Page 1047 - Business Finance
Ambani says to invest Rs 10,000 cr in West Bengal in telecom, e-comm expansion
Richest Indian Mukesh Ambani Thursday announced Rs 10,000 crore more investment in West Bengal in expansion of his firm's telecom network as also new e-commerce venture. Ambani, who heads India's biggest private sector company Reliance Industries, said his firm's investment in West Bengal has grown from Rs 4,500 crore in 2016 to Rs 28,000 crore. "This accounts for about one-tenth of our total investments in India so far," he said adding the firm's telecom arm, Jio has become the largest investor in the digital space in the state. "Now, we have firmed up our plan for a further investment of over Rs 10,000 crores," he told the Bengal Global Business Summit here. Fresh investments would be in extending Jio's high-speed 4G network coverage to all entire state within 2019, connecting homes with fibre to carry high-speed internet and HD quality broadcasting and in logistics hub. "West Bengal is poised to become the logistics hub of the east, with plans to attract investments of Rs 5,000 ...
Shriram EPC bags orders worth Rs 291.57 cr from Jharkhand govt
Engineering services company, Shriram EPC Ltd Thursday said it has bagged three orders aggregating to Rs 291.57 crore from the Jharkhand government. The scope of the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) order involves detailed survey, design and drawing, construction of RCC Intake well cum pump house, installation of centrifugal pump motor in Purana Chaibasa, Tantnagar, Madhupur Towns on turnkey basis among others. "This order wins widen the scale of operations and presence in India and adds to order backlog...this order also demonstrates the quality of operations and excellence of our team", company Managing Director and CEO, T Shivaraman said. "We are excited with the traction in the segment and aim to leverage our presence and track record as we pursue opportunities from urbanisation taking place across the nation", he said. The orders expected to be executed within 36 month time frame besides providing operation and maintenance services for a period of ...
HCC Q3 profit falls 68 pc to Rs 10 cr
Hindustan Construction Company Thursday posted a 68.3 per cent decline in standalone net profit at Rs 9.91 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2018. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 31.31 crore in the year-ago period, HCC said in a filing to BSE. Total income during October-December 2018 fell to Rs 1,125.9 crore from Rs 1,293.01 crore in the year-ago period. "We have infused substantial liquidity and strengthened our working capital position despite tight credit conditions across the economy, and particularly within the infrastructure sector," Director and Group CEO Arjun Dhawan said, HCC is looking at multiple avenues to mitigate risks arising from lengthy working capital lockups, he further said. The company's gross debt reduced to Rs 3,490 crore as on December 31, 2018, from Rs 3,844 crore in the year-ago period. The order backlog stands at Rs 18,213 crore. During the quarter, HCC successfully concluded rights issue of equity shares amounting to Rs 497.6 crore. The ...
RBI cuts key lending rate by 0.25 pc; loans likely to get cheaper
In the first interest rate cut in 18 months, the RBI Thursday shed its hawkish stance to reduce policy rates in the maiden policy meeting under new Governor Shaktikanta Das, a move that may make home and other loans cheaper. Coming just months ahead of the general elections, the move will help boost lending and support the government's efforts to boost a slowing economy after it last week unveiled an expansionary budget which included a Rs 75,000 crore cash dole to small farmers and income tax rebate to the middle class. The Reserve Bank of India's six-member monetary policy committee (MPC) cut the repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.25 per cent as inflation continues to remain benign. While four out of the six members, including Das, voted for a reduction in interest rate, all the six members unanimously favoured switch in stance to 'neutral' from 'calibrated tightening' adopted in October. Emboldened by a slowdown in inflation which fell to 18-month low of 2.19 per cent in December ...
Twitter says will stop reporting monthly active users
Twitter on Thursday said it would stop reporting monthly active users (MAUs) after Q1 2019 as it would switch to a new metric called monetizable daily active users (mDAUs) to reflect its audience moving forward.
President Trump nominates World Bank critic David Malpass for top job
US President Donald Trump has nominated noted economist David Malpass to head the World Bank and ensure that the bank's dollars are spent "effectively and wisely" and to "serve American interests," sparking concerns that he may seek to reduce the role of the global lender. A Trump loyalist and a vocal critic of the World Bank, 62-year-old Malpass was a senior economic adviser to the US president during his 2016 election campaign. If approved by the Directors of the World Bank Group, Malpass, currently the under secretary for international affairs at the US Treasury Department, would replace Jim Yong Kim as the president of the World Bank. Kim stepped down abruptly early this year, effective February 1, three years before the end of his term. Announcing his nomination on Wednesday, Trump declared Malpass, a long-time Republican, as a "special man", and as someone who was eminently qualified for the position. "America is the largest contributor to the World Bank, giving it over USD 1 ...
