Mumbai, February 16
The Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) on Thursday set a price band of Rs 860 to Rs 1,032 a share for its initial public offering, setting the stage for the first major issue to hit the volatile capital markets in 2012.

Shareholders of MCX are looking to raise up to Rs 663 crore through an offer for sale. The issue will hit the market on Feb 22 and close on Feb 24.

"This IPO will be a trend-setter for other commodity exchanges to follow. The listing will take MCX at par with other global exchanges that are listed such as NASDAQ, NYSE Euronext, ICE, CME Group, SGX," MCX vice-chairman Jignesh Shah told reporters at the roadshow in Mumbai.

The offer would comprise sale of about 64.27 lakh shares of Rs 10 each, accounting for a 12.6% stake.

Among the divesting shareholders, Financial Technologies (India) Ltd is making offer of 26,43,916 equity shares (5.18%), State Bank of India 21,12,025 (4.14%), Corporation Bank 2,46,175 shares (0.48%), GLG Financials Fund 7,81,508 shares (1.53%), Bank of Baroda 1,05,000 shares (0.21%), Alexandra Mauritius Ltd 3,90,754 shares (0.77%) and ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co Ltd 1,48,000 shares (0.29%).

The promoters FTIL currently holds 31.2% stake in MCX, which would come down to about 26% post-IPO.

MCX is also vying for anchor investor in the the public offering of 64.27 lakh shares, or 12.6%, of the total share equity. Anchor investors have a reservation of 15% of the total share under offer in the issue.

MCX, the country’s largest commodity bourse, has more than 70% share in an annual estimated turnover Rs 177 lakh crore for the entire commodity derivatives market.

Globally, MCX is the fifth largest commodity exchange, while it figures among the top two positions in gold and silver segments. It would be the first exchange in India to go public, putting the country on par with other markets like the US, UK, Japan, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong.

The equity shares are proposed to be listed on the BSE and the firm has received in-principle approval from the BSE for the listing. — PTI

New Delhi, February 16
As expected, conflicting views have emerged from the country’s GSM and CDMA service providers on the views sought by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on the preconsultation paper released by it on allocation of 2G band spectrum in 22 service areas by auction freed after the cancellation of 122 licences by the Supreme Court earlier this month.

While GSM operator Vodafone India said Thursday both old and new operators should be allowed to participate in the proposed 2G auction to ensure the government got a fair market price, the CDMA operators’ umbrella body, the Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI), said operators having the maximum prescribed limit spectrum of 8 MHz and 10 MHz for GSM in circles and metros, respectively, and 5 MHz and 6.25 MHz for CDMA in circles and metros, respectively, should be barred from participating in the bidding to prevent monopolisation of a scarce resource.

The conflicting views were expected as both the GSM and CDMA operators have always been pitted against each other over spectrum allocation with the latter alleging they had not been provided a “level playing field” by the government.

AUSPI’s views are also similar to the stand of the new operators like Sistema-Shyam and Uninor that have been pushing for exclusion of incumbents in the proposed auction saying old operators should not be allowed to participate. On the other hand, Vodafone and other operators like Bharti Airtel and Idea have been resisting this plea.

New Delhi, February 16
A high rate of inflation may be pinching hard on day-to-day life of people in the country, but a global survey has named two Indian cities — the financial hub Mumbai and the national capital New Delhi — among the four least expensive places across the world.

According to the worldwide cost of living survey by Mumbai is the second least expensive city globally, while New Delhi is ranked fourth.

Karachi in Pakistan has been named as the cheapest destination globally, while Zürich in Switzerland is the most expensive place across the world, as per the survey.

Inflationary pressures have figured among the key concerns facing the government as well as the public in India for many months now, although the rate of inflation has declined a bit in recent past. The country's headline inflation fell to 6.55% in January 2012. It had stood at 7.47% in December 2011.

In the EIU survey, three of the four cheapest locations globally — Karachi, Mumbai, Tehran and New Delhi — are from the Indian subcontinent.

"India has been such a target of labour outsourcing, relocation and FDI over the last decade," EIU said. "With cheap labour and land costs making India and Pakistan incredibly attractive to those bargain hungry visitors or investors willing to brave some of the security risks that accompany such low prices, especially in Pakistan," it added.

All the four cheapest cities have retained their positions from the previous year's list.

However, Zürich has toppled Tokyo as the world's most expensive city, although both of them have become relatively expensive in the past one year. "Both Japan and Switzerland have seen strong currency movements over the last few years which have made them relatively more expensive," EIU said.

