London/New York, September 19
Market regulators in the UK and the US have halted short-selling in financial stocks, a move to help strengthen investor confidence. The Board of Financial Services Authority (FSA) had late last night banned short-selling in financial stocks.

US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), acting in concert with the FSA, has also decided to halt short-selling in 799 financial stocks with immediate effect, the SEC said in a statement today.

"The Commission is committed to using every weapon in its arsenal to combat market manipulation that threatens investors and capital markets. The emergency order temporarily banning short selling of financial stocks will restore equilibrium to markets," SEC chairman Christopher Cox said.

This action, which would not be necessary in a well-functioning market, is temporary in nature and is part of the comprehensive set of steps being taken by the Federal Reserve, the Treasury, and the Congress, Cox added.

Besides, FSA also stated that it was ready to extend this approach to other sectors if it is found necessary and these provisions would remain in force until January 16 2009, although they would be reviewed after 30 days.

"While we still regard short-selling as a legitimate investment technique in normal market conditions, the current extreme circumstances have given rise to disorderly markets.

As a result, we have taken this decisive action, after careful consideration, to protect the fundamental integrity and quality of markets and to guard against further instability in the financial sector," FSA chief executive Hector Sants said.

"What we are working on now is an approach to deal with systemic risks and stresses in our capital markets. And we talked about a comprehensive approach that would require a legislation to deal with the illiquid assets on financial institutions' balance sheets," the New York Times quoted treasury secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr as saying.

Thursday's rally came after four days of turmoil during which Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy, Merrill Lynch sold itself and government agreed for a $85 billion bailout for insurance giant American Insurance Group. The new plan being considered would override the current crisis through a case-by-case approach.

Short-selling is a technique that investors use to profit from falling stock prices. 
— PTI

Mumbai: The rupee finally overcame its weakness today by gaining 59 paise at 45.82/83 against the greenback to close below 46-mark, reflecting the impact of infusion of billions of dollars by central banks yesterday.

However, some dollar buying by oil refiners to meet their import requirements amidst a jump in crude prices in Asia trade pushed the domestic currency to intra-day low of 46.40. Forex dealers said a smart rise in Asian bourses also helped the rupee to gain against the US dollar.

Many a central bank yesterday pumped in billions of dollar into the liquidity system following turmoil in global financial markets which saw the investment bank Lehman Brothers going down and Merrill Lynch being sold at throw away price.

New Delhi, September 19
Emerging market economy like India is vulnerable to economic tremors that are being felt as aftershocks of the fall of big banks and credit finance companies in the US. The government is concerned about the flows of capital in the economy, whether there are any exposure of domestic financial companies in the crisis, and how the situation can be faced by economy like ours.

Taking a stock of the international economic situation, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh donned his economist hat and asked cabinet ministers to stay alert on the unfolding situation and its impact on the Indian economy.

It is learnt that the Prime Minister was briefed by finance minister P Chidambaram about the financial crisis in the US while stating the Indian economy was not affected by the developments.

The Prime Minister asked the ministers to stay alert on the global financial situation, rural development minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said after the CCEA meeting, which was convened for taking stock of international situation.

On the sidelines of a press conference, Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) chairman Suresh Tendulkar said “Indian economy is largely domestic demand-driven and would not be impacted much by the US financial crisis unless there is mess-up in the domestic markets”.

“Indian economy is largely domestic demand-driven, though not completely insulated from the US financial crisis. Domestic factors seem to be much more prominent than the international factors,” he said.

Buoyed by the prospects of a good harvest, Tendulkar said the prices of essential commodities were coming under control.

“The coming harvest seems to be reasonably comfortable, and consequently inflation situation may be coming under control,” he said.

PMEAC chairman expressed confidence over the economic growth prospects for the current fiscal. The EAC, in a recent report, projected an economic growth rate of 7.7 per cent for the current fiscal, down from 9 per cent recorded during the previous year.

He cautioned that given the sort of integration taking place in the Indian economy with the global economy, “we cannot be impervious to it”.

In 2008-09, Tendulkar said, the GDP growth would be more or less in line with expectation. “It is the next two fiscals that we need to worry about. The panel will look at the GDP forecast in January 2009,” he said.

The economy clocked a 7.9 per cent growth rate in the first quarter of this fiscal.

New Delhi, September 19
State-owned ONGC today declared a dividend of Rs 6,884 crore, the highest by an Indian company in absolute terms. Earlier this year, ONGC had announced an interim dividend of 180 per cent. At the company’s AGM today, the shareholders approved an additional final dividend of 140 per cent, bringing the total to 320 per cent.

“In absolute terms, the total dividend of Rs 6,844 crore is the highest posted by any Indian corporate body, private or public,” said ONGC chairman R.S. Sharma. Of this, the government’s share will be Rs 5,000 crore.

