Mumbai, April 10
Officials of capital markets regulator Securities & Exchange Board of India on Wednesday questioned Sahara group chief Subrata Roy and three other top executives for almost an hour. Roy and the other executives appeared before SEBI, which had summoned them in the high-profile case involving refund of an estimated Rs 24,000 crore to over three crore investors.

SEBI has accused the Sahara group and its promoter of raising thousands of crores of rupees from investors without following due diligence. The group is also accused of being a front for laundering of “black money” by corrupt politicians and others.

Sahara has however denied any wrong doing and has accused the regulator of conducting a “witch hunt: against it. "SEBI is conducting a media trial every day," Roy said after his meeting with SEBI's whole-time member Prashant Saran.

"Money which remains unpaid to investors is with SEBI, we want to pay back investors as soon as possible. SEBI should have verified Sahara's investor base in the last four months," Roy added.

Stating the group has declared all its assets to SEBI, Roy said he had informed the regulator about not having any immovable property. "My personal assets appears to have troubled SEBI," he said, while adding that most of the investors had been paid back and the remaining money to be refunded was with the market regulator.

Roy, along with Ashok Roy Choudhary, Ravi Shankar Dubey and Vandana Bhargava, were asked to come for personal appearance before SEBI's whole-time member Prashant Saran at the market regulator's headquarters here.

During their personal appearance, the four were asked to produce original title deeds of all assets and investments of the two group firms, Sahara India Real Estate Corp and Sahara Housing Investment Corp. The Supreme Court has asked the two firms to refund over Rs 24,000 crore to their bondholders within three months.

Abu Dhabi, April 10
Etihad Airways' purchase of a stake in Jet Airways could be delayed until at least August as the Abu Dhabi carrier seeks assurances following setbacks for several Gulf investors in India, two sources familiar with the talks said.

Etihad, which is expanding globally, has been in talks over an equity stake in Jet since September after India relaxed ownership rules and allowed foreign airlines to buy up to 49 percent in local carriers.

The Gulf airline is eyeing a 24 percent stake, valued at about $330 million, according to sources aware of the matter.

The deal, which would inject much-needed funds into Jet and help Etihad expand its reach into the vast Indian aviation market, has slowed over concerns of past failed forays by Gulf investors into India and the Abu Dhabi firm's demands to protect its potential investment, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity as the matter is not public.

"It's going to take some time; at least until August," said one source, who is aware of the discussions.

"There are issues relating to what happened to some other UAE entities like Etisalat and Emaar in India. So nothing is going to happen soon."

Etisalat, the UAE's biggest telecom operator, shut down its Indian mobile operations after a court ordered the revocation of cellular permits — including those granted to Etisalat's local affiliate — following a scandal-tainted 2008 sale.

Sources have said that apart from disagreements on commercial terms, an investment protection assurance sought by Abu Dhabi has caused a pause in talks. "The deal has been delayed due to various considerations — pricing, management control and a Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement (BIPA) between both countries," said another source close to Jet Airways.

Top executives from Etihad and Jet met Indian ministers in February, but the deal faced a setback later when the Gulf carrier's chairman said it needed to be revised. — Reuters

Luxembourg, April 10
Luxembourg plans to lift bank secrecy rules for European Union citizens who have savings based in the country, the prime minister announced on Wednesday, marking a sharp shift in policy that will take effect from 2015.

The move brings Luxembourg into line with all other EU countries bar Austria in sharing information within the European Union about bank depositors in its territory. The decision adds to pressure on Vienna to fall into line, after Austria's chancellor said on Tuesday it would join talks on the subject.

Luxembourg's decision follows lobbying by Germany and the European Commission, bolstered by the case of former French budget minister Jerome Cahuzac, who was placed under investigation for fraud after admitting lying about having a Swiss bank account.

"We can, without great damage, introduce automatic exchange of information as of January 1, 2015," Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker told parliament in a state-of-the-nation address. "We are following a global movement ... we are not caving in to German pressure," he said, adding that 25 EU countries as well as the United States wanted such data-sharing.

Germany said on Tuesday that the EU's five largest economies — Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Spain — had agreed to deepen cooperation on tackling tax evasion.

Juncker's announcement ends decades of bank secrecy in Luxembourg, which helped the country establish what is now one of the biggest financial centers in Europe and to make its citizens the region's wealthiest in terms of per-capita income.

In recent weeks, however, Luxembourg, with a banking industry roughly 22 times the size of its economy and with deposits equivalent to 10 times its GDP, has come under renewed pressure to change. — Reuters

New Delhi, April 10
The worst fears of carmakers have come true with industry lobby group Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) saying on Wednesday that passenger car sales in the country fell 6.69% in 2012-13, first fall for the industry in a decade.

Forecasting a modest 3-5% growth in the current fiscal on expectations of an improvement in overall macroeconomic conditions and lower interest rates, SIAM said total sales of all vehicles in FY 2013-14 will grow 6-8% with contributions from almost all segments.

The last quarter of fiscal year 2012-13 witnessed a sharp decline of 20.5% in passenger car sales. The record demand for utility vehicles growing at 52.2%, over the year, helped offset the disappointing car sales.

Car sales in March fell to 180,675 units compared to 233,151 units in the same month of 2012, a decline of 22.51%. This was the fifth consecutive monthly slide

In 2012-13, sales of passenger cars fell to 1,895,471 units from 2,031,306 units in the previous fiscal.

Giving annual sales figures for the auto industry, SIAM president S. Sandilya said: "There are concerns and uncertainties for the future, but there is also hope. In recent times, we have seen some positive policy decisions from the government. Macroeconomic recovery is also expected".

He was however optimistic that a slew of new models are expected to "excite the market" and models with upgraded features may help the car segment to register better sales in this fiscal.

He said the buying pattern of customers had changed from small cars to bigger cars and utility vehicles. "Utility vehicle sales will continue to increase at a good rate on account of new model launches by many players," he added.

Having been forced to revise its growth estimates for last fiscal thrice during the year, SIAM this time has come out with modest projections for 2013-14, with a forecast of passenger car sales rising 3-5%, while the UV segment is likely to go up by 11-13%.

"Overall, the passenger vehicle sales are estimated to rise by 5-7% in this financial year," he added.

SIAM had projected the car sales to grow by 10-12%. In its last and third forecast in January this year, car sales growth projection was lowered to just 0-1% for last fiscal, but that has also been missed. Sales of motorcycles and scooters in March 2013, declined by 6.96% to 1,101,058 units from 1,183,425 units in the same month of previous year.

Commercial vehicle sales declined 6.04% to 84,956 units from 90,416 units in the year-ago period, SIAM said.

Sandilya said the current slowdown as well as high interest rates and fuel prices can impact auto sales this fiscal.