Idea Cellular plans to challenge Rs 600 crore government penalty notice

Idea Cellular, one of the biggest cellular carrier of the country is planning to challenge a government notice asking for Rs 600 crores in penalties for alleged violation of terms and conditions of CMTS /UAS licenses while acquiring erstwhile Spice Communications.

Spice Communications (Spice) was amalgamated with Idea on March 01, 2010, after approval of Company Merger by Gujarat High Court on November 26, 2009 and Delhi High Court on February 05, 2010. Subsequently, in the matter of transfer of Telecom CMTS / UASL licenses held by Spice to Idea, the Delhi High Court had directed DoT to give its final decision on transfer of operational Spice licenses of Punjab & Karnataka in the name of Idea.

As per the latest communication received from the Department of Telecommunications on November 29, 2013, that the Department agreed to take the merger of companies i.e. Spice Communications with Idea Cellular on record and change the name of two Spice UAS licenses of Punjab & Karnataka Service Areas, subject to Idea paying financial penalty of Rs 600 crores besides other list of compliances within next 15 days.

Idea Cellular, an AV Birla group company, provides Global System for Mobile communications (GSM)-based wireless service at the pan-India level, it is present in all 22 telecom circles.

Shree Renuka Sugar soars on the buzz of stake stale talks with Wilmar International

Shree Renuka Sugar, reportedly is in advanced talks with Singapore-based agribusiness group, Wilmar International, for stake sale, in deal which is likely to be announced before month end. The company may issue fresh equity shares to Wilmar in a deal which is likely to trigger open offer.

Further, as per media reports promoters are trying hard to retain minority stake in company, which presently stands at 38.36%. Thus with this, If Wilmar, one of the world’s leading producers of palm oil, buys a majority stake in Shree Renuka, it will pave the way for its entry into important sugar markets, such as Brazil and India. Wilmar had set its foot in the sugar sector with its buyout of Australia’s Sucrogen. Since then, it has purchased mills and refiners in several countries, including Indonesia

Indian economy to grow at 5% in current fiscal: Finance Minister

Encouraged over the better-than-expected growth in GDP and a significant contraction in country’s current account deficit (CAD), Finance Minister P Chidambaram expressed confidence that the economy would expand by 5 percent and CAD would remain below the set target of 3.7 percent of GDP in current financial year. The CAD narrowed sharply to $5.2 billion, or 1.2 percent of GDP, in the July-September quarter of this fiscal, while, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a measure of the country's total economic output, grew by 4.8% for the reported quarter.

Hoping things will become better in the second half of the current fiscal, Chidambaram has said that Indian economy is passing through a ground of optimism and the government is looking forward to better performance in Q3 and Q4 as the recent improvement in some important sectors like manufacturing, better performance of exports as well as certain steps taken by the government will give boost to economic growth. Meanwhile, Government's forecast for economic growth is above the estimation of several global institutions including World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) that have projected growth rate of below 5 percent for 2013-14.

Furthermore, amid rising concerns over country’s widening fiscal deficit, which has already reached 84.4 percent for the full-year Budget estimates in the first seven months of 2013-14, Chidambaram said that the government will be able to achieve the disinvestment target of Rs 40,000 crore and contain the fiscal deficit within 4.8 percent of the GDP. However, during the first seven months, the government was able to garner only about Rs 1,150 crore through disinvestment.

NTPC to add 14,000 MW to its total capacity by 2016-17

With an aim to become a 128,000 MW utility in coming years, NTPC will add another 14,000 MW to its total capacity by the end of 2016-17. The installed capacity of NTPC at present is 42,500 MW which includes the capacity addition of 10,000 MW in the last three years.

The power company has registered a growth of 4.49% of power in this fiscal year in comparison to the last fiscal. The power production last year through the NTPC run power plants was 222.068 billion units which increased to 232.028 billion units.

The coal stations of the company also registered a growth of 6.67%. In the last fiscal the production from coal station was 199.054 units which have reached 212.39 units this fiscal. On the front of plant load factor, NTPC has scored over other power producers. The Plant Load Factor (PLF) at the coal station run by NTPC on an average was 87.63% while the national average of PLF was 69.93%.

RBI issues updated guidelines for stress-testing of banks

In view of the aftermath of 2008 global financial crisis that led many banks and supervisory authorities across the world to question whether the existing stress testing practices are sufficient and robust to cope with the rapidly changing circumstances, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued updated guidelines for stress-testing of banks which will be effective from April.

