Sensex trading flat; Capital goods, realty stocks major gainers

The Sensex and Nifty were trading marginally in the green in the pre-close session on Monday amid mixed European cues.

At 3.20 p.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was up 32.22 points (0.15 per cent) at 20,915.11 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was up 25.8 points (0.42 per cent) at 6,215.15.

On the BSE, capital goods and realty indices were the star-performers and were up 4.04 per cent and 3.1 per cent, respectively, followed by metal 1.76 per cent and power 1.00 per cent.

On the other hand, FMCG index fell the most by 1.08 per cent, followed by IT 0.35 per cent and TECk 0.14 per cent.

Among 30-share Sensex, L&T, Hindalco, Maruti, Tata Steel and SSLT were the top five gainers, while the top five losers Jindal Steel, ITC, TCS, BHEL and Bharti Airtel.

European stocks were trading mixed and Asian stocks were up amid speculation that the US Federal Reserve will delay the stimulus cuts.

A report by Angel broking said: “Asian markets are trading higher amid speculation that the US Federal Reserve will delay stimulus cuts. US markets moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Friday, extending the upward trend seen in recent sessions.”

Stoxx 50 was down 8.19 points or 0.27 per cent at 3,025.12, FTSE 100 rose 15.34 points or 0.23 per cent to 6,637.92 and DAX fell 11.03 points or 0.12 per cent to 8,854.07.

Japan's Nikkei rose 132.03 points or 0.91 per cent to 14,693.60, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 26.31 points or 0.11 per cent at 23,366.40 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 30.31 points or 0.57 per cent to 5,351.77

Tax exemption on annuity payments to make reverse mortgage attractive: NHB chief

The income-tax department's recent move to tax-exempt annuity payments received under a reverse mortgage scheme will make this product an attractive proposition for senior citizens.

To further expand the popularity of the reverse mortgage scheme, National Housing Bank (NHB) is exploring the possibility of providing refinance of banks’ and housing finance companies’ exposure to this scheme, its Chairman & Managing Director, R.V. Verma, said here today.

A reverse mortgage is a financial instrument that allows people over 60 years of age to access the equity in their home without income or credit qualifications.

Prior to the latest I-T department move, the annuity-based concept of reverse mortgage did not find many takers.

This was because the Government approved RMS did not till date specifically recognise annuity-based payments as a mode for providing reverse mortgage.

No tax exemption was therefore available for annuity payments received by a reverse mortgagor (one who opts for reverse mortgage).

With the I-T department recognising the annuity-based payments and providing tax exemption for such payments, the NHB has decided to "fully reactivate" the marketing of this scheme, Verma said.

"The income-tax department move will give a new impetus to the whole scheme. The annuity product will now be much more beneficial to the senior citizen,” Verma said.

HDFC Q2 net profit rises 10 % to Rs.1266 cr.

Housing finance company HDFC 's second quarter (July-September) matched expectations with the standalone net profit rising 10 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,266.33 crore.

 Net interest income increased 14 percent on yearly basis to Rs 1,579 crore in the quarter gone by. Income from operations grew 13.2 percent to Rs 5,859.19 crore during September quarter from Rs 5,175.34 crore in a year ago period.

Dividend and profit on sale of investments declined to Rs 257.25 crore during second quarter from Rs 288.58 crore in a corresponding quarter of previous year. Total assets of the housing finance company increased 17 percent year-on-year to Rs 2.12 lakh crore in the quarter gone by.

Alstom T&D India bags contract worth Rs 105.50 crore

Alstom T&D India will supply a power transformer package for Nabinagar Power Generating Company's (NPGCL) Super Thermal Power Project located in Bihar in India. The project is part of a bulk tender, which has been set up to accelerate the pace of thermal capacity addition in the country.

