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Mallya picks up 26 pc stake in Air Deccan
Decision on Reliance put off
23 FDI proposals cleared
Imported liquor to be cheaper
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NHB relaxes age bar for reverse mortgage loans
Negative policies may stunt growth
Thales opens software centre in Chennai
SBI to spend Rs 300 cr for 3,000 ATMs
Reliance Money to set up 10,000 kiosks
Ginger to build 17 budget hotels
Tata Tea to buy 11 pc in mineral water Co
Corporate Results
CPI (IW) up by 1 point
Morgan Stanley to buy Investa Properties
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Mallya picks up 26 pc stake in Air Deccan
Bangalore, May 31 UB Holdings has paid an advance of Rs 150 crore and the remaining amount would be paid in the next four weeks, Air Deccan managing director G R Gopinath told reporters after the company’s board meeting here. The transaction, which values Air Deccan at Rs 155 a share, would be through allotment of 96,77,419 fully paid-up equity shares to UB, he said. UB Group, which owns premier carrier Kingfisher Airlines, would eventually control 46 per cent of Deccan Aviation that runs the low-cost carrier Air Deccan after the open offer. This is the third M&A deal in the domestic aviation space, after Jet Airways-Air Sahara and merger of Air-India and Indian, this year. Last year, Tata Group acquired under 10 per cent stake in another budget carrier SpiceJet. The two together would have a fleet of 71 aircraft, 70 destinations and 33 per cent market share, said Gopinath, who would continue as executive chairman of the board, while Mallya would be the vice-chairman. The promoters and investors would have equal number of directors, besides six independent directors. Gopinath said a team would be appointed next week to work out operational synergies with UB Group. The two airline companies would sign a separate shareholders agreement in the near future, Deccan Aviation said in a filing on the BSE. The deal comes weeks after a public spat between Gopinath and Mallya, after the latter made public his intention to pick stake in the low-cost carrier. Mallya had said consolidation was inevitable in the industry, while predicting a shakeout reminiscent to that of the 1990s when several private carriers folded-up. — PTI
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Decision on Reliance put off
New Delhi, May 31 Meanwhile, the BOA deferred a decision on Mukesh Ambani-promoted Navi Mumbai SEZ due to pending objections from the Revenue Department even as it cleared the Tata’s Gopalpur Multi-product SEZ in Orissa. Emerging out of the meeting, commerce secretary G K Pillai, who is the BOA chairperson, said the government would seek comments from the promoters and the Revenue Department and the issue was expected to come up again at the board’s next meeting on June 22. Other prominent approvals are IT/ITES SEZ by ETA Technopark Pvt Ltd in Tamil Nadu, IT/ITES SEZ by Genpact India in Andhra Pradesh, IT/ITES SEZ by Shivajimarg Properties in Delhi, Biotech SEZ by Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation in Vadodara, Gujarat, Gems and Jewellery SEZ by Shirpur Gold Refinery at Dhulia, Maharashtra and three SEZs for textiles, leather and engineering goods by UPSIDC at Kanpur. Other pominent ‘in principle’ approvals granted are multi-product SEZ by SRM Infrastructure Pvt Limited in Alwar, Rajasthan; multi services SEZ by Society for Innovative Education and Development at Alwar, and a Carpet and Handicraft SEZ by UPSIDC in Bhadohi, Uttar Pradesh.
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23 FDI proposals cleared
New Delhi, May 31 Union finance minister P Chidambaram, following recommendation from Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in its meeting held on May 18, cleared these proposals. The proposals relate to ministries/departments of agriculture and cooperation, commerce, food and public distribution, heavy industry, information and broadcasting, industrial policy and promotion, power, telecommunications and economic affairs. The finance minister also approved the proposal of four foreign investors to acquire 16 per cent stake in the Bombay Stock Exchange at an investment of Rs 13 lakh. The government has also given green signal to BT Telecom India’s investment of Rs 142.60 crore towards change in the status of operating company into operating-cum-holding company to make downstream investments. SSIPL Retail has also got nod for investment of Rs 26.50 crore towards induction of additional foreign investment up to 20 per cent.
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Imported liquor to be cheaper
New Delhi, May 31 “We are planning to scrap ACD by July and allow states to impose taxes equivalent to the levy on domestic wine and spirit makers,” a senior commerce ministry official said. He said this would be done through an executive order and there was no need to bring a central legislation for allowing states to levy additional taxes. The taxes, the states would impose over and above the basic customs duty, would be WTO compatible, and would result in foreign liquor costing much less.
