Thursday, August 28, 2014

Modi to launch ambitious Jan Dhan Yojana today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will promise on Thursday to provide a bank account for every Indian household when he launches a major initiative that could save billions of dollars in welfare spending and help mend strained state finances.

India has grown to become Asia's third largest economy, but nearly two-fifths of its 1.27 billion people do not have a bank account. This leaves them dependent on moneylenders and other informal financing routes.

In a keynote speech this month, Modi made financial 'inclusion' a top priority of his administration. He followed this up by writing 725,000 emails to bank officials urging them to support the initiative.

"There is an urgency to this exercise as all other development activities are hindered by this single disability," he said in a Twitter post.

Modi won India's biggest electoral mandate in 30 years in May with a promise to revive India's flagging economy. So far, he is yet to launch the big-bang reforms needed to break out of a cycle of low growth and high inflation.

Some commentators say his emphasis on the new banking and insurance programme seeks to cement his support base among poor households with small savings. Over 40 percent of Indians live on less than one dollar a day.

The launch of the Jan Dhan Yojana, or the Scheme for People's Wealth, comes weeks after Modi blocked a global trade deal, saying it threatened the interests of poor farmers.

Under the banking scheme, account holders would get a debit card and accident insurance cover of up to 100,000 rupees ($1,654). They would also get an overdraft facility of up to 5,000 Indian rupees.

What are the benefits and challenges of Jana Dhan Yojana?

By paying benefits directly into bank accounts, the scheme would seek to cut waste and corruption that inflate India's $43 billion subsidy bill, equivalent to more than 2 percent of its GDP, for handouts of grain, fuel and fertiliser.

The push for greater financial inclusion would also diminish the influence of moneylenders and other informal financing channels who operate outside the ambit of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), blunting its monetary policy tools.

While the drive for universal banking access is not new, the failure to provide services tailored for the poor and low-income groups has kept India way off its goal.

For example, many borrowers in the "unbanked" segment such as small-time traders need overnight loans of $25-30 that are not offered by commercial banks, making them turn to informal financing channels.

Puneet Chopra, associate director at a financial inclusion consulting firm MicroSave, said such a handicap could also trip up Modi's project.

"Without addressing the specific needs of the segment you are targeting, you cannot hope to have much success," he says.

Modi's plan to provide an overdraft facility could also end up swelling bad loans at Indian banks as it does not spell out how the banks can collect debts.

"If there is no mechanism on the ground to collect repayments or to service the accounts, these are likely to turn dormant as soon as the overdraft is disbursed," Chopra said.

"There is a high risk that the scheme leads to a massive dole-out of subsidies instead of assisting the targeted distribution of benefits."

Bad loans at Indian banks rose to 4.1 percent of gross advances in March from 2.4 percent in March three years ago, the RBI said in its annual report last week. Restructured loans, meanwhile, rose to 5.9 percent of gross advances in March from 2.5 percent in June 2011. Source:at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in

Nitesh Estates jumps after inking pact to develop residential project near Bangalore

Nitesh Estates jumped 6.19% to Rs 14.40 at 10:31 IST on BSE after the company said it signed joint development agreement for Rs 170 crore project at Bangalore.

The company made the announcement after market hours on Wednesday, 27 August 2014.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 96.84 points, or 0.36%, to 26,656.99.

On BSE, so far 18,000 shares were traded in the counter, compared with an average volume of 78,070 shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 14.90 and a low of Rs 14.25 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 18.70 on 9 June 2014. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 9.60 on 2 September 2013.

The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 27 August 2014, falling 9.30% compared with 1.66% rise in the Sensex. The scrip had also underperformed the market in past one quarter, sliding 6.87% as against Sensex's 8.19% rise.

The small-cap company has an equity capital of Rs 145.83 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

Nitesh Estates has signed up a joint development agreement for a new residential project which will have 262 residential units. The project located at prime Hosur Main Road in Bangalore will have easy access to the Electronic City, Outer Ring Road and major office complexes. The project will give a total revenue of Rs 170 crore to the company and will contribute to the profitability over the 36 months. The project will be launched shortly, the company said.

On a consolidated basis, Nitesh Estates reported a net loss of Rs 3.38 crore in Q1 June 2014 compared with net profit of Rs 4.55 crore in Q1 June 2013. Net sales fell 43.1% to Rs 56.39 crore in Q1 June 2014 over Q1 June 2013.

Nitesh Estates, the real estate arm of the Nitesh Group, is an integrated property development company headquartered in Bangalore, with presence across 4 asset classes. Nitesh Estates develops state-of-the-art homes, hotels, office buildings and shopping malls.Source: http://www.business-standard.com/

BofA says RBI may cut rates by 75-100 bps starting early 2015

Bank of America-Merrill Lynch says the RBI will cut repo rate by 75-100 bps starting early 2015 and expects a rate cut even if Fed hikes U.S. rates.

BofA says India vs U.S. rate differential is already at 800 bps, far higher than average 460 bps since January 2003.

The banks adds high FX reserves hold key for rupee stability, more than United States vs India rate differentials.

Lastly, the bank says Fed tightening will contain imported inflation by stabilising commodity prices.Source:http://in.reuters.com/

SKS Microfinance gains on Morgan Stanley's "overweight" rating

Shares of SKS Microfinance have surged 3% to Rs 301 on the BSE after Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on the stock with an "overweight" rating and a target price of Rs 385.

Morgan Stanley added that Indian microfinance industry has demand potential of Rs 540,000 crores or $90 billion

The stock opened at Rs 293, touched a high of Rs 305 and a low of Rs 293 on the BSE. A total of 712,573 shares have been exchanged on the BSE so far.Source: http://www.business-standard.com/

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Air India website crashes minutes after offering Rs 100 tickets

The website of Air India on Wednesday went down minutes after the national carrier offered discounted tickets for Rs 100 for a limited period to celebrate its merger with erstwhile Indian Airlines.
The national carried had announced to celebrate August 27 as ‘Air India Day’ as it had amalgamated with erstwhile Indian Airlines into one airline as “Air India” in 2007.
On the occasion, the flag carrier launched ‘Air India Offer’ – a scheme offering tickets for Rs 100 apart from all applicable taxes. The sale of these tickets is being made through the airline’s website exclusively for five days from August 27 to 31 for travel between August 27 and September 30 only.
However, on the first day of the scheme, the website crashed perhaps due to unprecedented traffic, making people struggle to actually book any ticket.
Those who tried booking the tickets online were unable to log in to the website since the link was taking long to open before throwing up a ‘Service Unavailable’ page. Another link to book tickets on Air India showed a “System Busy” message.Source: http://indianexpress.com/

Sensex,Nifty hit new peaks on Eurozone stimulus hopes, US data

ndian stocks rose for the fifth day with benchmark Sensex on Wednesday vaulting 117.34 points to a new closing peak for the third session in a row on hopes of fresh stimulus in Eurozone and positive Asian cues after investors welcomed data indicating the U.S. economy is back on track.

