The retailer, which runs a supermarket chain under the More brand, is targeting annual sales of $4.5 billion (Rs 22,000 crore or Rs 220 billion) by March 2014 from Rs 1,200 crore (Rs 12 billion) in the current financial year. The retailer clocked sales of Rs 500 in the previous year. In 2007, the company had talked about a Rs 9,000 crore (Rs 90 billion) investment plan.
Public sector banks could see higher pressure on their net interest margins in the coming months as they have mopped up large amounts of deposits at higher rates and have also effected steep cuts in lending rates between November 2008 and January 2009.
Premium rates for fire, engineering and motor policies may rise in the coming months as non-life insurance companies are anticipating reinsurance commission rates to fall when they come up for renewal in March.
With the rising cost of health cover, insurance companies are looking at innovative products to attract customers. The latest offering is top-up insurance that comes at almost half the premium.
The Reserve Bank of India is formulating guidelines that would allow government-owned banks get into the private equity business.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India, or Sebi, on Wednesday made it compulsory for promoters of listed companies to disclose the details of their pledged shares, but clarified that there would be no need to disclose pledged shares of the holding company. Legal and accountancy experts say this may lead to a restructuring of the shareholding pattern in many companies.
With real estate prices moving southwards, several banks and financial institutions are buying their own properties and shifting from rented and leased premises.
The country's largest life insurer has been inundated with applications from companies, including heavyweights such as Reliance, as the deepening credit crisis forces India Inc to look for new sources of funds. Many companies are issuing NCDs largely to meet their working capital requirements as well as long-term capital expenditure plans.
Falling oil rates have made rigs available for hire at a cheaper rate. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation planned to foray into building rigs in June 2008 owing to its short supply as crude oil prices zoomed northwards.
Tata Motors, which is announcing its results January 30, is likely to end 2008-09 with around Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) less cash mainly because sales of commercial vehicles, which account for about 60 per cent of its revenues, have dropped sharply.
Standard Chartered CEO-Asia Jaspal Bindra spoke to Anirudh Laskar and Sidhartha about the bank's plans and his assessment of the situation.
The company is still short of over Rs 4500 crore (Rs 45 billion) to refinance the debt which is due before June 2 this year. The company had planned to raise the fund for refinancing through three routes. It planned to raise about Rs 4200 crore through rights issues which it managed after the issue devolved on underwriters in October as the stock prices were tumbling globally following the economic crisis.
While the Tatas are looking for PE deals of about $50 million or less, the A V Birla Group is eyeing deals worth not more than $25 million. Tata Capital is banking on its ability to source deals by exploiting the existing Tata ecosystem of suppliers and customers. The Birla group, which has committed 40 per cent of the $250-million corpus it planned to raise for its PE fund, is looking to leverage its strength to source and evaluate deals.
Making cash payments at bank counters to settle your credit card dues is getting expensive. Credit card issuers led by ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank have started levying a fee on such payments.
Satyam Computer's $75 million Directors and Officers insurance is unlikely to provide a cover against claims arising out of irregularities committed by the company's founder B Ramalinga Raju.
But their plea for fresh measures to boost their liquidity has not found favour with the National Housing Bank, which assessed their fund requirement in the last week of December. Sources at NHB said the measures initiated by the Reserve Bank of India appeared sufficient for the requirements.
According to the action plan finalised by the General Insurance Council, the industry lobby for non-life insurers, the portable health cover will be available for a period of three years initially. Depending on the feedback in terms of claims ratio, the insurance companies will take a call on whether to extend the cover. Also, the scheme will be open to only those in the age group of 18-40.
The freight rate for the very large crude carriers in the spot market has declined to an average $46,426 a day for the quarter ending December 31, about 21 per cent lower than the corresponding period of the previous year. In the same period, smaller crude carriers such as Suezmax rose by about 9 per cent to an average of $42,801 a day. Freight rate for Aframax, a carrier smaller than Suezmax, rose by 25 per cent to an average of $28,628 a day.
Banks led by State Bank of India are set to lower deposit rates by over 50 basis points by the middle of the month, followed by a reduction in lending rates.
The move comes a month after three-day terrorist attacks in Mumbai on November 26 left at least 183 people dead and thousands wounded. A source close to the development told Business Standard that following 26/11, as the terror attacks came to be called, reinsurance rates have hardened in the global markets.
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