Over 12,000 pilgrims register for 1st day of Amarnath yatra

Over 12,700 pilgrims have registered themselves for the first day of the pilgrimage to holy cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayas as the annual yatra is all set to begin on Friday. "A total of 12,717 pilgrims have secured registration for the first day of Yatra (June 28) for both Pahalgam and Baltal routes," a spokesman of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) said here.

He said 6,567 pilgrims have registered to travel by the Baltal route while 6,150 have preferred the Pahalgam route. The spokesman said the SASB has fixed a ceiling of 7,500 pilgrims per day per route for this year's pilgrimage.

"This excludes pilgrims who travel by the Heliservices up to Panjtarni, whose number may vary between 1,000 and 1,400, depending upon the number of sorties undertaken during the day," he added.

Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra, who is also the chairman of the SASB, chaired a high-level meeting to review the yatra arrangements.

The spokesman said the governor has, earlier, discussed Yatra related issues with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, in the wake of the Uttarakhand tragedy to reiterate the importance of the district administration strictly ensuring against any unregistered pilgrim being allowed to undertake the Yatra.

The SASB has decided not to allow any unregistered pilgrims to proceed beyond the base camps at Baltal and Pahalgam this year following high number of deaths last year.

A valid health certificate has been made mandatory for the yatris this year while only pilgrims between age of 13 years and 75 years will be allowed to perform the yatra.

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Support price of paddy hiked by Rs 60 to Rs 1,310/quintal

Amid expectations of normal rain,the government today approved a hike of Rs 60 in paddy support price (MSP) to Rs 1,310 per quintal in order to encourage farmers to grow more in the ongoing kharif season.

The government also increased the minimum support price (MSP) of pulses and oilseeds by up to Rs 450 and Rs 320 per quintal, to boost ouput and reduce import dependence. "The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved MSPs of kharif crops for 2013-14 crop year (July-June) as proposed by the Agriculture Ministry," a source said after the CCEA meeting here.

While MSP for common paddy has been raised to Rs 1,310 from Rs 1,250 per quintal, the support price of grade 'A'variety of paddy has been hiked by Rs 65 to Rs 1,345/quintal. Sowing of paddy, the main kharif crop, begins with the onset of monsoon in June and harvesting starts in October.

The normal monsoon forecast by the Met Department for this year, coupled with hike in MSP, is expected to boost paddy area and productivity. In 2012, there was drought in four states leading to fall in foodgrains production by four million tonnes to little over 255 million tonnes.

CCEA also approved Rs 100 hike in cotton MSP to Rs 3,700 per quintal (medium staple) and Rs 4,000 per quintal (long staple). In pulses category, the MSP of tur has been raised by Rs 450 to Rs 4,300 per quintal, while that of moong by Rs 100 to Rs 4,500 per quintal.

The ministry had recommended no change in urad MSP at Rs 4,300 per quintal for this year. In the oilseeds category, CCEA approved a hike of Rs 300 in the MSP of soyabean (black) to Rs 2,500 a quintal; Rs 320 rise in MSP of soyabean (yellow) to Rs 2,560 per quintal.

The MSP of sesamum stands increased by Rs 300 per quintal at Rs 4,500. The support prices of sunflower seed and nigerseed have been kept unchanged at Rs 3,700 per quintal and Rs 3,500 per quintal, respectively.

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Kanimozhi, D Raja, Maitreyan elected to RS from Tamil Nadu

DMK President M Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi was today reelected to Rajya Sabha with Congress support from Tamil Nadu after a contest with actor Vijayakanth's DMDK candidate.

Four AIADMK candidates, including the party leader in Rajya Sabha V Maitreyan and CPI's D Raja, however, registered comfortable wins as expected in the elections for which voting was held for the first time in 17 years.

Also read: Days after being criticised by Shiv Sena, Modi meets Uddhav  

45-year-old Kanimozhi, an accused in the 2G scam, sailed through the contest for a second term with 31 votes after five Congress' MLAs voted in her favour along with two votes each from two smaller parties--Puthiya Thamizhagam and Manithaneya Munnetrak Katchi.  One vote of the DMK combine is understood to have been held invalid.

