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SBI okays rights issue
Subsidies to be phased out
by 2009-10: IMF study
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Coke cites TERI, hopes to do better in problem areas
India, Oman to set up $100-m investment fund
BSNL public offer under study
Reliance Power IPO opens today
Fuel price hike decision on
Jan 17: Deora
Spectrum to new players on seniority: Govt
HC declines to stay allocation
Gold shines at Rs 11,575
Bharti AXA’s pension product
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SBI okays rights issue
Mumbai, January 14
According to a decision of the Central Board of the bank here, existing shareholders would be given a share for every five shares. The price at which shares would be offered represents about 36 per cent of discount to State Bank of India's current share price. This means shareholders would get a share at a premium of Rs 1,580, if face value of Rs 10 is considered, but at a discount of Rs 889, if today's current price at Rs Rs 2,469 on the Bombay Stock Exchange is taken into account. For the rights issue, the bank also decided to raise its issued capital to Rs 650 crore from the existing Rs 526.30 crore. The bank would also issue shares to employees under Employees Stock Purchase Scheme, SBI said in a filing to BSE. The decision of the SBI's board came one-and-a-half months after the union cabinet gave nod to the rights issue. The issue would also be offered to existing SBI's Global Depository Receipts (GDR) holders. The union government is expected to invest around Rs 10,000 crore in the rights issue to maintain its stake at over 59 per cent, for which it would issue bonds to SBI. "We have decided to subscribe to the rights issue. We intend to issue bonds of Rs 10,000 crore for the purpose," finance minister P Chidambaram had said after the Cabinet meeting, which approved the rights issue. These bonds would be redeemed through the proposed Securities Redemption Fund (SRF), he said adding the SRF would be funded through taxes and dividends received from SBI. Annual cost of servicing these bonds would come at around Rs 790 crore, Chidambaram had said, adding the government is required to put at least this much amount to the redemption fund. "We are subscribing to the rights issue, but we will pay to it on deferred basis," he had said. The bank has been exploring various options to mop up funds, but a rights issue would allow the bank to raise capital without diluting the government shareholding. It is understood that the government was not in favour of a follow-on public issue, where its stake would have been diluted from the current over 59 per cent to 55 per cent, the minimum prescribed under the SBI Act.
Earlier this fiscal, the government purchased 59.7 per cent stake of Reserve Bank in SBI in a revenue-neutral exercise.
— PTI
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Subsidies to be phased out
by 2009-10: IMF study
New Delhi, January 14 As regards the tax revenues the medium-term projections assume continued healthy growth, though with some slowdown due to turn in the profit cycles may lead to a modest dip. The agency does not assume any significant reduction in tax and non -tax revenue. In fact, policy reforms in this direction could raise revenue by a few percentage points. The agency forecasts that expenditure would be raised on education, health and infrastructure and there could be a reining in of spending on non-priority items, including subsidies. Military spending is likely to remain constant. The agency study forecasts that wages and salaries will see an increase of 30 per cent phased over two years. Since the government spending on wages and salaries has been falling in real terms, it is assumed that any more spending by the government will not have any major impact on the budget deficit. It is of the view that the subsidies on petro products that are being issued by the government owing to high price volatility in the 2007-08, may reduce owing to governments commitment to reduce expenditure on subsidies. Fuel subsidies will see a gradual increase in administered prices in 2008-09 and there could be a return to market-based pricing of diesel, gasoline and LPG in 2009-10. The price of kerosene will, however, not be adjusted. As regards fertiliser subsidy it is estimated that off-budget subsides will be cut half in 2008-09 and eliminated in 2009-10. The study suggests that the Central government be on track to meet its overall deficit target for 2008-09 ie. 3 per cent of GDP, but may find it more difficult to reach the target of Central Government revenue balance by 2008-09. However, there are upside risks to tax revenue that would accelerate fiscal consolidation.