Across-the-board gains were also seen on continued foreign funds inflows amid investors churning portfolios ahead of monthly expiry in equity derivatives on Thursday, say brokers.

The 30-share BSE Sensex touched an intra-day high of 26,599.12 points on rise in ICICI Bank, ONGC, Tata Motors, Dr Reddy, Wipro, Infosys, Hindalco and HeroMotocorp shares.

It surrendered some of gains later but managed to settle at new record high of 26,560.15, logging a rise of 117.34 points, or 0.44 per cent. It surpassed previous record peaks of 26,442.81 hit on Tuesday and 26,437.02 on August 25.

In five days, the Sensex has gained about 246 points.

“Positive global cues and likelihood for further monetary stimulus from European Central Bank (ECB) boosted the market sentiment...stocks from oil & gas sector also gained on hopes of proper reforms for subsidies,” said Nidhi Saraswat, senior research analyst, Bonanza Portfolio.

Similarly, the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 31.30 points, or 0.40 per cent, to settle at new closing peak of 7,936.05, surpassing earlier record closing high of 7,913.20 hit on August 22. Intra-day on Wednesday, it touched high of 7,946.85.

On Tuesday, Nifty had fallen by 1.55 points.

“Ongoing bull-run suggests that Nifty is fast approaching towards the magic 8,000-mark” said Deepak Pahwa, a Delhi-based stockbroker.

ONGC was the biggest gainer among Sensex scrips rising 2.31 per cent on reports of government’s stake sale plan in the company, followed by ICICI Bank by 2.05 per cent. Overall, 21 Sensex stocks gained while 9 constituents declined.

Sector-wise, the BSE Oil & gas index rose the most (0.84 per cent), followed Auto 0.81 per cent, IT 0.75 per cent and Consumer Durables 0.64 per cent. Midcap index ended 0.73 per cent up and Smallcap barometer jumped 0.79 per cent.

Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) had bought shares worth a net Rs. 364.72 crore on Tuesday.

Most Asian indices rose tracking U.S. stocks that jumped anew on Tuesday after data showed consumer confidence rose in August for a fourth straight month, to its strongest level since February 2008. Also, durable goods orders surged in July to a new monthly record.Source:http://www.thehindu.com/

Bund yields hit lows on bets a faltering outlook means more ECB stimulus

 German consumer confidence slips, Italy to revise GDP

* Bund future hits new high, cash yields fall to lows

* Investors place bets on rising Euribor, say brokers

* JP Morgan calls for ECB rate cut next week

* Germany's Schaeuble says Draghi comments 'over-interpreted' (Adds detail, further background)

By John Geddie

LONDON, Aug 27 (Reuters) - German Bund yields reached record lows on Wednesday, as further evidence of the region's faltering economy fed market expectations for more European Central Bank stimulus.

Weaker-than-expected consumer confidence in Germany drove the market, together with reported comments from Italy's economy minister that Rome must lower its forecast for economic growth.

Eager to tackle the euro zone's economic malaise, ECB President Mario Draghi on Friday appeared to shift the bank's policy response towards growth. Crucially for investors, he left the door open for a programme of asset purchases known as quantitative easing (QE).

"When the EMU's largest economy is falling behind, this is very much increasing the chances of the ECB heading for further monetary measures, above all QE," said DZ Bank strategist Daniel Lenz.

German Bund futures climbed to record highs of 151.28, up 46 ticks on the day. Ten 10-year cash bond yields fell 3.7 basis points to 0.91, a shade above the record low of 0.926 percent reached on Monday. German 10-year yields have dropped over 100 bps this year.

Spanish and Italian bond yields both fell to record lows for the third consecutive day, down 10 bps and 7 bps respectively at 2.09 and 2.37 percent.

With Draghi particularly concerned about the decline in market expectations for inflation, the latest consumer price data for Germany due on Thursday and then for the entire euro zone on Friday will be closely watched. <ECONALLEU

'ALL THE RIGHT NOISES'

Only a handful of strategists expect the ECB to announce further policy action at its meeting next week, but one trader said investors will be "hoping for all the right noises".

Brokers say large volumes of options are being purchased by investors betting that Euribor rates, the benchmark for euro zone bank-to-bank lending, will rise in the coming months as a result of ECB rates cuts or a surge in spare cash in the system.

In a note to clients, JP Morgan said it expected the ECB to cut rates at next week's meeting and reduce the interest it plans to charge on a new set of emergency loans it will make available to banks next month.

But there is room for disappointment as well. Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told a newspaper on Wednesday that Draghi's comments had been "over-interpreted", particularly in reference to fiscal policy playing a greater role in promoting growth.

Elsewhere, Austrian bond yields dipped 2 bps to 1.67 percent after a report late on Tuesday that Austria's conservative People's Party has picked Economy Minister Reinhold Mitterlehner to replace Michael Spindelegger as party leader. Spindelegger resigned unexpectedly in a row over tax reform; he refused to cut taxes unless they cuts could be financed without new levies.

His departure comes amid a political battle in Europe over whether belt-tightening has gone too far at the expense of economic growth. The same clash forced a government reshuffle in France this week. (Editing by Hugh Lawson, Larry Kin) Source: http://www.reuters.com/

ONGC has potential to double in next two years: Analysts

The decline in global crude oil prices and gradual diesel de-regulation exercise has come as a boon for oil & gas major ONGC.

The oil ministry has proposed to rationalise the subsidy-sharing mechanism for state-run oil producers, a move that is expected to reduce the burden on ONGCBSE 2.31 %BSE 2.31 % and Oil IndiaBSE 2.73 %BSE 2.73 %. The government is likely to cap ONGC and Oil India's share of subsidy burden to 50 per cent each.

According to reports, the ministry has proposed to consider OID (oil industry development) cess paid by ONGC and OIL as part of their subsidy share. In return, the companies would pay royalty to states on the full price of crude and not the discounted rate offered to government refiners.

Analysts are of the view that such a move will be EPS accretive for ONGC over the next two years. It will also benefit the government to sell stake in the company through OFS route.

"If oil subsidy continues to fall as expected we think that ONGC-OIL would be better off under the 50 per cent:50 per cent subsidy sharing formula than under the prevailing subsidy formula or the Parikh committee formula assumed by us," said Bank of America Merrill Lynch report.

