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| Mefcom Agro to hike stake to 25 pc
in Indo-Aus JV Co MUMBAI, Dec 29: Mefcom Agro Industries today said it is going to hike its stake to 25 per cent in the equity capital of .........more FM, RBI and SEBI to meet over regulation in corporate debt NEW DELHI, Dec 29: The Finance Ministry has convened a meeting of the two regulators -- RBI and SEBI -- to sort out the issue .......more Textile firms unwrap investment plans; go global in 2006 NEW DELHI, Dec 29: Indian textile firms unwrapped big investment plans and acquired .......more Instanex Skindia DR Index rallies further MUMBAI, Dec 29: The Instanex Skindia DR Index improved by another 18.23 points or 0.77 per cent to 2,375.68 on December 28 and the Dr Index P/E Ratio also rose further to 28.53 from 28.32 previously, Instanex Capital release ........more |
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Nissan Copper lists at Rs 40 on BSE MUMBAI, Dec 29: Copper products manufacturer Nissan Copper got listed at Rs 40 on the Bombay Stock Exchange with a premium of 2.56 per cent over its issue price of Rs 39.The company entered ........more Fitch assigns stable outlook to Omaxe's debt programme NEW DELHI, Dec 29: Global rating agency Fitch today assigned a national rating to the Rs 300 crore long-term debt . ......more Standard and Poor's affirms investment grade on RIL NEW DELHI, Dec 29: Global rating agency Standard & Poor's today affirmed its long-term foreign and local currency .. ......more Birla VXL offloads entire 2.62 pc stake in Mysore Cement MUMBAI, Dec 29: Bangalore-based S K Birla group company Birla VXL offloaded its entire stake, representing 2.62 per cent in Mysore Cement in an open market transaction.Mysore . .........more |
Mefcom Agro to hike stake to 25 pc in Indo-Aus JV Co MUMBAI, Dec 29: Mefcom Agro Industries today said it is going to hike its stake to 25 per cent in the equity capital of Chennai-based Gypcrete Building India (GBIL), a manufacturer of energy-saving building materials. The Board of Directors of the company at their meeting held today approved to hike the stake to 25 per cent in GBIL, Mefcom said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange. Gypcrete Building India manufactures building materials in India as an Indo-Australian joint venture with technical collaboration and equity participation by Australian company. Mefcom Agro had recently announced that it is moving over to real estate development and urban infrastructure business. The Board had proposed name change also. Shares of Mefcom shot up 5 per cent and were trading at Rs 154.70 on the BSE. ----------- Sadbhav Engg ties up Rs 515 cr for Ahmedabad road project Sadbhav Engineering today said it has tied up funds for an Ahmedabad road project of Rs 514.96 crore. The company yesterday achieved financial closure for the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA) project of Rs 514.96 crore, Sadbhav Engineering informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. The company was earlier awarded the strengthening and widening of Sardar Patel Ring Road in Ahmedabad to a four-lane road on Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis from Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA). The contract value of the said project was Rs 560 crore. (PTI) |
FM, RBI and SEBI to meet over regulation in corporate debt NEW DELHI, Dec 29: The Finance Ministry has convened a meeting of the two regulators -- RBI and SEBI -- to sort out the issue of regulations over the corporate debt market. While there is no clarity on who would regulate the corporate debt market, the Finance Ministry is of the view that it should be governed by SEBI since it is part of securities, ministry sources told . The RBI, on the other hand, may be entrusted with the regulation of reverse repo and repo as part of the corporate debt, they said. Under the repo and reverse repo trade, a market participant pledges a corporate paper in exchange for funds for a specific period and at market determined rates. The Finance Ministry would make efforts to prevail upon both the regulators to demarcate their areas with "mutual understanding" so that their responsibility and accountability could be fixed. The meeting would try to clear the ambiguity arising out about the area of jurisdiction of RBI and SEBI under the Securities Contract Regulation Act, they said. Under section 29 A of the SCRA, the Centre could delegate powers to RBI along with SEBI to enable the Government to regulate such transactions under the Act as may be necessary. As such, the government, the SEBI and the RBI, depending on their jurisdiction, as may be mutually agreed upon, can exercise the powers under the Act. Also under Section 16 of the SCRA, RBI can also exercise powers to regulate ready forward contracts in bonds, debentures, debenture stock, securitised debt and other debt securities. (PTI) |
