Mumbai, May 24
The rupee weakened on Friday, falling 1.3 percent for the week, extending its losing streak to a third successive week, hurt by concerns about a possible pullback in global fund flows and the country's external deficit.

The rupee found support from the RBI's plan to ease hedging rules for exporters and importers, a move which is expected to increase supply of dollars. Dealers also cited some dollar selling by foreign banks related to Unilever's open offer for its Indian unit. The offer is scheduled to open on June 21, but companies typically bring in dollars prior to the open offer opening.

"Exporter selling is lined up along 55.70-80 levels which will support the rupee. I don't see the rupee falling past 56," said Uday Bhatt, a senior dealer at UCO Bank. Strong inflows into stocks and debt markets have supported the rupee, having invested over $5 bn in May alone.

The rupee ended at 55.63/64 versus its close at 55.59/60 on Thursday, falling for a sixth successive session. It is also the rupee's longest weekly losing streak since late November.

Some have expressed surprise at the pace of the rupee's fall, and expect the currency to remain under pressure given the rally in dollar and the economic concerns at home, especially after S&P reiterated its "negative" outlook on India this month.

In the currency futures market, the most-traded near-month dollar/rupee contracts on the NSE, the MCX-SX and the United Stock Exchange all closed at around 55.70 — Reuters

Mumbai, May 24
Shareholders in Jet Airways approved an agreed sale of a 24 per cent stake in the airline to Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways, a senior executive at the Indian carrier said on Friday.

Jet Airways, however, deferred seeking shareholder approval for a new set of "Articles of Association" as it awaits regulatory clarity, Company Secretary Arun Kanakal told Reuters after a shareholders' meeting.

Etihad, in April, agreed to acquire a 24% stake in Jet for US $370 million, giving it a bigger foothold in the fast-growing Indian market.

Jet Airways said its 24% stake sale to the gulf carrier Etihad will bring down its debt to US $1.5 billion from the current $2.1 billion.

Etihad's investment is the first by an overseas operator in an Indian airline since ownership rules were relaxed and provides Jet with a deep-pocketed global partner as well as cash to retire debt.

GOYAL BUYS 29% PROMOTER STAKE: Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal on Friday picked up over 29 per cent stake in the private carrier from another promoter entity for about Rs 1,434 crore.

The shares were purchased from Tail Winds Ltd, a company incorporated in the Isle of Mann and wholly owned by Goyal.

According to information available with the stock exchanges, Goyal purchased 2.51 crore shares, amounting to 29.13% stake, of Jet Airways in his personal capacity. The scrips were bought on an average price of Rs 570 valuing the transaction to Rs 1,433.46 crore.

At the end of March quarter, Tail Winds held 6.90 crore shares or 79.99% stake in Jet Airways, while Goyal owned 9,995 scrips, amounting to 0.01% holding, in the company in his personal capacity. — Reuters/PTI

Mumbai, May 24
Celebrating its silver jubilee, the Securities Exchange Board of India on Friday sought greater powers from government to rein in market manipulators and said dealing with errant entities that are financially strong and those collecting money illegally is one of the major challenges before it.

Noting that the last major amendment to the SEBI Act took place way back in 2002, the capital markets regulator’s chairman, U.K. Sinha said: "Perhaps there are realizations now that the SEBI Act has to be further strengthened".

"I’m sure government would consider that and will take a favourable decision. One area I would like to underline here is the development of illegal money and unauthorized money collection by various entities. I’m sure giving regulatory clarity in this area would give lot of impetus to savings of the households in the country," he said.

Sinha termed unauthorized raising of funds by various entities from the public as a critical area of concern and promised strict action against such schemes and sought continuing support from the government for the benefit of markets and investors.

He said the government has been supportive to the regulator throughout its 25-year journey and he expects the same to continue.

Among other challenges before SEBI, Sinha listed out issues like steps required to ensure that FIIs continue to invest in India and channelizing household savings into the capital markets. — PTI

New Delhi, May 24
While rebutting allegations of favouring Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily said Friday the proposed revision in natural gas price will apply to all companies including PSUs like ONGC.

