Today Sector News – 23.02.2018
* AUTOMOBILES: German luxury carmaker BMW will roll out Bharat Stage-VI petrol cars in the country in April this year. It will become the first carmaker after Mercedes Benz to introduce low-emission vehicles. Essel Infraprojects will enter the electric vehicle segment with an investment of 35 bln rupees, it announced at the ongoing Uttar Pradesh Investors Summit 2018 on Thursday.
* AVIATION: The government is gearing up to shed between 51% and 100% stake in Air India and has listed four possible options for divestment in the national carrier in the draft document for inviting expressions of interest, which is likely to be out by the first week of March.
* BANKING: The Centre is considering amending the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code to introduce separate provisions for insolvency proceedings relating to micro, small and medium enterprises. Microfinance portfolios of small finance banks and non-bank microfinance institutions have shown improvement and stability in asset quality since June, shrugging off the impact of demonetisation, ratings agency CRISIL said.
- Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank Ltd started operations as a payments bank on Thursday, the Reserve Bank of India said in a release. Reserve Bank of India has begun investigating the SWIFT system transactions of all banks.
* COAL: Caught between logistical bottlenecks and surging demand from power plants, India will likely increase coal imports in 2018, industry executives said, in what would be a setback to the government's plans to cut the country's dependence on overseas supply.
* INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Nandan Nilekani, chairman of INFOSYS and the architect of Aadhaar, will help the government build technology infrastructure for National Health Protection Scheme, the ambitious health insurance scheme announced by the government in the Budget for 2018-19 (Apr-Mar).
* OIL & GAS: Essar Oil is looking to raise over $1 bln from trading houses after its new Russian owners could not raise loans from major western banks due to sanctions on Russia. Malaysian state energy firm Petroliam Nasional Berhad, or Petronas, on Thursday said it has signed its first term agreement to supply liquefied natural gas to India.
* PHARMACEUTICALS: The government on Thursday said it will continue with the price cap on life-saving coronary stents and asked the industry to be ready to meet the demand for medical devices once the mega health insurance plan is rolled out.
* POWER: Lower-than-expected growth in demand for electricity, coupled with overcapacity of installed power projects, has precipitated a situation where more than 20,000 MW of under-construction coal-based power projects in the private sector are staring at an uncertain future.
* REAL ESTATE: Sumitomo Corp has announced $2 bln township project in Gurgaon as it forayed into Indian real estate sector in collaboration with local partner Krishna Group.
* REGULATORY: Promoters of listed companies can now sell up to 2% of share capital in the open market or use qualified institutional placement route to meet the minimum public shareholding norms, the Securities and Exchange Board of India said.
* RETAIL: Swedish retail major IKEA plans to invest 30-40 bln rupees in Maharashtra in the long term, primarily to set up multi-format stores and experience centres across Mumbai.
* STEEL: India Ratings and Research has upgraded the outlook for the Indian steel sector for 2018-19 (Apr-Mar) to "stable" from "negative" because of the growth in demand for steel, both in India and globally, as well as supply cuts in China, which are expected to support prices.
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* AVIATION: The government is gearing up to shed between 51% and 100% stake in Air India and has listed four possible options for divestment in the national carrier in the draft document for inviting expressions of interest, which is likely to be out by the first week of March.
* BANKING: The Centre is considering amending the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code to introduce separate provisions for insolvency proceedings relating to micro, small and medium enterprises. Microfinance portfolios of small finance banks and non-bank microfinance institutions have shown improvement and stability in asset quality since June, shrugging off the impact of demonetisation, ratings agency CRISIL said.
- Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank Ltd started operations as a payments bank on Thursday, the Reserve Bank of India said in a release. Reserve Bank of India has begun investigating the SWIFT system transactions of all banks.
* COAL: Caught between logistical bottlenecks and surging demand from power plants, India will likely increase coal imports in 2018, industry executives said, in what would be a setback to the government's plans to cut the country's dependence on overseas supply.
* INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Nandan Nilekani, chairman of INFOSYS and the architect of Aadhaar, will help the government build technology infrastructure for National Health Protection Scheme, the ambitious health insurance scheme announced by the government in the Budget for 2018-19 (Apr-Mar).
* OIL & GAS: Essar Oil is looking to raise over $1 bln from trading houses after its new Russian owners could not raise loans from major western banks due to sanctions on Russia. Malaysian state energy firm Petroliam Nasional Berhad, or Petronas, on Thursday said it has signed its first term agreement to supply liquefied natural gas to India.
* PHARMACEUTICALS: The government on Thursday said it will continue with the price cap on life-saving coronary stents and asked the industry to be ready to meet the demand for medical devices once the mega health insurance plan is rolled out.
* POWER: Lower-than-expected growth in demand for electricity, coupled with overcapacity of installed power projects, has precipitated a situation where more than 20,000 MW of under-construction coal-based power projects in the private sector are staring at an uncertain future.
* REAL ESTATE: Sumitomo Corp has announced $2 bln township project in Gurgaon as it forayed into Indian real estate sector in collaboration with local partner Krishna Group.
* REGULATORY: Promoters of listed companies can now sell up to 2% of share capital in the open market or use qualified institutional placement route to meet the minimum public shareholding norms, the Securities and Exchange Board of India said.
* RETAIL: Swedish retail major IKEA plans to invest 30-40 bln rupees in Maharashtra in the long term, primarily to set up multi-format stores and experience centres across Mumbai.
* STEEL: India Ratings and Research has upgraded the outlook for the Indian steel sector for 2018-19 (Apr-Mar) to "stable" from "negative" because of the growth in demand for steel, both in India and globally, as well as supply cuts in China, which are expected to support prices.
