Page 3446 - Business Finance
Indian cos to bid in UAE oil field round
Indian oil companies will team up with UAE-based energy firms to jointly bid for oil blocks in the UAE, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said today. "In the next bidding round, Indian companies will bid jointly with UAE-based companies like Mubadala," he told reporters after meeting the Gulf nation's visiting Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. India and UAE, he said, now have complimenting investments and have gone beyond "buyer-seller" relationship. While Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has taken capacity in India's underground strategic oil storages, state-owned ONGC Videsh Ltd and its partners have picked up 10 per cent stake in a UAE oilfield. Energy majors from the Middle East are eyeing India, the world's third largest and fastest growing oil consumer to secure supplies through investing in downstream projects like refineries. Saudi Aramco and ADNOC have taken 50 per cent stake in the planned USD 44 billion refinery cum petrochemical complex at Ratnagiri
Trade worries weigh on Wall Street, tech stocks suffer
(Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes dropped on Monday as a move to check Chinese investments in U.S. technology firms further raised tensions between the United States and its trading partners.
Whistleblower shots off letter to US SEC against Infosys
An anonymous whistleblower has questioned Infosys for its undue delay in filing Form 20F with US Securities and Exchanges Commission, and asked the company to confirm whether any ongoing investigation with the agency is pending. "The company's undue delay in filing Form 20F with its deafening silence on any reason for such delay raises several questions and risks to the shareholders. "I request you to require the company to inform the shareholders on the exact reasoning for the delay as well as confirm whether any ongoing investigation with SEC is pending," the letter, which is in possession of this news agency, said. The letter was written to SEC yesterday. As per rules, a company has to file the Form 20F with US SEC within four months from the end of the financial year. As Infosys follows April-March fiscal year cycle, it has time till the end of July to file the necessary information with the SEC. The letter stated the company normally files Form 20F, which contains relevant ...
United Sprits acquires 26% stake in HipBar
United Spirits today said it has acquired 26 per cent stake in HipBar, an electronic payment platform servicing alcoholic beverage industry, for Rs 27 crore. The company has subscribed to 4,567,568 equity shares of Hip Bar at Rs 59.11 per equity share, United Spirits Ltd (USL) said in a regulatory filing. Hip Bar, which serves the needs of beverage alcohol industry and its consumers through the HipBar Mobile Wallet and delivery app, had a turnover of Rs 8,108 in the financial year ended March 31, 2017. Its net worth was at Rs 3,81,45,431, the filing added. USL, which is a part of Diageo group, said HipBar's platform should provide growth opportunities for its on-line, ecommerce route to market. "E-commerce is making an impact on just about every industry imaginable, and the beverage alcohol industry is set to be the next sector to be disrupted by the continued shift to digital," Diageo India CEO and Managing Director Anand Kripalu said in a statement. He further said, "We believe that
KFC to target new business worth Rs 1,500 Cr, posts profit
: Kerala Financial Corporation (KFC), the state's leading industrial financing institution, has posted a profit of Rs 8.30 crore for the 2017-18 fiscal and is targeting new business worth Rs 1,500 crore this year. The corporation has also achieved substantial growth in terms of sanction and recovery compared to the previous years. Despite challenging economic environment during the FY 2017-18, sanctions registered a growth of 87.88 per cent to Rs 724 crore, disbursements were at Rs 600 crore and total recoveries increased by 8.05 per cent to Rs 945 crore, a KFC press release said. The corporation's operating profit has increased to Rs 20.19 Crore. It could bring down Gross NPA to 6.37 per cent and Net NPA to 2.03 per cent which is an industry leading performance. Capital to Risk - weighted Assets Ratio (CRAR) stood at 17.26 per cent against the minimum of 9 per cent prescribed by RBI. "KFC has emerged as the best performing amongst all State Financial Corporations in ..
President to launch portal to connect job-seekers, recruiters on Jun 27
President Ram Nath Kovind will on June 27 launch a digital platform with details of around 4.40 lakh trained youth and 2,400 recruiters looking to hire from the talent pool, a top official said today. The president will also launch the Solar Charkha Mission entailing a subsidy of Rs 550 crore in the initial two years for 50 clusters, which is expected to create one lakh jobs, on the occasion at the event titled 'Udyam Sangam' to mark the International MSME Day. "The new scheme called Solar Charkha Mission which has been approved by government is proposed to be launched. There would be another portal which is also proposed to be launched by the President which is going to act as a bridge or a digital platform between the talent pool that we have in the sector and the segment which is looking for that kind of talent pool," MSME Secretary A K Panda said while addressing a press conference here. According to him, the portal will offer a digital platform to both stakeholders. "We have ...