Textile firms unwrap investment plans; go global in 2006 NEW DELHI, Dec 29: Indian textile firms unwrapped big investment plans and acquired companies overseas during 2006 as they geared up to tap the emerging retail sector at home and consolidate their position in global export markets. At the same time, the government announced a number of measures such as integrated textile parks, while assuring on extending the hugely-popular TUFS scheme and preparing a blueprint to modernise National Textile Corporation mills. But it was the huge potential of organised retail, of which textiles and clothing comprises 40 per cent, that encouraged domestic and foreign firms to eye a bigger slice of the increasing disposable income of the middle class. Global brands such as Calvin Klein, Lacoste and Sara Lee penetrated further into the high-end apparel market, while domestic firms bought firms in Europe and the US. Spentex Industries acquired Tashkent-To'yetpa Tekftil Ltd in Uzbekistan, while Banswara Syntex Ltd forged a JV with French firm Carreman Michel Thierry. GHCL acquired US-based Dan River, one of the largest suppliers of home textiles, and Orient Craft acquired a Spanish firm for 13.66 million dollars. GHCL also acquired UK's home textile chain Rosebys for about 50 million dollars and is in talks with four companies in England, Germany, France and Italy, which could be worth a total of 200 million dollars. Similarly, B K Goenka-run Welspun acquired 85 per cent stake in CHT Holdings Ltd, the holding company of Britain's leading towel brand Christy. Raymond forged a joint venture with Belgium's largest maker of high-end denim, United Cotton, and is targeting a turnover of 269 million dollars in the first year. (PTI) |
Instanex Skindia DR Index rallies further MUMBAI, Dec 29: The Instanex Skindia DR Index improved by another 18.23 points or 0.77 per cent to 2,375.68 on December 28 and the Dr Index P/E Ratio also rose further to 28.53 from 28.32 previously, Instanex Capital release said here today. Following are the GDR and ADR rates for December 28 in US dollars with differences in percentage from the previous level given in brackets. Bajaj Auto (GDR) 60.00 (UNCH) Dr Reddy (ADR) 18.21 (+1.11) HDFC Bank (ADR) 76.05 (+2.92) Hindalco (GDR) 3.95 (+1.28) ICICI Bank (ADR) 42.45 (+2.73) Infosys Tech (ADR) 55.01 (+0.53) ITC (GDR) 3.95 (+3.95) L&T (GDR) 32.50 (-0.91) MTNL (ADR) 6.46 (-0.46) Ranbaxy Labs (GDR) 9.00 (UNCH) Reliance (GDR) 57.79 (-0.19) Satyam Comp (ADR) 24.11 (+0.08) SBI (GDR) 71.05 (-2.27) VSNL (ADR) 18.75 (-0.79) Wipro (ADR) 16.23 (+0.68) (PTI) |
Nissan Copper lists at Rs 40 on BSE MUMBAI, Dec 29: Copper products manufacturer Nissan Copper got listed at Rs 40 on the Bombay Stock Exchange with a premium of 2.56 per cent over its issue price of Rs 39. The company entered the bourses with 1.45 crore equity shares of Rs 10 each. The issue price was fixed at Rs 39. Nissan Copper entered the capital market with an initial public offering of 64.10 lakh shares of Rs 10 each aggregating to Rs 25 crore. The issue was subscribed by over four times. The proceeds of the issue would be used for funding the future growth plans of the company including capacity expansion at its Umbergaon plant. The total cost of the project is Rs 35 crore of which SBI has sanctioned a term loan of Rs 10 crore while the remaining Rs 25 crore would be raised through the IPO. (PTI) |
Fitch assigns stable outlook to Omaxe's debt programme NEW DELHI, Dec 29: Global rating agency Fitch today assigned a national rating to the Rs 300 crore long-term debt programme of Omaxe Ltd, indicating a stable outlook. The 'A(ind)' rating takes into account the company's experience in the construction industry, which supports its execution record in real estate and the expected growth in the national real estate industry, a Fitch release said. The agency has also assigned a national long-term issuer rating of 'A(ind)'to Omaxe and the outlook on the rating is stable. Omaxe is planning to raise equity through an IPO next year. To mitigate the risk of volatility in land prices in the metro cities, the company is now expanding rapidly into Tier-II and Tier-III cities, the release added. (PTI) |
