The Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Friday criticised the previous National Democratic Alliance government for undervaluation of a number of public sector units, including Balco and VSNL, where equity was divested.\n\n
Infrastructure, power, capital goods, PSU, healthcare, banking, oil and gas and metal stocks nosedived
As the Tata group inches closer to taking over Air India in January 2022, the $242-billion conglomerate will also inherit a stake in Kerala's Cochin airport. The Tatas would become the only airline to have an operational stake in a major Indian airport. The airport is a strategic hub connecting India to Middle East nations - home to the largest share of Indian migrant workers. In addition to Air India and Air India Express, private carrier Indigo also uses Cochin to ferry the lucrative 'Malayali Gulf traffic' to multiple locations like Jeddah, Riyadh, Sharjah, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Kuwait and Bahrain, among others. According to regulatory filings, Air India has a three per cent stake in Cochin International Airport.
'This fall is nothing. We could see worse if everybody hits the panic button.'
Reliance Industries Limited was leading the chart of the top-10 valued domestic companies, followed by Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC Bank, Infosys, Hindustan Unilever Limited, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, State Bank of India and Bajaj Finance Limited.
Air India is understood be in negotiations with state-run banks to avail working capital loans at low interests.
Why the recent strike could see the carrier go Air India's way.
India's ailing banks need immediate attention.
Work on disinvesting government holdings may gather pace after the first week of August. Administrative ministries of around 15 Public Sector Undertakings have been asked to give feedback on the feasibility of coming out with initial public offers by then.
Historically, public sector units were conceived of under the assumption that they will control the 'commanding heights' of the Indian economy, which were necessary for rapid industrial growth but where private investment was unwilling to enter.
Mallya claims private airlines were discriminated against by the Indian government, which bailed out state-owned Air India but did not assist his own Kingfisher Airlines and now Jet Airways.
The survey also suggested passage of the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2005. Noting that the credit market suffers from structural rigidities, the survey said, it may have been reinforced in the recent years due to a high credit demand encouraging the banks to raise deposits at higher rates for maintaining long term liquidity.
Contrary to the general impression, the revival of under performing public sector companies is not a costly exercise with Board of Reconstruction of Public Enterprises coming out with recommendations.
Earlier this month, the corporate affairs ministry had written to various ministries including telecom, railways and steel seeking directions for public sector units under their administrative control for exempting Satyam from submitting audited balance sheets while bidding for projects of the state-owned firms.
The decision to improve the salary structure of officers at board level and below, along with supervisory staff, was taken at the Cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Bajaj Finance was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, skidding over 2 per cent, followed by Kotak Bank, Nestle India, HDFC, M&M and ICICI Bank. ONGC was the top gainer, rallying around 8 per cent. NTPC, Asian Paints, Tech Mahindra, PowerGrid and IndusInd Bank were among the other winners.
Punjab National Bank has the largest share.
The Left on Tuesday accused the government of asking central public sector enterprises to raise capital from a sinking stock market and saw a game to hand over their shares to private sector at throwaway prices.
Public sector oil firms plan to set up over 4600 petrol stations and 907 LPG sale agencies in the current fiscal, Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said on Thursday.
An investment banker handling the PSU issues said, "When employees pick application forms, these typically have stamps of brokers. But there was no clarity who will bear the cost. Now with this provision, government will pay 25 bps. It is lesser than retail because there is often no marketing effort from the broker, as a lot of it is done by the company itself."
Urging India Inc to participate in the growth story, Sitharaman said they should participate in the divestment programme by becoming the first bidders.
Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum recorded profit on the sale of petrol and diesel, the first in three years, on the back of falling international oil prices, industry sources said. The three firms are moping up a neat Rs 11.99 per litre margin on petrol and Rs 4.13 a litre on diesel sale.
The government is likely to infuse additional capital of Rs 20,000 crore in the public sector banks next financial year to meet Basel III global capital risk norms.
For automakers, the festive season is about raking it in through ramped up sales and attractive consumer offers. However, despite the robust demand, what may spoil the party this year is a global shortage of semiconductors.
A few state-owned banks such as IDBI Bank, Union Bank, Indian Overseas Bank have announced results for FY14.
Control over PSU banks is what is allowing the government to drive this scheme.
The government on Thursday approved a proposal to inject Rs 12,517 crore in public sector banks to help them enhance the lending activity and meet the capital adequacy norms.
The Planning Commission will finalise in a couple of months a draft on an integrated energy policy, which will include its views on merger of oil public sector undertakings.
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