Equity Research Report 30 November 2015 Ways2Capital

TECHNICAL TREND ( NIFTY - BANK NIFTY FUTURES ) CNX NIFTY - Markets recorded their weekly gain in this week, with the Nifty opening up for second week on Monday at 7869 after long time undervalued of index at 7750-7800. We witnessed a spirited recovery around 8000-8100 level helped by short covering as well as value buying. The government on reform overdrive announced the series of FDI and other development agenda. The investors are now confident last week the FIIs net seller were Rs. 27 billion while DIIs are confident about the market for log term gain.DIIs buying is Rs. 30 billion.

The worry is the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting showed most officials anticipated economic conditions to be strong enough for a nominal rate hike in December. So it is a period of uncertainties. However, there is absence of any key trigger for markets and the focus is expected to shift to the winter session of parliament and GST bill, which has begin on November 26. . It will be interesting to see whether the Nifty is able to break the crucial level of 8,000 in the coming week as the government tries to push through reforms in parliament. The Nifty is expected to consolidate in the 8,000-8,100 range in the coming week. The Resistance for Nifty is R1 8050 R2 8156 And the support for Nifty is S1 7899 S2 7849.

BANK NIFTY FUTURE - The Bank nifty is also open in red on Monday at 17120 and made the high of 17126 and low 16969.35 and traded between 16900-17100 the Bank Nifty is currently 17370.95 and for next week could expect the that Bank Nifty can give the gap up opening Finance Minister met the PSU Banks Heads on Monday to discuss various issues, including bad loans and interest rate reduction, in light of RBI lowering its policy rate in September.and had a deep discussion with banks heads. The expectation from Banking shares is bullish trend and the chance of Bank Nifty to cross the level of 17500 the Resistance for Bank Nifty is 17625-18325 The Support of Bank Nifty is 16925-16225. According to Technical Analysis Some hot stock in Banking sector is IDBI Bank ,State Bank of India , YES Bank, Indusind Bank and Bank of Baroda. Can take position for next week.

TECHNICAL VIEW (NIFTY- BANK NIFTY FUTURES ) NIFTY DAILY

WEEKLY

MONTHLY

R2

R1

PP

S1

S2

8156

8007

7928

7899

7849

R2

R1

PP

S1

S2

8340

8050

7905

7760

7470

R2

R1

PP

S1

S2

9131

8327

7925

7523

6719

BANK NIFTY DAILY

WEEKLY

MONTHLY

R2

R1

PP

S1

S2

18325

17625

17275

16925

16225

R2

R1

PP

S1

S2

18554

17682

17246

16810

15938

R2

R1

PP

S1

S2

19778

18020

17141

16262

14504

MOVING AVERAGE

21 DAYS

50 DAYS

100 DAYS

200 DAYS

NIFTY

8044

7987

8180

8349

BANK NIFTY

17372

17243

17808

18195

PARABOLIC SAR

DAILY

WEEKLY

MONTHLY

NIFTY

7740

7685

8640

BANK NIFTY

16680

15910

19950

PATTERN FORMATION ( NIFTY AND BANK NIFTY )

Depiction of Chart - On The Above given daily Chart of MAs lag current price action because they are based on past prices the longer the time period for the MA, the greater the lag. Thus a 50 -day MA will have a much greater degree of lag than a 20-day MA because it contains prices for the past 50 days. The length of the MA to use depends on the trading objectives, with shorter MAs used for short-term trading and longer-term MAs more suited for long-term investors. The 50-100-200-days MA is widely followed by investors and traders, with breaks above and below this moving average considered to be important trading signals.

MAs also impart important trading signals on their own, or when two averages cross over. A rising MA indicates that the security is in an uptrend, while a declining MA indicates that it is in a downtrend. Similarly, upward momentum is confirmed with a bullish crossover, which occurs when a short-term MA crosses above a longer-term MA. Downward momentum is confirmed with a bearish crossover, which occurs when a short-term MA crosses below a longer-term MA.While on the Above given Chart both the condition are not following so we can expect that if the Nifty is crossing the level of 8000 it can make 8100-8200 high for Next Week. Weekly Support of Nifty Is 7899-7849 And Resistance is 8007-8156.

BANK NIFTY MACD

Details of Chart - On the Above given chart of Bank Nifty Weekly MA for week is giving signal if it breaking the level of 17370 it could make high of 17500.So we can expect The Uptrend movement for Bank nifty in Next week trading Session.the government is in planning to decrease the NPA of state run banks. So Banking Industry Shares Can open in the bullish trend on Monday. Resistance for Bank Nifty is R1 17556 R2 18586 and the Support of bank Nifty is S1 17625 S2 18325 . Although The movement of Market depend on the globle Market News For instance Fed Hike Decision, and the GST bill is the key issue can Affect the Market.

NSE EQUITY DAILY LEVELS COMPANY NAME ACC ALBK AMBUJACEM ASIAN PAINT AXISBANK BAJAJ-AUTO BANKBARODA BANKINDIA BHEL BHARTIARTL CIPLA COALINDIA DLF DRREDDY GAIL GRASIM HCLTECH HDFC HDFCBANK HEROMOTOCO HINDALCO HINDUNILVR ICICIBANK ITC INDUSIND BANK INFY JINDALSTEL KOTAKBANK LT M&M MRF MARUTI ONGC ORIENTBANK RCOM RELCAPITAL RELIANCE RELINFRA RPOWER SBIN SSLT( VEDL) SUNPHARMA TATAMOTORS TATAPOWER TATASTEEL UNIONBANK

EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ

R2

R1

PP

S1

S2

1377 77 207 870 480 2479 185 134 180 347 647 341 117 3187 371 3768 880 1255 1095 2721 81 827 273 348 934 1081 980 178 1387 1383 40250 4731 241 163 77 442 999 446 54 254 95 748 436 68 239 49

1364 76 204 864 475 2459 182 132 178 344 644 338 116 3144 368 3751 875 1246 1087 2707 80 821 271 346 926 1074 958 176 1377 1371 39879 4659 239 159 76 437 989 438 53 251 94 744 427 67 234 48

1352 75 203 858 471 2442 176 129 176 342 640 336 114 3095 365 3734 869 1231 1074 2683 77 815 268 342 918 1059 944 174 1356 1361 39370 4607 237 152 74 433 981 433 51 247 91 737 422 66 231 47

1339 74 200 852 466 2422 173 128 174 339 636 334 112 3052 361 3717 864 1222 1066 2669 76 809 265 340 910 1052 922 173 1346 1349 38999 4535 235 148 73 428 971 425 50 244 90 733 413 66 226 47

1327 72 199 846 462 2405 167 124 172 336 632 332 110 3003 358 3700 858 1207 1053 2645 74 803 262 337 902 1037 908 171 1325 1339 38490 4483 232 141 72 424 963 420 48 240 87 726 408 65 223 46

TOP 15 ACHIEVERS

SR.NO

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

PREV CLOSE

SCRIPT NAME

//

CMP

GATI LTD. GAIL(INDIA) LTD.

140.35 306.55

169.80 368.40

JET AIRWAYS JUST DIAL

428.65 804.40

505.95 943.25

VAKRANGEE 149.10 RELIANCE COMMU. 65.85

168.50 74.30

FIRSTSOURCE SOLU. 38.25 HAVELLS INDIA 256.85

43.00 288.20

IIFL HOLDINGS PETRONET LNG

186.80 207.90

209.00 230.90

IBULHSGDIN IDEA CELLULAR LTD.

621.40 131.05

685.15 143.75

ZEE ENTER. VOLTAS LTD.

379.75 260.25

413.75 282.75

ARVIND LTD.

284.90

305.60

% CHANGE

TOP 15 LOOSERS

SR.NO

+20.98 %

1

+20.18 %

2

+18.03 %

3

+17.26 %

4

+13.01 %

5

+12.83 %

6

+12.42 %

7

+12.21 %

8

+11.88 %

9

+11.06 %

10

+10.26 %

11

+9.69 %

12

+8.95 %

13

+8.65 %

14

+7.27 %

15

SCRIPT NAME

PREV CLOSE

CMP

% CHANGE

NATCO PHARMA 2475.45 UNITED SPIRITS 3524.25

543.00 3172.20

-78.06 % -9.99 %

DR. REDDY LABS 3440 EID PARRY 209.20

3105 109.90

-9.74 % -8.75 %

EMAMI LTD. NIIT TECHNO

1000.25 621.55

914.70 571.00

-8.55 % -8.13 %

RALLIS INDIA UPL

198.90 444.30

185.00 421.70

-6.99 % -5.09 %

BAJAJ ELECTRICAL PFC

231.85 219.15

222.90 210.80

-3.86 % -3.81 %

CEAT LTD. ABB INDIA

1054.15 1200.35

1017.10 1159.75

-3.51 % -3.38 %

PIRAMAL ENTER 995.10 BHARAT FORGE 878.30

961.70 851.00

-3.36 % -3.11 %

AMARA RAJ A BATT

875.00

-2.88 %

900.95

NEXT WEEK STARS (AS PER TECHNICAL ANALYSIS PRIDICTION ) NSE FUTURE 1.

MARUTI FUTURE : MARUTI FUTURE OPEN AT 4649 MADE LOW OF 4590.SHOWS BEARISH MOVEMENT TODAY.ON DAILY CHART OF MARUTI FUTURE ALSO SUGGEST BEARISH MOVEMENT.

WE CAN MADE SHORT POSITION IN MARUTI FUTURE BELOW 4590 TGT

4390 SL 4650.

2.

UPL : UPL OPEN AT 435.70 MADE LOW OF 425.40 MOVES IN BEARISH MOVEMENT.WE CAN EXPECT FURTHER BEARISH MOVEMENT IN UPL FUTURE. WE CAN MADE SHORT POSITION IN UPL BELOW 424 TGT 400 SL 433.

3.

YES BANK : YES BANK OPEN AT 756.95 MADE HIGH OF 772 SHOWS BULLISH MOVEMENT.ON DAILY CHART OF YES BANK IT ALSO MOVES IN BULLISH TREND WE CAN EXPECT FURHER BULLISH MOVEMENT IN YES BANK ABOVE THE LEVEL OF 772 TGT 800 SL 760.

4.

TATASTEEL : TATA STTEL OPEN AT 228.45 MADE HIGH OF 236 MOVES IN BULLISH

TREND. WE CAN MADE LONG POSITION IN TATASTEEL FUTURE ABOVE 236 TGT 260 SL 224.

5.

SUNPHARMA FUTURE : SUNPHARMA OPEN AT 742.95 MADE HIGH OF 745.60 MOVES IN BULLISH TREND. WE CAN MADE LONG POSITION IN SUNPHARMA FUTURE ABOVE 746 TGT 780 SL 733.

NSE CASH 1.

RAJESHEXPO CASH : RAJESHEXPO IS SHOWING POSITIVE MOMENTUM,LONG POSITION CAN BE MADE ABOVE 710 FOR TGT OF 755 WITH SL OF 690.

2.

WELCORP CASH : WELCORP IS LIKELY TO SHOW UPWARD MOMENTUM THIS WEEL ,LONG POSITION CAN BE MADE ABOVE 118 FOR TGT OF 127 WITH SL OF 113.

3.

SUNPHARMA CASH : SUNPHARMA CAN SHOW UPWARD MOMENTUM ABOVE 742.50.LONG POSITION CAN BE MADE ABOVE 742.50 FOR TGT OF 797 WITH SL OF 717.

