B U S I N E S S

Sensex crashes 431 points, Nifty plunges 129 points
Mumbai, September 23
Indian markets today suffered a big jolt with Sensex crashing 431 points and Nifty plunging 129 points in their worst drop in two-and-a-half months following a sell-off in overseas markets on concerns over global growth. Slower foreign fund inflow and profit-booking after recent bull run ahead of the expiry of September derivative contracts on Thursday also weighed on domestic sentiments. Over 2,100 stocks listed on the BSE fell today, wiping out more than Rs 1.63 lakh crore in investor wealth.

Modi to kick off ‘Make in India’ campaign tomorrow
New Delhi, September 23
The “Make in India” campaign to be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday will include simplification of regulatory clearances for investors, creation of an Ebiz portal to guide investors, collaboration between ministries to attend to queries within 72 hours, identifying companies that can emerge champions in the global value chain, release of 25 sectoral industry reports with key potential, involvement of state governments and including state-level clearances in the biz portal.

Marc Dilloon (C), co-founder & COO, Jolla Ltd., along with Tony Navin (L), senior VP, Snapdeal.com, and Sami Pienimaki, co-founder & chief marketing officer, Jolla Ltd., at the launch of Jolla smartphone in New Delhi on Tuesday. It is priced at Rs 16,499. Tribune photo: Mukesh Aggarwal

Minister sets priorities for MSME sector
New Delhi, September 23
Union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Kalraj Mishra today said he has set five priorities for the development of the sector during his first 100 days in office as part of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre.

P&SB gets nod for issue of equity shares
New Delhi, September 23
Punjab & Sind Bank has got the mandate of its shareholders for preferential issue of equity shares to the government, financial institutions, LIC, GIC and its subsidiary companies.

Sensex crashes 431 points, Nifty plunges 129 points
Realty, oil & gas, capital goods, pharma segments lead the slide

Mumbai, September 23
Indian markets today suffered a big jolt with Sensex crashing 431 points and Nifty plunging 129 points in their worst drop in two-and-a-half months following a sell-off in overseas markets on concerns over global growth.

Slower foreign fund inflow and profit-booking after recent bull run ahead of the expiry of September derivative contracts on Thursday also weighed on domestic sentiments.

Over 2,100 stocks listed on the BSE fell today, wiping out more than Rs 1.63 lakh crore in investor wealth.

Selling was seen across the board as all 12 sectoral indices closed in the red logging losses between 0.38% and 4.91%. Realty, oil & gas, capital goods, metal and pharma segments led the downslide.

On the global front, data spooked investors after data showed Eurozone’s private sector activity slowed again this month. This sent major European markets on a downward spiral.

In Asia, indices closed mixed with a downward bias after a survey in China showed factory employment slumped to a 5-1/2-year low even as manufacturing grew more thane expectations in September.

Back home, the BSE 30-share barometer, after few minutes intro trading touched a high of 27,256.87 but fell soon on emergence of profit-booking. Heavy selling forced the index to conclude at 26,775.69, a steep fall of 431.05 points or 1.58%. Previously, it had stumbled by 517.97 points or 1.98% on July 8, 2014.

Similarly, the Nifty of the NSE tanked by 128.75 points or 1.58% to end at 8,017.55. This is its worst drop since July 8 when it fell 164 points.

“Markets fell sharply on the back of profit booking and negative global cues. The selling pressure gained momentum after data released on Eurozone economic activity indicated continuing weakness in the region,” said Sanjeev Zarbade, vice-president — Private Client Group Research, Kotak Securities.

Stocks like Cipla, Tata Motors, Hindalco, Tata Steel and Tata Power were major laggards today. TCS, Sun Pharma, SBI, RIL, ONGC, Mahindra and Mahindra, L&T, Infosys, ICICI Bank and Coal India fell sharply. Bucking the trend, stocks of Hindustan Unilever, ITC, Maruti Suzuki and NTPC gained.

Second-line stocks also suffered heavy losses on profit selling by retail investors. — PTI

Modi to kick off ‘Make in India’ campaign tomorrow
Over 600 CEOs are expected to attend the event
Sanjeev Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 23
The “Make in India” campaign to be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday will include simplification of regulatory clearances for investors, creation of an Ebiz portal to guide investors, collaboration between ministries to attend to queries within 72 hours, identifying companies that can emerge champions in the global value chain, release of 25 sectoral industry reports with key potential, involvement of state governments and including state-level clearances in the biz portal.

