NEWS as on 14.06.2010

Today news 14-06-2010

1. THE management of Reliance Industries (RIL) has told its board that it has identified power, telecommunications, financial services and pharmaceuticals for investments in the near future. The board, which met early last week, discussed strategies to enter these high-growth sectors, something which has become possible after the cancellation of a non-compete pact between the Ambani brothers which had barred RIL from businesses such as power and telecom.
2. A COMMITTEE comprising senior government officials and financial regulators has proposed mandatory disclosure of loan defaults by listed companies, a move aimed at protecting shareholders’ interest and boosting investor’s confidence.
The proposal was discussed at the May 24 meeting of the High-Level Coordination Committee on Financial Markets, said a senior finance ministry official. Market regulator Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) will examine the practical aspects of the proposal.
3. Handset maker Spice Mobile on Sunday said it has earmarked Rs 120 crore for marketing and promotion this fiscal as it focuses on building its brand in the metros and tier I cities in India .
4. RELIANCE Venture Asset Management, the private equity arm of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, plans to invest between $25 and $30 million (approximately Rs 117-140 crore) in the next six months, after making an equal investment in the past three months, Harshal J Shah, chief executive, Reliance Ventures told ET.
5. TAX authorities can now raise an additional Rs 600 crore or more after a Bombay High Court order that held that third party administrators (TPA)—companies that liaise between insurers and hospitals to facilitate cashless treatment for policyholders—are required to deduct taxes while making payment to hospitals.
6. Jupiter Lifeline, which runs the Jupiter Hospital at Thane, will invest over Rs 200 crore in two-three years for setting up three ‘boutique’ hospitals in Pune, Surat and Indore .
7. ALMOST nine months after Infosys Technologies established its subsidiary in the US for targeting over a $100-billion government outsourcing market, Eric Paternoster—the current head of insurance and healthcare business at the company, has taken charge as the chief executive of Infosys Public Services. Paternoster will report to Ashok Vemuri, who heads Infosys’ US business, and also work with the company’s independent director Jeffrey Sean Lehman. Infosys Public Services board is constituted of SD Shibulal, Mohandas Pai, Vemuri, Lehman and Paternoster himself.
8. FIFTEEN companies, including British Telecom, have been shortlisted by the government to select a telecom vendor which will certify equipments imported by various mobile companies into the country, especially from China . Official sources said the Department of Telecom has been asked to pick up the international security audit firm which will certify the imported equipments.
9. To woo the pulses farmers to sell their produce to the procurement agencies, the government has announced a Rs 5-a kg incentive to the growers, on top of the higher support price that it had announced last week. The incentive of Rs 500 per quintal would be given to the farmers growing tur, urad and moong dals, sold during the two-month harvest period.
10. Breaking away from the practice of meeting PSU bank chiefs in Delhi , finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will hold deliberations with them here on Monday on the prevailing tight liquidity condition, financial inclusion and farm credit.
11. Come next year, Delhi’s tax payers will no longer have to travel long distances and wait endlessly in serpentine queues to file their income tax returns. The Income Tax (I-T) department is moving its centralised front offices — for tax filing, receipt of refunds and other services — to the air conditioned environs of the new Civic Centre building of MCD near Connaught Place , which is very close to the Metro station.
12. THE finance ministry has directed public sector banks to disclose their exposure in airline companies after it was alleged that IDBI bank overlooked prudential lending norms while sanctioning Rs 900 crore to Kingfisher group.
13. CHINA and Equador have come out in support of India in its fight against the European Union at the World Trade Organization (WTO) for ‘wrongful’ seizure of its generic or off-patent drugs in transit to third countries. Both have requested to be allowed to be participants in the consultations between India and the EU that is expected to begin soon as they too stand to be affected by the outcome.
14. Dhanalaxmi Bank plans to raise Rs 350 crore through a qualified institutional placement (QIP) by the third week of July, a top bank official said. “We plan to raise Rs 350 crore through a QIP by the third week of the next month. We will be diluting around 23% of our equity,” Dhanalaxmi Bank managing director & CEO Amitabh Chaturvedi said here on Sunday.
15. Hit hard by the mass exodus of investors, amounting to an average of over one lakh a month, mutual fund houses are knocking on the doors of Sebi, which in turn is mulling over possible remedial actions, including an expanded distribution model for these investment products.
16. THE government may have to dilute the recently announced rule requiring companies to maintain a minimum public shareholding of 25%. That is because the new rule contradicts some of the existing regulatory guidelines like lock-in on promoters’ equity and restriction on fund-raising routes.
17. VOLATILITY ruled the stock market all of last week. Though the week saw a weak start, markets recovered later as robust industrial production numbers came in. Positive sentiment in international markets on the back of strong exports by China improved sentiment among domestic equity investors.
18. The current prices are hovering around Rs 900 to Rs 950 per quintal. The area under maize in Punjab has declined from 1.65 lakh hectare in 2000-01 to 1.32 lakh hectare in 2009-10 but the increase in yield from 27.93 quintal to 34.16 quintal per hectare during the period has been able to arrest the decline in production in the state from 4.61 lakh tonnes in 2000-01 to 4.51 lakh tonnes in 2009-10.