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SEBI eases P-Note norms
RBI cuts CRR by 0.5 pc
Black Monday: Global stocks plunge
A stock trader looks at his screens at Frankfurt's stock exchange on Monday, as the DAX moved below 6,000 to 5.477,70 points, the lowest level since 2006. — AFP |
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‘It won’t help in near future’
Re loses 73 paise
BNP Paribas to bail out Fortis with 14.5 b euros
DLF buyback offer to start on Oct 15
Direct tax collection up 32.54 pc in H1
COAI, Tatas oppose mobile number portability
Spain kicks off campaign to popularise olive oil
SRK launches $2.1-b boulevard in UAE
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SEBI eases P-Note norms
Mumbai, October 6
SEBI chief C.B. Bhave said the regulator would also be reviewing the working of foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in the country. To this end, he said, a policy paper would be floated to invite comments and suggestions from all stakeholders. Bhave said the decisions were taken at a meeting of the SEBI board here. "We've gone back to the pre-October position.... the 40 per cent cap on assets under custody in the cash market will also be removed," Bhave said. According to analysts, the measures announced by SEBI were aimed at reducing the flow of foreign funds outside the country in the wake of financial meltdown. "The entire framework for foreign institutional investor participation needs to be reviewed...such curbs are no longer necessary," Bhave said. FIIs not registered with SEBI invest in Indian equities via Participatory notes or P-Notes. Last year, it was decided to curb investment via P-Notes as it was felt that a number of suspicious investors could be using this facility. At that time, it was decided to cap the percentage of P-Notes or the offshore derivative instruments at 40 per cent of the outstanding assets under custody of a registered foreign portfolio investor. The foreign funds were also required to wind up their excess positions within a time frame of 18 months.
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Black Monday: Global stocks plunge
New York, October 6 US and euro zone government debt gained, gold futures jumped more than 5 per cent and the yen soared across the board amid heavy selling of riskier positions. Crude prices fell below $90 a barrel to their lowest in eight months at one point, before paring some losses, pressured by expectations energy demand will fall sharply due to slowing economic growth worldwide. US stocks slid at the open as the widening fallout from the credit crisis fueled jitters about the economy and corporate profits. European shares fell more than 5 per cent. "This is a stampede," said Valerie Plagnol, chief strategist at CM-CIC Securities in Paris. Investors were unnerved by massive government intervention in capital markets in such a timespan, Plagnol said. Although the cost of borrowing overnight funds on international money markets remained close to central banks' targets, thanks to continued liquidity injections, lending was almost non-existent across all other maturities. "The issue right now is to unclog the money market. As long as the money market is not functioning properly we are stuck in this situation," Plagnol said. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 405.88 points, or 3.93 percent, at 9,919.50, falling below 10,000 for the first time since October 2004. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 53.97 points, or 4.91 percent, at 1,045.26. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 104.93 points, or 5.39 percent, at 1,842.46. Before 10.30 a.m. in New York (1430 GMT), the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 6.9 percent at 1,014.26. Three more European governments offered bank deposit guarantees as regulators from Washington to Seoul scrambled to contain the deepest global financial crisis in 80 years. US light sweet crude oil fell 4.25 per cent to $89.89 a barrel, after touching a session low of $88.89, its lowest since early February. US gold futures rose more than 5 per cent as jittery investors flocked to bullion as a safe haven. The gold contract for December delivery was up $39.60 at $873 in New York. Spot gold prices rose $38.30 to $873.10. The US dollar jumped to a 13-month high against the euro and the yen rallied broadly. Sentiment soured sharply against the euro after leaders of Europe's four biggest economies decided against a coordinated plan at a weekend summit. Asian stocks dropped overnight by about 5 per cent and the yen surged to a 2-year high against the euro as investors doubted the US and European response to the financial crisis could prevent a deeper slump in the global economy. Japan's Nikkei share average slumped 4.25 per cent to close at its lowest since February 2004. — Reuters
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‘It won’t help in near future’
