Key Corporate and Industry Developments

Key corporate news

• TATA STEEL will launch a formal sale process for its loss-making UK assets on April 11 and will appoint an investment banker soon after a crucial meeting between UK business secretary Sajid Javid and Tata Group Chairman Cyrus Mistry on Wednesday. (ET)
• Cigarette stocks adequate despite shutting mfg: ITC (PTI)
• ICICI Bank to limit corporate, global loans growth at 10% (BS)
• AXIS BANK, a lender to JAYPEE INFRATECH, has taken possession of the debt-laden company’s headquarters in Noida in lieu of Rs.700 crore owed by the company (Mint)
• HDFC said on Wednesday that it had set aside Rs.450cr as a one-time special provision against unexpected future risks (Mint)
• Tata Motors Ltd’s newly launched compact—Tiago to replace the two-decade-old Indica and is pitted against top-selling models such as Maruti Suzuki Celerio and Wagon R and Hyundai Grand i10, with prices starting at Rs.3.20 lakh for the petrol version and Rs.3.94 lakh for the diesel variant (ex-showroom, Delhi). (ET)
• The Cabinet has approved liberalising 800 MHz spectrum in Rajasthan, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, clearing the air on their provisional market price and paving the way for RCOM to share or trade bandwidth in these areas. (ET)

Key Industry news

• SBI chairman says transmission only after deposit rates come down (BS)
• RBI sold treasury bills at their lowest yields in more than five years at a weekly auction on Wednesday. The RBI set a cut-off of 6.85% for the 91-day t-bills, the lowest since November 2010, and 6.93% for the 182-day t-bills, the lowest since October 2010. Today the RBI will buy up to Rs150b ($2.25 billion) of bonds through OMOs, taking the total amount of purchases since December 2015 to Rs870b, more than in the two previous years combined. (Reuters)
• Firms raised record Rs4.58tn via debt placement in FY16 on benign rates in debt markets (FE)
• The cabinet on Wednesday approved the fiscal deficit target of 3% for states, as recommended by the 14th Finance Commission for 2015-20. The panel has provided additional flexibility to a maximum of 0.5% over and above the normal limit of 3% in any given year to states that have had a favourable debt-gross state domestic product (GSDP) ratio and interest payments-revenue receipts ratio in the previous two years. (IANS)
• The cabinet allowed Oil Marketing Companies to evolve their own policies to source crude oil instead of time-consuming tendering process (Mint)
• The cabinet enhanced the scope of a framework agreement between EXIM Bank and a consortium of Iranian banks led by the Central Bank of Iran for export of goods and services from India to Rs.3,000 crore from Rs.900 crore. This will enable Exim bank to provide a buyer’s credit facility to Iran, secured via sovereign guarantee from Iran. (Mint)
• The cabinet allowed telecom companies to use spectrum allocated to them without auction to offer new services to consumers at a provisional price recommended by TRAI (Mint)
• GDP calculation method imprecise, India to grow at 8%: CII (PTI)
• Steel imports rose 18% in March, snapping 4 straight months of falls on the back of deals struck before the government imposed a floor price in February to curb cheap imports. (Reuters)
• A demographic dividend is very unlikely to accrue to India anytime soon, as a large share of the countrys youth lacks education as well as jobs to deliver this productivity, says a Ambit Capital  report. (PTI)
• Office space absorption for Jan-Mar2016 fell 26.5% y/y to ~5 million sq ft (6.8msft) across seven major cities, as companies are yet to finalise real estate plans for the year, according to a report by CBRE. (BS)
• BIOCON chief seeks 5-yr exemption from price control for pharma sector (FE)
• NITI Aayog wants reforms to boost electronics manufacturing (ET)
• Nabard set to raise Rs 50,000 crore in FY17 (31% higher than FY16) (ET)
• India to adopt Israeli technology in agriculture: Minister (IANS)
• Govt keeps cane FRP unchanged at Rs230/qtl for 2016-17 season (FE)
• Debt-laden Essar Steel has recorded highest ever monthly production of flat steel in March and has achieved a capacity utilisation rate of 70% (PTI)
• The GVK Reddy family, which took over the Hancock coal mines in Australia for $ 1.26 billion in 2011, has failed to pay the final tranche of $ 560 million (BS)
• U.S. drug maker Pfizer Inc agreed on Tuesday to terminate its $160 billion agreement to acquire Botox maker Allergan Plc, in a major victory to U.S. President Barack Obama's drive to stop tax-dodging corporate mergers. (Reuters)

India is the fastest-growing solar market: Sujoy Ghosh, CEO, First Solar India

India is the fastest-growing solar market: Sujoy Ghosh, CEO, First Solar India

Interview with Chief Executive Officer, First Solar India

How has the investment environment changed for the solar energy sector in India in the past five years?