Standard and Poor's affirms investment grade on RIL NEW DELHI, Dec 29: Global rating agency Standard & Poor's today affirmed its long-term foreign and local currency ratings on Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) at 'BBB', indicating investment grade. "The affirmation reflects Reliance's dominant competitive position, the relatively stable medium term prospects for its core refining and petrochemical businesses, and an overall moderate financial profile of the company," S&P credit analyst Anshukant Taneja said in a statement. The ratings, with stable outlook, factor in the likelihood of timely completion of its ongoing projects, specifically the new refinery at Jamnagar. It is also underpinned by the expectation that Reliance would pursue its non-core businesses, specifically investments in the retail sector, in a modular phased-out manner, as an accelerated investment strategy can weigh on the company's overall credit profile. However, the ratings remain constrained by Reliance's exposure to highly cyclical industries, large capital commitments in its refining, exploration and production businesses, and uncertainties in developing its reportedly large gas reserves, he said. (PTI) |
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Birla VXL offloads entire 2.62 pc stake in Mysore Cement MUMBAI, Dec 29: Bangalore-based S K Birla group company Birla VXL offloaded its entire stake, representing 2.62 per cent in Mysore Cement in an open market transaction. Mysore Cement in a filing on the Bombay Stock Exchange today informed that Birla VXL sold 4,140,120 shares. The move preceded the opening of the offer from German major Heildelberg to the shareholders of Mysore Cements, which was scheduled to open from December 27. However, the financial details of the transaction, which took place on December 26 on the stock exchange, were not disclosed in the filing. Interestingly, in a temporary relief to German cement major Heidelberg, the Securities Appellate Tribunal had recently allowed the company to go ahead with its open offer for Mysore Cements at Rs 58 per share, lower than the price ordered by market regulator SEBI. The market regulator had earlier asked Heidelberg to raise the price of its open offer to Rs 72.50 from Rs 58. The Sebi reasoning was that as the acquirer has paid a higher price to the SK Birla Group, promoters of Mysore Cements, which includes a non-compete fee as well, the minority shareholders should also be paid the same price. Earlier, Heidelberg had bought a majority stake (50.1 per cent) in Bangalore-based Mysore Cements for 100 million dollars in July, but its open offer has been stalled since the last six months. At the end of September 30, Birla VXL, a leading textile manufacturer for fabrics, held 2.62 per cent stake in Mysore Cement and S K Birla himself held 50,350 shares at the end of September 30, representing a minuscule 0.03 per cent stake. (PTI) |
External debt $136.5 bn end Sep, higher by $4.3bn over June. NEW DELHI, Dec 29: India's external debt stood at 136.5 billion dollars at the end of September, 2006, which is an increase of 4.3 billion dollars over the previous quarter. The external debt stock was 132.2 billion dollars at end-June 2006. The increase in external debt outstanding at end-September 2006 essentially resulted from a rise in external commercial borrowings, NRI deposits and short term debt. In terms of components, long-term debt outstanding at 125.9 billion dollars at end-September 2006 showed an increase of 2.8 billion dollars over the quarter. Under long-term debt, multilateral debt rose by 493 million dollars which was partly offset by a drop in bilateral credits by 100 million dollars. Export credit outstanding rose by 165 million dollars. The stock of commercial borrowings at 32,462 million dollars was higher by 1,363 million dollars as compared with those at the end of the preceeding quarter. While Rupee debt remained broadly at the same level as at the end of previous quarter, NRI deposits rose by 912 million dollars to 36,563 million dollars. Short-term debt increased by 16.2 per cent over the quarter to 10,579 million dollars at end-September 2006 on account of a rise in trade credits. Increase in trade credits is attributed to higher import bill during the current year. In terms of their share in total debt stock, Non-Resident deposits accounted for 26.8 per cent of the total debt at end-September 2006, followed by multilateral debt at 24.6 per cent and commercial borrowings at 