Page 439 - Business Finance

ONGC cash reserves erode 98% to Rs 167 cr in 1.5 years

The slump in cash and bank balances comes on the back of the Centre's policy of pushing public sector enterprises to acquire stakes in other PSUs, give out more dividends or go for share buybacks to meet its own fiscal deficit targets, analysts said.

Pak appoints ex-IMF official as SBP head amid IMF talks

Pakistan on Saturday appointed Reza Baqir, a Pakistani economist working for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), as the debt-ridden country seeks to finalise a bailout package from the global lender."The President of Pakistan is pleased to appoint Dr Reza Baqir as Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for a period of three years from the date he assumes office," Geo News cited a notification from the government issued on late Saturday night as saying.Baqir, a Harvard and Berkeley University of California alumnus has been working with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) since 2000 and is presently the Fund's senior resident representative in Egypt. He has previously served as the head of the IMF Mission for Romania, and as Head of the Fund's Debt Policy Division.His appointment comes a day after Tariq Bajwa resigned from the post of SBP governor.Meanwhile, the Imran Khan-government has also appointed Ahmed Mujtaba Memon as the ..

India headed for slowdown; Modi govt left economy in 'dire straits': Ex-PM Manmohan Singh

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said India is headed for an economic slowdown and accused the Modi government of leaving the economy in dire straits due to its "lack of economic vision". Citing the latest economic growth figures to suggest an impending slowdown, the senior Congress leader also said the Indian economy is "over-regulated" and the government controls and interferences are aplenty with even regulators having "morphed into controllers". He also rued the "growing interference" of courts in the economic policies, and said the Congress would have handled the economy differently. In an interview to PTI, the two-time prime minister, who is credited with spearheading India's economic reform process, alleged that the lack of any vision or understanding of the country's dynamics of economy by the Narendra Modi-led government has led to "disruptive" decisions like demonetisation. "Finance Ministry's latest monthly report now reflects that the country is headed for a .

Grofers pursues profit, targets IPO in 3yrs

Online supermarket major Grofers India is pursuing profitability by consolidation and focusing on doubling its sales to Rs 5,000 crore by FY'20. The company is also gearing up to hit the capital market with initial public offer (IPO) within the next three years. "We have closed FY'19 with Rs 2,500 crore sales. At present our monthly sales have touched Rs 225 crore, growing at 8.5 per cent month on month. We expect around Rs 5,000 crore sales in the current fiscal," Grofers co-founder & CEO Albinder Dhindsa told PTI. The online player that was last valued at USD 600 million has moved out of hyper-local delivery model 3 years ago. The decision not only aided its survival but also helped it to thrive year after year, Dhindsa indicated. The same strategy helped the company to inch closer to break even in major cities in the northern and eastern parts of the country. Grofers, despite raising USD 60 million recently, remained focused on consolidating its presence in 12 ...

Two years of RERA: Implementation still patchy in many states

Two years after the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act was enacted, the implementation of the legislation intended to bring about transparency and regulate the highly unorganised real estate sector still remains a work in progress.

'Sebi may be asked to relax 75% promoter stake norm for PSBs'

With an aim to enable the further recapitalisation of public sector banks (PSBs), the Finance Ministry may seek a relaxation for PSBs in the market regulator Sebi's norms for entities requiring promoters to have 75 per cent holdings in them, according to a senior official source

Trade cautiously without getting carried away (Column: Market Watch)

The week gone by began with a trading holiday because the fourth phase of polling took place on Monday (April 29) in Mumbai amongst other places, and both the stock exchanges are located there. Markets were volatile on Tuesday and closed with small losses. Wednesday was another holiday. Markets lost on the remaining two days as well. BSESENSEX ended the week with a loss of 104.07 points or 0.27 per cent to close at 38,963.26 points. NIFTY lost 42.40 points or 0.36 per cent to close at 11,712.25 points. The broader markets saw BSE100, BSE200 and BSE500 lose 0.55 per cent, 0.61 per cent and 0.70 per cent respectively. BSEMIDCAP lost 1.86 per cent and BSESMALLCAP lost 1.79 per cent.

