India Infoline Housing to raise up to ₹200 crore

India Infoline Housing Finance Ltd (IIHFL), a wholly owned subsidiary of India Infoline Finance Ltd, plans to raise up to ₹200 crore through a public issue of non-convertible debentures (NCDs). The bond will have a maturity period of six years. The NCDs, which are unsecured and redeemable, will have face value of ₹1,000 each and a coupon of 12 per cent. The minimum subscription amount has been pegged at ₹10,000.

Investors will have two investment options — first, that offers interest payment at monthly frequency (in this case the annualised effective yield will work out to 12.68 per cent) and the second, a cumulative option (with an annualised effective yield of 12.25 per cent). The NCD issue will open for subscription on March 12 and close on March 24.

According to the prospectus of the NCD issue, the funds raised will help boost tier-II capital and capital adequacy of the company, which as at September-end 2013 stood at 49.49 per cent. It shall also be used to finance activities including lending and investments.

Rupee trading flat at 60.72 in afternoon trade

The rupee was trading flat at 60.72 at 1.48 pm taking cues from firm Asian currencies and on persistent FII inflows.

The rupee gained 10 paise to open at 60.75 against the previous close of 60.85.

The rupee had appreciated 22 paise to close at an over seven-month high of 60.85 against the US currency in the previous session on heavy capital inflows into equities that surged to a fresh record.

Abhishek Goenka, Founder and CEO of India Forex Advisors said, “Foreign funds have bought $852.10 million in equities and $5.6 billion in debt so far in 2014.”

The inter-bank call money rate, the interest rate at which banks borrow money from each other to overcome short-term liquidity mismatches, opened higher at 8.25 per cent against the previous close of 7.10 per cent.

RIL, Essar to benefit from Cairn’s Rajasthan crude

Private refiners Reliance Industries and Essar Oil have become the biggest beneficiaries of Cairn India’s Rajasthan crude oil.

Till the third quarter of the current fiscal, Cairn has sold around seven million barrels to RIL for its domestic refinery at Jamnagar, about 6.9 million barrels to Essar for its Vadinar refinery, and around 3 million barrels to IndianOil Corp at an average price of $95.6 a barrel.

Rajasthan crude is sold at a 12.5 per cent discount to Brent, while the price at which Indian refiners have been sourcing crude oil has averaged at $105.56 a barrel for April 2013 till date. The Brent for the period has averaged at $107.63 a barrel.

At the time of deciding the Rajasthan crude oil price, the domestic refiners were comparing it with Maya (Mexican crude variety) or Ratawi (neutral zone), which were being sold at a substantial discount then because of the crude quality.

IOC plans to invest Rs 3,150 crore for setting up polypropylene unit at Paradip

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is planning to invest Rs 3,150 crore for setting up a polypropylene unit in the Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) proposed at Paradip. The plant is likely to be commissioned by 2017. The polypropylene unit coming up at the petrochemical complex will be of 0.7 million tonne per annum capacity. IOC is the anchor tenant for the PCPIR project that is expected to pull investments worth Rs 2.74 lakh crore.

IOC is the largest enterprise in the country and the foremost ranked Fortune Global 500 Company in India and has presence in the complete hydrocarbon value chain from downstream refining & marketing, pipeline transportation, Petrochemicals, E&P and Gas Marketing.

India can quadruple revenues from Africa by 2025: McKinsey report

India can look to quadruple its revenues from Africa to $160 billion by 2025 by increasing its presence in sectors such as IT services, agriculture, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals and consumer goods.

According to the McKinsey report, ‘Joining Hands to Unlock Africa’s Potential A New Indian Industry-led Approach to Africa’, organised by the CII, India can aspire to capture almost seven per cent of the IT services market, five per cent of the FMCG space, 10 per cent of the power sector, and two to five per cent of the agri-allied services.

Noel Tata, Chairman, CII Africa Committee, “We believe India’s strengths and experience of operating in similar capital constrained conditions will be of great value to Africa. Africa needs constructive foreign investment and holds the promise of long-term business for India.”

Barnik Chitran Maitra, Partner, McKinsey & Company , said “In a partnership of equals, Indian industry could build relationships with African governments and businesses, identify opportunities through sector and country studies, develop an open consortium of interested companies in advance and ensure cost-efficiency through funding from low-cost countries (like Japan) for large projects.”