This order, worth approximately Rs 105.50 crore (euro 14 million), covers the design, engineering, manufacture, supply, testing, erection and commissioning of Generator Transformers and associated Power Transformers and Shunt Reactor. All equipment will be manufactured by Alstom T&D India's transformer manufacturing and testing facility at Naini in Uttar Pradesh.

Alstom T&D India also flags off India’s largest 765 kV class generator single-phase transformer for Jaypee Group’s Bara Thermal Power project, Uttar Pradesh. Alstom T&D India is the leader and has the largest market share for 765 kV generator transformers among Indian manufacturers.

Videocon Industries trades higher on the bourses

Videocon Industries is currently trading at Rs. 178.05, up by 3.95 points or 2.27% from its previous closing of Rs. 174.10 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 174.70 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 179.20 and Rs. 172.30 respectively. So far 26101 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 246.25 on 03-Dec-2012 and a 52 week low of Rs. 163.75 on 31-Jul-2013.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 179.50 and Rs. 171.70 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 5690.07 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 68.82% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 12.15% and 10.86% respectively.

Videocon Industries’ wholly owned subsidiary, Videocon Energy Brazil has informed that Petrobras, Operator of the block SEAL-M-426 in BM-SEAL-11 Concession, Brazil, has  completed a formation test on well 3-BRSA-1178D-SES (3-SES-176D), informally known as Farfan 1, the first to evaluate the production capacity of the accumulation located in the BM-SEAL-11 concession area, block SEAL-M-426, in the ultra-deep waters of the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin. The test evaluated 30 meters of turbidite sandstones formation and confirmed good reservoir characteristics featuring excellent productivity of good quality oil (38 degrees API).

The well is 104 km off the city of Aracaju, some 5 km from the discovery well (BRSA-1083) and at a water depth of 2,476 meters. This formation test, conducted at a depth of 5,609 meters, is a continuation of the operations carried out in the area as released to the market on August 9. Petrobras will proceed with other activities as soon as the Discovery Evaluation Plan submitted to Brazil’s National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP) is approved.

Petrobras is the operator of the concession BM-SEAL-11 with 60% interest in partnership with IBV Brazil (a 50:50 Joint Venture Company, formed by wholly owned subsidiaries of Bharat PetroResource and Videocon Industries) holding the remaining 40%.

Sensex down 72 points; IT, TECk stocks major losers

The Sensex and Nifty were trading down by about 0.3 per cent in the mid-session on Monday due to profit-taking in IT, TECk and FMCG stocks amid mixed European cues.

At 1.05 p.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was down 72.53 points (0.35 per cent) at 20,810.36 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was down 14.1 points (0.23 per cent) at 6,175.25.

Market-men attributed the dip to profit booking. Volatility index, India Vix, was at 20.89, up 3.82 per cent.

On the BSE, capital goods and realty indices were the star-performers and were up 3.68 per cent and 3.17 per cent, respectively, followed by metal 1.63 per cent and auto 1.17 per cent.

On the other hand, IT, TECk, FMCG and consumer durables indices lost investors' support and were down 1.89 per cent, 1.49 per cent and 1.1 per cent, respectively.

Among 30-share Sensex, L&T, SSLT, Maruti, Hindalco and Tata Steel were the top five gainers, while the top five losers Jindal Steel, TCS, ITC, BHEL and Infosys.

Better-than-expected second quarter results from corporates as on date saw the Nifty and the Sensex open marginally in the green.

The Nifty opened at 6,202, up 13 points, while the Sensex opened at 20,916, up 33 points.

European stocks were trading mixed and Asian stocks were up amid speculation that the US Federal Reserve will delay the stimulus cuts.

A report by Angel broking said: “Asian markets are trading higher amid speculation that the US Federal Reserve will delay stimulus cuts. US markets moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Friday, extending the upward trend seen in recent sessions.”

Stoxx 50 was down 7.91 points or 0.26 per cent at 3,025.40, FTSE 100 was up 3.04 points or 0.05 per cent at 6,625.62 and DAX fell 20.25 points or 0.23 per cent to 8,844.85.