The Congress decision came as a surprise against the backdrop of the bitter separation between the two parties after nine years of friendship in the UPA coalition earlier this year.

CPI leader D Raja, for whom AIADMK had extended support, won with 34 votes.  He has also been reelected for a second term to the Rajya Sabha.

The Four AIADMK candidates  were elected comfortably. Maitreyan with 36 votes gets a third term with his election while his other party colleagues Ratnavel and  Arjunan (36 each) and Lakshmanan (35) are new entrants to the Upper House of Parliament.

DMDK, which has suffered dissidence, lost in the elections when its candidate A R Elangovan got only 22 votes. seven  dissident DMDK MLAs voted for the ruling AIADMK and its supported candidates.

In the 234-member House, a candidate has to get 34 first preference votes.  Three MLAs of PMK boycotted the elections. While the four AIADMK candidates and CPI's Raja got elected on the basis of first preference votes, Kanimozhi won on the basis of counting done by elimination method.

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MSTC chief SK Tripathi may become interim head of NMDC

MSTC Chairman and Managing Director S K Tripathi is likely to get the additional charge of heading NMDC as the Steel Ministry has decided to relieve SAIL 's C S Verma from leading the country's biggest miner, according to a source.

SAIL Chairman Verma, who has been handling the charge of heading NMDC as an interim arrangement since May 2012, also heads International Coal Venture Ltd (ICVL). "Now, Steel Ministry has decided to give Verma more time to concentrate on SAIL where  he is holding the highest post and has recommended Tripathi's name to Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) for giving him additional charge of NMDC," a source in the Ministry told PTI.

Tripathi was among 15 candidates called for an interview on May 30 for heading NMDC full-time by a Steel Ministry appointed panel, headed by Planning Commission member Arun Maira. The MSTC CMD, however, could not make the cut. The panel had  recommended the names of SAIL's Burnpur plant CEO Narendra Kothari and Bharat Coking Coal's CMD Tapas Kumar Lahiri for the same. The final approval of the ACC is still pending.

MSTC Ltd is a Mini Ratna Category-I PSU. The Steel Ministry's decision to appoint Tripathi replacing Verma on an interim basis at NMDC might be a result of the view that the final nod of ACC might take some time to arrive.

"Since, Verma is busy with SAIL and also burdened with the task of heading International Coal Venture Ltd; we thought it to be prudent to allow him to spend more time on SAIL. The steel sector is also passing through a bad time. He needs more time," the source said.

Verma, who also heads SAIL, was given additional charge of NMDC in May last year following some issues cropping up with the incumbent officiating Chairman and senior most Director on the NMDC Board, N K Nanda. NMDC is without a full-time CMD since a long time.

According to the source, Nanda was given the additional charge as Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma did not concur with Public Enterprises Selection Board's (PESB) recommendation of M S Rana for heading NMDC in July last year. Rana at present heads Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India. Tripathi's tenure as the interim head of NMDC could be till such time the iron ore miner gets a full-time CMD.

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Retailers seek changes in multi-brand FDI norms

Asking government to tweak FDI norms in multi-brand segment, retailers today said sourcing rules must be made similar to that of single brand while demanding foreign firms be allowed to put only 50 per cent of first tranche of investment in back-end infrastructure.

Representatives of both foreign and domestic retail companies, including Walmart, Tesco, Carrefour, Bharti , Aditya Birla Group, Tatas, Reliance and Pantaloon, among others met Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma here.

The government on its part said "an early and appropriate view will be taken so that the guidelines can accordingly be
given out".

"The industry raised two-three major points like the 30 per cent sourcing issue. We have said that it should be 'preferable' and not 'mandatory'. Industry cannot buy everything from SMEs," Bharti Enterprises Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Rajan Bharti Mittal told reporters after emerging from the meeting.

As per current FDI policy in the retail sector, 30 per cent of products sold by single brand retailers, where 100 per FDI is allowed, are to be "preferably" sourced from small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Also read: India to lift FDI cap in few sectors by July third week: FM

On the other hand, in multi-brand segment, where only 51 per cent FDI is allowed, it is "mandatory" for the company to procure 30 per cent from SMEs.

