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NASDAQ listed Customers Bancorp Inc. is investing $51million or Rs 310 crore in the Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh promoted financial services company Religare Enterprises. The stake purchase comes at a time when a bunch of companies are applying for a banking license to be one of the new batch of private sector banks to enter the Indian market.
Continue ReadingAnil Ambani group company Reliance Communications’ stock price jumped by 10.9% after it announced a tie-up with the Mukesh Ambani group telecom company Reliance Jio Infocomm. Reliance Communications will open up its optic fibre network to Reliance Jio which has a license for nationwide 4G services. A recent government decision means that it can also provide voice services by paying a one-time fee. Reliance Industries owns a majority stake in Reliance Jio.
Continue ReadingDLF took yet another step forward in divesting its non-core assets. The real estate major is selling a large part of its wind energy business to a clean energy start-up Bharat Light & Power (BLP). Its wind energy division can generate up to 227 megawatts of wind energy through installations in 4 Indian states. Revenue from wind energy generation in 2011-12 was Rs 107.6 crore compared to total revenue of Rs 3,447 crore in its standalone financials.
Continue ReadingMuthoot Finance, whose main business is lending against gold as collateral, announced a 10.4% increase in its income from operations to Rs 1,354 crore in the December 2012 quarter, compared to a year ago.
The company’s lending costs were in check during the quarter, rising by 9.9%. But operational costs rose significantly higher than revenues did, rising by 19.8%, partly attributable to expansion and also perhaps due to provisioning for bad loans.
Continue ReadingAre auctions the only method for allocating natural resources was a question that was hanging fire since the Supreme Court’s verdict on the 2G scam was issued. The government, through a presidential reference, requested the Supreme Court to give its opinion on this issue, and a few other issues related to the 2G judgement. The SC’s opinion was critical, as it would set to rest any doubts about interpreting the judgement.
Continue ReadingThe Reserve Bank of India disappointed those who were looking to it, to complete a troika of measures to lift up investor sentiment. Last week, the European Central Bank said it would buy sovereign euro bonds without any limit, and the US Federal Reserve said it would launch a quantitative easing program that would continue for as long as economic conditions remained weak. Then, the Indian government followed up with a series of reforms, including cutting diesel prices and allowing FDI in a few high profile sectors.
Was it the harsh criticism of the government, especially the Prime Minister, in international circles that did the trick, or did the government just muster the courage required to the bite the reform bullet? The answer is unclear and perhaps the real story will be told in the coming weeks and even months.
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Is the government on a suicide mission? Its move to hike diesel prices by 12% is a very steep hike in a sensitive fuel item, one which directly affects farmers, and has a cascading effect on a number of goods and services such as public transport, and food items.
Continue ReadingIt was inevitable, one could say. Infosys Technologies’ acquisition of IT consulting firm Lodestone Management Consultants finally answers a question journalists and analysts have never tired of asking the company. The company has a mountain of cash that keeps growing over the years; at last count it had reached $3.2 billion or Rs 17,760 crore as of June 30, 2012. But it has never made a large acquisition, leading to questions on whether it is being too conservative. Those questions have some answers now.
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