Japan's Nikkei rose 132.03 points or 0.91 per cent to 14,693.60, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 26.31 points or 0.11 per cent at 23,366.40 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 30.31 points or 0.57 per cent to 5,351.77.

UltraTech Cement plans to build terminal at Mumbai Port

UltraTech Cement, part of Aditya Birla Group (ABG), is planning to build a terminal at the Mumbai Port to transport cement from its plants in Gujarat into Mumbai. This new terminal will cut logistics costs as movement by ships is much cheaper than by road, which costs three times more. For this terminal, the company has received a land area of 2.5 hectares on lease for 30 years against an upfront payment of Rs 35 crore and a guaranteed flow of traffic through the Mumbai Port. The facility has a capacity of 1.25 million tonnes.

Recently, the company has reported sharp decline in its standalone net profit, the biggest drop since 2010 largely because of lower selling prices and subdued demand. The company has reported 51.98% fall in its net profit at Rs 264.11 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2013 as compared to Rs 550.03 crore for the same quarter in the previous year.

UltraTech manufactures and markets Ordinary Portland Cement, Portland Blast Furnace Slag Cement and Portland Pozzalana Cement. The company has 11 integrated plants, one white cement plant, one clinkerisation plant in UAE, 15 grinding units 11 in India, 2 in UAE, one in Bahrain and Bangladesh each and five terminals, four in India and one in Sri Lanka.

Crude oil edges up as dealers await US data

Oil prices edged higher in Asian trade today as dealers await the long-delayed US economic data for clues about the health of the world’s largest crude consumer, analysts said.

New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate for delivery in November, was up 10 cents at $100.91 a barrel in mid-morning trade, while Brent North Sea crude for December climbed 12 cents to $110.06.

“The US economic data that came out before the shutdown was quite lacklustre, and people will be watching this week’s numbers to see whether they should go back into risk assets,” Kelly Teoh, market strategist at IG Markets in Singapore, said.

A slew of US economic data delayed by the 16-day US government shutdown will be released this week.

The US September jobs report out tomorrow will be particularly in focus as investors try to get an idea of when the Federal Reserve will start to reel in its $85-billion-a-month bond-buying scheme.

The stimulus programme has been credited with fuelling a global equities rally for most of the year. The Fed had said in September that it would not wind down the programme if there was no broad improvement in the economy.

Singapore’s DBS Bank warned investors not to brush off the US figures out this week solely because they are outdated.

“This would be a mistake,” it said in a note to investors. “The shutdown didn’t do the economy any favours but the US had plenty of problems in the run-up to October.”

It added: “The September data are no less relevant today than they would have been two weeks ago, government shutdown notwithstanding.”

Rupee weakens to 61.33 V dollar

The rupee shed 6 paise to 61.33 per dollar against the previous close of 61.27 on fresh demand for dollar from banks and importers, amid strengthening of the greenback overseas.

The domestic unit fell sharply on Friday on reports that the Government is considering to close the dollar swap window offered to oil companies.

Later, the RBI came out with a statement refuting the reports. “The OMC swap window remains operational. Any tapering of the window, as and when it occurs, will be done in a calibrated manner, the RBI said in a statement.

The RBI statement helped the rupee gain amid persistent selling of dollar by banks and exporters on the back of sustained capital inflows from foreign funds.

In addition, the weakening of dollar after the US lawmakers reached a deal to avoid the debt ceiling default and ended the 16-day partial government shutdown provided a breather to the rupee.

The shutdown has caused billions of dollars in losses and is expected to delay the tapering programme of the US Federal Reserve.

Call rates and G-Secs

The inter-bank call money rate, the rate at which banks borrow from each other to meet their short-term fund requirement, opened higher at 9.10 per cent against the previous close of 8.85 per cent.

The 7.16 per cent government security, which matures in 2023, opened stronger at Rs 91.1 against the previous close of Rs 90.701.

