Parliament disrupted over coal scam; govt says will push food bill in Lok Sabha on Thursday

The issue of missing files relating to coalgate paralysed proceedings in Parliament on Tuesday with BJP demanding an immediate response from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, even as the government said it will leave no stone unturned in tracing the documents.

Amid cries of "shame-shame" and "pradhan mantri jawab do", Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj raised the issue and said the Prime Minister should come to the House and assure members that the CBI probe will not be hampered due to the missing files.

She said as the Prime Minister had recently taken full responsibility in the Lok Sabha, it was incumbent upon him to take the House into confidence as to what had happened to the 147 missing files.

Claiming that the files included applications for coal blocks, she alleged that they have gone missing as some big shots of the Congress were involved.

Swaraj wanted the Speaker to direct the Prime Minister to come to the House and make a statement. Singh had held the coal portfolio from 2006 to 2009 when the coal blocks were allocated.

Rajya Sabha also witnessed uproar after which coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal made a statement saying that a committee has been constituted to go into the issue of missing files which has held two meetings.

"I would like to assure the House that my ministry would leave no stone unturned in tracing and providing the documents sought by the CBI," he said.

Jaiswal said he was ready to undergo any punishment if his involvement was established.

But, the opposition was not satisfied with the statement with Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley finding loopholes asking whether any FIR has been lodged by the coal ministry about missing files.

As Rajya Sabha met for the day, BJP members started demanding statement from the Prime Minister on the missing files.

M Venkaiah Naidu (BJP) said the Prime Minister should come to the House and assure it that the files are safe. He demanded that the issue related with files should be taken up first.

Coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, who came to the House after the first adjournment, tried to make a statement, but BJP members insisted that it should come from none other than the Prime Minister. Jaiswal could not complete his statement.

Deputy Leader of Opposition Ravi Shankar Prasad termed the coal scam as the biggest one and alleged that some of the missing files are related with companies associated with members of the ruling party.

"We want it (statement) from the Prime Minister. Serious questions are being raised about the Minister," he said.

TDP MPs were in the Well with their protest entering the third week. MPs from Congress opposing creation of Telangana held placards and shouted slogans from their benches.

On the other hand, the government has decided to push Food Security Bill in Parliament on Thursday and said it will "try its level best" to secure the passage of the bill in House.

The bill, expected to be a game-changer for the ruling Congress ahead of five assembly polls this year-end and the 2014 general elections, aims to provide subsidised food grain at prices much below the market rate to around 67% of India's 1.2 billion people. The bill would thus benefit about 800 million people.

"We will be trying our level best to get the food bill passed. We are talking to everybody (all political parties)," minister of state for parliamentary affairs Rajeev Shukla told reporters in New Delhi.

Parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath said: "We will use all rules to ensure that the House runs."

Food minister KV Thomas said he was confident of getting the legislation passed. "I am always a confident man. It is a very important  bill."

The government is keen to secure passage of the food security bill, which is Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's pet welfare legislation, but is concerned over the large number of amendments (over 260) moved by opposition parties.

Both Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) have indicated their support for the bill, but have demanded certain changes in the legislation.

BSP supremo Mayawati said: "We support the bill as it is for the poor, but we want certain changes for which we will move amendments."

The bill, part of the Congress manifesto for the 2009 polls, is expected to bring it electoral benefits, just as the rural job plan did.


The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is considered responsible for the second term that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) won in the 2009 polls.

Rural Electrification Corporation seeks SEBI’s nod to raise Rs 5,000 crore via tax-free bonds

State-run Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) is seeking approval from Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to raise upto Rs 5,000 crore through tax-free bonds. The company will use the raised fund for general lending operations of the company and other associated business objectives besides repaying existing loans.

The lead managers to the issue are ICICI Securities, A K Capital Services, Axis Capital and Edelweiss Financial Services. Besides, Karvy Computershare is the registrar to the issue. Earlier in financial year 2012-13, REC had issued tax free bonds worth Rs 2,648.41 crore. The state-run power financier is one of the most active mobiliser of funds from the bond market.

Axis Bank seeks FIPB nod to increase foreign shareholding

Axis Bank, the third largest private sector lender in the country, has filed an application with the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for increasing the foreign shareholding limit in the bank.

On August 14, 2013 the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) notified that the foreign shareholding in Axis Bank has crossed the overall limit of 49% of its paid-up capital.

The central bank said no further purchases of shares of the bank would be allowed through stock exchanges in India on behalf of foreign investors.

