FDI: Disinvestment obligation may go

With a view to removing an irritant for foreign investors, the government is likely to do away with rules that put an obligation, mainly on overseas oil firms, to disinvest part of their equity to Indian investors.

The Petroleum Ministry has agreed to the proposal of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and it would be taken to the Cabinet along with the general review of the FDI policy in September.

"The obligation to disinvest has not served any great public purpose. In most of the cases, it ended up being a bureaucratic hassle for the foreign firms operating in India," a senior official said.

Read more in Financial Express

India FX market boom fuels high salaries

The salaries of foreign exchange traders in India are expected to jump by up to 30 per cent this year, as the rising rupee stokes demand for hedging services and trading volumes swell.

Some traders are now earning as much as their counterparts in Asian centres like Singapore, and keeping experienced staff is increasingly expensive. Banks face turnover of up to a fifth of staff each year.

"Retention is the name of the game. Banks don't mind paying heavily for it. Treasury is making so much money that they don't mind sharing a bit of the profits," said Tzeitel Fernandes at human resources firm Hewitt Associates.

Read more in Financial Express

India FX market boom fuels high salaries

The salaries of foreign exchange traders in India are expected to jump by up to 30 per cent this year, as the rising rupee stokes demand for hedging services and trading volumes swell.

Some traders are now earning as much as their counterparts in Asian centres like Singapore, and keeping experienced staff is increasingly expensive. Banks face turnover of up to a fifth of staff each year.

"Retention is the name of the game. Banks don't mind paying heavily for it. Treasury is making so much money that they don't mind sharing a bit of the profits," said Tzeitel Fernandes at human resources firm Hewitt Associates.

Read more in Financial Express

Asia faces challenges from capital flows

Asia's emerging economies are struggling to find ways of coping with adverse market volatility arising from fast flows of global capital, Bank of Thailand Governor Tarisa Watanagase said on Saturday.

Senior officials from South East Asian central banks meeting in Bangkok, hoped to seek the views of the International Monetary Fund on how to adjust policies in response to recent volatile capital flows experienced in the region, Tarisa said in a speech to regional central bankers.

"The increased volatility has posed challenges to central banks in maintaining monetary and financial stability," the governor said.

Inflation dips to 4.36 per cent

India's wholesale price index rose 4.36 per cent in the 12 months to July 21, lower than the previous week's 4.41 per cent due to a fall in food prices, government data showed on Friday.

The rate matched a median forecast of 4.36 per cent in a Reuters poll of analysts.

The annual inflation rate was 4.72 per cent during the corresponding week of the previous year.

The wholesale price index is more closely watched than the consumer price index, which is published monthly, because it covers a higher number of products and is published weekly.

Gold bounces back, silver advances further

Gold prices bounced back on the bullion market on fresh stockists demand triggered by smart rise in the international markets.

Silver also firmed up further on sustained industrial demand coupled with higher global advices.

Standard gold (99.5 purity) recovered by Rs 90 per ten grams to Rs 8,825 from Rs 8,735 yesterday.

Read more in Financial Express

Govt grants environmental clearance to Posco

The government has granted environmental clearance to South Korean steel giant Posco's 12 million integrated steel project in Orissa, removing a major roadblock in the way of the Rs 52,000 crore plant.

"The Ministry of Environment and Forests has given the environmental clearance for Posco's mega steel project at Kujang near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa," highly-placed official sources said.

Read more in Financial Express

Barclays confident on ABN, but share price key

British bank Barclays Plc said it was still confident of succeeding with its takeover bid for Dutch rival ABN AMRO, but acknowledged that much will depend on its share price in the next two months.

"Am I confident about our ability to win the ABN AMRO merger? Yes I am, but I recognize there is a significant dependency on where our stock is trading at the relevant time," Barclays Chief Executive John Varley told reporters on a conference call accompanying its results.

Read more in Financial Express

IFCI to invite EOIs from Aug 3

India's oldest financial institution IFCI said it will invite expressions of interest for inducting a strategic partner from August 13.

