Page 677 - Business Finance
DoT asks state governments not to disconnect BSNL, MTNL electricity connections
The Department of Telecom has asked state governments not to disconnect electricity connections of state-owned BSNL and MTNL on account of pending dues as they are providing strategic services for the upcoming elections, sources said. BSNL has already cleared 90 per cent of its power dues and is expected to clear the rest in the next 15-20 days. "A letter from the Department of Telecom has been sent to state chief secretaries requesting them to avoid disruption in MTNL and BSNL electricity connections because it is providing strategic support to state machineries for managing elections," an official told PTI. When contacted, BSNL Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Shrivastava said, "We have cleared 90 per cent of the dues for electricity connections. Now around Rs 250 crore is left, which will be cleared in next 15-20 days. There were some disconnections that took place but all of them have been restored now." Status of MTNL could not be ascertained. Both BSNL and MTNL were unable .
M&A deal value drops 34% to USD 1.24 bn in Feb
The value of merger and acquisition deals in February slumped 34 per cent to USD 1.24 billion compared to the year-ago period, according to a report. Leading consultancy Grant Thornton's report showed that number of M&A transactions last month rose marginally to 44 last month whereas the same was at 40 in February 2018. In February last year, the total value of M&A transactions had touched USD 1.9 billion. "While February 2019 recorded same number of deals valued and estimated atover USD 100 million as witnessed in February 2018, the high valued deals totalled to only USD 0.9 billion compared to USD 1.5 billion in February 2018," it said. Pankaj Chopda, Director, Grant Thornton India LLP, said the shortening of the run-up period to the national elections will only deepen the wait and watch approach in the deal environment in the short term and much is expected post the results of the general elections. Regarding last month, he noted that M&A transactions were dominated by .
Lanka breaks ground for oil refinery with investments from Indian firm & Oman
Sri Lanka on Sunday began construction of a USD 3.85 billion oil refinery next to a Chinese-run port as part of a joint venture between India's Accord Group and Oman's oil ministry, the island nation's biggest foreign direct investment ever. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, whose 70th birthday coincided with the ground-breaking ceremony, said that with investments coming from India, China and Oman, Hambantota is set to become a multinational investment zone. Oman and Sri Lanka have centuries-old relationships, Oman's Oil and Gas Minister Mohammed Hamad Al Rumhy said at the ceremony. The USD 3.85 billion project is the single largest foreign direct investment in the island nation's history. The refinery project, expected to complete in four years, came under criticism last week when a media report claimed that the government of Oman had rejected any knowledge of the project. China has acquired the Hambantota port for a 99-year lease as a debt swap. Beijing on Thursday said that it .
PNB sets recovery target of Rs 10K cr for Q4: MD (IANS Interview)
After returning to black in the last quarter, lending major Punjab National Bank (PNB) has set a recovery target of Rs 10,000 crore for the concluding Q4, said the company's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Sunil Mehta.
Interviews for top post of NHB and IIFCL on Monday
Interviews to appoint heads of National Housing Bank (NHB) and India Infrastructure Finance Company (IIFCL) are scheduled to be held on Monday, sources said. A government-appointed panel in 2017 had interviewed candidates for the post of managing director (MD) IIFCL but it did not find anyone suitable to lead the organisation. So, the Department of Financial Services (DFS) invited fresh applications in August last year. The infrastructure lender has been without a regular MD for the past 20 months. Housing finance regulator NHB became headless in August last year following the resignation of Sriram Kalyanaraman amidst allegations of irregularities and misconduct against him. The DFS has shortlisted about 12 candidates for the post of managing director of NHB and five for IIFCL, sources said. The interview panel comprises Financial Services Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training Secretary and some external members. According to the public notice issued by the DFS, the ...
Reliance Communications Enterprises pledges 12.50 cr shares of RCom with IndusInd Bank
Reliance Communications Enterprises has pledged 4.52 per cent of its holding in Reliance Communications (RCom) amounting to 12.50 crore shares with IndusInd Bank Ltd, according to a regulatory filing. Reliance Communications Enterprises (RCE) held 49.06 crore shares in RCom amounting to 17.74 per cent stake, of which it had previously pledged 4.85 per cent. With the latest pledge on March 22, the total pledged shares by RCE now stands at 9.37 per cent of total share capital or 25.90 crore shares.