After Karachi, Mumbai, Tehran and New Delhi, the report has named Muscat, Dhaka, Algiers, Kathmandu, Panamá City and Jeddah among the least expensive cities. In the list of ten most expensive cities, Zurich and Tokyo are followed by Geneva, Osaka Kobe, Oslo, Paris, Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore and Frankfurt/Main.

The survey compared over 400 individual prices across 160 products and services. They include food, drink, clothing, household supplies and personal care items, home rents, transport, utility bills, private schools, domestic help and recreational costs. — PTI

Mumbai, February 16
Kingfisher Airlines' losses mounted in the third quarter, taking the total loss to US $240 million this fiscal year, as the ailing Indian carrier was squeezed by high fuel costs, a weaker rupee and fierce competition.

The cash-strapped carrier, controlled by liquor baron Vijay Mallya, has become a byword for the debt-laden Indian airline industry savaged by rising fuel bills, dwindling cash and a stark lack of financing options.

"The company has incurred substantial losses and its networth has been eroded," Kingfisher said in a statement. "Steep depreciation of the Indian rupee coupled with consistently high crude oil prices has led to a challenging quarter for the Indian aviation industry," it added.

The firm is around a quarter-owned by banks and its top lender SBI has refused to add to loans it considers nonperforming. Kingfisher is in talks with distressed-debt experts but there are no signs of a guardian angel equity injection that executives have long promised. An entry into the potentially lucrative oneworld alliance was postponed this month as it scrambles for capital.

Unpaid staff have left in droves, and scores of flights have been cancelled to cut costs. Turboprop maker ATR, a joint venture of EADS and Finmeccanica, cancelled 38 plane orders from Kingfisher in January. — Reuters

Mumbai/Singapore, Feb 16
Wild price swings caused by a volatile rupee sapped Indian buying interest in gold in the fourth quarter of 2011, with imports well short of expectations and no pick up expected this year, dropping it behind China for the first time.

India's gold imports in the last quarter of 2011, traditionally peak consumption season, fell 44 per cent to 157 tonnes, although total imports last year rose 1.1 per cent to a record high of 969 tonnes, the World Gold Council said on Thursday.

Indians are usually the biggest buyers of gold in the world and from October to December, the calendar is full of festivals and weddings, creating many opportunities for people to flaunt their finery.

But the country's fourth-quarter imports figure came short of a previous forecast of more than 281 tonnes.

China's gold consumption stood at a higher 190.9 tonnes between October and December, compared to 173 tonnes in India during the same period.

"The rapid rise and fall in the rupee, and resulting domestic gold price swings had a strong impact on gold buying with both jewellery and investment demand in the second half lower by around 33 per cent," the World Gold Council said in a quarterly research report.

Gold prices rallied for the most of last year as safe-haven demand surged on the eurozone crisis and US debt ceiling negotiations, among other factors, to a record in September before correcting sharply in the last quarter of the year.

Prices in India touched record highs too. — Reuters

ew Delhi, February 16
Telecoms equipment maker Ericsson announced on Thursday the completion of disinvestment of its entire stake in 50:50 mobile handset joint venture Sony Ericsson to Sony Corporation.

Sony Ericsson now has become a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation. “The agreed cash consideration for the transaction is €1.05 billion (US $1.36 billion),” Ericsson said in a statement released on Thursday.

“Ericsson has today completed the divestment of its 50 per cent stake in Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB (’Sony Ericsson’), including the broad IP crosslicensing agreement, jointly announced by Sony Corporation (‘Sony’) and Ericsson on October 27, 2011,” Ericsson said.

It further said Ericsson will report gain of approximately $1.11 billion (SEK 7.5 billion) in the first quarter results on April 25, 2012, as ‘other operating income’ in the income statement.

Sony Ericsson started its operations on October 1, 2001, with the combination of unprofitable handset operations of Ericsson and Sony.

By the end of the third quarter of 2011, Sony Ericsson held a market share of 11% (by value) in the Android phone market, representing 80% of the company’s third quarter sales. Ericsson said in its October 27 statement.

During its ten years in operation Sony Ericsson has generated approximately €1.5 billion of profit and paid dividends totalling approximately €1.9 billion (US $2.47 billion) to its parent companies, it added.

Last year in October, Sony Corp set out to buy out complete control of the Sony Ericsson mobile phone venture from its Swedish partner, in order to boost its offerings and catch up with competitors, like Apple and Samsung. The buyout by Sony was in talks for sometime before the company actually took the plunge.— Agencies