Cadila Pharma launches drug to treat lung cancer

Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd on Thursday announced the launch of Mycidac-C for affordable treatment of lung cancer which would be available in the Indian market by December.

The company said it took over a decade, huge investment and dedicate R&D teamwork to develop the world’s first innovative drug for treatment of lung cancer.

According to a WHO report, nearly 1.25 million people are diagnosed with lung cancer every year, worldwide. Around 30 per cent of them suffer from squamous Non Small Cell Lung Cancer. Lung cancer kills more people than the three next commonest cancers combined.

Mycidac-C is a research product for the patients suffering from Non Small Cell Lung Cancer. The drug has been approved for launch in India by the Drug Controller General of India, said Dr Rajiv I. Modi, Chairman and Managing Director.

“We expect it to be available in the Indian market by December 2013. Thereafter, we will introduce it in other regions like SAARC countries and European markets over the next five years.”

He said it is a breakthrough in the management of squamous cell NSCLC wherein no significant innovation has come about since the introduction of platinum containing doublet in 1983. Besides affordability and other advantages, Mycidac-C has no systemic side-effects during the treatment. Mycidac-C is to be used with platinum containing doublet therapy and can be administered easily by trained paramedics, thus further reducing the cost of hospitalisation associated with other cancer therapy.

The Ahmedabad-based Cadila Pharma, one of the largest privately-held pharmaceutical companies in India, had a turnover of Rs 1,200 crore in 2012-13. It was the first Indian company to get IND approval by USFDA for clinical trials to be conducted in India. Subsequently, the company has filed 5 INDs with the USFDA.

Corporation Bank loan expo in Coimbatore

Corporation Bank is organising a home and vehicle loan expo on November 23 and 24 at Suguna Kalyana Mandapam in Coimbatore.

The event is being organised jointly with Noble Business Ventures and VG Ads Event Management Company. This is the fifth successive year of the event.

The bank, according to a release, would offer 50 to 100 per cent concession on processing charges to home loan applicants and 50 per cent concession on processing charges to vehicle loan applicants during the two days.

To avail spot loan sanctions during the expo, the loan applicants would have to produce an identity and address proof, bank statement pertaining to the last six months, three months salary slip in the case of salaried class, and last three years income-tax returns in the case of self-employed persons.

Besides the concession on processing charges, the loan applicants can also avail themselves of free offers from leading builders on spot bookings like cash discount up to Rs 10 lakh, gold coin, washing machine, fridge, LED TV, grinder, mixer grinder etc, the release said.

More than 50 builders and car dealers from various districts are to participate in this event.

Market slump in late trades; Sensex down over 400 pts

Key benchmark indices continue to head south weighed down by financials, capital goods and IT shares

Markets slumped in late trades on Thursday amid selling pressure in heavyweights on fears that sooner-than-expected tapering by the US Fed will lead to lower inflows from foreign funds thereby reducing liquidity.

At 15:06 The 30-share Sensex was down 420 points at 20,210 and the 50-share Nifty was down 130 points at 5,992.
Investor sentiment was hit adversely after minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting signaled US stimulus may be reduced in coming months. The US central bank currently buys bonds worth $85-billion-a-month in a bid to hold interest rates low and encourage economic growth in the world's biggest economy.

At 1430 hrs, the Sensex was down 356 points at 20,279 and the Nifty gave off 109 points to trade at almost 6,014 levels.

"Markets facing stern resistance near 61.80% Fibonacci retracement resistance level of 6209 (Retracement of High of 03-11-13 and low of 13-11-13), coinciding with psychological benchmark level of 6200," says Ranak Merchant, Sushil Financial Services, Technical Analyst - Strategies.

Downbeat China manufacturing activity added to gloom in most Asian stock markets on Thursday, while emerging market currencies faltered as the dollar charged ahead after the US Federal Reserve's latest minutes hinted at stimulus tapering.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed about 1.3% to its lowest point since middle of last week.

But Japan's Nikkei stock average bucked the region, rising 1.6% as the yen weakened against the dollar and on plans by a major government fund to invest more of its $2 trillion funds in riskier assets.

Back home, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth 800 million rupees on Wednesday compared with more than 10 billion rupees each on Monday and Tuesday.

The rupee falls to 62.88 versus its previous close of 62.57/58, after earlier hitting a session high of 62.97.

Losses track global gains in dollar after minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's October policy meeting suggested the central bank could soon move to taper monetary stimulus.