"Under the 50%:50% subsidy sharing formula ONGC-OIL's subsidy would be lower and net oil price realization higher than assumed," the report said.ONGC and OIL give discounts to help state refiners cover part of their losses from selling diesel and kitchen fuels at government-capped rates. Over the years, this discount has risen from 30 per cent in 2008-09 to 48 per cent in 2013-14.At last count, the discount stood at $56 on a barrel of crude. In addition, the producers also paid $18-19 as Central and state levies on each barrel of oil. Against a minimum return of $65 a barrel required to provide money for future exploration, the companies have been taking home only $31 on a price of $105 per barrel.

"The big deal in ONGC is that, we have arguably a good and visionary government in power. If they do the things to ONGC that I am dreaming and imagining of, there is no reason why ONGC should not double from here as well. It is a question of what the government does," said Dipen Sheth, Head-Institutional Research, HDFC Securities.

Under the proposed 50:50 per cent subsidy sharing formula, ONGC's EPS would get a good boost.
According to BofA ML report, ONGC's FY15-16E EPS would be 2-8 per cent higher under 50:50 per cent subsidy sharing formula than under Parikh committee formula.

In a recent report, CLSA increased its weightage on ONGC in India's model portfolio. "Driven by a 59 per cent decline in oil subsidies over the next two years as diesel subsidies are eliminated, we see post-subsidy crude realisation for ONGC to rise from US$41/bbl to US$50/bbl, despite our assumption of 100 per cent subsidy burden for upstream names," the report said.
"This, along with the doubling of the domestic gas price, will ensure a 22 per cent EPS Cagr over two years. ONGC is our top pick in the state-owned spacewith a BUY rating and Rs 530 target based on 11x PE to core business," the report added.

The brokerage has 'Buy' rating with a price target of Rs 530 on ONGC.

At 12:30 p.m.; the stock was at Rs 425.20, up 1.70 per cent, on the BSE. It touched a high of Rs 428.35 and a low of Rs 423.60 in trade today.  Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/

Rural housing loan at concessional rate from Sundaram BNP Paribas Home

Sundaram BNP Paribas Home Finance has launched a new scheme for funding rural houses at a concessional rate of interest.

This comes in the wake of the decision of National Housing Bank (NHB) to offer refinance to housing finance companies (HFCs) at a special rate of interest to promote the growth of rural housing.

Under this scheme, loans to scheduled castes/scheduled tribes/specified minority communities and for properties held in the name of women (either as owner or co-owner) will be entitled to a concessional rate of 9.60 per cent. This concessional rate is fixed for 7 years, and will be converted to floating rate of interest thereafter.

Under the scheme, the upper cap of the loan amount has been placed at Rs. 15 lakhs for acquisition/construction of residential dwelling units. The loans for home improvement and extension under this scheme should not exceed Rs. 5 lakhs. The relevant property should be located in an area conforming to the definition of rural area under the NHB norms, a release says.

“Considering the thrust the new government is placing on housing for all, we feel that the need for mortgage credit would also increase. Our ‘close to the customer’ strategy with focus on expanding our reach to Tier-2 and -3 towns across India will drive our disbursement growth in rural housing segment,” a release quoted Srinivas Acharya, managing director, as saying.

Sundaram BNP Paribas Home Finance is a joint venture between Sundaram Finance (50.1 per cent) and BNP Paribas (49.9 per cent).Source: http://www.thehindu.com/

Reliance Jio signed a deal with BSNL to lease 4000 mobile towers

Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIL) has signed a deal with BSNL for leasing around 4,000 mobile towers. As per the deal, BSNL will be offering a base rate of Rs 38,000 per month for ground based towers (GBT) and Rs 24,900 per month for rooftop based towers (RBT), Reports PTI.

BSNL however, will offer discounted rates if Reliance Jio commits leasing of at least 1,500 towers in the first year.

"The rent for ground towers will be Rs 35,000 per month and Rs 21,000 per month for rooftop towers if Reliance Jio commits leasing of 1,500 towers in first year," BSNL Director (Consumer Mobility) Anupam Shrivastava told PTI.

He added there is also a provision of 5 per cent discount if RJIL commits leasing of at least 1,000 towers within three months.

Reliance Jio already has an agreement with Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Viom Network, American Tower Company and Ascend Telecom Infrastructure to utilise their infrastructure.

RJIL is the first telecom operator in the country to get a unified licence for all 22 service areas in India. Source: http://www.telecomtiger.com/

Government to spend Rs 20,000 crore for mobile connectivity in rural areas

The Narendra Modi government is planning to spend Rs 20,000 crore on providing mobile connectivity in 55,000 villages over the next five years, Telecom Secretary Rakesh Garg stated at the Digital India conference.
Speaking at the first meeting of the Centre and States to deliberate on various initiatives under the Digital India programme, Garg stated that half of these villages will receive connectivity in the first three years. The amount of Rs 20,000 crore will come through the Universal Services Obligation Fund (USOF), Garg added.
“It is very important to provide mobile connectivity in all the villages. We will connect up to 55,000 villages, which do not have such a service in the next 5 years and Rs 20,000 crore has been earmarked for this,” he said. "We will connect half of these villages in the next 3 years and the remaining in two years. For this purpose the country has been divided into 5 areas and survey of villages is being done to build towers,” he added.
The government is initially planning to spend Rs 69,524 crore on various IT and telecom projects under the Digital India initiative. The government has identified broadband and mobile networks as the key growth pillars under Digital India programme.
Ravi Shankar Prasad, Communications and Information Technology Minister, stated at the ‘Digital India’ conference that sectors like e-commerce can become a big industry because of the broadband connectivity and high speed Internet in various parts of the country.
Prasad stated," I see e-commerce becoming a big thing because people living in villages also have big aspirations. If we spread the broadband connectivity, they would shop online and I see many warehouses coming up because of that, giving jobs to as many people in those areas,” Prasad added.
India is expected to have more than 500 million mobile Internet users by 2018 according to a recent report by Morgan Stanley. India now has over 200 million internet users and is adding 5 million new users every month. According to a recent eMarteker report India has the lowest Internet penetration growth in Pacific Asia at just 17.4 pc this year. Source: www.digit.in