4.

HATHWAY CASH : HATHWAY GAINED ABOUT 2% IN LAST TRADING SESSION AND MAY CONTINUE TO RISE IF IT TRADES ABOVE 44.LONG POSITION CAN BE MADE ABOVE 44 FOR TGT OF 47.50 WITH SL OF 42.65.

5.

IFCI CASH : LONG POSITION CAN BE MADE IN IFCI ABOVE 29.10 FOR TGT OF 31.40 WITH SL OF 28.

NSE - WEEKLY NEWS LETTERS TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK 1. Rise in oil consumption hints at likely economic liftoff - A bunch of key barometers of economic health has shown steady improvement in the past months, an encouraging sign that growth may be finally picking up momentum. Commercial vehicle sales, a key indicator to activity in the economy, have been buoyant of late. While passenger vehicle sales have also been up, consumption of petrol and diesel has surged as crude prices have remained soft. Sales of petrol by volume have been rising for three months in a row, diesel by two and passenger cars for seven. Petrol sales, a gauge of discretionary demand, have risen 14.77 per cent to 17,493 thousand metric tonnes since the beginning of the year, the most in a decade. Diesel sales, a measure of economic activity, grew 5.64 per cent to 60,071 thousand metric tonnes in the same period, the highest in three years, according to Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell (PPAC) data compiled by ET Intelligence Group. To be sure, this has to be balanced with the cost of increasingly polluted cities thanks to vehicular and other emissions that are taking a toll on the health of Indians. Petrol and diesel together constitute nearly 73 per cent of the total sales of decontrolled petroleum products by volume.The average volume growth of petroleum products has been the highest since 2004 for the August-October period.

2. Markets, Fed have very different ideas about inflation - The Federal Reserve now looks set to raise rates in December, partially based on expectation that inflation is set to finally rise to its 2 percent target. There's only one potential problem. There's actually a way that markets can see where investors think inflation will go. And they do not exactly see eye to eye with America's central bank.Over the next five years, annual inflation is expected to run at less than 1.3 percent. Even over the next ten, investors are looking for no more than 1.6 percent per year.

The Fed is well aware of this thinking among investors. In fact, the minutes to the Fed's October meeting record that "a couple of members expressed concern about the continued decline in market-based measures of inflation compensation." To be sure, the comparison here is not apples-to-apples, but it bears mentioning. The popular market-based measures of inflation referenced above are simply found by comparing the yield on a Treasury bond and a Treasury Inflation-Protected Security (or TIPS) of the same maturity.

3. Seventh Pay commission payout to be inflation neutral: India Ratings - Impementing the recommendation of the seventh pay commission will have a minimum impact on inflation according to ratings company India Ratings. "Ind-Ra does not see any immediate threat to inflation due to the award of the seventh pay commission (7CPC)" said Devendra Pant chief

economist India Ratings said in a report. "Though consumer price index (CPI) inflation may inch up somewhat due to higher prices of services, impact on WPI ( wholesale price index) is likely to be muted due to the counter balance provided by the deflation in commodity prices and the availability of excess capacity in several manufacturing sectors." A rise in demand is likely to not only increase capacity utilisation but may also help revive the investment cycle earlier than expected, the ratings firm said. The 7CPC has proposed an increase of 23.55% in the pay packet (salary and allowances) of central government employees and pensioners, which will be implemented from January 01, 2016. The payout is expected in FY'17. The award is likely to cost the central government Rs 1.02 lakh crore in FY'17, a 23.55% increase from FY16.

4. Investments in AIFs to get a boost on RBI notification - Alternate Investment Funds may soon be flush with money after the Reserve Bank of India on Thursday notified that that nonresident Indians (NRIs) and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) will be allowed to invest and trade in this category of funds. AIFs are pooled-in investment vehicles for real estate, private equity and hedge funds. While NRIs were not allowed to invest in them, FPIs came in indirectly through various structures. There are around 200 AIFs registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). But only 15-20 funds are active. The notification paves the way for foreign money to come into AIFs without FIPB (Foreign Investment Promotion Board) intervention and be treated as domestic capital subject to conditions," said Tejesh Chitlangi, partner at IC Legal. "Also, downstream investment by an AIF shall be not regarded as foreign investment if the sponsor or the manager or the investment manager is Indian owned and controlled. The government in its 2015-16 budget had said that it would do away with different categories like FPIs and foreign direct investment for AIF investments with a view to making it easier for overseas investors to invest in these category of funds.

5. Dalal Street to closely follow winter session, F&O expiry - which sets the agenda of the government. NDA's recent reverses in Bihar elections have put a cloud over the pace of reforms, and market participants are fearing that it won't be smooth sailing in Parliament.

However, the possible passage and ratification of Goods & Services Tax (GST) offer a sliver of hope. The government will have to adopt an extremely conciliatory stance to get some of the crucial legislative bills such as the GST cleared in Rajya Sabha where it lacks majority," said Ajay Bodke, CEO and chief portfolio manager - PMS, at Prabhudas Lilladher. Markets are expected to remain volatile ahead of the futures and options (F&O) expiry though benchmark indices may trade range- bound during the week. Foreign institutional investors' (FIIs)

offloading of shares last week is also expected to keep traders' sentiment cautious. Indian markets recorded first weekly gain in four weeks on positive global cues, though indices have found resistance at higher levels. Sensex rose 257 points, or 1 per cent, to settle at 25,868. Nifty gained 94 points, or 1.21 per cent, to end at 7,856. However, the BSE Mid-Cap index and Small-Cap index rose about 2 per cent to outperform the Sensex. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth net Rs 2,464 crore last week as the US Federal Reserve prepares for an interest rate increase in its December policy meeting. Analysts said that if the trend intensifies this week, then markets can come under pressure.

6. Venkaiah Naidu announces Rs 3,250 crore package to decongest Delhi - In a major move to decongest the city , urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday announced a Rs 3,250 crore package for the capital, to be used for construction of flyovers, underpasses and rail overbridges to free up arterial roads. From the fund, the Delhi government will get Rs 1,500 crore, DDA Rs 1,665 crore and the North Corporation Rs 85 crore. "Delhi is facing lots of issues in traffic flow and it is important to initiate projects aimed at decongestion of roads. It will not only save time for commuters but also save them from harassment," said Naidu, while inaugurating the Swachh Delhi Abhiyan.

7. India to cut stake in state-run cos when mkts improve: FM - India will sell shares in some state-run companies when market conditions improve, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Monday, as the government struggles to meet its asset sales target that is crucial to help plug its deficit. India has raised just about USD 2 billion, or less than 20 percent of its divestment target, so far this year. Jaitley also said he expected recent steps taken by the government and the central bank to improve asset quality of state-run banks in a "reasonable" time. Indian banks have been burdened with their highest bad loan ratio in a decade.

8. Market movers: Top 5 policy triggers government initiated in November - The Bihar election outcome was a big setback for the Modi government, but that didn't deter it from launching various policy-level initiatives to boost economic growth and revive investment cycle in Asia's third largest economy.The Modi government was quick to bring about changes in the foreign direct investment regime and in the power sector. The government has eased FDI norms for 15 sectors, including defence, broadcasting, construction and retail. The government aims to improve the ease of doing business, which is likely to be a key catalyst for drawing foreign investments.

9. Infrastructure firms seek to diversify debt with masala bonds - Some of India's most indebted infrastructure and steel groups are considering so-called masala bonds to diversify their funding options as local banks tighten lending, investment banking sources with direct knowledge of the situation said. The government last month clarified how income from the rupee-denominated offshore bonds would be taxed, removing one uncertainty for firms at a time when the country's banks - usually the first port of call for corporates - are reluctant to lend to sectors facing weak demand and heavy debt. The global rupee bonds would be used to refinance costly loans or raise capital for new projects with little currency risk. Companies had previously issued bonds abroad, but these were in dollars and other currency. Issuers have not flocked to offshore rupee bonds, largely because of the unclear tax rules. And no privatelyowned firm has yet tested the market's appetite. NTPC , the country's largest state-run power company, will start marketing road shows on Monday. "I am seeing a lot of interest even among the issuers who were thinking of issuing in US dollars. They are now thinking about masala bonds as there is no currency exposure," said Philip Lee, partner with Herbert Smith Freehills in Singapore.

10. Investors sell ‘old’ tax-free bonds to put money in new - Many investors are keeping their gunpowder dry these days by selling their taxfree bond units subscribed in 2012-2014.

These investors are gearing up for the large tax free bond issuances from National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) totaling around Rs 16,500 crore that are likely to hit the market in mid-December. These bonds are likely to be offered at higher yields than the existing ones that are traded on the bourses. These investors — both high networth and retail — will use the cash generated from the sale to apply for the forthcoming issues. The new tax-free bonds are likely to offer investors anywhere between 7.25 and 7.5 per cent, while yields on old tax-free bonds are around 6.85-7.1 per cent. The arbitrage will help investors make about 50 basis points. For example, the 8.3 per cent NHAI bond issued in 2012 and maturing in January 2027, trades at Rs 1,119 in the secondary market, thereby offering a yield of only 6.9 per cent. Investors holding these bonds, can sell them and in turn subscribe to the new issuance of NHAI expected in December with yields in the range of 7.25-7.45 per cent. Similarly the 7.22 per cent REC bonds trade at Rs 1,017, giving investors a yield of 6.88 per cent. Many such tax-free bonds issue by NHAI, PFC, REC, HUDCO in the financial years 2012-2014 are now exchanging hands in the secondary markets.

11. Foreign banks buy up bulk of Indian state government debt - Three banks snapped up almost 90 percent of bonds sold by Indian states to foreigners, and turned them into derivatives,

raising the prospect of more volatility in one of Asia's best performing debt markets. Several market participants involved in the sale said offshore units of Nomura, Standard Chartered and Bank of America Merrill Lynch bought about 30 billion rupees (USD 451 million) of the 35 billion rupees on offer in October, the first window for foreigners to buy in. Much of that debt was then sold for a hefty fee as derivatives known as total return swaps to offshore clients keen for the bonds' higher yields, compared with India's already popular sovereign debt, and with similar guarantees. n contrast, traditional buyers of the illiquid bonds are state banks, who hold the debt to maturity. When contacted by Reuters, the three banks declined to comment. India has been one of the most resilient emerging markets, with foreign buyers taking up about USD 9.7 billion of debt this calendar year, nearly exhausting available limits on sovereign debt purchases. Those purchases have helped domestic debt return 7.8 percent so far this year, the highest in Asia, according to HSBC. Given that appetite and a need to expand its investor base, India let foreigners buy state bonds and also relaxed the investment ceiling in government bonds by around 56 billion rupees in September: the first step in a gradual opening. "The main objective of (Reserve Bank of India) in opening these limits is to attract diverse and new sets of investors to the Indian bond market," said a senior foreign bank treasury official based in Mumbai.

12. Yellen defends Fed policy, calls for gradual hikes - Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Monday argued for gradual rate normalization, and called an interest rate hike "appropriate" if central bank officials see progress toward labor and inflation goals. Responding to an open letter from consumer advocate Ralph Nader, Yellen defended the Fed's accommodative policy, contending it helped boost the job market and asset prices in the wake of the global financial crisis. Late last month, Nader criticized near-zero interest rates, claiming they hurt savers and burdened people on fixed incomes. "We all hope and expect that the economy will continue to expand, that the jobs market will continue to make progress, and that inflation will move toward our 2 percent price stability objective," Yellen wrote. "If that is the case, my colleagues and I have indicated it will be appropriate to begin to normalize interest rates." She stressed that rate hikes will come gradually, adding that an "overly aggressive" increase would help savers "only temporarily." Nader previously implied that the Fed excluded savers from its policy decisions and instead focused on pleasing the financial sector. Traders have eyed any rate commentary from Yellen and other members of the Fed's policy-making committee ahead of its next meeting in December. Officials have implied they will strongly consider moving from near-zero interest rates at the meeting. The next clue about the employment situation will come early next month, with the release of November jobs data.