This came on a day when the petroleum ministry announced that as a result of its nod to exploration in the existing mining lease area, RIL has notified a new discovery of gas in the KG-D6 basin. The commercial potential of the said discovery is yet to be established but estimates are that it is a huge discovery.

Moily refuted CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta's allegations of favouring RIL as "totally false and baseless" and said “the allegations made by the member are not only devoid of merits but are malicious and based on distorted facts”.

In a statement to “put the record straight”, Moily said the proposed increase in natural gas price was being done "strictly in line with the formula proposed by the PM appointed panel headed by his economic adviser, C. Rangarajan."

"It’s totally false and baseless. The new pricing, if approved by the CCEA, will apply to all gas produced in India. Two-thirds of the gas produced in the country is by PSUs and the new pricing will apply equally to them and they stand to benefit more out of it," he said. In a point-by-point rebuttal to allegations made by Dasgupta on Thursday, Moily said the CPI leader "was wrong in saying that the petroleum ministry has deviated from the Rangarajan committee’s recommendations."

“The proposed pricing guidelines shall be equally applicable to both the private and public sector companies engaged in production of natural gas. It may also be highlighted that more than 60% of the natural gas in India is still produced by PSUs. Therefore, the allegation that the price is being revised for the benefit of the private sector is completely misconceived”, Moily said.

The price revision besides being contractual requirement, was needed to spur investment in oil and gas exploration, which has stagnated over the past few years, he said. Gas prices in India, therefore, can incentivize investment in the Indian upstream sector so that output reaches optimum levels and all explorable reserves are put to production expeditiously, the ministry said.

New Delhi, May 24
The law ministry having rejected the National Highways Authority of India proposal of providing relief to Bangalore-based firm GMR Infrastructure’s Kishangarh-Ahmedabad road project, NHAI is considering to take up the issue with the Committee of Secretaries to work out a deal.

Officials at the road transport & highways ministry said this was aimed at salvaging the project, from which GMR had walked out last December, citing problems in getting clearances. It had been waiting for 16 months to get environmental clearance.

The move to approach the committee comes after NHAI board took up the issue and later rejected GMR’s proposal to provide interim relief on payment of premium for the initial years. The plan was rejected as there were objections from the secretaries of the expenditure department and the Planning Commission.

GMR Infrastructure seeks discount in the payment of Rs 636 crore premium during the initial years but in a way that the earnings of NHAI in terms of net present value is not affected.

The road transport ministry had later approached the law ministry, but the latter also rejected the proposal.

New Delhi, May 24
In one of the larger real estate transactions in months, realty firm Gaursons said Friday it has bought 300 acres of land on the Yamuna expressway in Greater Noida from cement to construction major Jaypee group for over Rs 1,500 crore to develop an integrated township.

The company said it will launch the township by the end of this year and planned to construct about 15,000 apartments in the “affordable segment”.

Gaursons is probably the first developer to buy land directly from the Jaypee group, which has huge land bank alongside the Yamuna expressway. The development can pave way to more such deals as the whole stretch has several affordable housing projects.

A number of developers have announced their residential and commercial projects including the Jaypee Group.

Gaursons India MD Manoj Gaur said the land acquisition was “hassle free” as Jaypee had already taken all the necessary approvals. “Highways and expressways have been providing succor to the realty market as they provide good connectivity, a must have for all the real estate projects”, he said.

The company will create a township on this land parcel, which is already surrounded by infrastructure like the F1 track, a sports stadium and the Yamuna expressway.

Gaursons has a big presence in the Ghaziabad, Noida and Greater Noida region. It is currently developing a 240-acre Gaur City township in Noida Extension in partnership with another realty firm, Saviour. About 25,000 housing units are being developed in this township at an investment of about Rs 5,000 crore.

Gaursons is also part of township 'Crossing Republik' in Ghaziabad, being constructed jointly by seven developers.