Raghuvanshi appointed Fortis Healthcare CEO
Fortis Healthcare on Thursday announced the appointment of Ashutosh Raghuvanshi as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with effect from March 18.
Don't take tourism, pilgrimage sector lightly, parliament panel cautions railways
Cautioning railways against taking the tourism and pilgrimage sector "lightly", a parliamentary panel said Thursday it was "dismayed" at the low revenue generated from luxury trains run by the national transporter. The standing committee on railways, headed by Sudip Bandyopadhyay, in its action-taken report has come down hard on the railway ministry and said it should not only increase the budget allocation for promotion of tourism, but also keep a separate corpus for promotion of places of pilgrimage. "The committee caution the ministry not to take the tourism and pilgrimage sector too lightly as it may prove a hidden treasure for railways to increase revenue if explored judiciously," it said. Railways in its reply has said that during financial year 2016-2017, IRCTC operated 67 Bharat Darshan trips, two Aastha circuit train tours, five Buddhist special and three trips of semi-luxury trains. During 2017-2018 till December, IRCTC has operated 54 trips of Bharat Darshan, eight trips of
Ircon Intl Q3 net profit falls 8 pc to Rs 103 cr
State-run engineering and construction firm Ircon International Ltd Thursday said its standalone net profit fell by 8.36 per cent to Rs 102.77 crore during the quarter ended December 31, 2018, on account of higher expenses. The company had clocked Rs 112.15-crore net profit during the same quarter a year ago, Ircon said in a BSE filing. Total income of the company rose to Rs 1,255.65 crore from Rs 963.77 crore in the December quarter of 2017. During October-December quarter of 2018, its total expenses stood at Rs 1,108.17 crore, higher from Rs 804.76 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. Ircon International Ltd (Ircon), under the Ministry of Raiways, is a leading turnkey construction company having presence in several states of India and countries like Malaysia, Nepal, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, the United Kingdom (UK), Algeria and Sri Lanka. Shares of the company closed at Rs 389.75, up 1.25 per cent on BSE.
One in every 5 home buyers needs to wait for 10 yrs to get possession: Survey
One in every five home buyers will have to wait for at least a decade to get possession of his flat booked with real estate developers, according to a survey. Almost 50 per cent of home buyers had to wait for three years to get possession of their dream homes, the survey by realty portal Magicbricks said. About 16 per cent respondents faced 3-5 years of delay and another 16 per cent had to wait for 5-8 years. "Inordinate delays in delivery of residential projects by cash-strapped developers remain the main cause of concern for the Indian home buyers," it said. Real estate sector is facing a multi-year demand slowdown, leading to huge delays in completion of housing projects in the NCR and other cities. Home buyers have been forced to protest on streets and projects site as well as file cases in different courts. With monthly traffic exceeding 20 million visits and, with an active base of over 1.1 million property listings, Magicbricks provides its users a platform to connect with ...
Jet Airways raises Rs 250 cr from advance ticket sales to Jet Privilege
Cash-starved Jet Airways has mopped up Rs 250 crore from advance sale of tickets to its customer loyalty programme Jet Privilege, less than five months after raising money through the same route. The deal is similar to the one done in October 2018, an airline spokesperson said. Last October, the airline received around Rs 258 crore from advance sale of tickets to Jet Privilege. The full service carrier, which is grappling with acute financial problems, is working to restructure its debt as well as raise fresh funds. "Similar to what was done in October 2018, JPPL concluded a second Prepaid Ticket Purchase agreement, for USD 35 million, with Jet Airways, which is in the normal course of business," the spokesperson told PTI. At current exchange rate, USD 35 million is around Rs 250 crore. Jet Privilege, which has got millions of members, is majority owned by Etihad Airways. The Gulf carrier owns 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways. Amid the cash crunch, the airline is making delayed ...
Par panel seeks strong fund utilisation mechanism for UTs
A parliamentary panel has taken strong exception to the sub-optimal expenditure incurred by most of the Union Territories, saying unless they set up strong utilisation credentials, their demands for more funds may not be acceded. The parliamentary standing committee on Ministry of Home Affairs, headed by Congress leader P Chidambaram, said it was aware that the UTs have been pleading for more funds every fiscal for development activities but the trend of expenditure is not convincing enough to justify the demands for higher allocations. "The committee fears that unless the UTs establish strong fund utilisation credentials, their demands for higher allocations may not be acceded by the ministry of finance," the panel said in its report submitted to Rajya Sabha on Thursday. The Union Territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Puducherry, Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Diu and Daman, Chandigarh and Delhi come under the administrative control of the ministry of home affairs. The ...
