Page 680 - Business Finance
After Trump barbs, GM announces $1.8 bn investment, new jobs
Facing a barrage of attacks from President Donald Trump over plant closures, General Motors announced Friday a $1.8 billion investment and the creation of 700 new jobs in the United States. About $300 million will support production of electric vehicles at a Michigan plant, the company said in a statement. Of the 700 jobs, 400 will be at that location.
SBI raises Rs 1,251 cr by issuing Basel III-compliant bonds
The country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) Friday said it has raised Rs 1,251.30 crore by issuing Basel III-compliant bonds. "The Committee of Directors for Capital Raising at its meeting held today on 22 March 2019 deliberated and accorded approval to allot 12,513 non-convertible, taxable, perpetual, subordinated, unsecured Basel lll-compliant additional tier-I bonds, for inclusion in additional tier-I capital of the bank...aggregating to Rs 1,251.30 crore," SBI said in a regulatory filing. The bonds with a face value of Rs 10 lakh each bears a coupon rate of 9.45 per cent per anum payable annually with call option after 5 years or any anniversary date thereafter, it said. The bonds were subscribed on Friday, it added. State Bank of India (SBI) also said the central board of the bank at its meeting held Friday has accorded its approval for extension of validity period for raising equity capital of up to Rs 20,000 crore from market by way of follow-on public offer, ...
Sebi fines 4 entities Rs 27 lakh for fraudulent trading in BSE stock options
Markets regulator Sebi Friday imposed a total penalty of Rs 27 lakh on four entities for indulging in fraudulent trade in illiquid stock options segment of BSE. Umapati Oil Mill and Ginning Factory, Yudhbir Chhibbar, Kasturbhai Mayabhai Pvt Ltd and Vimladevi Shyamsunder Khetan are the four entities, according to Sebi's separate orders. After observing a large-scale reversal of trades in the BSE's illiquid stock options segment, Sebi conducted a probe from April 2014 to September 2015. Following the probe, the regulator found that the trades executed by the entities were not genuine as they were reversed within few seconds with same counter parties with significant difference in price, resulting in profit to the entities. Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said it was a deliberate attempt to deal in such a fashion and not a mere coincidence. The trades executed by the entities were not genuine and created an appearance of artificial trading volumes, thereby violating PFUTP .
Lenders to take over Jet Airways: Ministry sources
Lenders of cash-strapped Jet Airways are in the process of securing "substantial stake" in the ailing airline to try and revive it to a manageable state before selling it to new promoters, a senior Finance Ministry source said on Friday.
Forex kitty swells by over USD 3.6 bn to USD 405.6 bn
India's foreign exchange reserves surged by a whopping USD 3.602 billion to USD 405.638 billion in the week to March 15, driven by rise in foreign currency assets, the Reserve Bank said Friday. Forex reserves had increased by USD 258.8 million to USD 402.035 billion in the previous week. In the reporting week, foreign currency assets -- a major component of the overall reserves -- increased by a healthy USD 3.546 billion to USD 377.773 billion as foreign funds pumped in billions of dollars into domestic equities in a pre-election buying spree. Expressed in the greenbacks, foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation/depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and the yen held in the reserves. The reserves had touched a life-time high of USD 426.028 billion in the week to April 13, 2018. Since then, it has been on a slide and is now down by over USD 20 billion. Gold reserves rose by USD 38.9 million to USD 23.408 billion in the reporting week, according to data ...
Aviation stocks up 7 pc even as DGCA report shows slow passenger growth
Aviation stocks Friday rallied up to 7 per cent on the BSE even as DGCA's data showed a slowdown in air passenger traffic in February. Stock of SpiceJet zoomed 7.04 per cent to Rs 98.10. Intra-day, it rose 14.23 per cent to touch a high of Rs 104.70. InterGlobe Aviation closed the counter with 0.28 per cent gains at Rs 1,426.85. During the day, it was trading at Rs 1,459.30, up 2.56 per cent. Similarly, cash-strapped airline Jet Airways advanced 3.60 per cent to settle at Rs 225.85. It had touched an intra-day high of Rs 230. As per a DGCA report released Wednesday, the number of passengers flying domestic airlines dropped to 11.3 million in February compared to 12.5 million in January. According to Gagan Dixit, VP of Institutional Equity Research, Elara Capital, this upsurge in aviation stocks is on account of Jet Airways' financial condition as Spicejet and Indigo would benefit the most by capturing Jet's domestic market share. Aircraft lessors of Jet Airways would find it easy to ..