ONGC shares went up 7 per cent during the day’s trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Meanwhile, the company said today it would invest Rs 19,338 crore during the current fiscal, 10 per cent up from Rs 17,651 crore in the previous year, in oil and gas exploration. The chairman said first priority of the company was to intensify exploratory efforts and improve the reserve replacement ratio. He added that improving recovery factor, arresting decline in mature fields and expeditious development of discovered fields were the other priorities.

ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the company's overseas arm, is targeting 39.47 million tonnes of oil and oil equivalent gas from overseas properties in XI Plan, compared to 23.25 million tonnes during X Plan, while its refinery subsidiary, Mangalore Refinery, is on track for expanding its capacity to 15 million tonnes by 2010, the company officials said. 

 New Delhi, September 19
In a significant development, Reliance Industries has begun crude oil production from the nation's first deep-sea oilfield in Krishna Godavari basin, an accomplishment that the firm may announce in the next few days.

The company's predominantly gas-rich D6 block in Krishna Godavari basin on September 17 flowed first oil, said a source in the consortium of Reliance Industries and Niko Resources of Canada which operates the block.

Reliance, the operator of the block with 90 per cent stake, is likely to make an announcement in the next few days and it is expected that company chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani will announce the accomplishment. "You may hear of it as early as Monday (September 22)," the source said.

Block KG-DWN-98/3 or D6 will be the first area in deep-sea to produce crude oil since India opened up its oil hunt programme for private and foreign players in 1999 with the advent of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP).

The Mukesh Ambani-led group operates India's largest refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat and will start production from another only for exports unit in next couple of months. It will, however, not refine the D6 crude at its refineries and instead sell it to state refiners.

Reliance, the source said, has initially opened one of the two oil producing wells in the MA oilfield in the D6 block.

Once both the wells are in full operation, the output will rise to 10,000 to 15,000 barrel per day within weeks. Two more wells are planned to be drilled on the field which would raise the output to 34,000 barrels per day (1.7 million tonnes a year). — PTI 

New Delhi, September 19
Faced with emails being sent from unsecured wireless fidelity (WiFi) networks by the terrorists in the recent terror attacks, the government would be notifying strict guidelines in regard to possessing and operating a WiFi connection within the next month.

While the telecom regulator TRAI has been studying various proposals to ensure that WiFi connections remain secured and are not hacked into by the terrorists to send emails, in a way mocking at the security agencies, the notification for the laws could come over the next month.

According to telecom ministry officials, the DoT has already set up a committee to formulate stricter guidelines to strengthen the WiFi subscriber verification system.

According to the reports, TRAI had begun studying open WiFi networks after the Ahmedabad blasts, but the Delhi blasts and the email just minutes before has prompted immediate action. Measures for proper authentication and maintenance of such networks would be issued soon.

Incidentally, following the 21 blasts in Ahmedabad on July 26 which killed 55 and injured 100, TRAI had asked the government to direct all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to instruct their customers to have 'proper authentication measures' so that this facility was not misused.

The new norms may put the onus of informing the consumers of the importance of securing the WiFi's on telcos and ISPs. Besides, the ISPs will also be asked to ensure that customers access the Internet over a WiFi connection only through a password.

WiFi networking companies may also be asked to limit WiFi signal right down to a defined radius by installing access points around the signal.

Security agencies have asked the government to ask all ISPs to make password protection mandatory for every customer using a WiFi network. This has also been endorsed by the home ministry.

Bangalore, September 19
Fears of a global financial meltdown following the abrupt demise of Lehman Brothers investment bank and swallowing of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America have set the alarm bells ringing in the Indian IT sector.

Quoting a recent Nasscom report, K.R. Girish, convener of CII committee on economic affairs and public policy, said IT giants such as Infosys, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Satyam were expected to soon announce “huge layoffs” of their employees.

Quoting the report, Girish said US companies like Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley, which had been affected by the crisis, accounted for about 40 per cent of the revenue earned by the IT companies of India. “The exact picture would emerge when the IT companies announce their next quarter results in December. I am sure their revenue will drop substantially in the next quarter”, Girish said.

Karnataka IT and BT principal secretary Ashok Kumar Manoli, who was also present at the meeting held at the CII office here, refused to make any categorical statement on the impact of global financial crisis on the IT industry in India. The nature of the impact would be clear when the next quarter results were announced, he said.

Releasing the CII-KPMG report on the necessity of re-examining the expiry of income tax holiday till 2010 given to Indian IT companies, Manoli said the report was being issued at an appropriate time as it coincided with the global financial crisis.

He said the state government was offering various benefits to IT companies for setting up their units in smaller cities such as Mysore, Mangalore, Hubli and the likes (known in official parlance as tier-II and tier-III cities). Manoli announced that a rural IT policy was being framed by Karnataka government for spread of IT in the rural areas.

