Port administrations are planning to install IT gadgets like Radio Frequency Identification tags in trucks, scanners and also use speedboats for patrolling. The boats alone are likely to cost around Rs 40-50 crore (Rs 400-500 million). Union Minister of Shipping T R Baalu has also asked the directorate general of shipping to undertake a special audit on security in all the major ports to ensure compliance with all security measures.
The Union government's recent approval to the insurance Bill, which proposes, among other things, to raise the cap on foreign direct investment to 49 per cent from 26 per cent for private sector insurance companies, is expected to bring around Rs 7,000 crore (Rs 70 billion) into the industry, according to industry representatives. However, the Bill is yet to be introduced in Parliament.
May bar premature withdrawals from fixed maturity plans.
A committee headed by Irda's member actuary R Kannan has suggested a grace period of 15 days for policyholders who pay premium on a monthly basis, while a 30 days grace period will be available to those who pay their premium annually, half-yearly or quarterly.
According to industry representatives, Chinese products, which used to be cheaper by around 10 per cent compared to Indian products, are no longer cheaper due to the increase in labour costs in China. The costs of labour have risen by around 40 per cent since January 2008 in China. Implementation of the European Union anti-dumping duty and Chinese currency Yuan appreciating against the US dollar are the other stated reasons.
These choices are going to be made available to Indian fund houses by S&P's index services division through India Index Services. ETF is a passive fund wherein investments are made in index companies as per their individual weightage. In times of uncertainty, betting on indices rather than individual companies helps. Index-based products thus become popular.
Private equity (PE) investors are now diverting their attention to sectors such as energy, telecom, infrastructure, education, media and entertainment. Reason: these sectors are largely dependent on the domestic market and not foreign countries, especially the US market.
Sebi likely to come out with a policy paper soon.
The Securities & Exchange Board of India has decided to conduct a survey to find out why investors are staying away from the securities market. This is the first time that the market regulator is planning such a survey of investors.
Tamil Nadu ranks lowest in terms of crop insurance penetration, which is just 3.12 per cent, as compared with 25-40 per cent in other states in the country.
In a key change in its stance, the Securities and Exchange Board of India said it is keeping its options open on banning short sales, which a section of brokers believes are responsible for the collapsing stock market. The benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex fell below 10,000 Friday, the first time since July 2006.
The last two days' recovery in commodity prices has done little to ease all-round fears of a global recession following the sharp dip in prices over the past three months. Nor are things likely to improve soon.
Michael Boneham, president, Ford India, said the small car would be engineered for Indian conditions and that the company was keeping options open for both petrol and diesel variants. Ford's mall car will mark its entry into the mainstream segment, popularly known as the B segment cars in India, which accounts for a little over 70 per cent of the 1.3 million India car market.
A representative of a large FII having a huge share in the issue of P-notes said that these relaxations are "no big deal". The 40 per cent limit on investments through P-notes was not a hurdle as selling by FIIs in the last three quarters have been so huge that most of them have enough leg room for issuing fresh P-notes.
Even mid-size and smaller IT companies are going slow on recruitments due to the uncertainty in business from the US, which is the single-largest market for these companies, says L Venkataesan, a placement consultant based in Tiruchy. JJ College of Engineering in Tiruchy, till before last year, saw almost 95 per cent of its students being placed.
Forward contracts are settled by CCIL, but there is no guarantee that the parties may comply with CCIL's terms. "We have proposed to RBI to allow us to provide a guarantee for forward deals," said CCIL Chairman R H Patil. With the CCIL guarantee, banks providing products to currency hedgers, will benefit as they will have to make a lesser provision towards capital adequacy.
The domestic logistics industry, which is estimated to generate business worth $110 billion in the next two years, will need over 400,000 additional pair of hands in the next four to five years.
The entry of private players has boosted the fortunes of FM radio in a big way in the country. This has been consistently reflecting in the revenue earned by the industry, which grew to Rs 550 crore (Rs 5.5 billion) last year from Rs 350 crore (Rs 3.5 billion) a year ago. The industry is expected to close with over Rs 800 crore (Rs 8 billion) in revenue this year.
With the general insurance penetration at a dismal 0.60 per cent (measured as a percentage of GDP), many companies feel that selling the policies through photo studios, grocery stores and even telephone booths would help improve the figure. "If telecom companies are able to use grocery stores, petty shops and other small outlets, why not insurance companies?" said an Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority official.
Commodity futures exchanges are set for another round of equity restructuring with the Forward Markets Commission, the regulator, currently finalising guidelines that will require anchor investors to prune their equity holding to 26 per cent from the present 40 per cent after three years but before five years.
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