The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Piramal to sell 11% Vodafone India stake for Rs 8,900 crore Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 10 Ajay Piramal, a savvy deal maker and entrepreneur, has made a killing of more than Rs 3,000 crore in just two years on the investment made in Vodafone India. Piramal Enterprises today announced it had agreed to sell its 11 per cent stake in Vodafone India for Rs 8,900 crore. Piramal will get Rs 1,960 per share, over 50 per cent more than the Rs 1,290 a share it paid in 2011-12 to buy the stake in Vodafone India in two tranches for a total consideration of Rs 5,864 crore. The shares of Piramal Enterprises rose as much as 7 per cent in intra- day trade following the deal and closed 3.73 per cent up at Rs 556 on the BSE, the highest level since January 22. After the government allowed foreign companies to own up to 100 per cent of Indian telecom companies, Vodafone had announced plans in October 2013 to take full control of the India unit by buying out minority partners for a total of Rs 10,141 crore. "The equity purchase in Vodafone was consistent with our objective of making investments that offer opportunity to generate attractive long-term return on equity," says Ajay Piramal, chairman, Piramal Group. "I am glad to say that we have delivered against our targeted returns with this investment," he said. The Piramal group had been flush with funds after pharma MNC, Abbot, acquired its domestic pharma business for an astronomical amount of $3.72 billion. The Sun Pharma acquisition of Ranbaxy recently is considered a much cheaper acquisition in comparison. The group operates across sectors such as healthcare, life sciences, drug discovery, healthcare information management, financial services, specialty glass packaging and real estate. Vodafone which entered India in 2007 by buying Hutchison Whampoa's local unit in a $ 11 billion deal, had previously purchased a 4.5 per cent stake held by Vodafone India non-executive chairman Analjit Singh. After the Piramal deal, Vodafone will be the first foreign telecom company to take full control of an Indian operator. ‘Full-ownership’ deal The deal with Piramal Enterprises is part of Vodafone's plan first announced last October to take full control of the unit for Rs 101.41 billion In February, Vodafone received the Cabinet's approval to buy stakes from its minority Indian partners ---- Piramal and businessman Analjit Singh After the deal, Vodafone will be the first foreign telecom company to take full control of an Indian operator Vodafone directly and indirectly owns a combined 84.5 per cent of Vodafone India, the country's No.2 telecom company by users and revenue.
	SEBI to issue guidelines for crowd-funding soon Mumbai, April 10 To encourage young entrepreneurs to raise capital from the market, which has seen a decline in such activity, regulator Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is planning to shortly come out with the guidelines for crowd-funding. “We are coming out with guidelines for crowd-funding soon, because we want to encourage young entrepreneurs to raise capital. Our aim is to help them raise capital smoothly,” SEBI chairman UK Sinha today said at an investors' conference. Crowd-funding typically involves young entrepreneurs and small groups of people raising funds for their ventures through various online platforms, involving individuals and organisations. Of late, such platforms are also being used for launching products that promise certain financial returns to the contributors. The International Organisation of Securities Commission (IOSCO), a body of market regulators across the world, including SEBI, recently called for regulatory checks on ‘crowd-funding’ investment products to avoid any potential systemic risks in future. Sinha said he was concerned about the decline in capital raising activities as Rs 60,000 crore worth of approvals and intentions to raise money had either been allowed to lapse or withdrawn in the last three years. “Several companies filed draft red herring prospectus with SEBI to raise capital. But they either withdrew or allowed it to be lapsed,” Sinha said. Sinha complemented the BSE for achieving $1billion market capitalisation of companies listed on its SME platform. “This will allow qualified institutional bidders, private equity, venture capital good opportunity, so I expect that once this platform also succeeds, venture capital and private equity will find better to start getting their companies shifted here,” he said. On simplifying KYC norms, Sinha said, “It’s a huge task and may take more time. We are working on a project whereby an investor will get a single statement showing all MF investments and holding of securities and it will be launched this year." — PTI About crowd-funding It typically involves young entrepreneurs and small groups of people raising funds for their ventures through various online platforms, involving individuals and organisations.