On the sectoral front, BSE Bankex, Consumer Durables, Realty and Capital Goods indices have plunged by nearly 2% each followed by counters like FMCG, TECk, IT, Metal, Oil & Gas, PSU, Power, Healthcare and Power, all declining by 1% each.

The main losers on the Sensex at this hour include HDFC, Infosys, Sesa Sterlite, Sun Pharma, ITC, L&T, ICICI Bank and ONGC, all dipping between 2-3%.

Metal shares have edged lower as a preliminary gauge showed that China's manufacturing activity decelerated this month. China is the world's largest consumer of copper and aluminum.

Among other shares, Amara Raja Batteries is trading higher by 3% at Rs 340, extending its previous day’s nearly 4% rally, in otherwise weak market, after brokerages raise target price.

Future Retail has dipped nearly 5% to Rs 75.55 after the National Stock Exchange (NSE) decided to remove the stock from future and options (F&O) contract from January 31, 2014 onwards.

The market breadth in BSE remains weak with 1,334 shares declining and 796 shares advancing.

Aviva India launches online term plan ‘i-Life Secure’

Private insurer Aviva India today launched the new online term plan ‘i-Life Secure’ with built-in income protection for 15 years.

“Aviva i-Life Secure ensures that your family and their needs are protected, be it your child’s school expenses, EMIs for housing loan or for that matter protection of your family by way of regular income when you are not around, all at a very nominal cost of premium,” Rishi Piparaiya, Aviva India Director — Marketing and Bancassurance, said in a release issued here.

Key features of the policy are — guaranteed income post death of life insured for the next 15 years, 10 per cent of sum assured at the time of claim settlement and 6 per cent per annum thereafter at every death anniversary of the life insured, for the next 15 years and premium rebate, if desired income is six lakhs annually and above.

Aviva India is a joint venture between the Dabur Group and Aviva Group, the UK-based insurance company and one of the world’s oldest insurance groups.

Mineral production valued at Rs 16,120 crore in Sep

Contribution of petroleum was the highest at Rs 5,625 crore

Buoyed by higher coal output, the value of India's mineral production grew by 9% in September this year to Rs 16,120 crore compared to Rs 14,785 crore in the year-ago period.

"The total value of mineral production (excluding atomic and minor minerals) in the country during September 2013 was Rs 16,120 crore," an official statement issued today said.

The contribution of petroleum (crude) was the highest at Rs 5,625 crore; but coal sector saw the biggest jump in terms of both production and value.

Coal production stood at 406 lakh tonnes and valued at Rs 4,939 crore during the reporting month compared to 361 lakh tonnes worth Rs 4,137 crore production during the same month last year.

The value of iron ore production fell to Rs 2,198 crore from Rs 2,321 crore a year ago, despite a slight hike in production of the key steel-making raw material.

Natural gas production was valued at Rs 1,801 crore, lignite at Rs 383 crore and limestone at Rs 355 crore.

"These six minerals together contributed about 95% of the total value of mineral production in September 2013," the statement said.

India produced 117 kg gold and 3,001 carat during the month compared to 124 kg gold and 2,515 carat diamond in the same month last year.

Fed effect: Sensex plummets 337 points

To begin "to taper or not to taper'' which seems to be the dilemma of the US Federal Reserve came back to spook the stock markets again with markets from the US to India making fresh losses since last night.

The BSE, which witnessed a huge sell-off yesterday, continued to bleed with the Sensex shedding about 340 points.

At 1.43 p.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was down 337.05 points (1.63 per cent) at 20,298.08 and the 500-share NSE index Nifty was down 99.9 points (1.63 per cent) at 6,023.

The negative mood did not spare any particular sector and affected the banking (1.82 per cent), capital goods (1.76 per cent), FMCG (1.61 per cent) and IT (1.55 per cent) stocks the most.

HDFC, SSLT, ITC, Infosys and Sun Pharma were the top five Sensex losers. The only three Sensex stocks in the green were Hindalco, GAIL and Maruti.

The rupee was down by 24 paise at Rs 62.82 and there were reports of RBI trying to shore up the INR against the greenback.

Fed minutes

A record of the minutes of the Fed Reserve meeting, held on October 29-30 and released yesterday, revealed that there was some common view among the members of the Feb Reserve to begin reducing the bond-buying programme in the near future if there were signs of improvement in the US job market.