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Coke cites TERI, hopes to do better in problem areas
New Delhi, January 14 A TERI assessment of Coca Cola’s water management practices in India has given clean chit to the company in its environmental audit regarding the presence of pesticides in process water used for beverages. The summary of the report states that “none of the pesticides as per the scope of work were found to be present in process water used for beverage production by the plants”. TERI is headed by IPCC chief R.K. Pachauri. This study, however, has been carried out under his second-in-command at TERI Leena Shrivastava. The executive summary of the study on independent third party assesment of Coca Cola’s facilities in India is clear that the company should accord high priority to conservation of water and its enhancement in all its activities. In light of pesticide issues raised by Sunita Narian-led CSE in 2003 and 2006, Coca Cola chose to make the most of point, highlighting that TERI found no pesticides in any of the intake water or treated water used in making beverages or effluent. Coca Cola officials said TERI report confirms that “we meet Indian regulations and on an overall basis our own standards are more stringent.” “It also confirms that we are on the right track with many of the improvements we’ve made over the past few years. However, it identified some areas where we can do better. As a result we are strengthening our plant siting requirements, our monitoring capabilities for both rainwater harvesting and wastewater treatment and our guidelines for source protection and operating in water scarce areas,” they add. The CSE responded by saying that as far as the contentious pesticide issue was concerned, TERI study had looked only at water and not the final product. The study was taken up following concerns by student groups of University of Michigan and reports of pesticide residues in products. According to TERI, in 2004 the University initiated an inquiry into the Coca Cola water management practices in India. A Steering Committee headed by Prof.Yoginder K Alagh was constituted that approved the methodology, various protocols and periodically guided the study. A multi-disciplinary team of over 50 professionals conducted the assessment of six plants at Kaladera, Mehndiganj , Nemam, Pirangoot and two vendor units at Nabipur near Amritsar and Satupalle in Andhra Pradesh. Bullish on Indian market
Meanwhile, Coca Cola India president and CEO when asked if India could ever emerge among the top five global markets of the US cola giant like China, he said: "God willing...we will continue to strive for better performance." On whether the result of the audit, ahead of the busy sales season to start in a few months, would help in improving its performance, Singh said: "Yes. We will have a diversified product basket for the season." |
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India, Oman to set up $100-m investment fund
New Delhi, January 14 The fund envisages investment in both the countries and the targeted areas will be education, IT, telecommunications and science and technology. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee today met Oman’s Deputy Prime Minister Sayyid Fahad bin Mahmood al-Said and Foreign Minister Yousus bin Alawi bin Abdullah in Muscat. The two sides discussed possibilities of cooperation in education, IT, telecommunications, hydrocarbons, labour and manpower, regional security and stability, agriculture, and science and technology. Mukherjee mentioned that India would welcome Omani participation in investment in India, particularly in the field of infrastructure, petrochemicals etc. Oman is home to more than four lakh Indian workers. During his meeting with his Omanese counterpart, Mukherjee stated that the GCC region is of critical importance to India for a number of reasons. Both the ministers exchanged views on regional and international issues of importance and discussed ways of taking bilateral relations to a new strategic plain. Later in the afternoon, Mukherjee presided over a Conference Indian Ambassadors from Gulf and West Asia and North Africa region.
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New Delhi, January 14 “We will look into it... The Department of Telecom (DoT) will discuss the issue and take a decision,” telecom minister A Raja told reporters here. He, however, refused to give any time schedule for coming out with an initial public offer (IPO). The PSU has an immediate investment plan of Rs 15,000 crore to expand its GSM mobile network across the nation. Going by the valuation of the company, 10 per cent dilution may give the PSU up to Rs 20,000 crore, according to S D Saxena, director (finance), BSNL. Some officials, however, said that depending on the market conditions at the time of IPO, the collection from the IPO could even double to Rs 40,000 crore. Saxena said the whole exercise of IPO is likely to begin in the next 2-3 months and would be completed within a year. He, however, said the government has to decide on the public issue and everything would depend on its policy. The government had asked for the company's opinion on IPO and it has forwarded its reply, he added. BSNL also said it will foray into the CDMA platform with an initial invest of about $500 million. '”After the application for CDMA licence is approved, we plan to roll out this service in all major cities and towns,'” BSNL CMD Kuldeep Goyal said at the launch of its insurance scheme for its subscribers. Being a state-owned entity, BSNL will not have to pay the Rs 1,651 crore entry fee, performance bank guarantee fee and other financial guarantees for its CDMA foray. Insurance scheme for customers BSNL today announced a personal accidental insurance coverage of Rs 50,000 each for its 34 million customers without any cost. The insurance scheme would come into effect immediately and cover its fixed line, WLL and post-paid mobile users against accidental death as well as permanent disability caused due to an accident. BSNL customers, irrespective of age, do not have to fill any form or undergo any medical examination for the scheme. The cover would be provided by Bajaj Allianz. The scheme was launched by communications and IT minister A Raja here. — Agencies
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Reliance Power IPO opens today
Mumbai, January 14 The company aims to raise up to Rs 11,700 crore. Under the IPO, 26 crore shares in a price band of Rs 405-450 is on offer to the public. Thirty per cent of the shares on offer have been reserved for retail investors. Investors can apply for lot sizes in the multiples of 15 shares. Investors in the retail category can choose from two payment options. Under the part payment option, retail investors can pay at the rate of Rs 115 per share and apply for up to 225 shares. Alternatively, they may invest at cut-off by paying the full amount for up to 225 shares. It is still not clear if investors option for the part payment option will be able to benefit from listing gains. According to analysts, investors making part payment may be allotted shares only if the retail portion of the issue is subscribed between four to six times at cut-off price. If the retail portion barely scrapes through, then investors will have to pay the entire amount before the shares are credited to their demat accounts. The process will then take up to 40 days so investors will not be able to sell on listing day.. The grey market expects listing at around Rs 900 per share. Analysts have advised long-term investors not to apply for this IPO since the company is expected to show earnings only from 2010.