Rupee recovery stalls on fresh dollar demand, plunges 29 paise
Halting its three-day rally, the rupee took a severe beating today and ended sharply lower by 29 paise at 68.13 against the US currency due to month-end demand for the American unit from importers and banks. The domestic currency remained under pressure as fears of a escalating trade conflict between US and China ratcheted up another notch following Trumps latest threat aiming at Chinese investments - a move which could have great long-term consequences on the US -Sino economic ties. The simmering trade dispute between the US and its major trading partners remains a critical issue for global markets. The selloffs in domestic equities alongside heavy capital outflows further dampened traders confidence in a big way. Foreign investors and funds pulled out over Rs 14,500 crore from the Indian capital markets this month so far, primarily due to global trade war and hawkish commentary by the US Federal Reserve. The latest outflow has taken the total net withdrawal by foreign ...
Reliance Jio takes $1 bn term loan to pay Korean vendors
Reliance Jio today secured a USD 1-billion worth of term loan from a slew of foreign banks led by ANZ Bank and HSBC and covered by the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (K-Sure) to finance its procurements from Samsung and Ace Technologies. The term loan, the fourth for the Reliance Industries in the past five years and the second covered facility for Jio in the past three years, was arranged on June 22, the company said in a statement. "The term loan facility will be used to finance goods and services procured primarily from Samsung and Ace Technologies," Jio said. The loan has door-to-door tenor of 10.75 years, and is the largest deal in the country as well as the largest deal supported by it in the telecom sector globally, it said. The facility was arranged by Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, HSBC, BNP Paribas; Commerzbank, Citibank, ING Bank, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Mizuho Bank, MUFG Bank, and Banco Santander.
S K Mohanty takes charge as Sebi's Whole Time Member
Santosh Kumar Mohanty today took charge as Whole Time member of market regulator Sebi. He has been appointed to the post for a tenure of three years or until further orders, whichever is earlier, said Sebi in a release. Prior to this assignment, Mohanty served as Executive Director at Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) from September 2015. He has also served as the Director in erstwhile Forward Markets Commission (FMC). An officer from the Indian Revenue Service (IRS), Mohanty has also served in the Income Tax Department in various capacities at Kolkata, Nagpur and Mumbai. The existing whole time members of Sebi are G Mahalingam and Madhabi Puri Buch. Besides, Subhash Chandra Garg, Injeti Srinivas, NS Vishwanathan and Arun P Sathe are the regulator's part-time members.
Gold stays firm on jeweller-buying
Gold prices climbed by Rs 90 per 10 grams, rising for the second straight session at the bullion market here today, on sustained buying by local buying interest amid bullish global cues. Silver prices also gained on uptick in demand from industrial units. Standard gold (99.5 per cent purity) moved up by Rs 90 to end at Rs 30,560 per 10 grams from last Friday's level of Rs 30,470. Pure gold (99.9 per cent purity) also rose by a similar margin to close at Rs 30,710 per 10 grams against Rs 30,620 earlier. Silver (.999 fineness) rose by Rs 85 to end at Rs 39,820 per kg as against Rs 39,735 previously. Globally, gold was off last weeks six-month low as concerns over a global trade war edged higher after a report said the United States plans to bar Chinese companies from investing in its technology firms. Spot gold was steady at USD 1,268 an ounce at early trade. In other precious metals, silver fell by 0.3 per cent to USD 16.38 an ounce.
OIL makes gas discovery in Andhra Pradesh
Oil India Ltd, the nation's second biggest oil explorer, today said it has made a second natural gas discovery in an onland block in Andhra Pradesh. The discovery was made in Krishna Godvari basin block KG-ONN-2004/1, which OIL had won in sixth round of auction under New Exploration Licensing Policy, the company said in a statement. The discovery made at well Thanelanka-l is the second find in the block, it said. "Earlier, a gas discovery was made at well Dangeru-l in Andhra Pradesh in the block." The well Thanelanka-1 is the first high pressure-high temperature (HP-HT) well drilled by OIL and has encountered hydrocarbon bearing sands, the statement said, adding that on testing the HP-HT zone produced 1300 standard cubic meters per day of gas. "Presently, the well is under further testing," the company said without giving an reserve estimate.