The foreign shareholding in Axis Bank was 48.96% at the end of June, 2013 and included investments through foreign direct investment (FDI) route in the form of global depository receipts (GDRs) of 8.08% and other foreign holdings including foreign institutional investors (FIIs) of 40.88%.

Currency in crisis: Here's why rupee fell below 64/$

Today morning some foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought orders and the rupee quite gently moved on to 64.11/USD, which was the costliest that the dollar traded

On Tuesday morning the rupee fell to an all time low of 64 to the dollar. Most analysts were expecting this to happen by the end of this year, but happened way ahead of estimates.
There was a very clear downward drift in the money markets. Today morning some foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought orders and the rupee quite gently moved on to 64.11/USD, which was the costliest that the dollar traded.

There seems to have been offers at that point, which came from state-owned banks. It is tough to say whom they were selling for as they don’t easily admit it, it is quite possible that they would have sold it for exporters. There could be some exporters who would think that 64/USD is a good rate and sold off a bit. Corporate who have dollar earnings could have sold off, but it is usual for the markets to suspect that it is on behalf of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Apparently, there were sell orders also at about 63.85/USD levels and the dollar became as cheap as 63.50/USD in 10-15 minutes of trading. However,  FIIs buying today is coming synchronous with their buying dollars across several emerging markets (EMs). There is a big whack seen coming in for the Indonesian markets as well. However, some trades are even worse than India because 30 percent of their government debt is owned by FIIs.

So, there, it is a slightly more risky when the FIIs start selling off debt and buying dollars, which appears to have happened because of the sharp rise in US yields. Other currencies, which are certainly not current account deficit (CAD), like the Singapore dollar, also got impacted. Basically, it was a story of a strong dollar and weak emerging market currencies.

Govt clears 28 investment projects worth Rs 1.1 lakh crore

In order to boost India’s infrastructure sector, the government has cleared 28 big-ticket investment projects worth Rs 1.1 lakh cr, which have been stuck for years for want of numerous government clearances. After intensive project-wise discussions with ministries, special project monitoring group headed by cabinet secretary Ajit Seth has managed to secure these clearances for mega investment projects.

These infrastructure projects include 18 power projects with a generation capacity of 15,636 mw, four highway projects worth Rs 4,400 crore, and Rs 1,200-crore steel plant in Odisha. Further, the coal ministry has also agreed to sign fuel supply agreements for all these projects by August 31. Three railway projects in poorly connected states such as Mizoram, Assam and Chhattisgarh, with an investment outlay of over Rs 7,100 crore, have also got green signal. Moreover, the government also cleared Delhi airport aerocity project worth Rs 12,000 crore and Petroleum distillation units, being set up by Bharat Petroleum, worth Rs 1,419 crore.

The government has identified the development of infrastructure as a most crucial one to boost the economy’s growth. Recently, it has set up the Cabinet Committee on Investments (CCI) to clear the bottlenecks holding back mega infrastructure projects. However, the committee met just once a month and didn't have the bandwidth to resolve ground-level issues holding up private sector investments.  Thereby, the government set up special cell, which is  meant to supplement CCI's efforts in cases where the problem can be involved by way of discussions between ministries also acts as the CCI's secretariat and has now been tasked with monitoring the progress of projects cleared earlier by CCI. Meanwhile, for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17), the government has set the $1-trillion investment target for the infrastructure sector.

Jaiprakash Power to sell stake in two hydro power projects

Jaiprakash Power Ventures (JP Power) is reportedly looking to sell stake in two hydro power projects. These two power projects include 300 MW baspa and 1200 MW Karcham Wangtoo. The total cost for JP Power plant is higher than Rs 10,000 crore.

In this regard, JP Power likely to have approached players like CESC JK power projects. CESC is reluctant to buy stake in these projects. JP Power’s consolidated debt is more than Rs 20,000 crore.

Jaiprakash Power Ventures is part of India’s leading Infrastructure conglomerate - Jaypee Group. Currently the company operates the largest hydroelectric power plant in the private sector in India. Its power projects which are in different stages of implementation include Hydro, Thermal and Transmission.

RCom plans to capture 40% of all new smartphones on 3G services

Reliance Communications (RCOM), the Anil Ambani-owned telecom operator, is reportedly planning to capture 40% of all new smartphones on its network in the 13 circles it offers 3G services. The company already had 26% of total smartphones on its network in the 3G circles. To reach the target, the company is banking on its spectrum-linked market strategy to improve quality of services across these circles.