— PTI |
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NHB relaxes age bar for reverse mortgage loans
New Delhi, May 31 "The restriction on married couples being eligible as joint borrowers provided both are above the age of 60 years, has been relaxed so as to include those couples also wherein one of the borrowers is below the age of 60," NHB said. NHB has modified its operational guidelines for RML after receiving feedback from stakeholders on the draft guidelines. According to the final norms, borrowers will not be required to pay any penalty toward prepayment of loans. In order to balance risk perception and other requirements of lenders, the modified norms stipulate that RMLs will be restricted to self-acquired and self-occupied residential properties, owned by senior citizens, having a residual life of at least 20 years. NHB also advised lending institutions to remain selective in giving loans against property and frame their internal policy guidelines for eligibility and end-use norms. However, terms and conditions must be fully disclosed to the potential borrowers upfront, an NHB press release said. The reverse mortgage guidelines allow senior citizens to have a steady stream of income by mortgaging self-occupied property to banks or other eligible financial institutions. Punjab National Bank has already launched the reverse mortgage scheme after obtaining approval of NHB. — PTI
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WB lowdown
Washington, May 31 "Much of the FDI inflows into India were concentrated in the services sector, telecommunications in particular, in response to liberalisation policies...such as easing ownership restrictions," the bank said in its Global Development Finance Report of 2007. "...but its (India's) restrictive policy conditions are expected to lead to deceleration in investment growth and weaker private consumption and government spending, contributing to a slowdown in GDP growth to 7.8 per cent and 7.5 per cent in 2008 and 2009, respectively," it said. India's GDP grew by 9.2 per cent in 2006-07, although signs of slowing appeared at the end of the fiscal. Total FDI inflows last fiscal (April'06-March'07) was $15.7 billion. The bank said net capital inflows to South Asia increased to $40.1 billion in calendar year 2006, up from $28.3 billion in 2005 with strong capital inflows largely due to a $12 billion expansion in net private debt flows. Net equity inflows to the region, however, increased only slightly as a $3 billion increase in FDI was partly offset by a decline in portfolio equity flows, the report said. The bank also said that FDI outflows from India was on the rise due to increasing cross-border M&A purchases by Indian companies, mainly in high-income economies. Since 2004, FDI flows from India to the UK exceeded flows from the UK to India, said the report, which factored in Indian multinational Tata's over $12 billion acquisition of Anglo-Dutch steel company Corus early this year. The World Bank said since 2003 the period for which imports could be covered by foreign reserves has declined by about four months in both India and Pakistan. India's foreign reserves in April touched over $200 billion which is enough to meet import bill for over a year. While reserves in India remain significantly above the level of three months worth of imports, they are much closer to that level in Pakistan and below it in both Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, suggesting that each country would be vulnerable to a significant terms-of-trade shock, such as another hike in oil prices. The report also noted that the continued easing of political tensions between the governments of India and Pakistan bodes well for continued progress toward improved relations. It said high growth rates posted in recent years have helped South Asia make significant progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The GDP in South Asia expanded by a robust 8.6 per cent in 2006.Most notably, the percentage of people living on less than a dollar a day declined to just over 30 per cent in 2003 from 40 per cent in 1990 and is now projected to be about 13 per cent in 2015. — PTI
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Thales opens software centre in Chennai
Chennai, May 31 The Euro 10.3 billion company’s centre here will be an in-house software development centre that will provide its services to Thales in 50 countries worldwide. Thales group senior vice president (operations) Reynald Seznec said: “Thales further develops its presence in India with this centre, which will rely on its Indian team’s software programming skills to produce technologically advanced products for Thales businesses worldwide, supporting its growth as a leader in mission-critical information systems for aerospace, defence and security markets.” The Thales group is a long term partner of the Indian armed forces. Its equipment and systems have been selected for various types of platforms in service with the army, air force and navy such as air defence radars, avionics for military and civil aircraft, optronics and sonars. The company’s Indian wing generated sales of 200 million euros annually and plans to treble its investments in India. With its expansion plans, Thales will employ 300 software engineers here by the end of next year and employ 1,000 persons by 2010. Corporate director of Thales in India Francois Dupont said: “India will be the next multi-domestic country considering its vast software expertise. Chennai was chosen over other Indian cities because it is one of the software-centric cities in India producing over 50,000 engineering graduates per year and offering a lower attrition rat than other locations.” The software centre here currently employs 100 engineers and in the long term is set to become an R&D centre in its own right.
