Wassup Trackpad

IOC to invest Rs 15,000 crore at Panipat

IOC, the nation’s largest oil firm, plans to invest about Rs 15,000 crore in a raising capacity at its Panipat refinery in Haryana by 34 per cent to 20.2 million tonnes by 2020. The expansion will take at least five years. IOC owns and operates eight refineries and had only a few weeks ago added its ninth refinery.

HDFC to raise Rs 5,000 crore NCDs

The country’s largest mortgage lender has plans to raise Rs 5,000 crore by issuing non-convertible debenture (NCDs) and warrants to institutional investors to fund its business growth. The NCDs, together with the warrants, will be issued to qualified institutional buyers (QIB). Warrants holders could exchange warrants with equity shares of HDFC within a period of five years at the discretion of the board.

PVR acquire DT Cinema for Rs 500 crore

PVR Ltd., the largest multiplex firm in the country, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the cinema exhibition business of DLF Utilities for Rs 500 crore. DT Cinemas, DLF’s multiplex subsidiary, currently operates 29 screens with approximately 6,000 seats across eight properties in the National Capital Region (NCR) and Chandigarh. In the next 12 months, DT Cinemas proposes to add 10 new screens at two properties in NCR. Currently, PVR has 467 screens across 105 locations in 43 cities.

ITDC shares jump on disinvestment news

Hotels run by the India Tourism Development Corporation, a central public sector enterprise operating under the Ministry of Tourism & Culture, can be revived with some investment and government action. After a gap of eight years the company made sales of over Rs 500 crore and paid 20 per cent dividend to the government. In an attempt to meet the ambitious disinvestment target, the government is planning to sell loss-making ITDC hotels as a part of their strategic stake sales. The ministry has already begun the process for disinvestment of the government’s stake in eight of the 16 hotels under the ITDC banner.

Third interest rate cut of the year

In order to provide a fresh impetus to the economy, on June 2 the Reserve Bank of India cut the interest rates for the third time this year. With inflation having subsided, it has now provided the necessary headroom to the apex bank to cut the interest rates. RBI has also indicated that there is a likelihood of more rate cuts despite the fact that there could be a below average monsoon. RBI has cut the repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.25 per cent. In January and March too there was a cut of 25 basis points. This step of the RBI came after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s remarks about the need for lower rate of interest to give a boost to the economy. After the rate cut announcement RBI Governer Raghuram Rajan said, “We still have very weak investments. We haven’t seen a strong pick-up.” About the pace of the economy as a whole he remarked, “In general, the corporate results have been quite weak, also suggesting that the final demand is yet to pick up strongly.”

Cabinet approves Rs 6,000-crore interest-free loan to sugar mills

The Union Cabinet on June 10 approved an interest-free loan of Rs 6,000 crore to sugar mills so that they can pay arrears to farmers. Importantly, interest won’t be charged on this loan for a year and it will be borne by the government from its sugar development fund. “The money will go directly to farmers through their Jan Dhan accounts,” Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said, while briefing the media. Sugar producing companies have been demanding government’s intervention in this matter since long as they have been struggling to pay huge cane arrears estimated at over Rs 21,000 crore. In another important development, the Cabinet also approved a hike in the price of ethanol. Following the announcement, sugar companies’ stocks have shown a decent spurt at the bourses with Bajaj Hindusthan, Sakthi Sugars, Shree Renuka Sugars and Oudh Sugar Mills witnessing a surge in their stocks. The shares of Balrampur Chini Mills, Dhampur Sugar Mills etc. also jacked up.