Commenting on the definition of SMEs, Mittal said: "We have said that at the entry point it should be an SME but if it crosses the limit of USD 1 million (of investments), we should be allowed to continue sourcing from the same unit."

On the contentious issue of investment in the back-end infrastructure, he said: "We should be allowed only 50 percent of the first tranche of investment on back-end infrastructure and future investment should not be restricted."

As per existing rules, foreign retailers in multi-brand segment will have to make a minimum investment of 100 million in India, of which 50 per cent must be in the back end chain.

A recent clarification by the DIPP has stated that the investment in the back-end infrastructure will have to be specifically for the new chain of stores that the foreign retailer would set up in India.

When asked about the demands of the retailers, Sharma said: "It was important for the government to hear where are the areas or the issues which may require some more clarity...we have sufficient space to address those concerns, bring in the clarity and an early and appropriate view will be taken  so that the guidelines can accordingly be given out." Official sources, however, said even if the demands of the retailers were met, the matter will have to be taken to the Cabinet for approval.

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Thailand donates USD 100,000 to India for flood relief

Thailand on Thursday extended financial assistance of USD 100,000 towards India's flood relief and rehabilitation. Foreign minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul called Indian Ambassador Anil Wadhwa to the Thai Foreign Office to express sympathy and condolences on behalf of his government and people for loss of lives, property and devastation caused by the recent floods in northern India.

Tovichakchaikul also handed over a condolence message addressed to his Indian counterpart and made a symbolic presentation of financial assistance of USD 100,000 for relief and rehabilitation.

Last week, Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej had sent a message of condolence to President Pranab Mukherjee over the loss of lives and damage caused by the floods.

"The Queen and I are deeply saddened by reports of devastating floods which have caused immense loss of human lives and heavy damage to infrastructure and property in the northern part of your country," the message said.

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RBI sets measures for state discom bonds

Moneycontrol Bureau

Bonds, which will be issued by state power distribution companies (Discoms), will be valued at their current market price, if they are traded and quoted. However, they will be valued on a yield to maturity (YTM) basis with a mark-up, if bonds are not traded and quoted, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in a notification on Thursday.

"As these bonds are to be acquired by banks under special circumstances and these have two distinct features: (i) issued and serviced by State discoms with the guarantee of the respective state governments during the initial period and (ii) issued and serviced by the state governments during the latter period," RBI said.

Must read: Risks to banks increased marginally: Fin Stability Report

Banks had lent an estimated around Rs 1.90 lakh crore to different state power distribution companies. Eight states have showed interest for loan restructuring. As a part of those recast packages, Discoms are supposed to issue bonds to the tune of 50 percent of their exposures to their lending banks as part of restructuring excercise.

The illiquid bonds, which will not be traded, will be priced 75 basis points higher than federal government bonds if the papers are held by the state distribution companies, but guaranteed by the state government, RBI said.

The mark-up (addition over and above) will be 100 basis points if they are not guaranteed by state governments. However, it will be 50 basis points when the bonds are held by the state governments.

Discom bonds will not have any statutory liquidity ratio status. This means, banks cannot use them to maintain mandatory 23 percent SLR. Banks need to invest in government securities to for SLR maintenance.

saikat.das@network18online.com

 

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Swiss Fin Corp sells 11.22 lakh shares of Karnataka Bank

Foreign investor Swiss Finance Corporation on Thursday offloaded 11.22 lakh shares of Karnataka Bank for around Rs 12 crore.

According to information available with stock exchanges, Swiss Finance Corporation (Mauritius) sold 11.22 lakh shares of Mangalore-based Karnataka Bank through open market transactions.

Shares were sold at an average price of Rs 108.04 valuing the transaction to Rs 12.12 crore.

As of March quarter, Swiss Finance Corporation held 30.31 lakh shares, amounting to 1.61 per cent stake, of Karnataka Bank. Earlier this week, Religare Finvest had sold 12 lakh shares of Karnataka Bank for an estimated Rs 13 crore. Religare Finvest is part of Religare Enterprises which is among the major contenders for new banking licences.

