The Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave its nod for amendments in the Insurance Act, paving way for 74 per cent foreign direct investment in the sector. Currently, the permissible FDI limit in the life and general insurance stands at 49 per cent with ownership and management control with Indian. According to sources, the Cabinet in its meeting has approval for amendments in the Insurance Act, 1938.
Ford, which had announced to quit the Indian market last year, said it was exploring the possibility of using one of its plants in India to produce electric cars for exports.
Each scam that comes out in the open shows the regulators to be miles behind.
Global investment firm Blackstone-sponsored Nexus Select Trust has filed the draft paper with market regulator Sebi to launch India's first public issue of retail REIT to raise around $500 million (about Rs 4,000 crore), sources said. Nexus Select Trust has a portfolio of 17 operational shopping malls across 14 major cities, covering about 10 million square feet of area valued at around $3 billion. As per the sources, Nexus Select Trust has on Thursday filed the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and is looking to hit the capital market with India's first retail REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) public issue in the first half of the 2023 calendar year.
The government is likely to introduce a bill on crypto currencies during the winter session of Parliament beginning November 29, amid concerns over such currencies being allegedly used for luring investors with misleading claims and for funding terror activities, sources said on Monday. Currently, there are no particular regulations or any ban on use of crypto currencies in the country. Against this backdrop, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Saturday, held a meeting on the crypto currencies with senior officials and indications are that strong regulatory steps could be taken to deal with the issue.
'The markets haven't corrected, that doesn't mean that they will only go up and up.'
Citing people with knowledge of the situation, the report said that some managers were being asked to "draw up lists of employees to cut."
The year 2021 could turn out to be India's year of IPO with the domestic unicorns through their public issues setting "domestic stock markets on fire and global investors in a frenzy", an RBI article said on Tuesday. The successful Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) by new age companies in the recent months are a reflection of bullishness about Indian technology, it said. "...growth impulse is igniting financial markets. 2021 could well turn out to be India's year of the IPO.
The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) will hear the case related to the PNB Housing Finance-Carlyle deal next Monday. The order in the matter was expected on July 5, however, it was adjourned for July 12. PNB Housing had filed an appeal before the SAT against the letter issued by the Securities and Exchange Board of India last month, requesting it not to go ahead with the proposal until due diligence was done.
The proposed amendments to the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, that are envisioned to protect consumer interests, may further compound the impact of multiplicity of regulations on the e-commerce sector, the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) had told the ministry of consumer affairs. IACC, the apex bilateral chamber for Indo-US business, had told the government that the proposed amendments would increase compliance liabilities that risk severely impairing the growth of the sector.
Tamil Nadu-based Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) with pre-independence lineage on Friday lost its identity after its merger with the Indian subsidiary of Singapore's DBS Bank. The debt-ridden 94-year old old bank's fate was sealed with Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approving Scheme of Amalagamation on Wednesday.
Airports hold pride of place in the government's National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) programme to monetise public assets. Private airport operators, including the Adani group, Fairfax, GMR and Zurich Airport, are expected to evince interest in the next round of public private partnership (PPP) development of state-owned Airport Authority of India (AAI) airports. Industry analysts, however, do not expect bids to be as high as the last round, which saw Adani group gain control of six airports.
Two investment firms, together accounting for 17.88 per cent of the paid-up share capital of Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd (ZEEL), have sought the removal of the current managing director Punit Goenka from the board of the company. The two investment firms are -- Invesco Developing Markets Fund (formerly Invesco Oppenheimer Developing Markets Fund) and OFI Global China Fund LLC, the largest shareholder of ZEEL. The two firms have called an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders seeking to remove Punit Goenka.
Market benchmark Sensex tumbled over 323 points after an intense last-hour sell-off on Wednesday, triggered by losses mainly in index heavyweights Infosys, Reliance and HDFC.
In its EoI document, the bank had said it was open to converting into a small finance bank.
Investment firm Invesco Developing Markets Fund, the largest shareholder in Zee Entertainment Enterprises, on Thursday said it will support the Zee-Sony merger deal and has decided not to pursue the call for ZEEL EGM to remove managing director and CEO Punit Goenka and two independent directors. The company said it will support the merger of Zee and Sony, contending the "deal in its current form has great potential for Zee shareholders" but added if it is not completed as currently proposed, Invesco retains the right to requisition a fresh EGM. Two days after the Bombay high court ruled that Invesco's call for EGM was legally valid, the investment firm in a statement said, "Since we announced our intention to requisition an EGM and add six independent directors to Zee's Board of Directors, Zee has entered into a merger agreement with Sony.
Talks of a merger between HDFC Bank and parent HDFC Ltd had gained steam nearly eight years ago, when the Reserve Bank of India allowed banks to issue long-term bonds to fund infrastructure and affordable housing. At that time, key executives at both entities denied any such proposal. And today, the merger has been officially announced by the two players.
IPO-bound mobility platform Ola, said it has successfully raised $500 million via a Term Loan B (TLB) from marquee international institutional investors. This term loan has no impact on the valuation of Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola. The Bengaluru-based firm recently raised $139 million. This is part of a $1 billion funding round for which the company is in talks with investors, increasing its valuation to about $7.5 billion, according to the sources.
One fear among regulators is that allowing side pocketing could lead to fund managers taking higher risks. Even in the US, side pocketing is not allowed in mutual funds, only in hedge funds
PNB Housing Finance on Wednesday said it will disclose the outcome of shareholders' meeting held a day earlier -- on Rs 4,000 crore capital infusion led by Carlyle Group -- in accordance with the order of the Securities Appellate Tribunal next month. The company moved the tribunal on Monday after the capital markets regulator asked it on June 18 not to go ahead with the proposed capital raise plan by allotting preference shares to the investors until it carried out a valuation of shares from an independent registered valuer. The SAT in an order dated June 21 allowed the company to go ahead with the EGM, but restricted it not to announce the voting results by the shareholders, as the matter is pending before the court.