Board of Orient Cement accepts resignation of director
With effect from 22 March 2019
Rupee slips 12 paise to 68.95 against US dollar
The rupee Friday declined by 12 paise to close at 68.95 against the US dollar on rise in demand for the greenback from importers and sell-off in domestic equities. Besides, strengthening of the greenback against key currencies and rising crude oil prices in the international market also kept the rupee under-pressure. At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market, the domestic unit opened at 68.60. The local unit moved in a range of 69.10 to 68.53 before finally ending at 68.95, a drop of 12 paise over its previous close. The Indian currency had gained 13 paise to close at 68.83 on Wednesday. Forex market was closed on Thursday on account of Holi. However, the domestic currency has gained 15 paise during the week. This is also the sixth consecutive week of gains for the local unit. The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.18 per cent to 96.66. "The Indian rupee depreciated nearly 50 paise from the morning high, after ...
Board of Tata Coffee approves change in MD & CEO
At meeting held on 22 March 2019
Government exceeds disinvestment target in FY19
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said the government has achieved disinvestment of Rs 85,000 crore in the current fiscal, which is Rs 5,000 crore more than the set target for 2018-19, belying widespread expectations of a shortfall.
Power Grid Corp pays Rs 1,600 cr interim dividend to govt for 2018-19
State-owned Power Grid Corporation said Friday that it has paid Rs 1,629.62 crore as interim dividend for 2018-19 to the central government. Power Grid Corporation handed over electronic payment remittance advice for payment of Rs 1,629.62 crore for 2018-19 to the Government of India, a company statement said. The total interim dividend disbursed was Rs 3,050.02 crore for 2018-19 to about 5.91 lakh shareholders of the company, it added. The company has declared an interim dividend of Rs 5.83 per equity share of Rs 10 each for 2018-19. Power Grid is an electricity transmission utility and has a wide network of 1,51,507 circuit kilometres transmission lines, with 239 sub-stations and transformation capacity of 355,029 megavolt ampere.
Board of Picturehouse Media approves change in directorate
At meeting held on 22 March 2019
Domestic air passenger growth slows down in February: DGCA
The number of passengers flying domestic airlines dropped to 113.49 lakh in February compared to 125.08 lakh in the previous month, according to data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).Private carriers flew 98.96 lakh passengers in February compared to 109.78 lakh in January. The number of passengers flown by government-owned Air India also dropped to 14.53 lakh as against 15.30 lakh in the same period.Taken together in the first two months of calendar 2019, however, the number of flyers was 238.56 lakh compared to 222.09 lakh in January and February of 2018, marking a growth of 7.42 per cent.The overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines for last month was 1.89 per cent, data showed. Air India had the highest cancellation of 8.15 per cent followed by Air Asia 2.46 per cent and Jet Airways 2.31 per cent.Low-cost airline SpiceJet had the highest passenger load factor of 94 per cent in February, followed by GoAir at 92.6 per cent, AirAsia India at
Zakir Naik's trusted aide held by ED for money laundering
Enforcement Directorate on Friday arrested Zakir Naik's trusted aide Abdul Kadir Najmudin Sathak for allegedly "actively assisting" him in money laundering.According to ED, the money laundering was done through "dubious" origins from UAE to facilitate production and broadcasting incriminating videos for spreading communal hatred and radicalisation of a particular community.Sathak, who is a jeweller by profession, was director of M/s. Global Broadcasting Corporation FZE LLC which owned the Peace TV channel that used to broadcast communal and inflammatory speeches by Naik from UAE for the Middle East and Africa."PMLA investigation revealed that the company of which Sathak was the director was controlled by Naik through him as he was his trusted aide," said the ED statement.The ED said that the content of the Peace TV channel was allegedly made in India by M/s Harmony Media Pvt Ltd, Mumbai, which was also controlled by Zakir Naik by placing his sister, Nallah Noorani and his close ...