The yields softened to 8.53 per cent from 8.65 per cent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

Pratibha Industries soars on bagging order worth Rs 321.88 crore

Pratibha Industries has secured a contract Viz. Cluster Scheme of 315 Villages of Mandalgarh, Bijoliya and Jahajpur Tehsils along with Augmentation of UWSS of Mandalgarh and Bijoliya Towns from Aroli Headworks under Chambal-Bhilwara Water supply project Phase-II with operation and maintenance for 10 years on Single Point Responsibility Turnkey basis. The contract is scheduled to be completed in 36 months from the date of commencement. Total value of the contract is Rs.321.88 crore received from PHED (Ajmer) Rajasthan.

Pratibha Industries is engaged in the business of integrated infrastructure solutions. As the company moves ahead, it has laid increased emphasis on devising its business strategy on aggressive top line growth, a de-risked business model and increased operational efficiencies

Policy watch: P-notes: The big money laundering machine

In August 1, 2013, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) instructed foreign institutional investors (FIIs) which were seeking to hedge forex exposure relating to participatory notes (P-notes) to take prior permission from note holders before doing so.

Not-so-surprisingly, the rupee rebounded sharply.

The RBI notification compelled banks and investors to cut their dollar positions. Curiously, nobody in the policy circles probed further. It was as if everyone knew that some FIIs had been short-selling the rupee in non-deliverable trades without prior formal sanction from P-note holders. It was as if someone powerful in the government had given them the go-ahead, confident that nobody would intervene. That is, till the RBI decided to pull the plug. P-notes were prevented from eroding the rupee.

But what are P-notes?

The story goes back to 1992, when the Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) — to shore up India’s rapidly vanishing forex reserves — permitted FIIs to register and participate in the Indian stock market. Somewhere, sometime, the government decided on a derivative instrument called P-note, which was available to Indians only; but for those with foreign exchange that they could deposit with any FII overseas. In lieu of the money, the Indian would get a P-Note, which the FII could use to invest in Indian markets.

Since all these investments came through the Mauritius route, all speculative earnings that could attract a tax rate of 30% could be now converted into forex and repatriated tax-free. Thus, while resident Indians had to pay tax, P-note transactions (by Indians through FIIs) were exempt.

That was not all. Somewhere, sometime, the government also decided that depositors of money with FIIs did not have to follow KYC norms. Thus, while any resident Indian must prove his identity before investing in shares and mutual funds, a P-note holder is exempt. He could thus use ‘black’ money, yet earn ‘white’ money on it, tax-free, protected by the government. What a brazen money laundering mechanism!

But it wasn’t so all the time. In 2005, in the Sebi versus UBS case, Sebi said that UBS had violated Section 15 (A) of FII regulations which stated that “A Foreign Institutional Investor or sub-account may issue, deal in or hold, off-shore derivative instruments such as Participatory Notes, Equity Linked Notes or any other similar instruments against underlying securities, listed or proposed to be listed on any stock exchange in India, only in favour of those entities which are regulated by any relevant regulatory authority in the countries of their incorporation or establishment, subject to compliance of “know your client” requirement.”

In fact, even earlier, in the Joint Parliamentary hearings (Para 8.81) the issue of the unwelcome role of P-notes in India was discussed. In the Action Taken Report, it was pointed out how organisations like “Citi Group and Goldman Sachs have issued Participatory Notes to banned entities such as CSFD and overseas corporate bodies. . . . Is it not true that Participatory Note holders are not disclosing their identity?”

P-Notes accounted for at least Rs 164,817 crore (around $27.5 billion) out of Rs 1,242,154 crore ($207 billion) of assets managed by FIIs (see table).

But according to an expert group appointed by the finance ministry in August 2004, P-notes form about 46% of the cumulative net investments in equities by FIIs. Some like Subramaniam Swamy say that almost two-third of FII investment is through P-notes.  That makes a mockery of the Supreme Court’s directive to the government to track down all benami account holders. If the above numbers are true, much of the black money is already in India through the P-note route, earning higher (tax-free) rates of return than if it were parked in Swiss banks.

