Pratibha Industries bags contract worth Rs2.30bn

Pratibha Industries Ltd has announced that the Company has bagged a contract worth Rs 230.90 Crore awarded by PHED, Ajmer, Rajasthan. Contract awarded for work of Cluster Scheme of 151 villages of Banera and Hurda Tehsils along with augmentation of UWSS of Gulabpura town from Danta Pyara Headworks under CHAMBAL - BHILWARA WATER SUPPLY PROJECTS PHASE - Il 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.

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

Govt to set up task force on currency swap pacts to stabilize Rupee

Minister of Commerce and Industry, Anand Sharma has said that the government is considering currency swap deals with some of the its key trading partners, to stabilize the Rupee, which logging the biggest percentage fall in 18 years and hit a new all-time low of 66.12 against the dollar.

A currency swap deal takes place between the central banks of two partner countries, under which banks of both the countries would give each other dollars to stabilize their local currencies, in case of need. With this arrangement, India will need to identify two or three more countries and regions.

As per Commerce Minister, setting up a task force will not only help in stabilizing the Rupee but also increase availability of credit for the exporters, especially, in the SME sectors besides, pushing project exporters and supporting the labour intensive sectors.

Further, the minister soon plans to take up proposal with finance minister P. Chidambaram, although it announced the formation of a task force on the matter under the chairmanship of commerce secretary SR Rao. The task force has been asked to submit the report within a month.

Rupee hits record low below 68 per dollar

The rupee fell below the psychological 68 per dollar mark, a record low, in the mid-morning session with a sharp fall in domestic shares adding to concerns of foreign fund withdrawals from the equity market as well.

The partially convertible rupee was trading at 68.00/68.05 per dollar, after hitting a record low of 68.05 and down more than 2.6 percent from its close of 66.24/25 on Tuesday.

Axis Bank launches ‘Axis Bank- ISIC Forex Card’ for Students

Axis Bank, India’s third largest private sector bank, has launched in association with the International Student Identity Card (ISIC), a unique co-branded Travel-Currency Card for students. With this exclusive association, the ‘Axis Bank- ISIC Forex Card’, would be the first photo Travel Currency Card available in USD, Euro, GBP and AUD currencies and can be used across 34 million merchant locations and at over 2 million MasterCard ATMs globally. The validity of this card is 2 years.

‘Axis Bank- ISIC Forex Card’ combines unique features of Travel Currency cards and ISIC, which provides special student offers and discounts across 125 countries on a wide range of spending categories such as travel, accommodation, museums and cultural sites, retail shopping restaurants, cafes, entertainment and many more.

Axis Bank is the third largest private sector bank in India. Axis Bank offers the entire spectrum of services to customer segments covering Large and Mid-Corporates, SME, Agriculture and Retail Businesses.

Dhanlaxmi Bank to raise Rs 37.75 crore through issue of equity shares

Dhanlaxmi Bank is planning to raise Rs 37.75 crore through issue of 75.5 lakh equity shares of Rs 10 each with a premium of Rs 40 per share. The bank will allot equity shares of 10.5 lakh, 12.5 lakh and 52.5 lakh to investors B K Raveendran Pillai, Mohanachandran Nair B and and N V George respectively.

The allotment is as per rules of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, Capital and Disclosures Requirement, Reserve Bank of India, Union Finance Ministry and other relevant statutory authorities.

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.

RPower to double power generating capacity to 5,000 mw

"We are on our way to complete Sasan ultra mega power project (UMPP), " Anil Ambani reported.

Addressing the annual general meeting, Anil Ambani said , "Reliance Power is planning to double its power generating capacity to 5,000 mw in a year despite the sector's problems such as delays in land acquisition and environment clearances, Ambani said.
"We are on our way to complete Sasan ultra mega power project (UMPP), " Anil Ambani  reported.
Reliance Power has a capacity of 2,545 mw and two projects totalling 6,400 mw are stuck.

"We will start work on the Tilaiya UMPP shortly," said JP Chalasani, chief executive officer.