Sunil Bharti Mittal's son-led messaging app Hike raises $65 mn

Instant messaging application hike messenger on Wednesday said it has crossed the 35 million user mark and is handling over 10 billion messages and 3 billion stickers per month.
Hike, a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and SoftBank Corporation, has also raised $65 million, its biggest round of funding yet. The funding is led by Tiger Global, a New York-based investment firm and followed by Bharti SoftBank.
Lee Fixel from Tiger Global will be joining its board.
"This is a big milestone for us. We've almost doubled our user base, adding 15M users in the last 2 months itself. With the new investment we're going to double down. We now have the ammo to tackle the more audacious items on our list," Hike Founder and CEO Kavin Bharti Mittal said.
The company said over 50 per cent of the users are active on the platform on a monthly basis and over 90 per cent users are from India of which, over 80 per cent are below 25 years of age.
"Kavin and his team have built India's fastest growing mobile app and have an ambitious vision of bringing India's one billion potential mobile Internet users online through their messaging platform," Tiger Global Management Partner Lee Fixel said. Source: http://businesstoday.intoday.in/

CBI books Electrotherm for cheating Central Bank of Rs436 crore

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday said that it had registered a case against the directors of Ahmedabad-based Electrotherm (India) Ltd and officials of state-owned Central Bank of India for entering into a “criminal conspiracy” and cheating the bank to the tune of Rs.436.74 crore. The case was registered on a complaint filed by the Central Bank of India. “It is further alleged in the complaint that the company requested for credit to enable them to supply steel and iron to one other firm in Tanzania,” CBI said in a statement. A CBI official identified the Tanzania-based company in question is Kamal Alloys Ltd. CBI said that one of the directors in Electrotherm was also on the board of Kamal Alloys. The agency conducted searches at nine places on Tuesday in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Vadodara and Kutch in Gujarat. Electrotherm “did not submit any proof of delivery of the material and defaulted on the loans taken”, the agency said. CBI further said that “standby Letters of Credit (were) opened by the bank to facilitate trade in machinery and coal devolved.” The bank had to make payment when Electrotherm did not pay the company it had taken the material from. CBI has also alleged that Electrotherm made “false representations” to “induce the bank to extend credit facilities” to itself. A company spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment. This is the latest in a string of cases involving public sector banks that CBI has begun investigating in the recent past. On 2 August, CBI had arrested S.K. Jain, chairman and managing director of Syndicate Bank, allegedly for seeking a bribe to extend credit facilities to certain companies. In the same case, the CBI arrested 11 others, including Neeraj Singal, vice-president of Bushan Steel Ltd; Ved Prakash Agarwal, chairman-cum-managing director of Prakash Industries Ltd; and Pawan Bansal, a chartered accountant. On 10 August, the CBI said that it was enquiring into IDBI Bank Ltd and Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, with an intention to look into the lender’s decision to sanction Rs.950 crore to Kingfisher Airlines at a time when the company had a negative net worth and negative credit rating. IDBI Bank said later that it was not the target of the investigation. “The preliminary enquiry initiated by CBI a few months ago is against the borrower, KAL and not against IDBI Bank, as reported in the media,” IDBI Bank said in a statement to the stock exchanges on 12 August. As of March 2014, the gross NPAs of 40 listed banks was Rs.2.42 trillion, up 34.41% from Rs.1.8 trillion a year ago. Data for all 40 banks for the quarter ended June 2014 is not yet available. Source: http://www.livemint.com

Infosys gains on overweight rating by JP Morgan

Shares of IT behemoth  Infosys  gained marginally in trade today. The stock was up about 0.3 percent at Rs 3632.25 at 12:12pm. Brokerage house JP Morgan, meanwhile, has continued its overweight stance on the stock after having met the company’s recently appointed chief operating officer UB Pravin Rao. Rao asserted that Infosys will continue to follow company founder Narayana Murthy's three-pronged strategy for revival for now, states the brokerage. “Rao further added that chief executive officer Vishal Sikka’s client connections, technological wizardry & vision should help Infosys,” the report quotes. The brokerage advises investors to be patient with the stock as leading indicators of revenue recovery are still at bay. JP Morgan believes the company is committed to rectifying its core business while building traction in digital/SMAC and adds that it has taken several steps to reduce attrition, the results of which will be visible only after two to three quarters. Infosys, India’s second largest IT services firm, had hit an attrition record high of 19.5 percent for the April-June quarter this fiscal up from 18.7 percent in the previous quarter.
Source: http://www.moneycontrol.com

ONGC, Oil India Surge as State Said to Be Planning Subsidy Cuts

Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd. (OINL) are set for their biggest gain in 10 days following plans to reduce subsidy payouts of the nation’s largest state-run explorers.

The two companies were the biggest gainers in the 10-member S&P BSE India Oil & Gas Index, which rose 0.6 percent. ONGC increased as much as 2.5 percent and traded 2.1 percent higher at 426.75 rupees as of 11:54 a.m. in Mumbai, heading for its steepest gain since Aug. 18. Oil India rose as much as 2.8 percent and changed hands at 603.95 rupees, up 2.4 percent.

The government is planning to ask ONGC and Oil India to bear 50 percent of the revenue losses of all state-controlled refiners, with the state taking on the other half, according to a draft proposal seen by Bloomberg News and confirmed by an oil ministry official with direct knowledge of the matter. The two companies and GAIL India Ltd. (GAIL), the nation’s biggest gas distributor, bore 55 percent of the losses in the quarter ended June 30.

State-run oil producers give discounts on their crude to partly compensate refiners including Indian Oil Corp. (IOCL), which are ordered by the government to sell fuels below the cost of production to help curb inflation in the world’s second-most populous nation. The federal government gives cash compensation and the refiners themselves bear a part of the burden.

The lower subsidy may help ONGC get a higher rate for its crude and allow the government to set a higher price when it sells a 5 percent stake in the explorer later this year.

Higher Price

The ministry’s proposal may raise the final price ONGC gets for its crude oil to $65 a barrel from $52 a barrel, Kenin Jain, equity sales head at Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd. in Mumbai, wrote in a note to clients today. This would “ensure a predictable return for the oil producers and help them plan their investment for exploration,” he said.

India also plans to continue raising diesel price every month until losses end, after which the oil ministry will seek approval from the Cabinet to free pricing of the fuel from state control, the person said this week, asking not to be identified because of ministry rules. Indian Oil and other state-run refiners are incurring a loss of 1.78 rupees on every liter of diesel sold, according to oil ministry data.

“The proposal will be helpful to us, but it has to be approved by the finance ministry,” ONGC Director Finance Aloke Kumar Banerjee said by phone today. “ONGC’s burden has risen significantly in the last couple of years.”Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Prescribed authority for tax clearance certificates.

