Daily Sector News Today – 08.01.2018
* AVIATION: Tata Group and Singapore Airlines are open to potentially bidding for Air India, a top official at a joint venture owned by the companies said on Friday. In its revised draft report on the airline's proposed disinvestment, the panel noted that the turn around and financial restructuring plan was for a period of 10 years from 2012 to 2022 and Air India has shown "an overall improvement in various parameters and every indication is that it is coming out of the red".
* BANKING: The government is still working on coupon rates for state-owned bank recapitalisation bonds, Department Of Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar said. Bank recapitalisation bonds worth 800 bln rupees, passed by the Lok Sabha on Thursday, will be deemed passed by Parliament after two weeks, as the Rajya Sabha did not take up the matter for consideration before being adjourned sine die on Friday.
- Fearing a mark-to-market loss of something between 155 bln rupees and 250 bln rupees in the third quarter, some banks have approached the Reserve Bank of India for a leeway to spread the loss over some quarters. Losses form the treasury business due to the recent sharp decline in bond prices could prolong the agony for Indian banks, already groaning under the weight of mounting provisions for non-performing assets.
- The Kolkata bench of the National Company Law Tribunal has admitted insolvency proceedings against Coastal Projects. As many as 1,463 entities account for bad loans of 1 bln rupees or more in 21 public sector banks, according to data from finance ministry.
* CORPORATE: Brookfield Asset Management is set to buy Equinox Business Park from the Essar Group for 24.50 bln rupees. The Jaypee Group has restructured its outstanding foreign currency convertible bonds after renegotiating with investors, including marquee Wall Street names like Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank. A number of insolvency-bound companies, reeling under huge un-served loans, are scouting for front entities to buy them out in a distress sale under an 'asset reconstruction' model with the help of 'friendly' interim resolution professionals, but have landed themselves under the regulatory scanner.
* ECONOMY: Maharashtra's Gross State Domestic Product is pegged to cross the $1-trln mark in the next seven to 10 years through infrastructure-led development, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said. With a likely shortfall in goods and services tax collections for 2017-18, the government is expected to hold back a big chunk of unallocated 1.2 trln of integrated goods and services tax to ensure the fiscal deficit doesn't slip by more than 20 basis points.
* FAST MOVING CONSUMER GOODS: Baba Ramdev-led Patanjali Ayurved is likely to partner with eight leading e-tailers and aggregators to give a big push to the online sales of its swadeshi range of fast moving consumer goods products.
* FINANCE: The finance ministry has asked public sector banks to consider special packages for small and medium enterprises, especially those under stress.
* INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Sony, Canon, and Nikon called on the government to remove digital cameras from the highest goods and services tax slab of 28%, citing India's commitment to the Information Technology Agreement to persuade it to lower the levy. Top Indian information technology companies are expected to report muted financial performance for the three months ended December due to lesser number of working days in the quarter and softness in banking and financial services segment.
* INFRASTRUCTURE: Major projects entailing an investment of 319.3 bln rupees are in the pipeline to decongest the national capital, including the development of the Dwarka Expressway at a cost of 60 bln rupees, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said.
* MEDIA: The advertising and talent management industry says it will seek clarification from the government on what is 'misleading', a day after the consumer affairs minister proposed a new consumer protection bill stating that celebrities face up to three-year ban for appearing in misleading ads.
* OIL AND GAS: State-owned oil marketing companies want banks to reduce card transaction fees for petrol and diesel purchases by half.
* POWER: Solar power tariff fall seems to have bottomed out and may not fall beyond the all-time low of 2.44 rupees per unit in absence of well structured bids and rising solar panel prices on demand pressure.
* REGULATORY: The Securities and Exchange Board of India has issued new norms on corporate bond issues floated through electronic book building mechanism, which will be effective from Apr 1. The Securities and Exchange Board of India proposal requiring listed companies to disclose a loan default within a day of it happening is unlikely to be implemented with both the government and the Reserve Bank of India not keen on such a measure.
- Putting his weight behind the recently launched electoral bond scheme as an ideal option for political funding, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday said that the scheme envisages 'total clean money' and was a 'substantialimprovement' in transparency over the present system of no-transparency.
* TAXATION: Goods and services tax officers sent notices to Google India, Honeywell International, DLF City Centre, Panasonic, Hitachi Zochen, Yamaha Music India, Suzuki Motorcycles, leading banks and insurance companies, among others seeking reply on transitional credit claimed for pre-GST stocks. Faced with increasing number of complaints under the anti-profiteering rules, the Finance Ministry will soon come out with a standard operating procedure for handling grievances relating to over-charging after GST roll out. The Income Tax Department has relaxed norms for levy of minimum alternate tax on companies facing corporate insolvency proceedings.