Further, the company’s exclusive tie-ups with cell phone manufacturers such as iPhone, HTC and BlackBerry would also help the company in obtaining in users on to its 3G network. The company had earlier cut 3G mobile data prices by almost half. The company has reduced the prices for 1GB of 3G data at Rs 123 per month from Rs 250 per month at present.

RCom is India’s foremost and truly integrated telecommunications service provider. The company, with a customer base of about 150 million, including over 2.5 million individual overseas retail customers, ranks among the Top 4 Telecom companies in the world by number of customers in a single country.

Siemens surges on winning two contracts worth Rs 144 crore

Siemens has won two contracts aggregating Rs 144 crore from the Rural Electrification Board, Bangladesh to construct 38 new 33/11kV substations. The projects are funded by Japan Bank for International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and are to be delivered on a turnkey basis. The substations would be located in the Rajshahi and Barisal zones in western Bangladesh.   The projects involve installing new and improving existing distribution facilities in the rural region west of Jamuna River. They aim to achieve an efficient power supply by reducing power distribution losses, strengthening and stabilizing the power supply system, thereby contributing to the progress and the economic development of western Bangladesh. In addition, the projects will contribute to reducing the impact of global warming by improving the efficiency of depreciated power distribution facilities.

The Rural Electrification Board of Bangladesh has been providing service to rural consumers for over 30 years by expanding and providing electricity to households, businesses and industries in Bangladesh. These orders that have been awarded to Siemens are a further milestone in the successful business conducted by Siemens in Bangladesh, where power demand continues to rise.

The Siemens Group in India has emerged as a leading inventor, innovator and implementer of leading-edge technology enabled solutions operating in the core business segments of Industry, Energy and Healthcare.

McNally Bharat bags order worth Rs 973 crore

McNally Bharat Engineering Company has received an order for Supply of Equipment, Civil Work, Structural Work, Erection & Commissioning of Balance of Plant Package for a Thermal Power Project for a value of Rs 973 crore.

McNally Bharat Engineering Company is one of the leading engineering companies. It provides turnkey solutions in areas of power, steel, alumina, material handling, mineral beneficiation, coal washing, ash handling and disposal, port cranes, civic and industrial water supply etc.

SBI opens 15,000th branch in Sivaganga district

State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest bank has opened its 15,000th branch in state of Tamil Nadu. The Union Finance Minister inaugurated the branch located at Sooranam Village, Sivaganga District in Tamil Nadu on August 17, 2013.

The Finance Minister also distributed loans to beneficiaries for various activities under bank’s schemes. He complimented the bank for opening its 15,000th branch in a short span of 5 years after opening its 10,000th branch in March 2008 in Sivaganga District. The Finance Minister praised the performance of the bank in accomplishing the stipulated norm of lending 15% of its net credit to minorities last year.

On the consolidated basis, the group registered 11.82% fall in its net profit after taxes and minority interest at Rs 4298.56 crore for first quarter ended June 30, 2013 as compared to Rs 4874.70 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. However, total income of the bank, on consolidated basis, has increased by 12.23% at Rs 52502.29 crore for quarter under review as compared to Rs 46782.70 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2012.

RBI raises FDI cap in asset reconstruction companies to 74%

The Reserve Bank of India in its another measure to prop up rupee and bring more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country, has hiked the limit for foreign investment in Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARCs) to 74 percent from the earlier cap of 49 percent. The decision of the central bank follows Cabinet decision earlier this month to liberalise FDI norms in various sectors.

As per the RBI notification "The ceiling for FDI in ARCs has been increased from 49 percent to 74 percent subject to the condition that no sponsor may hold more than 50 percent of the shareholding in an ARC either by way of FDI or by routing through a foreign institutional investors (FII)". The foreign investment limit of 74 percent in ARC would be a combined limit of FDI and FII.

Further, the apex bank has allowed the FIIs to invest in Security Receipts (SRs) up to 74 percent of each tranche of scheme of SRs issued by the ARC. The banks circular stated that the individual limit of 10 percent for investment of a single FII in each tranche of SRs issued by ARCs may be dispensed with. Such investment should be within the FII limit on corporate bonds prescribed from time to time, and sectoral caps under the extant FDI Regulations should be complied with.

Crude prices cooled off after six days of gains

Crude oil futures cooled off slightly on Monday, falling for the first time in last seven days and after scaling 2-week high in last session on concerns over supply disruption from the Middle East with the Suez Canal skirting a tense Egypt as violence continued to escalate. Though, the trade remained choppy for the day but prices declined after the Caribbean low pressure system that threatened to grow into a Tropical Storm in the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico fizzled out.

