Cash-on-delivery 'risk factor' for e-commerce?

While market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India has issued a discussion paper for fund-raising by start-ups, which will include e-commerce companies, market experts have already started thinking about the risk factors. For example, Helios Capital's Samir Arora tweeted on Saturday: "Since lots of e-commerce sales are 'cash-on-delivery', sure this will be targeted, too, one day - welcome to 'risk factors'." Market players say given the ambiguity about valuations, soon there will be more concerns by others.

Rs 18k cr of leveraged bets riding on VRL Logistics

Leveraged bets to the tune of Rs 18,000 crore by wealthy investors are riding on the initial public offer of transportation company, VRL Logistics. The Rs 460-crore offering has been oversubscribed 250 times in the category meant for high networth individuals (HNIs), which means those who applied for Rs 250 crore of shares will get allotment for only Rs 1 crore. According to experts, if one factors in the interest component, the break-even cost works out to Rs 70 a share. In other words, for HNIs to profit, shares of VRL have to list at a minimum of 35 per cent premium.

'Made in India' to the rescue

A temporary breakdown of the Bloomberg terminals might have impacted global financial markets on Friday but Indian markets remained largely stable, thanks to the indigenous terminals used by brokers. The Bloomberg terminal is used by traders worldwide to route orders to the exchanges. But in India, the terminal is still largely used as an information and analysis tool. Order routing is still done through the CTCL (computer-to-computer link) channels developed indigenously by brokers or through direct access to the exchanges.