Housing prices up 7 pc, sales down 28 pc, supply dips 64 pc in last five years: Anarock
Housing prices rose by a modest 7 per cent in seven major cities during the past five years, while sales and new supply have declined 28 per cent and 64 per cent, respectively, according to brokerage firm Anarock. In its analysis of the performance of the real estate sector in the past five years of the current central government, Anarock founder and Chairman Anuj Puri said many steps were taken to reform and improve the image of the Indian real estate sector. Measures such as demonetisation, new realty law RERA and GST did cause some pain for the sector in short term but would prove beneficial in the long run, he added. On operation performance of the housing segment, Puri said the prices in primary markets have seen more of a "time correction" rather than a price correction, with average prices across top-seven cities seeing a meagre 7 per cent increase in the past five years. "Considering inflation (assuming seven per cent a year), all cities will have seen negative price trends in
One-stop-service centre opens in Sri Lankan port
Sri Lanka's state owned Board of Investments (BOI) opened up a one-stop-service centre at the Hambantota International Port to attract global investors.
Market likely to trade soft then pick momentum in week ahead (Comment: Market Watch)
Markets last week behaved more or less on expected lines, except for the fact that the correction actually happened on Friday instead of Wednesday. Readers would recall that Thursday was a holiday on account of Holi. What is significant is the fact that though markets fell on Friday, they ended with marginal gains for the week. The extent of the fall from the intra-day highs of Friday was even more significant.
China to import more from US to balance bilateral trade: Top official
Ahead of the crucial talks next month to finalise the texts of trade deal with the US to end the trade war, a top Chinese official said on Sunday that China will import more goods from the US to balance bilateral trade, a key demand of President Donald Trump. Trump is demanding China to reduce the USD 375 billion trade deficit and protection of intellectual property rights (IPR), technology transfer and more access to American goods to Chinese markets. He has already increased the tariffs on over USD 250 billion Chinese exports to the US and threatened to extend tariffs on USD 200 billion Chinese imports to 25 per cent. Trump held back his threat to impose additional tariffs on the rest of Chinese imports as both sides stepped up talks to finalise the text of the deal. The White House said recently that talks between Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He, China's main trade negotiator and the US Trade Representative Robert Lighthize and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will be held on April in
Indian sailors return after spending 13 months in Greek jail
Five Indian crew members of a cargo vessel arrived in Mumbai Sunday after spending 13 months in a jail in Greece. They were on board merchant cargo vessel 'MV Andromeda' that had set sail from Cyprus to Libya in December 2017. The ship anchored in Turkey for repairs and then proceeded to its destination. However, in January 2018, when it reached Greece, authorities detained the ship on charges of carrying explosive material. Addressing the media here, one of the five sailors said he had last seen his daughter when she was two months old. "Now she is two years old and has started walking. And I was not there to see this," he said.
Petrol prices rise, diesel remains unchanged
Petrol prices rose around 5 paise across the four metropolitan cities on Sunday while the cost of diesel remained unchanged, data on the Indian Oil Corp's website showed.
India may step up oil imports from Brazil, Mexico
India may increase oil imports from Brazil and Mexico to offset the loss of Venezuelan oil in the wake of US sanctions on that country.
ADB readies for face-off with AIIB, NDB in India
As fledgling multilateral development banks AIIB and NDB are making inroads in Asia and beyond, the 52-year-old Asian Development Bank (ADB) took the offensive with a massive recruitment outreach in India, a major client in the region.