Not surprisingly, just last week Sebi tightened rules. Now, FIIs will have to report monthly details of P-note based transactions within 10 days. But the insistence on KYC compliance has not been enforced. Clearly, the laundering machine is still open for business.

Muhurat Trading NSE 03 Nov 2013

Muhurat Trading 2013 Timings

Muhurat Trading will be conducted by NSE on 03 Nov 2013.  Every year Indian Stock exchanges conducts muhurat trading on Diwali eve.  Indian traders and Investors consider this day very very auspicious and do token investments on this day.

Muhurat trading timings for the year 2013 will be on 03 November which falls on Sunday.
In the belief that investing on this auspicious occasion bring good fortunes in the coming year, many investors make it a point to invest on this Muhurat trading session.  Although this special session which falls on sunday this time is for only 75 minutes duration (Total duration of muhurat trading session on 03 Nov 2013 is from 18:15 Hrs to 19:30 Hrs)

NSE Cash Market timings for muhurat trading 2013

Muhurat Trading Session	Duration
Pre Open*	18:00 hrs 18:08 hrs
Normal Market/LPM/RDM 18:15 hrs 19:30 hrs	18:15 hrs 19:30 hrs
Block Deal Session	18:15 hrs 18:50 hrs
SME Call Auction Market #	18:20 hrs 18:50 hrs
Call Auction Illiquid session *	18:30 hrs 19:15 hrs
Closing Session	19:40 hrs 19:50 hrs

NRI businessman acquires 4.99% stake in Dhanlaxmi Bank

NRI businessman M A Yusuffali has acquired 4.99% share in Kerala based Dhanlaxmi Bank after purchasing stakes in two other lenders in the state earlier this year. Pursuant to this acquisition, Yusufflai has invested close to Rs 510 crore in just the banking sector in Kerala, this year itself.

Yusuffali had earlier acquired close to 5% stake each in Federal Bank and Catholic Syrian Bank this year. Yusuffali is the founder and Managing Director of EMKE Group which owns the LuLu Group.

Dhanlaxmi Bank is an 84-year old bank with a network of over 275 branches and 460 ATMs covering 160 centers across 14 states, the bank services a broad customer base of 1.6 million. The bank provides a suite of banking products and services to its customers across Retail Banking, Wholesale Banking, Microfinance and Agricultural Lending and Small and Medium Enterprises Group.

Sensex up 56 points

The Sensex and Nifty rose over 0.2 per cent in the opening session on Monday on sustained buying by funds and retail investors owing to positive global cues.

At 9.15 a.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was up 55.86 points (0.27 per cent) at 20,938.75 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was up 12.65 points (0.2 per cent) at 6,202.

Asian stocks were up, with the regional benchmark index extending its gaines from a five-month high, amid hopes of a delay in tapering of the Federal Reserve stimulus.

Japan's Nikkei rose 115.66 points or 0.79 per cent to 14,677.20, Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 139.40 points or 0.6 per cent to 23,479.50 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 32.43 points or 0.61 per cent at 5,353.90.

Gold to be struck across 10 states, says ASI

The Archeological Survey of India, which has zeroed in on as many as 53 sites with potential gold reserves. The sites are spread across Karnataka, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Kerala, according to Data Portal India.

Currently, gold mining is carried out at a single location in India — Hutti in Karnataka, as well as its two satellite mines Hira-Buddini and Uti — all belonging to Hutti Gold Mines Ltd.

A Lok Sabha document dated August 2012 showed different exploration agencies had already started work on retrieving the gold in Jharkhand, Karnataka and Rajasthan.