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CBI autonomy: Cabinet clears GoM proposal

The Cabinet discussed suggestions made by the Group of Ministers (GoM) which was constituted to suggest measures for the independence and functional autonomy of CBI on Thursday. The proposal was cleared on Thursday. The move has raised the financial and other powers of the agency to ensure greater independence in carrying out its investigations.

The Group of Ministers was chaired by finance minister P Chidambaram and comprised Law Minister Kapil Sibal, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and Minister of State for Personnel V Narayanasamy - it had concluded its deliberations on Monday.

The Group of Ministers is believed to have recommended constitution of a panel of retired judges which would monitor the investigations undertaken by the agency to ensure that CBI probes remain free from any influence.

Official sources said the provisions may not be in accordance with the provisions of the CrPC as an investigating officer reports only to court and no one else could interfere in its investigations. However, former CBI Director Joginder Singh called the setting of retired judges' panel as a welcome step and said it should be implemented at the state-level as well.

He cited example of Uttar Pradesh government which wanted to withdraw charges of terrorism against minority youths but was stopped by the respective courts.

Another important recommendation made by the GoM relates to increase in the financial powers of the CBI director. The sources said the CBI director needs more financial powers as at present they are dependent on bureaucrats for sanction of funds, however small they might be. Its recommendations was placed before the Cabinet on Thursday.

Once the Cabinet clears the recommendations, an affidavit in this regard is placed before the Supreme Court which then would hear the matter on July 10. The government's move to constitute the GoM came after scathing observations of the Supreme Court on the functioning of the CBI while hearing the coal block allocation case.

The Supreme Court had indicted CBI for being a "caged parrot" of its political masters while hearing a case related to alleged irregularities in coal blocks allocation and directed it to make an effort to come out with a law to insulate CBI from external influence and intrusion.

"... CBI has become a caged parrot. We can't have CBI as a caged parrot speaking in its master's voice. It is a sordid saga where there are many masters and one parrot," the Supreme Court had said during a hearing on May 6.

The court's observation had come following an affidavit from CBI Director Sinha who admitted to having shared a draft coal block allocation probe report with former Law Minister Ashwani Kumar and two joint secretaries -- Shatrughna Singh and A K Bhalla -- in the Prime Minister's Office and Coal Ministry respectively.

The GoM has met three times and it was seemingly not inclined to bring drastic changes in the functioning of the CBI, government sources said. CBI, which is probing irregularities in allocation of coal mine blocks on the direction of CVC, has so far registered 13 FIRs in the matter.

The agency has questioned two former officials as witness which were posted in PMO during the period 2006-09 with regards to coal blocks allocated during the period.

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Gas prices up $8.4; CCEA okays Ranga panel recos

Moneycontrol Bureau

The Cabinet Committee for Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Thursday approved the proposal to hike the natural gas price to USD 8.4 per mmbtu (metric million British thermal units) from April 1, 2014, reports CNBC-TV18.

The CCEA has approved the Rangarajan committee's formula for gas pricing. The new price will apply uniformly to all producers, be it state-owned firms like Oil and Natural Gas Corp ( ONGC ) or private sector Reliance Industries . While it was previously said the new rates would apply to regulated or APM gas produced by firms like ONGC immediately, the pricing as per Rangarajan formula will come into effect from April 1, 2014, just when RIL's KGD6 formula of USD 4.2/mmBtu runs out.

CCEA further noted that Rangarajan committee's formula for gas pricing would be valid for five years and gas prices will be revised quarterly from April 1, 2014 onwards. The oil ministry in its final proposal had suggested to increase gas price to above USD 6.7 per mmBtu level from current USD 4.2 currently

The Oil Ministry's proposal to price all domestically produced natural gas as per a complex international hub and imported LNG-based formula suggested by the Rangarajan panel was listed as item number 8 on the agenda of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) meeting. 

Oil minister Veerappa Moily informed CNBC-TV18 that he and finance minister will explain CCEA's decision on gas price on Friday.

The oil ministry's note to CCEA had proposed new gas price between USD 6.76/mmBtu to USD 8.93/mmBtu in FY14. It further proposed that price should be around USD 10.29 in FY15 and should be raised to USD 10.92 in FY16.

