RBI to buy G-Secs on Jan 22
The Reserve Bank has decided to conduct Open Market Operations (OMO) by purchasing four government securities for an aggregate amount of Rs 10,000 crore on January 22. The OMO is being conducted as, according to the RBI, the current assessment suggests that the strain on market liquidity is likely to endure in view of the fiscal targets set for the year as well as projections for aggregate credit growth, warranting the need to provide liquidity of a more permanent nature.
The RBI said liquidity conditions are undergoing some stress, primarily on account of the build-up of cash balances of the Government. The RBI said it will be conducting OMO by purchasing four G-Secs — that is, government security (GS) maturing in 2017 (July) and carrying coupon rate of 8.07 per cent; 7.28 per cent GS 2019; 7.16 per cent GS 2023; and 8.28 per cent GS 2027 — aggregating Rs 10,000 crore.
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RIL Q3 net profit at Rs. 5511 crore
Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) has reported a net profit of Rs. 5,511 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2013, as compared to Rs. 5,502 crore during the same period in the previous year.
The net profit remained almost flat due to drop in gross refining margin at its refineries and continued fall in production from its KG exploration blocks.
The company reported a 10.3 per cent growth in total income at Rs. 103,521 crore against Rs.93,886 crore.
As compared to the previous quarter, the quarterly profit increased only 0.4 per cent from Rs.5,490 crore reported in the second quarter. But turnover declined by 0.1 per cent as compared to Rs.106,523 crore in the second quarter.
For the nine months ended December 31, 2013, RIL reported a 6.1 per cent growth in net profit at Rs.16,353 crore against Rs.15,414 crore in the year-ago period.
The turnover grew by 6.7 per cent to Rs.303,495 crore from Rs.284,500 crore.
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India to seek enhanced crude oil, LPG supplies from Saudi Arabia
Apart from seeking enhanced crude oil and LPG supplies from Saudi Arabia, India will showcase major investment opportunities to the Arab Kingdom and its companies, including offering stake in IOC’s LNG project at Ennore in Tamil Nadu, Kochi Petrochemical Project of BPCL, Opal Petrochemical project at Dahej in Gujarat during the Joint Commission Meeting to be held later this month in Riyadh.
At present, India imports on an average around 700,000 barrels per day of crude oil from Saudi Arabia and is seeking to increase that quantity. Major Saudi companies like Kingdom Holding, Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) and National Industrialisation Company (NIC), the petrochemical holding arm of the Kingdom Holding Company would be offered attractive investment opportunities, including that in the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor project.
Sources in the Petroleum Ministry said the Indian side would request Saudi Aramco, the Kingdom’s national oil company, to crease term volume of crude to Indian oil marketing companies (OMCs) as the requests already made. State-run Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited’s (HPCLs) request for higher allocation of Arab extra light crude was turned down in July-September 2013 by Saudi Aramco. The company was providing a line of credit to the extent of $65 million to HPCL, which was withdrawn in March 2009.
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Wipro revenues up by 18 per cent
IT services major Wipro announced on Friday that it's consolidated revenues in the third quarter ending December 31 amounted to Rs. 11,330 crores, an increase of 18 per cent over the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The company also registered a net profit of Rs. 2,010 crores, 27 per cent more than what it made in the previous year.
Dollar-denominated earnings from IT services amounted to $1.68 billion, 6.4 per cent higher than in the previous year. Revenues from IT services amounted to Rs. 10,330 crores, an increase of 20 per cent. Net profit from IT services amounted to Rs. 2,380 crores, an increase of 33 per cent over the previous year.
Executive director and CEO T.K. Kurien said the company expects revenues in the fourth quarter to range between $1.712 billion and $1.745 billion.
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HC refuses to quash criminal cases against Mallya
In a set back to Vijay Mallya, the Karnataka High Court on Saturday refused to quash the criminal cases filed against him by the Income-tax Department for not remitting tax deducted at source by Kingfisher Airlines Ltd.
Justice Nagamohan Das passed the order while dismissing the petitions filed by the KAL and its head Mr. Mallya.