Prescribed authority for tax clearance certificates.
42. (1) For the purposes of sub-section (1) of section 230, the prescribed authority shall be the Chief Commissioner of Income-tax or the Director-General of Income-tax, as the case may be, who has jurisdiction over the persons not domiciled in India or any other income-tax authority authorized by such Chief Commissioner or Director-General in this behalf.
(2) For the purposes of sub-section (1A) of section 230, the prescribed authority shall be the Chief Commissioner of Income-tax having jurisdiction over the persons domiciled in India or any other income-tax authority authorized by him in this behalf :
Provided that in the case of a person domiciled in India referred to in the first proviso to sub-section (1A) of section 230, the application shall be made to the Assessing Officer who has jurisdiction to assess such person.]


Relief when salary is paid in arrears or in advance, etc.

Relief when salary is paid in arrears or in advance, etc.
21A. 10[(1) Where, by reason of any portion of an assessee's salary being paid in arrears or in advance or, by reason of any portion of family pension received by an assessee being paid in arrears or, by reason of his having received in any one financial year salary for more than twelve months or a payment which under the provisions of clause (3) of section 17 is a profit in lieu of salary, his income is assessed at a rate higher than that at which it would otherwise have been assessed, the relief to be granted under sub-section (1) of section 89 shall be—
(a)  where any portion of the assessee's salary is received in arrears or in advance or, any portion of family pension is received by an assessee in arrears, in accordance with the provisions of sub-rule (2);
(b)  where the payment is in the nature of gratuity in respect of past services of the assessee extending over a period of not less than five years, in accordance with the provisions of sub-rule (3);
(c)  where the payment is in the nature of compensation received by the assessee from his employer or former employer at or in connection with the termination of his employment after continuous service for not less than three years and where the unexpired portion of his term of employment is also not less than three years, in accordance with the provisions of sub-rule (4);
(d)  where the payment is in commutation of pension, in accordance with the provisions of sub-rule (5); and
(e)  where the payment is not in the nature of salary paid in arrears or in advance or gratuity in respect of past services or compensation received at or in connection with the termination of employment or in commutation of pension, in accordance with the provisions of sub-rule (6).
(2)(a) In a case referred to in clause (a) of sub-rule (1), the tax payable by the assessee on his total income of the previous year in which the salary is received in arrears or in advance or, in which the family pension is received in arrears (such salary or family pension being hereafter in this sub-rule referred to respectively as the additional salary or additional family pension, as the case may be, and such previous year being hereafter in this sub-rule referred to as the relevant previous year) shall be reduced by the amount, if any, by which the tax on the additional salary or additional family pension, calculated in the manner specified in clause (b), exceeds the tax or the aggregate tax on the additional salary or additional family pension, calculated in the manner specified in clause (c) or clause (d), as the case may be.
(b) Tax shall be calculated on the total income of the relevant previous year as reduced by the additional salary or additional family pension, as the case may be, as if the total income so reduced were the total income of the assessee, and the amount by which the tax so calculated falls short of the tax on the total income before such reduction shall, for the purposes of clause (a), be taken to be the tax on the additional salary or additional family pension, under this clause.
(c) Where the additional salary or additional family pension, as the case may be, relates to only one previous year, tax shall be calculated on the total income of the said previous year as increased by the additional salary or additional family pension, as if the total income so increased were the total income of the assessee, and the amount by which the tax so calculated exceeds the tax payable by the assessee in respect of the total income of the said previous year shall, for the purposes of clause (a), be taken to be the tax on the additional salary or additional family pension, under this clause.
(d) Where the additional salary or additional family pension, as the case may be, relates to more than one previous year,—
 (i)  the previous years to which the additional salary or additional family pension relates and the amount relating to each such previous year shall first be ascertained;
(ii)  tax shall, then, be calculated on the total income of each such previous year as increased by the amount relating to such previous year ascertained under sub-clause (i); as if the total income so increased were the total income of that previous year, and the amount by which the aggregate amount of tax in respect of the aforesaid previous years as calculated under sub-clause (ii) exceeds the aggregate amount of tax payable by the assessee in respect of the total income of the said previous years shall, for the purposes of clause (a), be taken to be the aggregate tax on the additional salary or additional family pension, under this clause.]
(3) (a) In a case referred to in clause (b) of sub-rule (1), the tax payable by the assessee on his total income of the previous year in which the payment by way of gratuity is received (such previous year being hereafter in this sub-rule referred to as the relevant previous year) shall be reduced by the amount, if any, by which the tax on the amount of the gratuity included in the total income of the relevant previous year, calculated at the average rate of tax applicable to such total income, exceeds the tax on the amount of such gratuity, calculated at the rate of tax determined under clause (b) or, as the case may be, clause (c).
(b) Where the payment by way of gratuity is made in respect of past services of the assessee extending over a period of not less than five years but less than fifteen years,—
 (i)  the total income of the assessee in respect of each of the two previous years immediately preceding the relevant previous year shall be increased by an amount equal to one-half of the amount of the gratuity included in the total income of the relevant previous year, and the average rate of tax for each of the said two previous years shall be calculated as if the total income so increased were the total income of that previous year; and
(ii)  the average of the average rates of tax for the two previous years immediately preceding the relevant previous year, calculated in accordance with sub-clause (i), shall, for the purposes of clause (a), be the rate of tax determined under this clause.
(c) Where the payment by way of gratuity is made in respect of past services of the assessee extending over a period of not less than fifteen years,—
 (i)  the total income of the assessee in respect of each of the three previous years immediately preceding the relevant previous year shall be increased by an amount equal to one-third of the amount of the gratuity included in the total income of the relevant previous year, and the average rate of tax for each of the said three previous years shall be calculated as if the total income so increased were the total income of that previous year; and
(ii)  the average of the average rates of tax for the three previous years immediately preceding the relevant previous year, calculated in accordance with sub-clause (i), shall, for the purposes of clause (a), be the rate of tax determined under this clause.
(4) (a) In a case referred to in clause (c) of sub-rule (1), the tax payable by the assessee on his total income of the previous year in which the payment by way of compensation is received (such previous year being hereafter in this sub-rule referred to as the relevant previous year) shall be reduced by the amount, if any, by which the tax on the amount of the compensation included in the total income of the relevant previous year, calculated at the average rate of tax applicable to such total income, exceeds the tax on the amount of such compensation, calculated at the rate of tax determined under clause (b).
(b) The total income of the assessee in respect of each of the three previous years immediately preceding the relevant previous year shall be increased by an amount equal to one-third of the amount of the compensation included in the total income of the relevant previous year, and the average rate of tax for each of the said three previous years shall be calculated as if the total income so increased were the total income of that previous year; and the average of the average rates of tax so calculated for the three previous years shall, for the purposes of clause (a), be the rate of tax determined under this clause.
(5) (a) In a case referred to in clause (d) of sub-rule (1), the tax payable by the assessee on his total income of the previous year in which the payment in commutation of pension is received (such previous year being hereafter in this sub-rule referred to as the relevant previous year) shall be reduced by the amount, if any, by which the tax on the payment in commutation of pension included in the total income of the relevant previous year, calculated at the average rate of tax applicable to such total income, exceeds the tax on the amount of such payment, calculated at the rate of tax determined under clause (b).
(b) The total income of the assessee in respect of each of the three previous years immediately preceding the relevant previous year shall be increased by an amount equal to one-third of the amount of payment in commutation of pension included in the total income of the relevant previous year, and the average rate of tax for each of the said three previous years shall be calculated as if the total income so increased were the total income of that previous year; and the average of the average rates of tax so calculated for the three previous years shall, for the purposes of clause (a), be the rate of tax determined under this clause.
(6) In a case referred to in clause (e) of sub-rule (1), the Board may, having regard to the circumstances of the case, allow such relief as it deems fit.]