The natural gas prices have not been increased since past three years as the oil ministry faced stiff resistance from power and fertiliser ministry. Following gas price hike fuel cost of gas based power plant is likely to double and average power cost is seen rising by 16 paise per kwh.

The Rangarajan formula uses long-term and spot liquid gas (LNG) import contracts as well as international trading benchmarks to arrive at a competitive price for India. While the Rangarajan panel had recommended revising domestic gas prices every month based, the Oil Ministry changed it to a quarterly revision.

Though the average of of the two currently comes to USD 6.775, the price of gas in April next year when these guidelines will come into effect would be around USD 8.42 and over USD 10 in the following year. This is because Petronet's deal with Qatar's RasGas (India's only functional long-term LNG contract) has a price-cap which lifts in January 2014, linking gas prices fully with crude.

(With inputs from PTI)

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FinMin to seek exemption on float norms for PSUs in red

The Finance ministry is set to ask for leeway from market regulator Securities and Exchanges Board of India over loss-making Public Sector Units (PSU) complying with the 10 percent public float norms, reports Aakansha Sethi quoting sources.

The deadline for PSUs to comply with the minimum public shareholding norms is the August 8. There was a meeting only today to discuss what should be done with loss making Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs).

There are about five-six PSUs that are listed but are loss making. On one hand they have to comply with Sebi's mandatory 10 percent public float norm and on the other the government has a divestment policy where companies that are profit making for the last three years only are divested. So, if a company has made a loss in any one of the last three years then it can't be divested. Hence, with these five-six companies such as Andrew Yule , ITDC, Hindustan Photo Films , FACT and HMT , the government is going to write to SEBI seeking an exemption for the mandatory 10 percent float.

For all the others which are profit making for instance National Fertilizers Limited , Hindustan Copper , Neyveli Lignite and ITI , the government is going to go ahead and meet the August deadline.

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Bloodshed session on Dalal St; FII pullout fuelled crash

The market tanked over 500 points reacting to US Federal Reserve's statements on tapering the asset purchases by the year-end.

CNBC-TV18's managing editor Udayan Mukherjee said that the market had a bloodshed session on the Dalal Street. He added that strong FII pullout fears led to the lowering of the prices. 

On the rupee's fall he said, "It was a terrible day for the rupee flirting very closely with that 60 to the dollar mark."

Below is the edited transcript of his market commentary on CNBC-TV18.

It was mayhem from the word go. The day started with almost a 100-point gap. It kept on losing ground through the session finally closing at the lowest point of the day at around 5,650. So, it was quite a bloodshed session Dalal Street

The fears of foreign institutional investors (FII) withdrawal led the stock prices to lower levels today. Some of the blue chips, where FIIs have large holdings like ICICI Bank, ONGC, ITC, HDFC, Reliance, suffered the most.

High beta (stocks) got smashed out of shape. Stocks like DLF, JP Associates, metal stocks like Hindalco, Tata Steel and JSPL got absolutely hammered. Very few stocks stood out on the positive side.

The rupee started the day at an alarming level of 59.90 to the dollar; pulled back a bit on some buying, but then went down once again. So, it was a terrible day for the rupee flirting very closely with that 60 to the dollar mark.

Mid-caps got completely hammered across the board. The breadth was terrible, volumes were large today and anything which was high beta in nature i.e. infrastructure, real estate, metals, even public sector banks had a really nasty fall.

Stocks like Sintex, Renuka, PFC, Adani Power, GMR got some special punishment on the way down.

Global markets were down across the board. Asia had a really bad session after the Chinese purchasing managers index (PMI) numbers early in the day. Europe opened up extremely weak while we were trading.

Emerging market currencies had a real bath. Gold whacked and ended below USD 1300. So, nothing was spared. India was not alone in its pain; it was a global phenomenon today in that sense.

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HUL open offer begins tomorrow at Rs 600 a share

Unilever today said its voluntary open offer to increase its stake in Hindustan Unilever will begin tomorrow, and will remain open till July 4.

In a statement from London, the company said the open offer price is fixed at Rs 600 apiece, but added that the company will  offer a Rs 6 bonus per share. Currently, Unilever holds 52.48 per cent in HUL and post open offer it will go up to 75 percent.