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SBI to spend Rs 300 cr for 3,000 ATMs
Mumbai, May 31 “We have taken initiatives to set up 3,000 ATMs across the country. These will come up almost evenly on off-site and on-site locations,” SBI general manager (ATM and internet banking) Ravi Kaul told reporters here today. The country’s largest commercial lender and its seven associate banks currently have around 6,800 ATMs. “Setting up an ATM will cost around Rs 10
lakh, excluding the cost of land, which is generally taken on lease. This comes to around Rs 300
crore,” he said. Kaul said almost 40 per cent of the group’s existing ATMs are located in rural and semi-urban areas and the present ratio would continue post-expansions.
— PTI |
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Reliance Money to set up 10,000 kiosks
Kolkata, May 31 Reliance Money CEO Sudip Bandopadhyay today said the company presently had 2,500 trading kiosks across the country. By March 2009, the number of suck kiosks would be increased to 25,000, he said. Reliance Money also tied up with retail coffee chain Barista to set up trading kiosks at its 100 strategically located outlets across the country. He said the trading platform provided by Reliance Money would help the investors in carrying out any kind of financial transaction (except banking), which included stock and commodity trading. The platform also provides a single window to deal in insurance, mutual fund, gold coins purchase and other products. Bandopadhyay said the company was also in the process of starting buy back of gold coins to offer liquidity. Emerging as one of the leading brokerage houses in the country, daily turnover in stock trading through the Reliance Money platform had already touched Rs 600 crore. — PTI
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Ginger to build 17 budget hotels
Mumbai, May 31 “In next 12 months, the total number of Ginger hotels will go up to 25 from the current eight. Each 100-room Ginger hotel on an average will be set up at a cost of Rs 11to 12 crore, excluding the land cost, which varies from city to city,” Prabhat Pani, CEO, Roots Corporation, which operates the Ginger gen-next ‘smart basics’ hotels chain, said. Roots Corporation is a 100 per cent subsidiary of IHCL, which also promotes the Taj Group of hotels. The hotels would come up on less than one acre land each in Ludhiana, Pantnagar, Agartala, Pondicherry, Guwahati and Baroda, Pani said. The eight Ginger hotels are in Nasik, Pune, Bangalore, Mysore, Thiruvananthapuram, Bhubaneshwar, Haridwar and Durgapur in West Bengal.
— PTI |
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Tata Tea to buy 11 pc in mineral water Co
Mumbai, May 31 CNBC TV18 said the founders of Mount Everest Mineral Water Ltd., which makes Himalayan brand of bottled water, would make a preferential allotment to Tata Tea. Tata
Tea will also make an open offer for more shares in Mount Everest to
take its holding to 42 per cent, the TV channel said, adding Tata Tea's
board was expected to approve the deal at a board meeting tomorrow.
— Reuters |
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Tata Chemicals declares dividend
Mumbai, May 31 Birla Corp
Birla Corporation has posted 50.71 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 101.19 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31 and the total income (net of excise) grew 14.86 per cent to Rs 455.91 crore for the quarter, Birla Corporation informed the BSE. The board of directors today declared a 35 per cent dividend of Rs 3.5 on 7.7 crore equity shares of Rs 10 each. Bajaj Electricals
Bajaj Electricals has reported a 39 per cent increase in its net profit for the quarter ended March 31 at Rs 18.91 crore, Bajaj Electricals said in a statement. It also declared a final dividend of 80 per cent for the fiscal year ended March 31. NTPC net up
NTPC has posted 10.75 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 1,734.7 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31 and the total income grew by 14.38 per cent to Rs 9,546.7 crore, NTPC said in a communique to the BSE. The board of directors today declared a final dividend of 8 per cent of the paid-up equity share capital in addition to the interim dividend of 24 per cent announced in February. Crompton Greaves
Crompton Greaves has posted a net profit after tax of Rs 69.92 crore for the quarter ended March 31 and the total income (net of excise) was Rs 1003.27 crore, Crompton Greaves informed the BSE.
— Agencies |
BHEL tie-up Jet Airways BNP Paribas Ape TRUK Sona Okegawa Minda tie-up PTC agreement |
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To launch open offer for another 20 per cent