23.8 per cent. The share of bilateral debt was 11.5 per cent. Export credit and Rupee debt accounted for 4.1 percent and 1.4 per cent respectively. The share of short-term debt was 7.8 per cent of the total debt. India's foreign currency reserves including foreign currency assets of the RBI, gold, SDRs and Reserve Tranche Position in the International Monetary Fund stood at 165.3 billion dollars as at the end of September 2006. Foreign currency assets of the RBI were of the order of 158.3 billion dollars as on September 30, 2006 providing a cover of around 116 per cent to total external debt stock. US dollar continued to be the major currency of denomination in India's external debt portfolio. The share of US dollar in the debt stock of the country increased further from 45.4 per cent at end-March 2006 to 46.7 per cent at end-September 2006. An official release here claimed that the Government was pursuing prudent external debt management policies to maintain external debt within manageable limits. These include emphasis on raising funds on concessional terms and from less expensive sources with longer maturities, monitoring of short-term debt, prepaying high cost loans, rationalising interest rates on NRI deposits, restricting end-use of external commercial borrowings, limiting trade credits and encouraging non-debt creating capital flows. (UNI) |
RIL to reach peak gas output from KG basin block in 2011. NEW DELHI, Dec 29: Reliance Industries will reach peak output of 80 million standard cubic meters per day of natural gas from its D6 block in Krishna Godavari basin in 2011, three years after beginning production from the prolific block off the east coast. Reliance will start producing natural gas from block KG-DWN-98/3, also known as KG-D6, in June 2008 with initial output of 27.6 mmscmd, a Petroleum Ministry's note to the Prime Minister's Energy Coordination Committee said. The 27.6 mmscmd production rate would be for one year, after which the output will reach 40 mmscmd. This production level would last two years and "plateau rate of 80 mmscmd is scheduled to be achieved by July 1, 2011." The plateau output would last six years, the note said. Reliance will invest 8.836 billion dollars in two phases for developing Dhirubhai-1 and 3 gas finds, the first two of the 13 gas discoveries made by the company in block D6. Phase-I investment would be 5.197 billion dollars while the remaining 3.639 billion dollar would be invested in second phase beginning 2008-end, the note said. Reliance holds 90 per cent interest in Block D6, where it estimates reserves in excess of 50 trillion cubic feet. Niko Resources of Canada has the remaining 10 per cent. The revised development plan envisaging 8.836 billion dollar investment was approved on December 12, the note said, adding there was no delay in gas production from D6. Originally, Reliance had proposed to invest 2.47-billion dollars in developing Dhirubhai-1 and 3 gas finds. But in October, this was revised due to rise in rig hire charges. Sources said the company will drill 22 wells in Phase-1 and 28 wells in Phase-II. In the original development plan, Reliance had proposed to drill 34 wells. The resource base of Dhirubhai 1 and 3 gas finds had been raised since filing of original Field Development Plan. Against the 5.3 Trillion cubic feet proven plus probable reserves, RIL now estimated 11.3 Tcf reserves in the two discoveries. The ultimate reserve in the two fields stands at 21 Tcf. The life of the field has been estimated at 18 years. After the first 7-8 years, production will decline unless more wells are drilled and new reserves added. The proposed initial development covers only 4.5 per cent of the total block area (7,645 sq km). Considerable upside potential exists in the form of already known discoveries such as Dhirubhai 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 16 and other possible discoveries from the large area of the block yet unexplored. "For the remaining discoveries in block D6, appraisal works are in progress and are within the schedule provided in the Production Sharing Contract (PSC)," the note added. (PTI) Industry chamber seeks Rs 100cr VC fund for ITeS sector . NEW DELHI, Dec 29: Industry chamber ASSOCHAM has soughtcreation of Rs 100 crore worth of venture capital (VC) fund through public-private partnership to provide easy financing facilities to BPO, KPO and BTO sectors for grabbing larger pie in the domestic information technology market from competing countries. The chamber also advocated extension of