Page 3345 - Business Finance
TRAI issues changes to interconnect regulations; tweaks norms
Nearly two months after it sought the industry's views on the matter, telecom regulator Trai today prescribed amendments to the interconnect regulations, proposing certain changes in terms and conditions for an operator to seek fresh call connect ports from other telcos. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had sought views and comments from the industry by May 18 on these draft regulations. According to the Telecommunication Interconnection (Amendment) Regulations, 2018, Trai has said that a service provider can ask another operator for additional ports in case the projected utilisation of the capacity at the interconnect point is likely to exceed 85 per cent over a 60-day period. "The time-frame for provisioning of ports for initial interconnection and augmentation of ports at POls (points of interconnect) is increased to 42 working days," Trai said in a statement. It said every operator will have to give a forecast of outgoing call traffic of busy hours for each ...
Exclusive: JPMorgan triggers EU talent transfer as 'dozens' prepare for Brexit move
LONDON (Reuters) - JPMorgan has asked "several dozen" employees to lead a first wave of relocations from Britain to continental Europe by early 2019, kicking off plans to protect its business post-Brexit, a memo to staff shows.
Thyssenkrupp labour head eyes fresh talks on Tata JV job-cut goals
DUISBURG, Germany (Reuters) - The labour boss of Thyssenkrupp's steel business on Thursday said he will seek to renegotiate with management planned cuts of around 4,000 jobs agreed under the Tata Steel joint venture deal.
Hike in Cotton MSP to make fibre expensive, may hit industry:CITI
The hike in minimum support price of cotton would make Indian cotton fibre relatively expensive with respect to international prices and inflate prices of its products, the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry said today, while urging the government to establish a delivery mechanism for the industry to procure raw material at reasonable prices. The government yesterday raised the minimum support price of cotton (medium staple) to Rs 5,150 per quintal from Rs 4,020 per quintal and that of cotton (long staple) to Rs 5,450 per quintal from 4,320 per quintal. "The Textile & Clothing being an integrated industry, the proposed hike in MSP based on 1.5 times the A2+FL costs would impact each segment along the supply chain raising the final price of the product. "Further, this intervention would also make Indian cotton fibre relatively expensive with respect to international prices. As Textile & Clothing exports are still reeling under the pressure to perform, absorbing a hike of .
Ford says it has no plans to hike China prices despite new tariffs
BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co said on Thursday that for now it will not hike prices of imported Ford and higher-margin luxury Lincoln models in China, thus absorbing the cost additional of tariffs on U.S. vehicles due to be applied starting on Friday.
Aliaxis plans to fully own Ashirvad Pipes in 3 yrs
Aliaxis, a manufacturer and distributor of advanced plastic piping systems, today said it will fully acquire Ashirvad Pipes by buying out the remaining stake of the Poddar family in the next three years. "As a part of the transaction, Aliaxis has acquired a 37 per cent stake in addition to its 60 per cent stake in Ashirvad and has agreed to acquire the remaining 3 per cent stake from the Poddar family over a three-year period. Both parties have agreed to not disclose the financial details of the transaction," a joint statement said today. The deal concludes the joint venture between Aliaxis and the Poddar family, created in 2013, when the Belgium-based firm acquired a 60 per cent stake in Ashirvad Pipes. "This acquisition marks an important milestone in the development of Aliaxis in India. We are now ideally positioned to fully support the growth of Ashirvad in the Indian market and to further expand our activities in the subcontinent," said Laurent Lenoir, chief ...
Carmaker Jaguar says 'bad Brexit' would mean it could not stay in UK
EDINBURGH (Reuters) - Britain's biggest carmaker Jaguar Land Rover has joined dissenters to a "hard Brexit", saying that Britain leaving the EU without a trade deal would cost it 1.2 billion pounds ($1.59 billion) a year and curtail its future UK operations.
