PE, VC investments fell 6.3% to $1.2 billion in January: EY
Private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) investments in India in January 2017 dropped 6.3% to $1.2 billion (about Rs8,037 crore) from a year ago, according to data compiled by accounting firm EY. This was also a sharp decline of 60% from December 2016. The $1.6 billion buyout of Reliance Infratel by Brookfield had pushed up the overall numbers in December 2016. In volume terms, there were 43 transactions in January, down 6.5% from a year ago, mainly due to a drop in the number of growth/expansion funding deals. A single large deal—CPPIB’s acquisition of 48% equity stake in Global Logic for $720 million from Apax—accounted for 60% of the deal value.
Oil giant: Govt mulls merging HPCL or BPCL with ONGC
The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation may take over either Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd or Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd if the Centre’s idea of‘integrated oil major’ materialises. An official involved with the development said the plan is to transfer the government’s holding in one of the companies to ONGC, making the latter the holding company. This will enable the creation of integrated oil major. The Centre holds 51.11 per cent stake in HPCL, and 54.93 per cent in BPCL.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
Government may roll back 10 per cent LTCG tax proposed on ESOPs
The government may be looking to roll back or tweak a budget announcement, imposing long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax on holders of ESOPs and private equity investors, people close to the development said. In the budget, the government had introduced a provision whereby anyone who acquired shares in unlisted companies before October 1, 2004, and had not paid securities transaction tax (STT) will be liable to pay 10 per cent LTCG tax.
No amnesty for bank deposits linked to money laundering: CBDT
Any bank account suspected to have been “misused” for money laundering or shell company operations won’t be exempted from probe under ‘Operation Clean Money’ despite having low deposits, the CBDT today said. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the policy- making making body of the department, issued specific guidelines to ascertain if a particular cash deposit is genuine or not and with a view to “maintain consistent approach during verification” under ‘Operation Clean Money’ where 18 lakh people were contacted by the taxman.
IDBI Bank board okays non-core assets’ sale
IDBI Bank Ltd’s board has approved a plan to sell some of its non-core assets, the state-owned lender told stock exchangeson Tuesday. The bank is in need of a massive capital boost as it reported a gross bad loan ratio of 15.16% at the end of December. The talk of IDBI Bank divesting its non-core assets has been on since the management spoke about it first in May 2016. At the time, Kishor Kharat, managing director and chief executive officer of the bank, had said that the bank aimed to raise Rs19,000-20,000 crore by March 2019, of which about Rs6,500 crore would come from sale of non-core assets.
Chandra to focus on shareholder returns
India’s Tata Sons, the holding company of the $100-billion Tata group, will focus on boosting shareholder returns and tightening capital allocation rules, newly-appointed chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran said in a statement on Tuesday. Chandrasekaran, widely known as Chandra, took over as chairman on Tuesday, months after the firm ousted predecessor Cyrus Mistry in a bitter boardroom coup with family patriach Ratan Tata returning to the helm temporarily.
Chandra gets cracking on Day One at Tata Sons
New Tata Sons chief N Chandrasekaran on Tuesday spelt out three broad areas of focus including bringing the group closer together, driving operating performances across the group and bringing greater rigour to capital allocation policies. Chairing his first board meeting as Chairman of Tata Sons Ltd, the principal investment holding company for more than 100 Tata operating companies, Chandra, as he is popularly known, said: “In my new role, I will focus on three strategic priorities: bring the group closer together to leverage its enormous collective strength; reinforce a leader’s mindset among the operating companies and drive world-class operating performances across the group; bring greater rigour to our capital allocation policies and deliver superior returns to our shareholders.”
Source: The Hindu Business Line
Microsoft to start using Aadhaar for Skype service
Microsoft may soon start utilising Aadhaar as an authentication in its free calling service Skype, as the Centre has given its go-ahead on Tuesday. CEO Satya Nadella met Minister for Electronics and IT, Ravi Shankar Prasad, wherein both have discussed the benefits of technology in various ‘Digital India’ projects.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
SBI pitches for separate telecom spectrum for financial services
Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman of State Bank of India, has called for earmarking telecom spectrum separately for the financial services sector so that issues such as transactions being timed out due to lack of bandwidth are effectively addressed. Speaking at a panel discussion organised by the Indian Banks’ Association, Bhattacharya said telecom companies have a different aim: carry voice, data, make profits, and even have their own payments banks. So, for them, carrying financial transactions through their telecom network is not a priority, she said.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
JC Penney to reduce outsourcing to India
US-based retail giant JC Penney Co. Inc., which hands out millions of dollars worth software business every year to the likes of Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) and Infosys Ltd, plans to cut back on outsourcing to India, even as India’s top software services firms face their slowest period of growth in a decade as their core businesses face disruptions from technology shifts and from potential new visa regulations in their largest market, the US. The Plano, Texas-based department store chain, which is in the midst of a turnaround in its fortunes as it battles for survival against new-age online rivals such as Amazon.com, also plans to hire at least 1,000 software professionals over the next two years for its new technology centre in Bengaluru as part of a broader “insourcing” drive to cut costs and tap local tech talent.
Tata fund in talks to buy 23% stake in Dodla Dairy
Tata Opportunities Fund, a private equity (PE) fund owned by the Tata group, is in talks to buy a significant minority stake in Hyderabad-based Dodla Dairy Ltd, two people with knowledge of the matter said. The fund is in talks to acquire an about 23% stake held by US-based investment firm Proterra Investment Partners (formerly Black River Asset Management) in a deal worth Rs300 crore, the people said, requesting anonymity.
Market took demonetisation positively; rising dollar dampened sentiment, says FinMin
The Finance Ministry today said demonetisation of Rs 500/1,000 notes last year was viewed “positively” by the market though the bullish sentiment was restrained due to strengthening of US dollar. “The government’s decision on November 8, 2016 to demonetise high denomination value notes was viewed positively by the market as deposits were expected to surge in banks and led to bullish market sentiment, particularly for short-end bonds,” said the quarterly debt management report. The bullish market sentiment was, however, “restrained to a certain extent” with US 10 year treasury yield rising to 2.15 per cent level and led to dollar strengthening — adversely affecting the market, said the report for October-December quarter.
One million bankers to strike work on February 28
Around one million bankers will go on strike on February 28 following the failure of conciliation talks between the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) and the management, a union leader said on Tuesday. The UFBU is an umbrella body of nine unions in the banking sector. All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) General Secretary C.H. Venkatachalam said the Chief Labour Commissioner of the Ministry of Labour had called for a conciliation meeting in Delhi on Tuesday morning.
25% float still a riddle for PSUs
The Centre may approach market regulator Sebi soon with a request for relaxation in August 21 deadline to meet the 25 per cent minimum public shareholding norm as more than a dozen PSUs are hard-pressed to achieve this. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) stipulated this new norm in 2014 and gave a three-year time for compliance. Earlier, the PSUs were required to have only 10 per cent public shareholding. Nearly 50 central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) are listed.
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