IFCI is selling a 26 per cent stake as part of its plan to sell assets to improve the financial performance. Ernst & Young was appointed as advisor for the stake sale.

"The board has approved draft document submitted by Ernst & Young for inviting expressions of interest and the process would begin on August 13," IFCI Chief Executive Officer Atul Rai said.

Read more in Financial Expres

Genpact soars 20% in debut trade on NYSE

Shares of India's largest BPO Genpact surged nearly 20 per cent over its issue price in its debut trade at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

The scrip settled at 16.75 dollars, up 19.64 per cent over its issue price of 14 dollars a share, after touching an intra-day high of 17.10 dollars at the NYSE on Thursday.

Global consultancy Dealogic has termed the initial public offering of Genpact, a spin-off of General Electric Company, as the 11th biggest IPO in the US so far in 2007.

Read more in Financial Express

RIL gets ministry rap for oil retail delay

The petroleum ministry has rapped Reliance Industries for failing to meet its obligations of opening and operating 10 per cent of its petrol and diesel retail outlets in remote and low-service areas.

In its reply to a recent ministry communication to this effect, the company has said that this was because of the government control on prices of auto fuels resulting in losses from the overall fuel retailing business.

RIL, along with private sector companies, Shell and Essar, was given permission to retail automobile fuels in the country in 2002. RIL’s plan was to open almost 5,000 retail outlets across the country, but the company has so far opened around 1,800 retail outlets.

Read more in Business Standard

More global giants likely to bid for NELP-VII

ExxonMobil, the world's largest oil company, and ConocoPhillips and Chevron of the United States, are likely to participate in India's seventh round of the New Exploration and Licensing Policy (NELP-VII), according to Director General of Hydrocarbons V K Sibal.

This will significantly swell the ranks of international oil giants keen to
participate in the auction of oil blocks for exploration and production in
India.

None of the three participated in the sixth round of auctions in March this year, when the government allotted 55 blocks.

Read more in Business Standard

Crashes let big FIIs grab shares worth Rs676cr

Jitters in overseas markets sent the domestic bourses crashing twice in the past eight days, but foreign investors were busy grabbing stocks here seeing attractive buying opportunities after the 1,000-point plunge.

Some big names of the FII clan, including Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup, purchased stocks worth over Rs 676 crore between July 27 and August 1, when the market recorded its two biggest crashes of this fiscal.

Interestingly, most purchases were recorded on these two days only, even as the overall market sentiment was bearish following the 542 and 615-point fall in the benchmark Sensex.

An analysis of the bulk and block deals recorded on the stocks exchanges shows that foreign funds purchased shares worth Rs 676.32 crore in the period when the Sensex tanked over 1,000 points in two routs between July 27 and August 1.

Besides, the funds are believed to have purchased additional stocks in smaller quantities, but their exact estimates could not be known. Bulk deal refers to trading in a company's shares for over 0.5% of the total shares of the firm listed on the exchange.

ICAI's entrance test paper leaked in Delhi

The question paper of one of the toughest exams in the country- the common proficiency test (CPT) - leaked in the morning today creating panic amongst those taking the test. The news of the paper leak broke in the morning when the exam had already started. The exam however continued for the second session.

CPT is the entrance examination for those aspiring to be Chartered Accountants and is conducted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the premier accounting body in the country. The leak, as of now has been detected only in two centers of Delhi, however the institute will look into other centres as well before taking a final decision.

Read more in Business Standard

Wkly Tech Analysis: Sensex may touch 14,650

The markets exhibited high volatility last week. After a strong start, the major indices witnessed significant correction, only to bounce back and cut losses at the end of the week.

The Sensex rallied to an intra-week high of 15,569, up 333 points from the previous week’s close. However, a mid-week correction, amid global markets meltdown, saw the index tumbling to a low of 14,896, down 672 points from the week’s high. The Sensex recovered some of its lost ground and ended at 15,138, down 96 points for the week.

Last week, we had mentioned that the Sensex may test its near-term support of 14,935. As against our support level, the index made a low of 14,896. The pullback, as it has been on low volumes, looks unconvincing.

Read more in Business Standard