The proposal to increase public float, hike income tax surcharge, move to tax share buybacks and lack of stimulus to shore up economic growth has hurt investor sentiment.
Nearly five months after its soft launch, the government's e-portal, the National Single Window System (NSWS), is seeing a significant increase in the number of investors using it to get a bunch of approvals for their ventures. The first clearance was granted on 18 January. Since then, the progress has been good. Out of the 1,258 registered users on the portal, 378 were registered in the last one week.
Edtech major Byju's has raised over Rs 363 crore (about USD 50 million) in funding from Maitri Edtech and IIFL's private equity fund, according to regulatory documents. Over the past few months, Byju's has raised funding from a slew of investors that has placed the edtech major among the most-valued start-ups in the country. Byju's is estimated to have raised about $2.3 billion in funding so far with valuation touching $6.5 billion.
As per the Budget proposals, migration of a fund to a fund in IFSC will not be regarded as transfer if done on or before March 31, 2023. Transfer of units will be tax neutral. Grandfathered investments of the fund to continue to enjoy capital gains exemption on future sale by the IFSC fund. There is no impact on carry forward of losses for the investee company.
After monetising Jio Platforms -- which houses the firm's telecom arm and digital ventures, richest Indian Mukesh Ambani is looking to rope in investors in the retail business.
She also took a swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party over its defeat in the just-concluded Himachal Pradesh assembly elections, saying the ruling party's president could not hold on to his home state. "Who is the Pappu now?" she asked.
The Reserve Bank on Friday extended the regulatory restrictions on Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank by another six months till December 2021 to enable the completion of its takeover by Centrum Financial Services. Paving the way for takeover of the crisis-ridden bank, the RBI had earlier in the month granted in-principle approval to Centrum Financial Services to set up a small finance bank (SFB). "Taking into account the time required for completion of various activities involved in the process...the validity of the ...Directive dated September 23, 2019, as modified from time to time, has been extended for a further period from July 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021, subject to review," the RBI said in a notification.
To resolve the so-called 'angel tax' issue, the start-ups and their investors who file requisite declarations and provide information in their returns will not be subjected to any kind of scrutiny in respect of valuations of share premiums, she said.
A lot depends on how Srei shapes up under the new administrator and his team, which is critical for investors' interest.
While the proposed new tax regime is optional for taxpayers, the finance minister has said the government eventually wants to do away with all exemptions with a lower tax-rate simplified structure.
'I have been advising investors since the last couple of months to at least take their capital out.' 'Most of the people have made 50-60 per cent in the market, if not more, they must at least take their capital out.'
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Tuesday stayed the order of NCLT Mumbai directing the lenders of DHFL to consider the offer by the debt-ridden mortgage firm's erstwhile promoter Kapil Wadhawan. A vacation bench of NCLAT comprising Acting Chairman Justice A I S Cheema and Member Technical V P Singh stayed the order passed by the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). On May 19, NCLT Mumbai had directed the settlement plan offered by Wadhawan to be considered by the lenders of DHFL, one of the lawyers engaged in the matter said.
The Union Budget 2021-22 has made it easier for sovereign wealth funds and pension funds to invest in Indian infrastructure projects, but some of the new rules may need more clarity, experts said. The proposed regime requiring investments through holding companies may have adverse tax implications for such funds and may create an arbitrage between the new and old projects, they said. Besides, the ownership structure of holding companies through which investments are to be made requires further clarification, they added.
Debt-ridden mortgage firm DHFL's shares would be delisted from stock exchanges post acquisition by Piramal Capital and Housing Finance, which has emerged as the successful bidder for the company. As part of resolution process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), lenders led by Union Bank of India in January this year favoured the bid by Piramal Capital and Housing Finance to take over the beleaguered housing finance firm. According to sources, shares of DHFL would be delisted post acquisition as per the IBC guidelines and Sebi delisting norms.
The combined dividend payout by early-bird companies -- those that have declared their results for FY21 -- is up 8.9 per cent, lower than the 21.9 per cent rise in in FY20 but ahead of the underlying growth in India Inc business last year. Combined net sales of these early birds were down 1.8 per cent last financial year while net profit was up 27.3 per cent in FY21. Some top companies that have stepped up dividend payout in FY21 include Hindustan Unilever, Indus Towers, Tata Steel, Ultratech Cement, Larsen & Toubro, Dabur, Asian Paints, and UPL. In contrast, banks have skipped dividends under an RBI diktat while companies such as Marico, TCS, Maruti Suzuki, and Godrej Consumer are paying lower dividends for FY21.
IDBI Bank had to sell its MF arm after being acquired by state-owned insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corporation since LIC already had an AMC.
The government on Monday extended the period of production-linked incentive scheme for large-scale electronics manufacturing with a focus on mobile phones by a year until 2025-26. The base year of the scheme 2019-20 remains the same but the companies will have the option to choose their five-year period either from the base year or the year 2020-21 for calculation of the incentives under the scheme. "Now we have extended the tenure of the scheme from 2020-21 to 2025-26. "Earlier, it would have ended in 2024-25.
Distribution yields could rise, but risk of Covid, higher interest rates remain.
Sentiments may get impacted as mutual funds have been gaining traction among investors as route to invest in stock markets
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.