The outcome of the exploration shows after Karnataka, Jharkhand could be the new treasure trove. In 2009-19, it was inferred the Sindauri East block in Ranchi had gold ore resources of 3.10 million tonnes. And, bigger gold reserves were indicated at the Parasi central block, with estimated reserves of around 11 million tonnes.

In 2012-13, the Geological Survey of India had undertaken exploration programmes in Sonabhadra district of Uttar Pradesh, as well as a few other districts in Bihar, Kerala, Odisha, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

According to the report of a working group on mineral exploration and development for the 12th five-year Plan (2012-17), the total gold reserve base across 13 states in the country stood at 658 tonnes as on April 1, 2011. Of this, 167 tonnes were categorised as economically mineable reserves.

At 2.22 tonnes, India’s contribution to the global mining production is insignificant. A major portion of the country’s gold production comes as a by-product from anode slimes, which in turn are produced by smelting the copper concentrates indigenously produced in Jharkhand, as well as the copper concentrates imported by Hindalco.

In 2007-08, by-product gold stood at 12.1 tonnes. Together with the primary mine production, the total production of gold in India stood at 9.22 tonnes in 2010-11.

While the entry of private players in gold mining is expected to boost production, bureaucratic delays continue to pose hurdles. “The wait to get a licence for gold exploration is too long, between five and ten years. The licence regime in ridiculously slow,” said Sandeep Lakhwara, managing director, Deccan Gold Mines. The company has been awaiting a mining lease for Ganajur in Karnataka. This could be India’s first major private sector gold mining project.

India imported about 963 tons of gold during 2010.The projected imports at the growth rate of 11% from 2012-2017 are 9305 tons at an average of 1861 tons per year, according to Report on Working Group on Mineral Exploration and Development.

The total Gold production from mines in the world during the year 2,553 tons. The major producers are China, South Africa, Australia and USA

Maxis infuses Rs 6,000 cr to fund Aircel's interest outgo

Banks give 4-year moratorium on principal amount repayment; Recast helps firm cut losses from Rs 11,476 crore in 2012 to Rs 342 crore in first six months this year

Malaysian telecom major Maxis Berhad, which owns a 74 per cent equity stake in wireless telephone operator, Aircel, has pumped in a little more than Rs 6,000 crore as 'quasi equity' into the Indian firm to finance the latter's annual interest outgo of Rs 2,500 crore, besides other things. The funds were infused by the promoter after banks asked Aircel to bring more money into the company before a four-year moratorium on payment of the loan's principal amount could be given. Following fund infusion by the promoter, Aircel, which was to begin paying part of the principal amount from next year, has got a major reprieve.

The infusion of more funds by the Malaysian telco had been necessitated as Aircel, the seventh-largest wireless player in India, had drawn the entire limit of its sanctioned debt, of around Rs 20,000 crore, from a State Bank of India-led consortium of bankers and foreign loans, to finance its losses.

Now, after a major restructuring exercise, Aircel, which had incurred a steep Rs 11,476-crore loss in the 2012 calendar year - one of the biggest by a telco in a year - not only increased its income substantially but also substantially cut down on its losses in the first six months of this year.

Aircel's losses in the six months ended June 31 were Rs 342 crore, even as its income rose to Rs 6,809 crore (compared with a total income of Rs 8,302 crore in full 2012 calendar year). For the first half of 2012, it had posted a loss of Rs 724 crore in its Rs 3,898-crore income. And, its losses had increased substantially in the second half of that year.

Sources close to the company say Maxis does not yet have any plan to convert its quasi equity and increase its stake beyond the current 74 per cent. Suneeta Reddy and others (part of the Reddy family that controls Apollo Hospitals) own the remaining equity and are not planning to pump in any money into the company, a banker says. With Apollo not investing, bankers say Maxis could increase its stake as the government laws now allow up to 100 per cent foreign equity. An Aircel spokesperson declined to comment on the issue.