There were reports that this could be considered even in the absence of job market perking up.

Bond-buying programme

The Fed's bond-buying programme, under which it was buying bonds worth $85 billion every month, was aimed at keeping the long-term interest rates low to give a push to spending with a view to accelerate growth.

After the report was released, the Dow ended yesterday with a loss of 66 points. European stocks declined and emerging market currencies weakened as a gauge of Chinese manufacturing missed estimates and the Federal Reserve signal.ed stimulus may be reduced in coming months. Asian stocks were also down.

Wednesday’s minutes of the US Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee meeting said: “Taking into account the extent of federal fiscal retrenchment over the past year, the committee sees improvement in economic activity and labour market conditions since it began its asset purchase programme as consistent with growing underlying strength in the broader economy. However, the committee decided to await more evidence that progress will be sustained before adjusting the pace of its purchases. Accordingly, the committee decided to continue purchasing additional agency mortgage-backed securities at a pace of $40 billion per month and longer-term Treasury securities at a pace of $45 billion per month. The committee is maintaining its existing policy of reinvesting principal payments from its holdings of agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities in agency mortgage-backed securities and of rolling over maturing Treasury securities at auction. Taken together, these actions should maintain downward pressure on longer-term interest rates, support mortgage markets, and help to make broader financial conditions more accommodative, which in turn should promote a stronger economic recovery and help to ensure that inflation, over time, is at the rate most consistent with the committee's dual mandate (of maximum employment and price stability).''

Bajaj Hindusthan surges despite suspending operations of all sugar units in Uttar Pradesh

Bajaj Hindusthan is unable to commence crushing operations during the Sugar Season 2013-14 at the Sugar Mill of the company situated at Golagokarannath (Dist. Lakhimpur Kheri) in state of Uttar Pradesh. The company has taken this step due to unilateral directions by the Uttar Pradesh Government Authorities to the Sugar Mills for commencing the crushing operation without announcing / fixing a viable and affordable State Advised Price (SAP) as sugarcane price for Sugar Season 2013-14 and to avoid incurring operating losses as also to prevent facing consequential financial difficulties.

Besides, the company has written to the concerned Authorities of the UP Government for suspension of operations of the sugar mill of the company during the Sugar Season 2013-14, till a viable and affordable sugarcane price in accordance with the recommendations of the Rangarajan Committee Report is announced by the UP Government.

Bajaj Hindusthan, a part of the 'Bajaj Group’, is one the largest sugar manufacturing companies in Asia and also the largest industrial alcohol manufacturers in India. It is engaged in sugar manufacturing, distillery operations and bagasse-based power generation. It has 16 sugar mills with a cane crushing capacity of 1.36 lakh tonne per day.

Uttam Galva Steels surges on heavy volumes

At 0919 hours, around 2.1 million shares have changed hands at price of Rs 71.15 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Uttam Galva Steels has surged over 7% to Rs 73.70 on back of heavy volumes on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The stock opened at Rs 61.50 and touched high of Rs 75.20 so far.

Around 2.32 million shares have already changed hands on the counter in early morning deals compared to less than 100,000 shares that were traded daily in past two weeks.

According to information available on the BSE website, at 0919 hours, as many as 2.1 million shares representing 3.8% of free-float equity of the company have changed hands at a price of Rs 71.15 per share.

Currently, the promoters – Miglani family along with ArcelorMittal collectively hold 60.87% stake in the company. The institutional investors held 27.46% stake, while non-institutional investors held 11.67% holdings in metal company.

Inter-company insurance settlements to become quicker

'Insurance Clearing House' proposed by Irda to aid this process

Insurance companies are now expected to have a quicker and easier means of settlement of inter-company balances, with the ‘Insurance Clearing House’ being set up. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) has proposed this would act as a clearing house for these transactions.

In a draft proposal released recently, Irda said that the inter-company balances in reinsurance and coinsurance business are at a very high level and have been on a constant rise. To enable timely and effective reconciliation of these balances and also to achieve transparency, the clearing house would be established.

Insurance Clearing House (ICH) is an institution that is granted certificate of registration as per the provisions of these guidelines to act as a clearing house for reconciliation and settlement of inter-company balances. Electronic Transaction Administration and Settlement System (ETASS) will be an electronic platform deployed by the ICH for clearing house operations.