The new government, when it came to power, scaled up renewable energy targets, and ever since, there have been enabling regulations. One was for demand creation and the other was to improve the quality of the off-take of power through power purchase agreements (PPAs), which is not very bankable, given the financial status of the discoms. The challenges, however, are to provide infrastructure for these targets, bring in capital and mitigate risks around land issues. For that, the central government has done its part by bringing in National Thermal Power Corporation and Solar Energy Corporation of India to be the procurers. The solar park policy created a mechanism to give funds to those states which wanted to buy land and create infrastructure for the mega solar parks. The solar parks that have come for auction till now have been over-subscribed in terms of capacity and fairly significant equity investment.

Which gaps do you think need to be filled?

The Renewable Purchase Obligation would worry anyone. Though the Centre has put penal provisions, the states have not enforced it. Procurement would come with falling tariff and closing of the demand-supply gap. States have to implement the central regulations. Also, the cost of capital remains high in India. Local debt rates are 11-11.25 per cent, whereas in matured markets, infrastructure projects avail long-term debt at two-three per cent.

In First Solar’s global plan, how is India placed?

Outside the US and China, India is the fastest growing market. In terms of growth rate, India is better than China, which is growing but is finding it difficult to get foreign capital.

Our results in this market and the ability to command a leadership position would enable us to continue investment in India. In terms of market share, we had 16.5-17 per cent by the end of 2015, making us the leader in India. In that mix, our own development was five per cent and 95 per cent of our capacity are modules sold to others.  Nearly 900 Mw in the total installed capacity of 5,000 Mw, is supplied by us. Our technology has also improved — energy generation efficiency has improved to 16.7 per cent from 11 per cent in 2011

How has the Indian solar market matured in terms of players?

There are two kinds of players in the Indian market. Developers like us, SunEdison, Azure Power, essentially breaking the initial risk capital to create an asset. Once they create an asset, the companies would like to turn these to long-term assets, recycle their money and keep bidding for more assets. Their value lies in risk mitigation of initial development constrictions and finance.

The other class of players are long-term asset owners — ideally, a utility which is willing to invest a lot of money at a predictable but low rate of return.

But, as the government is mitigating a lot of risk, we are witnessing long-term asset owners coming and building the projects. Many foreign utilities are coming in to take up capacity addition. This will lower cost of energy and create more demand.

Panel prices have been going down for over a year now. What are its impact on the Indian market and your operations?

Since 2014, we have seen a decline of five per cent in panel prices. Currently, the average market price of a panel is nearly 46 cents a unit. In 2012 it was more than $1 a unit. Most of this decline happened because of excess capacity in China where we are seeing consolidation and bankruptcies in major Chinese firms. All the Chinese players are our competitors in India.

In terms of competition, most Indian companies are targeting the domestic content requirement (DCR) segment, where the Indian government has reserved a certain capacity. We don’t play in this segment. Both, we and the Chinese players are at par in prices, considering the level of quality and efficiency. On levellised costs of energy basis, we are better than the Chinese. I don’t know what Indian panel costs are since we do not follow the segment. But, if you follow tariffs under DCR, the bids are slightly higher.

DCR is still being contested in World Trade Organization. Your comment?

In 2012, the government said they will reserve capacity for domestic firms but they excluded thin-films so we were not affected by that. The percentage of the National Solar Mission against the country’s total solar program was relatively small at 150 Mw and 350 Mw. But, states such as Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh did more and that’s when the WTO dispute happened. Subsequently, the government changed its stand. The restrictions are where the government is buying power and owning the assets. So, this is different from the DCR in 2012. I am not privy to discussions in WTO. As a policy, our stand is that we oppose any kind of market restrictions. We want the market to be accessible to all technologies. We as a company would continue to advocate against any kind of restrictive market access. Having said that, we think the Indian market is lot more open than any other solar market globally.