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Fuel price hike decision on
Jan 17: Deora
Hyderbad, January 14 “On January 17, the Group of Ministers (GoM) meeting under the chairmanship of Pranab Mukherjee is taking place in Delhi. That time, it will be decided,” Deora said. He, however, said it was not possible to say at this point of time whether the fuel price would be hiked or lowered. Deora was talking to reporters after inaugurating the 7th International Conference and Exposition of Society of Petroleum Geophysicists here. Asked about the drilling holiday sought by the exploration companies, Petroleum Secretary M S Srinivasan said a decision on the request was likely to be taken in a fortnight’s time. “All major exploring companies have made a request for holidays, as they are finding it difficult to get drills in time,” Srinivasan said.
— PTI |
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Spectrum to new players on seniority: Govt
New Delhi, January 14 "We cannot change the policy. We have given the LoIs to the eligible candidates in a very transparent manner. First, we have to scrutinise the LoIs and in the next stage, signing of licence (will take place) and then comes distribution of spectrum," telecom minister A Raja said on the sidelines of a BSNL conference here. On the day of distribution of LoIs, the applicants had swarmed Sanchar Bhawan to pay the fees, seeking licence and then spectrum to start mobile services. There are nine companies, including Unitech, Datacom, Shyam Telelink and Swan Communications, in the race to get spectrum first, an exercise which has been ridden with controversies. Some of the applicants have suggested that spectrum to all nine companies should be alloted simultaneously to avoid any legal battle. Asked when the spectrum can actually be alloted to the waiting players, the minister said the availability has to be assessed and then a decision shall be taken. On the fate of applicants who applied after September 25 and have not been considered in the first round of LoI distribution, he declined to give any definite time frame.— PTI
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HC declines to stay allocation
New Delhi, January 14 Justice Geeta Mittal, however, agreed to advance the date of hearing and listed the matter for January 21 instead of the earlier scheduled date of January 31. The court also issued notices issued to the Centre, RCom, Tata Teleservices and others on the plea of Cellular Operators Association of India, which represents GSM players such as Bharti Airtel, to stay the allocation.
— PTI |
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Gold shines at Rs 11,575
Mumbai, January 14 Silver also closed around a 10-week high of Rs 20,850 per kg with a gain of Rs 225 per kg from its last close owing to improved demand, traders added. Meanwhile, Hong Kong gold prices closed above $900 for the first time in the bullion market today as investors search for a safe haven amid fears of a US economic slowdown and stock market turmoil. The price had already broken through $900 during trading in New York on Friday following a speech by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke taken to indicate that there could be more US interest rate cuts.— Agencies |
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Bharti AXA’s pension product
Mumbai, January 14 The Dream Life Pension scheme enables policyholders to increase premiums with rising income, helping them build a larger kitty that beats eroding factors like inflation and allows for a good living standard after retirement, Bharti AXA's CEO Nitin Chopra told reporters. "By virtue of being a market-linked pension product, it offers performance over the long-term and hence encourages investing early on in life," Chopra said. Bharti AXA is a joint venture between the Bharti Enterprises and French financial services firm AXA. Bharti holds 74 per cent stake in the JV while the remaining 26 per cent is with AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd.
— PTI |
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New Delhi, January 14