K K Mishra, CEO, Tata AIG General Insurance said, “This is a positive step for the industry. At the end of the day, reinsurance and coinsurance are the normal business of General Insurance companies and form bloodlines.  The industry is ready for it and will enable us to have a consolidated group to undertake the transactions, in a scientific manner.”

ETASS will have the objective of providing an electronic platform on which reinsurance and coinsurance business in India is conducted by all parties to these transactions including insurers, reinsurers, and brokers among others. The ICH will have a chief executive officer and compliance officer to enforce its business objectives.

Insurance experts said that once the clearing house is set up, it will enable them to settle balances without any conflicts. “Some settlements involve a lot of complexity, since different companies operate on different platforms. With the ICH being set up, this will be the singular platform for the transactions,” said a senior private life insurance executive.

Coinsurance contracts too, will come under this ambit. The chief executive of a general insurance firm explained that this will help them in settling customer dues in a quicker manner, since payment related issues between companies will be settled quicker.

After this draft is finalised, all the Insurers and Reinsurers intending to do Reinsurance/Coinsurance business would be required to be members of the ICH.
Money markets already have a clearing house for their transactions. The Clearing Corporation of India Ltd. (CCIL) was set up in April, 2001 for providing exclusive clearing and settlement for transactions in Money, GSecs and Foreign Exchange

Crude oil falls as nuclear talks with Iran begin

Oil prices eased in Asia today after talks between Iran and world powers on its disputed nuclear programme opened in Geneva, while signs of rising US demand failed to boost New York’s main contract.

West Texas Intermediate crude for January contract fell 21 cents to $93.64, while the European benchmark Brent oil for January dropped 28 cents to $107.78.

Tan Chee Tat, an investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore, said the prospect of a deal with Iran was putting pressure on prices.

“It seems not conclusive as of now but most Americans support a deal between Iran and the six powers,” he said.

“This generates positive sentiment. New sanctions are unlikely to be imposed, so concern over Iranian crude going into the market adds pressure to oil prices.”

The P5+1 group of Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany wants Iran to suspend certain parts of its nuclear energy programme, which the West suspects to be a cover for weapons development. Iran denies the accusation.

The two sides had resumed talks late Wednesday aimed at reaching a landmark deal although Tehran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed not to retreat “one step’’.

The opening plenary session in Geneva lasted less than 10 minutes and was described by diplomats as an “introductory” meeting before delegates headed into bilateral talks.

In the United States, the Department of Energy said domestic inventories had risen 400,000 barrels last week — lower than the market expectations of a gain of 700,000 barrels.

While this pointed to surprisingly strong demand, oil prices are still in a bearish market, analysts said.

Sahara’s properties overvalued, SEBI tells apex court

The Securities and Exchange Board of India told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that Sahara group overvalued its properties and did not hand over all original title deeds of assets worth Rs 20,000 crore as per its direction.

The market regulator said that apex court’s order has not been complied with by the group and assets whose documents were given to it are worth much lessthan Rs 20,000 crore.

A Bench of Justices K. S. Radhakrishnan and J. S. Khehar expressed displeasure on the issue but refrained from passing any order as the Sahara’s arguing counsel was not present in the court.

“It is a mockery of our order if it has been complied with in this way,” the Bench said, and posted the case for hearing on Thursday after Sahara sought adjournment on the ground of non-availability of its counsel.

It told the group that no excuses would be entertained tomorrow when the matter would be taken up for hearing.

Sahara gave SEBI documents of two plots of land. One of the two properties is a 106-acre land in Versova, a western suburb, which, according to it, is worth around Rs 19,000 crore, and the other is a 200-acre land in Vasai, which it estimates to be worth about Rs 1,000 crore. The valuation of the properties was challenged by SEBI.

SEBI contended that a portion of the properties were in the “thick” of litigation.

Holding that it was playing “hide and seek” and cannot be trusted any more, the apex court had on October 28 directed the group to hand over title deeds of its properties worth Rs 20,000 crore to SEBI with a warning that failure to comply its order to the satisfaction of the market regulator within three weeks would mean Sahara chief Subrata Roy cannot leave India.

Gold heading south after Fed minutes point to early tapering of stimulus

With the US Federal Reserve’s meet of last month revealing that bankers want to end the $85-billion-a-month stimulus programme sooner, gold prices in the domestic spot and futures market are headed further south on Thursday.

Minutes of the October 29-30 meeting showed that the US Fed officials are keen on beginning to taper the central bank’s bond-buying programme in lieu of pumping cash into the economy at one of the next meeting. The caveat, however, is that signs of economic recovery should be clear.