US-based solar energy panel maker First Solar was the first global entrant in the Indian market since the inception of the National Solar Mission in 2011. 

http://goo.gl/EqpbXo

Key Corporate and Industry Developments

Key corporate news

• UK business minister Sajid Javid is travelling to Mumbai to meet Tata Group Chairman Cyrus Mistry today to stave off the possible loss of thousands of jobs at TATA STEEL’s UK plant that could result from a sale or shutdown. (ET)
• The British government opened talks on Tuesday with potential buyers for TATA STEEL's UK operations, including Sanjeev Gupta's commodities company Liberty Group, as it stepped up its battle to find a buyer for the loss-making business. (Reuters)
• M&M has launched a new platform for tractors – YUVO which has the flexibility to roll out tractors in 32, 35, 40, 42 and 45 HP categories, covering over 75% of the tractor industry in India. (BL)
• TATAMOTORS banks on Tiago as its comeback car, launch today, will be rolled out of Sanand plant (FE)
• POWER GRID CORP has commissioned transmission projects worth ₹30,300 crore (unaudited) during 2015-16, which is the highest-ever commissioning achieved by the company. (BL)
• NTPC to stop coal imports on abundant local coal supply (ET)
• NTPC said Tuesday the board has approved investment proposals worth Rs. 3,104 crore for solar PV projects in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. (BL)
• Reliance Jio Infocomm could well stun the market, offering 0.5 paisa per 10 kb of data usage, which is substantially lower than the 4 paisa per 10 kb data being charged by India's top telcos Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Idea Cellular.(ET)
• LUPIN has launched a generic insomnia drug, Zolpidem Sublingual tablets, in the US market with 180-days of marketing exclusivity. (BL)
• AUROBINDO PHARMA has received approval from the US health regulator to market Polymyxin B for Injection, an anti-infective drug, in the American market. (BL)
• DISH TV pegs its FY17 capex need at about Rs 850cr, The Company is not looking to raise money through equity markets. Debt level will remain same or go down because of the free cash flow, said its CEO (ET)
• TATA COMMUNICATIONS has won a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract with Air France-KLM, to provide next-generation network connectivity to 170 sites. (BL)
• Public markets-focused PE firm WestBridge Capital Partners has added RELAXO FOOTWEARS LTD as its third new portfolio company this year. (VCC)
• Cash-strapped PROVOGUE shuts over 60 stores in 1-yr. Lenders are mulling invoking powers under SDR provisions (FE)
• BSE aims to list next year, its CEO said (Reuters)

Key Industry news

• The government will push for consolidation of public sector banks once they are capitalised and strengthened, FM said on Tuesday (ET)
• Emphasising the government was committed to reforms, FM on Tuesday said things appeared to be in the final round as far as the GST is concerned, while the bankruptcy Bill is expected to be taken up in the upcoming Parliament session.(PTI)
• India will review its decision of imposing a minimum import price (MIP) on steel on 12 April, two months after it was imposed. (VCC)
• RBI has ruled out any new non-resident deposit scheme to attract dollars while the special dollar-raising facility under FCNR (B), scheme it offered in 2013 will start maturing from September. (ET)
• RBI said it will explore possibilities of licensing other differentiated banks such as custodian banks and banks concentrating on wholesale and long-term financing. It added that it will come up with a discussion paper on the new categories by September 2016. (VCC)
• RBI will seek public comments to regulate the peer-to-peer lending business after a number of startups sprung up that connect individual borrowers or small businesses with lenders through a digital platform. (VCC)
• Health ministry has ordered government agencies to enforce a new rule for bigger health warnings on cigarette packs, stepping up a fight against the country's $10 billion cigarette industry that has shut down its factories in protest. (Reuters)
• Road construction has accelerated to an all-time high pace of 20km/day, Road Transport and Highways Minister said on Tuesday. (ET)
• Tractor industry leader M&M sees 10% growth this fiscal (FE)
• The civil aviation ministry is likely to abolish the ‘5/20 rule’ that bars companies from flying abroad unless they have flown in India for 5 years and have a fleet size of 20 aircraft (BS)
• A government body has issued notices to China, Japan and South Korea proposing to initiate a probe on the 'dumping' of some steel products into India. (Reuters)
• NSE seeks SEBI nod for commodity futures trade (ET)
• PE Funds infused $410 million in residential, office and retail projects in Jan-Mar 2016, as against $680 million a year ago (Mint)
• KKR raises $3.35B in second global special situations fund (VCC)
• Welspun Renewables Energy Pvt. Ltd’s plan to sell its portfolio of 1.1GW of renewable power assets has attracted interest from several local and foreign power producers (Mint)
• Bt cotton failure forces govt to promote native seeds (FE)
• Bihar has finally become a “dry state“ from Tuesday (ET)
• The global economy's already modest prospects will decline further unless authorities take stronger action to boost growth, the head of the IMF warned on Tuesday, saying the Fund would cut its headline forecasts next week. (Reuters)