Govt exceeds divestment target, mops up Rs 85,000 crore
The government said on Friday that it has exceeded the disinvestment target for the current fiscal year by Rs 5,000 crore and total proceeds so far have reached Rs 85,000 crore."As against a target of Rs 80,000 crore for disinvestment for the current year, the divestment receipts have touched Rs 85,000 crore today," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley tweeted.Several rating agencies said in recent months that the government is likely to miss its disinvestment target for 2018-19.On Wednesday, government-owned Power Finance Corporation acquired all 52.63 per cent shares of Rural Electrification Corporation (REC), which helped raise about Rs 14,500 crore.In 2017-18, the government earned over Rs 1 lakh crore by divesting its stake in public sector units.For the next financial year beginning on April 1, the disinvestment target has been fixed at Rs 90,000 crore..
India's forex reserves jumps by US$ 3.60 billion in the week ended 15 March
Forex reserves rises to US$ 405.6 billion as on 15 March 2019
Property consultant SILA forays into realty development; to invest Rs 70 cr on first housing project
Real estate consultant SILA group has entered into the property development business and is constructing a luxury housing project near Mumbai with an investment of about Rs 70 crore, a top company official said. The Mumbai-based firm commenced operations in 2010 as an integrated facility management company, but later ventured into project and construction management as well as real estate advisory and consulting services. "We see an unique opportunity in getting into real estate development business. With new realty law RERA and the GST, there is level playing field for new players," SILA group founder and MD Sahil Vora said. "We have tied up with land owners to develop this luxury project at Alibaug comprising 64 units. The prices will be in the range of Rs 1.2-2 crore," he said. Construction work and sales bookings would start next month. The project would be developed in two phases in the next four years. Vora said the construction cost is estimated at Rs 70 crore and sales ...
SpiceJet in talks with lessors for inducting planes
SpiceJet on Friday said it was in discussion with various lessors to bring in more planes into its fleet. The no-frills airline has grounded 12 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft following regulatory directives earlier this month. "In order to cater the gap from the reduced fleet size due to grounding of Max fleet, the company is in discussion with various lessors globally to induct aircraft in its fleet," it said in a filing to the BSE. The clarification came amid reports that the airline is in talks to lease some grounded planes of Jet Airways. Earlier this month, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) ordered grounding of Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft. The decision came days after a 737 MAX 8 aircraft operated by the Ethiopian Airlines crashed in Ethiopia, killing 157 people. Shares of the airline jumped little over 7 per cent to close at Rs 98.10 per scrip on the BSE.
CPSE ETF 5th tranche: Govt gets bids worth Rs 9,500 crore
The government has received bids worth Rs 9,500 crore so far from the fifth tranche of CPSE Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), an official said Friday. Anchor investors had put in bids worth Rs 6,072 crore on the first day of the issue on March 19. The issue closed Friday. The remaining amount of subscription worth about Rs 3,500 crore came in from institutional and retail investors. "The subscription for CPSE ETF has touched Rs 9,500 crore so far. We will exercise green-shoe option and retain over-subscription," an official said. Final subscription data would come by the end of the day. The government had set Rs 3,500 crore as the base issue size for the three-day issuance of the fifth tranche of CPSE ETF. As much as 30 per cent of the issue size is reserved for anchor investors. The list of anchor investors include BNP Paribas Arbitrage, Citi Group Global Markets Mauritius Pvt Ltd, Credit Suisse Singapore Ltd, Edelweiss Alpha Fund, ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund, Merrill Lynch ...
Azure Power Puts Over 500 MWs of Solar Power Projects Into Operations in FY19
/ -- Azure Power's total operational portfolio now over 1,400 MWs, one of the largest for a solar company in India Commissioned over 250 MWs during the current quarter, among the highest installations by a company in this period Utility-scale projects commissioned ahead of schedule Azure Power's operational capacity in Gujarat now over 270 MWs, largest in the state by a single company Azure Power, a leading solar power producer in India, announced it has commissioned a cumulative capacity of over 500 MWs since last fiscal year, bringing the company's total operational portfolio to over 1,400 MWs, one of the largest solar portfolios in India. Over the past three months, Azure Power has commissioned over 250 MWs, among the highest installations by a company in this period. All utility-scale projects commissioned since the past fiscal year were commissioned ahead of schedule. Recent commissioning of projects include the final phase of a 260 MW solar project in Gujarat and a 100 MW solar