ArcelorMittal says NuMetal alter ego of Ruias; NCLAT disagrees
Locked in a direct fight to acquire Essar Steel, ArcelorMittal today sought disqualification of Russia's VTB Capital-backed NuMetal Ltd, alleging that the firm was acting in concert with delinquent promoters of Essar group but the NCLAT hearing the case did not agree to its contention. When first bids for loan defaulter Essar Steel were called in February, Rewant owned 25 per cent in Mauritius-based investment vehicle NuMetal. VTB Group bought out Aurora Trust to cure its ineligibility as bankruptcy rules disqualify owners of distressed assets from bidding for those assets in the insolvency process. At a hearing before a two-member bench of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for ArcelorMittal, said "NuMetal and Rewant Ruia are alter ego of each other. They both are the same." He alleged that the two are acting in concert with each other. The NCLAT bench posed several probing questions, including whether a company can be .
Malaysia suspends multi-billion dollar China-backed deals
Malaysia said today it has suspended three major China-backed projects worth billions of dollars, the latest big-ticket items to be axed by the new government as it reviews deals signed by ousted prime minister Najib Razak. The deals were among several Beijing-backed projects signed by scandal-hit Najib, who was unseated by his former mentor Mahathir Mohamad in elections last May. Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said he had ordered the suspension of two pipeline deals and a 688-kilometre (430-mile) rail link worth a combined 90.4 billion ringgit (USD 22.35 billion). The pipeline projects had been awarded to China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau, while the China Communications Construction Company served as the main contractor for the East Coast Rail Link. Lim said Mahathir had ordered the suspensions in a bid to target Malaysia's estimated $250 billion national debt and other liabilities. "The decisions are solely directed towards the related contractors relating to the provisions mentioned ..
Orient Global Cinnamon Capital sells Indiabulls Ventures shares worth Rs 645-cr
Orient Global Cinnamon Capital today sold more than 1.35 crore shares of Indiabulls Ventures for a little over Rs 645 crore through an open market transaction. The shares were purchased by Jasmine Capital Investments Pte Ltd. According to block deal data available with the BSE, Orient Global offloaded a total of 1,35,00,000 shares, amounting to 2.23 per cent stake, of Indiabulls Ventures. Shares were sold at an average price of Rs 478, valuing the transaction at Rs 645.3 crore, the data showed. Indiabulls Ventures slipped 0.36 per cent to close at Rs 478.90 on the BSE. Yesterday, Cinnamon Capital sold more than 1.38 crore shares of Indiabulls Ventures for over Rs 651 crore.
'Value-added dairy products to clip at 14-15% a yr till FY21'
Rating agency Crisil today said it expects revenue from value-added dairy products to clip at 14-15 per cent annually over the next three fiscals, a growth of around 50 per cent faster than the overall sector's growth rate. Rising income levels, changing lifestyles and increasing health and quality consciousness is leading to higher revenue growth from value-added dairy products compared with milk. "That (growth), along with steady growth in milk sales, should crank up the dairy sector's revenue to Rs 7.5 lakh crore by fiscal 2021 from Rs 5.7 lakh crore in fiscal 2018," it said in a statement. Crisil rates over 100 dairy firms, which account for about 60 per cent of the organised segment's revenue. With contribution from value-added dairy products rising, operating margins of Crisil-rated dairies have improved around 50 basis points to about 4 per cent (not adjusting for periodical bonus paid by cooperatives to farmers) in three fiscals through 2018. A further 50 bps .
Oil near 3-1/2-year high despite Trump demand that OPEC cut prices
LONDON (Reuters) - Oil edged lower on Thursday but still stood not far off its highest in 3-1/2 years, boosted by potential disruptions to flows from Iran and the Middle East despite a fresh demand from U.S. President Donald Trump that OPEC cut prices.
Tech leads Wall Street higher as trade fears ebb
(Reuters) - U.S. stocks ticked higher on Thursday on signs that Washington may dial back on plans for tariffs on European cars, soothing some worries about trade even as China looked set to face U.S. tariffs.
Ex-deputy head of China securities regulator faces graft charges
The former deputy head of China's top securities regulator has been charged with taking bribes and insider trading, state media reported today. Yao Gang, a former vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), was sacked in December 2015 for "severe disciplinary violations" as part of a probe of the financial sector after a spectacular market meltdown. The term normally refers to graft. Chinese authorities launched a wave of investigations targeting the financial sector in late 2015 after a debt-fuelled stock market bubble burst that summer in a rout that wiped out trillions of dollars in market capitalisation. Prosecutors have now filed indictments against Yao, Xinhua news agency today said, citing the Supreme People's Procuratorate. Yao is accused of insider trading, taking advantage of his position and accepting a large amount of money and gifts. After soaring 150 per cent in one year, Shanghai stocks went into a tailspin in June 2015, tumbling nearly 40 per ...
