durgapur (most of which were built with Soviet and German collaboration, since the U.S. did not know HOW to collaborate with a government back in the 1950/60s). Sales at SAIL were up 20% according to their latest financial release.

Since steel is used so widely, its sales are a good proxy for the health of an economy and for its continuing investment in capital infrastructure (bridges, buildings, cars, factories, machines).  It will be interesting to compare numbers for Tata Steel’s India operation and Essar and others . But SAIL’s numbers should give pause to any India watcher.

On the back of good numbers SAIL is considering an additional public offering to finance part of a $17 billion expansion

I  grew up in the city of Kanpur, in northern India. a city that has seen relative decline in recent decades.  During the British Raj it was a thriving textile town. Manufacturers of televisions, tractor parts, motor scooter rose and then declined. Today the city is known for leather and hide exports and for the production of “pan masala” an after-meal condiment. In 1961, the United States spent $14 million to help start the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur in a ten year collaboration that created an island of excellence in that city (and one I where was fortunate enough to spend five year of my life and earn a degree in Mechanical Engineering.).

But down the street from where I grew up is the home of the owners of Kanpur Hindi language newspaper, the “Dainik Jagran” or the Daily Awakening. It now sells 17 million copies a day. Compare with 2.1 million for USA Today as of March 2009, 14.1 million for Yomiuri  Shimbun of Japan, and 2.5 million for the People’s Daily of China.  The New York Times is under 2 million. Rising literacy and rising incomes are driving increased circulation in India.

The newspaper has grown in circulation over the decades and has started publishing from multiple cities. It took a a minority investment from a German media outfit some time ago. I was struck by the news that it is not the world’s largest circulating paper, see the story from Financial Times.  The reporter mis-translates the name of the paper but otherwise the story is worth a read