According to the guidelines, banks will have to stress-test themselves using shock scenarios involving credit risk, market risk, foreign exchange risk, interest rate risk and equity price risk. Among other things, the guidelines also cover on overall objectives, governance, design and implementation of stress testing programmes.

Further, RBI expects that the degree of sophistication adopted by banks in their stress-testing programmes to commensurate with the nature, scope, scale and the degree of complexity in the bank's business operations and the risks associated with those operations and accordingly has decided to classify banks into three categories. Under the classifications, the first group has risk-weighted assets (RWAs) of over Rs 2 lakh crore, the second RWAs between Rs 50,000 crore and Rs 2 lakh crore; and the third RWAs of under Rs 50,000 crore.

Additionally, the new guidelines underscored that stress tests should be conducted at least annually and the assumptions underlying the stress tests should be reviewed periodically. Such periodic reviews are necessary to ensure the integrity, accuracy and reasonableness of the stress testing framework. Also, it is required by the banks to communicate their risk profile to the respective boards and senior management for setting risk limits and allocating capital for various risks. Meanwhile, the guidelines mandate banks to preserve the document for stress tests undertaken by them, the underlying assumptions, the results of the tests, for a span of at-least five years.

Spicejet flies higher on allotting 1.5 crore equity shares to promoter

Spicejet has alloted 1.5 crore equity shares, after an equal number of warrants were converted to its promoter Kalanithi Maran at a price of Rs 36.18 per share. These warrants were exercisable for conversion into equity shares within 18 months from the date of allotment.

The amount paid for this purpose aggregated to Rs 54.27 crore, while the proceeds from the current infusion would be utilised towards working capital requirements of the company in accordance with the terms of the issue.

Post allotment, the holding of the promoters has increased to 53.48% in the company. Of total, which Kalanithi Maran individually holds 24.24%, while the balance 29.24% is held by KAL Airways.

L&T gains after winning orders

Larsen & Toubro rose 0.17% to Rs 1,068.35 at 11:24 IST on BSE after the company said L&T Construction won new orders worth Rs 1471 crore across various business segments in November and December 2013.

L&T Construction, a brand of Larsen & Toubro (L&T), said in a statement that its power transmission & distribution business segment received orders worth Rs 686 crore in both domestic and international markets.

The buildings & factories business segment bagged new orders worth Rs 461 crore.
The water & renewable energy business segment bagged an order worth Rs 142 crore from Karnataka Urban Water Supply & Drainage Board for providing, laying, jointing, testing and commissioning of waste water network under the 2nd stage waste water scheme to Tumkur City.

The heavy civil infrastructure business segment bagged additional orders valued Rs 182 crore from its ongoing jobs, L&T Construction said.

L&T's net profit declined 14.1% to Rs 977.51 crore on 10% growth in net sales to Rs 14509.51 crore in Q2 September 2013 over Q2 September 2012.


L&T is a $14 billion technology, engineering, construction, manufacturing and financial services conglomerate, with global operations.

NTPC gets nod for Scheme of Amalgamation

NTPC has received an approval from Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Govt. of India on November 21, 2013 for the Scheme of Amalgamation of NTPC Hydro, a wholly owned subsidiary of company with itself.

Consequent to the amalgamation of the Companies and the Scheme becoming effective, NTPC Hydra shall stand dissolved without the process of winding up.NTPC is the largest power generating company in the country. It has also diversified into hydro power, coal mining, power equipment manufacturing, oil & gas exploration, power trading & distribution.

Corporation Bank moves up on inking MoU with Bajaj Auto for financing 3 wheelers

Corporation Bank, public sector lender has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bajaj Auto for financing 3 wheeler vehicles (Auto) manufactured by the auto major. With this tie-up, the bank will be the preferred financier for financing the Auto and will offer financing facilities to the eligible customers for purchasing the Bajaj autos through its branches.

Corporation Bank is a Mangalore-based mid-sized public sector bank which was established in 1906. Government of India is the majority shareholder holding 59.82% stake in the bank. As on March 31, 2013, the bank has 1707 branches and 1425 ATMs.

GAIL (India), FICCI organizes 8th Asia Gas Partnership Summit

GAIL (India) in collaboration with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) is organizing the 8th Asia Gas Partnership Summit (AGPS) on December 03, 2013. The Prime Minister of India will inaugurate the Asia’s premier natural gas event.

The 8th AGPS will bring together a host of industry leaders from across the globe over two days and is expected to witness the participation of over 46 speakers from 16 countries and more than 800 delegates.

The two-day conference with the theme ‘Asian Gas Market: Challenges and Opportunities in the Changing Paradigm’ will have six business sessions and a special session and feature some of the best speakers and experts in their areas.