Page 752 - Business Finance
CCEA okays additional soft loan of Rs 12,900 cr for sugar mills
The Centre Thursday announced an additional soft loan of Rs 12,900 crore for sugar mills to create ethanol capacity under a recently launched scheme. In addition, the government said a separate soft loan of Rs 2,600 crore will be provided to molasses-based standalone distilleries to augment capacity and set up new units. A decision in this regard was taken at the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A soft loan is a loan given at a subsidised interest rate. In June 2018, the government had announced a soft loan of Rs 4,400 crore and provided an interest subvention of Rs 1,332 crore to mills over a period of five years, including a moratorium period of one year to augment ethanol output. So far, the food ministry has approved 114 applications for a loan amount of Rs 6,000 crore although applications received were for over Rs 13,400 crore worth of soft loans. "To augment ethanol capacity, the government has approved additional ...
Singtel, promoters, GIC commit to participate in Bharti Airtel Rs 32K cr fund raise
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel Thursday received commitment from its single-largest shareholder Singtel, promoters and GIC Singapore to participate in its Rs 32,000 crore capital raising programme. Singapore telecom major SingTel said it will infuse Rs 3,750 crore in Bharti Airtel by subscribing to the proposed Rs 25,000 crore rights issue of the company. GIC Private Limited, on behalf of Government of Singapore and Monetary Authority of Singapore, has made a commitment of Rs 5,000 crore in the proposed programme. "The entire rights entitlement of Promoter and Promoter Group of approximately Rs 167,857 million (Rs 16,785.7 crore) will be subscribed by them and GIC, with Promoter and Promoter Group subscribing to Rs 117,857 million (Rs 11,785.7 crore) and GIC subscribing Rs 50,000 million (or Rs 5,000 crore) by way of renouncement in their favour," Bharti Airtel said in a statement. The board of Bharti Airtel last week approved rights issue to raise up to Rs 25,000 crore through ...
Cabinet clears Rs 4,500 cr plan for regional air connectivity
In a move to further boost regional air connectivity, the Union Cabinet on Thursday gave its approval to extending the time and scope for the revival and development of unserved and underserved air strips under the jurisdiction of various organisations.
Rupee rises for 3rd day; spurts 28 paise to 70 vs USD
The rupee darted up 28 paise to close at 70 against the US dollar Thursday amid robust foreign inflows and strong buying in domestic equities. This is the third straight session of gain for the domestic currency, during which it has strengthened by 92 paise. Forex traders said optimism regarding a trade deal between the US and China and weakening of the greenback versus other currencies overseas also supported the rupee. However, rising crude prices capped the gains. At the Interbank Foreign Exchange market, the rupee opened stronger at 70.08 a dollar. The local unit moved in a range of 70.15 to 69.94 before finally ending at 70.00, showing a gain of 28 paise over its last close. The rupee Wednesday had strengthened by 21 paise to close at 70.28 against the US dollar. This is its highest closing level since January 8, when the rupee had finished at 70.21. "There is lot of optimism regarding trade deal between the US and China. Having said that, volatility is expected to rise in coming
REC Director Finance Ajeet Kumar Agarwal gets additional charge of CMD
State-run REC Thursday said its Director Finance Ajeet Kumar Agarwal has been given the additional charge of Chairman and Managing Director for three months till June 5, 2019. "Ajeet Kumar Agarwal, presently Director (Finance), REC has been assigned the additional charge of the post of Chairman and MD, REC for a period of three months, up to June 5, 2019 or until further orders, whichever is earlier," an REC statement said. According to the statement, Agarwal assumed the additional charge from March 6, 2019. Earlier this month, the government had appointed REC Chairman and MD P V Ramesh as the Director-general of the National Archives of India. The development comes in the backdrop of REC's proposed takeover by Power Finance Corporation. In December 2018, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the sale of the government's 52.63 per cent stake in REC to PFC. The government is expected to garner around Rs 15,000 crore from this merger. The government intends to divest its ..
ReNew Power raises USD 375 mn via green bonds
Clean energy firm ReNew Power Thursday said it has concluded a green bond issue of USD 375 million, which would be used for capital expenditure on green projects and refinancing external commercial borrowings. The five-year non-call two notes were offered at a yield of 6.67 per cent per annum, a company statement said. The bond offer has been rated as BB by Fitch Ratings, the statement said. The capital raised through the green bond issue will be utilised for refinancing outstanding external commercial borrowings and as capex in eligible green projects. Barclays (B&D), Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan and YES Bank were the book runners for the green bond issue. The dollar-denominated bonds received excellent response and were fully subscribed by leading fund managers, asset managers, banks and pension and life funds from across the US, Europe and Asia, the company said. The issue was opened for subscription on March 5 and closed on the same day. "Our history of financial prudence, ...
