New Delhi, August 5
Three entities have so far evinced interest in launching exchange-traded currency futures, that are likely to be put in place by this month-end to enable investors to manage volatility in the currency markets.

"As you know we have issued guidelines for currency futures. Three entities have applied for it," SEBI chairman C.B. Bhave told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar organised by Financial Planning Standards Board India here.

Though Bhave did not mention the names of entities, sources said they are NSE, MCX-promoter Financial Technologies and a consortium of HDFC, Kotak and SBI.

When asked about the specific timeframe for the launch of currency futures, Bhave said this was not in SEBI's hands as the three entities are in various stages of preparing software and setting up hardware for the purpose.

However, a key finance ministry source said it would likely to be operational by this month-end. A couple of months back, Bhave had said the attempt of SEBI and RBI was to create exchange-traded currency futures as they are far easier to be regulated and far easier to contain risks than over-the-counter (OTC) market.

According to an RBI-SEBI panel's report on currency futures, exchange-traded futures as compared to OTC forwards serve the same economic purpose, yet differ in fundamental ways.

An individual entering into a forward contract agrees to transact at a price on a future date. On the maturity date, the obligation of the individual equals the forward price at which the contract was executed. Except on the maturity date, no money changes hands.

On the other hand, in the case of an exchange-traded futures contract, mark-to-market obligations are settled on a daily basis. Since the profits or losses in the futures market are collected and paid on a daily basis, the scope of building up of mark-to-market losses in the books of various participants gets limited.

The RBI-SEBI panel had earlier suggested introduction of currency futures markets, initially for dollar-rupee contract. — PTI

Mumbai, August 5
The Indian rupee today shot up by 25 paise to settle at 42.24/25 against the dollar on the back of strong equity market and fall in global crude oil prices.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic currency opened higher at 42.37/38 from yesterday's close of 42.49/50. It touched the day's high of 42.21 before closing at 42.24/25 a dollar.

Despite weak Asian cues, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex ended sharply higher by 383 points on the back of firm European opening, mainly helping the rupee surge.

World crude oil prices fell to near $120 a barrel due to slowing US demand for energy, boosting the rupee sentiment as oil companies kept themselves away from buying dollars in anticipation of further fall in the dollar in near term.

Fall in crude oil prices eased worries over widening trade deficit.

Dollar selling by exporters also had a positive impact on the rupee.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued to be net sellers in the equity markets that might cap the rupee rise, dealers said.

Meanwhile, dealers turned cautious ahead of the US Federal Reserves' meeting on interest rate this evening. — PTI

Chandigarh, August 5
With the three-month duration set by the Government of India for holding back steel prices about to end on August 7, massive speculation in steel prices has begun to cast its shadow on industry in the region.

What has further fuelled the speculation by the secondary steel producers in the region is the inability of the main steel producers to announce the new rates of steel applicable for this month. Sources say the main steel producers like Steel Authority of India (SAIL) and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) are likely to announce the new rates only after the August 7 deadline is over.

As a result, the secondary steel producers (who buy hot rolled coil (HR coil) and then roll it into cold rolled coil or HR sheets) are demanding anything between Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 per tonne over the actual cost of steel. A Ludhiana-based hand tool manufacturer, requesting anonymity, informed TNS that as against a price of Rs 42,500 per tonne, HR coil was currently being sold by the secondary producers at a premium price of Rs 53,000 per tonne. “Till two days back, there was a strong rumour that the main steel producers would now sell 40 per cent order for HR coil at the prevailing price and the remaining 60 per cent at the enhanced rate (Rs 12,000 more), which would mean a hike of Rs 7,300 per tonne. Though the main steel producers have now denied this, it led to further speculation and the industry was being supplied steel at severely enhanced rates,” he added.

Industrialists rue that while the price of scrap has come down by about $100 per ton in the global market, it has failed to cool down the prices of steel in the domestic market. “The dealers and secondary steel producers are calling the shots. Sometimes, the steel prices quoted in the morning are as low as Rs 43,000 per ton, but by the evening, the dealers hike the prices to Rs 56,000 per ton. As a result, the cycle and cycle parts manufacturing industry, auto components and hand tool industry in the region are dithering from taking any long-term orders,” says an industrialist in Jalandhar.