CCI sets 60- day deadline to clear 36 mega infrastructure projects

In a move to boost the infrastructure development in the country and to enhance business sentiment in a slowing economy, the Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has set a 60- day deadline for ministries to clear 36 mega infrastructure projects including 28 power plants that were stuck due to delay in sanctions.

The government had set up the CCI, to clear the bottlenecks holding back big infrastructure projects. Recently, the CCI cleared the proposal of setting up two hydro power projects in Arunachal Pradesh. The panel has so far cleared 171 projects worth Rs 1.69 lakh crore.

Further, in order to speed up the implementation of infrastructure projects, the government has also set up special cell, special project monitoring group, which is meant to supplement CCI's efforts and has been tasked with monitoring the progress of projects cleared earlier by CCI.

Further, a web-based information system has also been put in place wherein firms can provide details of their project as well as the issues that are restraining smooth implementation of projects. Meanwhile, for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17), the government has set the $1-trillion investment target for the infrastructure sector.

Asian shares hit 7-week low, oil at 6-month peak on Syria worries

Washington and allies gearing up for possible military action against Syria

Jitters over a possible US-led military strike against the Syrian government knocked Asian equities to a seven-week low on Wednesday and pushed oil prices and safe-haven gold to multi-month highs.

An acute 'risk-off' mode also boosted the appeal of the Japanese yen, which held near a one-week high against the dollar and euro after having posted its biggest rally in more than two months.

Washington and its allies were gearing up for a probable military action against President Bashar al-Assad's forces, which were blamed for last week's chemical weapons attacks.

Western officials told the Syrian opposition to expect a strike within days, and US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said American forces in the region were "ready to go" if President Barack Obama gives the order.

The news on Syria overshadowed improving economic indicators, such as rising US home prices and Germany's Ifo business survey hitting its highest in 16 months.

Overnight, US and European stocks suffered their worst day since June, and investor nervousness was reflected in a nearly 12% jump on the CBOE volatility index, Wall Street's so-called fear gauge, to a two-month high.

"(The Syrian issue) is adding a layer of nervousness on top of the debate of US tapering which is having a very big impact on carry trade globally and having a very big impact on emerging markets," a senior trader at a foreign bank in Tokyo said.

Tokyo's Nikkei share average sagged 2.3% to a two-month low on Wednesday, while the yen was largely steady at 97.135 to the dollar and 130.075 to the euro after climbing more than 1% overnight.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 1%, hitting its lowest level since July 9 and extending the previous session's 1.2% drop.

Emerging markets have been reeling for the past few weeks on expectations that the US Federal Reserve will reduce its $85 billion a month bond-buying programme as soon as next month.

As the selloff in deficit-stricken emerging market nations deepened, Indonesian exchanged traded funds saw heavy redemptions from US investors overnight.

Indonesian shares tumbled as much as 3.3% to a 14-month trough on Wednesday, while Philippine stocks sank 5.6% to a nine-month low.

Growing pain

Indonesia's central bank board will meet on Thursday in a surprise move amid widespread speculation it will have to raise interest rates again to defend the fast-falling rupiah, now its lowest since April 2009.

The Indian rupee hit a record low on Tuesday and posted its biggest single-day fall in nearly 18 years after the lower house of Parliament approved a nearly $20 billion plan to provide cheap grain to the poor, raising concerns the fiscal deficit will blow out even further.

The Thai baht fell to as much as 32.20 per dollar, its weakest level in three years.

Against a basket of major currencies, the dollar held steady at a one-week low.

The heightened geopolitical risk in the Middle East drove the prices of gold and oil higher, however.

Brent crude prices advanced 1.8% to a six-month high of $116.37 a barrel, extending Tuesday's 3.3% surge - the biggest one-day%age gain in nearly 10 months.

Gold was steady after climbing as much as 1.4% on Tuesday to a more than three-month high.