Infosys inks pact with Rolls-Royce group for engineering and digital services
India's second-largest software services firm Infosys Thursday said it has been selected by Rolls-Royce Plc UK as one of its strategic long-term partners to deliver digital and engineering services. As part of this engagement, Infosys will leverage its turbo machinery and propulsion practice to offer Rolls-Royce end-to-end complex engineering and digital solutions, Infosys said in a statement. Infosys has extensive experience in delivering complex programs in aero and land-based gas turbines spanning component development, manufacturing technologies, service engineering, support, testing and validation services, it added. No financial details of the partnership were disclosed. "Through our engineering and digital services, we will support Rolls-Royce to become more productive, agile and innovative. We continue to invest in this exciting industry and in this partnership to support Rolls-Royce navigate towards transformation journey," Infosys Executive Vice-President and Global Head ...
UK insurer Aviva warns outlook weaker on Brexit uncertainty
British insurer Aviva on Thursday warned that its outlook would be weakened by economic uncertainty surrounding Brexit, but added it was well positioned to "minimise" adverse impact. Aviva, which appointed new chief executive Maurice Tulloch at the start of the week, issued the gloomy warning in its mixed 2018 results statement. "Given current uncertainties, including the unknown future impacts of Brexit on the economies of the United Kingdom and Europe, our near-term outlook entering 2019 is more muted than our outlook a year ago," said chief financial officer Thomas Stoddard. He added that "it will be difficult" to sustain underlying earnings of seven percent this year -- a level enjoyed by the group in 2017 and 2018. Aviva said net profit rose 4.7 per cent to almost 1.6 billion pounds (USD 2.1 billion) in 2018 from a year earlier, helped by lower tax charges. Chairman Adrian Montague admitted however that it had experienced a "difficult" year, with Britain set to leave the European
ONGC wins back Chinnewala Tibba gas field; contracts signed for 23 oil & gas fields under DSF-II
State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Thursday signed a contract for the prolific Chinnewala Tibba gas field in Rajasthan, which it had discovered around 15 years ago but was taken away and auctioned by the government. ONGC won back five out of the 23 discovered oil and gas fields that the government took away from the state-owned firm and Oil India Ltd (OIL) for auctioning in the second round of discovered small field (DSF). The 72-square kilometer field near Jaisalmer in Rajasthan has 1,900 million standard cubic metres of reserves, an official of the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons said at the contract-signing ceremony with the winners of the 23 fields auctioned in DSF-II. The 23 fields, made up of some 57 discoveries by ONGC and OIL, hold 190 million tonnes of oil and oil-equivalent gas resources, the official said. Speaking on the occasion, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said DSF bid rounds are aimed at raising domestic production to cut dependence on ...
CGD projects in Jharkhand worth Rs 1,200 crore
The city gas distribution (CGD) projects in Jharkhand's Seraikela-Kharswan and West Singhbhum districts are worth around Rs 1,200 crore, a senior official of Gail Gas Limited said here Thursday. Gail Gas Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Gail (India) limited Under the CGD project Gail Gas would supply CNG for transport sector, Piped Natural Gas for household and Industries and Commercial units, the official said. Jharkhand Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affair, Saryu Roy Thursday inaugurated a customer meet and awareness campaign for city gas distribution project here. General Manager (marketing) of Gail Gas V Gautam said Seraikela-Kharswan CGD project will cover 2,657 sq km area and will have 41 CNG stations. Some 2.20 lakh households will be connected with pipe natural gas over a period of 8 years, he said, adding it will benefit 10.65 lakhs of populations. Stating that the supply of piped natural gas to industries and commercial units will help in ...
Sensex, Nifty rise for 4th session on positive domestic cues
Equity indices ticked higher for the fourth straight session Thursday as investors sentiment remained positive amid a strengthening rupee and sustained foreign fund inflows. The BSE benchmark Sensex climbed 89.32 points or 0.24 per cent to finish at 36,725.42, while the broader NSE Nifty inched up 5.20 points or 0.05 per cent to 11,058.20. The Sensex has now gained nearly 858 points in four sessions. Larsen and Toubro emerged as the top performer in the 30-share Sensex pack after the engineering major announced large order wins from domestic clients. Other gainers were Mahindra and Mahindra, Axis Bank, ITC, SBI, HDFC, PowerGrid, Tata Motors, TCS, Tata Steel and Reliance, rising up to 1.77 per cent. On the other hand, Coal India, Sun Pharma, NTPC, ONGC and Yes Bank were among the major laggards, declining up to 3.09 per cent. "Mid and small-cap took a breather but exuberance remains due to investors change in preference to cheap valuation. "On the global front, market was mixed ahead ..
