Procter &amp; Gamble is a hulking target for an uppity investor like Bill Ackman. Typical activist tactics like a breakup won&rsquo;t work at the $178 billion Pampers-to-Crest giant. New leadership could be one thing to help get P&amp;G back on track, though. Maybe Ackman could even recruit vaunted former Chief Executive A G Lafley to help.

Changing tide

Business Standard

The small units-focused lender Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi) is ready to fund domestic MSMEs to acquire foreign companies, a top official has said.

Sidbi ready to fund foreign buys of small and medium companies

Press Trust of India

Publication of a Timothy Geithner memo has put the Bank of England in a tight spot. Geithner, then president of the New York Federal Reserve, wrote to Mervyn King, the BoE governor, in June 2008 proposing reforms to prevent &ldquo;deliberate misreporting&rdquo; of the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor).

Not looking good

LIC Housing Finance Limited (LIC HFL) is planning to launch its qualified institutional placement (QIP), issuing 46 million fresh equity shares (which according to on Sunday's share price amounts to around Rs 1,200 crore) in the next two to three months. Besides, despite the adverse market conditions, the company expects to grow at 20 per cent this year, said a senior company official.

LIC Housing QIP likely by Oct

Global banking giant Citi has turned to the social media to gauge the public mood on offering banking transactions through Facebook &mdash; a service already being offered by Indian banking major ICICI.

Citi planning Facebook banking?

The rupee gave up early gains against the dollar today but was still up 14 paise at 55.01 a dollar as banks and exporters sold the American currency amid inflows from foreign funds into the equity market.

Rupee sheds early gains, up 14 paise at 55.01/dollar

The rupee pared some of its earlier gains, tracking flat domestic equities; last trading at 55.03/04 vs 55.14/15 close on Friday.

Rupee pares gains, domestic stocks falter

Reuters 

The rupee fell for the seventh session in nine on Monday, tracking declines in domestic shares after data showing steady core inflation cast doubts about whether the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will lower interest rates this month.

Rupee falls on weaker shares global risk eyed

Headline as well as consumer price inflation was way above the Reserve Bank of India&rsquo;s comfort level, Governor D Subbarao said on Monday. His comments poured cold water on hopes that the central bank may have a rethink on rates after the wholesale price index, the main inflation gauge, rose a lower-than-expected annual 7.25 per cent in June, its slowest rise since January, helped by moderation in fuel prices.

At 7.25%, inflation still above comfort level: RBI Governor

National Bulk Handling Corporation (NBHC), the warehousing and collateral management arm of Financial Technologies, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with L&amp;T Finance Ltd (LTF), one of the leading NBFC&rsquo;s, to work together in the area of collateral management.

L&T Finance inks pact with NBHC

Jerry del Missier, a former senior Barclays executive, faced tough questioning on Monday about his role in the bank&rsquo;s rate-manipulation scandal during a tense Parliamentary hearing, indicating that he had instructed bank employees to report lower rates at the behest of regulators.

del Missier faces House scrutiny

In a periodic update of its economic forecast, the Washington-based institution warned that the measures taken in Europe have not done enough to quiet markets and restore growth.

IMF clips 2013 global growth forecast to 3.9%

The prospects of monetary easing this month remain dim. But the liquidity situation indicates banks could pass on the benefits if the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cuts policy rates.

Liquidity in RBI comfort zone ahead of policy review 

Air India Ltd, which got a government bailout to avoid bankruptcy this year, is planning its biggest bond sale to refinance costlier debt, as it prepares to add Boeing Co&rsquo;s Dreamliner planes.

Air India bond sale to buy Dreamliners

Thrissur-based South Indian Bank (SIB) clocked a net profit of Rs 123 crore for the first quarter, as against Rs 82.5 crore for the same period last year, registering a growth of 49.2 per cent.

South Indian Bank posts profit of Rs 123 cr

South Indian Bank on Monday said it would raise up to Rs 500 crore through private placement of shares. The board decided to raise the paid-up capital by way of a QIP (qualified institutional placement) issue of equity shares, with an issue size (including premium) not exceeding Rs 500 crore.

South Indian Bank to raise Rs 500 cr from QIP

Fifty-six per cent of Indians who file tax returns late are below 30 years of age, according to a report of Delhi-based e-return intermediary TaxSpanner.com. Only 17 per cent of them are above 36. The report, India Tax Ratio 2012, covered employees from 500 companies and banks in major cities, including the Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Half the late return filers below 30: Study

Standard Chartered Bank, the largest foreign bank in the country in terms of branch presence, has sold Rs 900-1,000 crore of distressed assets to Mumbai-based International Asset Reconstruction Company (IARC), in an all-cash deal.

StanChart sells distressed assets worth Rs 1,000 cr

The differences of opinion with the government were only &ldquo;natural&rdquo; and the Reserve Bank of India and the government were not adversaries, said Duvvuri Subbarao, governor of the central bank, adding that both shared a common goal.

Govt and RBI are not adversaries: Subbarao

Fitch Ratings on Monday said there was more pain in store for India&rsquo;s infrastructure projects, already reeling under delays and regulatory hurdles. Sector-specific stresses and macroeconomic challenges would continue to plague the sector, it added.

Outlook for infra negative: Fitch

Insurers may be burning their fingers in urban health portfolios for some time now, but the government&rsquo;s rural healthcare initiatives, including its decision to provide free generic drugs to public hospitals, are set to offer fresh avenues of growth for them.

Free generic drug policy to redefine health insurance

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