Mumbai, June 23
Market regulator Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) today asked two Sahara group entities to return money collected from millions of investors through an instrument named Optionally Fully Convertible Debentures (OFCD), citing violation of regulatory norms.

As per a SEBI order, Sahara Commodity Services Corp (earlier known as Sahara India Real Estate Corporation) and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation (SHICL) will be required to refund the money raised from hybrid instrument OFCD to investors along with 15 per cent interest.

The two companies and its promoter Subrata Roy Sahara, and the directors — Vandana Bhargava, Ravi Shankar Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudhary — jointly and severally, shall refund the money collected, the order said.

Besides, the regulator has also restrained the entities from accessing the securities market for raising funds, till the time payments are made to the satisfaction of the SEBI.

Although the total amount raised by the two companies is not known, Sahara Commodity has been raising money since 2008, while SHICL began fund collection in 2009. The companies have been collecting money through different schemes from investors which has been estimated at several millions.

"The companies have kept their issues open for more than three years or two years, as the case may be, in contravention of the prescribed time limit of ten working days under the regulations," it said.

The companies have failed to apply for and obtain listing permission from recognised exchanges, it said. — PTI 

New Delhi, Jun 23
The country’s largest two-wheeler maker Hero Honda today said its promoter group firm Hero Investments Pvt Ltd (HIPL) has revoked 17.33 per cent shares of the company that were pledged to three different investors.

Although the auto major did not reveal the value at which the shares were revoked, as per the closing prices on the three days when the transactions were carried out, HIPL is estimated to have bought back the shares for a total consideration of about Rs 6,150 crore.

According to a filing on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), HIPL revoked a total of 3,46,12,460 equity shares in three tranches on June 7, June 8 and June 10.

The promoter group firm revoked 1,19,35,331 shares each from IL&FS Trust Company and IDBI Trusteeship Services, 1,07,41,798 shares have been revoked from Axis Trustee Services, Hero Honda said. After this transaction, HIPL's pledged stake in Hero Honda comes down to 2.60 per cent.

Shares of Hero Honda today rose 0.84 per cent to close the day at Rs 1.759.35 a piece on the BSE.— PTI

Chandigarh, June 23
Haryana has attracted large investments in manufacturing (mainly engineering and automobile), IT and ITeS , real estate and housing sectors due to its proximity to the capital New Delhi.

However, to keep up the flow, the state will have to improve its social indices and concentrate on increasing growth in agriculture sector — attracting agro and agro-based industry.

This is advocated by in report by YES Bank, in association with industry body ASSOCHAM, on exploring the growth potential of the state.

The report, “Advantage Haryana- The Land for Opportunities”, says that the state has emerged as the largest recipient of investment per capita in India.

Haryana is the largest manufacturer of passenger cars, two wheelers and tractors for over a decade and emerging as a major hub for IT sector.

However, the report adds the growth has remained concentrated in the NCR region. Inclusive growth is a challenge due to instability in social and academic sectors, the document notes.

Special emphasis must be laid on health and education as growth is not possible without social support, strong manpower supply and quality training.

The report says that the primary healthcare sectors, especially in the interiors must be improved.

Higher education also needs to be boosted with, emphasis on women’s education. The option of investment in high-value horticulture crops must be explored.

The establishment of cold chain, and backing of crop diversification with focus on biotechnology, organic farming, harvest and post harvest management, contract farming and marketing, are also advocated. 

Ludhiana, June 23
The Punjab Excise and Taxation department has issued a new notification, stating that a tax payer will have to fill an additional challan VAT-2B in which 20 per cent of the tax amount (for additional taxes) will be deposited. The money will directly go to Punjab Infrastructure Development fund.

"Previously, traders fill challan form VAT-2 and VAT-2A for additional taxes. Now VAT-2B has also been introduced. 80 per cent of the additional tax payable under Section 8B of the Act shall be made in the challan form VAT-2 and 20 per cent shall be made in the challan form VAT-2B.These forms shall be available free at the District Excise and Taxation offices," said A Venu Parsad, Excise and Taxation Commissioner. He said the new challan had been introduced to improve transparency.

However, the new notification has created panic among traders as well as lawyers. "The move will put us additional pressure. A lot of time will be wasted. Professionals will suffer as they will have to change software in their computers," said advocate Ashish Thaman.

Jaswinder Singh, a trader, said: “The department is saying that we can get software upgraded from the local Excise and Taxation offices, If the VAT return if filed late we will have to bear penalties,” he said.

Bangalore, June 23
NASSCOM Chairman Som Mittal, the apex body representing the Indian IT and BPO industry, has said that the ‘myriad’ types of visa issued by the US government was at the root of the controversy involving the US government and Indian IT sector.

He was speaking to reporters on the NASSCOM – Aadhaar event.

