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Hike in cane SMP suggested
ICICI Bank to float public issue
LIC launches 3 plans in UK |
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ADB rupee bonds of $100 m in March
‘Doomjuice’ targets Microsoft
GRAPHIC: Fraud Cases in Public Sector Banks
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Hike in cane SMP suggested
New Delhi, February 10 “CACP’s recommendation on sugarcane SMP for the next season has been received. It has favoured a Rs 1.50 per quintal hike to Rs 74.50 per quintal at 8.5 per cent basic recovery of sugar from cane,” official sources said. The recommendation came at a time when sugar mills had approached the courts over the Rs 73 per quintal rate, notified for the current season (2003-04). Sources said the views of the state governments and sugar mills associations on the next season’s recommendation would be solicited and accordingly suggestion made to the Cabinet. They said the CACP had contended that input costs were on the rise, making it imperative to hike the cane SMP in the farmers’ interest. The CACP said the price was justified when the SAP (state advisory price) had ceased to be fixed or paid in most of the states and cane price arrears were on the rise. It pointed out that the price had been recommended on the basis of ‘C2’ cost of production which did not include the managerial cost unlike the ‘C3’ costs. Had the calculation been done on the ‘C3’ costs of producing cane, the recommended SMP would have been much higher, it added. Sources said with around 88 paise payment to be made for every 0.1 per cent additional recovery of cane from sugar, a mill with a peak recovery of 10.5 per cent, the SMP will work out to be Rs 96.50 per quintal which is higher than last season’s SAP in Uttar Pradesh of Rs 95 per quintal. Millers are not happy with the recommendation and a up miller said the centre had sought to introduce the infamous SAP regime through the SMP mechanism itself. However, official sources said nearly all millers, particularly in the private sector, were in a position to pay the recommended SMP for the next season. They said the cost burden on farmers should not be lost sight of and under the “C2” mechanism it included operational expenses, family labour, rental value of land and interest on capital. Had any allowance been made for managerial costs, it would have led to a whopping 10 per cent increase, at least, in the recommended SMP to around Rs 82.00 per quintal, they added. Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court has given a temporary relief to the sugar factories by putting on hold the hiked SMP of Rs 73 per quintal for 2003-04 season, till a judgement is pronounced on a petition of the Uttar Pradesh Sugar Mills Association. Consequently, the mills have to pay only last year’s SMP of Rs 69.5 per quintal to the farmers but have to maintain the Rs 3.5 per quintal differential with the current SMP in form of an account and bank guarantee of Rs 1.75 per quintal each.
— PTI
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ICICI Bank to float public issue
Mumbai, February 10 “The issue will be through a 100 per cent book-building route and we expect to hit the market earliest in April and complete the entire process by the end of first quarter of next financial year,” ICICI Bank deputy managing director Kalpana Morparia said here today after the bank’s board meeting. She said the market had a large appetite for equity and the funds raised would be more than adequate to support the bank’s business growth plans for the next 3-4 years. The domestic as well as FII could participate in the proposed equity issue, she said adding that, the bank would now commence the process of appointing lead book managers and filing of prospectus with Sebi. After completion of this issue, the capital adequacy ratio of the bank would rise from 11.3 per cent as on December end to 14-15 per cent, she said. The extraordinary general meeting of ICICI Bank’s shareholders is scheduled for March 12 in Vadodara. “We believe the Indian financial sector has robust growth prospects. Demand for credit is expected to increase significantly with continued economic growth, upward migration of household income and soft interest rate regime,” an ICICI Bank statement said. Renewed policy focus on infrastructure development based on sustainable public-private partnership model presented a growth opportunity, it said. “In the medium term, stronger demand for credit from the manufacturing sector is also expected to contribute to resurgence of this sector. The retail credit market is also expected to continue to witness strong increase in the coming years. “The insurance market is also highly under-penetrated compared to developed economies and offers potential for growth and we believe the bank is ideally positioned to capitalise on these opportunities,” the bank added. The ICICI group is present across the spectrum of financial services, including consumer and corporate banking, project finance, investment banking, insurance and private equity. In addition, the bank also has a presence in six geographies. According to shareholding data filed by ICICI Bank with NSE as on December 31, 2003, the total foreign holding was 71.4 per cent. FIIs as an investor class, including the Government of Singapore (5.19 per cent), held 45.25 per cent stake. The domestic banks and financial institutions held 14.98 per cent stake while the holding of private corporate bodies in the bank stood at 4.28 per cent and that of public is pegged at 7.76 per cent. The Deutsche Bank Trust Company, custodian for American Depository Share holders, has a 25.99 per cent holding. ICICI Bank scrip opened at Rs 334 and Rs 334.05 on the BSE and NSE today and rose to Rs 338.4 and Rs 337.5 in the mid-session.
