Sick PSU units must get reasonable revival chances: Parliamentary panel
A Parliamentary panel has suggested the government to tread with caution in strategic divestment and shutting down sick public sector units and also asked it to provide reasonable and financially prudent chances for their revival. In its report, the Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Industry said it is always prudent to keep in mind that Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) are also meant to serve certain larger social causes. Citing example of the 100 per cent disinvestment of Hindustan Newsprint Ltd (HNL), it said the decision was taken despite the dissent of the Department of Heavy Industries.
Source: Economic Times
Fed rate hike to have minimal impact on RBI policy: India Inc
The interest rate hike by the US Fed is not likely to create much volatility in Indian markets and will have only a minimal impact on the RBI’s monetary policy stance, industry bodies said today. FICCI said the monetary policy stance of the RBI is likely to be determined by a host of factors, the Fed rate hike being one of them. “Since Fed rate hike is not expected to create much volatility in the Indian markets, this should have minimal influence on RBI’s policy stance” the chamber said in a statement.
Source: Economic Times
SEBI reviews advertisement guidelines of mutual funds
While reviewing the advertising guidelines for mutual funds, SEBI has now permitted celebrity endorsements at industry level, to increase awareness. As per the regulator, such celebrity endorsements should not promote a scheme of a particular Mutual Fund or be used as a branding exercise of a Mutual Fund house. Prior approval of SEBI shall be required for issuance of any endorsement which features a celebrity.
Source: Economic Times
GST council clears last two bills, caps cess on demerit goods
The goods and services tax (GST) council on Thursday gave its nod to the two remaining pieces of supporting legislation for implementing the landmark tax reform, paving the way for their introduction in Parliament and state legislatures. The council’s approval for the state GST and Union territory GST bills marks an important step in India’s long journey towards creating a unified market, and is critical to meeting the deadline of 1 July for GST implementation.
Source: Livemint
Regulator allows insurers to invest in infrastructure funds
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irda) has cleared investment by insurance companies in Real Estate Investment Trusts (Reits) and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs), thus making an important breakthrough for the sponsors. Insurance companies are allowed to buy into commercial real estate, and letting them invest in Reits is expected to deepen the commercial property market, according to experts. In a circular dated March 14, Irda said an insurer could invest not more than 3 per cent of its fund size.
Source: Business Standard
SEBI writes to Centre on capital gains in non-STT transactions
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is learnt to have given its final recommendations on the Union Budget proposal of imposing a capital gains tax on shares acquired without paying Securities Transaction Tax (STT). According to sources, the markets regulator has emphasised the need to exempt inter-promoter and inter-family transactions from such provisions, along with employee stock options (Esops). And, recommended imposition of capital gains tax on ‘off-market’ transactions-share transfers between entities outside the stock market platform.
Source: Business Standard
Mutual funds may oppose Grasim, Nuvo merger
The mutual fund investors, who own a minority stake in Grasim and Aditya Birla Nuvo, are expected to vote against the proposal to merge both companies in the voting that began early this month and continue for a month. Both companies are, however, confident that they would be able to garner enough votes from shareholders to get the merger going. A top official of a leading mutual fund said there was no change in the merger proposal announced in August last year and the mutual fund would vote against the proposal even if other shareholders vote for the merger. One of the mutual fund officials said in the recent cases like Maruti and Vedanta, few MFs broke ranks to vote for the proposals which they, as an industry, had opposed during the initial stages.
Source: Smart Investor
BSE ties up with Sentifi to report social media updates
Top stock exchange BSE has tied up with Switzerland’s algorithmic based analysis firm Sentifi to report social media updates related to 40,000 globally listed stocks. Under the partnership, Sentifi would track, analyse and report social media messages on various stocks which would be provided on BSE website. The information would be related to ranking of the most talked about stocks, the market attention to stocks from global voices in news and social media, comparison of market attention and stock Price over time. Besides, it would report on the underlying events driving market attention, most relevant and influential voices to each stock on Twitter, news and blogs.
Source: Financial Express
LIC Mutual Fund keen to grow as a retail-focussed fund house
LIC Mutual Fund is looking to take the share of retail assets in its overall assets under management to 50 per cent in the next three years, a top official has said. Currently, retail accounts for just 35 per cent, with the lion’s share of 65 per cent of the AUM accounted for by institutional investors. This fund house has total AUM of about Rs. 25,000 crore as on date. “Our aim is very much to grow our retail focus. We have already created the foundation and now we will be building on this,” Rajesh Patwardhan, Chief Marketing Officer, LIC Mutual Fund, told BusinessLine.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
Nifty touches new high on Fed’s dovish stance
A dovish rate hike outlook from the US central bank spurred Indian stocks to a new high on Thursday as investors bet that the gush of easy liquidity fuelling emerging market assets will continue. The National Stock Exchange of India’s 50-stock Nifty index rose to a new record before closing at 9,153.7 points, up 0.76% from Wednesday’s close. This was the first time the index closed above 9,100. BSE’s 30-share Sensex is only 438.89 points away from testing its all time high. It ended up 0.64% at 29,585.85. The US Federal Reserve’s “statement made it clear that path for rate hikes is on expected lines for 2017”, said Rakesh Tarway, head of research at Reliance Securities.
Source: HT Syndication
PM Modi’s Aadhaar program wins World Bank praise amid ‘big brother’ fears
A new internet is being built: it has 1.1 billion users, a third of the world wide web. Indian banks are running transactions on it and Microsoft has embedded it into Skype. The biometric identifier program Aadhaar — or “foundation” in Hindi — has taken on a life of its own, authenticating loans and job seekers, pensions and money transfers across India. And last week’s landslide state election win could embolden Prime Minister Narendra Modi to push Aadhaar beyond its early cost-saving goal, even as questions are raised about the security of its data and the proliferation of private companies seeking to profit from the information it stores.
Source: Economic Times
AAI rejects Air India’s plan to convert Rs 2,000 cr dues into equity
State-owned Airports Authority of India has rejected a proposal by national carrier Air India to partially convert dues worth Rs 2,300 crore into equity. Air India, which is staying afloat on taxpayers’ money, owes around Rs 2,300 crore to the national airports operator. These dues are towards landing and parking charges as well as route navigation charges. Recently, a proposal from Air India to convert the outstanding dues into equity was rejected, a senior AAI official said. The national carrier was looking to convert around Rs 2,000 crore of the total dues into equity for AAI, the official added. When contacted, an Air India spokesperson declined to comment. On earlier occasions also, the airports operator had rejected similar proposals from the government-owned airline.
Source: Financial Express
Investors bet big on PSU oil stocks
Oil and gas sector stocks have been in the limelight as investors are making big bets on the PSU oil marketing companies with global crude prices trending down. Shares of oil marketing companies (OMCs) have outperformed the benchmark Sensex by a huge margin. Companies like Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and GAIL have gained 6-22 per cent over the past three months, while the Reliance Industries stock rose 22 per cent during the period.
Source: My Digital Financial Chronicle
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