Superior shares: Experts flag 'predatory' powers to some at cost of minority investors

As market regulator Sebi looks into benefits and pitfalls of shares with differential voting rights, several experts and industry participants have flagged possible threats to the interest of minority shareholders and overall corporate governance due to certain persons getting 'superior' powers. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) initiated a public consultation process in March on whether the listed and to-be-listed companies in India can be allowed to issue DVR (Differential Voting Right) shares. The proposal includes two types of such shares -- 'Fractional voting rights shares' to be issued by companies already listed on a stock exchange for at least one year; and 'Superior votes rights shares' for IPO-bound companies. The regulator had sought comments from all stakeholders till April 20 and is now in the process of collating the varied suggestions it has received. The current regulatory framework allows DVRs with lower voting rights, subject to certain conditions, ...

PFRDA eyes coordinating with Nasscom, start-ups to use 'regulatory sandbox' for NPS

Pension fund regulator PFRDA is considering to coordinate with IT industry body Nasscom and start-ups to "create a buzz" around its plan to use regulatory sandbox or live-testing of innovative products for its flagship social security programme NPS. The regulator is in the process of undertaking steps to identify the areas under the National Pension System (NPS) which could utilise the financial technologies (fintech) using the regulatory sandbox approach for the benefit of subscribers and NPS as a whole. A regulatory sandbox (RS) usually refers to live-testing of new products or services in a controlled and test regulatory environment for which regulators may or may not permit certain regulatory relaxations for the limited purpose of the testing. Last month, the Reserve Bank of India proposed that fintech start-ups could set up regulatory sandbox in segments such as retail payments, money transfer, artificial intelligence and data analytics in the financial sector. "It is important ..

Billionaire Warren Buffett gives new hint about his successor

Billionaire Warren Buffett on Saturday gave a clue on who might succeed him to run his Berkshire Hathaway empire, but did not completely reveal his hand. The world's third-richest man also said at his company's annual shareholder meeting that its recent investment in Amazon was not a shift in strategy to focus on Silicon Valley firms, which have largely remained missing from Berkshire's voluminous portfolio. Buffett, 88, was pressed by questions -- each greeted with a torrent of applause -- about who would succeed him. Without answering directly, Buffett said Gregory Able, 57, and Ajit Jain, 67 -- both promoted last year to the board of directors -- would in the near future join him and long-time business partner Charlie Munger, 95, on the stage to answer shareholder questions. "You could not have two better operating managers than Greg and Ajit. It's just fantastic what they've accomplished," said Buffett, who is known as the "Oracle of Omaha." For decades, Buffett and Munger have ...

Pak's quest for IMF bailout costs fin min, central bank governor and top revenue officer their jobs

Cash-strapped Pakistan's efforts to secure a financial bailout from the IMF has cost the country's finance minister, central bank governor and top revenue officer their jobs as the global lender pressed Islamabad to take more steps to ensure fiscal discipline. The government on Saturday night appointed Dr Reza Baqir a Pakistani economist working for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). His appointment came a day after Tariq Bajwa resigned from the post of governor of Pakistan's central bank. The government also appointed Ahmed Mujtaba Memon to the key post of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) chairman, which also fell vacant on Friday after the removal of Jahanzeb Khan, the chairman of the tax collection body. The key appointments come only weeks after Finance Minister Asad Umar was asked to step down amid vital bailout negotiations with the IMF, suggesting the government wants to overhaul its financial team amid weakening growth ...

QNet expects Rs 700 cr turnover from India in 2018-19

Asian direct selling company QNet expects a turnover of more than Rs 700 crore from India in 2018-19 and hopes to gain traction on the back of its renewed focus on health and wellness products. "QNet has a renewed focus on the health and wellness category and this will lead the growth for the company in India. We are hoping to generate a turnover of over Rs 700 crore from India market during 2018-19," QNet Regional Director (South Asia) Rishi Chandiok told PTI in Penang during the company's annual global convention last month. He said the company's success in India is because of the level of investment compared to other (direct marketing) companies. The Hong Kong-based direct selling company, which began its Indian operations in 2011 through its sub-franchisee Vihaan Direct Selling Pvt Ltd Co, was mired in controversy earlier this year in an alleged case of cheating which was reported to the police in Telangana. Chandiok said the company will remain invested in India despite the ...