The release of minutes saw panic grip the market with Bloomberg reporting that Comex suspended its trading for 20 seconds after the prices dropped $11 within a minute.

Rupee Vs dollar

The problem for the domestic market, however, could be that the development has strengthened the dollar. This could see some pressure on the equities market and weakening of the rupee.

A weak equities market could see investors in India looking at gold. At the same time, the rupee’s fall against the dollar makes imports of gold, crude oil and vegetable oils costlier.

Still, the overnight fall has been steep that prices per se will drop. In addition, RBI seems to have a system in place to check the rupee’s fall after last week’s plunge.

Bearish developements

Further bearish developments were in the form of Singapore raising its GDP growth projections for this year after the economy expanded in the third quarter.

The other drag on the counter is the drop in gold holdings in gold exchange-traded funds. Holdings in SPDR Gold Trust, world's largest exchange-traded fund for gold, declined on Tuesday to 860.31 tonnes, down over three tonnes.

Spot gold, gold futures

In early trading, spot gold in Singapore looked up a tad at $1,248.25 after Wednesday’s night bruising. Gold contracts maturing in December quoted at $1,247.40 an ounce.

In the domestic market on Wednesday, gold for jewellery (99.5 per cent purity) ended lower at Rs 30,875 for 10 gm and pure gold at Rs 31,035.

On MCX and NCDEX, gold December contracts could open below Rs 30,000.

The signals emanating from the US Fed meeting minutes is also putting pressure on gold, cancelling out the effect of Iran beginning
talks on its nuclear programme. Saudi Arabia’s increased output is also a drag.

Brent crude, US crude

Brent crude January contracts ruled at $107.83 a barrel and US crude at $93.64.

The oils and oilseeds market will likely lose steam on prospects of the soyabean crop in South America improving. Lower Malaysian exports and peak production season for palm oil could add to the pressure.

Chicago Board of Trade soyabean for delivery in January ruled at $12.76 a bushel. Crude palm oil on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives exchange ended at 2,579 ringgit or $811 a tonne on Wednesday.

Wheat and corn are headed lower on lower exports and higher production.

SKS Microfinance advances on being classified as NBFC-MFI by RBI

SKS Microfinance has been classified as NBFC-MFI by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) based on the company’s application on January 31, 2013 and subsequent correspondences. The company has been classified as Non Banking Financial Company-Micro Finance Institution (NBFC-MFI) (Non-Deposit taking) from its existing status of Non Banking Financial Company (Non-Deposit taking) Systematically Important (NBFC-ND-SI) with effect from November 18, 2013.

SKS Microfinance (SKS) is a non-banking finance company (NBFC), registered and regulated by the Reserve Bank of India, whose mission is to provide financial services to low-income households. SKS operates across 17 states of India.

Rupee weakens to 62.85 in early trade

The rupee weakened by 27 paise to 62.85 against the previous close of 62.58 per dollar in early trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market today due to appreciation of the American currency against other currencies overseas.

Dealers attributed the rupee’s fall to dollar’s gains against other currencies overseas after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s October meeting signalled that the policymakers were considering cutting its stimulus programme in the coming months.

They said a weak opening in the domestic equity market too put pressure on the rupee.

Call rates, G-Secs

The overnight call money rate, the rate at which banks borrow short-term funds from each other, opened higher at 8.80 per cent against Tuesday’s close of 8.73 per cent.

Yield on the widely traded 8.28 per cent security, maturing in 2027, hardened to 9.07 from the previous close of 9.02 per cent. Bonds opened higher at Rs 93.75 against Rs 94.15.

Yield on the 10-year benchmark government security, 7.16 per cent maturing in 2023, hardened a tad to 9.09 per cent from 9.02 per cent.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had said on Tuesday that the rise in interest rate in G-Secs was temporary and that some measures by RBI should moderate the yields.

Markets open lower, Nifty slips below 6,100

Markets open lower tracking weakness in Asia and overnight losses on Wall Street.

Benchmark shares indices opended lower tracking weakness in Asia and overnight losses on Wall Street with financials and index heavyweights leading the decline.

At 9:30AM, the 30-share Sensex was down 170 points at 20,464 and the 50-share Nifty wasd down 52 points at 6,070.