Pre-filing consultation.

Pre-filing consultation.
10H. (1) Every person proposing to enter into an agreement under these rules shall, by an application in writing, make a request for a pre-filing consultation.
(2) The request for pre-filing consultation shall be made in Form No. 3CEC to the Director General of Income-tax (International Taxation).
(3) On receipt of the request in Form No. 3CEC, the team shall hold pre-filing consultation with the person referred to in rule 10G.
(4) The competent authority in India or his representative shall be associated in pre-filing consultation involving bilateral or multilateral agreement.
(5) The pre-filing consultation shall, among other things,—
  (i) determine the scope of the agreement;
 (ii) identify transfer pricing issues;
(iii) determine the suitability of international transaction for the agreement;
(iv) discuss broad terms of the agreement.
(6) The pre-filing consultation shall—
  (i) not bind the Board or the person to enter into an agreement or initiate the agreement process;
 (ii) not be deemed to mean that the person has applied for entering into an agreement.


Information and documents to be kept and maintained under section 92D

Information and documents to be kept and maintained under section 92D.
10D. (1) Every person who has entered into 74[an international transaction or a specified domestic transaction] shall keep and maintain the following information and documents, namely:—
(a)  a description of the ownership structure of the assessee enterprise with details of shares or other ownership interest held therein by other enterprises;
(b)  a profile of the multinational group of which the assessee enterprise is a part along with the name, address, legal status and country of tax residence of each of the enterprises comprised in the group with whom international transactions 75[or specified domestic transactions, as the case may be,] have been entered into by the assessee, and ownership linkages among them;
(c)  a broad description of the business of the assessee and the industry in which the assessee operates, and of the business of the associated enterprises with whom the assessee has transacted;
(d)  the nature and terms (including prices) of international transactions 76[or specified domestic transactions] entered into with each associated enterprise, details of property transferred or services provided and the quantum and the value of each such transaction or class of such transaction;
(e)  a description of the functions performed, risks assumed and assets employed or to be employed by the assessee and by the associated enterprises involved in 77[the international transaction or the specified domestic transaction];
(f)  a record of the economic and market analyses, forecasts, budgets or any other financial estimates prepared by the assessee for the business as a whole and for each division or product separately, which may have a bearing on the international transactions 78[or the specified domestic transactions] entered into by the assessee;
(g)  a record of uncontrolled transactions taken into account for analysing their comparability with the international transactions 79[or the specified domestic transactions] entered into, including a record of the nature, terms and conditions relating to any uncontrolled transaction with third parties which may be of relevance to the pricing of the international transactions 80[or the specified domestic transactions, as the case may be] ;
(h)  a record of the analysis performed to evaluate comparability of uncontrolled transactions with the relevant 81[international transaction or specified domestic transaction];
 (i)  a description of the methods considered for determining the arm's length price in relation to each 82[international transaction or specified domestic transaction] or class of transaction, the method selected as the most appropriate method along with explanations as to why such method was so selected, and how such method was applied in each case;
 (j)  a record of the actual working carried out for determining the arm's length price, including details of the comparable data and financial information used in applying the most appropriate method, and adjustments, if any, which were made to account for differences between 83[the international transaction or the specified domestic transaction] and the comparable uncontrolled transactions, or between the enterprises entering into such transactions;
(k)  the assumptions, policies and price negotiations, if any, which have critically affected the determination of the arm's length price;
 (l)  details of the adjustments, if any, made to transfer prices to align them with arm's length prices determined under these rules and consequent adjustment made to the total income for tax purposes;
(m)  any other information, data or document, including information or data relating to the associated enterprise, which may be relevant for determination of the arm's length price.
(2) 84[Nothing contained in sub-rule (1), in so far as it relates to an international transaction, shall] apply in a case where the aggregate value, as recorded in the books of account, of international transactions entered into by the assessee does not exceed one crore rupees :
Provided that the assessee shall be required to substantiate, on the basis of material available with him, that income arising from international transactions entered into by him has been computed in accordance with section 92.
(3) The information specified in sub-rule (1) shall be supported by authentic documents, which may include the following :
(a)  official publications, reports, studies and data bases from the Government of the country of residence of the associated enterprise, or of any other country;
(b)  reports of market research studies carried out and technical publications brought out by institutions of national or international repute;
(c)  price publications including stock exchange and commodity market quotations;
(d)  published accounts and financial statements relating to the business affairs of the associated enterprises;
(e)  agreements and contracts entered into with associated enterprises or with unrelated enterprises in respect of transactions similar to the international transactions 85[or the specified domestic transactions, as the case may be];
(f)  letters and other correspondence documenting any terms negotiated between the assessee and the associated enterprise;
(g)  documents normally issued in connection with various transactions under the accounting practices followed.
(4) The information and documents specified under sub-rules (1) and (2), should, as far as possible, be contemporaneous and should exist latest by the specified date referred to in clause (iv) of section 92F:
Provided that where 86[an international transaction or a specified domestic transaction] continues to have effect over more than one previous year, fresh documentation need not be maintained separately in respect of each previous year, unless there is any significant change in the nature or terms of the international transaction 87[or the specified domestic transaction, as the case may be], in the assumptions made, or in any other factor which could influence the transfer price, and in the case of such significant change, fresh documentation as may be necessary under sub-rules (1) and (2) shall be maintained bringing out the impact of the change on the pricing of 88[the international transaction or the specified domestic transaction].
(5) The information and documents specified in sub-rules (1) and (2) shall be kept and maintained for a period of eight years from the end of the relevant assessment year.