Eicher gets BS-VI certification for CNG engine from ICAT
Eicher Trucks & Buses, part of VE Commercial Vehicles Ltd, today said it has received BS-VI certification for a heavy duty CNG engine from International Centre for Automotive Technology (ICAT). The successful completion of the compliance test much ahead of the official implementation date of April 1, 2020 further strengthens the company's position as a future ready player, VE Commercial Vehicles (VECV) said in a statement. The development also takes VECV's green profitability commitment a step ahead, it added. Commenting on the development, VECV MD & CEO Vinod Aggarwal said, "We have already been producing Euro-VI compliant engines for Volvo Group and used that expertise in developing a CNG BS-VI solution, much ahead of the industry norms." The BS-VI certification is for Eicher's E483, 4-cylinder, 3.3 litre CNG engine and the same has been introduced in the above 3.5 ton vehicle category in Eicher Pro 1049 CNG variant, the company said. Aggarwal further said, "Going forward, ..
Road block for Uber-Grab deal in Singapore
Singapore today threatened to reverse the sale of Uber's Southeast Asian business to Grab, calling for changes to be made to the deal, which it said infringed competition rules. Singapore-based Grab in March agreed to buy Uber's food and ride-hailing business in Southeast Asia, ending a bruising battle between the ride-hailing companies. But Singapore's competition commission found that the deal created a virtual monopoly in the city-state's ride-hailing market, with Grab raising prices after the merger was completed, it said in a statement. The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) criticised both companies for going ahead with the "irreversible" deal despite restrictions imposed in March to pause the transaction while an anti-competition probe was underway. "CCCS's investigations also revealed that the parties had even provided for a mechanism to apportion eventual antitrust financial penalties," the statement said. The Singapore commission asked Grab to revert to .
Iran tells Trump to stop tweeting about oil prices
Iran's representative to OPEC says US President Donald Trump should stop tweeting about wanting lower oil prices, saying that doing so has the opposite effect. Hossein Kazempour Ardebili was quoted by the oil ministry's website today as telling Trump to "please stop," adding that "with your frequent and indecent tweets oil prices have gone up 10 dollars." Trump has repeatedly called on the oil cartel to reduce prices. Yesterday he tweeted that OPEC is "doing little to help," adding that, "if anything, they are driving prices higher." Tehran blames rising prices on US sanctions imposed on Iran and Venezuela, founding members of the cartel. Last month, members of OPEC agreed to pump an additional 1 million barrels of crude daily, a move that should help contain prices.
Merkel says would back cutting EU tariffs on U.S. car imports
BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday she would back lowering European Union tariffs on U.S. car imports, responding to an offer from Washington to abandon threatened levies on European cars in return for concessions.
No dearth of BJP leaders in Goa: Naik
Union AYUSH Minister Shripad Naik today said there was no "dearth" of leaders in BJP in Goa but they need to be promoted. "The BJP have leaders in Goa. There is no dearth of leaders, but we need to promote them," the North Goa MP told reporters. Naik was responding to a question on media reports that Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar was ruing the lack of leadership in the coastal state. Parrikar returned to Goa last month after spending more than three months in the US for medical treatment.
Sebi exempts family trust related to Batliboi from making open offer
Market regulator Sebi today exempted a private family trust related to the promoter group of Batliboi Ltd from the obligation of making an open offer following its proposed acquisition of additional 49.55 per cent stake in the firm. Bhogilal Family Trust had sought exemption from the obligation of making open offer post acquisition of certain number of shares in Batliboi Ltd. Under the proposed acquisition, the trust would be acquiring 49.55 per cent equity shares of Batliboi Ltd from the company's promoter Nirmal Bhogilal, who is also trustee of Bhogilal Family Trust. The stock would be acquired in different tranches in the coming years by way of contribution (gift) through open market transactions, as per the proposal. The proposal has been made following a private family arrangement to provide for family succession and welfare of Bhogilal's family. Earlier, the trust had acquired 15.67 per cent of the total shareholding of the company from Bhogilal in March 2017 after obtaining ...