Page 323 - Business Finance
Japan's Orix to buy 7 wind energy plants of IL&FS
Debt-ridden IL&FS Sunday said Japan's Orix Corporation, which owns 49 per cent share each in its seven operating wind power plants, has expressed intent to buy the remaining stake in those assets. The seven wind power plants, in the form of special purpose vehicles (SPVs) and owned by IL&FS Wind Energy Limited (IWEL), are spread across 12 states with a total generation capacity of 874 MW. The group had initiated the process of the sale of controlling stake in the wind power plants in November last year by inviting expressions of interest. The cash-strapped group had earlier said that Gail (India) Ltd had emerged as the highest bidder to acquire seven wind power plants, offering Rs 4,800 crore for 100 per cent of enterprise value with no hair cut to the debt of the SPVs, which is close to Rs 3,700 crore. "The intent to buy 51 per cent stake is in exercise of Orix's right under the terms of an existing MoU wherein Orix can match the price offered by the highest bidder for ...
Stay away from choppy market (Column: Market Watch)
Markets were super volatile all through the week. Monday saw the markets begin on a neutral note and it appeared that the anticipated reversal after eight straight days of losses would happen, but then someone hit the futures with a large sell order and markets cracked. Probably, the seller had inclination that China would retaliate on the US imposing higher duties on $ 200 billion of US imports. China did retaliate that night by imposing duties of 20 per cent and 25 per cent on $ 60 billion of US exports to China. Markets rose on Tuesday instead and the reversal did happen.
Sebi, stock exchanges beef up surveillance mechanism before poll results
Regulator Sebi and stock exchanges have beefed up their surveillance mechanism to check any manipulative activities in the market this week in view of the high-octane election related events lined up. The heightened surveillance and monitoring systems are already in place for Monday, the first trading session after the announcement of exit poll results, while they would be further ramped up on Thursday, when the final results will be declared, a senior official said. The poll results are likely to have a bearing on trading and increased monitoring helps to keep in check possible manipulations and excessive volatility in the markets. Manipulators tend to exploit such volatile situations in the stock markets. The enhanced vigil on the markets will continue till May 23, when the results of the Lok Sabha polls will be declared. According to the official, movements in Nifty futures and options on the Singapore exchange will also be closely monitored. Trading in Singapore stock exchange ...
British-Indian banking chief attacks 'toxic culture' for women in finance sector
A British-Indian female banking chief from the UK's wealthiest Hinduja family has lashed out at the "toxic culture" that exists for women in the financial world. Shanu Hinduja, the chairperson of the Switzerland-headquartered Hinduja Bank, told the Sunday Times that female entrepreneurs were frozen out by a "deeply patriarchal" system that often refused to fund their ventures. The 55-year-old daughter of S P Hinduja and niece of G P Hinduja -- the brothers who topped 'The Sunday Times Rich List' for 2019 last week with an estimated fortune of 22 billion pounds -- is among a few women at the helm of a major financial institution in Europe. "As the chair of a bank, I all too often witness the toxic culture for women in the banking sector. We are under represented at all levels of the global financial system," she said. Shanu believes that mothers are particularly penalised as many male investors doubt they would focus fully on their work when they have a young family. "It remains widely
RBI's vision document on payment systems to spur digital economy: Fintech firms
The RBI's 'Payment Systems Vision 2021' document would act as a catalyst for promoting digital economy and instill confidence among the general public, fintech companies say. Aiming at a 'cash-lite' society, the Reserve Bank of India last week released the vision document for ensuring a safe, secure, convenient, quick and affordable e-payment system as it expects the number of digital transactions to increase more than four times to 8,707 crore in December 2021. The RBI has said it will implement the approach outlined in the document during the period 2019 - 2021. COO of Payworld Praveen Dhabhai said the vision document has a focus on empowering payment system providers and at the same time providing ease to consumers. "We are confident with our vision as a payment system provider aligned with the regulators, we will be able to contribute in increasing the digital transactions penetrations especially in the assisted segment in smaller cities and rural Indian," he said. Navin Surya, ...