The secondary steel producers in Mandi Gobindgarh admit that they are selling steel at a ‘premium’. A leading steel producer in Mandi Gobindgarh says that there is a shortage of HR coil in the country and those who have it are selling it at a premium.

New Delhi, August 5
Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh has sought a probe by market regulator SEBI into alleged insider trading in shares of Mukesh Ambani group's Reliance Petroleum (RPL), accusing people close to RIL management of illegally gaining over Rs 1,000 crore.

When contacted, SEBI chairman C.B. Bhave as well as an RIL spokesperson declined to comment on the issue.

In a July 9 letter to Bhave, Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh said no action has been taken against "the perpetrators of the crime of illegal trading," while referring to letters written by him as well as some other MPs in December last year to finance minister on the same issue. A copy of that letter had also been sent to SEBI, Singh said.

Singh said in his latest letter that insider trading in the shares of RPL has resulted in illegal gains of over Rs 1,000 crore in the hands of insiders at the cost of over two million shareholders of RIL.

The SP leader sought a thorough investigation into the issue by SEBI and punishment and disgorgement of the ill-gotten wealth.

A report enclosed with the letter said that between November 1-6 last year, some insiders, with prior knowledge about RIL planning to offload part of RPL holding, built up huge short positions in RPL futures at high prices, due to which RPL shares fell sharply.

Soon after, RIL began selling RPL shares in cash market from November 6 and offloaded 4.01 per cent from its 75 per cent holding in RPL.

Charging that RIL insiders, who sold in RPL futures made profit of nearly Rs 1,000 crore, the letter claimed that a number of entities that short sold are connected to RIL entities as illustrated by their common addresses, phone numbers and names of some board members. — PTI

Kolkata, August 5
Tata Motors' Nano rollout plan today received a major boost, with firebrand politician Mamata Banerjee saying she wanted the project to stay in the state.

Banerjee, who had once promised a "bloodbath" if the car plant came up," said Tatas could keep up 600 acres for the facility and return 400 acres acquired for ancillary units to farmers.

"We do not want anyone to leave. But at the same time, we don't want the people also to leave the state," she said.

Earlier in the day, the West Bengal government said 'Nano,' the world's cheapest car at Rs 1,00,000, would roll out from the Singur factory as scheduled before the Durga Puja in October.

Industry minister Nirupam Sen said the government has not received any proposal from "the Tatas that they want to pull out of Singur." A Bengali daily today reported that the Tatas had written to the state government saying it wishes to pull out of the Singur project in the wake of continuous agitation by the Trinamool Congress-led Save Farmland Committee.

Banerjee said the Tatas should listen to the voice of the people and tell the government to return the 400 acres which she claimed was "forcibly acquired." Sen said Tata Motors managing director Ravi Kant, during his visit to the Singur project site last month, observed that 75 per cent of the work was complete. More work has been done since then.

Expressing confidence that the 'Nano' would roll out of Singur on schedule, he said, "we expect the first batch to roll out before the Pujas." — PTI

New Delhi, August 5
Looking at strengthening its corporate structure in view of launching new services, especially in the marketing sector and increasing competition in the telecommunications sector, Bharti Enterprises today announced a strategic restructuring at the apex corporate level.

"We are now embarking on a journey to significantly scale up our emerging businesses and leverage our leadership position in established businesses. Towards this end, we are strengthening the Bharti organisation structure and the governance model that will take us further on the path to building one of the most admired conglomerates in India, said Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and group CEO, Bharti Enterprises.

As a part of new strategic apex level restructuring, an office of the chairman and group CEO has been created with primary focus on seeking growth opportunities, guiding businesses, securing financial health of the group, and growing and developing talent.

