Mumbai, July 15
Closing five-and-a-half-year-long probe into the country’s biggest corporate fraud, market regulator SEBI today barred erstwhile Satyam Computer’s founder B Ramalinga Raju and four others from markets for 14 years and asked them to return Rs 1,849 crore worth of unlawful gains with interest.

The money needs to be deposited with SEBI within 45 days, while interest would be levied at 12% per annum with effect from January 7, 2009 — the day this mega-scam came to the light through a letter written by Raju himself.

The others facing the prohibitory orders include Raju’s brother B Rama Raju (then managing director of Satyam), Vadlamani Srinivas (ex-CFO), G Ramakrishna (ex-vice president) and VS Prabhakara Gupta (ex-head of internal audit).

In its 65-page order, effective immediately, SEBI said these five persons “have committed a sophisticated white collar financial fraud with pre-meditated and well thought of plan and deliberate design for personal gains and to the detriment of the company and investors in its securities”.

The regulator, which has exercised the powers given to it through promulgation of an ordinance for passing disgorgement orders, said the “financial frauds as found in this case are inimical to the interests of the investors in securities and endanger the market integrity”.

SEBI’s whole-time Member Rajeev Kumar Agarwal said in his order: “I am convinced that this is a case where befitting enforcement action is necessary to send a stern message to the market to create an effective deterrence.” On January 7, 2009, Raju — the then chairman of Satyam Computer — had sent an email to the SEBI, wherein he admitted and confessed to inflating the cash and bank balances of the company, besides understating liabilities and other financial mis-statements.

After the fraud came to the light, the government had ordered an auction for sale of the company in the interest of investors and employees of what was known at that time as the country’s fourth largest IT firm.

The company was acquired by Tech Mahindra, then renamed as Mahindra Satyam and eventually it was merged with Tech Mahindra. — PTI

Ahmedabad, July 15
The change of guard at the Centre has brought one more benefit to Gujarat. After three years of indecision, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has given clearance for the use of the cold storage for perishable goods at the Ahmedabad airport premises.

The four-chambered Centre for Perishable Cargo (having a 30-tonne capacity), set up by the Gujarat Agro Industries Corporation (GAIC), has been ready for use for the past three years but for some unknown reasons, the AAI was not giving clearance for its use. Perishable goods like fruits and vegetables can be stored here under minus 8 to 22 degree Celsius.

The utilisation of the cold storage will help the farmers from Gujarat to export fruits and vegetables, particularly kesar mangoes, directly from the Ahmedabad airport. So far, they had to send their produce by road to Mumbai for export. The opening of the cold storage would not only benefit the farmers in the state in reducing their export costs but also the Gujarat Government as the export income earned by the Maharashtra Government would now accrue to the state government.

The AAI has no stake in the cold storage except having given the land on lease to the GAIC which would also be responsible for its maintenance and operations.

Mumbai, July 15
Domestic budget carriers SpiceJet, Indigo and GoAir today rolled out another sale offer with fares starting from Rs 1,699 for a limited period on domestic routes.

The travel period for the three-day sale, which commences from today, will remain valid between August 18 and September 30.

“Indian travellers have reason to rejoice this monsoon season with a new air fare sale valid for closer dates of travel — August and September this year. SpiceJet has announced fares starting Rs 1,999, while IndiGo sales start at Rs 1,699 for select sectors,” travel portal MakeMyTrip co-founder and chief executive for India Rajesh Magow said.

With popular destinations such as Goa, Guwahati, Port Blair, Dharamshala, Udaipur, Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi being served under these promotions, MakeMyTrip expects travellers to make use of this limited-period offer, he said. — PTI

New Delhi, July 15
State Bank of India today slashed the interest rate on short-term fixed deposits up to 179 days by 0.5%, a move expected to be followed by other lenders.

Interest rate on fixed deposits between 7-179 days has been reduced to 7% from 7.5%, SBI said. The new rate would be effective from July 18, it said.

In case of bulk deposits above Rs 1 crore, the downward revision has been effected in two maturity buckets. The interest rate on term deposits between 7-60 days has been reduced by 0.25% to 6.25% while for 61 days to less than one year, it has been reduced to 6.75% from the existing 7%. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Railway’s freight earnings go up by over 7%
New Delhi: Earnings of Railways from freight has increased by over 7% in the first quarter of 2014 as compared to the corresponding period last year. Railways have earned Rs 24,541.96 crore from freight traffic during April-June 2014 as compared to Rs 22,795.55 crore during the corresponding period last year. — PTI

ONGC to sell stake in Mangalore project
New Delhi: ONGC will sell its 46% stake in a $1-billion petrochem project in Karnataka to its subsidiary Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL). ONGC holds 46% stake in OMPL which is building a Rs 6,400-crore Aromatic Complex in Mangalore SEZ. — PTI

DLF plans to raise ~3,500 cr via securities
New Delhi: DLF is planning to raise up to Rs 3,500 crore through issue of securities backed by IT-SEZs to replace its costlier debt. In May, DLF had launched the country’s first Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities to raise Rs 525 crore against a shopping mall ‘DLF Emporio’ in Delhi.— PTI

Maruti, HP Technical Education Dept in pact
Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh Technical Education, Vocational and Industrial Training Department and Maruti Suzuki India on Tuesday signed an MoU for the development of ITIs at Solan, Mandi and Nadaun in Hamirpur district. Rajeshwar Goel, director, Technical Education, HP, and Maruti Suzuki India VP (HR) CM Raju signed the MoU. — TNS

Volkswagen to invest Rs 1,500 cr in India
New Delhi: German carmaker Volkswagen plans to invest Rs 1,500 crore in India over the next six years on various activities, including local production of engines, as it aims to consolidate position in the country. The company intends to invest on enhancing localisation and development of new products. — PTI