Asian markets except Japan were trading lower on the back of weak manufacturing data from China and worries over US Fed stimulus tapering. Shares in Japan were trading higher on the back of weaker yen. The Nikkei was up 1.3%. Among other indices in the region, Shanghai Composite, Straits Times and Hang Seng were down 0.5-1% each.

The Dow Jones and S&P 500 extended losses on Wednesday after the minutes of the last Federal Reserve's meeting hinted that the central bank would start pruning down its monetary stimulus measures sooner-than-expected.

The Dow Jones Industrial average ended down 66 points, or 0.4%, to end at 15,900.82. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost nearly 7 points, or 0.4% at 1,781.37. The tech laden Nasdaq Composite Index ended down 10 points or 0.3% at 3,921.27.
Key European shares ended mixed on Wednesday. The CAC-40 ended down 4 points lower at 4,268.37, the DAX gained 9 points to end at 9,202.07, while the FTSE-100 ended 17 points down at 6,681.08

The Indian rupee was trading weak in early trades at Rs 62.84 to the US dollar compared to Wednesday's close of 62.67. The BSE Bankex was the top loser among the sectoral indices down 1.5% followed by Oil and Gas, Capital Goods, POwer, Realty, Auto and FMCG among others.

Financial shares witnessed further profit booking in early trades. HDFC Bank, HDFC, ICICI Bank and SBI were down 1-1.2% each.

Among the index heavyweights Reliance Ind was down 1% on reports that the company has been fined $792 million for producing less than natural gas from its eastern offshore KG-D6 block.

Other Sensex losers include ITC, Infosys, Hindustan Unilever among others.

Gail India was marginally up on talks that the commpany plans to enter LNG business and acquiring upstream assets in Tanzania.

In the broader market, the Mid-cap index was down 0.2% and the Small-cap index was trading flat with positive bias.

Market breadth was negative with 452 losers and 411 gainers on the BSE.

Etihad checks in as 24% owner of Jet Airways

Jet board approved the preferential issue of 27.26 mn equity shares at Rs 754 a share

Jet Airways on Wednesday concluded the sale of 24 per cent equity stake in the airline to Etihad Airways for Rs 2,057 crore. The share allotment took place seven months after Jet Chairman Naresh Goyal and Etihad Chief Executive James Hogan signed a deal in this regard in Abu Dhabi.

Hogan and Etihad’s Chief Financial Officer James Rigney have been appointed additional directors on the Jet Airways board. Board member Victoriano P Dungca has stepped down.

Jet has also approved the spin-off of its frequent flyer programme into a separate subsidiary. Etihad will hold 50.5 per cent in the frequent flyer programme and invest $150 million.

The deal had missed closure deadlines twice. It had also courted controversy, following the simultaneous increase in traffic rights to Abu Dhabi. A clearance by the Competition Commission of India last week paved the way for the closure of the deal. (THE FINAL TAKE-OFF)

On Wednesday, the Jet Airways board approved the preferential issue of 27.26 million equity shares to Etihad at Rs 754 a share (a premium of Rs 744 a share). After the transaction, Goyal’s stake in the airline stands at 51 per cent. Public and institutional investors hold 25 per cent stake. Etihad, too, has been treated as a public shareholder. Following the investment, Jet’s share capital has increased from Rs 86 crore to Rs 113 crore (the premium amount is transferred to the reserve).

Jet Airways’ net worth has been eroded due to losses in the past several quarters. Fresh equity infusion would help boost the balance sheet and aid debt repayment.

In a statement, Goyal said: “The infusion of foreign direct investment in the aviation sector will result in economies of scale, grow traffic at our airports, and create job opportunities. I am confident this investment will greatly benefit all our stakeholders and significantly benefit our customers who will now have access to a more expanded global network.”

Hogan said, “India is one of the largest and fastest-growing markets in the world and a key part of Etihad Airways’ growth strategy. Through this association, Etihad and Jet will both be strengthened, as will the economies of India and the UAE. By linking our two networks and adding new flights, new routes and more code-share options, travel to, from and within India will become much easier.”

Through the last two months, Etihad has been driving changes in Jet Airways. The Indian airline has seen several high-profile exits, including those of its chief executive Nikos Kardassis, its investor relations head K G Vishwanath and two key finance executives.

The deal will see Jet Airways integrate its network with Etihad’s. The airlines would also work together in areas such as sales, marketing, ground handling and cargo. While Etihad has already announced doubling of services from Abu Dhabi to Delhi and Mumbai, Jet is yet to announce additional flights to Abu Dhabi.