A Special Economic Offences Court in Bangalore had initiated criminal proceedings last year based on I-T Department's three separate complaints. With the dismissal of petitions the stay granted earlier by the High Court on criminal proceedings before the special court stands vacated
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Airlines stare at losses, new players to fuel price war
The airline industry in India will continue to incur losses, with four out of the five airlines e expected to report annual loss, as business environment continues to remain challenging.
The entry of new airlines during this year will make it more difficult for the incumbent airlines, whose finances have weakened further, said aviation consultancy Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) in a report.
As per CAPA, all airlines from India collectively lost over $500 million in the September, 2013, quarter. And despite the strong December quarter, the airlines are expected to report collective loss of $175-250 million, excluding one-off adjustments.
“In financial year 2013, Indian carriers lost an average of Rs. 1,500 ($24.40) on every passenger carried. And this is even before the entry of several planned start-ups in 2014. Every carrier is expected to post losses in the current fourth quarter based on current trends and a fare war is not ruled out, which will likely result in Jet Airways and SpiceJet reporting record full year losses,” CAPA said .
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HDFC Bank third quarter profit up 25 %
HDFC Bank reported a net profit of Rs. 2,325.70 crore, an increase of 25.1 per cent compared to Rs. 1,859.07 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2012.
The net profit for the nine months ended December 31, 2013, was at Rs. 6,151.9 crore, up by 27.2 per cent compared to Rs. 4836.44 crore in the corresponding nine months ended December 31, 2012.
The bank’s total income for the quarter ended December 31, 2013 was Rs. 12,739 crore, an increase of 17.7 per cent compared to Rs 10,818 crore in the year-ago period. Net revenues (net interest income plus other income) stood at Rs. 6,783.1 crore as against Rs 5,909.4 crore.
Net interest income for the quarter ended December 31, 2013, accounted for 68.3 per cent of net revenues and grew by 16.4 per cent to Rs. 4,634.80 crore from Rs 3,981.60 crore , said HDFC Bank in a press release. Net interest margin for the quarter was at 4.2 per cent as against 4.3 per cent.
Other income (non-interest revenue) at Rs.2,148.3 crore was 31.7 per cent of the net revenues for the quarter ended December 31, 2013 and grew by 11.4 per cent over Rs.1,927.7 crore in the corresponding quarter ended December 31, 2012.
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Sensex ends lower by 24 points
The benchmark Sensex gave up initial gains and dropped 24 points from a near-record level on Thursday, led by Bharti Airtel, amid profit booking and a mixed trend in overseas stock markets.
Bharti Airtel fell almost 5 per cent as telecom stocks dropped on concern Reliance Jio Infocomm’s participation in the upcoming spectrum auction may hurt their market share and profitability.
Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices, Tata Communications and MTNL dropped.
Tata Motors and Sun Pharma were among the 16 Sensex shares that declined.
Seven of the 12 BSE sectoral indices fell, led by auto, FMCG and healthcare stocks.
Some IT shares were in demand after HCL Technologies, the country’s fourth-largest software services exporter, logged a 52-week high after posting a 58.4 per cent rise in profit.
The 30-share S&P BSE Sensex resumed strong on an initial rally in Asian stocks and touched a high of 21,379.29, the second-highest intra-day level after touching 21,483.74 on December 9.
The index then dropped to end at 21,265.18, a fall of 24.31 points or 0.11 per cent. Yesterday, the Sensex had risen 256.61 points.
The CNX Nifty on the National Stock Exchange ended almost flat — down two points to 6,318.90.
“Telecom stocks fell by 4 to 7 per cent...Global markets were flat to negative and also weakened market strength,” said Rakesh Goyal, Senior Vice President at Bonanza Portfolio Ltd.
Foreign institutional investors bought shares worth a net Rs 713.29 crore yesterday, according to provisional data from the stock exchanges.
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Australian Open - Paes Stepanek in third round, play Bhambri-Venus
India’s Leander Paes and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek on Saturday entered the third round of the men’s doubles at the Australian Open, easily defeating Italian Daniele Bracciali and Ukranian Alexander Dolgopolov 6—1, 6—4.