According to sources, the aim is to simplify and reduce compliance for investors. More than 600 CEOs are expected to attend the event.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch “Make in India” initiative on September 25 from Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. The launch will be at both national and state level. The discussions anchored around national-level functions are being organised at state capitals and also internationally with key embassies pitching in to launch the campaign at the same time.

This initiative has its origin in the Prime Minister’s Independence Day speech where he talked of ‘Make in India’ and ‘No Defect; No Effect’ policy. State governments, business chambers, Indian missions abroad are playing an active role in the launch of the initiative.

The Modi government is focused on charting out a new path wherein business entities are extended red carpet welcome in a spirit of active cooperation.

The government is closely looking into all regulatory processes with a view to making them simple and reducing the burden of compliance on investors.

In partnership with the state governments and industry body FICCI, Invest India has been created to act as the first reference point for guiding foreign investors on all aspects of regulatory and policy issues and to assist them in obtaining regulatory clearances.

E-Biz portal would soon provide a 24x7, online, real-time platform for all central regulatory clearances in partnership with the state governments. All state-level clearances will also be brought on this portal. A dedicated cell will substantially revamp the query handling process. While exhaustive FAQ on the portal will help the investor in finding answers instantly in an interactive manner, human interface has been mandated to reply latest in 48 to 72 hours. For this purpose, nodal officers have been identified in all key ministries.

Investor facilitation cell will provide assistance to the investors from the time of arrival to time of departure concerning all clearances. The campaign will also target top companies in identified countries and sectors.

Taking forward the process of making the process of doing business and manufacturing in India, the government has identified key sectors with potential to attract investment. The Prime Minister will release 25 sector-specific and one general brochure. The brochures covering sectors such as automobiles, chemicals, IT, pharmaceuticals, textiles, ports, aviation, leather, tourism and hospitality, wellness and railways among others, will give details of growth drivers, investment opportunities, FDI and sector policy and related agencies.

The ‘Make in India’ initiative also aims to identify selected domestic companies having leadership in innovation and new technology for turning them into global champions. The focus will be on promoting green and advanced manufacturing and helping these companies to be part of the global value chain.

Key features of the initiative

• Simplification of regulatory clearances for investors, creation of an Ebiz portal to guide investors, collaboration between ministries to attend to queries within 72 hours
• Identifying companies that can emerge champions in the global value chain, release of 25 sectoral industry reports with key potential
• E-Biz portal would soon provide a 24x7, online, real-time platform for all central regulatory clearances in partnership with the state governments
• A dedicated cell will substantially revamp the query handling process.

Minister sets priorities for MSME sector
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 23
Union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Kalraj Mishra today said he has set five priorities for the development of the sector during his first 100 days in office as part of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre.

Addressing the media on the progress made in the MSME sector in the first few months of the government, Mishra said the five priorities that he had set included making loan availability easier, besides creating the credit fund trust.

He said the efforts were under way to provide a single-window clearance to the entrepreneurs and as part of the plan, some of the application forms had already been put online, which he said would maintain transparency.

The minister said besides ensuring greater involvement of the state governments, the stress would be on encouraging rural, SC/ST and women entrepreneurs and bringing in an MSME policy.

He said his ministry had launched initiatives like virtual cluster web portal, which has been made available at www.msmsecluster.in. It will provide facilities like common application forms, credit scoring models, besides other things and also a platform for Industry-Academia various Linkages.

P&SB gets nod for issue of equity shares
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 23
Punjab & Sind Bank has got the mandate of its shareholders for preferential issue of equity shares to the government, financial institutions, LIC, GIC and its subsidiary companies.

The shareholders in an extraordinary general meeting passed a special resolution, approving the conversion of perpetual non-cumulative preference shares (PNCPS) of Rs 200 crore, perpetual cumulative preference shares (PCPS) of Rs 200 crore and innovative perpetual debt instruments (IPDI) of Rs 160 crore held by the government aggregating to Rs 560 crore.