Dwindling Deposits: The fall in deposit growth to the lowest in half a century

Dwindling deposits: The fall in deposit growth to the lowest in half a century calls for urgent policy attention

For the whole of last year, economy watchers fretted over sluggish credit offtake, citing this as evidence of the lack of animal spirits among Indian businesses. But just as green shoots have begun to spring up in the credit offtake numbers, there’s a new metric to worry about — deposit inflows. Latest data from RBI (end-March 2016) show aggregate deposit growth for banks at 9.9 per cent year-on-year. This is the lowest level of deposit growth seen in the economy since the 1960s. There’s no doubt a base effect at work here, as bank deposit flows today are at many times the level in the sixties. Nevertheless, dwindling deposit accretions are worrisome on three counts. One, if deposit inflows were to dry up just as credit offtake is picking up, banks, which are already liquidity-constrained, may find it hard to step up their lending to stimulate the economy. Credit-deposit ratios are already tightening with deposit growth (9.9 per cent) lagging credit growth (11.3 per cent). Two, it is unusual for deposit accretions to slow down amid moderating inflation. With consumer price inflation now at 5.2 per cent, we are in the midst of a rare phase where the real returns on bank deposits are positive (1-year deposits offer 7-8 per cent). Three, while it would be easy to attribute this slowdown in deposit inflows to low income growth, the sharp 15 per cent jump in ‘currency with the public’ that is, liquid cash sloshing around in the economy, belies this.

A partial explanation for lower deposit flows could be that retail savers have been shopping for financial instruments that offer better post-tax returns, as banks pruned their deposit rates by 100 basis points or so in the last one year. There’s only anecdotal evidence to support this. Small savings schemes have raked in net flows of Rs. 49,500 crore in the first eight months of 2015-16. But this is a relatively small proportion of annual bank deposit flows of Rs. 8-9 lakh crore. Mutual funds have attracted net flows of over Rs. 2 lakh crore, but the number isn’t much changed from last year. Given that these statistics don’t entirely explain the lower accretion to banks, the conclusion is that both households and businesses have taken to stockpiling cash, even if it means a sacrifice on returns.

This is clearly an unhealthy sign. It could signal that all the adverse news flow around banks and bad loans is beginning to take a toll on depositor confidence. In this case, the Centre and the RBI need to urgently reach out to the lay public with more confidence-building measures on behalf of banks. Or, despite all the statistical evidence, the Indian public is taking the official inflation numbers with a pinch of salt. In either case, it is clear that it is premature for policymakers to take for granted the mild uptick in financial savings witnessed in the past year. This is another factor for the RBI to ponder, along with the other variables, as it weighs further easing in its upcoming policy review.

http://goo.gl/ci1f13

Borrowing: The new rate regime - MCLR

Borrowing: The new rate regime-MCLR

Banks will decide the interest rate based on marginal cost of fund where they have to regularly calculate their cost of funds and the change has to be passed on to the borrowers by revising their benchmark. The earlier benchmark was base rate, which was calculated to reflect the average cost of funds. The base rate did not change if banks lowered deposit rates as existing deposits continued to earn interest on old rates. In marginal cost of lending rate (MCLR), if a bank cuts its one-year deposit rate, its one-year MCLR will decline and lending rates will also drop.

Home loans, term loans to small and medium enterprises and middle-level corporates will largely fall into this category. However, fixed rate home loans, personal loans and auto loans will not be linked to MCLR. The Reserve Bank of India had issued guidelines on MCLR in December last year which have come into effect on April 1.

The central bank has underlined that the actual lending rates will be determined by adding the components of spread to the MCLR. Accordingly, there will be no lending below the MCLR of a particular maturity for all loans linked to that benchmark. The reference benchmark rate used for pricing the loans should form part of the terms of the loan contract.

As a result, the country’s largest lender, State Bank of India has reduced its lending rates. Home loan EMIs will fall by Rs300 for those who avail of Rs50 lakh for 15 years as the bank reduced its home loan rate to 9.45% from 9.55%. Current borrowers of SBI will also have the option to switch to the new rates, but will have to pay a small switching fee. Under the MCLR regime, SBI’s benchmark rate would range between 8.85% (for overnight) and 9.35% (for three years). Similarly, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank have also made one-year MCLR of 9.2%.