— PTI
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LIC launches 3 plans in UK London, February 10 The Bonusbuilder Savings Plan provides the client with the opportunity to build up a valuable lump sum over an agreed period provided contributions are paid for the full terms. The Guaranteed Life Time Protection Plan provides a valuable lump sum to the client’s kith and kin in the event of the death of the client. The Capital with Profits Bond provides with an opportunity to invest a lump sum with the potential for it to grow for at least five years. Several other products like the stakeholder pension are also on the card, Satish Chandra Singh, Chief Manager of LIC for the UK, said. Indian High Commissioner to the UK Ronen Sen, who was the Chief Guest at the launch function held here last night, said the LIC was launching some of its new products on the basis of its continued and unbroken record of reliability of performance in India and abroad. |
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Ispat Ind under lens
New Delhi, February 10 The investigation has been ordered under section 235 of the Companies Act (investigations into a company’s affairs) and the case has been referred by the Department of Company Affairs to Serious Frauds Investigation Office (SFIO), they said. An Ispat Industries
spokesperson declined to comment on the issue whereas its Executive Director, Finance, Anil Surekha was out of the country and also declined to comment. The SFIO, set up to look into large-scale fraud and misappropriation of funds by companies, takes up only those cases which the DCA refers to it, after a nod from the Finance Minister. “We have ordered an investigation under section 235 of the Companies Act against Ispat Industries and the case has been referred to the SFIO. The probe is being ordered because of the company’s exposure of Rs 8,500 crore of public funds, erosion of net worth and high accumulated losses,” the sources added. The sources said while the DCA ordered the probe about a week back, the order is awaiting a nod from the Finance Minister. Since the SFIO was set up late last year, Ispat is the fifth case to be referred to it for thorough investigation. Daewoo Motors, DSQ Software, Design Auto and Benonza Biotech are the other four cases already being probed by SFIO, the sources said. Daewoo Motors is being probed for financial mismanagement and networth erosion whereas the government is investigating DSQ Software’s role in the stock market scam. Design Auto and Benonza Biotech allegedly first allotted shares worth Rs 100 crore to each other and then offloaded these in the market; these shares are currently worthless. Ispat Industries has been referred to the SFIO due to the large amount of funds involved and the fact that it has eroded almost its entire networth. As per information available with the BSE, Mudra Ispat and Ispat Finance held about 4 per cent stake in the company as on December 31, 2003 whereas foreign promoters held another 47.72 per cent stake. Indian public held about 15 per cent of Ispat Industries.
— PTI
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ADB rupee bonds of $100 m in March
New Delhi, February 10 “We hope to float the rupee bonds equivalent to $ 100 million in March this year,” ADB head of financial and private sector Cheolsu Kim told PTI here today. The ADB has asked HSBC to work out the nitty-gritty of the tenor and coupon rates on the bonds. The bank has obtained all necessary approvals from regulators RBI and SEBI as well as the government for floating the bonds. “The bonds may have a Libor-linked coupon rate as it was meant for the long term,” Kim said. The reason for adhering to Libor-linked tenor is the absence of a proper yield curve for long-term securities in India. Kim said the proceeds from the bonds issue would be used to extend rupee loan assistance to Indian private companies, as it was being done by the World Bank through its private lending arm, International Finance Corporation. The ADB will extend loans mainly to companies engaged in infrastructure sectors. The World Bank and the IFC also have plans to float rupee bonds in India but the exact timing will depend on the market conditions. The multilateral agencies decided to float rupee loans to help corporates avoid exchange rate risks associated with foreign loans. The ADB, along with AMP, also launched a $ 100 million private equity fund “The Infrastructure Fund of India”, which would invest in non-listed securities of companies engaged in the infrastructure sector. The ADB has committed $ 15 million and AMP will put in $ 30 million in the fund, while other private equity investors will chip in the balance $ 55 million, Kim said, adding that the bank was in talks with financial investors in Australia, Japan, Korea and Europe for raising the remaining portion of the corpus.
— PTI
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‘Doomjuice’ targets Microsoft
Seattle, February 10 Doomjuice, which some are describing as a variant of the MyDoom worm, spreads via e-mail systems already infected with the first version, which became the fastest-spreading virus ever when it was unleashed on the Internet at the end of January. “It’s only looking for machines that are compromised by MyDoom A or B,” said Vincent Gullotto, vice president of the anti-virus emergency response team at Network Associates Inc. He said it was not spreading as rapidly as the initial MyDoom worms. Because Doomjuice spreads directly between infected computers, rather than via e-mail, experts said that it would not be accurate to call it a variant of MyDoom, which accounted for as many as one in five e-mails at its peak in late January. But some computer security companies and Microsoft have taken to describing Doomjuice as a variant of MyDoom, naming it “MyDoom.C”. The MyDoom worm, as well as its variant MyDoom.B, were designed to entice e-mail recipients to click open an attachment, which then installed malicious software on a personal computer. |
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India will eat our lunch, China dinner: UK firms London, February 10 Confederation director-general Digby Jones, speaking at the Birmingham Law Society's International Legal Symposium, accused the European Commission of forcing businesses towards economic decline because it had failed to recognise the growing threat of globalisation. In a scathing attack on the commission, Jones said European companies were losing out to competitors in China and India because of stifling red tape. He said rule makers in Europe were too inwardly focused and spent too much time making sure businesses in member states were obeying regulations. "The commission is weighed down with the political ideology of a bygone age, failing to face up to the harsh reality of globalism. "As a result, businesses across Europe are being stifled by red tape and regulation. If we are not careful, India will eat our lunch and China our dinner," he said. Speaking to lawyers from across Europe gathered in Birmingham, Jones cited as an example Britain's flexible labour laws, which had helped make the nation among the most competitive in Europe, with the lowest levels of unemployment. "Instead of holding up the UK as an example, the commission currently has some of our most flexible practices under the microscope." Jones went on to claim that Europe was divided into two cultures — the "beer drinkers" of Northern Europe, who interpreted the commission's directives by the book, and the "wine drinkers" of Southern Europe who implemented them, "if at all, in their own time".
— IANS
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