Rakesh Bharti Mittal and Rajan Bharti Mittal will both be the vice-chairman and managing directors of Bharti Enterprises. While Rakesh B. Mittal will also be the co-chairman of Bharti Foundation and enhance focus on social projects, Rajan B. Mittal has been elevated as vice-chairman and will focus on retail, cash and carry and realty.

The office of the chairman and CEO will be supported by three directors — director (chairman's office), director (corporate affairs) and director (shareholder's office).

Akhil Gupta has been elevated as the Deputy Group CEO & managing director of Bharti Enterprises. He will take specific charge of the tower infrastructure business as the vice- chairman and managing director, Bharti Infratel, and also lead the financial services and the software business.

While he will continue to be on the board of Bharti Airtel, Manoj Kohli has been elevated as the CEO and joint managing director of Bharti Airtel.

Group functional directors have been further empowered to enable them to co-shape all businesses of Bharti.

Mumbai, August 5
Ranbaxy Laboratories today said the open offer by the Japanese drug maker Daiichi Sankyo for acquiring an additional 20 per cent stake in it would commence on August 16.

Pursuant to the SEBI letter dated August 4, giving its observations on the draft letter of offer filed, the open offer would open on August 16, instead of earlier scheduled August 8, Ranbaxy said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Daiichi's open offer price at Rs 737 per share represents a premium of 53.5 per cent to Ranbaxy's average daily closing price on the National Stock Exchange for three-month ended June 10, the Japanese firm had earlier said in a statement.

The offer would expire on September 4, instead of the previously scheduled August 27, the filing added.

Last week, Daiichi Sankyo had deferred its open offer following delay in regulatory approvals. While, yesterday the Japanese drug maker had received approvals from the market regulator SEBI and Foreign Investment Promotion Board for the acquisition of 34.8 per cent stake in the Ranbaxy. On successful completion, Daiichi would hold over 58.09 per cent stake in Ranbaxy. ICICI Securities is the manager to the offer.

Daiichi had announced the acquisition of a majority stake of more than 50 per cent in Ranbaxy for over Rs 15,000 crore. — PTI

Chandigarh, August 5
INCAT, a global leader in enterprise IT services and engineering services outsourcing (ESO), has been awarded a services contract by Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) till 2013, appointing it as the preferred services partner on two key roles in the Ford-Tata IT migration process.

Officials of the Pune-based company told The Tribune that INCAT’s first responsibility would be to provide expertise in transitioning over 1,000 IT applications from Ford into the new Jaguar Land Rover landscape.

This Application Transition Vendor (ATV) will involve a team of up to 100 INCAT staff, comprising project managers, functional analysts and technical experts, and will be completed in stages over a period of 18 months. It will involve working closely with Jaguar Land Rover IT staff, Ford’s transition team and Jaguar Land Rover’s infrastructure partners and providers.

INCAT, a Tata Technologies company’s second role in this deal would be to provide application management services as ongoing support for the transitioned applications for the next five years. This will involve a team of approximately 250 INCAT staff located both onshore in the Coventry area and offshore at INCAT’s delivery centre in Pune.

The company will leverage support from its group company, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

A long-term services partner to Jaguar Land Rover, INCAT already provides specialised and engineering-related services, with around 70 consultants and engineers supporting Jaguar Land Rover projects at the Gaydon and Whitley sites.

New Delhi, August 5
An alternate payment system for public issues that will not block retail investors' money unless shares are actually allotted to them will be launched as a pilot by August-end, market regulator SEBI said today.

"Hopefully by August-end, we will start the pilot project," SEBI chairman C.B. Bhave told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar organised by the Financial Planning Standards Board India.

"We really don't know how the system works. We need to get used to it. We have to sort out glitches if there are any in the beginning," Bhave said.

Both current system of payment through cheques and alternate system would co-exist, the SEBI chairman said.

"It (alternate payment system) will not be pushed on to everybody," he said.

The alternate payment system, called Additional Mode of Payment through Applications Supported by Blocked Amount — will exempt retail investors from making full advance fees and instead let the amount to be retained in bank accounts till the completion of allotment.

