New Delhi, May 27
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) rose the most in the past eight months to propel the BSE Sensex by 326 points to close above the 20,000 mark.

RIL surged by 5.12 per cent to Rs 828, the most since September on reports that the company discovered a new natural gas field in the KG-D6 basin.

Sun Pharma spurted by 4.66 per cent to Rs 1,014 ahead of the quarter earnings while Bharti Airtel rose by 3.31 per cent to Rs 309. HDFC and HDFC Bank were the other big gainers in the Sensex.

The Sensex shot up by 326 points, or 1.66 per cent, to 20,030.77, led by consumer durables, and oil and gas sectors driven by a steep rise in Reliance Industries.

The broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty shot up by 99 points, or 1.66 per cent, to 6,083 points.

Kotak Securities technical analyst Shrikant Chouhan said the Sensex closed above 20,000 mark even though it opened lower around 19,750. The rally was mainly backed by Reliance Industries that has contributed around 84 points and the fundamental news was significant gas condensate discovery in block offshore of India. Other than this gainers were HDFC, HDFC, HDFC Bank and Sun Pharma. These three companies are fundamentally strong and sustained buying must have squeezed short sellers on the wrong foot.

He added that even domestic currency has played major role as in spite of opening lower to 55.78 it recovered back to 55.55 which was its average closings of last three days.

Brokers said a firming trend in the Asian and European markets amid speculation global central banks may taper stimulus, further influenced the market sentiment. In the BSE 30 index components, 27 stocks gained.

The consumer durable sector index gained the most by rising 3 per cent to 7,656 followed by oil and gas index by 2.76 per cent to 8,805 points. The metal index rose by 1.95 per cent to 8,826 and healthcare index by 1.56 per cent to 8,866.10.

The major gainers were Infosys, Coal India, BHEL, Dr Reddy’s Lab, HDFC Bank, Hindalco, Hero MotoCorp, Jindal Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, TCS and Wipro.

New Delhi, May 27
The Delhi High Court today issued contempt notices against telecom major Idea Cellular Ltd (ICL) and its chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla for allegedly disobeying its earlier order by providing 3G services to new customers in circles where it lacks the requisite licences.

Justice Rajiv Shakdhar asked the telecom company and five others, including Birla to file their responses within four weeks and posted the matter for further hearing on August 5.

Besides the telecom company and its chairman, the court also issued notices to Himanshu Kapania, managing director of ICL, Akshya Moondra, chief financial officer of the firm, P Lakshminarayana and Pankaj Kapdeo, Company Secretaries of ICL.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had earlier moved the court seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against the telecom firm and its office-bearers for 'wilful and deliberate' disobedience of a judicial order passed on April 12 by which ICL was restrained from providing 3G services to its new customers.

The DoT, in its contempt plea, had said that instead of complying with the orders passed by this court, the petitioner (Idea Cellular) had filed an additional affidavit stating that it has 'additionally decided' to provide 3G services to those existing customers who meet the criteria. There is no such criterion provided by this court, it had said.

“The order of April 12 is clear and has to be obeyed in its entirely. The petitioner, under the garb of so-called criteria, has modified the condition imposed by this court on April 12. Therefore, it amounts to contempt of the said order,” it had said.

Earlier, in pursuance of a Supreme Court order on a plea moved by Bharti Airtel, the High Court had restrained the DoT from taking any 'coercive steps' against Vodafone and Idea Cellular which were asked to pay penalty of Rs 550 crore and Rs 300 crore respectively for providing 3G facilities outside their circles without the requisite licences.

The court had, however, put a condition on the telecom majors, including Idea Cellular, that they will not provide 3G services to new customers in the circles for which they lacked licences.

Besides initiation of contempt proceedings, the DoT has also sought dismissal of a plea of Idea Cellular against its notice demanding Rs 300 crore as penalty for providing 3G services in circles including Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Karnataka, Rajasthan and New Delhi.

In addition to Idea Cellular, Vodafone had also moved the High Court against a penalty of Rs 550 crore imposed on it by the DoT for providing 3G services outside their licenced circles.