In April, India and Abu Dhabi had signed an air services agreement, allowing 50,000 seats a week to carriers from both countries through the next three years.

The commercial cooperation agreement signed between two airlines states Jet will use Abu Dhabi as a hub for services to and from “exclusive territories” (Africa, North and South America, excluding Canada, and the UAE). Jet has also agreed to transition all its current services to and from Dubai and Sharjah to Abu Dhabi, when this becomes economically viable. Under the agreement, Jet will also refrain from entering into code-share agreements with other airlines that would lead to bypassing Abu Dhabi.

The Competition Commission of India, which cleared the deal last week, said using Abu Dhabi as an exclusive hub and withdrawal from certain code-share routes wouldn’t lead to concentration of Jet-Etihad’s market share.

Federal Bank ties up with Muthoot Global Money Transfer

The remittance facility is cheaper and faster as compared to traditional inward remittance mode from UK

Federal Bank ties up with Muthoot Global Money Transfer in a Rupee drawing arrangement for facilitating remittances in Rupee from UK. The MoU was signed on 20th November, 2013 at a function conducted at Federal Towers, Marine Drive, Kochi.

The agreement was exchanged between Mr. A. Surendran, General Manager, Retail & International Business, Federal Bank and Mr. George M. Jacob, Vice President, Legal Corporate Affairs and Marketing, Muthoot Group.

The remittance facility is cheaper and faster as compared to traditional inward remittance mode from UK.  As per the arrangement, remitters from UK will get instant credit to Federal Bank accounts whereas other bank accounts would be credited within 2 hours of transmission through NEFT. Remittance can be made to any of the 1100 plus Federal Bank branches pan India. More than 25000 Federal Bank customers in UK will be directly benefitted through this arrangement.

Muthoot Global Money Transfer has 3 branches and more than 10,000 registered users in UK. The registered users can transfer money using online facility. Users not registered with Muthoot Global Money Transfer can do a onetime registration through online facility or by visiting their branch (one time).

SMS alert facility for remitter and beneficiary is the highlight apart from instant credit to Federal Bank accounts. With this Federal Bank has come out with a quicker and cheaper mode of remittance in Rupee from UK.

NSE extends cross margins to ETFs

Move would primarily benefit ETF investors seeking to take counter positions

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has extended cross margining to index-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs). So far, the facility was available only in the equity stocks, index futures and stock futures segments.

Cross margining helps market participants, as it reduces the margin requirement and trading costs.

“The positions of clients in both the capital market and F&O (futures and options) segments to the extent that these offset each other shall be considered for the purpose of cross margining,” NSE said in a circular.

Cross margining on ETFs has been allowed between ETFs and constituent stock futures in the F&O segment and the constituent stock position in the cash and index futures segments. “To avail of the cross margin benefit... the constituents and the number of units of the constituent stocks/stock futures required in the basket to be considered as a complete replica of the ETF shall be the same as that of the respective underlying index,” the circular added.

WHAT IS CROSS MARGINING?

Existing position or holding of one category is used to offset margin requirement while dealing in another category For instance, if an investor, who already has 1,000 Infosys shares, wants to buy 500 Infosys stock futures, he’ll have to pay margin for just 500 shares Without cross margining, the investor would have had to pay margin for the entire 1,000 shares Cross margining reduces total margin payment required while trading It also helps reduce trading costs for market participants

NSE has said clients’ cross margin facility on ETFs will be automatically allowed for those who have already registered for it, under other segments.

Market players said cross margining for ETFs would primarily benefit ETF investors seeking to take counter positions.

Goldman Sachs Nifty ETF, Goldman Sachs Nifty Junior ETF and IIFL Nifty ETF will be the three ETFs eligible for cross margining. The move to allow cross margining, coupled with other recent regulatory measures, is expected to increase the popularity of ETFs as an investment instrument.

Earlier this year, the government had slashed securities transaction tax (STT) on equity ETF transactions to just 0.001 per cent. Previously, STT of 0.1 per cent was charged on both buying and selling ETFs. Now, the reduced rate is applicable only during selling; this translates into savings of about 99.5 per cent.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India has also allowed select ETFs under its securities lending and borrowing mechanism.

Globally, ETFs are a popular investment instrument, with assets under management of about $2 trillion. The combined assets under management of ETFs listed on exchanges in India stand at about Rs 10,000 crore.