Fifth-seeded Paes and Stepanek, who beat Paes’s former partner Lukas Dlouhy and Lukas Rosol of Czech Republic 6—4, 6—1, in the first round, had a clear superiority in serving, returning and hitting winners.
Paes and Stepanek next play India’s Yuki Bhambri and his New Zealand partner Michael Venus, who had upset 10th seeded Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands and his Romanian partner Horia Tecau 6—4, 6—4, in the second round on Friday.
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National waterway gets ready, but barges are in short supply
The hope of shifting transportation of hazardous and bulk cargo from narrow, congested roads to Kerala’s waterways might take time, though the Kollam-Kottapuram National Waterway III is due for formal inauguration in March.
This means the State’s roads would continue to be vulnerable to accidents involving tankers ferrying LPG, ammonia and other hazardous goods, the latest being an LPG tanker overturning and catching fire at Kannur on Tuesday. “NW III can be optimally used only if entrepreneurs deploy adequate number of barges to transport bulk cargo. Similarly, coastal shipping – an economical way of transporting bulk cargo in ships through the sea off Kerala coast — will get a fillip if entrepreneurs come forward to operate ships,” said Director of Ports Jacob Thomas.
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BoM launches savings bank deposit scheme
Bank of Maharashtra has launched a savings bank deposit scheme — Mahabank Royal Savings Account — exclusively for high net worth Individuals having a minimum monthly average balance (MAB) of Rs 1 lakh in their account.
The slew of benefits offered to the accountholder under the product includes assistance of a relationship manager, free accident death insurance cover (Rs 50 lakh personal air accident death insurance and Rs 10 lakh personal accidental death insurance), higher transaction limit on ATM-cum-debit card on merchant point of sale terminals, and free national electronic funds transfer/real time gross system transactions through Internet banking, the bank said in a statement.
Other benefits to the account holders include 50 per cent concession in the processing fees of all retail loans, 100 free personalised cheque leaves per annum, 50 per cent concession on annual maintenance charge of BoM-SBI co-branded Gold Credit Card, and free demat account facility for the first year.
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Syedna’s final journey begins, lakhs of mourners pay respects
The funeral procession of Dr Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin today began from his Malabar Hill residence here, where lakhs of mourners gathered to pay tributes to the spiritual leader of the Dawoodi Bohra community amid tight security arrangements.
The procession, which moved at snail’s pace, commenced around 10 a.m. from Saifee Mahal, where community members converged in huge numbers for the final journey of the 102-year-old leader, who will be laid to rest at Raudat Tahera mausoleum here at Bhendi Bazar later in the day.
Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin led the Namaz-e-Janaza of the late Syedna.
As scores kept joining the procession to get a last glimpse of the spiritual head while it proceeded through Walkeshwar Road in South Mumbai, the route was closed for traffic to allow easy passage.
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Canada keen on more ties with India
Canada is pushing for increased trade with India, aiming at tripling the bi-lateral trade in two years.
Joe Daniel, Member of Parliament, Canada said the current trade between India and Canada was $ 5 billion. “Our goal is to increase the two-day trade to $ 15 billion by 2015 and I think this is achievable,” he told media persons after an interaction with members of the CII here today.
Daniel, who is part of a Canadian trade delegation visiting different states in India, said the bilateral trade agreement that India and Canada was discussing would help achieve this goal. The agreement, which envisages abolition of certain duties and taxes, was in the final stages of negotiations — it is being negotiated for almost three years now and certain trade issues were holding it up.
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Kochi to get first aquatic animal hospital
An Aquatic Animal Health and Environment Management Laboratory, the first of its kind in the Government sector will be set up in the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS) here.
The National Fisheries Development Board has sanctioned Rs 56 lakh in this regard for aquatic organisms, including shrimps, fresh water prawn and farming fishes.