Analysts say MCLR is more transparent and beneficial for borrowers as they do not have to wait for the average cost of deposits for a bank to come down. The MCLR will be determined by the marginal cost for funds, especially by the deposit rate and by the repo rate. Any change in repo rate will change the marginal cost and the MCLR would also change.

The MCLR will be reviewed based on the prevailing costs of funds. As MCLR will be tenor-based benchmark instead of a single rate, it will enable banks to efficiently price loans at different tenors based on different MCLR and their funding composition. The final lending rates offered by the banks will include the spread to the MCLR.

However, existing borrowers with loans linked to the base rate will have to continue with base rate till repayment of the entire loan. Banks may provide an option to the existing borrower to switch to MCLR by paying a conversion fee which will be determined by the banks. If the existing borrower switches to MCLR, then he will not be able to go back to the base rate system again.

Analysts say if the interest rates tend to fall, then it benefits borrowers of home loan to be on MCLR. However, if the rates move up, then the hike in MCLR will be much swifter. Moreover, banks will still set a spread on loans depending on the type of loan and the credit history of the borrower. Spread means that banks can charge higher interest rate depending upon the riskiness of the borrower.

In 2010, the central bank had introduced the base rate system to ensure that banks do not lend below a certain rate and that the changes in interest rate policy is effectively transmitted to the borrower. However, that did not happen. While the central bank has reduced the repo rate by 125 basis points (bps) since January 2015, banks have reduced their base rate by only 66 bps, and in contrast, deposit rate by 118 bps.

The base rate was calculated on the basis of a host of factors such as the cost for the funds or the interest given for deposits, operating expenses of the bank, minimum rate of return or profit, and the cost for the cash reserve ratio. Banks have pointed out that one of the reasons for weak monetary policy transmission was because a bulk of their borrowing was through deposits rather through the market.

Rate calculator
Home loans, term loans to small and medium enterprises and middle-level corporates will largely fall into the marginal cost of lending rate (MCLR) category.

Analysts say MCLR is more transparent and beneficial for borrowers as they do not have to wait for the average cost of deposits for a bank to come down.

The MCLR will be determined by the marginal cost for funds, especially by the deposit rate and by the repo rate. Any change in repo rate will change the marginal cost and the MCLR would also change.

http://goo.gl/xGj9Ux

Key Corporate & Industry News

Perceptive ahead of RBI policy meet today

• The economist at Markit, said, “March’s survey suggests that inflationary pressures in manufacturing are on the upside, with cost burdens rising at the quickest pace in three months and output charge inflation reaching a 16-month high. Falls in commodity and oil prices were offset by the weaker rupee, making imported raw materials costlier. This build-up in inflationary pressures may lead RBI to hold off from cutting rates, especially as solid growth was seen.” However, govt’s resolution to check the fiscal deficit for FY17, slashing rates on small saving schemes and subdued commodity prices, including oil, give hope that RBI may at most cut repo by 25bps to gauge trade-off between growth & inflation.
• Corporate borrowers may continue to go to the CP market to meet their short-term working capital requirements because money market rates continue to remain attractive compared with MCLR (marginal cost of funds-based lending rate). Even if RBI cuts the repo by 25bps, further transmission of rates post MCLR, looks challenging to banking sector, especially from PSB space, as that may compress their NIMs and they have to absorb additional burden from incremental NPAs. Already the Return on Assets (RoA) have reached to pathetic levels, much below to RBI’s prescription norms of 0.25%. Credit-deposit ratios are already tightening with deposit growth (9.9 per cent) lagging credit growth (11.3 per cent) as retail savers have been shopping for financial instruments that offer better post-tax returns shunning term deposits. 