Both telecom firms got the relief from the court which followed the apex court order on a similar plea of Bharti Airtel.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had directed the Centre not to take any coercive step against Bharti Cellular and asked the telecom company not to extend its roaming services to new customers in seven circles where it does not have licences for the 3G spectrum.

Bharti Cellular Ltd (BCL) had moved the apex court after the Division Bench of the High Court vacated its stay on the operation of a DoT notice against BCL for providing the 3G services outside its licenced circles.

The DoT had, in separate notices, asked all three telecom firms to pay the penalties and stop offering 3G mobile phone services in the circles where they did not win spectrum in the 2010 auction of the radio waves. — PTI

‘Wilful disobedience’ The DoT had earlier moved the court seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against the telecom firm and its office bearers for 'wilful and deliberate' disobedience of a judicial order passed on April 12. Earlier, in pursuance of a Supreme Court order on a plea moved by Bharti Airtel, the High Court had restrained the DoT from taking any 'coercive steps' against Vodafone and Idea Cellular. The DoT had, in separate notices, asked all three telecom firms to pay the penalties and stop offering 3G mobile phone services in the circles where they did not win spectrum in the 2010 auction of the radio waves.

New Delhi, May 27
Vijay Mallya led-United Spirits Limited (USL) today said its board has approved allottment of around 1.45 crore shares on a preferential basis to Relay BV, a subsidiary of Diageo Plc, for a total consideration of nearly Rs 2,092 crore as part of the stake sale deal announced last year.

On November 9, 2012 Diageo had announced buying a 53.4 per cent stake in USL for Rs 11,166.5 crore in a multi-structured deal.

The company board has approved the issue and allotment of 14,532,775 shares of face value of Rs 10 each at a price of Rs 1,440 per share of USL to Relay BV, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Diageo Plc, on a preferential basis, United Spirits Ltd (USL) said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The allotment of shares by USL to Relay BV has been according to the preferential allotment agreement inked by three parties — USL, Relay BV and Diageo Plc on November 9, 2012, it said after its board meeting.

Besides preferential allotment, USL shareholders have also tendered 58,668 shares, which have been accepted by Relay BV in the open offer, the company said.

The open offer began on April 10 and closed on April 26.

“As of May 27, 2013, these shares are in the process of being transferred to Relay BV and immediately subsequent to the transfer of the tendered shares, Relay BV will hold 1,45,91,443 shares in the company (USL) constituting 10.04 per cent of its post issue paid up share capital," it added.

In a separate filing, the compnay said its board had approved the appointment of Gilbert Ghostine, nominee of Relay B V, as an additional director on the company's board with effect from today. — PTI

New Delhi, May 27
Japanese car major Toyota is recalling about 1,000 units of the diesel variant of its sedan Corolla Altis in India, manufactured between August 3, 2012 and February 14 this year, due to a faulty driveshaft.

The company's Indian arm, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), said in a statement on its website that it has initiated a recall campaign this month for Toyota Corolla Altis Diesel.

“The campaign is for Corolla Altis Diesel manufactured between August 3, 2012 and February 14, 2013,” it said.

When contacted, a TKM spokesperson said the recall would "affect around 1,000 units" of the model sold in India.

“A potential aberration on the left or right side of the driveshaft has been observed in a few cases. We have decided to proactively inspect and repair or replace the drive shafts,” the company said, adding, it was a precautionary measure.

It further said the rectification might take about two hours.

Last week, Toyota's compatriot Nissan had announced it would recall 22,188 units of its small car Micra and sedan Sunny in India due to a faulty braking system, as part of a global exercise to rectify the problem.

The company's wholly-owned subsidiary Nissan Motor India will recall the vehicles, which were produced between June 2012 and March 2013.

Earlier in April, Toyota had recalled a select lot of its premium sedan Corolla sold in India, affected by its global recall of 17.3 lakh vehicles to rectify defective airbags.

It had impacted Corolla cars produced between January 2003 and June 2003 in India.

