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Chidambaram asks investors to stay put
MTNL slashes Delhi-Mumbai STD rates
SC upholds fine on Shriram MF
Probe may clear Jet-Sahara deal
UK all game for Indian sports goods
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StanChart eyes Pak bank
Cellphone number fetches $2.74 m
Will war intensifies
ADAG ups stake in RNRL to 55 pc
IT ROUND-UP
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Chidambaram asks investors to stay put
New Delhi, May 23 Making a statement in the Rajya Sabha on the recent developments in the stock market, Mr Chidambaram said the events in the global markets in the last week, especially movements in the commodity markets had brought sharp volatility to the stock markets in many emerging markets. He said the markets both in the developed world as well as in the emerging economies have seen sharp corrections and India also saw considerable volatility as part of these events. “The last two days of the previous week saw a fairly sharp correction in the stock markets in India,” he said. Pointing out that responsibility of the government and the regulator was to ensure that market movements were orderly, he said markets will rise and markets will fall in response to developments and this was a natural phenomenon. The minister said data from the markets received yesterday confirm that Mutual Funds have been net buyers and even FIIs have been overall net buyers with large purchases in the derivatives market. “Genuine retail long-term investors were not affected either by margin pressure or by this sudden fall. In order to enable highly leveraged participants to meet margin requirements banks have provided adequate liquidity. Therefore, in view of the fact that calm has returned to the market my advice to genuine long-term investors is to stay invested,” he said. Reining inflation
He also told the Rajya Sabha today that the government would be able to keep the inflation rate between 4 and 5 per cent during this fiscal. Replying to a short duration discussion on steep rise in prices of essential commodities, raised by Congress member V. Narayanswamy on Monday, the Finance Minister assured the members that the government would keep a close watch on the prices and take necessary steps to contain them. Mr Chidambaram said that last year the Reserve Bank of India had estimated the inflation between 5 and 5.5 per cent but it turned out to be around 4 per cent. “We will be able to contain inflation between 4 and 5 per cent,” he said. The minister said that the rise in prices of commodities affects everybody and the government is sensitive to the issue. “In a developing country which is registering high growth rate, some inflation is inevitable. In fact, the years in which there was low inflation, there was very little growth rate. When credit expands, it has an effect on prices,” he said. BJP leader and former Finance Minister Yashwant Singh led a walkout by the members of his party after expressing dissatisfaction with Mr Chidambaram’s reply. “Mr Chidambaram was not even in the House when the issue was taken up for discussion. I’m afraid the Minister has not been properly briefed. He has not touched upon several points. In protest against this, we are walking out. The reply is not at all satisfactory.” In his detailed reply, Mr Chidambaram said that his immediate concern is prices of pulses. |
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MTNL slashes Delhi-Mumbai STD rates by 375 pc
New Delhi, May 23 The customers in the two metropolises can call at the rate of 40 paise per minute from the existing rate of Rs 1.90 paise per minute. The rate for calls between the two cities, which are 1,400 km apart, would come into effect from June 1, MTNL CMD RSP Sinha announced in the presence of Communications and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran. The other telecom PSU BSNL charges about Rs 2.40 a minute for STD calls throughout India, except between Delhi-Mumbai, while private operators charge up to Other operators are expected to follow suit to remain competitive in the lucrative Delhi-Mumbai market. MTNL, which has licence to operate only in the metros of Delhi and Mumbai, has 38 lakh fixed line users in both these cities put together. Mr Maran said this is an effect of policy decision by Department of Telecom to bring down the licence fee for NLD and ILD to a uniform Rs 2.5 crore from Rs 25 and Rs 100 crore, respectively. MTNL, which launched its own STD operations between Delhi and Mumbai today, has tied up with Tatas-owned VSNL for traffic carriage based on the lowest rates offered by VSNL. Meanwhile, telecom regulator TRAI today asked service providers to ensure transparency in tariff and the services offered and also improve consumer interface. In a communication, it said the service providers were not giving adequate importance to consumer transparency issues. Several underlying information relating to tariff/service were not being explicitly brought out during the process of offering, promoting and marketing the products. This, it said, had led to consumer dissatisfaction and the credibility of the service providers were being questioned. The authority also called for further strengthening of the consumer protection measures since a large proportion of new subscribers would be from non-urban areas. “All telecom service providers should improve and educate their retail outlet chain to cater to the requirements of the growing customer base,” it said.