13. Narendra Modi promises more reforms; hopes to rollout GST next year - Promising more reforms to make India more attractive for foreign investments, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today assured investors that he would “carefully hold” their hands and expressed hope that the GST regime would be rolled out in 2016.

Speaking at the India Singapore Economic Convention here, Modi said India is exploring a potential partnership with Singapore’s Changi Airport for developments of two Indian airports and invited companies here to join in building smart cities. “In the last 18 months, the run-ways for the take-off of the economy have been made. Reforms are happening in a big way. They are now reaching to the last mile. Reform is to transform the system so that they perform. They aim at helping people realise their dreams. “It means more charm on the faces and less forms in the offices. Efforts to deepen financial markets have been made,” Modi said. The Prime Minister said his government began to liberalise FDI laws soon after coming to power last year and the latest round of FDI reforms have made India the “most open economy” in the world. “We are also conscious of last mile operational issues in such matters and we are fine tuning the norms.

Recently, we further eased FDI norms, after which India is the most open economy in terms of FDI,” he added . While talking about 40 per cent increase in FDI and improvement in rankings like ease of doing business and world competitiveness index, Modi said, “Perceptions are turning into positive outcomes 14. FM calls Congress suggestions on GST 'preposterous' - Barely two days before the start of the winter session of Parliament, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government was willing to reach out to the Congress over the goods and services tax (GST) but counselled the party to reconsider some of its suggestions as they can “damage” the new indirect taxation system. Speaking at the annual day function of Assocham in New Delhi on Tuesday, Jaitley termed “preposterous” the Congress’ suggestion that tariff must be mentioned in the Constitution amendment Bill. “It did not dawn on them when (the then finance minister) P Chidambaram accepted the Standing Committee recommendations,” Jaitley said, adding it would be “extremely unfair” to the country “if we try to impose in the name of political compromise, a GST with a defective architecture”. And when tariff rate has to be mentioned in the Constitution itself, (then it) is a flawed architecture... Because the GST with flawed architecture can actually damage the system much more than it can benefit,” he said, adding this wasn’t there in Pranab Mukherjee’s as well as Chidambaram’s Bill.

15. Failure of economic reforms could hamper investments, says Moody's - Moody's Investors Service on Wednesday cautioned that a loss of momentum on reforms may hamper

investment and prove to be a 'downside factor' for Indian companies, even as it said most corporates will benefit from strong economic fundamentals and accommodative monetary policy. It further said that weak global cues and an impending US rate hike may also have an impact on Indian businesses. Moody 's said that a failure by the government in implementing key reforms such as Goods and Services Tax (GST ) and land acquisition laws could hamper investment and signal a derailed reform prospect. "A healthy 7.5 per cent GDP growth for India for the fiscal year ending March 2017 and a pick-up in manufacturing activity will be broadly supportive of business growth," Moody's VP and Senior Credit Officer Vikas Halan said. But despite these overall supportive domestic conditions for the country's corporates, potential headwinds loom from a loss of reform momentum, he said. The Modi administration so far this year has been unable to enact legislation on key reforms, including a unified goods and services tax and the Land Acquisition Bill. "It seems highly unlikely that the major reforms will get enacted by the Upper House of Indian Parliament where the ruling coalition is in minority. A failure to implement these reforms could hamper investment amid weak global growth," Halan added.

16. Dalal Street yearns for GST, Opposition in no mood to give in - The winter session of Parliament, which will run from November 26 through December 23, is expected to be a stormy one, but the stock market is hoping against hope for a quick resolution to the important goods and service tax bill (GST).Ahead of the winter session, the government has reached out to the top leaders in the opposition camp, trying to ensure a smooth passage for the GST bill.

Traders and analysts on Dalal Street want to see the GST bill become a reality, because it can add an additional 100 bps -220 bps to India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth. "While the monsoon session of Parliament was not productive, we are hoping that key bills will get passed in the winter session. The much-awaited bill is of course GST," says Ravi Sundar Muthukrishnan, Senior Vice-President and Co-Head of Research at ICICI Securities.

17. India tops in corporate responsibility reporting: KPMG - India has emerged as the top country when it comes to corporate responsibility reporting, a global report released by KPMG has said. The KPMG study has found that after India countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa have the higher corporate responsibility reporting rates in world According to the KPMG Survey of Corporate Responsibility Reporting 2015, more companies (79%) now report on CR in Asia Pacific than in any other region, followed by the Americas (77%) and then Europe (74%). This growth has been driven by a surge of CR reporting in countries such as India, Taiwan and South Korea, where increasing amounts of reporting requirements and

guidelines have been introduced. Corporate reporting is entering into a whole new exciting phase, with CR becoming a firmly integral part of annual reports. It is encouraging to see that India is leading, with all top companies reporting on CR, but we can see through this survey that the quality of Indian reports can improve further," said Mritunjay Kapur, Partner and Head of Risk Consulting, KPMG in India. The report also focusses on the quality of carbon reporting among the world's 250 largest companies (G250).

18. India & China remain largest overweight, says Macquarie - Viktor Shvets, Macquarie says combination of dollar shortage & divergent global monetary policies is likely to lead to significant shifts in currency, bond & commodity markets in 2016. The global economy can only be re-flated if Fed joins other central banks in stimulating, he feels. According to him, divergent policies are likely to compress aggregate demand & trade. Whilst short emerging market (EM) equities/long dollar is the consensus view, it could remain so in 2016, Shvets says.

"We continue to focus on safety. India & China remain our largest overweight," he adds.

19. GST a 'brahmastra' for India in difficult global times: Assocham - As the Winter Session of Parliament began today, industry body Assocham appealed to the Opposition parties to help in the passage of GST bill as it can be a 'brahmastra' for India in challenging global times. "Goods and Services Tax is a key 'brahmastra' for our GDP. Lawmakers across parties should pass the Constitutional Amendment Bill on GST without further delay," the new Assocham President Sunil Kanoria said. This would send a strong signal to investors that India's economy can overcome serious global challenges with political will," he told reporters here. He said the economy was affected by demand slowdown, uncertain geopolitical situation after the Paris terror attacks, and an unprecedented crash in vital commodities. "GST will harmonise indirect taxes by doing away with multiplicity of taxes. It will also reduce cost of production, which will be then passed on consumers, thus lowering inflation. More striking would be the display of a political unity and the will to rise up to national cause," he said.

Timely implementation of GST would raise the GDP by 1.5 to 2 per cent, Kanoria said adding the Opposition should not change their earlier stance. Talking about the country's economic growth forecast, he said this fiscal, Indian economy is expected to register a growth of 7.2 per cent to 7.3 per cent.

20. RBI allows foreign investors to buy bonds in default - Reserve Bank of India (RBI ) is allowing foreign investors to buy corporate bonds that are either totally or partly in default, it said on Thursday, a potential boost to the country's nascent distressed debt market ."This will provide an exit to existing investors and also help in reducing the level of stress in the banking

sector," said a policymaker. While foreigners had not previously explicitly been banned from buying defaulted bonds, officials said investors had sought clarity from the Reserve Bank of India after a unit of JP Morgan in India suffered significant mark-to-market losses in late August. It was hit by a steep downgrade to auto-parts maker Amtek Auto Ltd's debt. At the time, foreign distressed debt buyers had eyed Amtek bonds - unusual in a country where trading in corporate bonds is mostly confined to top rated issuers. There were lots of queries from foreign investors on buying defaulted bonds," the policymaker said. In its circular issued on Thursday, the RBI said the maturity of the bonds should be three years or more. The issuer will need to restructure the bond to comply with the minimum maturity tenure, as foreigners are not allowed to buy corporate bonds of below three years, the RBI said.

21. FAME-India scheme to save Rs 60,000 crore on oil import bill: Government - The FAME-India scheme offering incentives on hybrid and electric vehicles will help save Rs 60,000 crore annually on the country's oil import bill by 2020, the government said today. "The successful rollout of the FAME-India scheme will result in an annual savings worth Rs 60,000 crore on India's oil import bill by 2020," Additional Secretary in the Heavy Industries Ministry Ambuj Sharma told PTI. "We will spend about Rs 800 crore in the first two years. Overall, Rs 14,000 crore are needed to make the scheme succeed. However, we will save fuel worth Rs 60,000 crore through this spend," Union Heavy Industries Minister Anant Geete told reporters on the sidelines of a rally of hybrid and electric vehicles. India's crude oil import bill is likely to drop by 35 per cent to $73 billion this fiscal on lower global energy prices and weak demand.

India had imported 189.43 million tonnes of crude oil in 2014-15 for Rs 6.87 lakh crore. This fiscal, the imports are projected at 188.23 million tonnes, almost the same level as last year.

22. Government to hike minimum wages to boost economy: Shankar Aggarwal, Labour Secretary - The government is working on a law that will seek to raise minimum wages in both formal and informal sectors as well as ensure that the higher wages are paid to workers. "We will increase the wages under Minimum Wage Act, so that workers have decent wages aligned with inflation and have some money to buy goods and services," Labour Secretary Shankar Aggarwal said at a CII event here. Through an amendment to the Minimum Wage Act, the ministry can fix a mandatory minimum level of wages applicable across the country for all categories of workers. It will be benchmarked to inflation. "We will create a law to give certain minimum wages across the country in all trades and not only in scheduled employments," Aggarwal said at the inaugural session of the CII National Conclave on Employee Relations.

Aggarwal added that the labour ministry is conscious of the need to pay the minimum wages to

every worker and that it has launched several initiatives to consolidate and rationalize the labour laws. Since labour is a subject under the Concurrent List, both the Centre and the states fix minimum wages for skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workers in their jurisdictions.

23. Government's gold bond scheme a hit, gets 63,000 applications - The first tranches of sovereign gold bond scheme has received 63000 applications for 917 kilos of paper gold worth Rs 246 crore. "Excellent response for an innovative product," tweeted DEA Secretary Shaktikanta Das. Applications for the bond under the first tranche were open between November 5 and November 20 and the bonds were to be issued on November 26, which has been now extended to November 30 by the Reserve Bank of India. "Large number of applications has been received by banks and post offices. To enable smooth uploading of applications into RBI's E-kuber system, particularly by the post offices, it has since been decided to shift the issue date of the Sovereign Gold Bond from November 26, 2015 to November 30, 2015," the RBI had said in a statement.The declining price of gold may have dampened the demand somewhat. The government has launched the scheme in a bid to discourage investment buying of gold, a big drag on the country's balance of payments. Finance minister Arun Jaitley had in the budget announce the launch of "a Sovereign Gold Bond, as an alternative to purchasing metal gold" with a fixed rate of interest and principal redeemable in cash in terms of the face value of the gold at the time of redemption. The bonds are being issued by the Reserve Bank India for the government of India and will constitute part of the overall borrowing of the government. The bonds are denominated in multiples of one gram of gold and will have an 8 years maturity with an exit option from 5th year onwards. The minimum permissible investment is 2 grams of gold and the maximum limit is 500 grams per person per fiscal year.

