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Crisil, the credit rating agency, has sold a majority stake in Gas Strategies Group, in a management buyout transaction. Crisil had paid 1.5mn pounds to acquire a 100% stake in the Gas Strategies Group (then known as EconoMatters) in December 2003. As of December 2007, it held 400,000 shares of Gas Strategies Group with a book value of Rs 16.2 crore.
The government has issued 7% fertiliser bonds worth Rs 10,000 crore to 23 companies, representing the subsidy given during FY09. These bonds are not eligible to be kept with banks as SLR but can be bought by insurance companies, in the ‘other approved securities’ list and as special bonds by PF/Gratuity/Superannuation funds. Moreover, they can also be eligible for repo transactions.
Here are some ideas to bring the economy back on the growth track. Some of these could be permanent, yet others could be temporary till the situation improves.
Continue ReadingThis is the third instalment of the weekend stimulus package. The government has lowered the cenvat rate by 4% across all rate slabs: 14%, 12% and 8%. The ad valorem duty on cars has been reduced to 20% from 24%, but it is still higher compared to the highest cenvat rate.
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.
The Indian government has been attempting several measures to boost economic growth. From today, petrol and diesel prices have been reduced by 10% and 6% respectively due to a sharp fall in crude oil prices. The Indian government is in the midst of putting together a package to prevent a recession.
Company fixed deposits (FD) were once hot with companies and investors. They enticed investors with slightly higher interest rates and offered a little more to shareholders and investors. But as the fund raising options before corporates increased and India entered into a stable and falling interest rate regime, companies began to close their FD schemes. The main reasons were the slightly higher interest rates, commission to agents, administrative costs and compliance which made it unatttractive.
Continue ReadingBeing part of the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty is a privilege for a company, a sign that you have arrived. Apart from the snob value, it gives a relative boost to a company’s market capitalisation.
Maruti Suzuki’s sales flash for November’08 looks scary and explains why the auto industry is going on a production slowdown. It sold 52,711 cars during November 2008, down a fifth from the same period last year, and domestic sales were down 27% to 47,704 vehicles. In October –which people thought was a bad month– the respective figures were 7% and 8% respectively.
Carborundum Universal (Cumi), the Murugappa group owned industrial abrasives company, is adding to its silicon carbide capacity in Russia, through Volzhsky Abrasive Works (VAW), the company it acquired in September 2007. It will spend $50mn or about Rs 250 crore to build a new plant in the Volgograd region, Russia.