Page 1028 - Business Finance
To guide or not to guide? Fed 'dots' complicate message
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. central bankers say clear communication is important, with economic research showing that if the public understands what the Federal Reserve is doing, monetary policy works better and the economy does better.
Govt may raise investment limit of angel tax concessions for startups
The government is contemplating hike in the investment limit for availing income tax concessions by startups and provide a more clear definition for the purpose, sources have said. Giving relief to budding entrepreneurs last year, the government allowed startups to avail tax concession only if total investment, including funding from angel investors, does not exceed Rs 10 crore. Officials of the department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) and Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) are holding series of meetings to find a solution of the angel tax issue being raised by startups. "We are considering several things, including hiking the limit to avail the tax concessions. A clear definition is also required for this," the sources said. Though startups are demanding complete exemption from this tax, the government may increase investment limit for tax exemption to Rs 25-40 crore, they added. CBDT Chairman Sushil Chandra has recently stated that they have received several
IRB Infra net profit rises 6 pc to Rs 219 cr in Q3
IRB Infrastructure Developers Friday reported 5.7 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 219 crore for the third quarter ended December 31. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 207 crore in the year-ago period, IRB Infra said in a statement. "IRB Infra has posted net profit of Rs 219 crore for the 3rd quarter ended 31st December 2018; thus registering growth of six per cent as against the corresponding quarter of FY18," the statement said. The total income of the company increased by 36.7 per cent to Rs 1,835 crore, as against Rs 1,342 crore a year ago. "We achieved financial closure for our Gujarat project during the quarter and will start construction shortly. Q4FY19 is expected to be even stronger with continued traffic momentum and as we near completion for some of our projects," IRB Infrastructure Developers Chairman and MD Virendra D Mhaiskar said.
Jaiprakash Associates Q3 losses narrowed to Rs 97.75 cr on higher revenue
Jaiprakash Associates Ltd Friday reported a net loss of Rs 97.75 crore for the third quarter of 2018-19 against a loss of Rs 148.1 crore in the year-ago period. Total income rose to Rs 1,532.22 crore in the October-December period of this fiscal from Rs 1,139.21 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. The company is into diversified businesses such as cement, construction, hospitality, real estate and power.
PACL investors can submit claim applications till April 30, says Sebi
Investors of PACL who are seeking claims from the company can submit their applications to the panel headed by retired Justice R M Lodha till April 30, according to Sebi. The committee was set up by markets regulator Sebi following a Supreme Court order for selling the properties of PACL and using the sale proceeds to refund the investors. Earlier, the panel initiated the process of receipt of claim applications from PACL investors whose total outstanding amount was up to Rs 2,500. This process has been completed. PACL had illegally collected around Rs 60,000 crore from the public, mainly in the name of agriculture and real estate businesses. In a release Friday, Sebi said that after verification, refunds were made in respect of claims found to be in order and the process has been completed. "The committee has now decided to receive claims from all investors having outstanding claims with PACL Ltd," it said. Regarding claim applications, the regulator said investors can access the ...
Network capacity fee for 2nd, subsequent connection not mandatory: TRAI
Trai said Friday its regulation does not stop operators from offering discounts or lowering network capacity fee for second or subsequent connections in the same household, but such discounts should be offered uniformly in a location and declared transparently on the players' website. "... now few service providers have started offering the discount/ complete waive Network Capacity Fee (NCF) on second/ additional TV connections in home," Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said in a statement. The clarification came after some subscribers raised the issue regarding the price of the multiple TV connection at home. "It has been clarified by the authority that the regulation provides a capping of Rs 130 as Network Capacity Fee (NCF) for 100 SD channels and Rs 20 for the slab of next 25 SD channels," TRAI said. Further, the regulation does not prohibit the service providers to offer discount or lower Network Capacity Fee for second or additional connections in same location or ..