24. RBI to hold rates steady, growth seen rising to 7.3% in Sept quarter: Reuters poll The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to hold its policy interest rate at 6.75 per cent next week to stifle inflation, while data is seen showing economic growth accelerated to 7.3 per cent in the September quarter, a Reuters poll of economists showed. All 45 economists surveyed expected the RBI to stand pat at its policy review on Tuesday, while the range of forecasts for gross domestic product growth for the latest quarter was between 6.9-7.6 per cent, with the median at 7.3 per cent. The GDP data is set to be released on Monday. Having posted 7 per cent year-on-year growth in gross domestic product during the June quarter, the economy is improving, but the government's target of 8 to 8.5 per cent for the fiscal year ending March looks a long way off. Two months ago, the Reserve Bank of India lowered its forecast for

growth this fiscal year to 7.4 per cent, which would still put India among the world's fastest growing economies. The RBI's focus is on inflation, however, and it has predicted consumer price inflation will spike to 5.8 per cent in January, having struck record lows of around 3.6 per cent earlier this year, inflation was up to 5 per cent in October.

TOP ECONOMY NEWS 1. Seventh Pay Commission to be demand booster, but lag on fiscal path: India Ratings and Research - The Seventh Pay Commission award will be a demand booster to the economy, but it may pose a serious challenge to the government's fiscal consolidation path, ratings firm IndRa said today. "Ind-Ra's estimate shows that the demand boost to the economy as a result of the revision in the salaries/pensions will be at least four times the 7CPC's award. However, after factoring in the share of the central government in increased tax collection (direct and indirect), the net impact on the exchequer will be lower at 0.68 per cent of GDP. "Yet at a time when the government is pursuing the path of fiscal consolidation, this will pose a serious challenge for the government in terms of not deviating from the fiscal deficit targets as announced in the FY16 budget," Ind-Ra said in a release. The Seventh Central Pay Commission (CPC) award is likely to cost the central government Rs 1.021 trillion in 2016-17, a 23.55 per cent increase from 2015-16, it added.

2. Government needs to generate Rs 80,000 cr to achieve fiscal deficit target: Care Ratings - India will have to generate additional revenue of Rs 80,000 crore if the government's self imposed target of 3.5% fiscal deficit at the end of the current fiscal following the seventh pay commission's recommendation for a 23.55% increase in pay, allowances and pension for government employees, credit rating agency Care Ratings said on Friday. The seventh pay commission's recommendations were announced on Thursday and is likely to come into force from January 1, 2016. "The total impact of the panel's recommendation would be an increase of expenditure by 0.65% of GDP in 2016-17. If we assume that the fiscal deficit only increases by the amount of pay commission recommendation in FY17, then the fiscal deficit amount stands at Rs 6,29,299 crore which is 4% of GDP," Care said adding that the government has set a target of a fiscal deficit of 3.5% for the next fiscal. In order to attain the 3.5% deficit ratio; approximately Rs 80,000 crore additional revenue needs to be generated. Alternatively there have to be some cuts in expenditure to ensure that there are savings which can compensate for this additional cost on salary account," Care said.

3. Seventh Pay Commission to have a bearing on state finances: Bibek Debroy, Niti Aayog The Seventh Pay Commission's recommendations will take a heavy toll on fragile finances of states and force them to scale back their development spends, Niti Aayog Member Bibek Debroy says. He felt that once the Centre implements the recommendations, it's "impossible" for the states to hold back a hike in their employees' salaries."There are serious repercussions arising from the Seventh Pay panel report, as in the two earlier Pay Commissions, on finances of states, which which will go for a toss," he told PTI over the weekend here. Typically, what every state does is that if starved for cash, slash capital expenditure or development spends," Debroy, one of three full-time members of the National Institution for Transforming India (Niti Aayog), said.

4. 3 ASEAN nations to ratify FTA with India on services soon - ASEAN member nations Indonesia, Philippines and Cambodia are likely to ratify the long-pending FTA on services and investment with India by next month that will pave way for its full implementation by the 10nation bloc, considered one of the world's fastest growing regions. Many Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries including Singapore have been impressing upon the three nations to ratify the agreement at the earliest and India has been conveyed that the process will be completed by December, government sources said. The free trade agreement (FTA) in services and investments came into force from July in countries which have ratified it. Besides the three countries, other members of ASEAN are Brunei, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Laos has ratified the services part of the pact but it is yet to clear the investment component. ASEAN is India's fourth largest trading partner and India in turn is sixth largest trading partner for the bloc. The combined GDP of both sides is USD 2.57 trillion. Both India and ASEAN have been seeking greater economic engagement and set a target of USD 100 billion in trade by 2015.

5. PM Narendra Modi meets Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang; discusses bilateral ties Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday met his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang and discussed bilateral ties and global issues of mutual concern, as he underlined that the two countries should increase strategic coordination to tackle the common threat of terrorism.

Condemning the recent spurt of terror attacks in Paris and Mali, Modi said the menace of terrorism was the biggest challenge facing humanity. During the meeting on the sidelines of ASEAN-India Summit here, the Prime Minister said that there was a need for the international community to eschew their political differences and unite to face this menace, External Affairs Ministry Spokesman Vikas Swarup told reporters. Modi said that countries should put aside

their political differences and came together to help the affected. He said that both India and China faced the threat of terrorism and there was a need to increase strategic coordination. On his part, Li said China was against terrorism and cooperation between the two countries on terrorism would help Asia become more safe. The two leaders felt that slowing down of global trade offers an opportunity for both India and China to work together and become drivers of global growth. Li noted that India had maintained its growth momentum despite global downturn and its flagship initiatives like 'Make un India', 'Digital India' offered opportunities for Chinese to partner with India, Swarup said.

6. Incentives given to exporters to help boost shipments: Nirmala Sitharaman - A host of incentives including extension of 3 per cent interest subsidy will help in boosting exports, which are in negative zone since December last year, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. She said the country's exports are suffering due to a decline in prices of three major items -- crude oil, commodities and essential metals, and demand slowdown in major economies including Japan, the US and Europe. "Exports are declining in terms of value. We are trying to do things to make our exports a bit more competitive," Sitharaman told PTI in an interview. The government has recently extended incentives under the Merchandise Export India Scheme (MEIS), three per cent interest subsidy and enhanced duty drawback rates.

"These are steps we have announced with an intention of handholding (to exporters)," the minister said.

7. China's economic slowdown adversely affected India, says RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan - China's pain of economic slowdown is India's pain too, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said contradicting government assertions that India will not be affected by deceleration of Chinese economy. There is a lower demand for some of our exports to China. But indirectly too, many of the countries are not exporting to China as much as they did and they are buying less from us," Rajan said in an interview with Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post.

"But India being a commodity importer, has been helped a bit by cheaper commodities. So the impact has not been as bad as it could have been. Still, on the whole, we have been adversely affected by the Chinese slowdown because China's slowdown has impacted global growth and India is very well integrated into the global economy", Rajan said. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had told a gathering at Columbia University last month that India is "not impacted" by the slowdown as it is not part of Chinese supply chain and India could become the "additional shoulder" the global economy needs to stand on as China slows. Some comments from India that China's pain is India's gain has drawn strong reactions from the Chinese media.

8. RBI’s Rajan wants cos to go bankrupt... and that’s good - India's Sisyphean system for bankruptcy is in the sights of the country's central bank governor, who says reform is desperately needed to protect state-owned banks. "We want to bring pure capitalism back, which is a contract is a contract," Raghuram Rajan, governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), told CNBC in an exclusive interview. "That's what we're in the process of doing by giving the banks a few more powers and asking them to enforce their contracts." Without that, companies don't fear resolution and instead put the squeeze on banks to bail them out, he said.

"Without a bankruptcy code, you basically tell the banks, 'I'm your problem now and tell me what hit are you going to take,'" he said. "It can't be win-win for the entrepreneurs and lose-lose for the banks. It has to change." The bankruptcy code has been a key reform pursued by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration, which swept to power last year promising to change the country's famously inhospitable climate for business.

9. Economy will slightly do better this year, says former governor of RBI C Rangarajan The economy will slightly perform better this year as the productivity level of capital may remain high, former governor of RBI C Rangarajan today said. "Though the growth rate of economy will be somewhere around 7.5 per cent, the productivity of capital is less than investment growth and should catch up," Rangarajan told reporters on the sidelines of the 24th session of the India Art History Congress at Kumaraguru College of Technology here. The rate of agriculture growth is expected to be lower this fiscal too, he said.On raising FDI cap, Rangarajan said there could be 100 per cent FDI in certain sectors, but there should be restrictions in some cases, particularly Defence.Listing out the positives, he said more foreign capital should not just add to finances, but contribute to use of newer technologies.

10. Finance ministry invites seven merchant bankers to make presentation of Coal India stake sale - The finance ministry has invited seven merchant bankers to make a presentation on Coal India's divestment on November 26. The financial bids will be opened immediately after the process is complete and the Department of Divestment will select the merchant banker, officials said. The merchant bankers include Axis Capital, HSBC Securities and Capital Markets, Kotak Mahindra Capital, Edelweiss Financial Services, SBI Capital Markets, JM Financial Institutional Securities and ICICI Securities. The government is hoping to raise about Rs 21,000 crore from a 10% stake sale in the monopoly miner and is likely to approach the market within a month. The Cabinet had on November 11 cleared an additional 10% stake sale in Coal India. According to officials, the Centre is likely to approach the market within a month and offer about 63.16 crore shares. Going by the closing price of Rs 332 on the National Stock

Exchange on November 23, the government is likely to add about Rs 21,000 crore to its kitty.

Since foreign institutional investors remain closed during the festive season in December, the government is likely to complete the current round of stake sale before that time, officials said.

11. Prospects brighten for key tax reform; Arvind Subramanian panel may suggest 18% GST rate - A key panel on goods and services tax is likely to recommend a revenue-neutral rate of about 18 per cent. The group, headed by Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian, has zeroed in on the rate after considering various scenarios, brightening the chances for this important reform as the low rate should be acceptable to everyone."It has worked out to about 18 per cent," a government official privy to discussions said. Another official said the range for the tax could be 16-18 per cent. GST, which seeks to replace a host of central and state indirect taxes on goods along with services tax, will create a pan-India market and is expected to help lift the country's gross domestic product ( GDP) by 1-2 per cent. A revenue-neutral rate means a rate at which there would be no revenue loss to the Centre or states under GST compared with current collections. Low rate will help boost compliance and also cut the pain from increase in tax rate on services, which is at 14 per cent. Under GST regime, tax on goods will come down substantially from 27 per cent now, but that on services will go up.

12. Finance Ministry to clean-up trade transfer pricing norms to make doing business easy - India proposes a major clean-up of decade-and-a-halfold rules that govern the prices of imports by related parties - such as arms of multinationals from their parent - in an attempt to reduce delays and disputes and make it easier to do business. The finance ministry is not just looking at changing the rules but also the process itself, which is riddled with delays and cumbersome paperwork. "There is a need for a fresh look at these rules..A lot of water has flowed over 14 years," a finance ministry official told ET. With 'ease of doing business' the guiding principle, the government now proposes to make the process swifter and introduce an electronic interface. One option is to link valuations to audits, a procedure that's considered more sound and thorough and followed internationally.

