Corporate News 16th March 2008

Unitech to raise $500 mn through PE route

Realty major Unitech Ltd plans to raise $500 million through the private equity (PE) route for its funding requirement. The PE placement will be at the special purpose vehicle (SPV) level in two commercial projects in Mumbai and Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley are in race to pick up stake. Banking sources have also confirmed that Lehman will definitely pick up some stake and could have a second partner and the deal is likely to be closed by mid-April. This is not the first time that realty companies are taking the PE route to meet their expansion plans, earlier DLF had also sold stake in their residential projects to Merill Lynch and further plans to divest stake in its office trust of Singapore.

Experts believe this shift from the primary market is the result of high volatility in the market. Unitech has put its $1.5 billion QIP on hold and will wait till the markets are looking better. Apart from the QIP, Unitech and DLF both have delayed their REIT listing plans and are looking at PE placements in the REIT. The move from primary market started after Emaar MGF IPO had to be withdrawn because of low subscription and experts believe that PE right now is a much safer bet for fund raising.

         

ICICI to open ninth UK branch in Leeds

ICICI, India's largest private sector bank, is scheduled to open its ninth branch in Britain. The new branch will come up at Leeds on March 20. ICICI, which opened its first bank in the UK in 2003, has branches currently in London, the Midlands and Manchester. The Leeds branch opening will be conducted by Councillor Andrew Carter Leader of Leeds City Council.

 

PEARL Polymers allots equity shares

The committee of PEARL Polymers has allotted 585277 equity shares of Rs 10 per share, fully paid up at Rs 20.83 on preferential allotment basis to Industrial Development Bank of India.

These shares were allotted at the committee meeting held on 14 March 2008.

 

GAIL sets up IT disaster recovery centre at Jaipur

Gail India has formally commissioned an IT disaster recovery centre at Jaipur to ensure uninterrupted business operations in case of any eventuality.

The disaster recovery centre at Jaipur will help GAIL mitigate the risks of potential disasters to its IT infrastructure whether from fire, earthquake, prolonged power outage, war, riot, flood, bombing, terrorist attacks, cyber attacks etc. which in turn will help GAIL to continue uninterrupted services and supply to its customers.

The centre will help GAIL to achieve the zero data loss and restoration of business within 2-3 hours time in case of any eventuality. The three way disaster recovery centre has been set up by GAIL with state-of-the-art infrastructure at a cost of Rs 15 crore.

Read More

Industry News 16th March 2008

Manhunt 2 wins battle for release

The Video Appeals Committee upheld an earlier decision that the game could be sold, following a nine-month battle between makers Rockstar and UK censors. The British Board of Film Classification had taken the fight to ban the game to the High Court, saying the game went too far. An edited version of the title will be released with an 18 certificate. The game was first banned in June 2007 and an edited version of the game was later rejected by the BBFC.

Read More

Market News 16th March 2008

Madras Cements - Updates on Buy Back Offer

Indbank Merchant Banking Services Ltd (Manager to the Buyback Offer) on behalf of Madras Cements Ltd (Target Company) has informed about the following advertisement issued by Madras Cements Ltd (Target Company) on March 13, 2008.

"The company has bought back 13494 equity shares of Rs 10/- each on March 12, 2008 amounting to Rs 479.32 Lacs being approximately 7.43% of the total Buy-back offer, thereby completing the buyback to the extent of 89.09% of the total buy back offer of Rs 6447.26 Lacs."

 

McDowell Holdings - Result of Postal Ballot

McDowell Holdings Ltd has informed that the members of the Company, by way of Postal Ballot, have passed the Special resolution relating to alteration of objects clause of the Memorandum of Association of the Company, with requisite majority.

 

Rasoya Proteins - Board Meeting on Mar 20, 2008

Rasoya Proteins Ltd has informed that a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company will be held on March 20, 2008, inter alia, to transact the following:

1. To raise funds for financing the new projects by way of issuing the Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCBs) / Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) / American Depository Receipts (ADRs) / Qualified Institutional Placements (QIPs) to the specified persons to the tune of US $20 million subject to the approval of the Shareholders and other statutory authorities wherever applicable.

