A delegation of high-level executives from US public pension funds (non-profit and government sectors) is visiting India next week to assess and familiarise themselves with the investment opportunities in the country. These executives belong to various American states and cumulatively represent $1.8 trillion in assets under management (AUM) invested across the US and global markets. The United States (US) mission to India, which includes its embassy and consulates and the Department of Treasury, along with India's Ministry of Finance and the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), is hosting the delegation.
Institutional investors lapped up Coal India shares in this fiscal's maiden government stake-sale, with Rs 6,500 crore bids pouring in on the first day of the offer-for-sale. The government had offered over 8.31 crore shares to institutional investors on Thursday under the offer-for-sale (OFS), but received bids for 28.76 crore shares or 3.46 times. At the indicative price of Rs 226.12 a share, the bids of institutional buyers are worth Rs 6,500 crore.
The government on Wednesday extended the deadline to submit preliminary bids for the IDBI Bank privatisation till January 7. The government and LIC together are looking to sell 60.72 per cent of IDBI Bank and had invited bids from potential buyers in October. The last date for submitting an Expression of Interest (EoI) or preliminary bids was December 16.
It is estimating that this would help monetise assets worth Rs 10,000 crore.
The Centre could further moderate its divestment target for 2024-25 (FY25), as it does not expect large receipts from asset sales - except some ongoing strategic ones, including IDBI Bank, which could spill over into next financial year. Also, it may drastically reduce its FY24 divestment target of Rs 51,000 crore. "We are still evaluating the Budget estimates for FY25. "New big-ticket asset sales are unlikely.
'The Budget needs to focus more on social welfare schemes.'
To tackle increasing demand, the Union Ministry of Power has urged central and state public-sector power-generating companies (gencos) and state power and energy departments to pick projects that are undergoing insolvency proceedings. The power ministry is looking at a quicker turnaround of these stressed power plants and enhancing power supply. Increasing demand is pushing states to scout for more power sources. "It is requested that state-owned gencos may be encouraged to participate in the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) of stressed power assets, which are of strategic and commercial significance to the capacity addition plans of the states concerned.
Pratham Barot, CEO and co-founder, Zell Education, explains how specialised courses in finance can help you earn a cushy six-figure salary.
The country's largest insurer LIC on Tuesday listed its shares at a discount of 8.11 per cent at Rs 872 per share on the NSE. On the BSE, the shares got listed at Rs 867.20 apiece, down 8.62 per cent over the issue price of Rs 949 a share. LIC had fixed the issue price of its shares at Rs 949 apiece after a successful initial public offering, which fetched Rs 20,557 crore to the government.
Shares of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India hit fresh record lows amid sustained decline in Adani Group stocks. Its stock finished at Rs 567.8, down 2.9 per cent over its previous close. The state-owned insurer's market value is now down Rs 2.4 trillion, or 40 per cent, compared to initial public offering levels.
The department of investment and public asset management (Dipam) can also seek in-principle approval from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) for strategic divestment of PSUs on a case-to-case basis considering investor appetite and sectoral trends.
As many as six merchant bankers are vying to handle and manage the sale of the government's 29.53 per cent residual stake in Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL), according to an official notice. ICICI Securities, SBI Capital Markets, HDFC Bank, IIFL Securities, Axis Capital and Citigroup Global Markets will make their presentations via video conferencing before the government officials on Friday, highlighting their plans in managing the offer for sale. The bankers to manage the sale process would be finalised after the presentation and opening of financial bids on August 12, as per the notice.
Dept. of Public Enterprises have reminded CPSEs to invest surplus money only in govt-owned MFs.
Traditionally, most PSUs have been cash-rich, which added to their value. However, the government has been tapping regularly into their cash resources to boost revenue for the exchequer
Maybe Modi could ask a patriarch of the stature of the late G D Birla to flesh out the details of a new company to manage government land privatisation.
The department of investment and public asset management is racing against time to launch the LIC IPO, which could become the largest-ever listing on the Indian bourses. This would lead to some delay in the strategic divestment of IDBI Bank.