In 2011, Toyota had recalled 41,000 units of its sedan Etios and small car Liva in India to replace faulty inlet pipe to fuel tank. — PTI

Mumbai, May 27
The Reserve Bank of India said today that banks would not be allowed to give loans against units of gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and gold mutual funds.

As these products are backed by bullion and primary gold, the restriction on grant of loan against gold bullion will be applicable to loan against units of gold ETFs and units of gold mutual funds, the central bank said. The RBI said while giving loan against gold coins sold by banks, the lenders should ensure that the weight of the coins does not exceed 50 grams per customer.

In a separate statement, the central bank said no advances should be given by non-bank financial companies (NBFCs) against bullion, primary gold and gold coins.

The RBI said the NBFCs should not give loans for the purchase of gold in any form including primary gold, bullion, jewellery, coins, units of gold ETFs and units of gold mutual funds. — Reuters

Mumbai, May 27
Economists today forecast a sub-five per cent readings in the March quarter GDP, pulling down the overall economic expansion in FY13 to a decadal low of around five per cent.

Credit Suisse Director and Chief Economist Robert Prior-Wandesforde pegged the March quarter GDP growth at 4.8 per cent, which is also concurred by Nomura and DBS.

The government will announce the FY13 GDP numbers on May 30, where it expects the readings to be around 5.2 per cent.

Till the third quarter, the economy grew 5.1 per cent, with the Q1 being the highest at 5.5 per cent and Q3 being the lowest at 4.5 per cent.

“The GDP growth for the March quarter is expected to remain soft at 4.8 per cent, due largely to a reduction in government spending, but we are hopeful that the lower interest rate environment and improving investment should result in better growth numbers from the June quarter," Prior-Wandesforde said in a research note.

However, Nomura India chief economist Sonal Verma in a note pegged the growth expectation at a lower 4.5 per cent during the period, citing the cut in government spending that began in the third quarter besides weaker consumer demand and subdued investment activities.

But she said moderation in WPI inflation, which hit a three-year low at 4.9 per cent in April, amid weak demand should pave the way for lower interest rates.

DBS Bank group economist Radhika Rao in a note also pegged Q4 GDP at 4.5 per cent and the overall growth under 5 per cent.

Mumbai, May 27
Seeking help from the government in getting call data records of persons being probed by it in cases of insider trading and other market manipulations, SEBI says it is not asking for powers to snoop on telephonic conversations.

SEBI needs call data records (CDRs) of entities under its investigation to establish links between two or more parties, who might have had conversations among themselves before or after the incidents of insider trading or other manipulative activities in the market, SEBI chairman UK Sinha said.

“The CDRs can be very useful to establish that two parties have been talking to each other and could be related entities,” he said.

The CDRs generally list out the number of conversations between two or more entities and are different from phone- tapping, wherein an agency can snoop on or record the telephonic conversations of those suspected to be engaged in some wrongdoings.

The phone-tapping powers are restricted to only a few agencies in India, including the CBI and tax department.

“We are not asking for powers to snoop on the conversations between two entities or to do the phone tapping. We are only asking for the CDR details of the persons that we are investigating and we want to know about the parties they (the entities under probe) have been interacting with," the SEBI chief said.

SEBI has used CDRs in some cases to prove charges against entities under its probe, but currently it has to depend on other authorised agencies to get these records and it does not have direct powers to ask telecom firms or others for the CDRs.

For about two years now, SEBI has been seeking direct powers to access call data records, as it feels that these information being routed through other entities may delay the probe and consequently affect the investigation process.

While Sinha did not comment on the timeframe by when SEBI might get these powers, the government officials have earlier said a proposal has been mooted by the Finance Ministry to this effect and a decision might be taken soon.

Stressing on a need to amend the regulations governing its various functions, SEBI chairman said major changes in the SEBI Act were made last in 2002 and the time had come to further strengthen the enforcement and surveillance powers.

"A major area where we face difficulties is when we seek information or other records from various entities in the process of our investigations. What happens is that these entities tell us that they do not fall under the SEBI jurisdiction and therefore they are not required to provide information to us. We face lots of difficulties in getting these details," Sinha said. — PTI