2. To call for an Extraordinary General Meeting of the members of the Company to seek member's approval on item number (1) mentioned above.

 

Elque Polyesters - Limited Review for the quarter ended Dec 31, 2007

Elque Polyesters Ltd has informed that in the limited review report of the Company for the quarter ended December 31, 2007, the Auditors of the Company have made the following observations:

"1. Nonprovision of interest and other dues to various banks and financial institutions, quantum of which is un-ascertainable.

2. Pursuant to the revival package under consideration by BIFR and other banks and financial institutions the Auditors reserve their comments on the Going concern concept adopted by the Company.

3. The plant has been temporarily shut down for the time being due to uneconomic market condition."

 

Tata Teleservices - Appointment of Directors

Tata Teleservices Maharashtra Ltd has informed that Mr. Anil Sardana has been appointed as Non-Executive Director of the Company and Mr. Nadir Godrej has been appointed as an Independent Director of the Company w.e.f. March 12, 2008.

Read More

Economy News 16th March 2008

Rupee at 40.43 against US dollar

Mumbai: The Indian rupee on March 14 ended almost flat at 40.4350/4450 against the greenback on alternate bouts of buying and selling in the foreign exchange market. At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic unit opened lower at 40.50/52 a dollar from previous close of 40.43/44. It later fell to a low of 40.58.

Forex dealers said the rupee sentiments were bolstered later in the day after a surge in the stock market. They added that dollar buying by oil refiners to meet their import requirements aided the local unit. Weak Asian stock markets and recovery in dollar against the Yen also partly weighed on rupee sentiments. Meanwhile, the benchmark Sensex posted a gain of 403 points after yesterday's fall of 770 points. Dealers said heavy dollar sales at the higher levels also pushed the rupee upwards and it touched a high of 40.38 a dollar before concluding the day at Rs 40.4350/4450 a dollar.

         

Inflation rate soars to nine-month high

New Delhi: The rate of inflation soared to 5.11 per cent for the week ended March 1, the highest in over nine months, mainly owing to a rise in the prices of some food articles, certain manufactured products and aviation turbine fuel. With this, the prospects of a cut in interest rates by the Reserve Bank of India to revitalise the sluggish trend in industrial growth appear bleak.

With the inflation rate based on the wholesale price index (WPI) inching up from 5.02 per cent in the previous week, this is for the second consecutive week that it has remained above the "tolerance level" of five per cent set by the RBI for the current fiscal.

 

FM says majority of debt waiver will be to small and marginal farmers

Finance Minister (FM) P Chidambaram today said in Parliament that small and marginal farmers would be given debt relief of Rs 50,524 crore and Rs 9,790-crore would be for one-time settlement of other farm loans. FM had announced a massive Rs 60000-crore debt waiver package to farmers in Union Budget 2008-09 announced on 29 February 2008.

 

FM says government ready to take any fiscal step to control inflation

Finance Minister (FM) P Chidambaram today said the government is ready to take any fiscal step to control inflation which has risen due to increase in prices of imported commodities. Chidambaram told Lok Sabha that international and national factors have contributed to the rise in inflation to nearly 5% from a low of 3.11%.

He said the government has taken some fiscal steps to control the prices such as cutting import and excise duties, and added there was no taxation on food items.

 

Inflation at multi-month high

Inflation based on the wholesale price index (WPI) rose 5.11% in the 12 months to 1 March 2008, higher than the previous week's rise of 5.02%, government data showed on Friday, 14 March 2008. The rate was the highest since 26 May, 2007.

Read More

Indian Markets on 14th March 2008 - Markets witness a sharp pullback

Markets witness a sharp pullback

Indian markets pulled back smartly after yesterday's sharp fall as they closed with strong gains near the day's high. They outperformed the Asian peers that ended weak. While the Sensex gained 403.17 points or 2.63% at 15760.52, the Nifty shot up by 122.20 points or 2.64% at 4745.80. Broad market indices Broad market indices underperformed as the BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices gained 0.9% and 0.1% respectively. This explains the negative market breadth as A/D ratio was 0.82:1 on the BSE. NSE cash turnover was Rs.13,566crs. Vs. Rs.13,603crs. yesterday.

