Sebi has proposed waiving off stamp duty on e-issuance of bond to the ministry of finance.
Half of the 10 IPOs to have hit the market since the beginning of this year have been from the real estate space. J Kumar Infra Projects, KNR Constructions, SVEC Constructions and the now withdrawn Emaar MGF are the worst hit, according to analysts.
The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) denial of permission to Swiss bank UBS to acquire Standard Chartered Asset Management Company has come as a blessing in disguise for Standard Chartered Bank.
Volatility in the secondary markets has forced some initial public offers to revise their price bands as markets continue to be plagued by liquidity problems.
The IPO by J Kumar Infra, which closed on Wednesday, managed to scrape through, with the issue getting bids for 2.7 times. This is in sharp contrast to the recent IPOs, which were getting subscribed many times over.
If good stocks were available at throwaway prices, penny stocks found no takers. For instance, Hari Gundecha faced a strange dilemma. He had made profits, buying into Harig Crankshafts when the stock was quoting at Rs 1.30 a share but he could not exit the stock on Tuesday. The stock had run up to Rs 7.61 a share and was quoting at Rs 4.48 a share on Tuesday.
Following this order, Heidelberg Cement will need to pay only Rs 58 per share, instead of the earlier agreed Rs 72.50 apiece. This 25 per cent premium was agreed as a "non-compete fees" to the Indian promoters when the German major took majority control in Mysore Cements in 2006. Sebi said it did not find merit in the non-compete fees arrangement as the "sellers/promoters to whom non-compete consideration has been paid consist of trusts and charitable institutions."
"With all kinds of stocks flying around, investing can't be a part-time job," says Bruce Greenwald, professor of finance at the Columbia Business School.
In this financial year so far, insurance companies have invested around Rs 36,000 crore in the stock markets against around Rs 60,000 crore invested by the FIIs.
Citigroup Venture is planning to buy an equity stake in PINC for Rs.400 cr.
Reliance Power, which is hitting the market next week with an offering of nearly Rs 12,000 crore (Rs 120 billion), will set the trend for a slew of power IPOs from other companies including Sterlite Energy (Rs 4,000-8,000 crore or Rs 40 to Rs 80 billion), JSW Energy (Rs 4,000 crore or Rs 40 billion), JP Associates (Rs 4,000 crore or Rs 40 billion) which have already announced big share offer plans.
On December 17, Sebi put out a note on the introduction of new products in the futures and options segment. That was followed by permission for short-selling by institutional investors on December 20, stating that the securities lending and borrowing mechanism would be put in place along with short-selling, which will begin from February.
Sebi is planning to fast track mutual fund products. This move will speed up the approval process and help fund houses to cater to investor demands.
This will allow investors the freedom of choice based on the services they get from a distributor.
Technology, auto, FMCG and pharmaceutical stocks may be the most battered sectors of the Indian stock market this year. But select mutual fund schemes were able to notch up good returns despite being in these sectors by tweaking the investment mandate and smart stock-picking within the mid- and small-cap segments.
Indian asset management companies (AMCs) are likely to see a hefty spike in their valuations, after the last week's 5 per cent equity stake sale by Reliance Mutual Fund to US-based hedge fund Eton Park.
Suzlon Energy, one of the top five wind energy manufacturers in the world, plans to raise $500 million (Rs 2,000 crore) through the Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) route to fund its expansion plans.
Standard Chartered Bank, which bought a 49 per cent stake in UTI Securities from Securities Trading Corporation of India early this year, is likely to hive off the commodities broking business into a separate company and put this division for sale.
San Francisco Employees' Retirement System (SFERS), Brown University and Texas Investment Management have joined the list of global pension, endowment and universities' funds attracted by the Indian stock markets.
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