Pak stops much-celebrated offshore drilling as no oil and gas reserves found
Pakistan's hopes for the discovery of large reserves of oil and gas off Karachi coast in the Arabian Sea faded as it stopped the much-celebrated offshore drilling after no oil and gas reserves were found, a media report said on Sunday. Prime Minister Imran Khan earlier this year said Pakistan would not need to import oil after reserves were found near Karachi coast. "God willing the reserves will be so large that we will not need to import any oil," he said. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Petroleum, Nadeem Babar, announced that the offshore drilling in Kekra-1 did not yield desired results, Dawn reported. "The operators of the well have decided to plug it in the coming days," the paper said. Around 17 attempts have been made in the past, but all remained unsuccessful despite encouraging data from each drilling, it said. A senior official of the petroleum division said that after drilling more than 5,500 metres reserves were not found. Therefore, he added, it had been ...
KPR Group forays into branded inner wear segment
City based KPR Group,a vertically integrated textile manufacturing facility Sunday forayed into the branded inner wear segment by launching 15 products. The brand FASO (Fashion Adapted Sustainable and Organic) will be initially available in Coimbatore, Chennai and Madurai market and would be expanded to South India by August, the group chairman K P Ramasamy told reporters here. He said the inner wear segment in India was growing annually by 17 to 20 per cent and the company entered it to tap the great potential. The KPR Group would launch 33 products pan India, including sportswear, by 2020, Ramasamy said. FASO products are segmented in three different premium ranges--comfort, style and supreme- with prices ranging from Rs 140 to rs249, executive director E K Shaktiel said. The Rs 4,000 crore turnover company has invested Rs 50 crore for the launch and would increase manufacturing capacity, depending on the demand, he said.
ECL Finance raises Rs 300 cr via NCDs
Edelweiss Group Sunday said its NBFC arm ECL Finance Limited has raised over Rs 300 crore by issuing non-convertible debentures. "The public issue of secured redeemable non-convertible debentures by ECL Finance Ltd (ECLF), the NBFC arm of Edelweiss Group has been fully subscribed," Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd said in a BSE filing. The first tranche of issue opened on May 10 and was scheduled to close on June 7. The base size of the issue was Rs 150 crore with an option to retain over-subscription of up to Rs 150 crore, aggregating to a total of Rs 300 crore. "The tranche I issue has seen a keen interest from retail investors with the retail bucket being oversubscribed by 2.36 times with total collection of Rs 2,120 million," the filing said, adding that the issue received close to 15,827 applications. ECL Finance Limited (ECLF) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd (EFSL). "The overwhelming response to our NCD issue reflects the investor appetite for ...
IMFA posts loss of Rs 74 cr in Jan-Mar qtr
Ferro chrome producer Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys Ltd (IMFA) has reported a standalone loss of Rs 73.87 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2019. The company had posted a profit of Rs 4.59 crore in the year-ago period, IMFA said in a filing to the BSE. The standalone income of IMFA in the January-March quarter declined to Rs 437.67 crore, from Rs 451.75 crore in the year-ago period. "We have registered strong operational numbers in a challenging environment which is reflective of the inherent strength of our fully integrated business model and long term relationships with customers," IMFA Managing Director Subhrakant Panda said. Panda further said "exceptional items have proved to be a drag on profitability. Our balance sheet is exceptionally strong, so we are looking to move on and focus on our core strength of value addition. We are evaluating acquisition opportunities and will look to expand capacity." IMFA is India's leading fully integrated producer of value added ferro ...
Aditya Birla Health Insurance aims to break-even by FY23
Aditya Birla Health Insurance is targeting to break-even by fiscal year 2022-23 by focusing more on the retail segment, a top official has said. The company, a part of the diversified conglomerate Aditya Birla Group, is also aiming to enter the list of companies offering services under the Government's Ayushman Bharat scheme by second half of the next fiscal. "Usually, it takes up to 7 years for an insurance company to break- even after high investments in the beginning. We plan to do it in 5-6 years, by FY23," Aditya Birla Health Insurance chief executive Mayank Bathwal told PTI over phone. He said the company is focusing on the more profitable retail segment for its growth and expects to add up to 1 million customers per year, which will make it possible for the company to achieve the goal. The company reported a premium collection of Rs 500 crore in FY19, and aims to achieve break-even in the next three years, once the premium collection rises to Rs 1,700-2,000 crore. Its premium ..
IBS to acquire Canadian aviation software major
In an attempt to step up its efforts to become a major technology provider in the global aviation industry, Technopark-headquartered IBS Software has entered into a multi-million-dollar agreement with Massachusetts-based Kronos Incorporated to acquire AD OPT.