Oil edges up, heads for weekly loss on slowdown worries
LONDON (Reuters) - Benchmark oil prices inched up on Friday but were heading for a weekly loss, pulled down by worries about a global economic slowdown, although OPEC-led supply cuts and U.S. sanctions against Venezuela provided crude with some support.
Wall Street opens lower on trade woes
(Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell at open on Friday, with technology stocks leading losses as investors were skeptical that a U.S.-China deal would be reached before the March deadline, adding to nerves over slowing global growth.
Gold firms but stays on track for first weekly loss in three
(Reuters) - Gold firmed on Friday, holding above the key $1,300 level on concerns over economic growth in Europe and elsewhere, but headed for its first weekly loss in three as the dollar strengthened against the euro.
Red-hot U.S. economy ignores global cooling - for now
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The two best performers among the Group of Seven economies in the third quarter almost certainly took separate paths in the fourth, as Britain suffered a Brexit reality check, while the United States sailed on despite the trade war it has sparked.
C'garh budget provides for loan waiver, power bill rebate
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel Friday presented the first budget of his government in the Legislative Assembly, providing for farm loan waiver and rebate in electricity bills among other things. The Congress government had announced a farm loan waiver immediately after coming to power in December 2018. The motto of the Rs 90,910 crore budget was "Bahujan Hitay, Bahujan Sukhay" (for the happiness and benefit of largest number of people), Baghel said in his speech. The financial plan for 2019-20 has an allocation of Rs 21,597 crore, 1.5 times higher than previous year, for agriculture and allied sectors. A provision of Rs 5,000 crore has been made for waiver of agricultural loans, Baghel said. Short-term agricultural loans of Rs 4,000 crore distributed by public sector banks along with those distributed by rural and co-operative banks will also be waived, he said. A supplementary budget for the last fiscal presented in January had provided for waiver of loans ..
Nalco Q3 profit drops 58 pc to Rs 302 cr
National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) Friday posted a 58 per cent decline in profit at Rs 301.76 crore for the December quarter. The company had reported a profit of Rs 721.78 crore in the year-ago period, Nalco said in a BSE filing. However, total income of the company in the October-December 2018 period increased to Rs 2,794.68 crore, over Rs 2,465.44 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. Nalco has integrated and diversified operations in mining, metal and power. Presently, the Centre holds 56.59 per cent equity of the company.
RBI rate cut to help exports, increase flow of credit: FIEO
Exporters body FIEO Friday said the rate cut by the Reserve Bank would help exports as it will increase flow of credit. Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President Ganesh Kumar Gupta said the move would particularly benefit MSME sector of exports. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has reduced repo rate (at which RBI lends to banks) by 0.25 per cent to 6.25 per cent, a move that will translate into softening interest rates. "The lowering rate, at a time when flow of credit to the MSME sector of exports is at its lowest, will help banks across the country to bring down their lending rate for the businesses giving boost both to manufacturing and exports," he said in a statement. FIEO has been continuously urging the RBI to look into the issue and take step in the globally challenging time, he said. Gupta further said the credit to small and micro sector has declined to 2.1 per cent during March-December 2018, indicating banks aversion to higher risk perception. During ...
India exports to China touches $12.7 bn in Apr-Dec: Commerce Min
India's exports to China has reached USD 12.7 billion during April-December 2018 on account of growth in shipments of marine products, chemicals, plastics, petroleum products, grapes and rice, the commerce ministry said Friday. It said that the ministry has identified and shared with Indian exporters and other stakeholders, specific items where the US would lose competitiveness in China and where India had an export potential and encouraged the exporters to seize this opportunity. Several B2B meetings with Chinese buyers were facilitated through the Indian embassy in Beijing, it said in a statement. "India's exports to China have grown after several years. India is poised to achieve its highest ever exports to China this fiscal. Between April-December 2018, exports were USD 12.7 billion which is closer to last year's exports of USD 13.33 billion," it added. It said the growth in the exports has been driven by marine products, organic chemicals, plastics, petroleum products, grapes and
Housing sales to rise if GST reduced on under-construction flats: CREDAI
Realtors body CREDAI Friday said housing sales will rise if GST rate on under-construction flats is reduced to 3 and 5 per cent as likely to be recommended by a group of ministers under the GST council. A panel of state ministers Friday favoured lowering GST on under-construction residential properties to 5 per cent, from 12 per cent currently. The Group of Ministers, under Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, was set up last month to analyse tax rates and issues/challenges being faced by the real estate sector under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. In its first meeting, the GoM also favoured slashing GST on affordable housing from 8 per cent to 3 per cent. Reacting to the development, CREDAI President Jaxay Shah said people will start buying homes if GST rates get reduced. He said people are currently postponing their decisions to buy under-construction flats because of high GST rate of 12 per cent and 8 per cent on affordable homes. The move is aimed at reducing the ...