Trade worries set to weigh on Wall Street, Harley flags higher costs
(Reuters) - Wall Street was set to start the week lower on Monday, as a move to check Chinese investments in U.S. technology firms further raised tensions between the United States and its trading partners.
India warned OPEC of high oil prices shrinking demand
India's dire warning of its demand shrinking by one million barrels per day if oil prices continued their upward march was one of the factors that pushed oil cartel OPEC to raise production to cool prices. At the meeting of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Vienna last week, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and his team of officials presented the consumer side to the world's most powerful oil producers. Pradhan and Indian Oil Corp (IOC) chairman Sanjiv Singh presented an informal paper on the impact of high prices on demand, projecting a scenario of about million barrels per day of demand shrinking by 2025 if oil prices continued to advance towards USD 100 per barrel mark, top sources with direct knowledge of the development said. The outcome of the OPEC meeting was an additional 1 million barrels per day on top of 32-33 million barrels per day of its current production, a decision that was attributed to consumers from the US to India and China expressing ...
Amid Arab boycott, Qatar's new friends find rich openings
DOHA (Reuters) - Six months ago Serkan Ucar arrived in Doha to scope out business opportunities - away from his usual patch. The mission looks set to pay off handsomely, as the Turkish entrepreneur expects to win a first contract to help build an iconic 2022 World Cup stadium.
Grasim's Jaya Shree Textiles division in Bengal declares lockout
Grasim Industries said its Jaya Shree Textiles Division at West Bengal's Rishra area in Hooghly district declared a lockout from June 25 and it would continue till further notice.
India wants AIIB investments in 9 projects: Goyal
Terming India "a sweet spot where the rule of law prevails", Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said here on Monday the country wants investments in nine projects from the China-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
PM to inaugurate third annual meeting of AIIB in Mumbai tomorrow
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the third annual meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in Mumbai tomorrow. The theme for this year's meeting is "Mobilising finance for infrastructure: innovation and collaboration". This year will also see the launch of the inaugural Asian Infrastructure Forum, which will gather infrastructure practitioners in a practical and project-driven discourse, focused on matching innovative finance to critical infrastructure needs, an official statement said. Later, the prime minister will meet business leaders and captains of industry, for a discussion on issues such as economic growth, infrastructure development, policy initiatives, investment, innovation and job creation. AIIB is a multilateral development bank with a mission to improve social and economic outcomes in Asia and beyond.
RBS's Stevenson to become finance chief at HSBC
LONDON (Reuters) - Ewen Stevenson, currently chief financial officer of the Royal Bank of Scotland, is to become finance director of Britain's HSBC, HSBC said on Monday.
Bharat-22 ETF oversubscribed, receives bids worth Rs 15,436 cr
The second tranche of Bharat-22 Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) saw bids worth Rs 15,436 crore from investors, which is more than twice the amount sought to be raised. Through Bharat-22 ETF, comprising shares of 22 companies, the government had targeted to mop up Rs 6,000 crore with a green-shoe option of another Rs 2,400 crore. Subscription has come in for 2.57 times of the base issue size of Rs 6,000 crore. The total bids that has come in is for Rs 15,436 crore and 1.2 lakh applications have come in, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, which is managing the follow-on fund offer (FFO) of Bharat-22 ETF, said in a statement today. The government is likely to exercise the green-shoe option to retain the additional Rs 2,400 crore worth bids received. The government had on June 19 launched the follow-on fund offer Bharat-22 ETF. It closed on June 22. On the first day of the issuance, anchor investors put in bids worth Rs 5,163 crore, which was 3.44 times the portion reserved for them. According to ..
Exim Bank to give $31 mn loan to Suriname for transmission project, chopper maintenance
India's Exim Bank has inked loan agreements of USD 31 million with Surimane for upgradation of transmission line network and maintenance of Chetak helicopters there. Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) has, on behalf of the government, extended two lines of credit aggregating USD 31 million to the Republic of Suriname, Exim Bank said in a statement today. Of these lines of credit (LOC), USD 27.50 million will be used for upgradation of transmission network infrastructure and USD 3.50 million for servicing and maintenance of three Chetak helicopters, Exim Bank said. These loan agreements were signed in the presence of India's President Ram Nath Kovind and Suriname President Desir Delano Bouterse, in Paramaribo on June 20. With the signing of the above LOC agreements, Exim Bank, till date, has extended 7 lines of credit to Suriname, on behalf of the India government, taking the total value of soft credit to USD 78.05 million to the South American nation. Exim Bank loans to Suriname .