13. Parliament's Winter Session key to investor confidence: Dun and Bradstreet - The Winter Session of Parliament holds the key for business optimism in the country amid muted investments, a weakening rupee and slower-than-anticipated pace of reforms, a Dun and Bradstreet report says. The recovery in the Indian economy is "still fragile"and the confidence of the business community remains tempered, it added. "Deficit rainfall and subdued rural demand pose another threat to the recovery process while retail inflation has edged up led by higher prices of food," Dun and Bradstreet India Senior Economist Arun Singh said. Singh

further said that while the government has taken certain measures to revive investment and ensure flow of funds to infrastructure projects, it needs to pro-actively take the reform agenda forward. "Progress of the Winter Session of Parliament is expected to impact the business optimism and revive investor confidence in the short term," he added. The session beginning on November 26 is set to be a stormy affair, with the Opposition buoyed by the Bihar results getting ready to confront the government on a host of issues, which could push back efforts for an early passage of key legislations, including GST. 14. No hitch in accepting permanent solution on food security at WTO: Nirmala Sitharaman - Members of the WTO will have to provide permanent solution to India's food security issue and the country does not see any "hitch" in that, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said. "Peace clause is with us and it's only natural that they (WTO) have to give a permanent solution. How it is going to be given... I do not see any hitch in that.

Whether it is going to happen before Nairobi meet or not is get to be seeing," Sitharaman told PTI. Ending months-long deadlock, the World Trade Organization in November last year acceded to India's demand to remove constraints on the food stockpiling issue. The WTO's General Council, the highest decision making body of the organisation, had accepted India's demand for extending the peace clause till a permanent solution is found for its food stockpiling issue. This has enabled India to continue procurement and stocking of foodgrain for distribution to the poor under its food security programme without attracting any kind of action from WTO members even if it breaches the 10 per cent subsidy cap as prescribed by the multilateral trade body.

15. India issues press note to activate recent changes in FDI policy, says 'manufacturing' crucial - India has issued a press note to activate the recent changes in the foreign direct investment policy that liberalised the rules for foreign investment considerably. The policy clearly defines 'manufacturing' which is crucial to the policy on e-commerce. Under the policy, a company manufacturing goods in India is free to sell online without any restriction. The retailers that don't manufacture in India are subject to some conditions such as mandatory local sourcing up to 30%, though the latest reforms have relaxed that condition also for some hi-tech manufacturers. The government had on November 10 announced steps raising FDI caps in select sectors, placing more activities under automatic route and easing of entry conditionalities. Broad-based reforms touched upon 15 sectors, including, defence, construction & development, retail, broadcasting, civil aviation, banking and manufacturing. FDI upto 49% in limited liability partnerships has been permitted on the automatic route. It allowed upto

100% FDI in DTH, cable network and plantation crop and upto 49% in uplinking of news and current affairs TV channels. Conditions have been relaxed for FDI in single-brand retail, construction sector. FDI upto 100% has been allowed in duty-free shops and Limited Liability Partnerships (LLP). The government allowed upto 49% in defence on the automatic route. It raised the FIPB's monetary limit to Rs 5,000 crore from Rs 3,000 crore for approving FDI proposals. These announcements have now been operationalised with the issue of the press notes.

16. India Inc sees green shoots in economy - You can call it the first signs of recovery. If figures of a good offtake in automobiles, oil, power, plastic, road construction and even real estate for the last couple of months are anything to go by, the economy seems to be at the beginning of a turnaround. The strong showing comes on the back of higher retail sales reported by companies, especially during Diwali. Though a few CEOs are still concerned over the speed of clearances and weak corporate results, a majority of them TOI spoke to believe these are signs of green shoots. Despite the improvements in macro indicators and growth in sectors like commercial vehicles and construction, which point to a recovery, there was a word of caution with some saying that it could take a few more months for the reality to manifest.

The going so far seems to be good though. Two-wheeler and four-wheeler sales were up 13% and 21%, respectively, year-on-year (YoY) in October, strongly hinting at a demand revival. Oil demand too grew 17% YoY in October, with both transport and industrial demand looking strong. Bitumen (used in road surfacing) sales were up 54% pointing to growth in road construction. Power consumption too was up 11% in September, bringing it into the doubledigit growth sphere, said a report by Credit Suisse.

17. PM Modi invites Singapore firms to invest in Navratna PSUs - Prime Minister Narendra Modi today invited investors here to participate in the proposed divestment of Navratna PSUs and sought the Singaporean government's help in building at least 20 smart cities. In wideranging discussions with Singapore leaders, including its Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and President Tony Tan Keng, Modi stressed on the idea to 'create many Singapores' within India.

He also pitched for issuance of rupee bonds and infrastructure bonds in Singapore. Besides, Modi sought faster completion of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to create a new economic block within Asia. The Prime Minister also invited his Singaporean counterpart to visit India, especially Gujarat to see with his entire family the Asiatic lion, which forms part of the symbol of Singapore. Singapore sought doubling of flights to India while Modi wanted the city-state to play a key role in upgradation of railway stations in India. At the

media briefing about Modi's meetings here, Secretary (East) at the Ministry of External Affairs Anil Wadhwa said there were broadly 14-15 key issues including skills development, urban development, tourism, civil aviation and financial services, that were discussed in the meetings the Prime Minister has had here.

18. Keen to scale up investments in infrastructure: PM Modi - Keen to scale up investments in infrastructure, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said rupee bonds to fund infrastructure projects will be launched in countries like Singapore. Speaking at the India-Singapore Economic Convention, Modi said reforms in India are happening in a big way and will transform the systems so that they perform. "We are keen to scale up investments in next generation infrastructure including digital networks and clean energy," he said. "In addition to the core infrastructure, we are keen to invest in our social, industrial and agri-infrastructure to give better income and quality of life to our people." With tight control over expenditure, capital investment by the public sector has been greatly increased. A National Investment and Infrastructure Fund is being set up to leverage this, while tax-free Infrastructure Bonds with broaden the corporate bond market will be issued soon. "This will also provide long term finance for infrastructure," he said. "For infrastructure, we have also decided to launch Rupee Bonds in some countries. Singapore could be among them. We are quite eager to work with Singapore in this regard." During the 18-month BJP rule, "reforms are happening in a big way.

They are now reaching to the last mile. Reform is to Transform the systems so that they Perform", he said.

19. PM Narendra Modi signs strategic partnership with Singapore, inks 10 pacts India and Singapore on Tuesday elevated their ties to the 'strategic partnership' level and signed bilateral agreements for enhanced defence cooperation and in areas like cyber security, shipping and civil aviation after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong. Modi also met Singapore President Tony Tan Keng on the second day of his visit today and was accorded a ceremonial welcome here at Istana, the official residence and office of the President. India and Singapore elevate their bilateral relations to a strategic partnership to deepen and broaden engagement in existing areas of cooperation and catalyse new ones ranging from political, defence and security cooperation to economic, cultural and people-to-people contact. The strategic partnership is also a framework to contribute to greater regional stability and growth," the joint declaration said.

20. No policy paralysis, GDP to touch 8% this year: Arvind Panagariya - Rejecting criticism that the policy paralysis has returned to haunt the NDA in view of critical legislations getting stuck in Parliament, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya says the economic growth this year may touch eight per cent due to implementation of various critical economic reforms. He asserts that projects are being cleared and gathering speed and ease of doing business has improved. "In the last quarter meaning January to March, 2016, I expect that we would touch eight per cent mark, hopefully cross it a bit," he told PTI here in an interview. He said the economic growth for the entire year is expected to be at 7.5 per cent to eight per cent.

We might get full eight per cent because I also expect the first quarter growth rate which has been at seven per cent for 2015-16 will be revised upwards," he said. "We will continue to make progress. When we come to the last year of the present term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, I would expect it would be near the double digit," he said.

21. Exports may fall below $300 bn by 2015-16 end - India will miss its export target of $325 billion due to a slump in the global economy but the number might end up below $300 billion by the end of 2015-16, said Department of Commerce Joint Secretary Ravi Kapoor on Tuesday.

Speaking at the sidelines of the India Engineering Sourcing show here, he told reporters: “India has reported exports of $312 billion against a target of $340 billion in 2014-15. The government has set a target of $325 billion for the current financial year. It will be a happy situation if the country achieves exports of $300 billion but it (exports) will end less than $300 billion. Kapoor’s admission comes close on the heels of India’s exports contracting for the eleventh straight month in October. The joint secretary said the fall in exports was due to a fall in petroleum product exports, again a function of international oil prices. India’s merchandise exports dipped 17.6 per cent to $154.29 billion, while merchandise imports fell 15.2 per cent to $232.54 billion in April-October 2015. However, Kapoor said the government had provided a slew of incentives to boost exports. These included the 3 per cent interest subsidy scheme for five years and the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme. He hoped that the interest subsidy scheme would help in controlling the dip in exports and increase competitiveness of domestic products in the global market.

22. Government plans to put 98 per cent sectors for FDI under automatic route Government is planning to put 98 per cent of sectors, which are open to foreign investments, under the automatic route so that businessmen won't need to visit the Finance Ministry or 'Udyog Bhavan' for any approval, a top official said on Tuesday. "We are putting maximum sectors (of FDI) through automatic route. Our belief is that nobody should come to government.

So we get 92 per cent of FDI coming through automatic route. We are targeting that almost 9798 per cent must come through automatic route. We do not want any businessman to enter Udyog Bhavan (the Commerce and Industry Ministry building), we do not want any businessman to enter the Finance Ministry," Secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP ) Amitabh Kant said at a function in New Delhi. As per the FDI policy, foreign investments are allowed either under automatic route or through the approval of FIPB, which is under the Finance Ministry. He also said that the government is taking several steps to improve ease of doing business both at the central and state level to attract foreign investors."States must become easy and simple place to do business.

23.Income tax mop-up from Mumbai rises 20 per cent to Rs 1.14 trillion - Income tax collection from the Mumbai region has gone up by over 20 per cent as of November 21 over the year-ago period. The region, which mops up more than one-third of the total direct tax, has collected Rs 1.14 trillion (Rs 1,14,000 crore) as of November 21, up from Rs 0.95 trillion in the year-ago period, showing a growth by 20.17 per cent, Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax and Head of Mumbai region DS Saksena told PTI. The department is hopeful of achieving its projected collection of Rs 2.56 trillion for the fiscal by March from Mumbai region alone, he added. Against this, indirect taxes have been doing much better with the collection till September rising over 35.8 per cent to over Rs 3.24 trillion in the first half of the current fiscal, reflecting growth in economic activity against Rs 2.38 trillion. Saksena said while advance tax collection from the region rose only 6.47 per cent to Rs 58,000 crore during period, up from Rs 54,761 crore a year ago, TDS collections rose 10 per cent to Rs 53,062 crore from Rs 48,223 crore.

24. India Inc remains vulnerable to volatile rupee: Moody's - Most non-financial corporates will benefit from strong domestic growth and accommodative monetary policy, although weak global growth and a potential US rate hike will weigh on businesses, the rating company Moody's said in a report on Wednesday. Such non-financial companies are rated as Baa3 (positive outlook). "Healthy 7.5% GDP growth for India for the fiscal year ending March 2017 (FY2017) and a pick-up in manufacturing activity will be broadly supportive of business growth " said Vikas Halan, a Moody's Vice President and Senior Credit Officer. However, the corporates remain vulnerable to the volatile Indian rupee as against the US dollar and to low commodity prices," he said. The fall in commodity prices has benefited many Indian corporates given the country's status as a net importer of raw materials and its recent history of high inflation. The resultant moderating inflation should result in lower borrowing costs for

corporates and yields on corporate bonds, says Moody's. Refining and marketing companies meanwhile should benefit from healthy margins as demand growth outpaces expected capacity additions.