All the BSE sectors closed higher with Realty, Consumer Durables, Metal, Oil and Gas and Bankex leading the uptrend. Top gainers amongst the frontline stocks were DLF, Jaiprakash Associates, Satyam and Power Grid Corp.

Though the main indices have pulled back sharply, the overall trend continues to remain down. We continue with our strategy of going slow on positional long term investments till we see signs of a confirmed sustainable uptrend. Short term trading positions can be built to take advantage of any short term swings.

Read More

International Markets on 14th March 2008 - US Market erases earlier losses

US Market erases earlier losses

US Market gave up earlier losses and finally closed modestly higher for the day today, Thursday, 13 March, 2008. Positive comments from a major credit ratings firm managed to lift the market. Dow was down as much as 230 points earlier in the day. The dollar continued to weaken and gold crossed the $1,000 mark. Crude price remained relatively steady. Commerce Department came out with a weak economic report. But at the end, nine of the major economic sectors ended the session in positive territory.

Market got a strong boost after Standard & Poor's said the bulk of write-downs on subprime securities might be behind banks that have already announced their full year 2007 results. S&P said write-downs could reach $285 billion, from the current level of $150 billion. The financial sector saw the largest boost from the S&P report.

The Dow Jones industrial Average ended the day with a gain of 35.5 points at 12,145. The Nasdaq Composite Index, finished higher by 19.7 points at 2,263. S&P 500 finished higher by 6.7 points at 1,315.

Fourteen out of thirty Dow stocks ended in the red today. Though financial sector got a good boost, stocks like Citigroup, AIG, JP Morgan all ended in the red.

But hitting financial stocks earlier in the day was when Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson urged banks to reconsider their dividends to preserve capital.

Barring, Rediff and Satyam Computers, all Indian ADRs ended in red today. The two ADRs ended higher by 3.4% and 3.8% respectively. HDFC Bank and VSNL were the two topmost losers, shedding 3.7% each.

Among bleak economic news today, the Commerce Department reported that consumer spending weakened again in February as U.S. retail sales fell 0.6%. Market expected an increase of 0.2%.

Among other economic data, there were 353,000 unemployment claims for the week ended 8 March. his was unchanged from the previous reading.

Crude prices shot up once again today. Prices rose after the dollar continued to remain under pressure today after weak economic data. But prices rose despite the EIA yesterday reporting a surprising increase in weekly crude inventory for week ending on Friday, 7 March, 2008. Crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for April delivery today closed at $110.32/barrel (higher by $0.41/barrel or 0.4%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange. They earlier surged to $111 a barrel, the highest since trading began in 1983.

On the New York Stock Exchange, trading volumes showed 1.8 billion shares changing hands, with gainers topping decliners by a ratio of 18 to 13. On the Nasdaq, 1.1 billion shares traded, with gainers topping decliners by 17 to 11.

Tomorrow, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is scheduled to speak about sustainable homeownership in Washington. In terms of economic data, February's Consumer Price Index is due prior to the opening bell followed by University of Michigan's preliminary Consumer Sentiment Survey.

Read More

Mutual Funds News 16th March 2008

ICICI Pru offers institutional plan for infra fund

ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd on March 14, introduced institutional option in its infrastructure equity fund. Investors under the plan can buy units of ICICI Prudential Infrastructure Fund without paying a load, or a fee for entering or buying units in the fund. However, investors should put in a minimum 200 million rupees, the firm said. Institutional plans have higher minimum investment limit but they generally do not charge entry or exit load and levy lower annual expenses as compared with retail plan.

 

HDFC MF revises minimum application amount

HDFC mutual fund has revised minimum application amount in the wholesale option under HDFC Floating Rate Income Fund-Short Term Plan. The changes will be effective from 24 March 2008.

The Minimum application amount under each option (growth and dividend) for existing investors was Rs 1 crore and in multiples of Re 1 thereafter. As per revised provision, the minimum application amount for existing investors would be Re 1 and in multiples of Re 1 thereafter.