Awfis FY19 revenue jumps nearly 3-fold to Rs 158 cr on rising demand for co-working space

Co-working operator Awfis has clocked a nearly three-fold jump in revenue during the last fiscal at Rs 158 crore on rising demand for shared office space from small to big corporates and startups, a top company official said. Awfis, which was founded in April 2015, has become profitable at entity level from November last year and is targeting to launch a public issue in 2022, its founder and CEO Amit Ramani said. The national capital-based firm has so far raised USD 51 million for growth of its business. The last funding was in July 2018 when it had raised USD 20 million (about Rs 137.57 crore) from a few investors, including Sequoia India. "Our revenue grew almost three times in 2018-19 to Rs 158 crore from Rs 56 crore in the previous year," he told PTI. Ramani said the company currently operates 63 centres, housing 30,000 seats, across 10 cities. It charges anywhere between Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000 per seat, but the average cost is Rs 10,000. "We are targeting to double our capacity to

India produces 27 million tonne steel in Jan-Mar 2019

India's steel production fell by about 0.3 per cent to 27.33 million tonne (MT) during the first quarter of the calendar year 2019, according to data from the World Steel Association. During the January-March 2018 period, the country had produced 27.40 MT of crude steel, the data showed. In January, India had produced 9.18 MT steel, down 1.9 per cent as compared with 9.35 MT in the corresponding month of 2018. The country in February 2019 reported a rise of 2.3 per cent to 8.74 MT as against 8.54 MT in the year-ago month. In the subsequent month, the output fell one per cent to 9.41 MT, from 9.50 MT in March 2018. In 2018, India's annual production of crude steel had stood at 106.5 MT, up 4.9 per cent from 101.5 MT it had produced in 2017. India is the second-largest producer of steel in the world after China, which produced 80.33 MT during January-March 2019. India has set an ambitious target of scaling up its steel production capacity to 300 MT. In May 2017, the Union Cabinet also ..

CARE Ratings pegs GST collection at Rs 12.60-13.40 lakh cr in FY20

Research and rating firm, CARE Ratings, has projected the gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections in the range of Rs 12.60 to 13.40 lakh crore in the current financial year requiring an average monthly collections of Rs 1.05-1.12 lakh crore.

Jewellers expect better glitter this festive season on stable

After a long hiatus, gold is likely to glitter this Akashaya Tritiya and the industry is expecting high double-digits volume growth given the positive consumer sentiment and stable prices. Retail price of gold has come down to around Rs 31,500 per 10 grams from around Rs 33,700 in mid-February. "We expect robust demand for gold/gold jewellery this Akshaya Trithiya due to price stability since the past few months and the improved consumer sentiment since Gudi Padwa. Looking at the current momentum we expect at least 10 percent demand growth this auspicious occasion," All-India Gems & Jewellery Domestic Council chairman Anantha Padmanabhan told PTI. Expectations are conservative as the general election is still on in some parts of the country, which will impact the overall demand. It can be noted that the Northern and Eastern states are yet to complete the polls. Of the seven phased polling, only four phases are over and across the Southern and the Western ...

IMF economist appointed State Bank of Pakistan Governor

Reza Baqir, an economist with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has been appointed as Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for three years, the media reported on Sunday.

Wit and wisdom of billionaire Warren Buffet, the 'Oracle of Omaha'

Below are some of Buffett's comments, and those of Berkshire's Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, on a wide range of topics

Higher price, poor quality result in 2.24 MT unsold iron ore inventory in Karnataka

Higher price and poor quality led to an unsold iron ore inventory of 2.24 million tonne (MT) in 2018-19 in Karnataka, according to industry body KISMA. The development assumes significance as a group of mining dependents in Karnataka had earlier requested the Supreme Court-appointed panel to allow free iron ore trade and give preference to local ore over imports. During 2018-19, Karnataka produced 28.49 MT of iron ore but sold only 26.25 million tonne. So, the unsold inventory is 2.24 MT, the Karnataka Iron and Steel Manufacturers Association (KISMA) said. In 2017-18, the state had produced 27.7 MT of iron ore and sold 27.9 MT, including some inventory from the previous fiscal. "During 2018-19, Karnataka produced 28.49 million tonne of iron ore but sold only 26.25 million tonne. Thus, the actual unsold inventory is only 2.24 million tonne, as opposed to various claims made by the miners pointing towards higher inventory. This inventory has remained unsold due to unreasonably higher ...

General aviation flies high on election season

High-flying netas have reversed the trend in general aviation sector with more and more politicians taking charter flights for election campaigns. The negative growth has turned positive in March with the total charter flight movement rising 11.2 per cent from a year-ago period this election season.