Sensex clocks modest gains
The BSE Sensex ended with modest gains while the Nifty ended with tiny gains. Gains in Larsen & Toubro, HDFC Bank and ITC boosted indices, while weakness in Infosys and Coal India capped gains.
Quick Wrap: Nifty Media Index falls 1.85%
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Azure Power Wins 300 MW in 1.2 GW ISTS SECI Solar Auction
/ -- With this win, Azure has 1.2 GW of Inter State Transmission System sovereign credit off-take projects in pipeline Azure has confirmed Letter of Awards and interconnection approvals in place for over 1.2 GW projects Tariff is 5.7% higher than the lowest bid in the market, offtake with AA+ domestic debt rated sovereign entity Azure Power, a leading solar power producer in India, announced it has received a letter of award (LOA) for a 300 MW solar power project through an auction conducted by Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), a Government of India enterprise and a company with an AA+ domestic debt rating by ICRA, a Moody's Company. With this win, Azure Power has one of the largest Inter State Transmission System (ISTS) pipeline of projects with sovereign counterparties in India and 86% of the company's overall pipeline is with strong counterparties that have domestic debt ratings that are A or higher. Azure Power expects to sign a 25-year power purchase agreement with SECI .
L&T shares gain nearly 3% as construction arm bags large contracts
Shares of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Thursday gained nearly 3 per cent after the company said its construction arm has bagged large contracts from multiple clients in the domestic market. The stock rose 2.76 per cent to close at Rs 1,351.25 on the BSE. During the day, it jumped 3.19 per cent to Rs 1,357. On the NSE, shares went up 2.50 per cent to close at Rs 1,350. On the traded volume front, 3.49 lakh shares were traded on the BSE and over 62 lakh units on the NSE during the day. L&T emerged as the top performer on both the key indices during the day. The engineering and construction company, however, did not provide the exact value of the contract; but as per its project classification, the value of the contracts were in large category which is in the range of Rs 2,500 crore to Rs 5,000 crore.
2.5 lakh children in Uttarakhand to get milk twice a week
Nearly 2.5 lakh children in 20,000 Anganwadi centres in Uttarakhand will get 100 millilitres of milk twice every week under a new scheme launched on Thursday.
Nifty March futures at premium
Turnover in F&O segment jumps
Cabinet allows FM-led ministerial panel to decide on price, timing of CPSE strategic sale
To fast-track strategic sale of CPSEs, the Cabinet Thursday allowed the Alternative Mechanism to decide on the timing, price and quantum of shares of a state-run company to be put on the block for outright sale. "The CCEA (Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs) has approved delegation of the following Alternative Mechanism in all the cases of strategic disinvestment of CPSEs where CCEA has given 'in-principle' approval for strategic disinvestment," an official statement said. The Alternative Mechanism (AM) on strategic disinvestment was set up in 2017 and consists of the finance minister, the road transport and highways minister and the minister representing respective administrative department. So far, the AM has decided on the terms and conditions of the sale from the stage of inviting of expressions of interest (EoIs) till inviting of financial bid. With Thursday's decision, the panel has been permitted to take decisions on final pricing of the transaction, quantum of shares to be .
Janaushadhi scheme led to around Rs 1,000 cr savings for common people: PM
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Thursday the Janaushadhi scheme, under which the government provides quality medicines at affordable rates, has led to savings worth around Rs 1,000 crore for common people. To ensure availability of high quality medicines at lower prices, the government has taken two major steps. Firstly, the cost of 850 essential medicines were regulated and prices of heart stent and equipment for knee surgery were reduced, the prime minister said. As the second step, a series of Janaushadhi Kendras were set up throughout the country. These steps have greatly benefitted not only the poor, but also the middle class, he added. Through the Janaushadhi scheme only, lakhs of families have made a saving of around Rs 1,000 crore and this is when it has not been advertised. It is just the beginning, Modi said. He was interacting with beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP) and store owners through video conferencing. "The medicines at ...
Govt reforms creating new livelihoods; 8 sectors to add over 10 cr jobs by 2025: CII
The recent reforms ushered in by the government are creating new livelihoods across existing and emerging sectors, with eight segments of the economy alone expected to create over 10 crore jobs by 2025, CII said Thursday. "With skill levels rising and substantial growth in startups and new businesses, the quality of jobs is being also enhanced, including through higher incomes," CII President Rakesh Bharti Mittal told PTI. According to Mittal, the measures to promote ease of doing business, cut in tax rates for smaller enterprises to 25 per cent, and reduction in interest rates are creating the right atmosphere for new businesses to flourish, particularly SMEs. "This is an effective stimulant for job creation," he said. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) expects eight sectors -- retail, construction, transport and logistics, tourism and hospitality, handlooms and handicrafts, textiles and apparels, food processing, and automotive -- to generate over 10 crore jobs by ...