It can be noted that on April 30, the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant had said it would pump in USD 5.4 billion or over Rs 29,380 crore in HUL to hike stake in its holding in the domestic arm to 75 per cent through an open offer, and offered Rs 600 a share, which was 21 per cent higher than HUL's closing price of Rs 497.35 the previous day, when it had announced the annual numbers.

The world's second-largest consumer goods company "is making a voluntary open offer to acquire 48,70,04,772 shares representing 22.52 per cent of the total voting share capital from the public shareholders of Hindustan Unilever", Unilever
said.

HSBC Securities & Capital Markets India is the manager to the offer. In January this year, Unilever had decided to hike royalty fees from HUL. As per an agreement between HUL and Unilever for the provision of technology, trademark licences
and other services, royalty payment by the Indian arm to its parent will increase to 3.15 per cent of turnover by the
financial year ending March 31 2018.

Earlier, HUL was paying a royalty of 1.4 per cent of the turnover. The agreement became affective from February 1, 2013. In the March quarter, HUL has reported a 15 per cent spike in net profit at Rs 787 crore, while for the full year, its profit rose to Rs 3,829 crore, an increase of a whopping 37.20 per cent as against Rs 2,790.66 crore in 2011-12, while net sales for 2012-13 rose to Rs 26,317.15 crore from Rs 22,987.73 crore in the previous fiscal.

Subject to approval of the final dividend of Rs 6 per share recommended by the HUL board for the FY13, and of the AGM slated for July 26, the shareholders who tender their shares in the open offer will be entitled to receive the final dividend in respect of the shares tendered by them, the statement said.

HUL shares closed flat but with a negative bias at Rs 593.15, a fall of 0.27 per cent, on a day when the Sensex tanked 2.74 per cent or 526.41 points to 18719.29.

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Sintex Industries tanks nearly 8% on FO exclusion

Shares of Sintex Industries today declined nearly 8 percent on heavy selling after National Stock Exchange said the counter was being excluded from its derivatives segment.

The company's scrip tanked 7.93 percent to close the day at Rs 43.55 on the NSE.

Also read: Will rupee become senior citizen? RBI says no

On the BSE, the scrip was down 7.49 percent to Rs 43.85 at the end of the day's trade.

On the volume front, 6.33 lakh shares of the company changed hands on the BSE. Over 41.91 lakh shares were traded on the NSE.

The market capitalisation of the company fell by Rs 112 crore to Rs 1,372 crore.

"Participants are requested to note that Sintex Industries Limited shall not be available for transactions in Securities Lending & Borrowing Scheme (SLBS) with effect from August 30, 2013," the NSE said in a circular yesterday.

Drop in the stock was in line with an overall weak stock market where the BSE benchmark Sensex plunged by 526.41 points to close at 18,719.29.

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Cipla gets nod from SA authorities to acquire Cipla Medpro

Jun 20, 2013, 08.31 PM IST

Cipla has received approval from the authorities of South African and Botswana for the USD 512 million takeover offer to acquire Cipla Medpro.

Like this story, share it with millions of investors on M3

Cipla gets nod from SA authorities to acquire Cipla Medpro

Cipla has received approval from the authorities of South African and Botswana for the USD 512 million takeover offer to acquire Cipla Medpro.

Like this story, share it with millions of investors on M3

Cipla gets nod from SA authorities to acquire Cipla Medpro

Cipla has received approval from the authorities of South African and Botswana for the USD 512 million takeover offer to acquire Cipla Medpro.

Share  .  Email  .  Print  .  A+A-

Drug major Cipla Ltd today said it has received approval from the authorities of South African and Botswana for the USD 512 million takeover offer to acquire Cipla Medpro.

"With reference to the earlier announcement dated May 15, 2013 on acquisition of 100 per cent of Cipla Medpro South Africa Ltd...the approvals for the scheme from the South African and Botswana competition authorities have been received," Cipla Ltd said in a filing to the BSE.

The implementation of the scheme is still subject to various other approvals and conditions, including regulatory and government approvals, it added. Last month, Cipla Medpro shareholders had approved the Indian company's USD 512 million takeover offer.