TN Oppn parties slam budget, point to rising debt burden
Opposition parties in Tamil Nadu, Friday launched a scathing attack on the AIADMK government over aspects such as rising debt burden and fiscal deficit in the budget. "The budget has no use for the poor and common people and the government is not bothered about farmers," DMK president M K Stalin said. Rather than being growth oriented, the financial statement was focused on debt servicing, he told reporters. Dubbing the budget as "shadow," and not real, he said it was disappointing that there was "no announcement to generate employment opportunities," when there were one crore unemployed graduates who have registered themselves in exployment exchanges. "Approximately there is a debt of abour Rs 4 lakh crore. There is, however, no announcement for revenue generation," the DMK chief said. The fiscal management scenario was tantamout to facing a bad failure in view of the mounting government debt, revenue and fiscal deficits, he said. During Chief Minsiter K Palaniswami's ..
Two financial firms behind plunge in shares of Reliance Group companies
(Reuters) - A recent plunge in the shares of three companies from India's Reliance Group was caused by two financial firms selling stock they had held as collateral, the conglomerate said on Friday.
Karnataka budget focuses on agrarian economy
With focus on agrarian economy, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy Friday proposed allocation of Rs 12,650 crore in the state 2019-2020 budget for the Congress-JDS coalition government's flagship crop loan waiver scheme. Aimed at striking urban-rural balance, Kumaraswamy, who has doled out several projects for Bengaluru, also increased additional exercise duty on beer, draught beer, beer manufactured in micro brewery and low alcoholic beverages. Kumaraswamy, who holds the finance portfolio, presented his government's second budget, amid high octanepolitical drama that saw the opposition BJP boycotting it. The budget presentation was overshadowed by heightened political developments since morning with Kumaraswamy releasing at a press meet an audio clip of an alleged conversation of state BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa luring a JD(S) MLA to destabilise the coalition government in the state. However, Yeddyurappa, who is the leader of opposition in the assembly, dismissed ..
REC Dec qtr profit jumps 16 pc to Rs 1,275 cr
State-run REC Friday posted 16 per cent jump in standalone net profit at Rs 1,275 crore for December quarter 2018, mainly on account of higher revenues. The company's net profit in the year-ago period stood at Rs 1,097 crore, as per a BSE filing. Total revenue of the company rose to Rs 7,257 crore in the latest quarter from Rs 5,637 crore in December quarter 2017. The firm sanctioned loans worth Rs 28,587 crore in the quarter under review as compared to Rs 38,885 crore a year ago. Loan disbursed stood at Rs 19,727 crore as against Rs 12,892 crore in the year-ago period. Net profit in April-December period rose 26 per cent to Rs 4,508 crore from Rs 3,580 crore in the same period last fiscal. Total income in the period was higher at Rs 19,131 crore from Rs 16,792 crore a year ago. The company said its loan book has increased by 20 per cent, growing from Rs 2.24 lakh crore as at December-end 2017 to Rs 2.69 lakh crore as on December 31, 2018. Earnings per share (EPS) during third quarter
Board of GOCL Corporation approves change in directorate
At meeting held on 08 February 2019