Mumbai, June 25
In a wide-ranging overhaul of rules to make India an easier, safer and attractive investment destination, SEBI today unveiled a new set of streamlined entry norms for foreign investors, while putting in place checks against any wrongdoings by the company promoters.

The Board of capital markets regulatory authority also paved way for direct listing of start-ups and SMEs on the stock exchanges without the requirement of an IPO and approved a new set of rules for angel investors to encourage the spirit of entrepreneurship in the country.

About a dozen of these steps, which were approved by the Board of SEBI in a meeting here today, come at a time when Indian markets have been going through turbulent times amid concerns over falling value of and huge outflows of overseas funds from the country.

With regard to the foreign investors, SEBI’s board approved making their registration and compliance requirements much simpler and easier, especially for government entities and large investors like insurers, asset management companies and university funds from abroad.

The Board also approved merging different classes of investors such as FIIs, their Sub Accounts and Qualified Foreign Investors (QFIs) into a new category, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs), to put in place a simplified and uniform set of entry norms for them.

The decisions were taken after a discussion on a report of the 'Committee on Rationalisation of Investment Routes and Monitoring of Foreign Portfolio Investments' under the chairmanship of former Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrasekhar.

In another major step, SEBI has decided to define all investments of up to 10 per cent by any single investor or group as 'portfolio investment', while investments beyond that would be considered as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

SEBI has also approved doing away with the current practice of FIIs and their sub-accounts requiring a prior direct registration to operate in Indian markets. The decisions were welcomed by market participants.

Sources said SEBI Board was also apprised of the status report on high-profile matters like Sahara refund case and the minimum public shareholding norms.

To safeguard the interest of public shareholders, the Board also approved making it mandatory for the companies to buyback at least 50 per cent of their repurchase offers.

Besides, the companies would have to complete their buyback offers within six months, from 12 months currently, while those not being able to meet the target would be barred from launching another offer for a period of one year.

The measures, which also include companies being asked to keep 25 per cent of proposed buyback offer amounts in an escrow account, are aimed at averting the promoters from making non-serious offers to wrongly influence stock prices.

In another major decision, the board approved measures for making transparent the share allotment to certain investors on preferential basis and said the payments for such issuances would need to be made from their own bank accounts. — PTI

New Delhi, June 25
The Punjab Government is again attempting to divest its entire 44.26 per cent equity holding in Punjab Alkalies and Chemicals Limited (PACL).

PACL informed the stock exchanges today that the equity held by Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation (PSIDC) will be divested. The PACL stock jumped more than 11 per cent today on the announcement to close at Rs 18.50 on the BSE.

Delhi-based financial institution, IFCI Ltd has been appointed as global adviser for the transaction to find buyers for the stake sale. IFCI has a nominee on the Board of Directors of PACL.

The decision to divest stake in PACL was taken by the Directorate of Public Enterprises and Disinvestment, Department of Finance, Punjab at a meeting of its core group.

The Punjab Government had earlier also been trying to divest its stake but the deal could not go through due to differences over valuation with the bidders.

PACL is engaged in the manufacturing of caustic soda, liquid chlorine, hydrogen and hydrochloric acid with capacity of 300 tonne per day. It has a market capitalisation of Rs 38 crore and its quarterly revenue was to the tune of Rs 72 crore.

The products made by the company are used in paper industry, vegetable oil, aluminium and textile sectors.

Besides Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation, other stakeholders in PACL are public, corporate bodies, mutual funds and banks with a percentage stake of 55.74%.

New Delhi, June 25
IT services firm Tech Mahindra today announced completion of Mahindra Satyam's merger with itself to create the nation's fifth largest software services company with a turnover of $2.7 billion.

The merged entity will be called Tech Mahindra which will aim to almost double the turnover to $5 billion by 2015 with focus on telecom, manufacturing, BFSI among others. Anand Mahindra will be the chairman of the combined entity.

Today we have fulfilled the commitment made in 2009, when we acquired Satyam, to jointly become one of the largest, diversified players leveraging technology for business solutions, Mahindra said in a statement. — PTI

New Delhi, June 25
ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) along with Oil India Ltd (OIL) has acquired Videocon Industries' 10 per cent stake in a giant Mozambique gas field for $ 2.5 billion and may pay a similar amount to buy a further 10 per cent stake from Anadarko of the US. The Rovuma field may hold as much as 65 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of inplace gas reserves, more than 10 times the reserves in Reliance Industries' eastern offshore KG-D6 fields, and has the potential to become one of the world's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) producing hubs by 2018.