Software Technology Parks Scheme (STPI) benefits to Business Process Outsourcing, Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) and Business Technology Optimisation (BTO) industry until 2017. Sound Governmental policies can push up the contribution of these three industry sectors to national GDP to about nine per cent by 2009-10 from current level of less than eight per cent which will generate three lakh additional employment opportunities against current employment level of about four lakh people with the present business size of over six billion dollars. In a comprehensive note submitted to Ministry of Communications and IT, the chamber president, Mr Anil K Agarwal said domestic Information Technology enabled Services (ITeS) industry comprising BPO, KPO and BTO face huge threat from countries such as Ireland (5.6 per cent), Hungary (5.6 per cent), China (22.1 per cent), Philippines (27.8 per cent), Mexico (11.1 per cent), Canada (11.1 per cent), Malaysia (11.1 per cent) and Russia (5.6 per cent) as these have begun their concentration to make a dent in India's growing knowledge industries. If incentives like easy financing facilities tax exemptions and sops and flexible conditions are not granted to domestic BPO, KPO and BTO industry, their existence and spirit for competition will phase out. The chamber, therefore, has demanded that earlier creation of Rs 100 crore VC fund and extension of STPI benefits which will help domestic knowledge industry to not only take on global giants but fiercely compete with them to prevent gaining in the domestic business share. The chamber has pointed out that India, in comparison with most of the developed and developing nations, has emerged as an advantageous destination, as far as outsourcing is concerned. It not only provides cost advantage as most of the other competitive nations, but also possesses highly intellectual capital. In view of above advantageous position that India has already placed itself as far as ITeS services are concerned, the chamber has also urged the government saying that it could facilitate the BPO, KPO and BTO sector building for them adequate infrastructure to maintain their current tempo for growth and set up appropriate regulatory framework. The chamber has also highlighted the need for financial assistance to ITeS sector, arguing that the Government should provide easy finance with low interest rates and long duration to their promoters by joint initiatives with public-private partnership. It should also provide land and other basic amenities at subsidised rates to the industry with no location restrictions as also facilitating training and development. The chamber feels that investment in education and e-governance will bring the country close to all academicians and make India as knowledge hub from which the rest of world can draw inspiration for growth and prosperity of humanity.(UNI) |
US,India set up working group to boost trade in legal services.. WASHINGTON, Dec 29: India and the United States have set up a working group to promote greater interaction between legal professionals and to facilitate trade in legal services between the two countries. Announcing the formation of the group, which comprises legal experts from both countries, Deputy US Trade Representative Karan Bhatia stressed that legal services are integral to today's complex economy. "Legal services are integral to today's complex, global economy. Indian Commerce Secretary Gopal Pillai and I agreed that establishing a Legal Services Working Group is a priority in our bilateral dialogue," Bhatia said. Several American firms are already getting back office and research work done in India though lawyers from either country are not currently allowed to practice in the other. The United States has a substantial number of Indian American lawyers who have been pressing that they be allowed to argue cases in the Indian courts. The question is often raised during visits of Indian ministers to the United States who generally stress on reciprocity which, they concede, is a complex and difficult issue to resolve. Bhatia and Pillai had decided on the formation of the working group during their meeting in New Delhi. During Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Washington, the constitution of such a group was identified as a priority. The working group comprises representatives of law firms, Bar Council of India and the American Bar Associations also leading legal professionals. (PTI) |
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