Page 2357 - Business Finance
Gold gains as equities slide on soaring bond yields
BENGALURU (Reuters) - Gold prices rose on Thursday as surging U.S. government bond yields and nervousness about inflationary pressures sent stock markets tumbling and investors to seek safety in the precious metal.
Bharti Airtel to refinance 1 billion euro debt
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel said its has secured full commitment from leading global banks like Bank of America, Barclays Bank and Citibank to refinance the payment of 1 billion euro notes maturing in December this year. The debt was raised by its Netherlands-based subsidiary Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) B.V., which handles Africa operations, in 2013 through 4 per cent Euro 1,000 notes maturing in December this year. In a note to creditors, Airtel offered option of early repayment to subscribers of the debt instrument and said that it has received assurance from global banks for redemption of the notes on maturity. "The company has secured and signed full and final commitments from top tier global banks including from Bank of America N.A., Barclays Bank Ltd Plc, BNP Paribas, Citibank N.A., DBS Bank Ltd., JP Morgan Chase Bank, amongst others, totalling to amounts in excess of that required for paying the said maturities in December, 2018," Airtel said. The offer ...
SC: ArcelorMittal, NuMetal can bid for Essar Steel after clearing debt
The Supreme Court on Thursday gave two weeks' time to NuMetal and ArcelorMittal to clear their respective corporate dues before resubmitting bids to acquire insolvency-hit Essar Steel.
Petrol, diesel prices cut by Rs 2.5 per litre in Chhattisgarh
The Chhattisgarh's BJP government reduced the value added tax (VAT) on diesel and petrol by Rs 2.5 per litre on Thursday. The decision followed the Centre's move to cut the prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 2.5 per litre, thus ensuring a total benefit of Rs 5 to the consumer. "We are reducing 4 per cent VAT on both petrol and diesel, effectively reducing the price by Rs 2.5 per litre for petrol and diesel," a state public relations department official said in a statement. "The state will incur a loss of Rs 378 crore for the remaining period of this financial year because of this reduction," he said. Describing the cumulative relief of Rs 5 as "Oont ke munh me jeera" (an insignificant amount, a drop in the ocean), state Congress's senior spokesperson Ramesh Warlyani said, "The decision has been taken in view of people's anger against the ruling BJP and the coming Assembly polls. "Fearing the outcome of upcoming assembly polls, the Narendra Modi government at the Centre has marginally ..
Euro zone bond yields surge after heavy U.S. Treasury sell-off
LONDON (Reuters) - Euro zone government bond yields rose sharply on Thursday after U.S. economic data bolstered the case for interest rate hikes in the world's largest economy and sent Treasury yields to multi-year peaks.
Bhushan Steel output grows 23 pc to 1 MT in Q2
Bhushan Steel Ltd (BSL), which was recently acquired by domestic giant Tata Steel, Thursday posted an over 23 per cent jump in its output at 1.05 million tonnes (MT) for the quarter ended September 30. The company had produced 0.85 MT during the July-September period of 2017-18 fiscal, BSL said in a BSE filing. During the said period, the company said its sales also rose by 10 per cent to 1.14 MT from 1.03 MT in the year-ago quarter. Tata Steel Ltd had won the bid to acquire debt-laden Bhushan Steel Ltd (BSL) in an insolvency auction. The bankrupt firm was among the 12 stressed assets the RBI had referred for NCLT proceedings last year. Tata Steel acquired BSL through its wholly-owned subsidiary Bamnipal Steel Ltd (BNPL). Shares of Bhushan Steel today ended 4.91 per cent up at Rs 26.70 apiece on BSE.
Irdai to move to risk-based assessment for insurers, intermediaries
Insurance regulator Irdai Thursday said it will move to a risk-based supervisory framework in view of significant rise in insurance firms and their intermediaries and a structured approach is needed to asses various risks and ensure financial soundness. The Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority of India (Irdai) is in the process of adopting 'Risk Based Supervisory Framework' (RBS or RBSF) for holistic supervision of insurance sector in India, it said in a circular to all insurers. For this, Irdai will develop an overall plan by undertaking a review of the current regulatory and supervisory regime. A framework will be prepared for holistic supervision by incorporating assessment mechanism into insurance supervision. To begin with, Irdai said it will primarily focus on compliance based approach for supervision as over the past two decades, the number of insurance entities to be supervised have increased manifold. To supervise on compliance approach would need the same ...
