Market cues: India eases overseas borrowing rules
The Reserve Bank of India has raised the overseas convertible bonds or FCCBs borrowimg limit to $750mn under the automatic route. Companies can now raise FCCBs upto $750mn without RBI approval.
Asian markets traded weak on Friday despite a firm trend overnight in US markets. Concerns over the debt crisis in Europe continue to push capital into US equities. On Thursday, although overall gains were small, but banks advanced for a third day, supported by better-than-expected US economic data.
SBI on Kingfisher
The country's largest bank and Kingfisher Airline's lead lender, State bank of India, has finally admitted that its outstanding Rs 500 cr loan to the airline has been termed as non-performing asset. SBI chairman Pratip Chaudhuri told reporters in Delhi on Thursday that the airline has been given 90 days to repay back the loan in order to upgrade it to standard assets.
2G spectrum
The recent 2G controversy on spectrum pricing has the forced department of telecom to play it safe before introducing new policy decisions. NDTV learns that DoT has sent a note to the PMO and finance ministry seeking their view on spectrum pricing. While TRAI has recommended a one time fee on operators holding excess spectrum beyond 6.2 Mhz, DoT is exploring options to auction spectrum. A similar note has already been sent to the Law Min seeking legal view on the matter, it is learnt.
Gujarat Gas stake
State-owned Indian Oil ,ONGC, GAIL and Oil India and Adani Group are interested in buying BG Group's stake in Gujarat Gas but find the Rs 4,000 crore asking price too expensive. The companies have shown interest in buying BG Group's 65.12 per cent stake in India's largest natural gas distributor by sales. The public sector firms may form a consortium to jointly bid for BG'S stake in Gujarat Gas that sells gas to about 325,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers.
Kaushik Basu
Prime minister Manmohan Singh’s chief economic advisor has said that with inflation easing and weekly food inflation dropping into the negative zone, the focus needs to shift to growth. In an interview to NDTV he said that the central bank needs to now move in the direction of cutting rates.
Edelweiss and Fortis
ECL Finance and six other entities have acquired a 6.18 per cent stake in Fortis Healthcare. Fortis said that the stake was acquired "by way of encumbrances against loans/dues". Entities inlclude Edelweiss Financial Advisors, Edelweiss Securities, Edelweiss Comtrade, Edel Finance Company, Edelweiss Stock Broking and Edelweiss Broking. This will be considered as public shareholding.
RBI eases borrowing
The Reserve Bank of India has raised the overseas convertible bonds or FCCBs borrowimg limit to $750mn under the automatic route. Companies can now raise FCCBs upto $750mn without RBI approval. Industries including hotels, hospitals and IT can raise FCCBs up to USD 200mn on the condition that proceeds would not be used for acquisition of land.
Cement dispatches rise
Cement companies reported a growth in dispatches for December 2011. Dispatches of UltraTech up 10.5 per cent annually (+17.1 per cent over November 2011) to 3.62 million tonnes. Ambuja Cement's dispatches up 5.8 per cent (+5.5 per cent MoM) to 1.93 MT. ACC’s volumes rose 8.9 per cent (+14.2 per cent MoM) to 2.09 MT. Volume growth of UltraTech & ACC was led by a low base last year. Jaiprakash’s (JPA) volumes rose 28.4 per cent (+9.5 per cent over November 2011) to 1.74 MT. JPA volumes were aided by capacity ramp-up.