"OVL and OIL signed definitive agreements in Singapore today with Videocon Mauritius Energy Ltd to acquire 100 per cent shares in Videocon Mozambique Rovuma 1 Ltd, the company holding a 10 per cent participating interest in the Rovuma Area 1 Offshore Block in Mozambique (Area 1) for $2,475 million," the two firms said in a press statement.

The acquisition will be done through a joint venture that OVL and OIL have floated. OVL will hold 60 per cent of the venture and OIL the remaining 40 per cent. The transaction will close in the last quarter of 2013 and is subject to regulatory approvals in the two countries.

New Delhi, June 25
Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal is learnt to have approved levying of Rs 650-crore penalty on Bharti Airtel for violating roaming norms in 13 service areas between 2003 and 2005.

"The minister has approved a penalty of Rs 650 crore on SLD (subscriber local dialing) matter," a Telecom Ministry official said.

An internal committee of the DoT had alleged that Airtel had continued to route national and international calls as local calls (SLD) under a scheme till 2005 despite being told to stop it in 2003.

New Delhi, June 25
The Railways today revised the rules governing the refund of reserved tickets in a comprehensive manner which would come into effect from July 1. The move is aimed at not only simplifying the refunds but also reducing the bogus refund claims.

The new rules say no refund shall be granted on the reserved ticket if it is surrendered for cancellation after two hours of the actual departure of the train. There would be no refund of fare on confirmed Tatkal ticket.

As per the rules amended after 15 years, unused reserved tickets presented for cancellation more than 48 hours in advance (instead of the existing 24 hours) of the scheduled departure of the train would attract a minimum per passenger cancellation charge at a flat rate of Rs 120 for air-conditioned first class and executive class, Rs 100 for air-conditioned-II tier and first class, Rs 90 for air-conditioned III-tier, 3 economy and air-conditioned chair car, Rs 60 for sleeper class and Rs 30 for second class.

If the ticket is presented for cancellation between 48 hours and up to six hours (instead of existing 24 hours and up to four hours) before the scheduled departure of the train, cancellation charge shall be 25 per cent of the fare subject to a minimum of the cancellation charge.

If the ticket is presented for cancellation within six hours (instead of existing four hours) before the scheduled departure of the train and up to two hours irrespective of distance (instead of existing 3/6/12 hours) for distance 200 km/200-500 km/500 km and above after the actual departure of the train, the cancellation charge shall be 50 per cent of the fare subject to a minimum of the cancellation charge.

For unused waitlisted or RAC tickets, if a waitlisted or RAC ticket is presented for cancellation, refund of fare shall be admissible after deducting the clerkage. No refund of fare shall be granted on RAC ticket /waitlisted ticket after three hours of the actual departure of the train.

In case of cancellation of e-tickets, the ticket may be cancelled through Internet and the refund of fare shall be credited to the customer’s account after deducting the charges applicable.

In case of a confirmed e-ticket, refund of fare shall be granted in accordance with the rule for unused tickets on which reservation has been made. 

New Delhi, June 25
The Supreme Court today dismissed a PIL seeking a probe against Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd for allegedly manufacturing and selling substandard medicines due to lack of evidence against the company.

A Bench of justices AK Patnaik and Ranjan Gogoi, however, allowed the petitioner advocate ML Sharma to file a fresh petition if he finds some evidence against the company in support of his allegation that the company is engaged in manufacturing and selling substandard drugs.

The Bench said it cannot decide the plea against the company on the basis of a judgment passed by a US court against Ranbaxy.

"Your entire argument is based on proceedings in the US. We have no jurisdiction over it. Show us material that things are happening in India and it adversely affects right to life of people here," the Bench observed adding, "Where is the material against Ranbaxy".

"No material has been placed to show that drugs manufactured by any unit of Ranbaxy are substandard, adulterated, spurious and that such drugs are prohibited under the law. In the absence of such material, we cannot entertain the plea," the Bench said. — PTI 

BRIEFLY

New Delhi
Tata Docomo to slash Internet rates from July 1:Telecom operator Tata Docomo on Tuesday announced a cut in its 2G and 3G mobile Internet rates by a whopping 90 per cent from 10 paise to 1 paisa per kilobytes from July 1.— PTI