* TELECOMMUNICATION: The Enforcement Directorate has sought from SEBI share transaction details of companies linked to the second generation telecom spectrum scam.
CLICK HERE
*********************************************************************************
* BANKING: The government is still working on coupon rates for state-owned bank recapitalisation bonds, Department Of Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar said. Bank recapitalisation bonds worth 800 bln rupees, passed by the Lok Sabha on Thursday, will be deemed passed by Parliament after two weeks, as the Rajya Sabha did not take up the matter for consideration before being adjourned sine die on Friday.
- Fearing a mark-to-market loss of something between 155 bln rupees and 250 bln rupees in the third quarter, some banks have approached the Reserve Bank of India for a leeway to spread the loss over some quarters. Losses form the treasury business due to the recent sharp decline in bond prices could prolong the agony for Indian banks, already groaning under the weight of mounting provisions for non-performing assets.
- The Kolkata bench of the National Company Law Tribunal has admitted insolvency proceedings against Coastal Projects. As many as 1,463 entities account for bad loans of 1 bln rupees or more in 21 public sector banks, according to data from finance ministry.
* CORPORATE: Brookfield Asset Management is set to buy Equinox Business Park from the Essar Group for 24.50 bln rupees. The Jaypee Group has restructured its outstanding foreign currency convertible bonds after renegotiating with investors, including marquee Wall Street names like Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank. A number of insolvency-bound companies, reeling under huge un-served loans, are scouting for front entities to buy them out in a distress sale under an 'asset reconstruction' model with the help of 'friendly' interim resolution professionals, but have landed themselves under the regulatory scanner.
* ECONOMY: Maharashtra's Gross State Domestic Product is pegged to cross the $1-trln mark in the next seven to 10 years through infrastructure-led development, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said. With a likely shortfall in goods and services tax collections for 2017-18, the government is expected to hold back a big chunk of unallocated 1.2 trln of integrated goods and services tax to ensure the fiscal deficit doesn't slip by more than 20 basis points.
* FAST MOVING CONSUMER GOODS: Baba Ramdev-led Patanjali Ayurved is likely to partner with eight leading e-tailers and aggregators to give a big push to the online sales of its swadeshi range of fast moving consumer goods products.
* FINANCE: The finance ministry has asked public sector banks to consider special packages for small and medium enterprises, especially those under stress.
* INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Sony, Canon, and Nikon called on the government to remove digital cameras from the highest goods and services tax slab of 28%, citing India's commitment to the Information Technology Agreement to persuade it to lower the levy. Top Indian information technology companies are expected to report muted financial performance for the three months ended December due to lesser number of working days in the quarter and softness in banking and financial services segment.
* INFRASTRUCTURE: Major projects entailing an investment of 319.3 bln rupees are in the pipeline to decongest the national capital, including the development of the Dwarka Expressway at a cost of 60 bln rupees, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said.
* MEDIA: The advertising and talent management industry says it will seek clarification from the government on what is 'misleading', a day after the consumer affairs minister proposed a new consumer protection bill stating that celebrities face up to three-year ban for appearing in misleading ads.
* OIL AND GAS: State-owned oil marketing companies want banks to reduce card transaction fees for petrol and diesel purchases by half.
* POWER: Solar power tariff fall seems to have bottomed out and may not fall beyond the all-time low of 2.44 rupees per unit in absence of well structured bids and rising solar panel prices on demand pressure.
* REGULATORY: The Securities and Exchange Board of India has issued new norms on corporate bond issues floated through electronic book building mechanism, which will be effective from Apr 1. The Securities and Exchange Board of India proposal requiring listed companies to disclose a loan default within a day of it happening is unlikely to be implemented with both the government and the Reserve Bank of India not keen on such a measure.
- Putting his weight behind the recently launched electoral bond scheme as an ideal option for political funding, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday said that the scheme envisages 'total clean money' and was a 'substantialimprovement' in transparency over the present system of no-transparency.
* TAXATION: Goods and services tax officers sent notices to Google India, Honeywell International, DLF City Centre, Panasonic, Hitachi Zochen, Yamaha Music India, Suzuki Motorcycles, leading banks and insurance companies, among others seeking reply on transitional credit claimed for pre-GST stocks. Faced with increasing number of complaints under the anti-profiteering rules, the Finance Ministry will soon come out with a standard operating procedure for handling grievances relating to over-charging after GST roll out. The Income Tax Department has relaxed norms for levy of minimum alternate tax on companies facing corporate insolvency proceedings.
* TELECOMMUNICATION: The Enforcement Directorate has sought from SEBI share transaction details of companies linked to the second generation telecom spectrum scam.
