Booster Dose #2: RBI cuts rates, eases credit availability, warns of painful adjustment

On Saturday, the RBI presented its part of the stimulus package, a combination of interest rate cuts, credit flow improvement, relief to exporters and rescuing banks from showing red ink on their books. Since mid-September, the RBI claims to have made available primary liquidity of Rs 300,000 crore. While the October crisis has blown over, when money evaporated from the system, it still does not appear as if there is money sloshing around.
 

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JSW Steel and Severfield Structures form JV for steel structurals

JSW Steel, India’s third largest steel-maker, will make steel structurals in a joint venture with Severfield Structures. JSW Severfield Structures will be a 50:50 JV, with JSW’s investment being routed through a subsidiary, JSW Building Systems. The JV will spend ₤30mn pounds or Rs 220 crore to set up a plant that will fabricate 35,000 tonnes of structural steel.
 

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RBI pours cash, govt readies for more goodies for banks

India’s economic actions today resembled that of the US today: concerted action to restore confidence in the monetary system. Strange, that the system should have been exposed to be so weak when we supposedly had none of the rot that had permeated the US banking system. Makes one really wonder what went wrong. Maybe we will get to know sometime; at present all one knows is that there is a liquidity crunch, which is being blamed on various factors, ranging from rising credit demand, drying overseas fund markets, FII outflows and whatever else. Continue Reading →

HCL bids for Axon Global, teases Infosys

HCL Technologies, as was rumoured, made its move to acquire Axon Global, spoiling Infosys’ party mood. The Delhi-based IT company has launched a counter-bid for Axon Global, which will make Axon shareholders happy, but also ups the acquisition cost for Infosys. HCL’s initial bid of 650 pence a share, through its UK-subsidiary HCL EAS, is just an invitation to start a bidding war. With just an 8.3% premium to Infy’s offer price, Infosys will most certainly make a counter-bid.
 

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