New Delhi, October 6 Economists say that there is a desperate attempt by the government to reverse the flow of capital that has been exiting every day. However, the foreign funds that the government is targeting by lifting P- Note restrictions, will certainly not visit Indian shores, at least not in the immediate future. Only, the black money of Indian politicians and businessmen will come through the P-Note route, as was earlier the case. This will also help in bringing money in the country from foreign accounts on the eve of elections that are just six months away. Easing CRR — the mandatory deposits that banks have to keep with RBI — is expected to garner around Rs 20,000 crore in the cash- strapped system, which has been choked offlate due to lack of funds. Meanwhile, the corporate India has been hemmed in the recent times as their funds from banks are available at a high rate of interest, and that, too, with lot of pre-conditions, leading to a slowdown in industrial activity. Economists also say that the mood of the markets world over is towards investing in precious metals like gold, silver and platinum, and not in equity markets, no matter what the policy decisions are. Assocham president Sajjan Jindal said it would have been better if the apex bank had also reduced the repo rate by as many basis points. “The reduced CRR will help India to absorb the after-effects of the US financial crisis,” he said. Marketmen like P.K. Agarwal, president, research, Bonanza Portfolio, says, no impact would take place in the immediate future. “The government had eased external commercial borrowing (ECB) norms some days back but that did not help the sentiment of the market. The smart money will come into the country irrespective of the easing of P-Note restrictions. It is the investors decision right now not to invest in emerging markets like India or others because of high- risk perception.. “Any positive news will not help now and the market is going through the rhythm, maybe there could be a small rally in jubilation, but it is not sustainable. This is a signal by the government to say that we are an investor-friendly country, but the investors are in no mood right now to take a bait of that signal.” Stock and commodity markets are taking a constant beating, owing to stampede of foreign investors on the exit door. The government had, in February, placed restrictions on fund flow of capital into the country through the P-Note route. Most of the money coming through this route was suspected to be slush funds and terror money as the money coming through this route does not require revealing the name of the investor or the origin of the money. |
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Mumbai, October 6 Heavy pull-out by foreign funds from equity markets weighed on the rupee sentiment, while there was some dollar from oil refiners following a fall in global crude oil prices. At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) bank, the domestic unit resumed weak at 47.40/41 per dollar from Friday's close of 47.09/10. After moving in a range of 47.28 and 47.85, the rupee today ended at 47.82/83 a dollar, a fall of 1.55 per cent over previous close. Last time it had ended at 47.80 per dollar on March 7, 2003. Forex dealers said oil corporates were sustained buyers in dollar to grab the opportunity of fall in global crude oil prices near $90 a barrel in Asian trade today. They said a slump in Asian stocks despite the $700-billion bailout package passed by the US last week amid uncertainty in global markets affected the rupee sentiment.— PTI
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BNP Paribas to bail out Fortis with 14.5 b euros
London, October 6 The latest sale of assets of Fortis which has been battered by the ongoing credit crisis, follows the buyout of the Belgian major's Dutch operations by the Netherlands government for 16.8 billion euro. In a statement issued today, the French firm said the 14.5-billion euro buyout comprises 9 billion in stock and another 5.5 billion in cash. Further, the state of Belgium and the state of Luxembourg would become significant shareholders of BNP Paribas. As part of the deal, BNP Paribas would acquire 1,458 branches located in Belgium, Luxembourg, and all other countries except the Netherlands (including Poland, Turkey and France) and the Fintro branch network in Belgium. In addition, the French major would buyout Fortis' insurance business in Belgium, investment management activities which includes former ABN Amro Asset Management, private banking, merchant banking and consumer finance activities, all the three outside the Netherlands. Fortis' fortunes took a beating in the ongoing financial turmoil after it had snapped up a substantial stake in ABN Amro. On October 3, Fortis said the Netherlands government has snapped up Fortis Bank Nederland (Holding) N V, including the participation in RFS Holdings B V that represents the acquired activities of ABN AMRO, Fortis Verzekeringen Nederland N V, and Fortis Corporate Insurance N V. — PTI |
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DLF buyback offer to start on Oct 15
Mumbai, October 6 However, the board in its absolute discretion may decide to close the buy-back at an earlier date if the minimum offer shares have been purchased under the buy-back, even if the maximum offer size has not been reached or the maximum offer shares have not been bought back, the company added. In July, the company had announced its plan to buy back shares from existing shareholders at a price not exceeding Rs 600 a share. The company is planning to buy a maximum of 22 million equity shares, or 11 per cent, of the 202 million shares held by the public. Post-buyback, the shareholding of the promoters would increase from 88.16 per cent to 89.32 per cent. — PTI |
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Direct tax collection up 32.54 pc in H1
