GIC all set to pick up promoter KP Singh’s family stake in DLF arm
The promoters of India’s largest real estate company DLF Ltd, KP Singh and his family, plan to sell their 40% stake in DLF Cyber City Developers Ltd (DCCDL) to GIC of Singapore to help repay debt, said Ashok Tyagi, group chief finance officer. The company owns a portfolio of leased commercial assets, including the Cyber City commercial complex in Gurgaon. The two sides will enter into an exclusive agreement, said Tyagi, who declined to divulge the valuation.
Source: Economic Times
India seeks $5-7 billion aid from World Bank
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday urged the World Bank to grant India $5-7 billion to meet its funding requirements. “An increase in World Bank’s support is imperative to meet our current requirement of $5-7 billion and for a huge pipeline of projects,” said Jaitley in a statement after meeting its Chief Executive Kristalina I. Georgieva here. India has decided to seek the aid only through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) of the World Bank and cease the funding from its affiliate — International Development Agency (IDA).
Source: Economic Times
TCS says founders will participate in Rs16,000 crore share buyback
Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), which is planning a Rs16,000 crore share buyback, said on Wednesday that founder group of the company intended to participate in the proposed buyback. TCS, is part of the salt-to-software Tata conglomerate, whose holding company is Tata Sons Ltd. Tata Sons owned 73.26% of TCS as of the end of December, according to stock exchange data. TCS last month approved share buyback of up to 56.1 million shares at Rs2,850 apiece.
Source: Livemint
HDFC, ICICI, Axis banks will now charge you Rs 150 after 4 free transactions a month
Banks, including HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank, from March 1 started levying a minimum charge of Rs 150 per transaction for cash deposits and withdrawals beyond four free transactions in a month. The charges will apply to savings as well as salary accounts effective from Wednesday, HDFC Bank said in a statement. According to HDFC bank’s new rule, apart from having to pay an additional Rs 150 for the fifth transaction after four free ones, consumers will have to pay cess and an additional service tax.
Source: India Today
Railways to come up with mini-budget tomorrow
With the railway budget becoming a history, the roadmap for Indian railways for a financial year, which used to get released with the Budget, has also become thing from the past now. In order to bring in a new tradition, railway minister Suresh Prabhu is set to launch Indian Railways Freight and Passenger Business Action Plan 2017-18, which railway officials are terming as “mini-budget”. “Traditionally, a normal railway budget has about 135 pages, of which about 100 pages are on the action plan for the financial year. With the budgets getting merged, we are unable to present it before Parliament. Hence, this launch is like a mini-budget,” said an official source close to the development. The plan will be launched at the Railway Museum in Delhi on Thursday. The Narendra Modi-led government has broken a 92-year-old tradition of presenting a separate railway budget this year. This was based on a report by Bibek Debroy, a member of Niti Aayog.
Source: Business Standard
Another USFDA warning for Wockhardt; US plant faces product approval freeze
Wockhardt’s US business has suffered another jolt with the US drug regulator issuing a warning letter to the company’s Morton Grove manufacturing plant in that country. Three of its plants in India are already under an import alert and FDA’s latest action means that Wockhardt will not receive approvals for products filed from the Morton Grove plant in the US. Wockhardt said it was addressing issues raised by the regulator. In a notification to the exchangeon Wednesday, it said the warning letter “would mean that current portfolio of the company will continue to be made available in the market.
Source: Business Standard
JSW Steel makes offer to buy controlling stake in Monnet Ispat
Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Steel has made an offer to buy controlling stake in Monnet Ispat & Energy Ltd through the strategic debt restructuring (SDR) route. The company is undergoing SDR and lenders, who own 51 percent stake, are exploring the option of handing over its control and management to outside investors. A source privy to the development said, “JSW Steel has put in final bid and the bankers are considering the offer submitted by JSW Steel. It is the only company which submitted the final bid.”
Source: Money Control
India considers reinstating 25% wheat import tax
India could impose a 25 per cent import tax on wheat by the middle of March, two government sources said on Wednesday, reinstating the tariff after a gap of nearly three months in response to recent large purchases from overseas. India, the world’s second-biggest wheat producer, lowered the import tax on the grain to 10 per cent from 25 per cent in September 2016 and scrapped the duty on December 8 last year. The decision encouraged imports from private traders who have sealed deals to buy more than five million tonnes of wheat since mid-2016 to meet a supply shortfall left by two years of drought.
Source: Business Standard
Demonetisation will be credit positive for India; may cut tax avoidance, corruption: Moody’s
Demonetisation will be credit positive for India as it is likely to reduce tax avoidance and corruption, Moody’s Investors Service said on Wednesday. Besides, it said, the country remained resilient to economic disruption and the worst of the liquidity crunch had passed, which should support a rebound in consumption and investment. The United States based agency, however, projected growth to slow to 6.4 per cent in the January-March quarter, from 7 per cent in the previous three months.
Source: The Hindu
GDP Data Contradicts Inflated Claims of Note Ban Impact: Jaitley
Buoyed by higher-than-expected GDP growth, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said a 7 per cent expansion in third quarter belies exaggerated claims of note ban impact on rural economy. Jaitley, who returned from his UK visit on Wednesday morning, seemed to agree with RBI Governor Urjit Patel’s assertion of a sharp V-shaped recovery as remonetisation picks up. The October-December quarter of 2016 was “substantially impacted by demonetisation (of higher denomination currency),” the finance minister said.
Source: The Quint
World Bank offers over $1-billion loan to Maharashtra
The World Bank has announced an assistance programme of over $1 billion in the areas of urban transport and climate resilient agriculture in Maharashtra, over the next 2-3 years. This was announced by the World Bank’s Chief Executive Officer, Kristalina Georgieva, at the end of a day-long visit to the city. Over the last five years, World Bank had invested over $1.4 billion in Maharashtra in urban transport, rural water supply and agriculture. “The Government of Maharashtra is committed to sustaining high economic growth for its people. The State faces significant challenges, particularly in the areas of urban transport, climate change and water,” Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
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