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SC upholds fine on Shriram MF
New Delhi, May 23 SEBI, the market regulator had imposed the fine in 2002 on them for violating terms and conditions of the Certificate of Registration and Statutory Regulation, know as SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulation, 1996. But the order was set aside by the Securities Appellate Tribunal in August 2003 when Shriram Mutual Fund and its Assets Management Company had challenged the same before it. Aggrieved by the Tribunal’s order, SEBI had moved the apex court. Setting aside the Tribunal’s order, a Bench of Mr Justice A.R. Lakshmanan and Mr Justice Lokeshwar Singh Panta said it had “miserably failed” to appreciate that such a relief would set a wrong precedent and every offender would take shelter of “hardships” as taken by the respondents in the present case, to violate the provisions of SEBI Act. The court said Shriram Mutual Fund and its Assets Manager had indulged in “excess transactions... and it is an admitted fact that they on 12 occasions routed transactions through their associated brokerage houses in excess of the permissible limit”. This practice had continuously gone for a period of over two years from June 1998. As per the rules, Assets Management Company should not purchase or sell securities through broker associated with sponsor, which was average of 5 per cent or more of the aggregate purchases and sale of securities made by mutual funds in all its schemes and the limit of 5 per cent shall apply for a block of any three months, it said. The court pointed out that it was the duty of SEBI to enforce the market discipline as it was established as a regulator on an Act passed by Parliament to promote orderly and healthy growth of securities market and to protect the orderly growth of the stock market in the country. Cautioning against any laxity in enforcing the market regulations, the court said, “The capital market has witnessed tremendous growth in recent times, characterised particularly by increasing participation of public. Investors’ confidence in the market can be sustained largely by ensuring protection to them”. “In our opinion, penalty is attracted as soon as the contravention of the statutory obligation as contemplated by the Act and the regulation is established,” the Bench said.
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Probe may clear Jet-Sahara deal
New Delhi, May 23 According to highly-placed official sources, the Director-General (Investigation and Registration) has not found violation of any provision of the MRTPC Act in the deal. “No provision of the MRTPC has been violated in the Jet-Sahara deal and the DGIR report has been submitted to the MRTPC,” the sources said. The DGIR probe, they said, was in a way “restricted” as clauses relating to monopolies, mergers and acquisitions in the Act had been deleted in 1991. “Sections 22-26 and Section 28-30 were deleted from the Act in 1991 and, therefore, the investigation of DGIR was restricted to the area of trade practices. However, since the merged entity is yet to function as one, the clause on trade practices is not applicable currently,” the sources said. They also pointed out to the growth in the Indian aviation sector over the last few years and said it had also minimised the possible threat of a monopoly or restrictive trade practice from the merged entity. “While Jet enjoyed a market share of around 45 per cent three years back, the combined share of the merged entities today is lower than that,” the sources said. However, they added, if post-merger the combined entity found to be engaging in restrictive trade practices, the matter could be investigated again. — PTI
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UK all game for Indian sports goods
New Delhi, May 23 “UK’s total sports goods import from India rose to Rs 180 crore in 2005-06 as against Rs 125 crore in 2004-05,” Assocham President Anil K Agarwal said. Australia and the US accounted for 20 per cent and 15 per cent of the total sports goods exports with earnings of Rs 90 crore and Rs 60.75 crore, respectively, by March 31, 2006, according to a study on sports exports by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham). In 2004-05, Australia imported sports goods worth Rs 65 crore from India while the US sports goods imports stood at Rs 53 crore. The reason for this export growth, as observed by Assocham, is the increasing popularity of Indian sports goods in the UK because of their quality, durability and price competitiveness. The sports products that were exported to the UK in bulk include inflatable balls, protective equipment, cricket equipment, boxing equipment, general exercise equipment, bladders, cricket and hockey balls, table tennis equipment and toys and games. Indian exports of sports goods in 2005-06 to top 15 countries were Rs 395.11 crore in 2004-05, the study said. — UNI
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StanChart eyes Pak bank
Karachi, May 23 Standard Chartered has begun due diligence of Union Bank, which has total assets worth more than $2 billion and deposits of around Rs 93 billion ($1.55 billion), according to central and commercial bank sources with knowledge of the deal. “I can confirm Standard Chartered has been granted permission to conduct due diligence of Union Bank,” said a senior State Bank of Pakistan official, requesting anonymity. A notice issued by Union Bank to the Karachi Stock Exchange confirmed the intended sale of a majority of its shares, but did not name the probable buyer. “The sponsor majority shareholders of Union Bank have informed the bank that they are in discussions for the sale of their entire shareholding in the bank,” it said. Union Bank’s Chairman, Saudi investor Abdullah Basodan, is the major shareholder with a 49.06 per cent stake as of December 31, which, at the current price of Rs 78 a share, would cost around $216 million. A senior official at Union Bank said the deal was on. “I can say that the deal is at an advanced stage and would be completed soon,” said the official, asking not to be named.