25. Failure of economic reforms in India could hamper investments: Moody's - Moody's Investor Services has again warned the government on sluggish economic reforms.The Modi administration so far this year has been unable to enact legislation on key reforms, including a unified goods and services tax and the Land Acquisition Bill," Moody's said in a research report released on Wednesday.But despite these overall supportive domestic conditions for the country's corporates, potential headwinds loom from a loss of reform momentum. This came after Moody's Analytics, a research arm of the global rating company, stirred up controversies on the government's dealing with minorities affairs, which in turn, would be chocking the reform processes. The rating company sees the government's inability to get reforms approved as a major hurdle. It seems highly unlikely that the major reforms will get enacted by the upper house of the Indian parliament where the ruling coalition is in minority, it said. "A failure to implement these reforms could hamper investment amid weak global growth." By sector, Moody's expects upstream oil & gas companies to benefit from lower fuel subsidy burdens, although low crude and domestic natural gas prices will continue to hurt profitability. n the real estate sector Moody's expects demand to improve in 2016 on the back of lower interests rates, although approval delays could push back project launches for property developers.

26. Government hopeful on GST Bill as Winter Session begins - A united opposition is set to corner the government over the issue of intolerance in the Winter Session of Parliament beginning on Thursday but the prospects of a thaw on the crucial GST bill brightened with both sides expressing preparedness for discussing it. Opposition is likely to press for a resolution to condemn the alleged rise in intolerance, a demand unlikely to be conceded by the government which instead prefers a debate, seeking to project incidents like Dadri lynching as law and order issues pertaining to states. Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said though the government does not agree with the perception of rising intolerance, "we are willing to go along with Opposition in this regard for a discussion in an appropriate manner, if you desire."

27. Record cash pullouts signal spending binge; strong durables sales hint at improving consumer sentiment - Consumers withdrew record amounts of cash from the banking system during the just concluded festive season that saw strong sales of consumer products, the two data points together offering a comforting picture of consumer sentiment in the country. Cash and currency in circulation in the system, essentially computed using data on cash withdrawals

from banks and money held in banks' and central bank vaults, rose by a record Rs 66,070 crore in the first two weeks of November, according to latest data from the Reserve Bank of India ( RBI). This is 2.5 times the figure for the Diwali fortnight last year and also a record rise during any two-week period in India, an ETanalysis of past data shows. Until this year, the cash and currency in circulation figure had never exceeded Rs 47,000 crore, which was during the Diwali fortnight of 2012. In fact, this number breached the Rs 20,000-crore mark only in the Diwali fortnight of 2007, around the time inflation became a major problem. There have been instances of sharp rise in currency in circulation during election. The sharp increase in cash and currency in circulation this festive season coincides with strong growth reported by consumer goods companies, thereby appearing to confirm the notion that buyers did not shy away from spending this year and portending better tidings in the future. Sales of smartphones, refrigerators, televisions and kitchen equipment are said to have risen during this year's festive season.

28. India to be a $3.5 trillion economy by 2020: Sonal Varma, Nomura - A gradual economic recovery is under way in India, and the economy can easily hit the $3.5 trillion mark in next five years, provided the government keeps the reform momentum going, Nomura India Executive Director and India Economist Sonal Varma said in a webinar organised by ETMarkets.com on Thursday. For India to become a $3.5 trillion economy, GDP has to grow at 7.5-8 per cent on a sustainable basis, which is not that tough, given the reforms roadmap that the government has. Lower crude oil prices will help contain inflationary pressures and fiscal deficit, which will in turn draw higher foreign direct investment, she said. FDI or foreign direct investment is a more stable form of capital flow, which can strengthen the fundamentals of any economy. Data suggests the current account deficit was financed by FDI flows this time around, which has put lesser weight on the government's balance sheet, which is a big positive.

"We are already a $2 trillion economy, growing at a nominal rate of around 11.5 per cent (7.5 per cent real + 4 per cent inflation)," Varma said. "It is not a tough ask. What we need to do is ensure that policies are enacted that can sustain our growth at 7.5-8 per cent without generating inflationary pressures," she added. The green shoots visible right now are FDI flows and private capex, which are showing a pickup. Varma said various stalled projects have been revived, which is a positive trigger for both the economy and the markets.

29. Rupee trades at fresh two years low of 66.89 against US dollar - The domestic currency extended losses and hit its fresh two-year low against US dollar as the dollar index continued to strengthen on the hopes of interest rates hike in US by US Federal Reserve in its December

policy meet. Rupee touched its day's low of 66.89, down 32 paise against US dollar, its lowest since September 04,2013. The currency had plunged by 25 paise to settle at over two month low of 66.57 against the US dollar on Thursday on month-end demand for the American currency from importers and banks on the back of higher greenback in overseas markets.

Meanwhile, the dollar index stood at 99.89, near an 8-1/2 month peak of 100.170 scaled earlier in the week. On the week, it was up 0.3 per cent.

30. PM intervenes on GST Bill; to meet Sonia, Manmohan Singh - Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited Sonai Gandhi and ex-PM Manmohan Singh for a meeting on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill. Given that all other regional parties are on board for the GST Bill, the Congress Party is continuing to stick to its three demands: lower GST rate; the one percent additional tax for manufacturing states and a clear route of arbitration for dispute resolution.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday offered an olive branch to the Opposition to get the GST bill passed, adding that PM Modi is willing to speak to everyone to get the landmark indirect tax law through. Jaitley, who needs Parliament approval for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill in the Winter Session to roll out the new indirect tax regime from planned April 1, said he has spoken to "almost all Congress leaders" on the issue.

31. Business sentiment lowest in November since February 2014 - With the festival period failing to boost demand for Indian companies' goods and services, business sentiment in November fell to the lowest level since February 2014 and is unlikely to revive over the coming few months, says a survey. The Deutsche Borse's MNI India Business Sentiment Indicator, a gauge of current sentiment among BSE listed companies, dropped 11.6 per cent in November as compared to October. However, the sentiment among service sector companies rose for the first time in five months.

"The busy festival season failed to bring cheer to India's largest companies in November, as business sentiment fell to the lowest level since February 2014, with companies also seeing little chance of a revival over the coming months," the survey said. Noting that the festivals failed to boost demand for Indian companies' goods and services this year, the report said, "Companies across all sectors received fewer orders in the three months to November compared with the same period a year earlier".

32. Need to create ecosystem to boost exports: Jaitley - Concerned over slowing global demand and declining exports, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday underlined the need for creating an ecosystem to boost shipments to the markets overseas. He asked exporters to

produce quality products at competitive prices to meet the challenge of slowing demand in international markets. "One important factor, which our global experience now teaches us is that the world wants to buy good products, it wants to buy cheaper products and therefore you have to think ahead of the others, manufacture products which are cost and quality competitive.

"This can actually enable you, even in adverse global circumstances, to find bigger market. And we have to create in India an ecosystem which can actually facilitate that," he said. The minister was speaking at the closing ceremony of 14-day long India International Trade Fair here. Observing that trade helps in expanding economic activity, Jaitley said the "glaring challenge" is to step up shipments at a time when the world trade was getting compressed. "The purchasing capacity of global buyer is contracting. Their ability to buy has been reduced and therefore suppliers are going to find it difficult (to get buyers)," he added.

TOP CORPORATE NEWS 1. Pfizer set to buy Allergan for more than $150 billion - Pfizer Inc was due to secure formal board approval on Sunday for its acquisition of Botox maker Allergan Plc for more than $150 billion, creating the world's biggest drug maker, according to people familiar with the matter.

The deal, the largest ever in the healthcare sector, is sure to draw political ire in a US presidential election year because Pfizer would redomicile to Ireland, where Allergan is registered, in a so-called "inversion" that would slash its corporate tax rate.It will also reignite debate in the pharmaceutical industry over the role of research and development, with Allergan Chief Executive Brent Saunders, a prolific dealmaker and a skeptic of in-house drug discovery, joining the combined company in a position to influence its strategy. The deal would involve Pfizer paying with 11.3 of its shares for each Allergan share, the people said. There will also be a small cash component, accounting for less than 10 per cent of the value of the deal, the people said. Pfizer's Chief Executive Ian Read, 62, will be CEO of the combined company, with Allergan's CEO Brent Saunders, 45, serving in a very senior role focused on operations and the integration, the people added.

2. Air India mops up Rs 7,000 crore through aircraft sale - Air India has mopped up Rs 7,000 crore by selling nine of its 21 Dreamliner planes to a Singaporean lessor, which it has taken back on lease from the company under an SLB arrangement. A major chunk of these funds will go into repayment of the bridge loan availed earlier for purchasing these Boeing 787-800s, airline sources said. Under a Sale and Lease Back (SLB) arrangement, the seller of

an asset leases it back from the purchaser for a long-term period and continues to use it without actually owning it. Air India has 131 aircraft in its fleet, consisting of Boeing, Airbus and ATR planes as well as CRJs. Of these, 21 are Boeing 787-800s. Earlier also, the flag carrier had sold and leased back 12 Dreamliners under a similar arrangement. Air India has sold all the nine Dreamliners to one Singaporean lessor for a little over Rs 7,000 crore. These planes have now been taken back on lease by the same firm,” Air India sources told PTI. Sources said that of the total proceeds, about Rs 6,000 crore will be used for repayment of the bridge loan taken against these planes at the time of acquisition while the remaining Rs 1,000 crore will be utilised for other purposes.

3. Britannia eyes Rs 20,000 cr turnover in 5-6 years - Having regained the leadership position in India’s biscuits market more than a decade after losing it to rival Parle, Britannia Industries is embarking on a new growth path of becoming a total food company, aiming at Rs 20,000 crore turnover within 5-6 years. As part of the strategy, the company, which had posted consolidated net sales of Rs 7,775.09 crore in the last fiscal, will finalise in the next six months its plans to expand in dairy segment besides introducing new variants of its value segment biscuit brand Tiger. Moreover, in the next two years and beyond the company plans to expand into ready-to-eat, ready-to-cook and drinks category in a phased manner. “We have the core strength…our brands are very strong and our understanding of the food industry is very deep…

Our idea to become a total food company is to move from the side of the plate to the middle,” Britannia Industries Managing Director Varun Berry told PTI. 4. Bharti Airtel leads GSM user additions in October with 2.7 million: COAI - A total of 6.30 million GSM subscribers were added during the month of October, an increase of 0.9% from the previous month, taking the total subscribers on GSM technology up to 739.44 million.

Bharti Airtel added the highest number of subscribers at 2.7 million, taking its total subscriber base to 237.98 million at the end of the month, according to data revealed by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI). Vodafone with additions of 1.6 million added the second highest number of users, taking its total kitty up to 189 million at the end of the month.

Idea CellularBSE 2.36 %, however, added under a million (7.2 lakh) subscribers in October, registering a total of 167 million users. UP (East) circle recorded the largest number of GSM subscribers in the country at 65.14 million. The total additions during the month for the circle were 4.1 lakh.

5. Sebi seeks vendor for web access to 20 crore Sahara docs - In the high-profile Sahara case, regulator Sebi is looking for a server hosting vendor for the mammoth task of providing

electronic data storage and web access services for a database of 20 crore scanned pages. In this long-running case, Sahara group was asked by the Supreme Court in August 2012 to submit all documents and deposit investors' money with Sebi for refund purpose. Sebi was mandated by the court to examine the documents submitted by Sahara, whose chief Subrata Roy is in Tihar Jail for over 18 months, to ascertain their genuineness and make refund to investors. Sebi has been inviting refund applications from investors through various platforms, including newspapers and its own website, and the process of returning investors' money is underway after ascertaining genuineness of their claims. In connection with this matter, which is being overseen by a retired Judge appointed by the Supreme Court, Sebi has generated about 20 crore pages of PDF documents and a database created out of them. The total volume of this electronic data, including the PDF files, is 70 terabytes.

6. See 10-15% growth going ahead; focus on organic growth: UPL - Global generic crop protection, chemicals and seeds company, UPL (formerly known as United Phosphorous) said board members on Monday have approved amalgamation of Advanta with itself. Post merger, seed company Advanta's every shareholder will get one equity share and three preference shares of UPL for every share held in the company. Jai Shroff, CEO, UPL, said Advanta is projected to see healthy growth in the coming years. Both UPL and Advanta have been outperforming industry growth rate. According to him, UPL will benefit from Advanta's major international presence and Advanta will benefit from the company's rich customer accessibility.

He said UPL is likely to see 10-15 percent growth going ahead. Shroff said exports from India will continue to grow at a better rate than industry. UPL also plans to focus on organic growth.

UPL said GDR (global depository receipt) holders of Advanta would get 106 new GDRs for every 100 GDRs held and FCCB (foreign currency convertible bonds) holders would get 100 FCCBs for every 100 FCCBs held.

7. HLL's margins may improve post deal: Bajaj Electricals - Bajaj Electricals will merge with Hind Lamps Limited's (HLL) manufacturing business and the transaction is likely to close in the next 12 months, says Shekhar Bajaj, Chairman and MD of the company. On HLL's business, he says it has been under Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) for the last 10-12 years and is valued at Rs 16 crore today. It has a negative net-worth of Rs 2530 crore, he adds. With this deal, cost of borrowing for HLL will come down from 13 percent to 10-11 percent, he says, adding that margins too are likely to improve in the coming quarters.

8. See India as strong export, software, engineering hub: ABB - ABB, in November, this year announced plans to double its workforce at the global engineering section in India. This is majorly due to the strong growth momentum despite softness in other Emerging Markets (EMs), says Ulrich Spiesshofer, Global CEO of ABB . Speaking to CNBC-TV18’s Shereen Bhan, Spiesshofer says that ABB plans to double its business in India in coming years. Growth rate in EMs, like Russia and Brazil, has softened, but there still exists growth pockets like India, he adds. Spiesshofer sees India as a strong export, software and engineering hub for the company. Focus will be on three parameters – power for all, industrial efficiency, urbanisation and infrastructure growth, he says. However, he says India has further opportunities to improve in areas like ease of doing business and that reform initiatives of the Modi government are on the right track. Besides India, ABB is 'cautiously optimistic' on China. "We have also gained a lot of new customers and we have done well in China to really penetrate more to western parts of the Chinese continent," Spiesshofer says. ABB is undergoing internal changes to focus more on the needs of its customers and smooth execution of products, he says that the company will focus on key growth areas like cost effectiveness to accelerate growth and value creation. Manpower, he says, is one of key factors of growth for ABB. On its expansion plans, Spiesshofer says that the company will look at merger & acquisition (M&A) to strengthen the portfolio and fill in required gaps.

9. Tata Steel likely to raise $1.5 billion to refinance debt - Tata Steel is looking to raise at least $1.5 billion to refinance its bloated debt and reduce interest cost, several people aware of the development told ET. The fund size could go up to as high as $3 billion. The proposed mobilisation done through the company's Singapore subsidiary would primarily be for Tata Steel Europe, earlier known as Corus, while balance sheet debt of others may also be refinanced. Tata Steel has a proactive approach to financing and seeks to continuously optimise its debt based on market conditions," Tata Steel said in reply to an email seeking comment. "In this connection, we regularly interact with lenders, investors and other financial intermediaries and evaluate financing terms on an ongoing basis. There isn't any specific comment to make at this point. As many as 10-15 local and global lenders have been mandated to raise funds which will mature in about six years and are linked to refinance the money the company had raised to finance its £6.2-billion acquisition of UK's Corus in 2007.

10. PSUs fare poorly in corporate governance: Study - Conventional wisdom suggests that since it's the government that formulates rules, state-owned companies would be at the forefront of abiding by them. However, according to an analysis by a proxy firm shared

exclusively with TOI, it appears that it's the public sector undertakings (PSUs) which have scored poorly on corporate governance norms mandated by the government. These state-owned companies have violated guidelines related to board independence, appointment of audit, nomination and corporate social responsibility committees, and women directors on the board.Proxy advisory firm Stakeholders Empowerment Services (SES) studied the top 27 listed PSUs with a market capitalization of Rs 11,22,036 crore (as on October 26), where the highest market cap was that of ONGC at Rs 2,20,774 crore, and PTC India had the lowest market cap of Rs 1,961 crore. According to the SES analysis, 13 PSUs among the top BSE100 companies accounted for 14.1% of that index's total market cap, and nearly all the PSUs are non-compliant for one reason or other. Among the entire 27 PSUs studied, the analysis says 25 do not meet the criteria for independence of the board, almost 50% failed to constitute a compliant CSR committee, while nearly 25% do not have a woman director. Moreover, over 80% do not have a compliant audit committee and NRC (nomination and remuneration committee), the analysis adds, saying these PSUs, rather than being role models, have set a bad precedent. LIC Housing Finance is the lone compliant company while the rest (26) are all non compliant in some parameter or the other.

11. Nippon ups stake in Reliance Life to 49%, invests Rs 2265cr - Reliance Capital on Tuesday said Nippon Life Insurance (NLI) has raised its stake in life insurance business of the company to 49 percent by investing Rs 2,265 crore. The stock rallied 3.6 percent intraday.

"NLI, one of the largest life insurers in the world, has signed definitive agreements to increase its stake in Reliance Life Insurance (RLIC), a part of Reliance Capital, from existing 26 percent to 49 percent," the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group company said in its filing. It further said the Japanese company will be investing Rs 2,265 crore to acquire an additional 23 percent stake in Reliance Life Insurance and this transaction pegs Reliance Life Insurance’s valuation at approximately Rs 10,000 crore (USD 1.5 billion). “We are delighted that outstanding relationship between two companies has now grown into an equal partnership, with NLI increasing their stake – first, in our asset management business, and now, in our Life Insurance business - to 49 percent," Anil Dhirubhai Ambani, chairman, Reliance Group said.

12. United Spirits' AGM: Chmn Mallya's fate hangs in balance - In the company's Annual General Meeting (AGM) scheduled today, shareholders of United Spirits Limited (USL) will decide on whether Vijay Mallya can continue as the Chairman of the liquor giant. Though Mallya will chair the AGM in all probability, it is learnt that Diageo is evaluating its contractual obligation with him. Earlier, the USL board had asked Vijay Mallya to step down, to which he

had absolutely refused. Post this, there was no resolution proposed on Mallya's chairmanship at AGM. 13. Succession planning for top management at Mahindra Group begins - Mahindra Group will select 32 high performers from within the auto-to-defence conglomerate to hone them into new age leaders to take over its existing and new businesses within a decade, a senior company official said. Succession planning at Mahindra is critical with most of its top managers are above 50 years even when the average age of employee of the group stands at 34 for manufacturing and 30 services. The group's revenues is growing at a fast pace as it expands into newer areas and geographies, leaving a gaping hole for future leaders in the coming years. "We are seeking to develop qualities in the leaders who are going to steer our businesses in the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous times, where there is a lot of pushback from our stake holders and we are becoming increasingly global," Rajeev Dubey, group president for human resources told ET. Its revenue has shot up 7 times to $12.4 billion since 2005 while it aggressively entered several new businesses during the last decade such as two wheelers, aerospace and defence, clean energy, holidays and private equity funding. It is also setting up in-house startups to venture into newer areas. Revenue from its traditional automotive and tractor business stands at 81% 14. Fitch downgrades outlook on JSW Steel to negative - Credit ratings agency Fitch on Monday downgraded its outlook on JSW Steel to 'Negative' from 'Stable' due to risk of further decline in product prices. It also affirmed Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'BB+' and the steelmaker's senior unsecured rating and the rating on its $500 million, 4.75 per cent senior unsecured notes due 2019 at 'BB+', the agency said in a statement. The revision in the outlook reflects the risk of further declines in pricing, which would make it difficult for the company to improve performance and reduce leverage," it said. JSW Steel' s financial profile weakened amid challenging conditions for Indian steel producers in 2015 and high debt levels as the company expands capacity, it added. A key assumption of Fitch's rating case is that steel prices will recover modestly in the financial year ending March 31, 2017, in response to improving steel demand in India, it said. The rating reflects the company's strong market position and highly efficient operations, which allows it to maintain low cost. Fitch expects JSW Steel's financial profile to improve significantly in 2016-17 and 2017-18, with the benefits from capex driving higher sales volume and improvement in profitability.

15. At Rs 42,894 cr, BHEL market cap below Siemens India - India’s biggest capital goods company, Bharat Heavy Electrical (BHEL), has lost so much value that it now commands a

market capitalisation smaller than that of Siemens India. At Rs 42,894 crore, BHEL is now less valuable than Siemens, which commands a market cap of Rs 44,098.4 crore. At the start of 2015, the PSU was valued twice as much as the Indian subsidiary of the German multinational.

But an 80% fall in Q1FY16 earnings, followed by a net loss of Rs 204.9 crore in Q2FY16, has prompted the Street to do a rethink. The Ebitda loss of Rs 470 crore in the July-September quarter was particularly shocking.

In early September, Crisil had downgraded the rating

outlook on the long-term bank facilities of the engineering firm to “negative” from “stable”, citing slow project execution, stretched working capital and vulnerable profitability. While BHEL’s order backlog is Rs 1.2 lakh crore, nine times that of Siemens, analysts aren’t convinced the pace of execution will pick up. Moreover, while order inflows had picked up pace in Q1FY16, the momentum was lost again in the July-September quarter when they fell 82% year-on-year, due to lack of any major orders from the power sector.

16. Axis Bank, Vistara to launch travel credit card - Private lender Axis Bank on Tuesday said it has joined hands with Tata-SIA joint venture airline Vistara to launch a travel credit card next year under a strategic partnership. The co-branded travel credit card, to be unveiled early next year, will offer a host of privileges and benefits to the business and leisure travellers of Vistara, Axis Bank said in a release today. "The card will be unveiled early next year. The Axis Bank Vistara co-branded credit card will provide preferred privileges and benefits for business and leisure travellers under the carrier's Club Vistara frequent flyer program," it said. The country's third full service airline after national carrier Air India and Naresh Goyal-promoted Jet Airways , Vistara last month for the first time breached the one lakh passengers mark since its launch in January this year. Vistara, is a joint venture between Tata Sons Limited and Singapore Airlines Limited (SIA) with Tata Sons holding the majority stake of 51 per cent in the company and SIA holding the remaining 49 per cent.