	Pvt sector finds trading tough in India: WB Washington, April 10 The private sector strongly feels that India is a difficult place to do business in due to many regulations, World Bank president Jim Young Kim said today, calling for necessary reform to create a better environment and spur growth. “The private sector has the strong sense that India is a difficult place to do business in because of so many regulations and government regulations that are a bit unpredictable,” the World Bank president told journalists at a round table with media representatives from eight countries. The media representatives from India, China, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, Bangladesh, South Africa and Tunisia took part in the round table. “This is the direct impression that many private sector players have and we know well that the Indian government, especially the leadership knows this well and they're moving in a direction to try to improve that,” Kim said during the media round table, held on the sidelines of the annual Spring Meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Kim was highly appreciative of the top Indian leadership including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram. He was also appreciative of Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan. Kim said all of them were well aware of the difficulties and what needs to be done to address such challenges. “RBI Governor Rajan has already announced some financial sector reforms that I think (they) are promising. The thing that strikes me is that when I speak with for example Finance Minister Chidambaram and, you know, Prime Minister Singh, they know exactly what needs to be done," he said. “We know that for example there has to be reform in terms of government regulations so that the private sector can really take off,” he said. — PTI ‘Allocate more resources to end poverty’ Countries like India, which accounts for nearly one third of the people living in poverty globally, need to complement efforts to enhance growth with policies that allocate more resources to the extreme poor, the World Bank said on Thursday. In a report, the global lender said resources can be distributed through the growth process itself by promoting more inclusive growth or through government programmes such as conditional and direct cash transfers.
	Netas and biz leaders in race on assets chart New Delhi, April 10 Lok Sabha candidates with corporate background, such as Nandan Nilekani and Meera Sanyal, may rank much above their political rivals on wealth charts, but many others from India Inc who are contesting the polls lag behind ‘netas’ in accumulating assets. Former Infosys chief Nilekani figures among the richest in fray for 16th Lok Sabha elections with declaration of Rs 7,700 crore assets along with his wife, while ex-banker Meera Sanyal also stands taller than her constituency rivals in terms of declared assets of Rs 50 crore. Similar is the case with Jindal Power chairman Naveen Jindal and former Infosys director V Balakrishnan, who are wealthier than their respective rival candidates. However, hotelier Farhan Azmi, Shyama Charan Gupta, who owns bidi business, and Ashfaq Ahmed Madaki, a young entrepreneurial face of AAP, have lesser assets compared to the persons fielded against them, shows an analysis of assets declared in the nomination affidavits of various candidates. Interestingly, a significant number of candidates with corporate background have been fielded by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Azmi, who is contesting from the Mumbai North-Central seat on the Samajwadi Party ticket, own assets to the tune of Rs 65 crore. However, Poonam Mahajan (BJP candidate), daughter of late Pramod Mahajan, who is also fighting for the same constituency has higher networth than Azmi, while sitting MP Priya Dutt is just Rs one crore short of the hotelier's wealth. Mahajan has wealth to the tune of Rs 108 crore, while Dutt (Congress) has assets valued at Rs 64 crore. Shyama Charan Gupta, who is fighting against Congress’ Nand Gopal Gupta and AAP’s Adarsh Shastri from Allahabad, has Rs 40.45 crore. The net worth of BJP's Shyama Charan Gupta, however, is lesser than rival contestant Nand Gopal Gupta who has fortune of Rs 95 crore. — PTI
	Adani group stocks on roll Mumbai, April 10 Shares of Adani Enterprises today rose as much as 23% on heavy buying interest by investors. Two other Adani group companies also ended the day with smart gains. Adani Enterprises stock surged 23.15% to settle at Rs 470.25 on the BSE. During the day, the scrip zoomed 25.2% to Rs 478.2 — its 52-week high level. Shares of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone rallied 5.68% to close at Rs 193.65 after earlier hitting a one-year high level in intra-day at Rs 204.20. Adani Power rose by 1.35% to Rs 56.50. More than 52.7 lakh shares of Adani Power were traded during the day. In a clarification to the BSE, Adani Enterprises said: “The company keeps the exchange informed about events, information, including price sensitive information in accordance with regulatory requirements. In the present case, we do not have any important information/announcement to be shared.” Stocks of Ahmedabad-headquartered Adani Group, especially Adani Enterprises, have been on a roll since BJP announced Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections on September 13 last year. — PTI
	RBI chief urges global crisis ‘safety net’ Mumbai, April 10 RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan today proposed the creation of a global “safety net” administered by a multilateral body such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that could provide funds for countries in case of economic emergency. Providing such cash would ease pressures on countries to build up currency reserves as defences against any sudden outflows, said Rajan, endorsing a scheme that has previously been proposed by the IMF and discussed by policymakers. Rajan, a former chief economist at the IMF, repeated his call for central banks to be mindful of the impact of their policies on other countries. He went on to propose the appointment of “an impartial international assessor” who could examine the effects of unconventional central bank monetary policies on the global economy, although he did call this recommendation “a little too idealistic.” “We have to design a better multilateral liquidity safety net so that countries do not feel they are on their own in managing market turmoil, and so that they do not build enormous stockpiles of reserves,” he said at a Brookings Institution function in Washington. — Reuters