Key corporate news

• RELIANCE INDUSTRIES has let go of at least half the 1,600-odd contracted field engineering officers involved in rolling out telecom arm Jio's pan-India 4G network, saying their work is over. (ET)
• MARUTI SUZUKI upbeat on double-digit growth in FY17; aims to buck industry trend again (BL)
• Fitch Ratings has downgraded JSW STEEL rating with the negative outlook on concerns over prolonged weak international steel prices and high leverage. (BL)
• Blackstone Group is buying a majority stake in Indian IT outsourcing services provider Mphasis Ltd from Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co in an up to $1.1 billion all-cash deal. It also made an open offer to buy a 26% stake in Mphasis from public shareholders for Rs457.54/share to comply with Indian laws. (Reuters)
• KANSAI NEROLAC is optimistic of accelerating growth in FY17 on the back of very aggressive pricing and marketing strategy. (BL)
• Equitas Holdings, the small finance bank licence holder, has roped in several domestic investors as anchor investors by raising Rs652cr ahead of IPO opening today (ET)
• Banks that had acquired JYOTI STRUCTURES under debt restructuring rules, are now getting ready to sell off its assets piecemeal. It has defaulted on loans of more than Rs2,000 crore (ET)
• Lenders to ABG SHIPYARD have decided to issue a public notice inviting expression of interest (EOI) from buyers keen to pick up a controlling stake in the company. The consortium is led by ICICI Bank Ltd and SBI.
• GAMMON INDIA to sell EPC business to GP Group,Thailand for Rs250cr (FE)
• Rs 800 crore loan from CORPORATION BANK without verification; court asks Finance Ministry, RBI to look into it (ET)

Key Industry news

• Indian Oil Corp (IOC) hiked transport fuel rates from Tuesday, increasing petrol by Rs.2.19 a litre and diesel by 98 paise - both at Delhi, with corresponding increase in other states, on the back of a further hardening of global crude oil rates. (IANS)
• The manufacturing PMI rose to 52.4 in March from 51.1 over the previous two months. March data highlighted a third successive monthly rise in order books associated with improved demand from domestic and external clients.
• A majority of the banks in India favour a Banks Board that can help mitigate and manage the risks of the banking industry, according to a survey conducted by KPMG, ahead of its first meeting on 8 Apr The survey said said that in a slow growth environment, banks which make efficient use of models/analytics are likely to grow at a higher rate. (IANS)
• Centre to bid out power transmission projects associated with new solar parks through tariff based competitive bidding estimated at Rs30,000-50,000cr (FE)
• Number of stalled projects highest since Modi govt took office, CMIE data reveals. CMIE adds that consumer sentiments drop and unemployment rate up in March (Mint & FE)
• No immediate credit quality improvement in sight. Indebted firms and metal-linked sectors will continue to face considerable challenge. Situation could reverse if metal prices recovers sharply, said a CRISIL note (BS)
• Realty players unhappy with the recent hike in ready reckoner rates in Mumbai, as they say cost of development will rise (BS)
• India’s gold import drop 34% in Feb to 37 tonne (Reuters)
• Truck rentals up 4%, may maintain trend till Sept (FE)
• The government is considering allowing FDI in online retail of food products (ET)
• The government has no plans to privatise national carrier Air India, a senior official said on Monday. (IANS)
• SEBI plans to allow trading in weather derivatives, a financial instrument for managing this risk in the agricultural sector. Panel meets this week to further discuss issues in this regard (BS)
• SEBI’s technical advisory committee has recommended action against NSE after finding evidence that some traders on the exchange had unfair access to market data and trading systems. (Mint)
• India’s basmati rice export is likely to remain under pressure till 1H’17, on excess supply in destination markets: ICRA
• Multi-Agency Group set up to track 500 Indians on Panama Papers list. The group, set up on PM's advice, includes CBDT, FIU, FT&TR and RBI (PTI)
• Adani Group is looking at buying the local assets of SunEdison, the world’s largest renewable energy company, which is battling a liquidity crisis and facing potential bankruptcy in the US (Reuters)
• TRAI seeks to make set-top boxes interoperable (Mint)