Canadian dollar to rally; trade deal clips economic worry: Reuters poll
TORONTO (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar will rally over the coming year, according to currency strategists in a Reuters poll who raised their forecasts for the currency as a deal to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement reduced economic uncertainty.
HDFC Bank launches instant vehicle insurance renewal
Private sector HDFC Bank Thursday announced the launch of instant renewal of insurance for cars and two-wheelers. This will be made available through an array of payment options such as SMS, Mobile Banking app, NetBanking, ATM, and PayZapp. Customers can opt for EMI payment of renewal premium as well via SMS, Netbanking or PayZapp, HDFC Bank said in a statement. Customers can now renew their vehicle insurance online instantly from the comfort of their homes or offices in three easy steps, it said. The bank claimed that it is the first one to offer a bouquet of digital payment options for customers to renew their vehicle insurance in a few clicks. "As per the prevailing regulations, all vehicle loan owners need to insure their vehicles. The insurance is valid for only one year and needs to be renewed annually. HDFC Bank has digitised the insurance renewal process end-to-end to offer customers convenience," it said.
Gujarat reduces VAT on fuel by Rs 2.5 per litre
Within hours of the Centre announcing a cut in fuel prices, the Gujarat government on Wednesday followed suit by announcing a matching tax cut of Rs 2.5 per litre in the prices of petrol and diesel.
BSE revises circuit limit of 2 IL&FS Group cos, 7 others
To check excessive volatility, leading exchange BSE Thursday tweaked the circuit limit for the shares of two of IL&FS Group companies and seven other firms. The new limits, effective Friday, will ensure stock prices do not fluctuate beyond a prescribed level during a session. According to a notice, a circuit limit of 10 per cent each has been fixed for IL&FS Engineering and Construction Company and IL&FS Transportation Networks. The price band has been revised from their existing levels in the nine scrips with effect from October 5, the BSE said. IL&FS Engineering settled 20 per cent up on the BSE at Rs 23.02, while IL&FS Transportation closed at Rs 33.60, up 4.51 per cent from the previous close. Over the last four trading sessions, IL&FS Engineering has surged over 72 per cent and IL&FS Transportation has rallied 49 per cent. On Wednesday, the exchange had set a circuit limit of 5 per cent for IL&FS Investment Managers. The government, on Monday, ...
Canadian dollar to rally; trade deal clips economic worry - Reuters poll
TORONTO (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar will rally over the coming year, according to currency strategists in a Reuters poll who raised their forecasts for the currency as a deal to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement reduced economic uncertainty.
Prabhu calls for making WTO stronger, better organisation
Amid increasing challenges to the global trade, Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu Thursday underlined the need for making the WTO a stronger and better organisation. He said this while participating in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) public forum session through video conference. "The WTO needs to work on an equitable trading system for all the countries around the world in the backdrop of the global trading system facing numerous challenges currently," the minister said in a tweet. He also reaffirmed India's commitment to the relevance of the WTO and the ongoing efforts towards revitalising it. "WTO must be made a stronger, better organization while keeping the elements of whatever has been agreed upon in the past," he added. The statement assumes significance as countries certain are taking protectionist steps. The Geneva-based WTO recently lowered the growth projections for global trade to 3.9 per cent from the 4.4 per cent estimated earlier for 2018.
Prasad meets IT honchos for active involvement in social cause; PM's townhall with techies on Oct 24
IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad Thursday held an extensive consultation with IT honchos and sought the industry's active involvement in social initiatives, ahead of Prime Minister's townhall with technology professionals slated for October 24. The IT minister -- who chaired a two-hour meeting with IT industry stalwarts on Thursday -- said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a town hall in Delhi on October 24 with tech professionals across the country to "enthuse and inspire them" to make India's digital story, one of social inclusion. Emerging from the meeting with IT industry leaders, Prasad said companies in technology and electronics domain have vowed to come together for "social action", and ideas thrown up during the brainstorming session include volunteering for social cause, and a co-ordinated CSR (corporate social responsibility) outreach on a common platform. "On October 24, the PM will hold a town hall event in Delhi, where there will be thousands of IT professionals...he
Banks' officers oppose proposed merger of three PSBs
Protesting against the proposed merger of three public sector banks (PSBs) -- Vijaya Bank, Dena Bank and Bank of Baroda -- the bank officers' union on Thursday launched a series of agitation programme here and demanded "good banks" instead of "big banks".