Sources involved in the financial recast say the focus at Aircel currently is achieving a break-even and then making enough profits to make payments of interest, as well as the principal, on its own. Until then, Maxis is ready to put in more money to finance the interest burden through putting more 'quasi equity' into the company.

It's only after Aircel has repaid all its debt and created sufficient value in the company that it might look at repaying the 'quasi equity' received from the Malaysian promoter. Also, the company has been under a cloud, with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probing its promoters' role in the 2G spectrum scam. Aircel's former promoter C Sivasankaran had alleged former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran forced him to sell his company to Maxis.

The Rs 20,000-crore debt on Aircel's books comprises Rs 18,000 crore lent by banks - Rs 14,000 crore of domestic debt and Rs 4,000 crore of foreign. Another Rs 2,000 crore is unfunded debt, based on guarantees by banks. The company's total debt had shot up primarily due to its hefty payout of Rs 13,500 crore for buying 3G and broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum.

The infusion of cash by Maxis has helped it avoid going for a debt restructuring. In September this year, Aircel achieved an operating break-even for the first time, said company officials. In a recent interview, Aircel COO Kaizad Heerjee had said his company had made operating profits in seven circles and its target was to do so in 10 circles by the end of this year. It also hoped to make operating profits in 2014-15.

On the operations front, the company has been slowly gaining subscriber market share - 7.06 per cent at present - closing in on Tata Tele, which has a share of 7.32 per cent, according to Trai figures for up to July 31. In July, Aircel's net incremental increase in subscriber base stood at 750,000, the most by a telco in that month.

However, its performance on the basis of active subscribers - over 63 per cent - is far lower than the industry average of 83.60 per cent. It has also been able to push its average revenue per user from Rs 133 to about Rs 145 for pre-paid services in the past few quarters. But its realisation per minute is still at a low 32 paise, unlike the market leaders, which have been increasing this through higher rates. Aircel's data push has also helped; its data revenues, excluding SMS, constitute 12 per cent of its total revenues. Heerjee had pointed out that the company would require a revenue market share of 7-9 per cent in each circle to break even.

Sebi gets 70 applications under Investment Advisors Regulation

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), which had directed all independent investment advisors to register with the regulator, according to the Investment Advisors Regulation, had received only 70 applications, said Sebi executive director Ananta Barua.

He added from October 21, only those who had registered under the regulation with Sebi would be able to offer investment advisory services. Under the regulation, individuals, corporations and partnership firms engaged in providing investment advice would be registered and regulated. The regulation was announced in January.

"We did not make these regulations immediately applicable. We gave a lot of time...That is why I am surprised the applications received are very few," Barua said. Sources said many experts working as advisors were concerned at this, as the regulation restricted them from engaging in activities such as distribution of mutual funds.

New RTGS system to improve financial market efficiency: Rajan

RTGS system used to settle interbank fund transfers by banks and their customers

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan on Saturday said the new real time gross settlement (RTGS) system for fund transfers will improve the efficiency of the country’s financial markets.

"With its advanced liquidity and queue management features, the new RTGS system is expected to significantly improve the efficiency of financial markets," Rajan said while inaugurating the ISO 20022-compliant system.

The RTGS system is used to settle interbank fund transfers by banks and their customers and is critical in facilitating orderly settlement of payment obligations. With its implementation, new regulations will replace the operating guidelines and regulations of 2004.

Rajan said the payment system has to be efficient and ahead of the financial markets to be able to take care of future developments. The new RTGS system is highly scalable and will have several new functionalities, the Reserve Bank of India said in a release. It will have features such as a facility to accept future value dated transactions and options to process multi-currency transactions. The system was first implemented in India in March 2004 as an electronic funds transfer system across the country. With implementation of the new RTGS system, the existing RTGS system will cease to be operational, the RBI added.

"RTGS System Regulations 2013" will replace the RTGS (Membership) Business Operating Guidelines, 2004, and RTGS (Membership) Regulations, 2004. The RBI said new functionalities will be notified to participants when they are made available for use.