MCA sees Rs 2.8 lakh cr recovery from IBC-led resolution process
Terming the current insolvency process and its outcomes as 'super success, Ministry of Corporate Affairs sees total recovery amount touching Rs 2.8 lakh crore through resolutions with the settlement of two key accounts, including some others -- Essar Steel, where financial creditors have approved the resolution and Bhushan Steel and Power.
PE inflow in Indian retail real estate doubles to USD 1.2 bn in 2017, 2018: Anarock
Indian retail real estate sector attracted private equity investment worth USD 1.2 billion during 2017-18 calendar years, double from the previous two years, according to property consultant Anarock. The consultant attributed the sharp rise in private equity (PE) inflow to further liberalisation in FDI policies such as 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail and 100 per cent FDI in single-brand retail under the automatic route. From an investment of USD 600 million during 2015-2016 calendar years, private equity inflows in retail real estate jumped to over USD 1.2 billion between 2017 and 2018. Of total USD 1.84 billion inflow in the last 4 years (2015-2018), tier II and tier III cities attracted nearly 48 per cent funds (USD 880 million) against USD 960 million in tier 1 cities. Top favoured tier II and tier III cities included Amritsar, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Indore and Mohali. US-based funds like Blackstone and Goldman Sachs have invested more than USD 1 billion between
India needs few mega banks to to compete globally: CEA
Batting for PSU banks' consolidation, chief economic advisor Krishnamurthy V Subramanian has said having a few good banks is a good idea as they can compete and their quality can get enhanced to compete globally with the best in the world.
Expect India to be among top 3 global markets outside Japan in 8 yrs: LIXIL
Japanese multinational firm LIXIL expects India to be one of the top three global markets outside its home country for water technology business in next seven-eight years on the back of growth driven by pre-fabricated bathrooms, according to a top company official. The water and housing products major, which was formed in 2011 through merger of five of Japan's most successful building materials and housing companies, is entering pre-fabricated bathroom vertical in India to add to its primary water technology business. Under this segment, the USD 16 billion firm offers total solutions for bathrooms and currently sells products under premium GROHE and mass market American Standard brands in India. "I would say currently India is not a very big part of our overall business globally. We are a USD 16 billion group globally and India is a very small part of that. But, we expect for the water technology businesses, India becoming our third largest market globally after China and the US," ...
Power producers seek removal of double taxation on imported coal
Industry body Association of Power Producers (APP) has urged the Finance Ministry to provide relief from double taxation on imported coal for the dry fuel-starved electricity generating firms. APP has shot off a letter to Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey seeking removal of Good and Services Tax (GST) on import freight for coal. Power producers' troubles have mounted since the GST regime came into effect in mid-2017. They are compelled to pay GST on import freight for coal even after paying tax on the CIF (cost, insurance and freight) value of the imported dry fuel, it said. "We understand that several importers have challenged this levy of GST on ocean freight in various courts on the ground that once having paid IGST on full value of imported coal inclusive of freight element, charging GST again on ocean freight amounts to double taxation and is bad in law. However, till date necessary notifications to address the same has not been issued," APP Director General Ashok Khurana ...
GST Council may consider national bench of AAAR next month; move to give certainty to taxpayers
The GST Council is likely to consider next month a proposal for setting up a national bench of the Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling (AAAR) to reconcile the contradictory orders on similar issues passed by AARs in different states, a move aimed at providing certainty to taxpayers. Sources said the revenue department is mulling on the idea of a national bench of AAAR since it feels that the Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) mechanism in its current form is not serving its objective of providing certainty to taxpayers under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. "There has been a view that a second Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling needs to be set up. It would be a national bench only to reconcile divergent verdicts passed by state AARs. We will present the proposal before the GST Council, which is expected to meet in June," an official told PTI. The AARs in different states have passed about 470 orders, while AAARs have disposed of around 69 cases till March 2019. Out of ..
DoT to soon settle merger/transfer of licences in M&As
The Department of Telecom will settle all issues related to merger and transfer of licences in the telecom sector on a priority basis, an internal note of the ministry said.
India may witness longer slowdown as oil imports, consumption decline
In a sign that slowdown in the Indian economy may be long drawn, a government report has projected a modest 3.5 per cent growth in oil imports this year. Considering that India imports more than 80 per cent of its oil requirements, slow growth in imports signals tepid demand and consumption.
Election results to determine market moves (Market Outlook)
Exit polls along with the final verdict of the 2019 general elections will keep the equity investors on tenterhooks in the coming week, experts said.