RBI, govt concerned over inflationary impact of rising capital inflows.
Reliance Power's exemption demands prompt move.
According to sources close to the development, the IPO will provide an easy exit route to the banks and FIs to bring down their respective stakeholding to 5 per cent as required under the new demutualisation guidelines of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).
According to sources close to the development, major domestic banks and institutions such as State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of India (BoI) and Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) have sought the permission of their respective regulators - the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) to participate in the equity derivatives market (F&O segment) as traders.
Banks have asked for an exemption of statutory requirements such as the cash reserve ratio (CRR) and the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) for lending to the infrastructure sector. While the CRR is a tool where banks have to set aside liquidity with RBI in proportion of the deposits mobilised by them, the SLR requires banks to invest 25 per cent of their liabilities in government securities to generate instant liquidity.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may opt for a 25 per cent cut in the repo rate, to prop sagging demand in the interest rate-sensitive durables sector in the mid-term review of its 2007-08 monetary policy on October 30.The likely reduction in the repo rate would take place despite concerns about inflation, which suggest that interest rates can be left unchanged, banking sources said.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has suggested stringent conditions for participatory notes (P-notes) that are issued even by registered foreign institutional investors (FIIs). In a note sent to the finance ministry on the eve of the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi's) board meeting to decide on restrictions for P-notes, the central bank has reiterated its earlier stance of a complete ban on P-notes.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India will increase overseas participation in the Indian stock markets and is planning two specific measures in this regard, Sebi Chairman M Damodaran told Business Standard in an exclusive interview.
In a meeting between the central bank and market participants last week, it was also decided that futures would be introduced both as an exchange-traded product and over the counter. The RBI will also be reviving interest rate futures that were introduced in 2003, but failed to take off due to the lack of a well-developed pricing curve in the market across maturiites.
Overseas markets are already hit by an acute dollar crunch, which is why major central banks, the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England, had to infuse funds into the market. These lines of credit are over and above the stand-by credit, which is usually maintained by foreign banks with the Indian banks.
Among its suggestions to the finance ministry, RBI has also said the government should classify private equity under a separate category of foreign investment, or create sub-limits within foreign direct investment or investments by foreign institutional investors.
The finance ministry is of the view that all interests -- direct and indirect -- should be taken into account and that there should not be any threshold for calculating total effective foreign shareholding in a company.
Individuals may soon get to invest in overseas commodity and equity derivatives.
At a high-level coordinate committee meeting to be held by the month-end, the government and the Reserve Bank of India will take stock of the situation.
The central bank's objective is to align the regulations for such loans with the tenure and end-use norms for external commercial borrowings in a bid to check foreign currency inflows.
Bonds/papers of Tata Motors, Reliance, SBI, ICICI and others turn illiquid in international markets.
"It is a logical step. The information gathered through annual information returns will now be compared with the tax returns of individuals to see if taxes are paid correctly or not," said a consultant with a leading tax advisory firm.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes is considering a proposal to restrict the exemption on long-term capital gains only to companies constituting the BSE-500 index.
Liquidity is expected to remain comfortable this week, albeit the rate at which it is available may inch up rather than remaining below 1 per cent.
To consider open offer if price falls below Rs 2,100 a share.
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