Amazon's JV with Catamaran in Prione undergoes rejig; Cloudtail making a comeback
Amazon's joint venture with Catamaran Ventures, Prione Business Services, which runs one of Amazon.in's largest sellers Cloudtail, has been restructured to meet compliance with new FDI rules for e-commerce introduced earlier this month, according to sources. Sources said NR Narayana Murthy's Catamaran Ventures has hiked its stake in Cloudtail's parent company Prione Business Services, with Amazon's holding coming down from 49 per cent to 24 per cent stake. With this, Cloudtail ceases to be an Amazon group company, and can continue selling on Amazon's marketplace in India, sources added. In a statement, Catamaran Advisors CEO Abishek Laxminarayan said that Catamaran has always been fully compliant with every law and will continue to do so in the future. "...on December 26, 2018, the Government of India revised the laws governing e-commerce marketplaces. On February 6, 2019, Catamaran has effected the required changes to be 100 per cent compliant with PN2 (Press Note 2). We regret the ..
UK economy to grow at weakest since financial crisis
The British economy is set to grow this year by its weakest rate since the global financial crisis as uncertainties over Britain's exit from the European Union ratchet higher, the Bank of England warned Thursday. The central bank said the UK economy is slowing despite a modest boost from firms stockpiling as they prepare for potential disruption to trade if the country crashes out of the EU with no deal on future relations. The Bank of England said that the Brexit uncertainties and a weaker global economy overall mean that British growth this year is likely to be 1.2 percent. That's down sharply from the 1.7 percent predicted in November and below 2018's 1.4 percent. It would make for the worst year in Britain since a 4.2 percent contraction in 2009. At its regular policy meeting, the bank's nine-member Monetary Policy Committee opted to keep its main interest rate at 0.75 percent and said its forecasts depend on what happens with Brexit. "That outlook depended significantly on the ...
UK economy 'not prepared' for no-deal Brexit: BoE chief
Britain's economy is "not yet prepared" for a disorderly no-deal departure from the European Union next month, Bank of England governor Mark Carney warned Thursday. "Although many companies are stepping up their contingency planning, the economy as a whole is still not yet prepared for a no-deal no-transition exit," Carney said after the central bank slashed its economic growth forecasts.
RBI rate cut to boost housing demand; more steps needed to improve liquidity: Realtors
Realty players and consultants Thursday said the RBI's move to cut lending rate will boost housing demand, but called for more steps to improve liquidity in NBFCs and housing finance companies. CREDAI National President Jaxay Shah hailed RBI's decision, saying that "the consequential reduction in EMI burden for the consumers should pep up the housing demand further." Anarock Chairman Anuj Puri said the rate cut was overdue and augurs well for the real estate sector which also received a budget bonanza in the previous week. "Rate cuts give a substantial push to property buyer sentiment. Home loan interest rates increased by as much as 5-7 per cent in the last one year because the RBI hiked its repo rate by 50 basis points over the same period," he said. However, he said the sector currently faces a bigger concern of liquidity crisis in NBFCs, which used to fund heavily in housing and commercial projects. JLL India CEO Ramesh Nair said: "The timing of the reduction in policy rate could .
BSE to suspend 7 suspected shell firms for failing to cooperate with forensic auditors
The BSE has decided to suspend as many as seven suspected shell companies from Friday after they failed to provide the information sought by forensic auditors in a time-bound manner. The firms facing suspension are Aadhaar Ventures India, Blue Circle Services, IKF Technologies, Prabhav Industries, S T Services, Silverpoint Infratech and Winy Commercial & Fiscal Services, the BSE said in a circular. The securities of these companies "shall be suspended with effect from Friday, February 8, 2019, until further notice". The decision comes after these companies failed to cooperate with the audit firms to complete the forensic audit in a time-bound manner. The forensic audit was conducted by independent auditors appointed by the stock exchange on the direction of the markets watchdog. Independent auditors have been mandated to conduct forensic audits for verification of credentials or fundamentals of such companies. Shell companies are dubious entities that are mainly used for illegal ..
Gold hovers near one-week low on buoyant dollar
(Reuters) - Gold was trading close to a more than one-week low on Thursday, pressured by a stronger dollar, though concern over the Sino-U.S. trade conflict and the global economy kept prices above a $1,300 support level.
Energy bills set to rise for millions of Britons as regulator ups cap
LONDON (Reuters) - Energy bills are set to rise for millions of households in Britain after the country's energy regulator gave the green light to suppliers to increase bills by more than 10 percent from April 1.
Global Markets: Shares go weak as data disappoints, dollar extends power surge
LONDON (Reuters) - Mounting global growth worries thrust share markets into reverse on Thursday, while the dollar scored its longest winning run since a hot streak in early October that helped trigger a wave of worldwide 'bear' markets.