— Reuters |
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Cellphone number fetches $2.74 m
Doha, May 23 Bids narrowed down to two competitors out of a total of eight vying to possess the unusual seven-digit phone number containing only the number six. The auction started off with a million riyals with higher bids set at Riyal 1-lakh increments. Executive Officer of the Qatar Telecommunications Company Waleed al-Sayyed, which sponsored the auction, told reporters yesterday that 10 million riyals will be turned over to Hamad Medical Services Foundation to fund building medical clinics in faraway regions of the country where medical services are not easily available. |
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Will war intensifies
New Delhi, May 23 While the involved parties declined to comment, sources said the executors of the will had
received notices but proceedings had not yet been initiated. Max Group chairman Analjit Singh had yesterday filed for the probate of Bhai Mohan Singh’s will in Tis Hazari Court through Delhi-based law firm K.R. Chawla and Co. “Besides sending separate notices against the executors they (Malvinder and Shivender and Manjit Singh) will have to initiate proceedings on their own to challenge the case,” the sources said. The two sides (other than Analjit Singh) have hinted that they will move the court. Bhai Mohan Singh had executed his last will on August 25, 2005, which was executed in the presence of Prem Sobti and Vipin Malik.
— PTI |
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ADAG ups stake in RNRL to 55 pc
Mumbai, May 23 Reliance-ADAG had made an open offer to RNRL’s shareholders to acquire 32.66 crore shares, representing 20 per cent of the company’s expanded equity share capital, RNRL informed the BSE. However, less than 6 lakh shares representing 0.03 per cent of the expanded equity capital of RNRL were offered under the open offer, the company said. After the said open offer, the shareholding of Reliance - Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group in the fully diluted capital of RNRL has increased to approximately 55 per cent, the statement said. The offer had opened on May 3 and closed yesterday. The open offer was made consequent upon a preferential issue of shares aggregating to Rs 1,052 crore to R-ADAG, RNRL added.— PTI |
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IT
ROUND-UP
Bangalore, May 23
The high-quality PCs with easy-to-use interface would be priced 20 per cent less than the lowest Intel-based PCs in India with similar feature-rich configurations, Intel Corporation President and CEO Paul S. Otellini told reporters. Intel would work with HCL, Millennium, PCS, Wipro and Zenith Computers to make available the computers in 60 days, Otellini said on his maiden visit to India as Intel President and CEO. “With only 2 per cent of India’s population having a PC or Internet connection, the challenge is large,” Mr Otellini said. “The digital divide is quite real in India.” Intel would also collaborate with ICICI Bank to facilitate loans for PC ownership, he said. In another initiative, Otellini said, Intel would work closely with Tata VSNL to bring Intel-based PC solutions and WiMax wireless broadband connectivity to Tata’s RailTel cyber cafes across India to increase computing accessibility and internet connectivity in railway stations. He said small, affordable and rugged learning devices for students based on Intel’s platform, Eduwise, would be available in India in the first half of 2007. The notebook PC is designed for use by an individual student and teacher. He had “no announcement to be made” in his regard during his current visit, he added. He said the Chip Design Centre of Intel here gave more value-add than setting up yet another factory. Sundaram BPO arm Sundaram Business Services (SBS), the BPO arm of the five-decade-old Sundaram Finance Limited, today said it would hire over 200 persons this year. A press release here said the expansion was necessary because of new account wins as well as growth in existing customer base, both domestic and overseas. As part of the expansion plans, SBS was considering hiring qualified accountants and management graduates. Commenting on its domestic BPO expansion, Executive Director P.S. Raghavan said: “We are seeing a lot of attraction in the domestic market, especially in the insurance vertical.” SRM pact SRM Technologies Private Limited, a constituent of the SRM Group, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Japan Wave for setting up a dedicated software Offshore Development Centre (ODC). The MoU was signed between Japan Wave Director Ayoako Okamota and SRM CEO S Chandrasekharan here today. Later, speaking to reporters, Mr Chandrasekharan said the ODC would be involved in new developments and enhancement of the Digital Rights Management Solution Production (DRM), a technology which was successfully patented by Japan Wave in Japan and other parts of the world. The centre, set up with a total investment of $2 lakh, with dedicated infrastructure and a team of Indian software professionals will be an extended arm of the Japan Wave development centre in Osaka, Japan. CAE Inc to hire Buoyed by the success of a trial run of an outsourcing project, Canada’s leading makers of flight simulators CAE Inc. will hire a batch of 50 aerospace engineers from India to boost productivity and make the most of round-the-clock work flow. The Montreal-based company had hired 50 professionals from Bangalore 18 months back for speeding up the delivery time for flight simulators. The workforce in India would help troubleshoot, do labour-intensive chores by revising and testing software that simulates “virtual reality” of piloting an array of aircraft, the report said.
— Agencies |
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