B. Madhusoodana Kurup, Vice-Chancellor, KUFOS, said that the centre would be able to regularly monitor the occurrence of diseases and evolve effective strategies for health management for aqua culturists. By doing so, the lab will also play an important role in quarantine and disease-free certification of ornamental fish. Around 250-300 farmers, at least, are likely to be benefited by the setting up of such a facility in the State, he said.
The laboratory will function as a monitoring and surveillance centre for disease affecting fishes. The centre will be able to test the pollution levels of waters, he said. KUFOS will maintain registers pertaining to the details of farmers, samples given for testing, tests undertaken and results. This will help university students develop researches in related areas.
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‘Merchanting’ eligible for short-term credit: RBI
The Reserve Bank of India on Friday said short-term credit either by way of suppliers’ credit or buyers’ credit will be available for intermediary trade transactions or merchanting.
Merchanting or intermediary trade transaction involves purchase of goods by Indian residents from non-residents and then reselling them to another non-resident directly without the goods touching Indian ports. The merchanting transactions will include the discounting of export leg Letter of Credit by a bank authorised to deal in foreign exchange, as in the case of import transactions, the central bank said.
Norms revised
According to the revised guidelines on merchanting transactions, the RBI said the entire process of intermediary trade transactions should be completed within an overall period of nine months and there should not be any outlay of foreign exchange beyond four months.
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Indian nominations for World Travel Awards
Aiming at world audience, the website for ‘Incredible India’ campaign will soon provide tourist related information in 11 languages, including Chinese, Spanish and Arabic.
“Our website is going to be in 11 languages including Russian, Chinese, Portuguese, Arabic, French and Spanish to make it helpful for foreign tourists,” Tourism Secretary Parvez Dewan said at the Incredible India calendar launch here.
Besides, the Tourism Ministry website will also have new features like virtual tours and audio guides of prominent tourist places in the country.
“Eight cities including Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, Jaipur, Ahmedabad have been covered by virtual tours and our aim is to cover at least one place of every state in two years in the virtual tour programme,” Dewan said.
Hoping for a growth in foreign and domestic tourists in the current year, he said, “We are expecting an increase of about 5 per cent in the foreign tourist arrivals this year while the number of domestic tourists is increasing by 18 to 19 per cent every year.”
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Award for Poovar Island Resort
The Union Ministry of Power has selected the Poovar Island Resort for the National Energy Conservation Award 2013.
M.R. Narayanan, Managing Director, received the award from President Pranab Mukherjee at a function in Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. Kabeer Khader, Chairman, was also present.
More than 800 industrial units and establishments were in the fray for the award, Narayanan said. The resort lists a solar powered boat; a ‘thermic fluid heating system’ using waste; and a biogas plant as major initiatives aimed at saving energy.
The resort targets to achieve ‘energy-neutral’ status by conserving energy and tapping into non-conventional sources for generation, he added.
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Microsoft ties up with top colleges for Accelerator programme
Microsoft has tied up with 10 top engineering colleges in the country to launch Academia Accelerator programme to develop student-driven innovation and entrepreneurship.
The programme is aimed at improving Computer Science curriculum in the colleges. It will encourage students to build apps for mobile, big data and other platforms, Vinod Anantharaman, Head of Business Management of Microsoft India (R&D), said.
Addressing a press conference here, he said they would reach out to 4,000 students. “This is going to be a long-term association. We are expecting development of 250 apps at the 10 proposed hackathons. We expect development of at least 30 great apps coming out of the programme," he said.
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HDFC Bank against charging own customers for ATM use
HDFC Bank has said that it is not inclined to charge its own customers for ATM transactions and will not do so unless there is an industry level decision that has a bearing on the bank. The stand is contrary to the one taken by the country's largest lender State Bank of India which supports introducing charges even for customers using their home bank ATMs beyond a point.
Speaking to newspersons after announcing the bank's results, Paresh Sukthankar, deputy MD, said that from the outset the bank had taken the stance that it will not charge its customers for ATM use. He added that the bank was unlikely to make a unilateral move towards a structure where own customers are charged. "This is something that is being discussed at various levels and the discussion also includes the charges for using other banks' ATMs."
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