New Delhi, September 27
Faced with high current account deficit (CAD), the government today allowed unlisted companies to directly list on stock exchanges abroad to raise funds for acquisitions or retiring debts.

As of now, unlisted companies are not allowed to directly list in overseas markets without prior or simultaneous listing in Indian markets.

"It has now been decided with the approval of the Union Finance Minister that unlisted companies may be allowed to raise capital abroad without the requirement of prior or subsequent listing in India," the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

The such companies would be permitted to list abroad only on exchanges in International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO)/Financial Action Task Force (FATF) compliant jurisdictions or countries with which SEBI has signed bilateral agreements. This scheme, it said, will be implemented on a pilot basis for a period of two years from the date of notification and then the impact of this arrangement will be reviewed, the statement added.

"While raising resources abroad, the listing company shall be fully compliant with the FDI Policy in force. The capital raised abroad may be utilised for retiring outstanding overseas debt or for operations abroad, including for acquisitions," the Finance Ministry said.

In case the funds raised are not utilised abroad, the Ministry said, such companies will have to remit the money back to India within 15 days. The money will be parked only in banks recognised by the RBI.

Notifications in this regard will be issued by Ministry of Finance, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and RBI in due course.

The government has set a target to bring the CAD, which touched a record high to 4.8 per cent of GDP last fiscal, to 3.7 per cent level in the current financial year.

Rupee value versus US dollar has been affected severely because of high CAD and other global factors. — PTI

Karachi, September 27
Trade between India and Pakistan can be considerably enhanced from the current level of $2.6 billion if there is normalisation of political relations between the two countries, according to captains of industry in Pakistan.

Given the tension on the border between the two countries, there is a feeling that trade suffers collateral damage because of such incidents.

Zubair Ahmed Malik, president, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said despite some political setbacks, there has been progress on the economic and trade front.

Talking to a group of Indian journalists and business delegation, Malik said the volume of trade can be 10 times the current $2.6 billion if the political conditions are normal.

Malik said the balance of trade is not a worry as long as trade is taking place. He said there is scope for collaboration between the two countries in areas like sports goods as both the countries have clusters for these goods.

Emphasising the potential of trade, SM Muneer, president, India Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said most of the trade between the two countries is happening through third party routes. Stressing that trade is the most important way to normalise relationship between the two countries, Muneer said Pakistan can provide transit routes to India. The most-favoured nation (MFN) status for India has been cleared by the Pakistan cabinet but is held up due to objections and there are also fears that liberalisation of trade will increase the trade deficit with India further.

Muneer said suggestions have been given to both the governments to open new routes like Khokrapar-Munabau route to hasten the land movement of goods.

The Expo Pakistan, the country’s largest trade fair, is being given top billing by the Pakistan government to promote exports and also to address the perception about Karachi being unsafe for business. Muhammad Haroon Agar, president, Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the Expo has attracted more than 800 delegates from 56 countries and the perception about law and order problems in Karachi is sought to be addressed. There is tight security in Karachi for the event and police convoys escort the foreign delegates to the venue. There is a conspicuous presence of armed private security throughout the city guarding houses and businesses in upscale areas.

The Expo saw the first joint venture between India and Pakistan companies being signed in the consumer space. Pakistani furniture company, Interwood Mobel has tied up with Amritsar-based businessman, Pardeep Sehgal for setting up a joint venture which took 10 months to create. The stores will come up starting with Punjab and in all 25 stores are being planned by 2014.

Chicago, September 27
Toyota will recall nearly 700,000 Sienna minivans in North America to fix a gear shift defect, the Japanese automaker said yesterday.

The faulty shift lever has been found to occasionally slip out of the park position, which "could result in a vehicle roll-away," Toyota said.

"There were 21 minor accidents and two included minor injuries," Toyota spokeswoman Cindy Knight said. "The minor accidents involved some minor property damage.”

A lock on the shift level generally prevents the vehicle from moving out of the park position unless the brake is depressed. But Toyota found this lock could become damaged and is contacting customers to inspect and replace it.

The bulk of the recalled vehicles — 615,000 — are in the US. Another 56,000 will be recalled in Canada and 23,000 in Mexico. — AFP

New Delhi, September 27
The Finance Ministry today said it has approved 15 foreign investment proposals totalling Rs 2,000.5 crore and recommended two FDI applications, including that of US drug major Mylan, for final Cabinet clearance.

The 15 proposals were cleared following recommendations by Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) on August 27.

"In addition, two proposals viz., M/s IDFC Trustee Company Ltd, as proposed Trustee for India Infrastructure Fund II, Mumbai and M/s Mylan Inc. USA amounting to Rs 10,668 crore, have been recommended for consideration of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs," the Finance Ministry said.