There will be no change in application amount for new investors as it was Rs 1 crore and in multiples of Re 1 thereafter.

Read More

Mutual funds - Upcoming Dividends - 16th March 2008

Latest Dividends Announced by the Mutual Funds

Invest in Mutual Fund – Transact Online            Invest in Mutual Fund - Offline

Lotus India MF declares dividend

The Lotus India mutual fund has announced the declaration of dividend under retail quarterly dividend option of Lotus India Active Income Fund. The record date for dividend will be 18 March 2008. The dividend proposed to be declared is 2.5% i.e. Re. 0.25 per unit on a face value of Rs.10 per unit.

The NAV of the retail quarterly dividend option as on 13 March 2008 was Rs. 10.4507.

 

JM Financial MF declares dividend for two schemes

JM Financial Mutual Fund has announced 19 March 2008 as the record date for the declaration of dividend under dividend option of JM Arbitrage Advantage Fund and JM Equity and Derivative Fund.

The fund house has declared a dividend of 2.50% i.e. Rs 0.25 per unit on face value of Rs 10 for JM Arbitrage Advantage Fund. It has also declared a dividend of 1.80% inclusive of dividend distribution tax i.e. Rs 0.18 per unit on face value of Rs 10 -for JM Equity and Derivative Fund.

The record date for both the scheme has been fixed as 19 March 2008.

The NAV of JM Arbitrage Advantage Fund was at Rs. 10.3900 as on 13 March 2008 whereas the NAV of JM Equity and Derivative Fund were at Rs. 10.3899 as on 13 March 2008.

JM Arbitrage Advantage Fund is an equity oriented interval fund with an investment objective of generating income through arbitrage opportunities emerging out of mis-pricing between the cash market and the derivatives market and through deployment of surplus cash in fixed income instruments.

JM Equity and Derivative Fund is an income scheme Interval fund. Its investment objective is to generate regular income through arbitrage opportunities.

 

LIC MF declares dividends

LIC Mutual Fund has announced 18 March 2008 as record date for declaration of dividends in three schemes: LIC Index Fund-Nifty Plan. The fund house has decided to pay dividend of 20% i.e. Rs 2.00 on the face value of Rs 10.

LIC Index Fund-Nifty Plan is an open-ended index scheme. The investment objective of the fund is to provide capital growth by investing in Nifty index stocks.

 

Birla Sun Life MF declares dividend

Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund has announced the declaration of dividend on the face value of Rs 10 per unit for Birla Sun Life Fixed Term Plan- Half Yearly-Series 3. The record date is set as 18 March 2008. The fund house has decided to distribute 100% of surplus available under option as on record date. The NAV for the scheme was Rs. 10.4075 as on 13 March 2008.

Birla Sun Life Fixed Term Plan- Half Yearly-Series 3 is a close-ended income scheme with the objective to generate current income by investing in portfolio of fixed income securities maturing normally in line with the duration of the scheme.

Read More

Mutual Funds NFO - SBI MF launches new debt fund Series

New fund Offer - SBI MF launches new debt fund Series

Invest in Mutual Fund – Transact Online            Invest in Mutual Fund - Offline

Name of Fund: SBI Debt Fund Series 13 Months Series 7

Scheme: It is a close ended debt scheme.

Objective: The objective of the scheme is to provide regular income, liquidity and returns to the investors through investments in portfolio comprising of debt instruments.

Asset Allocation: The fund will invest 0%-100% in Government of India dated securities and treasury bills. The investment in securitised debt will be up to 20% of the exposure to AAA/AA+ bonds, and money market instruments.

Fund Opens: 7 March 2008

Fund Closes: 17 March 2008

Face Value: Rs 10

Investment Options: SBI Debt Fund Series 13 months Series 7 offers two plans i.e. retail and institutional. Both plans offer sub options of growth and dividend. The dividend option further provides dividend payout and reinvestment facility.

Entry Load: There will no entry load charged for the scheme due to its close-ended structure.

Exit Load: The scheme charges an exit load of 2.00%, if the investment is redeemed before the maturity period. Whereas there will be no exit load charged on the redemption made on or after the maturity period.