Mukesh Ambani emerges richest Indian for 11th consecutive year: Forbes
Reliance Industries' Chairman Mukesh Ambani has emerged as the richest Indian for the 11th consecutive year with a net worth of USD 47.3 billion, according to Forbes magazine. As per the 'Forbes India Rich List 2018', Ambani is also the year's biggest gainer, adding USD 9.3 billion to his wealth amid the continuing success of his Reliance Jio broadband telco service. "Despite a rout in the rupee that practically wiped out the Indian stock market's 14 per cent rise from a year ago, business tycoons on the 2018 Forbes India Rich List saw a modest gain in their combined wealth to USD 492 billion," a Forbes India statement said, adding that among the nation's 100 richest, 11 saw their wealth jump by USD 1 billion or more. Wipro Chairman Azim Premji has retained the second spot, adding USD 2 billion to his wealth at USD 21 billion; while ArcelorMittal Chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal moved a place ahead to the third slot with a net worth of USD 18.3 billion, increasing his wealth by USD 1.8
Govt to begin Budget exercise from Oct 12
The Finance Ministry will kick off Budgetary exercise for 2019-20 from next week and hold the first meeting with ministries of steel, power, and housing and urban development to finalise revised expenditure for the current fiscal and projections for the next financial year. In view of the upcoming General Elections, the government will come out with interim Budget also referred as Vote-on-Account, likely on February 1, 2019. The Expenditure Secretary will hold discussions to finalise Revised Estimate (RE) 2018-19 and Budget Estimate (BE) 2019-20 in respect of the Grants/Appropriations, according to a notification of the Budget Division of the Finance Ministry. A series of meetings with different ministries and department will commence from October 12 and continue till November 16. On the concluding day, Railways and Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry will hold discussion. It would also be the last budget of the BJP-led NDA government before the 2019 general elections. Finance Minister
Time taken at tribunals in insolvency cases to be excluded from statutory 270 days: SC
The Supreme Court on Thursday said the time taken up by litigations during the corporate insolvency resolution process has to be excluded from the mandatory limit of 270 days in case company law tribunals uphold the plan to revive a debt-ridden company. The top court, in an important ruling, also stressed the need of "time-bound" disposal of corporate insolvency resolution process saying it would not only support the development of "credit markets and encourage entrepreneurship, but would also improve ease of doing business and facilitate more investment, leading to higher economic growth and development". A reasonable and balanced construction of this statute (the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code) would "therefore lead to the result that, where a resolution plan is upheld by the Appellate Authority, either by way of allowing or dismissing an appeal before it, the period of time taken in litigation (in NCLT and NCLAT) ought to be excluded", said a bench of Justices R F Nariman and Indu .
CBI arrests Income Tax officer for accepting Rs 10 lakh as bribe
The CBI has arrested an Income Tax inspector in Lucknow for allegedly receiving Rs 10 lakh in bribe to settle a tax case against a businessman, officials said Thursday. It was alleged that the Income Tax Inspector had demanded an illegal gratification of Rs 25 lakh for releasing Fixed Deposit Receipts worth Rs seven crore seized during a search from a Kolkata-based private company in connection with the probe of another company, the CBI spokesperson said here. Inspector Dharmsheel Agrawal allegedly agreed to accept Rs 10 lakh as first instalment, he said. "CBI laid a trap and caught the Income Tax Inspector and a private person of Lucknow while accepting Rs 10 lakh from the complainant," he said. The agency carried out searches at the residence of the officer from where it recovered about Rs 10.50 lakh in cash and documents relating to several bank accounts and investments, he said.
Mumbai Congress demands White Paper on IL&FS mess
Blaming the BJP government for the bloodbath witnessed on the Indian stock market in the past couple of days, the Mumbai Congress on Thursday demanded a 'White Paper' on the crisis-hit Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS).