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The Reserve Bank of India held benchmark interest rates constant and left liquidity untouched, and did not cut the cash reserve ratios, as was being speculated. But that was not the big takeaway from the credit policy announcements.
The central bank has indicated that it is done with interest rate hikes, given signs of moderating inflation and slowing growth, and will now shift to using interest rate cuts to jumpstart growth again.
Bank of India is returning to the asset management industry after a long interval, by buying a 51% stake in Bharti Axa Investment Managers. Bharti Axa is a joint venture between Bharti Ventures and the Axa group. Bharti had decided to exit its financial services joint ventures with Axa, in the insurance and asset management businesses.
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India’s travel and tourism market in 2011 is seeing healthy demand, going by the numbers being put out by the Ministry of Tourism.
In September, foreign tourist arrivals rose by 8.7% to 4.01 lakh numbers, and as we head into the main tourist season, the Indian tourism industry is set to end 2011 on a high note.
Spending by foreign tourists, labelled as foreign exchange earnings by the government, rose by 23% in rupee terms and by 19% in dollar terms in September, over the year ago period.
Pantaloon Retail (India)’s board of directors approved a proposal to raise equity funds of up to Rs 1,500 crore. The board has told the company to restrict equity dilution to a maximum of 15%, and to limit its debt to equity ratio to 1.33 times. Pantaloon has postponed its annual general meeting from 22 October to 10 November, giving it time to seek permission for the equity issue from its shareholders in the AGM itself.
Alfa Laval (India), a listed multinational and maker of specialised engineering equipment such as heat exchangers, separation and fluid handling equipment, may get delisted from the Indian stock exchanges. The company said its board will meet on September 19 to consider a delisting proposal from its parent company Alfa Laval Corporate AB Sweden.
In the Indian banking scene, regulation can often trip up intermediaries. Axis Bank’s acquisition of Enam’s investment banking business appeared to be stuck in a regulatory quagmire, first announced in November 2010.
The Reserve Bank of India’s credit policy announcements met expectations, except of those people who thought today will signal the end of the rate hike juggernaut. The few who feared the RBI may hike the repo rate by 50 basis points were off the mark, however. The majority were expecting a 25 basis point hike, which is what the central bank has done.
Apollo Global Management had announced in end-June that it proposes to invest about Rs 1,575 crore in steel pipe-maker Welspun Corp and affiliated companies. Welspun’s share closed at Rs 169 the day before the deal was announced. Apollo was to invest in a combination of debentures and global depositary receipts, at a conversion price of Rs 225, indicating a premium of about 33%.
If Bharti Airtel led the way with an asset-light model in the telecommunication industry, Hotel Leelaventure (Hotel Leela) is attempting to do something similar in the hospitality industry.
The 5-star hotel operator said it will sell its Kovalam property to Ravindran B Pillai, or Ravi B Pillai, who owns the Saudi Arabia-based Nasser S. Al Hajri Corporation, an industrial contractor operating in the Middle East.
The Competition Commission of India has imposed a penalty of Rs 630 crore on real estate developer DLF, for abusing its dominant position.
The commission said that DLF had a dominant position in the market for high-end residential properties in Gurgaon, and it imposed unfair conditions on consumers who had booked flats in these properties.