Earlier this year, Cipla had offered to pay 10 rand per share to acquire 100 per cent of Cipla Medpro for a consideration of around USD 512 million. Cipla supplies majority of Cipla Medpro's drugs through a long-standing agreement but has never owned a stake in it.

The acquisition of South African firm would help Cipla further strengthen its position in the African continent. Shares of Cipla today closed at Rs 379.15 apiece on the BSE, down 0.18 per cent from their previous close.

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The latest earning numbers FIRST on CNBC-TV18

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Rupee fall hits middle income group hard: ASSOCHAM survey

The middle income group has been impacted by inflation particularly in context of falling rupee and its cascading effects on price rise of items like petroleum products and edible oil, according to a survey by apex chamber ASSOCHAM.

Also read: Will rupee become senior citizen? RBI says no

The survey says the rupee depreciation has impacted consumers in metros and other major cities in a big way compared to tier-III and semi-urban areas.Over 92 per cent of respondents said their monthly bills have jumped by 15-20 per cent in last one month. The middle class and the lower class are the worst hit, adds the survey.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India said it conducted a survey in major cities like Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Pune, Chandigarh, Dehradun and other cities."Despite government effort to control gold imports, the Indian middle income group is bound by societal traditions and continues to buy gold even at higher prices which have increased the prices of gold due to rupee weakening," ASSOCHAM Secretary General D S Rawat said.

Around 55 per cent of the survey respondents fall under the age bracket of 20-29 years, followed by 30-39 years (26 per cent), 40-49 years (16 per cent), 50-59 years (2 per cent) and 60-65 years, the survey said. The weakening rupee has made crude oil, fertilisers and iron ore, which India imports in large quantities, costlier.

Though these items are not for daily consumption, but impact the finances indirectly, Rawat said.The survey further says crude palm oil prices set the pace for prices of other edible oils. It is imported in large quantities and any rise in its price will add to the
inflationary pressures.

It also said that Middle Income Group, uncomfortable with weak rupee are changing their overall spending habits,including dining out, vacations, electronics and others.

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CCEA may discuss coal price pass-through mechanism tomorrow

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) may take a call on coal price pass-through mechanism on Friday."The CCEA may take a call on coal price pass-through mechanism on Friday," a top coal ministry official said.

Also Read: CCEA to take up gas pricing issue next week: Sources

Under the proposed pass-through mechanism, the entire additional cost of imports would be passed on to the consumers as against the averaging of prices of imported and domestic coal under the earlier planned price-pooling mechanism.

The government had buried a proposal to pool prices of imported and domestic coal to make the fuel affordable to new power plants, owing to sharp opposition to the scheme.

The government is mulling import of the fuel as Coal India Ltd (CIL) will supply 65 per cent of the requirement from domestic sources and another 15 per cent can be provided from overseas market.

Power minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had said last month that pass-through mechanism for supply of coal was ready. Earlier, the government issued a Presidential Directive to CIL to sign fuel supply agreements (FSAs) with the power producers assuring them of at least 80 per cent of the committed coal delivery.

So far 62 FSAs have already been executed. Of the 69 power plants which are yet to enter into fuel supply pacts with state-run CIL, 29 cases belong to NTPC  and its joint ventures.

The power plants of NTPC and its joint ventures (JVs) which have not signed FSAs include Dadri, Korba, Farakka, Simhadri, Bhilai JV and Sipat. Though these power plants of the power PSU have not signed pacts with CIL, most of them are drawing coal under MoU (memorandum of understanding), the ministry said.

NTPC has not entered into FSA with CIL as it had raised concerns about quality of coal being supplied to its power plants.

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Sebi makes certification mandatory for 'associated persons'

Market regulator Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India) has notified guidelines for investment advisers and their 'associated persons', making it compulsory for them to get requisite certifications to operate in the stock markets.

Also Read: Sebi may announce angel-fund norms on June 25: Sources

The investment advisers and their associated persons, including representatives and partners, offering investment advice, would need to get certification from the National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM) after passing the relevant examinations.

In a notification dated June 19, Sebi said, "Investment advisers and their associated persons, including their representatives and partners, offering investment advice, shall obtain certification from the NISM by passing... Investment Adviser certification examination."