The alternate payment system is dependent on 'Self Certified Syndicate Banks', which would accept the application of retail investors.

Under the scheme, these banks will block the fund to the extent of bid amount, upload the details in the electronic bidding system of the BASE or NSE and then unblock once basis of allotment is finalised and transfer the amount for allotted shares to the issuer.

SEBI has recently issued circulars to stock exchanges, merchant bankers, registrars and bankers to the issues for the alternate mode of payment for public offers. — PTI

Paris, August 5
Societe Generale reported a 63 per cent fall in second quarter net profit on Tuesday, with the shadow of the world's worst rogue trader scandal still hanging over France's second-biggest listed bank.

Net profit fell to 644 million euros ($1 billion), with earnings hit by a loss at SocGen's corporate and investment banking division. Last year it was $ 1.74 billion. — Reuters

BRIEFLY

Gold plunges by Rs 395
New Delhi: Gold prices on Tuesday dipped by Rs 395 to close at Rs 12,355 per 10 gram on the bullion market here on heavy selling sparked by weak global trends after crude oil declined to a three-month low, easing inflationary concerns. Silver, too, nosedived by Rs 890 to Rs 23,950 per kg on reduced demand.— PTI

SBI officers’ stir on Aug 18
Chandigarh: The All India State Bank Officers Federation, agitated over the government’s move to merge State Bank of Saurashtra (SBS) with SBI, has given a call of one-day all India token strike on August 18. The branches observing weekly off on August 18 will observe strike on August 17. — TNS

Reliance Money tie-up
New Delhi: Anil Ambani Group company Reliance Money along with the National Multi-Commodity Exchange (NMCE) will set up a spot exchange for agricultural produce aimed at facilitating electronic trading in agri products. The two companies would set up National Agricultural Produce Marketing Company of India Ltd (National APMC Ltd) that would provide required infrastructure for electronic trading in agricultural products, that would bring greater transparency, risk management capability and price discovery.— PTI

BigFix forays into India
Bangalore: Eyeing the growing Indian IT market that is expected to touch $110 billion by 2012, BigFix Inc, a US-based provider of systems and security management solutions, on Tuesday announced key partnerships with HCL, Paladion and Wipro. The partnerships are expected to help the California-based firm to target large and growing regional and global enterprises, company officials said.— UNI

K Ramakrishnan is IBA chief
Mumbai: The Indian Banks Association (IBA) on Tuesday said K Ramakrishnan has taken over as its chief executive. He takes over with effect from August 4, a IBA release issued here stated. Ramakrishnan is a former CMD of Andhra Bank.— PTI

BHEL to supply 800 MW boilers
New Delhi: In a critical breakthrough, country's largest power equipment maker BHEL has won first-ever contract worth Rs 2,500 crore for supplying 800 MW supercritical boilers. The company has received the Rs 2,500-crore contract from Andhra Pradesh Power Development Co for supply of 800 MW supercritical boilers, BHEL said in a statement here.— PTI

Gitanjali Gems plan
Mumbai: Integrated diamond jewellery manufacturer and retailer, Gitanjali Gems Ltd will invest about Rs 215 crore in next two years for its manufacturing and retail expansion in Tier-II and Tier-III cities. The group is planning to open 150 new outlets in the cities across the country apart from Faridabad, Ahemdabad and Bangalore, group vice-president, commercial, Anuj Rakhia said at a conference here on Tuesday. — UNI

PNB declares 130 pc dividend
Mumbai: Punjab National Bank has declared a dividend 130 per cent for the financial year ended March 31, 2008. The shareholders at their Annual General Meeting has declared an annual dividend at the rate of 130 per cent at the rate of Rs 13 per share, on every Rs 10 share held, PNB said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. — PTI

Polaris inks pact with AIG
New Delhi: Polaris Software Lab Ltd on Tuesday said it has signed a professional services agreement with American International Group (AIG) Global Services to provide software services to AIG and all its affiliates globally. However, the size of the deal was not disclosed. — UNI