Minimum Investment Amount: The minimum investment amount under the retail plan would be Rs 50,000 and in multiples of Rs 1000 per application. The minimum investment amount under the institutional plan would be Rs 5 lakh and in multiples of Rs 1000 per application.

Benchmark Index: CRISIL Composite Bond Fund Index

Fund Manager: Mr. Killol Pandya and Mr. Parijat Agrawal

Read More

Mutual Funds NFO - Birla Sun Life MF launches another fixed term plan

New Fund Offer - Birla Sun Life MF launches another fixed term plan

Invest in Mutual Fund – Transact Online            Invest in Mutual Fund - Offline

Name of Fund: Birla Fixed Term Plan Series AN

Scheme: It is a close end debt scheme.

Objective: The scheme seeks to generate current income by investing in a portfolio of fixed income securities maturing normally in line with the duration of the scheme.

Fund Opens: 11 March 2008

Fund Closes: 17 March 2008

Face Value: Rs 10.

Investment Options: The scheme will have retail plan and institutional plan with a common portfolio. Each plan under the scheme will have dividend and growth option. The dividend option shall have payout and reinvestment facility.

Entry Load: There will no entry load charged for the scheme due to its close-ended structure.

Exit Load: The scheme charges an exit load of 2.00%, if the investment is redeemed within 180 days from date of investment. There will an exit load of 1.00% if the investment redeemed after 180 days from the date of investment. Whereas there will not be any exit load charged on the investment redeemed on maturity date.

Minimum Investment Amount: The minimum investment amount under retail plan is Rs 5,000 and in multiple of Re 1 thereafter. The minimum investment amount under institutional plan is Rs 1 lakh and in multiple of Re 1 thereafter.

Read More

Mutual Funds NFO - Deutsche MF launches new Fixed Term Fund Series 46

New Fund Offer - Deutsche MF launches new Fixed Term Fund Series 46

Invest in Mutual Fund – Transact Online            Invest in Mutual Fund - Offline

Name of Fund: DWS Fixed Term Fund Series 46

Scheme: It is a close-ended debt fund with maturity of 395 days from the date of allotment.

Objective: The objective of the fund is to generate regular income by investing in fixed income securities and money market instruments, usually maturing in line with the time profile of the fund.

Asset Allocation: The fund will invest up to 100% in domestic debt instruments including government securities and money market instruments and securitised debt. The investment in securitised debt would be up to a maximum of 100% of the net assets of the scheme. The scheme will not invest in foreign securities and foreign securitized debt. The exposure to derivatives shall be restricted to 50% of the net assets of the scheme.

Fund Opens: 7 March 2008

Fund Closes: 17 March 2008

Face Value: Rs 10

Investment Options: The investors will have the choice of two plans viz. regular plan and institutional plan. Each plans offers growth and dividend option. The dividend option offers sub option of dividend payout.

Entry Load: There will no entry load charged for the scheme due to its close-ended structure.

Exit Load: The scheme charges an exit load of 2.00% if the investment is redeemed any time from the date of allotment but before maturity date.

Minimum Investment Amount: The minimum investment amount under regular plan is Rs. 5,000 and in multiple of Re 1 thereafter. The minimum investment amount under institutional plan is Rs. 1 crore and in multiple of Re 1 thereafter.

Target amount: Rs.1 crore

Benchmark Index: CRISIL Short Term Bond Fund Index

Fund Manager: Mr. Suresh Soni.

Read More

Mutual Funds NFO - ICICI MF launches new FMP Series

ICICI MF launches new FMP Series

Invest in Mutual Fund – Transact Online            Invest in Mutual Fund - Offline

Name of Fund: ICICI Prudential Fixed Maturity Plan - Series 43 13 Months Plan A

Scheme: A close-ended debt fund.

Objective: The investment objective of the scheme is to seek to generate returns by investing in a portfolio of fixed income securities/ debt instruments normally maturing in line with the time profile of the scheme.