S. Viswanathan, chairman, CII, Karnataka, said the financial turmoil in the West would have a massive effect on the IT industry in India. Girish said small and medium IT companies desperately required the extension of the income tax holiday beyond the deadline of March, 2010.

New Delhi, September 19
Leading private sector lender ICICI Bank, which has lost its position as the country's most valued bank to state-run SBI, today said that "malicious rumours" are being spread to hammer down its share price.

"We are seeing malicious rumours completely without any basis at all and done in a consistent manner ... so clearly there is something much beyond just banking in this," ICICI Bank chief K.V. Kamath told to a private TV channel.

"We are clearly seeing concerted short-selling activities... We do not know who is responsible for this," he added.

ICICI Bank's share price has plummeted by nearly 15 per cent or more than Rs 100 per share in the past 10 days.

Yesterday, ICICI Bank's market value dipped below that of public sector major SBI. Its market capitalisation has dipped to near Rs 64,000 crore, against close to Rs 1,00,000 crore for the public sector banking major SBI.

The bank had said in a statement earlier in the week that rumours were being spread that some of the top management of the bank were selling their shares. "These rumours are baseless and irresponsible, and no shares have been sold by members of top management of the bank during the current year," it added.

However, the impact of the collapse of Lehman Brothers will be felt on the ICICI Bank as its UK subsidiary had an exposure of about Rs 375 crore in bonds of the US-based investment banker. — PTI

Ludhiana, September 19
The turmoil at the Ludhiana Stock Exchange, which seems to have concluded, today led to a shocking development as its chairman and director, S.P. Sharma resigned.

The chairman, who alleged that he was manhandled and expressed his unhappiness over inaction on the incident, cited "non-cordial atmosphere" at the bourse as the reason of his resignation.

The chairman sent his papers to the LSE's board of directors and also the SEBI.

Mentioning "non-cordial atmosphere", Sharma wrote in his letter that the problems occurred when six of the directors went to NSE/SEBI suggesting NSE tie-up with the LSE. Thereafter, a meeting was held on July 5, post which he was manhandled and he even brought the same to the notice of the board of directors, said Sharma.

He rued that no action was taken on the incident.

Recently, there was an upheaval at the stock exchange wherein a few members made a move to oust the chairman. He stated that he was "pained when no plausible solution could be reached against requisitioned notice in the board when the SEBI team of five senior officers from Mumbai and New Delhi" visited the bourse.

Upset over recent developments at the stock exchange, the chairman said he had been feeling suffocated due to "lack of transparency" and general atmosphere at the exchange. 

BRIEFLY

New Delhi
Gold crashes by Rs 520: After posting its biggest single-session jump yesterday, gold on Friday plunged by Rs 520 in the bullion market here as firming stock markets eroded its attractiveness as alternate investment option. The precious metal settled the day at Rs 12,600 per 10 grams compared to its last close of Rs 13,120 per 10 grams.— PTI

Kolkata
Gujarat NRE: Gujarat NRE Coke has changed the rights issue ratio from one for every 300 to one for every 450 shares. Vice-chairman and managing director of Gujarat NRE Arun Jagatramka told PTI that the decision was taken after considering the impact of the issue of bonus shares to be given in the ratio of two for every five shares held which would raise the paid-up capital base.— PTI

New York
Kraft Foods to replace AIG: Food and beverage major Kraft Foods will replace troubled insurance major American International Group Inc (AIG) in the barometer index Dow Jones Industrial Average from September 22. Dow Jones said in a statement that the change was forced by the effective nationalisation of AIG and its very low stock price. — PTI

Mumbai
Opto Circuits buyout: Healthcare equipment manufacturer Opto Circuits on Friday said it would acquire Europe-based medical devices maker for over $100 million (about Rs 463 crore). The company has signed a non-binding Letter of Intent for the proposed purchase, Opto Circuits said. — PTI

Chennai
HM to launch SUV: Hindustan Motors (HM) on Friday said it would soon launch a high-premium sports utility vehicle in the Indian market. "We are expecting to launch the high-premium SUV 'Outlander' by this year itself in the Indian market and it would be placed between Mitsubishi's Pajero and Montero," company's executive vice-president YVS Vijay Kumar told reporters. — PTI

Chandigarh
Vodafone Essar offer: Vodafone Essar has announced its new bonus card 95 for customers in Punjab. Priced at Rs 95, it will enable callers to make STD calls to UP, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Jharkhand at just Re 1 per minute. It comes with a validity of six months and is available across Punjab. The benefits of this card can be availed by all pre-paid customers, including lifetime pre-paid customers.—TNS 

Jammu
Aircel contest winner: Mohammad Shafi Wani, an Aircel customer from Kashmir valley, was announced winner of Golden Bat Contest of Jammu and Kashmir circle by telecom service provider Aircel on Friday. Wani stands to win a half Kg cricket bat made of 22- carat gold. Besides this, Eight lucky customers from Jammu have won other prizes like gold chains and gold coins.— TNS