“If there are myriad visa categories, then it is subject to lot of interpretation. How can there be a visa misuse when H1 visas are freely available today and the 65,000 visas gets used up till March when the next cycle starts. The only issue is interpretation of various categories. For example, under the B1, people can travel for training, for knowledge transfer and these are very accepted categories. But if a different yardstick is being used for checking, so be it. We find that the interpretation of the same visa category in the US consulate is very diffe ent from the port of entry”, Mittal said.

The visa issue is in the news after a US-based consultant for Indian IT giant Infosys Ltd filed a lawsuit in a US court alleging that Infosys was circumventing rules for sending Indian employees to the US to work on projects.

In May, Infosys was served a federal grand jury subpoena asking it to submit all documents and correspondence related to its use of B-1 visas.

Mittal refused to make specific comments on the Infosys issue saying that the case was in court. “We (Indian IT companies) comply with rules. We are on good ground”, he, however, added.

Mittal added that representatives of the IT industry were having a dialogue with the US Embassy in India to sort out visa problems.

Mittal, however, added that the visa issue was “overblown” by the media. “I don’t think our industry and companies are going to take the risk by non-compliance of country rules. This should be understood by everyone”, he said.

In the endless debates about asset allocation, Unit-linked Insurance Plan (ULIP) vs Mutual Funds, Long Term vs Short Term etc. I think not enough attention is paid to the humble fixed deposit. True, it is not inflation prove and is tax-inefficient and above all has no sex-appeal whatsoever, but it has its merits.

It is simple to understand, returns are largely assured and above all, the lack of pseudo-science surrounding it makes it a stress-free investment. Some deposits come along with the added advantage of being treated as collateral for short-term borrowing. Above all, getting your money back is simple. But this article is not about bank deposits but one that could be an instrument of social change….a deposit with a micro-lending organisation.

In the recent past, some of our Micro Finance Institutions (MFI) have given social entrepreneurship a bad name. In their hurry to justify the fancy projections they made to get absurd valuations for their shares, the acted as bad as the village moneylender they intended to replace. That is the danger of PE Financing - the pressure of the fund manager for quarter-on-quarter growth can perpetuate some of the worst business practices.

Let me first speak about the power of your deposit and then address the issue of avoiding the ‘bad-guys"’ among MFIs.

A Fixed Deposit with an MFI could be more rewarding than a Bank Deposit, since most of them will offer a slightly higher rate of interest. So in terms of returns there is no opportunity cost. Safety of deposit is, of course less than with a bank by definition, but then is the question one must ask oneself is whether that risk is worth taking.

Here is where the social angle gives one a different perspective. Many of us make small donations - to temples, our immediate circle and to registered charities. Treat this as a donation with returns.

Therefore, the first step is not to be tempted into putting all your money into such an asset class. A good first step would be size it on a par with your donations. Yes, feel-good investing can also benefit from sound wealth management basics.

(The author is a MF expert. Views expressed are his own)

Mumbai, June 23
Corporate leader RIL today shot up by nearly three per cent on bourses today as investors bought the company shares at prevailing lower level amid news reports that the energy major has struck gas in the very first well drilled on its D9 block in the Krishna Godavari basin.

Reliance Industries Ltd, which had surged by 3.14 per cent to Rs 872.75 a piece during intra-day session at the Bombay Stock Exchange, closed 2.90 per cent higher at Rs 870.65 a share.

On the NSE, the scrip gained 2.95 per cent at Rs 870.75 a share.

Led by RIL gains, the BSE Oil & Gas index closed 1.95 per cent higher at 8,941.91.

In terms of volume, over 56 lakh shares of the company changed hands on the bourses during the day. The stock has slipped by nearly 18 per cent this year.

New Delhi, June 23
The government today allowed export of additional five lakh tonne of sugar under the Open General Licenses (OGL) and decided additional allocation of 50 lakh tonne foodgrains to APL families

In April, the government had allowed five lakh tonnes of sugar exports under OGL, which enables shipment without any restrictions. Last week, the industry sought permission to export additional 10 lakh tonne, taking the total sugar export to 15 lakh tonne in view of higher domestic output this year.

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had also written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to allow further export of sugar as India only had a month to cash in on high global prices of the sweetener.There is a case for more export of sugar, as domestic production is high and global prices are ruling firm at a premium of Rs 500-600 per quintal vis-a-vis domestic sugar prices, he had said. However, the EGOM headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee agreed to an additional figure of five lakh tonne.

Incidentally Pawar, a key member of the EGoM was not present at today’s meeting as he is in Paris for the G-20 meeting.

Sugar production in India, is estimated at 24.2 million tonnes in the 2010-11 season (October-September), as against 18.8 million tonnes in the previous season.