Nifty hits one-year low as Re above 67, oil prices rally

Benchmark indices lose over 1% each in opening deals; Nifty nears 5,200

Markets cracked in the opening trades with the benchmark indices opening lower by over 1% each as Rupee collapsed to a new record low of 67.98/dollar.

At 0916 hrs, the Sensex was down 220 points at 17,747 and the Nifty slipped 78 points to trade at 5,209.

In the broader markets, the fall was minimal as compared to the loss on the BSE benchmark index. The smallcap index was down 0.3% and the midcap index gave of 0.8%, both outperforming the Sensex which was down 1.2%.

In Asia, too, jitters over a possible U.S.-led military strike against the Syrian government knocked Asian equities on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei hitting a two-month low, and pushed oil prices and safe-haven gold to multi-month highs.

Tokyo's Nikkei share average sagged 2.4% to a two-month low, while the yen was largely steady at 97.00 to the dollar and 129.870 to the euro after climbing more than 1% overnight.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.5% on Wednesday, extending the previous session's 1.2% drop.

Overnight, U.S. and European stocks suffered their worst day since June, and investor nervousness was reflected in a nearly 12% jump on the CBOE volatility index, Wall Street's so-called fear gauge, to a two-month high.

RBI suggests banking sector overhaul

Discussion paper moots continuous banking licence regime; 4-tier structure; says less govt stake in PSBs is a good idea

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed a comprehensive overhaul of the country’s banking structure, to increase competition and growth, and for further financial inclusion.

At present, only a universal banking structure is allowed; there is no separate licencing for niche activities as in developed nations. The central bank still thinks the universal model is the preferred model, particularly in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. However, it acknowledges the need for differentiated banking licences — for infrastructure financing, retail banking, wholesale banking and investment banks.

In a discussion paper issued on Tuesday, titled ‘Banking structure in India — the way forward’, the regulator has provided a road map for the reorientation. It proposes a four-tier structure, with the first tier of three to four large banks, with sizable international presence.

“The second tier is likely to comprise several mid-sized banking institutions, including niche banks with economy-wide presence. The third tier may encompass old private sector banks, regional rural banks and multistate urban cooperative banks,” the discussion paper said. The fourth tier might embrace many small privately owned local banks and cooperative banks.

For the creation of large banks, consolidation seems the way forward, the paper suggests. “The issue has assumed significance, considering the need for a few Indian banks to cater to global needs by becoming global players, and the growing corporate and infrastructure funding needs,” it said. Adding that such activities should be based on synergies and cannot be imposed.

Breaking away from the tradition of ‘stop and go’ licensing, RBI has also proposed a continuous authorisation policy. Till now, the country has seen three phases in bank licences — in 1993, 2001 and the present process which started in 2010.

“There is a case for reviewing the current ‘stop and go’ licensing policy and consider adopting a ‘continuous authorisation’ policy, as continuous authorisation keeps the competitive pressure on existing banks and also does not strain the banking system as ‘block’ licensing may do,” RBI said.

However, it says such a policy could only be adopted after ensuring the entry norms are stringent, to encourage only well-qualified entities.

While acknowledging the need for large banks, the regulator has also kept in mind the need for smaller banks to cater to small borrowers. “Small local banks play an important role in the supply of credit to small enterprises and agriculture, and banking services in unbanked & under-banked regions,” RBI said.

The issues surrounding capital requirement, corporate governance and exposure norms, among others, of smaller banks needs to be addressed, it said, while permitting these entities.

RBI has also suggested the government consider reducing its stake in public sector banks. PSBs have two-thirds of the market in India. The paper says this would improve their performance. The current norms stipulate the government should hold at least 15 per cent in PSBs. The government is also challenged in infusing capital in these banks, also straining its fiscal position.

“As regards the reduction in fiscal burden on account of recapitalisation of PSBs, the government may consider options from a menu of choices available, such as issue of non-voting equity shares or differential voting equity shares, adopting FHC (financial holding companies) structure or diluting stake in PSBs,” the discussion paper said.