Financial inclusion can curb ponzi schemes: RBI governor Raghuram Rajan


In an effort to prevent recurrence of Saradha like ponzi scheme operators, various financial regulators and the state governments will share information with each other, and would work on ensuring that public savings flow into formal banking channels. This was decided at the conference of state secretaries and financial regulators held on Monday.
"SLCCs (state-level coordination committees) should focus on financial inclusion for flow of public savings to the formal channels and protection of deposits of public mopped up by unauthorised and unscrupulous entities", Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan told state secretaries.
The 27th conference of the state finance secretaries held in Mumbai discussed the matter of ponzi schemes threadbare to protect gullible and poor savers from being lured by pyramid operators. State secretaries have agreed to develop a dedicated website for SLCC members for sharing the developments and best practices and information on dubious entities. They suggested strengthening of the Economic Offences Wing and Cyber Cells to curb the menace.

Sebi chairman UK Sinha suggested that states should enact depositors' investor protection act and strengthen the enforcement mechanism.
Rajan said the decline in financial savings would be a challenge to debt management when growth and private sector credit would pick up. The gross domestic saving rate as per Central Statistical Office's estimates declined to 30.1% in 2012-13 from 31.3% in 201112, mainly on account of a decline in the rate of household physical savings People were holding their assets more in cash currency, which in turn, led to contraction in bank deposits. The general election was a trigger behind it. So far in the current financial year, the currency in circulation has increased by Rs 46,000 crore to around Rs 13 lakh crore.

During the same period last year, the incremental growth was almost two and a half times lower to Rs 18,900 crore. However, going forward, funds are likely to flow back to the banking system making room for interest rate cuts.
Rajan has warned state governments about adverse consequences of loan waivers offered by states and the adverse impact on the financial health of banks whose capital needs have gone up due to enhanced provisioning requirements following deterioration in asset quality and others.

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/

Monday, August 25, 2014

Syndicate Bank scam: Criminality a major reason for current bad debt pile of lenders

A slowing economy and clearance delays for projects are the two commonly cited reasons for the spike in bad loans in the banking system, over the past few years in particular.

There could be a third – criminality among individual bankers and wrongdoing firms-which might have equally contributed to a sizable part of the sticky assets.

That’s something even the regulator hesitates to admit.

In the post monetary policy presser on 5 August, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan cautioned against highlighting criminality as the reason for all bad loans ills of banking system.

“One should not extrapolate this (arrest of former syndicate Bank chairman S K Jain in bribe case by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to the entire public sector banking system and assume that all the problems in the public sector banking system are because of criminality rather than because of other factors,” Rajan told journalists to a question.

Rajan is correct in saying that “all the problems” are not because of criminality rather than other factors. But a look at the bad loan scenario would tell you, reasons for a sizeable chunk of bad loans can be indeed attributed to the element of criminality.

A lot will depend up on what defines criminality in a banking transaction. If the definition of criminality involves diversion of funds borrowed from banks to a non-stated purpose, with or without the knowledge of the banker, then it makes a perfect script for bad loans in many cases.

Similalrly, if a rich promoter is hesitant to pay back his banks even when he has the money, the promoter should well be treated as a criminal because he is fooling the banking system, which handle public money. A number of cases have happened in the past, where the promoter is a willful defaulter. In state Bank of India (SBI) alone, outstanding loan amount involving willful defaulters exceed Rs 10,000 crore.

In the past 3-4 years, the number of cases involving fund diversion by corporations from the stated purposes, cases of unlawful activities involving public sector bank officials and number of willful defaulters have significantly gone up, giving enough reasons to suspect that reasons for sharp rise in the pile of bad loans in the country’s Rs 86 lakh crore banking system has come through criminal conspiracy and not necessarily attributable to the much hyped twin reasons.

A look at some of the cases, where there are elements of fund diversions or willful default, points to characteristics of criminality in the conduct of the borrower.

Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines defaulted Rs 6,500 crore of loans to a 17-bank consortium led by SBI. After some repayments, the due are currently about Rs 4,000 crore. Banks are in the process of declaring Kingfisher as a willful defaulter.

The CBI has registered a case against the airline in connection with the loan exposure. Banks argue that they have a good case to declare on account as a willful defaulter citing evidences for fund diversion and ability of the promoter to mobilise funds.

Similarly, in the case of Winsome Diamonds, the CBI have begun a probe to the working of the company after it allegedly defaulted Rs 6,500 crore worth of loans to a host of banks, making it equal in size to Kingfisher. While the company claims that the default has occurred following non-payment of dues by its trading partners in the Middle East.

But the banks haven’t bought that excuse and have slapped legal notices against the firm.

In another case, in 2013, the CBI had filed case against Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd (DCHL), for alleged cheating, fraud. According to some of the bankers to DCHL, part of the reason the company faced the crisis was diversions of funds to expansion plans of the group, which was not stated to the lenders at the time of taking the loan.

Also, there were lack of coordination among the banks in the consortium and Listed above are only a few prominent cases. The list is long.

The fate of the Rs40,000 crore loan to Bhushan Steel is currently uncertain in the backdrop of serious charges of bribery by the firm to bankers. Even though the loan is at present standard, bankers fear that any possible slippages in the loan can have huge impact on the banks in the consortium.

In November 2010, the CBI busted a corporate loan racket in Mumbai involving the former chief of LIC Housing Finance and several other officials of public sector banks, where investigators found that middlemen bribed bankers to facilitate loans to their corporate clients in violation of norms.

Indian banks are already reeling under the pain of stressed assets. The amount of bad debt of 40-listed banks in the country stood at Rs 2.5 lakh crore in the banking system as of end June.

Among the banks with high level of gross non-performing assets (NPAs) are United Bank of India (10.49 percent), Dhanlaxmi Bank (7.17 percent), Central Bank of India (6.15 percent), Andhra Bank (5.98 percent) and Indian Overseas Bank (5.84 percent).

Besides the bad loans, a huge chunk of loans are being restructured, which is estimated to be between Rs 5 lakh crore to Rs 6 lakh crore. A sizeable chunk of such loans could turn bad too in the absence of significant economic revival. Banking system is the backbone and a proxy to the economy, hence damages caused to it can have serious ramifications on the overall economic stability.

The fact is that criminality is a major reason for the current bad debt pile of Indian banks. The asset quality scenario could worsen if the regulators and the banks do not recognize the root causes of the bad loans of Indian banks.

The element of criminality in a banking transaction, whether it comes from any of the three parties involved in the transaction—the banker, the borrower or the mythical middleman— ultimately hits the banks, which are guardians of tax payers’ money.

The first task of the central bank is to have the courage to acknowledge the problem, see the larger picture and not ignore the recurring signals.Source:http://firstbiz.firstpost.com/

Sebi makes fresh bid to trace Sahara investors

In a last-ditch effort to locate Sahara investors eligible for refunds, market regulator Sebi has asked all such persons to submit th­eir claims by next month.

