1. Investing in India Made Easier For US Investors
Foreign investments in Indian markets have been made easier by two US regulators at a time when domestic bourses are trying to protect the volumes from moving offshore.
Asia’s oldest stock exchange BSE Ltd. has been recognised as a designated offshore securities market by the US Securities and Exchange Commission for sale of securities to American investors, according to a BSE statement. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has allowed the National Stock Exchange Ltd.’s brokers to trade in derivatives for US clients by granting ‘Part 30 exemption’, according to the bourse’s statement.
That comes after Indian stock exchanges decided to stop sharing data with overseas peers to prevent derivative volumes from moving offshore and promote the international trading hub in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state.
The move followed Singapore Exchange’s bid to offer single-stock futures that account for a third of futures volumes on the NSE, India’s largest exchange. SGX will migrate all Nifty positions of its clients to new Indian derivatives from 4 June.
(Source: BloombergQuint )
2. JSW Steel to Buy Italian Special Steelmaker For Rs 440 Crore
Domestic steel major JSW Steel Ltd. on Friday, 18 May, said it has signed an agreement with Algeria-based Cevital to acquire its Italian arm Aferpi, a specialised steel products maker, for about Rs 440 crore.
The acquisition of Aferpi, which owns the second largest steel plant in Italy, will help JSW expand its reach in the specialised steel market, particularly in the automobile sector, the Indian steel maker said in a statement.
The deal would also provide JSW a foothold for future opportunities in the European markets, the Sajjan Jindal-owned firm further said.
(Source: BloombergQuint )
3. D-Mart Suffers Worst Day Since Listing as Damani Plans to Sell Stake
Shares of Avenue Supermarts Ltd., the parent of Mumbai-based supermarket chain D-Mart, recorded its biggest intraday drop since listing after billionaire founder Radhakishan Damani announced a plan to sell stake in the retailer.
Damani will offload up to 1 percent stake, aggregating to 62.4 lakh shares, worth over Rs 800 crore between 21 May and 14 June, India’s largest retailer by market value said in an exchange filing. The sale is to comply with the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s minimum public shareholding norm, it said.
Avenue Supermarts is 82.2 percent owned by the Damani family. Under SEBI norms, a listed company needs to maintain a minimum public shareholding of 25 percent. The promoter group will have to sell over 7.2 percent stake to bring public holding to that level.
(Source: BloombergQuint )
4. Govt to Help Workers Laid-Off by Telcos: Secy
Concerned at the job losses in the telecom sector, the government has begun helping the affected employees get alternative employment, and retrain and redeploy them, a top bureaucrat has said.
Some estimates peg the number of job losses in the sector, which has been passing through choppy waters after the launch of the aggressive offerings by the deep-pocketed Reliance Jio, at over 90,000.
"The efforts are on at three levels. First of all, we have to ensure that people at the lower levels, who are working at the retail outlets...we have to ensure that their futures are sustained," telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan told reporters on the sidelines of an event here late Friday, 18 May, evening.
(Source: PTI )
5. Falling Rupee Impacting Auto Industry's Bottomline: Toyota
Rupee depreciation is impacting the bottomline of auto industry, which is already reeling under the impact of increasing crude oil prices, a top official of Toyota Kirloskar Motor said on Friday, 18 May.
"Rupee depreciation is impacting the auto industry to an extent of erosion of profitability," Shekar Viswanathan, vice chairman and whole-time director of Toyota Kirloskar Motor told reporters at the launch of the firm's mid-sized sedan, Yaris, in the domestic market.
"Crude oil price increase also taking a toll on the industry," he added.
(Source: PTI )
6. No Proposal to Merge BSNL and MTNL: Telecom Minister
Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha on Friday, 18 May, said there is no proposal to merge state-run telecom companies Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL).
"There is no proposal to merge BSNL and MTNL. We had appointed a consultant to revive MTNL, who has given some recommendations. We are working on it," the minister said on the sidelines of a conference in Mumbai.
He, however, did not elaborate on the recommendations of the consultant but reiterated that no merger proposal for the state-run firms is on the cards.
(Source: PTI)
7. Tatas Complete Acquisition of Controlling Stake of 72.65% in Bhushan Steel
Tata Steel on Friday, 18 May, said its wholly-owned subsidiary Bamnipal Steel Limited (BNPL) had completed the acquisition of a controlling stake of 72.65 percent in Bhushan Steel, making it the first of the 12 Reserve Bank of India-recommended NPA cases to be resolved under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).
The government lost no time in celebrating its success. Piyush Goyal, who has been given the temporary charge of the finance ministry, celebrated the “historic breakthrough in resolving legacy issues of banks” by congratulating Arun Jaitley and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Twitter.
He also said the liquidation value of Bhushan Steel was Rs 145.41 billion but creditors received almost four times the amount. This was possible due to a “robust and transparent” IBC, he added.
(Source: Business Standard )
8. RBI Manages to Sell Entire Stock in Friday's Rs 120-Bn Bond Auction
After seeing four of its bond auctions partially remaining unsold, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) managed to sell the entire stock of its Friday, May 18, Rs 120 billion auction to the market.
The RBI, on behalf of the government, sold five bonds, including one fixed rate bond maturing in 2031, against which it raised Rs 40 billion.
Economic Affairs Secretary, Subhash Garg said in a televised press conference at New Delhi that the government may have misunderstood the market demand for certain set of maturities, and it may change the composition of bonds used to borrow the first half programme of Rs 2.88 trillion. However, the government is in no hurry to change the composition as of now and would wait for a few weeks to see the auctions, he said.
( Source: Business Standard )
9. Twenty Indian Startups Selected for Business Expansion in London
Twenty Indian startups have been chosen to join London Mayor Sadiq Khan's India Emerging 20 (IE20) business programme which aims to help selected companies in setting up or expanding their business in Britain's capital.
The India Emerging 20 programme which is in its third edition this year was launched by London and Partners, which is the Mayor of London's official promotional agency, in collaboration with BDO, a major accounting and taxation network, and Lalit Hotels.
It was set up with the aim to identify some of India's most ambitious companies that are considering international expansion.
(Source: Economic Times )
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