Proposals which have been cleared include that of Jubilant Pharma Pte, Singapore (Rs 1145.10 crore), Lotus Surgical Specialities (Rs 150 crore), Symbiotec Pharmalab (Rs 306.19 crore) and Advanced Enzyme Technologies (Rs 200 crore). — PTI

New Delhi, September 27
India loses $68 billion, or about Rs 4,14,800 crore of its Gross Domestic Product due to electricity shortage, says a report.

"There is strong correlation between power consumption and the GDP of the country. Power shortages currently cost India a GDP loss of $68 billion (0.4 per cent of total GDP)," said a Ficci report on Power Transmission.

Transmission bottlenecks are an important reason for these shortages. Since demand and generation capacity are both expected to increase in the future, transmission constraints need to be addressed urgently, said the report released today.

The transmission sector is already lacking in investments made so far. Although 50 per cent of the amount invested in power generation should be invested in transmission, in India this figure stands at a mere 30 per cent.

The report said one of the important reasons for the lagging transmission capacity in the country is the Aggregate Technical and Commercial losses being faced by the sector.

AT&C losses in India stood at 26 per cent, which was much higher than the global average of 9 per cent in 2010.

"Another important issue in the transmission sector has been the inability to evacuate excess power from surplus regions and channel it to regions that face shortages," it said.

With the future investments in the sector planned to be $75 billion for the two Five-Year Plans (from 2012-2022) the investments in the transmission sector certainly need to be jacked up significantly, the report added.

The investment required in the power transmission sector is about $35 billion, out of which about $19 billion is planned to come from Power Grid Corp. The remaining $16 billion would have to be secured from private players, the report further added. — PTI 

Ottawa, September 27
BlackBerry, which earlier this week agreed to a $4.7-billion buyout, said today it lost $965 million in the second quarter.

The Ontario-based company has been squeezed by rivals Android and Apple, steadily losing market share, a trend which continues according to its latest earnings report.

"We are very disappointed with our operational and financial results this quarter and have announced a series of major changes to address the competitive hardware environment and our cost structure," said BlackBerry CEO and president Thorsten Heins. — AFP

New Delhi, September 27
Telecom regulator TRAI has recommended Rs 2,918 crore investment plan for improving phone services in the strategically important North-East where there is no coverage in almost half of the villages in the region.

Working on the request from the Department of Telecom (DoT), the TRAI has said the bill to improve services would be in the range of Rs 2,900 crore.

Releasing TRAI’s recommendations on “Improving Telecom Services in the north-eastern states: An Investment Plan”, its chairman Rahul Khullar said, “The actual amount is less, about Rs 2,350 crore, plus 30 per cent add-on due to difficult terrain in North- East which is why it comes to Rs 2,900 crore”.

In April, the DoT had requested TRAI to carry out a gap analysis and prepare an investment plan for providing quality telecom services in the north-eastern states.

The intention was to formulate a comprehensive plan for revamping and augmentation of telecom services in the north-eastern region which is characterised by tough terrain with relatively poor infrastructure, such as rail, roads, electricity and telecom.

Attempts have been made in the past to increase telecom connectivity and teledensity in the region. However, the results so far have not been very encouraging.

As of May 2013, of the eight states in the region, teledensity in five states is below the national average teledensity of 70 per cent. Similarly, in four states, namely, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya and Mizoram, the percentage of villages not having mobile coverage ranges from 55.9 to 24.3 per cent.

BRIEFLY

VW to de-list from London exchange
Frankfurt: Volkswagen announced on Friday it plans to withdraw its shares from trading on the London Stock Exchange from late October. VW, which has been listed in London since 1988, said it has applied to the Financial Conduct Authority "to request the cancellation of the trading of the shares on the main market of LSE... with effect from October 28." — AFP

ABG Shipyard rallies nearly 14%
Mumbai: Shares of ABG Shipyard surged nearly 14% on Friday after ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company sold 5.82 lakh shares of the private shipbuilder for Rs 15.79 crore, through open market transactions. The company’s shares ended the day at Rs 341.20, up 13.71% from its previous close on the BSE. — PTI

RBI Governor awarded
Frankfurt: RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has received the fifth Deutsche Bank prize for Financial Economics 2013, in recognition of his ground-breaking research work which has influenced financial and macro-economic policies around the world. Deutsche Bank co-chairman Juergen Fitschen said on Thursday it would have been hard to find a more deserving winner for this year's award. — PTI

M&M hikes prices by up to Rs 20,000
New Delhi: Mahindra & Mahindra said on Friday it will hike the prices of its passenger cars and commercial vehicles by Rs 6,000 to Rs 20,000 from October 1, partly to offset higher input costs and depreciation of rupee against the dollar. — PTI