Paris replacing Mauritius as tax haven, Citi alerts Finance Ministry
Citi, once perceived as a master in regulatory arbitrage, has drawn the government’s attention to Paris emerging as a new tax haven with Mauritius losing its charm. In a recent meeting with officials of the finance ministry, Citi pointed out how some global banks and funds are taking advantage of India’s treaty with France to escape tax, sources in the financial market told ET. In the past few months, a few leading foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have set up shop in Paris to attract offshore investors and issue participatory notes (PNs) — derivatives sold to foreign investors keen to trade in Indian stocks.
India plans stake sales worth $5.4 billion in seven state-run firms
India plans to sell stakes worth $5.4 billion in seven state-run companies during the current financial year as Asia’s third-largest economy looks to fund its fiscal deficit amid ramped-up spending on rural areas and infrastructure.The part sale of government stakes in state-run and private firms is critical to meet the fiscal deficit target of 3.2 percent of gross domestic product in the year to March 2018. India aims to raise 725 billion rupees ($11.26 billion) through stake sales during the year. The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management has sought bids from merchant bankers and legal advisors to manage the sale of shares in firms including Indian Oil Corp Ltd, NTPC Ltd and Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), according to bidding documents on its website.
TCS shareholders approve Rs16,000 crore share buyback
India’s largest software services firm TCS on Monday said its shareholders have approved a Rs 16,000 crore share buyback plan. The buyback programme, which was passed through a special resolution, saw 99.81% of the total number of valid votes being cast in favour of the proposal, the company said in a regulatory filing. The proposed shares under the buyback represent 2.85% of the total paid up equity share capital at Rs 2,850 per equity share.
Bombay High Court issues notice to Union government on PIL filed against its stake in ITC
Bombay High Court on Monday issued notice to Union government for responding on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by two trustee of Tata Trust — R Venkataramanan and Laxman Sethuraman — along with five others against public sector insurance companies for investing in tobacco companies. The Honourable Court set April 27, 2017 as the date for hearing the admissibility of the PIL. The court has issued notices to the government through secretary, ministry of health & family welfare to respond to the PIL.
Supreme Court orders Aamby Valley auction, summons Subrata Roy
The Supreme Court on Monday directed the official liquidator of the Bombay high court to auction Aamby Valley City, Sahara Group’s flagship property in Maharashtra, to recover the money it owes investors. The apex court also directed Sahara India chief Subrata Roy to personally appear before the court at the next hearing in the case on 27 April. “Verify, make an evaluation and proceed with sale,” the court said in a directive to the official liquidator of the Bombay high court.
IRDAI reduces third party insurance rates
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) has on Monday reduced premium rates of motor third party insurance for some categories of vehicles for 2017-18. According to a notification issued by the regulator, the new notification will override an earlier order issued by it on March 28, 2017 which notified rates with effect from April 1, 2017. “The new premium schedule shall apply retrospectively with effect from April 1, 2017,’’ Yegnapriya Bharath, Chief General Manager- Non-Life, IRDAI said in an order. As per the revised rates, significant reduction is in the goods carrying vehicles – Public carriers (other than three wheelers).
Source: The Hindu Business Line
Punj Lloyd overseas subsidiary wins Rs. 312 crore project in Saudi Arabia
Punj Lloyd’s overseas subsidiary, Dayim Punj Lloyd has won the Clean Fuels Interfacing Facilities Project by the Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Company Limited (YASREF). The project is worth Rs. 321 crore. According to an official release, The project objective is to interface YASREF with the Aramco Yanbu Refinery to supply low sulphur clean transportation fuel – diesel and gasoline – for domestic distribution. In addition, the pipeline system will also contain provision to transport YASREF refined products to the western regional pipeline hub. Prior to this contract, Punj Lloyd had successfully completed the Offsite Pipeline Package and is due to complete the pipeline relocation. With this order, the Group’s order backlog stands at Rs. 19,929 crores. The order backlog is the value of unexecuted orders on December 31, 2016 plus new orders received after that date.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
Muthoot Capital board meets for results, bonus
The board of directors of Muthoot Capital Services is scheduled to meeton Tuesday to consider and take on record the audited financial results for the quarter and year ended March 31, 2017. Also, the board will discuss the issue of bonus shares to its shareholders. Investors will keenly watch the bonus ratio. Currently, public investors hold 25.07 per cent stake in the company. These include some 7,000 small investors who own 14.95 per cent stake.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
Banks want RBI, finance ministry to tweak CDR norms
Bankers have asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the finance ministry to tweak the corporate debt restructuring (CDR) norms, such as allowing turfing out the management and changing the covenants of loan agreements, said executives privy to the discussions. After the failure of schemes such as the strategic debt restructuring (SDR) scheme and the scheme for sustainable structuring of stressed assets (S4A), Indian bankers want to return to the at least 15-year-old CDR mechanism to solve the Rs7-trillion toxic debt problem. At the monetary policy announcement earlier this month, RBI governor Urjit Patel had said that the regulator will come out with new guidelines to deal with stressed assets.
‘Merge govt, central bank budgets for better fiscal outcomes’
An American economist has called for consolidating the central bank and government’s budgets and balance sheets saying such a move can prevent sovereign default risks and ensure better fiscal and monetary outcomes. According to Citigroup global chief economist Willem H Buiter, the size and the composition of a central bank’s balance sheet have serious fiscal implications.
Third party audit must for oil & gas licence extension
The government has stipulated strict conditions for extension of contracts for operational oil and gas blocks. One demand is third party audit of potential reserves for contractors to continue exploration and production in their allotted areas. The reworked regulations would make it tough for 10 blocks, including the prolific Rajasthan block of Cairn India, to secure extension of licence for their existing areas. The Vedanta group firm has been seeking a 10-year extension for its RJ-ON-90/1 block in the Barmer district for some time now, but was unable to get approval from upstream regulator the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH).
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