Mitsubishi expects double-digit growth in residential AC segment this year
Mitsubishi Electric expects a double-digit growth in the residential air-conditioner segment this year as the company bets on its technology. The Japanese electrical equipment manufacturing firm also expects "a good share" from the non-metro markets besides top cities in the coming season due to fast adoption of the latest technology like inverter-type air conditioners in those regions. Mitsubishi expects sales of the residential AC units to go up as the mercury increases, though extended winter in northern region and cold nights in southern region have led to a slower start in the industry. "We expect to have a double-digit growth over last year and expect to continue with the highest market share in the premium segment," Mitsubishi Electric India Product Group Head VRF, Living Environment Division Dipu Manuel told PTI. However, the company has not shared its growth numbers and targeted unit growth. Mitsubishi has over 30 stock keeping units in the residential segment this season in
Logistics firm Delhivery raises USD 413 mn in founding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund
Logistics company Delhivery Sunday said it has raised more than USD 400 million (Rs 2,766.82 crore) in a financing round led by the SoftBank Vision Fund. Carlyle and Fosun, both existing investors in Delhivery, have also participated in this round of financing, the company said in a statement. "With these funds, Delhivery plans to rapidly scale up its reach from 15,000 to 20,000 pin codes by first quarter of financial year 2019-20, aggressively grow e-commerce market share investment, and expand its end-to-end supply chain platform to enterprise customers and SMEs (small and medium enterprises)," the company added. "We are glad to add SoftBank as a key partner, and further expand our partnership with Carlyle and Fosun as we build out our vision of creating the operating system for commerce in India. "We will be scaling up our newer warehousing and freight services through large investments in infrastructure and technology and global partnerships in addition to improving the reach, ...
Luxury real estate demand set to rise: Developers
The luxury real estate segment with a customer base of its own did not witness a slowdown as significant as in the mid-level properties in the last few years and with the latest cut in GST rate, developers say, demand will pick up from here on.
NCLAT sets aside Jyoti Structures liquidation, asks NCLT to consider Rs 4K-cr plan by Sanghi, others
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has set aside the order to liquidate Jyoti Structure and asked the Mumbai bench of NCLT to consider the Rs 4,000-crore resolution plan submitted by Sharad Sanghi and others. Allowing the appeal filed by Sanghi in this regard, a two-member bench headed by Chairman Justice S J Mukhopadhaya has remitted back the matter to the Mumbai-bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) directing it to pass an order within two weeks. "The case is remitted to the Adjudicating Authority, Mumbai Bench (NCLT), Mumbai to approve the plan..." said NCLAT in its order. "The appropriate order be passed on an early date preferably within two weeks from the date of the production of the copy of this order," the order added. The NCLT had on July 31, 2018, rejected the resolution plan submitted by Sanghi and had passed an order to liquidate Jyoti Structure, which had a debt of Rs 7,010.55 crore. According to the Rs 3,965.06 crore resolution plan ...
Tata Capital raising $100 m in ECB
Tata Capital, the financial services arm of the diversified conglomerate, will be raising USD 100 million in foreign borrowings through an arm by next week, a top official has said. The external commercial borrowing (ECB) being raised by Tata Capital Housing Finance is part of a liabilities diversification programme, Tata Capital managing director and chief executive Rajiv Sabharwal said. "We will do a borrowing of USD 100 million before the end of the fiscal year," Sabharwal told PTI recently. The ECB funds will come right after a Rs 2,500-crore capital infusion by the parent Tata Sons in two tranches through the course of the fiscal, he said. Sabharwal said as part of liability diversification, the company also completed its maiden non-convertible debenture issue last September, raising Rs 1,400 crore. Asked if the liability diversification is the result of the squeeze in credit markets after the IL&FS crisis, he replied in the negative, stating that the company had
Germany's Wunder Mobility bets on carpool for India's pollution problem
With India home to seven of the top 10 most polluted cities in the world, Germany-based mobility solutions provider Wunder is pitching carpooling as an effective remedy to the alarming levels of vehicular pollution in the country. Wunder has drawn up an aggressive expansion strategy for India, starting with the national capital, and has also begun actively engaging with the central and state governments, a top company executive said. Having achieved an user base of more than 300,000 in Delhi and more than one million rides in 2018, Wunder is now looking to make carpooling a pure business model this year through cost optimisation and revenue generation, its India Marketing Manager Vivek Kumar told PTI. Hamburg-headquartered Wunder Mobility, which is focusing on both B2B and B2C models by tying up with corporates and offering its carpooling platform directly to end-users, is also betting on B2G or 'business to government' as a key growth strategy going forward, he said. The company ...