In case an 'associated person' has obtained certification by passing the NISM Certified Personal Financial Advisor (CPFA) examination as on the date of this notification, the person is not required to obtain such certification.

The term 'associated person' refers to a permanent or temporary employee of an entity operating in the Indian securities space.

As per the regulator, such 'associated persons' can also obtain certification from organisations and institutions accredited by NISM.

23.06 | 0 komentar | Read More

Rupee fall to push up mobile phone prices by up to 10%

Come July, mobile phone prices are expected to be dearer by up to 10 per cent due to the steep depreciation in the value of rupee against dollar."Brands dependent on import will have to take price increase of about 10 per cent due to decline in value of rupee.

Also read: Indian rupee slumps to record low; closes in on 60/$

Companies making mobile phone in India will be impacted to lesser extent but they will also have to increase price by 5 to 6 per cent," Indian Cellular Association's (ICA) National President, Pankaj Mohindroo told PTI.

The rupee hit a life time low of 59.93 to a dollar in early trade today before closing at 59.57."We have no other option but to increase the price. In the next couple of days, we will be increasing the handset prices by around 10 per cent," Lava International Co-founder and Director SN Rai said.

Though Nokia did not offer any comment, Samsung said that it has not made any change in the price of handsets yet and "holding onto the price lines for the moment." Mohindroo said that "price hike in products will be visible from July."

Multinational brand Lenovo said that it may raise its mobile handsets prices in the range of 5 to 8 per cent."We are looking at the price situation and we would have to raise the price in the coming weeks. The hike could be in the range of 5-8 per cent," Lenovo India MD Amar Babu said.

    
Most of the Indian brands like Micromax, Lava Mobiles, Karbonn sell imported handsets at relatively low price.Micromax expressed disappointment on the continuous decline in value of rupee and said "we are carefully monitoring the situation and are hopefully expectant of the trend to reverse, however if not, like the fuel prices, the device costs will also have to undergo price correction."

Datawind, maker of cheapest tablet PC Aakash, said fall of the Rupee will have direct impact on the price of tablets."We have seen a 30 per cent loss in the Rupee's value from 44 to almost 60 in the last 24 months. This gets reflected directly in price increases to the consumer,reducing affordability for the masses," Datawind CEO Suneet Singh Tuli said.

Like Lenovo, international brands like BlackBerry, HTC,Lenovo, Panasonic also import handsets from their units abroad to sell in India but no inputs were received from these firms."We are watching the situation...we are yet to take a position on pricing," HTC Country head Faisal Siddiqui said.

Retailers also admitted that the price of IT and electronic goods, including mobile phone, will go up soon. "Fall of rupee will have an adverse impact on the electronic goods and IT products market. We see a likely increase in prices by about 5 to 10 per cent in the coming weeks and this will have a direct hit on the consumer's pocket," House of Technology's Director Vipul Jain said.

Mohindroo said that the only long terms solution to respond to declining rupee for India is "to develop indigenous Electronic System Design and Manufacturing industry and value addition should be done in India."

23.06 | 0 komentar | Read More

Govt issues fresh spectrum to Vodafone in 14 circles

Government has allocated spectrum to Vodafone in all 14 service areas, where the telecom major won in November 2012 auction for Rs 1,127.94 crore. "The spectrum has been allocated to Vodafone on June 18. After this, Wireless Operating Licence will be issued to Vodafone," official sources told PTI. 

Vodafone participated in November 2012 auction to bid for additional spectrum. The company acquired spectrum in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, North East, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh East and West, Punjab and West Bengal.

The company is second to get spectrum allocation among firms that participated in November 2012 auction. Videocon was the first company that received spectrum from DoT in March. Rest of the firms Airtel, Idea Cellular, and Telewings Communications (Uninor) who participated in the auction are yet to receive spectrum.

In November 2012, government auctioned 2G airwaves that were freed from licence cancellation. The auction saw muted response industry and fetched bids worth only Rs 9,407.64 crore against minimum value of Rs 28,000 crore fixed for airwaves put for sale.

Sistema Shyam, the lone bidder in March 2013 auction, has also not yet received spectrum. Sources said that the process is on and other companies will be allocated spectrum soon.

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