Fund Opens: 13 March 2008

Fund Closes: 17 March 2008

Face Value: Rs 10

Investment Options: There are two options available under the scheme i.e. retail and institutional options. Cumulative and dividend sub-options will be available under the scheme. Dividend payout is the only facility available under dividend sub-option. Retail option shall be the default option and cumulative sub-option shall be the default sub -option.

Asset allocation: The fund will invest up to 100% in money market instruments, short term and medium term debt securities and debt instruments. The scheme will invest in debt securities which having tenure of approximately 390 days. The investment in securitised debt will be up to 50% of the net asset of the scheme. Exposure in derivatives instruments will be up to the extent of 50% of the net assets. The investment in central and state government securities will be up to 50% of the net asset of the plan.

Load: Due to its close-ended structure the scheme does not charge any entry load. There will be an exit load of 2.00% of the applicable NAV for the redemption made during the repurchase facility period.

Minimum Investment Amount: The minimum investment under retail plan is of Rs.5000 and in multiple of Re. 1 thereafter. Under institutional plan the minimum investment is Rs 1 crore and in multiple of Re. 1 thereafter.

Minimum subscription amount: Rs 1 lakh

Benchmark Index: CRISIL Short Term Bond Fund Index.

Fund manager: Mr. Chaitanya Pande

Read More

IPO News 16th March 2008 - Kiri Dyes & Chemicals Ltd is entering the capital market with its IPO

Kiri Dyes & Chemicals Ltd is entering the capital market with its IPO

Kiri Dyes chemicals Limited, which is one of the leading manufacturer and exporters of dyes is hitting the capital market with its initial public offering of 37.5 lakh equity shares of face value of Rs10 each through 100% book building process. The issue constitutes 25% of fully diluted post issue paid up capital. The price band for the issue has been fixed between Rs125 to Rs150 and the issue will open on March 25 and will close on April 2, 2008. The qualified institutional buyers shall be allocated 50% of the issue. From and out of the QIB portion 5% for mutual funds, 15% to non-institutional bidders and 35% to retail investors. The Book Running Lead Manager to the issue is Centrum Capital.

Kiri Dyes was incorporated on 14th May 1998 as a Kiri Dyes and Chemicals Private Limited at Ahmedabad, Gujarat. It has been promoted by Mr Praveen A. Kiri and Mr. Manish P. Kiri. KDCL is engaged in the business of manufacturing of reactive dyes, which are called, synthetic organic dyes used for cotton fabrics like garments, dress materials, bed-sheets, carpets etc. The dyes are of basically colours like black, blue, red, orange, yellow and numerous variants of these basic colours identified by color index number internationally.

The product range of the company comprises of more than 120 dyestuffs used by textiles, leather, paint and printing ink industries with total production capacity of 10800 MT per annum. KDCL supplies reactive, acid, and direct dyes as well as dye-intermediates in various forms like standardized spray dried/tray dried - powder/granular, crude and reverse osmosis. All the products manufactured by the company have found global acceptance.

Read More

FM says majority of debt waiver will be to small and marginal farmers

Finance Minister (FM) P Chidambaram today said in Parliament that small and marginal farmers would be given debt relief of Rs 50,524 crore and Rs 9,790-crore would be for one-time settlement of other farm loans. FM had announced a massive Rs 60000-crore debt waiver package to farmers in Union Budget 2008-09 announced on 29 February 2008.

Out of the total debt waiver, scheduled commercial banks would get 35% and co-operatives would get 55% share, FM said.

The outlay for the waiver would be spread over 36 months, Chidambaram said, adding the government has already allocated Rs 10,000-crore via supplementary grant in the current year. The government is planning to complete waiver of Rs 40000 crore over just 14 months, Chidambaram said.

He said the government would in July 2008 release Rs 25000 crore in cash to banks to fund the farm debt waiver scheme. Another Rs 15000 crore will be released by August 2009 for the scheme, he said.

Read More

Inflation rate soars to nine-month high - 16th March 2008

The rate of inflation soared to 5.11 per cent for the week ended March 1, the highest in over nine months, mainly owing to a rise in the prices of some food articles, certain manufactured products and aviation turbine fuel. With this, the prospects of a cut in interest rates by the Reserve Bank of India to revitalise the sluggish trend in industrial growth appear bleak.