New Delhi, October 6 Within the direct taxes, collection from the corporate tax went up by 35.65 per cent taking the total direct tax realisation to Rs 1,47,197 crore, compared with Rs 1,11,055 crore in the year-ago period. The corporate tax collection rose to Rs 95,283 crore as against Rs 70,240 crore, while Personal Income Tax (including FBT, STT and BCTT) grew by 26.94 per cent to Rs 51,701 crore, an official release said. With stock markets on southward direction, securities transaction tax registered a growth of just 2.72 per cent growth at Rs 3,182 crore during the period. Among the direct tax, the Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) shot up by 62.23 per cent to Rs 3,580 crore. At the same time, growth in corporate tax deducted at source (TDS) remained above 52 per cent and personal income tax TDS grew at 28 per cent despite substantial tax relief allowed to individual taxpayers in the Budget 2008, it said. Corporate TDS collection stood at Rs 30,810 crore as on September 30, 2008, against Rs 20,210 crore during the corresponding period last year. Income TDS stood at Rs 33,276 crore as against Rs 26,002 crore in the same period. Banking Cash Transaction Tax (BCTT) posted a negative growth of 17.65 per cent at Rs 320 crore, against Rs 272 crore. Self-assessment tax paid by both corporate and non-corporate taxpayers, voluntarily before filing their tax returns, registered substantial growth at 111 per cent and 71 per cent, respectively. As per the Budget estimate, the government fixed the corporate tax collection target of Rs 2,26,361 crore while the income tax realisation was pegged at Rs 1,38,314 crore for the entire fiscal. |
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COAI, Tatas oppose mobile number portability
New Delhi, October 6 Incidentally, Tatas, who stand to benefit from such a move having dual technology, are also supportive of the COAI stand. Tatas, along with the other CDMA operator, Reliance Communications (RCom) has bagged pan-India GSM licence. It is now the member of COAI, besides being member of the CDMA operators association AUSPI. "If internal number portability is allowed between two networks of one operator, it will make audit of spectrum usage impossible. Therefore, there could be manipulation in the payment of spectrum charges, resulting in huge loss to the government," COAI director- general T.V. Ramachandran said in a presentation to the Department of Telecom (DoT). Besides, COAI also fears that such a policy would lead to manipulation of subscriber figures to get additional spectrum. The government would also set to lose annual licence fees paid by MNP licensee at 1 per cent of the revenue. The COAI has also asked the government not to allow internal MNP before the actual portability starts. "It must equally also be allowed at the same time between two networks of different operators", it said.
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Spain kicks off campaign to popularise olive oil
New Delhi, October 6 “The gigantic Indian edible oil market with a volume of 12 to 12.5 million tonne consists of negligible presence of olive oil,” said Teresa Solbes, economic and commercial counsellor of Spain in India, at a press conference held at the residence of Ion De La Riva, ambassador of Spain to India, here today. However, with the increased awareness among the Indian masses about health, the consumption of olive oil in India was projected to increased nine-folds by 2012 from the current level of little above 2,000 metric tonne, she added. Earlier, addressing mediapersons, Ion De La Riva said the objective of the campaign was to reposition olive oil as a healthy option of edible oil and to spread the message that it was suitable for Indian food also. He disclosed that Spain was the largest producer and exporter of olive oil and some of its regions produce the best oil because of the soil and climatic conditions. To achieve the objective, Riva said, they have decided to use a team, consisting of professionals like doctors, dieticians and cooking experts, to create awareness about the benefit of olive oil. The team includes Dr Ravi.R Kasliwal, director, cardiology, Global Healthcare Ltd., senior consultant, cardiology, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, Dr Ritika Samaddar, chief dietician, Max Heath Care Hospital, Nita Mehta, a renowned cooking expert, and Shivani Wazir Pasrich.
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SRK launches $2.1-b boulevard in UAE
Dubai, October 6 The development project, a tribute by King Khan in response to the love and affection shown by the people of the UAE to Indian cinema, Shah Rukh Khan Boulevard will be located on the Dana Island in Ras Al Khaimah. This is the latest in the series of endorsements and signature developments that are coming up in Dubai with names such as Brad Bitt, Boris Becker and Tiger Woods continuously doing the rounds. SRK will work closely with Los Angeles-based architect Tony Ashai in the design concept of the beachfront community comprising 10 residential towers, it was announced during a press conference here. Announcing the project with TSA Group, Shah Rukh Khan said, "Indian cinema has enjoyed strong emotional ties with the UAE and Arab cine-goers for decades. The Arab world is Hindi film industry's strongest foreign market. "Shah Rukh Khan Boulevard is my tribute to the love and affection shown by the people of the UAE to Indian cinema. I have lent my name to the project and I intend to share and transfer my passion for design and living spaces into this world class community that residents will be proud of." Scheduled for completion in 2012, Shah Rukh Khan Boulevard will have residences, including specially designed studios, and one-and two-bedroom apartments and townhouses. It will also have beachfront features piers and boardwalks besides marine sports and leisure facilities. — PTI
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Tata AIG Life launch REC dividend
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New York, October 6