'A mid-year review makes the end-of-year financial review manageable and less stressful.'
The government on Thursday withdrew its offer to sell its entire 52.98 per cent stake in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, saying that majority of bidders have expressed their inability to participate in the current privatisation process due to prevailing conditions in the global energy market.
Defence public sector undertakings (PSUs) have been asked by the Centre to hold roadshows in Dubai and Abu Dhabi to share their financials and business plans to reel in investors. Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), Bharat Dynamics (BDL), Bharat Electronics (BEL), Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE), and Mishra Dhatu Nigam (MIDHANI) have informed stock exchanges that they will conduct investor outreach programmes and participate in 'non-deal' roadshows and meetings with prospective investors from September 12-15. They will share their short- and medium-term growth plans, financial metrics, improvement in their stock performance/ market capitalisation - and make a pitch of sorts to prospective investors.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron have called for enhancing trade and investment ties between their countries and committed to further deepening their engagement in the Indo-Pacific. They discussed a full spectrum of bilateral relations, including key global and regional issues, and stressed the urgent need for reform in the United Nations Security Council. The leaders also underscored their commitment to ensuring the global AI sector can drive positive social, economic, and environmental outcomes.
This is the fourth extension given by the government for putting in bids.
The Centre has received Rs 6,651 crore as interim dividend from 12 public sector undertakings (PSUs) on Monday, edging towards its Rs 50,028 crore dividend target for the ongoing fiscal. Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) has transferred Rs 2,506 crore as a dividend tranche to the government, while NMDC and Nuclear Power Corporation of India transferred interim dividend of Rs 1,605 crore and Rs 972 crore, respectively. The government has received dividend tranches of Rs 913 crore from GAIL, Rs 351 crore from Hindustan Aeronautics, Rs 149 crore from Bharat Electronics, among others, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey tweeted.
With general elections on the horizon, the government's privatisation bandwagon has almost but stalled as a government wary of being accused of selling family silver opts for minority stake sales on stock exchanges over outright privatisation. The result -- the divestment target for current fiscal year is again likely to be missed. Big ticket privatisation plans such as that of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) and CONCOR are already on the backburner and analysts feel meaningful privatisation can happen only after April/May general elections.
The strategic sale of government and state-owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India stakes in IDBI Bank might encounter procedural delays, potentially pushing the timeline for expected financial bids to the third quarter of the current financial year (2023-24, or FY24), according to sources familiar with the development. Financial bids constitute the second significant step in the divestment process, following expressions of interest (EoIs) from potential bidders. In this phase, bidders are required to quote transactional fee as a percentage of the divestment proceeds, which are then added to the government's kitty after completion of the transaction.
The Union Cabinet has cleared disinvestment of the country's largest insurer LIC and a panel headed by the finance minister will now decide on the quantum of stake dilution, a senior official said on Monday. The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) had in January appointed actuarial firm Milliman Advisors LLP India to assess the embedded value of LIC ahead of the IPO (initial public offering), which is touted to be the biggest public issue in Indian corporate history. The Budget amendments to the LIC Act has been notified and the actuarial firm is expected to finalise the embedded value of the life insurer. Under the embedded value method, the insurance company's present value of future profit is also included in its present net asset value.
The government has shortlisted Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas for giving legal advice on upcoming mega IPO of India's largest insurance company LIC, an official said. Four law firms - Crawford Bayley, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, Link Legal and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co - had made presentations before the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) on September 24. Following presentations, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has been selected as legal advisor for the initial public offering (IPO) of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), the official told PTI.
The government and Life Insurance Corporation's (LIC's) strategic stake sale in IDBI Bank is expected to move to the second stage by the first quarter of FY24, said two people in the know. They added that considering the progress of the ongoing deal, financial bids are expected to come in by June this year. The proposed IDBI Bank stake sale is divided into two sequential stages.
