Shares of sugar companies will be watched after the cabinet on Thursday, 19 December 2013, reportedly approved providing interest-free loan worth at least Rs 6600 crore to mills for making payment to farmers. The entire interest burden, estimated at Rs 2750 crore over the next five years, will be borne by the government, according to reports.
Food Minister K V Thomas was quoted by media as saying that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved Rs 6600 crore interest-free loans to the sugar industry. The interest subvention of 12% will be borne by the Sugar Development Fund, he added.
Separately, CCEA announced that it has approved the proposal of the Department of Commerce to continue export of sugar, without any quantitative restriction, in view of the surplus availability of sugar in the domestic market. There will be no financial outgo on the part of the Government of India on account of this approval. This is expected to give a positive signal to exporters and the international community on the efforts of the Government of India to pursue a stable, long term and consistent export policy regime in the agriculture sector, CCEA said in a statement.
Infosys announced after market hours on Thursday, 19 December 2013, that Mr. Subrahmanyam (Subu) Goparaju, Member of the Executive Council has conveyed his intention to resign from the services of the company. The reason for his departure was not mentioned in the announcement.
TCS after market hours on Thursday, 19 December 2013, announced the launch of TCS Insurance Telematics Solution, a mobile application that turns consumers' smartphones into mobile telematics devices. Facilitating usage-based insurance (UBI) practices that more closely align consumer driving patterns and habits with auto insurance premiums, the TCS Insurance Telematics Solution minimizes the need for a separate, potentially expensive, telematics device provided by the insurer.
"Telematics data has the potential to radically change the way auto insurance is underwritten, and smartphone-based data acquisition presents a lower barrier for consumers than other methods," said Matthew Josefowicz, managing director at Novarica, a research and advisory firm focused on insurance technology strategy. "While some early adopters built their own telematics capabilities internally, insurers are increasingly turning to partners to help manage data capture and analysis in this important area."
Now, auto insurance companies can leverage a customized version of the TCS Insurance Telematics application available for iOS and Android devices. Consumers will be able to track driving habits and adopt safe behaviors that save them money. By leveraging telematics data for underwriting and actuarial processes, insurers can segment customers based on risk score, perform life time value analysis and, ultimately improve product pricing and strategy.
"Telematics is a game changer and will ultimately drive auto insurance premiums in the future. It provides insurer's an opportunity to improve customer engagement and service, while having the potential to make our roads safer for all of us," said Suresh Muthuswami, President, Insurance and Healthcare at TCS.
"The TCS Insurance Telematics Solution leverages innovations around digital technologies like mobility, cloud and big data, as well as our proprietary algorithms to help create a new business model for auto insurance," said TCS's Vinod Kachroo, Chief Technology Officer, Insurance and Healthcare. "The advanced analytics provides insurers better insights into driving patterns and mobile platform provides consumers new engagement models, creating a win-win for both."
TCS Insurance Telematics Solution is the latest in a series of product innovations from the company's Insurance Innovation Lab - a state-of-the-art environment for customers to test new ideas and trial new solutions. The Innovation Lab is also working on a Big Data based Telematics Analytics and Insights Solution to help insurers manage telematics data from various sources and analyze the data to provide valuable business insights, TCS said in a statement.
IDFC after market hours on Thursday, 19 December 2013, said that the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) guidelines on licensing of new banks in private sector require the eligible promoters of a bank to be 'owned and controlled by residents'. Hence, it is necessary for IDFC to bring down the foreign shareholding in the company to less than 50% if it gets a banking license. In this regard, the board of directors of the company on 19 December 2013 passed a Circular Resolution approving Postal Ballot process for seeking an enabling resolution from the shareholders of the company to authorize the board of directors to keep reducing ceiling limit of foreign shareholding in the company from existing 54% to 49.9% in various stages as and when the actual foreign shareholding goes down to get a banking license under prevailing guidelines. Total foreign shareholding in IDFC stood at 51.27% as on 6 December 2013, IDFC said. IDFC in July this year filed an application seeking banking license from the RBI.
IDFC further said that in case the company does not receive the banking license from RBI, the company will take steps to reinstate the ceiling on the foreign shareholding in the company to 74%, subject to complying with the then prevailing regulations. It may be recalled that IDFC had obtained the approval of its shareholders at the Annual General Meeting of the company held on 29 July 2013 for restricting the foreign shareholding to 54%. At the time of making application to the RBI for banking license, the then applicable ceiling limit on foreign shareholding in the company was 74% and the actual foreign shareholding in the company was around 53.17%.
Reliance Industries (RIL) will be watched on reports the government on Thursday cleared the proposal allowing RIL to charge higher price for gas from its KG-D6 block when the new pricing regime kicks in from April 2014, provided the company gives a bank guarantee to cover its liability in case allegations of hoarding gas is proven later.
Gujarat Gas Company said after market hours on Thursday, 19 December 2013, that pursuant to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) guidelines dated 14 November 2013, the company on 19 December 2013, has executed an amendment agreement with GAIL (India) for supply of Administered Price Mechanism (APM) gas for 0.429 million metric standard cubic meters of gas per day (mmscmd) on firm basis and Panna-Mukta and Tapti (PMI) gas for 0.059 mmscmd on firm basis. The company has also made revision in allocation for PMT gas from existing 2.13 mmscmd to 1.66 mmscmd.
Allahabad Bank said after market hours on Thursday, 19 December 2013, that the rating agency, CARE has revised downwards the rating of the bank's outstanding subordinated debt lower tier II bonds series V to series IX aggregating Rs 2411.90 crore to CARE AA from CARE AA+. CARE has revised downwards the rating of bank's upper tier II bonds series I and II of Rs 1000 crore to CARE AA- from CARE AA. It has also revised downwards bank's IPDI series I and II bonds of Rs 300 crore to CARE AA- from CARE AA.
MCX said that Forward Markets Commission (FMC) has appointed Mr. S. N. Ananthasubramanian, President of Institute of Company Secretaries of India, as FMC nominated Independent Director on the company's board upto 31 March 2016, in place of Mr. R.M. Premkumar (IAS Retd), FMC Nominated Independent Director, who has resigned from the board.
Shree Ganesh Jewellery House said after market hours on Thursday, 19 December 2013, that the company has approached State Bank of India (SBI), the lead bank of the consortium for referring the matter to Corporate Debt Restructuring Cell for Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) of its debts. The Flash Report for the same is being submitted to the lead bank and SBI has convened the consortium meeting of all the bankers 20 December 2013.
Corporate Debt Restructuring or CDR is a mechanism adopted in India which permits viable companies additional time to meet debt obligations, subject to certain terms and conditions.
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