With the inflation rate based on the wholesale price index (WPI) inching up from 5.02 per cent in the previous week, this is for the second consecutive week that it has remained above the "tolerance level" of five per cent set by the RBI for the current fiscal.

Expressing concern over the price spiral in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Friday attributed the rise to high prices of imported food commodities while noting that the Government was ready for any fiscal measures to rein in inflation even as efforts would be made towards self-sufficiency in these essential items. Inflation is on the rise. It is a matter that causes worry to any Government. When inflation is on the rise, all of us should be concerned, Mr. Chidambaram told members in reply to a question while stressing the point that both global and domestic factors were responsible for the rise in the inflation rate from a low of 3.11 per cent.

Mr. Chidambaram pointed out that contributing to the price spiral were the soaring global prices of certain items which India has to import such as crude oil, palm oil and rice. Since inflation was driven mainly by the prices of four commodities - wheat, rice, edible oil and pulses - the only way of insulating the country from the rise in global rates was to become self-sufficient in these commodities. The Government, he said, had taken certain fiscal steps such as reduction in customs and excise duties to check the prices of such items and noted that it was willing to take monetary and other measures also. "We are ready to take any fiscal step to keep inflation under check," he said. One such effective measure, he said, was the interest rate and the RBI should be trusted to use it as an instrument to bring about price stability.

Read More

Natural Capsules - Preferential issue of Equity Shares & Warrants

Natural Capsules Ltd has informed that the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on March 14, 2008, has approved the Preferential Allotment of the following Securities to the following Persons:

a. Laxminarayan Moondra - Equity Shares: 55,000 - Warrants: 1,20,000

b. Satyanarayan Mundra - Equity Shares: 55,000 - Warrants: 1,20,000

c. Sunil Mundra - Equity Shares: 55,000 - Warrants: 1,20,000

d. Sushil Kumar Mundra - Equity Shares: 55,000 - Warrants: 1,20,000

The Equity Shares have a face value of Rs 10/- per share and are being issued at Rs 30/- per share (inclusive of share premium of Rs 20/- per share) which is in accordance with Chapter XIII (Guidelines for Preferential Issues) of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Disclosure and Investor Protection Guidelines, 2000) issued by the Securities and Exchange Board of India ("SEBI DIP Guidelines").

Each Warrant can be exercised for one (1) Equity Share of Rs 30/- per share (inclusive of Rs 10/- face value and Rs 20/- share premium) which is in accordance with SEBI DIP Guidelines.

The Allottees have paid full issue price of the Equity Shares and 10% of the exercise price of the Warrants at the time of subscription.

The Equity Shares and Warrants have been allotted within the time period specified in the SEBI DIP Guidelines.

The Warrants can be exercised anytime within 18 months of allotment of the Warrants. The subscription price paid for the Warrants will be adjusted against the exercise price payable at the time of exercise. In the event that any Warrant is not exercised within 18 months of allotment, the subscription price paid will be forfeited.

The issuance of all the above Equity Shares arid exercise of all the Warrants shall constitute 14.76% of the post issue paid-up share capital. The shareholding of the Promoters and Promoter Group will be 50.56% assuming allotment of all the above Equity Shares and exercise of all the Warrants.

The Investors are Persons Acting in Concert as per the SEBI Takeover Guidelines and are part of the Promoter and Promoter Group.

Read More

GAIL sets up IT disaster recovery centre at Jaipur

Gail India has formally commissioned an IT disaster recovery centre at Jaipur to ensure uninterrupted business operations in case of any eventuality.

The disaster recovery centre at Jaipur will help GAIL mitigate the risks of potential disasters to its IT infrastructure whether from fire, earthquake, prolonged power outage, war, riot, flood, bombing, terrorist attacks, cyber attacks etc. which in turn will help GAIL to continue uninterrupted services and supply to its customers.

The centre will help GAIL to achieve the zero data loss and restoration of business within 2-3 hours time in case of any eventuality. The three way disaster recovery centre has been set up by GAIL with state-of-the-art infrastructure at a cost of Rs 15 crore.

Read More