Sahara claims to have returned the outstanding du­es to almost all the bon­dholders directly. Tho­se having invested in various bonds issued by the two Sahara firms, Sahara India Real Estate (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing

Investment (SHICL), have been asked by Sebi to submit their refund applications along with necessary documentary proof by September 30.

This follows directions from the Supreme Court, which has asked Sebi to facilitate refund to the bondholders of the two companies in connection with a long-running dispute involving raising of funds to the tune of over Rs 24,000 crore from nearly three crore investors across the country.

Sahara maintained it has already repaid more than 93 per cent of the outstanding dues directly.

While Sahara maintained it has already repaid more than 93 per cent of the outstanding dues directly to the bondholders and the remaining amount was just about Rs 2,500 crore, it deposited Rs 5,120 crore with Sebi in December 2012 towards investor refunds as per Supreme Court orders. A further amount of Rs 3,117 crore was deposited by the group with Sebi this June.

In May last year, the market regulator began the process of refunding money to eligible investors from the amount deposited by the group till that time and issued public notices inviting claim applications.

However, the refunds made so far remain minuscule, although the regulator has not so far made public the exact quantum of such payments. Taking forward the refund process, Sebi has now issued a new public notice inviting bondholders of the two Sahara firms to submit their refund applications, along with original bond certificates or passbooks, self-attested copies of identity and address proofs as well as bank details for credit of refund amount directly into their accounts.

Sahara group didn’t comment on Sebi’s new refund application process.

While seeking applications in a prescribed format, Sebi also said it would entertain applications for real estate, Adobe and Nirmaan bonds of SIRECL, as also for multiple, income and housing bonds of SHICL.

“Please note that the claims relating to any schemes/bonds other than the ones listed above shall not be entertained and will be returned to the applicant at his/her sole risk and responsibility,” the regulator said.

Sebi also said, “Claims received after September 30 shall be returned to the applicant at his/her sole risk and responsibility.”

On August 14, Sahara informed the Supreme Court that it had reached an agreement with a foreign party to sell its three luxurious hotels in London and New York and a foreign bank has agreed to grant bank guarantee for Rs 5,000 crore. The court gave Sahara chief Subrata Roy 15 more working days to complete the process.

Roy, who has been in jail for over five months, was earlier asked to deposit Rs 5,000 crore in cash and further Rs 5,000 crore as bank guarantee to secure an interim bail. Out of this, the group has deposited Rs 3,117 crore so far.

Sahara has been maintaining that Sebi should verify the refunds made by it directly and claims to have submitted to the regulator proof for nearly 75 per cent of the refunds. It also says the remaining 25 per cent refund proof is lying at its Mumbai godown to be given to Sebi.

Sahara contends that bulk of its investors didn’t have bank accounts or other formal financial papers, the details of which have been sought by Sebi.

On the identification on Sahara’s investors, Sebi has contested in the court that addresses of many of the investors given by Sahara were incomplete as only names of village, district and state were given and no house number or street/lane name was mentioned.

Sahara maintained that most of the investors were from rural India and there was no house number or street name in the villages. However, in the new refund application form, Sebi has given a new address format for rural investors, asking only village name, post office, district and state but has sought house numbers and street names for urban addresses.Source: http://www.mydigitalfc.com/

SSTL Q2 Net Loss Narrows to Rs 402 Crore

Sistema Shyam Teleservices (SSTL) today reported a narrowed down net loss of Rs. 402.5 crore for the second quarter ended June 30 on account of cost optimisation and operational efficiencies.

The company, which operates under MTS brand name, had reported a net loss of Rs. 844.7 crore for the corresponding quarter last year, it said in a statement.

Total revenues of the company rose 15 per cent to Rs. 334.8 crore for the reported period as compared to Rs. 290.9 crore last time.

The company follows January-December fiscal.

The revenue improvement is driven largely by an increase in data revenues.

"During the quarter, our consolidated revenues grew by 5 per cent quarter-on-quarter, driven by growth in non-voice revenues. Going forward, we expect strong momentum to continue, especially in our data business," SSTL chief executive officer Dmitry Shukov said.

The company reported an operating income before depreciation and amortisation (OIBDA) loss of Rs. 136.5 crore for the second quarter of 2014 as compared to Rs. 219.3 crore last year on account of cost optimisation, strict control over marketing and other expenditures and also on account of operational efficiencies.

SSTL made investments of Rs. 33.2 crore during the second quarter of 2014. Debt from banks and financial institutions at the end of June 30, 2014 stood at Rs. 3,614 crore.

In the reporting period, SSTL's mobile subscriber base increased 1.4 per cent quarter-on-quarter and reached 9.2 million customers as on June 30, 2014.

The company's mobile subscribers' minutes of usage for the second quarter of 2014 improved to 416 minutes versus 414 minutes in the first quarter of 2014.

Non-voice revenues, from both data and mobile VAS, for the quarter increased by 14 per cent to Rs. 129.1 crore.

"Our priority is to drive revenue growth in data for the company with strict focus on achieving profitability. The plan is to continue investing in our data business and at the same time, through discipline ensure improvement in our OIBDA margins," SSTL chief financial officer Sergey Savchenko said.Source: http://profit.ndtv.com/

Thursday, August 21, 2014

INTRADAY NIFTY

Level TypeR5R4R3R2R1Pivot PointS1S2S3S4S5
PIVOT POINTS8121.958063.308004.657946.007910.657887.357852.007828.707770.057711.407652.75
FIBONACCI PIVOTS7982.257961.957946.007923.607909.757887.357864.957851.107828.707812.757792.45
CAMARILLA PIVOTS7939.827907.567891.437886.057880.687887.357869.927864.557859.177843.047810.79

INTRADAY LEVELS DRREDDY

Level TypeR5R4R3R2R1Pivot PointS1S2S3S4S5
PIVOT POINTS3148.283079.283010.282941.282913.572872.282844.572803.282734.282665.282596.28
FIBONACCI PIVOTS2983.932960.052941.282914.932898.642872.282845.932829.642803.282784.522760.64
CAMARILLA PIVOTS2961.752923.802904.832898.502892.182872.282879.532873.202866.882847.902809.95

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Farm House Plots for Sale


11000 Sq.ft. developed / under development farm house plots for Sale at Morgaon (Supa) near Morgaon Ganesh Temple only for Rs.15 Lacs.... Contact; Atul Karnawat on 9823479955 or Saideep Bagrecha on 7757888883 / 9823979955