Benchmark crude oil future for September delivery declined by 36 cents to settle at $107.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude for October settlement fell 50 cents or 0.5 percent, to end at $109.90 a barrel on the ICE.

L&T secures EPC contract worth Rs 1,500 crore from PDO Oman

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has won an order valued around Rs 1,500 crore amounting $250 million from Petroleum Development Oman LLC (PDO). The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) order is for the Yibal 3rd stage depletion compression (Y3DC) project at the Yibal-Natih gas reservoir in Oman. The project is scheduled to be completed in 39 months.

Yibal-Natih is a sweet gas reservoir with recoverable reserves estimated at 90%. It has been in production since 1972 and has undergone a series of expansions to accommodate increasing demand for gas. The Yibal 3rd stage facility will be installed to boost reservoir pressure.

With significant growth potential for natural gas market in the Gulf, this order is strategic for L&T and reflects its capability to execute such projects in an extremely competitive environment. L&T is currently executing two projects - the Lekhwair Gas Field Development Project and the Saih Rawl Depletion Compression Project for Petroleum Development Oman.

Petroleum Development Oman is a leading exploration and production company in the Sultanate. It accounts for more than 70% of the country's crude-oil production and nearly all of its natural gas supply. The company is owned by the Government of Oman (which has a 60% interest), Royal Dutch Shell (34%), Total (4%) and Partex (2%).

Sensex sheds 215 points on heavy FII selling; Banking, realty stocks plunge

Extending the previous session losses, the Sensex and the Nifty fell over 1.1 per cent in the opening session on sustained selling by FIIs as the rupee hit a fresh record low of 63.75 against the dollar in early trade.

At 9.15 a.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was down 214.96 points (1.17 per cent) at 18,092.56 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was down 95.25 points (1.76 per cent) at 5,319.50.

All BSE sectoral indices were trading in the red. Among them, banking, realty, FMCG and auto indices plunged the most by 2.39 per cent, 1.96 per cent, 1.84 per cent and 1.8 per cent, respectively.

Among 30-share Sensex, Tata Steel, Tata Power, Jindal Steel, Infosys and Hindalco were the top five gainers, while the top five losers were Bharti Airtel, M&M, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma and ONGC.

Asian stocks were down as uncertainty prevailed over when the US Federal Reserve will begin to reduce its stimulus, which pushed up yields on US Treasuries to two-year highs.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.5 per cent, while Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock average shed 0.8 per cent in early trade.

Minutes from the US Federal Reserve last policy meeting will be released on Wednesday and could provide investors with fresh clues on when the Fed plans to taper its $85-billion-a-month bond-buying programme, which many believe could begin next month.

The Dow Jones industrial average, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index and the Nasdaq Composite Index had ended lower for the fourth straight session on Monday amid continuing uncertainty over the US economic policy outlook.

SREI Infra plans to raise Rs2bn via NCDs

With reference to the earlier announcement dated May 21, 2013 about the decision of the Board of Directors of the Company to raise funds through public issue of NCDs, SREI Infrastructure Finance Ltd has announced that the Public Issue by Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited (the "Company" or the "Issuer") of Secured Redeemable Non-Convertible Debentures ("NCDs") of Face Value of Rs. 1,000/- each (the "Debentures" or the "NCDs"), for an amount upto Rs. 1,000 Million (the "Base Issue") with an option to retain over subscription upto Rs. 1,000 Million aggregating to Rs. 2,000 Million ("Overall Issue Size"), hereinafter referred to as the "Issue" opens for subscription on August 26, 2013 and closes on September. 17, 2013.

If in the event, the Issue closes on an earlier date or extended date, as may be decided by the Board/Committee of Directors, the Company shall ensure that notice of the same is provided to the prospective investors through advertisements in a leading national daily newspaper on or before such earlier date of Issue closure or initial date of Issue closure, as the case may be.

Further the Company has said that, the NCDs have been rated as ‘CARE AA- (Double A Minus)’ by CARE and ‘BWR AA (BWR Double A)’ by BRICKWORK.

Rupee hits record low of 64.03 against US dollar

The rupee hit a record low of 64.03 today against the US dollar despite measures in recent weeks by the Reserve Bank of India and government to defend it. 

The partially convertible curreny has declined 5% in six days.

Indian indices plunged nearly 2% on Monday and the rupee depreciated to its all-time low to close above the psychological mark of Rs. 63 as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold stocks in panic to repatriate dollars. 

On Monday, the Indian currency ended at 63.13, down 2.3%, its biggest single-day fall since September 22, 2011.