The Union Cabinet has approved amendments to the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Act, paving the way for privatisation of government-owned insurers. The amendments, approved by Cabinet, will remove the clause for the Centre to hold at least 51 per cent in public sector insurance companies at any given time. It will also have an enabling provision for the transfer of management control from the government to the potential buyer of the public sector insurance company. The finance ministry will move amendments to the insurance Act in the ongoing Parliament session.
Ever since the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) announced launching the initial public offering (IPO), 6.48 crore LIC policyholders have shown interest to get the much-touted share of the largest insurance company in the country, an official said. "The response to our IPO launch is wonderful. We have some figures: 6.48 crore policy holders have linked their PAN number with the policy details up to the cut-off date (February 28, 2022)," Rahul Jain, director of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) in the Ministry of Finance, told reporters. The LIC has set a price band of Rs 902-Rs 949 per equity share. The government intends to raise Rs 21,000 crore through the issue.
The government is likely to file draft papers for the mega initial public offering of LIC with market regulator Sebi by next week, while a portion of the issue would be reserved for anchor investors, a top official said on Wednesday.
For the initial public offering (IPO) of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the Centre has shortlisted 50-60 anchor investors, which include BlackRock, Sands Capital, Fidelity Investments, Standard Life, and JP Morgan, and will soon finalise its anchor book. The feedback from anchor investors has led to price discovery in LIC shares, valuing India's largest insurer at around Rs 7 trillion, said an official aware of the development. The "attractive valuation" is seen widening the investor base by providing an opportunity to more of them to participate in the IPO, the official added.
The number of times public sector undertakings (PSUs) have held conference calls with investors, their capital management, and debt financing are among the parameters that the Centre will use to judge their performance for the first time, a senior official in the know said. The government will evaluate PSUs for FY22 based on new parameters that were finalised by the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) in consultation with the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) last year, the official said. The government had included more conditions in the memorandum of understandings (MoUs) - used to set annual targets - that public sector enterprises sign with the DPE every year. These included a consistent dividend policy, which seeks to transfer dividends by PSUs every quarter; and market capitalisation or share price improvement over the sectoral index on an annual average basis for listed companies.
Ahead of the Budget, the government has achieved almost half the divestment target of Rs 65,000 crore. FY23 divestment receipts are unlikely to be anywhere close to the budgeted target.
A communiqu sent by the department of investment and public asset management (DIPAM) to the heads of all PSUs, said the move would help the government to get predictable and periodic dividends before Budget estimates are firmed up.
'Inter-ministerial coordination, information on the proposed PSUs, and due diligence are taking longer than expected to conclude the process.'
Post handing over of Air India to the Tatas, government officials will be free to book their travel with any airline that offers them the best price. And, the Centre will not have a tie up with any carrier, department of investment and public asset management (DIPAM) secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said. "The government is not mandating travel by any particular airline, going forward, after handing over Air India because there won't be any state-owned airline," he said. The department of expenditure (DoE) will soon issue instructions to government departments for official travel as this needs to be done before handing over Air India to the new buyer, he said.
The Centre has conceded most of the demands of potential buyers of Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL). These include lowering the lock-in period for sale of assets to one year and allowing the new buyer to undertake the amalgamation of a special purpose vehicle (SPV) into NINL. An inter-ministerial group led by Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (Dipam) secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey and the core group of secretaries on divestment (CGD) headed by Cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba have decided that the lock-in period can be reduced to one year from the date of completion of sale, from the earlier three years proposed by Dipam, an official in the know said.
Do not underestimate the ingenuity of the Deep State in America to have its way. Keeping the guard down will be a catastrophic mistake on the part of the Delhi establishment. We could get hit when least expected. That's what happened in Bangladesh and Syria, warns Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Indian family-run business houses have in recent years seen ugly public spats between owners over control. But metals-to-ports conglomerate Essar's Ruia family seems to be an exception. Three generations of the Ruia family - founder brother Shashi and Ravi Ruia, their children and grandchildren - continue to live under one roof and jointly run the business empire.
The target was for banks to sell Rs 2 trillion worth of non-performing assets to NARCL, the so-called 'bad bank, by 2021-2022. Only 10 per cent of this has been executed.
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