Key Corporate & Industry News

Key corporate news

• ITC said it was not ready to print bigger health warnings on its packs as mandated by the government and will keep its factories shut until clarity emerges on the new rules. (Reuters)
• RELIANCE INDUSTRIES launched online fashion portal Ajio.com to offer the largest collection of private labels for women online. (Mint)
• Steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta keen on buying Tata Steel’s Port Talbot plants (PTI)
• ADANI PORTS gets Tamilnadu govt nod to buy Kattupalli port from L&T (Mint)
• CBI closes preliminary enquiry on Ramchandi coal block allocation to JINDAL STEEL (BS)
• JINDAL STEEL’s FY16 sales volume rose 30% to 4.4mt (3.4mt) while production rose by 24% at 4.5mt (3.7mt ) (PTI)
• GODREJ CONSUMER (GCPL) has bought Strength of Nature LLC (SON), which is into hair care products for women of African descent having CY15 revenue of $95m (Rs629cr). SON, a US-based company with a significant presence in Africa and the Caribbean, has a large portfolio of products in wet hair care across relaxers and shampoos. GCPL said the deal is EPS accretive. (VCC)
• SHRIRAM TRANPORT FINANCE to get $150m IFC credit line for higher exposure to MSMEs (FE)
• IBREALESTATE issued shares worth Rs292cr to promoter group firms for conversion of warrants (FE)
• COAL INDIA output grew by 8.5% to 536mt in FY16, but missed target of 550mt: Coal Secretary, GoI (PTI)
• JET AIRWAYS to replace 6 wide-body Airbus A330s with wide-body Boeing-777 planes for long-haul international routes; planning to hire 50 expat pilots (PTI)
• BEL revenue up 12% to Rs7510cr in FY16 (BS)
• ADANI ENTERPRISES was on Sunday awarded mining leases for the Carmichael mega coal project in Australia, moving a step closer to starting work at the controversial mine. (Mint)
• RICOH INDIA sent top management, including its CEO and MD, on leave after BSE accused it of non-compliance w.r.t nono-filing of limited review reports for Sept & Dec’15 qrs (BS)
• FIEM INDUSTRIES on Saturday said it has inked a pact with Japan’s Kyowa to set up a joint venture firm to cater to produce moulds and tooling for the automotive segment. (PTI)
• Suzlon Group announced on Saturday that it has appointed J P Chalasani as its Group CEO.(PTI)
• Sequoia Capital-backed Prataap Snacks selling products under the brand “Yellow Diamond” is looking at an IPO that could see the firm raise around Rs400-500 crore (Mint)
• Vini Cosmetics that makes Fogg deodorant, plans to raise Rs400 crore in FY17 from private equity players as he eyes acquisitions in the skincare and haircare space.(ET)
• Patanjali Ayurved plans to raise Rs1000cr debt in FY16 (ET)
• DTDC Express plans to invest USD 80-100m over the next 12-18 months in expansion and technology (IANS)

Key Industry news

• The Climate Forecast System (CFS) of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) predicts mostly normal and sometimes heavy rainfall across the country barring parts of coastal Gujarat, western Rajasthan, northern Kashmir and parts of the Northeast. (ET)
• NITI Aayog to submit PSU strategic sale road map this month (PTI)
• The credit and deposit of the Indian banking system grew at 11.3% and 9.9% respectively in FY16 (BS)
• Indirect Tax collection at Rs7.09t exceeded the revised estimates of Rs7.04t for FY16 (BS)
• OMCs raise jet fuel price by 8.7% on Friday (FE)
• Aviation consultancy CAPA has revised its FY16 profitability outlook for domestic airlines. It expects industry-wide losses to reduce to $500-550 million, down from the earlier estimated $680-750 million due to 10% lower proportion of fuel cost to revenue Y/Y (BS)
• Private Indian airlines will be allowed to bid for operations on loss-making regional routes where the government will provide subsidy as part of the regional connectivity plan, a top aviation ministry official has said. (ET)
• The asset size of India’s mutual fund (MF) industry has grown 14% to Rs13.53 t in FY16, from Rs11.88 t in FY15. ICICI MF, HDFC MF, RELIANCE MF, SBI MF and UTI MF were top 5 fund houses stayed in the pegging order. (BS)
• India is likely to impose anti-dumping duty on import of certain types of iron and steel pipes from China used in drilling for oil and gas exploration to protect domestic manufacturers. (ET)
• Private equity (PE) investment in India increased 24% to $3.6 billion in the first quarter 2016, against $2.92 billion in the same quarter last year: Venture Intelligence (BL)
• The Bengaluru Debts Recovery Tribunal (DRT) has directed Nitin Kasliwal, promoters of S Kumars Nationwide (lenders’ exposure Rs2500cr), to deposit his passport on April 5 (ET)
• Service Tax Dept to sell Mallya’s planes to recover ~Rs535cr in dues (BS)
• PM to launch Tuesday start-up scheme for SCs/STs with loans in the range of Rs.10 lakh to Rs.100 lakh (IANS)
• Sugar stocks to fall 18% by end of current marketing year, said industry body ISMA (FE)
• Paradip Port to raise capacity from 118.5mtpa to 325mtpa by 2025 to become India’s biggest port (FE)