17. Idea buys spectrum from Videocon for Rs3,310 crore - Idea Cellular Ltd has agreed to buy 5 Mhz each of spectrum in two circles—Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh (West)—from Videocon Telecommunications Ltd for Rs. 3,310 crore in a move that gives the former 4G, and the latter much-needed cash as it seeks to restructure,re-focus and monetize its telecom assets. The transaction

is

the

first

pure

spectrum

trading

agreement

since

Department

of

Telecommunications (DoT) issued Guidelines for Trading of Access Spectrum by Access Service Providers (Guidelines) on 12 October. The new guidelines have led to much speculation regarding consolidation in telecom sector. Analysts expect that in the next two years, there will be only five-six telcos in the market, from the current 12, on account of the

new rules. The value of the deal, for 5 Mhz of 1,800 Mhz spectrum in each circle, is provisional and could change once the telco completes the necessary due diligence. The deal is also dependent on approval from the DoT. 18. RCom to sell entire stake in Reliance Infratel - Reliance Communications (RCom) is close to finalising a deal to sell its entire stake in tower unit Reliance Infratel, sources aware of the development said. R Com owns about 96 percent stake in Infratel and the sale would fetch it around Rs 22,000 crore, which will be used to retire some debt. The sources further added the deal values Infratel at around Rs 22,500 crore. Reliance Infratel has about 43,500 mobile towers. The debt of RCom stood at around Rs 38,000 crore. According to sources, the deal is almost finalised and is likely to be announced within 10 days. When contacted, RCom declined to comment. A few months ago, RCom had said that it had short-listed bidders that have sought to acquire up to 100 percent stake in Infratel. RCom is looking to monetise its non-core assets to bring down the the debt-to-Ebitda ratio to about 3 in 18-24 months. The company's net debtto-Ebitda ratio is about 4.64. To achieve this target, the Anil Ambani group firm is planning to hive off its DTH business, sell stake in international operations at Reliance Globalcom and divestment of Infratel, among others.

19. Vijay Mallya, Kingfisher Airlines, UBL declared as wilful defaulters - After a protracted legal battle, State Bank of India (SBI) has declared industrialist Vijay Mallya a 'wilful defaulter' for defaults on nearly Rs 7,000 crore loans to the long-grounded Kingfisher Airlines. SBI has declared Mallya, Kingfisher Airlines and its holding company United Breweries Holdings as wilful defaulters, sources told PTI. The sources said after the Bombay High Court in August this year allowed Mallya to be represented by his legal counsels, SBI moved the Supreme Court challenging the HC order, saying that HC order violated the RBI rules on grievance redressal committee that allow only the borrower to be present his case in person. However, the Supreme Court upheld the High Court verdict and asked SBI to consider this only as a one-off instance and allow Mallya's lawyers to represent him at the grievance reddressal committee meeting which was held recently. However, the lawyers could not satisfactorily present a case of genuine distress of Mallya and his companies in not paying the money they owe to the bankers.

Following this, SBI declared them as wilful defaulters, the source added.

20. Sistema Shyam Q3 loss narrows to Rs 406 crore - Telecom operator Sistema Shyam TeleServices, which operates under MTS brand name, today reported narrowing of its net loss to Rs 406.3 crore for the third quarter ended September 30, 2015. The company, which is in

process of merging with Reliance Communications, posted a net loss of Rs 437.9 crore in the same period a year ago.

The operating loss of SSTL significantly reduced to Rs 44.3 crore during the reported quarter compared to Rs 103.7 crore it registered in corresponding three month period a year ago.

“SSTL is now OIBDA positive in seven out of nine operating circles; Kerala being the latest circle to become OIBDA positive,” SSTL Chief Operating Officer Sergey Savchenko said in a statement. The revenue of SSTL increased by about 10 per cent to Rs 376.3 crore from Rs 342.7 crore during the period under review. “SSTL’s operational parameters have shown an improvement during the quarter leading to 10 per cent growth in consolidated revenues. In addition, the contribution of our non-voice revenues further increased to 58 per cent of our quarterly revenues, the highest in the industry,” Savchenko said.

21. US’ Cox Automotive picks 4% HDFC stake in Mahindra & Mahindra First Choice The US-based $17-billion digital marketing company Cox Automotive has bought out HDFC’s 4% stake in Mahindra First Choice Wheels, the used-car retailing unit of Mahindra & Mahindra for an undisclosed sum. Phi Advisors, the Indian private equity firm as well an initial investor has also sold a part of its stake. It is believed that Phi Advisors was holding around 30% stake.

In March, Mahindra First Choice had raised R94 crore from San Francisco-based hedge fund Valiant Capital. The deal gave Valiant a 13.36% stake, valuing the company at about R700 crore at the time. Cox Automotive with $17 billion annual revenue owns AutoTrader, the largest digital automotive marketplace in the US and vehicle research platform Kelley Blue Book.

Mahindra First Choice owns IndianBlueBook.com, an online vehicle valuation company. There is an enormous global synergy building in this space. It is not a money-raising exercise. It is about bringing a strategic input,” said Mahindra chairman Anand Mahindra. “It is not about an IndianBlueBook versus Kelly Blue Book at some point of time. This is the might of the Kelly Blue Book being thrown behind the IndianBlueBook,” he added 22. RCOM may sell mobile tower business for Rs 22k crore - Reliance Communications (RCOM) is close to finalizing a deal to sell its entire stake in tower unit Reliance Infratel, sources aware of the development said. RCOM owns about 96% stake in Infratel and the sale would fetch it around Rs 22,000 crore, which will be used to retire some debt. The sources said the deal values Infratel at around Rs 22,500 crore. Reliance Infratel has about 43,500 mobile towers. RCOM has around Rs 38,000-crore debt on its books. According to sources, the deal is almost finalized and is likely to be announced within 10 days. When contacted, RCOM declined to comment. A few months ago, RCOM had said that it had shortlisted bidders that

have sought to acquire up to 100% stake in Infratel. The company is looking to monetize its non-core assets to bring down the debt-to-ebitda ratio to about 3 in 18-24 months. The company's net debt-to-Ebitda ratio is about 4.64. To achieve this target, Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group firm is planning to hive off its DTH business, sell stake in international operations at Reliance Globalcom and divestment of Infratel, among others. In general terms, debt-toebitda ratio is the measure of the ability of a firm to pay off its debts and is a useful tool in assessing the creditworthiness of a company. Shares of RCOM on the BSE surged over 9% on Tuesday to Rs 71on stake sale buzz after soaring nearly 11% in intra-day trade to Rs 72. The company's market valuation rose by Rs 1,506 crore to Rs 17,709 crore. In terms of volume, 38.59 lakh shares of the company changed hands at BSE and over 2 crore shares were traded on the NSE during the day.

23. Rosneft to buy $2.4 billion Essar Oil stake - Russian giant Rosneft is offering around $2.4 billion for a 49% stake in Essar Oil, India's second largest refiner, sources directly familiar with the matter said. Rosneft, which is in the final stages of due diligence, is expected to offer just under Rs 200 per share. "The pricing is likely between Rs 190 and Rs 195 a share," said a source who did not want to be named since talks are still private. This values the stake sale at $2.4-2.5 billion. An Essar spokesperson declined to comment, when contacted. Rosneft could not be reached immediately. A formal announcement is expected only early next calendar year.

In July this year, Rosneft had signed a preliminary, non binding agreement to buy upto 49% in Essar Oil. It didn't disclose valuation details, which were subject to due diligence. The world's largest publicly traded oil company will effect a secondary purchase, buying shares from the Ruias of Essar, who are in turn making a delisting offer to the public shareholders. The Ruias own 73% stake currently. Sebi has directed Essar Oil to match the delisting price with the offer made by Rosneft. The delisting process is independently managed by the Ruias and is not linked with Rosneft share purchase. The Ruias will control 51% once the delisting and Rosneft deal are finalized. The Ruias and Rosneft, majority owned by the Russian government, will jointly manage the company with India's second largest single-location refinery.

24. DLF promoters buy 23 lakh shares; stake rises to 74.99 per cent - Realty major DLF's promoters have bought 23 lakh shares of the company through open market transactions for nearly Rs 25 crore, raising their stakes to 74.99 per cent. The 23 lakh shares were purchased between November 23-24 from open market, the country's largest real estate company said in a regulatory filing. Post this transactions, the stake of promoters, KP Singh and family, has increased to 74.99 per cent from 74.86 per cent it held earlier in the firm. Yesterday, DLF's

share price closed at Rs 107 apiece on the BSE. Its market cap stood at Rs 19,078.78 crore.As per the minimum public shareholding norm of market regulator SEBI, promoters cannot hold more than 75 per cent shares in the company. Meanwhile, DLF's promoters are looking to sell their 40 per cent stake in the company's rental arm DLF Cyber City Developers Ltd (DCCDL) by the end of this fiscal. Last month, DLF's board decided that promoters will sell their 40 per cent stake in the DCCDL. The proposed deal is estimated to be valued at around Rs 12,000 crore. DLF would continue to hold 60 per cent stake in the DCCDL. Promoters would re-invest a significant part of the amount realised from the proposed sale in DLF Ltd, which in turn would utilise this fund to trim its debt that stood at more than Rs 22,520 crore as on September 25. L&T wins orders worth Rs 1,038 crore so far in November - Engineering major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) on Thursday said power transmission and distribution business of L&T Construction has bagged orders worth Rs 1,038 crore in domestic and international markets so far this month. "The power transmission and distribution business of L&T Construction won orders worth Rs 1,038 crore in international and domestic markets in November 2015," the company said in a BSE filing.

26. India Inc to dole out 10.8% salary hike in 2016: Report - Indian employers are expected to shell out an average salary hike of 10.8 percent to their staff in 2016 despite being less upbeat on the business outlook, but the inflation will end up eroding much of the increments, says a Towers Watson report. According to the Towers Watson 2015-16 Asia-Pacific Salary Budget Planning Report, "India is expected to see an overall projected salary increase of 10.8 percent. Factoring inflation at 6.1 percent, the net salary increase in 2016 is expected to be marginally higher at 4.7 percent as against 4.5 percent last year, when inflation was at 5.9 percent." The projected higher overall salary increases are despite the fact that around 58 percent employers in the third quarter are less upbeat on the business outlook for India than they were in the first quarter, the report said. "Companies need to be smart about how they use limited salary budgets, because high volatility and talent crunches are causing frequent shifts to pay," Sambhav Rakyan, Data Services practice leader Asia Pacific at Towers Watson, said.

27. Wealth of Indian HNIs to increase more than Chinese during 2014 and 2020: Report Wealthy Indians will create more wealth than those in China between 2014 and 2020, according to Swiss private wealth manager Julius Baer. The wealth of high networth individuals (HNIs) in India will rise by 94% as opposed to China's, which will grow at 74%, the Zurich-based private banking group said in its fifth annual Asia Wealth Report released on Thursday. It said 25 per cent of the global wealth is in Asia, of which India is a strategic part, but China continues to be

the country with the highest amount of wealth. The estimated wealth of HNIs in India in 2016 will be $1.425 trillion, while those in China will be worth $5.10 trillion, according to the report.

According to the report, the pool of investable assets held by HNIs could reach $14.5 trillion by 2020, a growth of 160 per cent in the current decade.

28. LIC eyes 10% stake in CDSL from BSE for about Rs 83 cr - State-owned life insurer LIC is likely to buy 10 percent stake in Central Depository Services Ltd (CDSL) from BSE in a deal that may value the leading depository at about Rs 825 crore. At this valuation, the 10 percent stake will be worth Rs 82.5 crore sources said. BSE, which holds 54.20 percent stake in CDSL, is paring its stake in the depository to comply with the capital markets regulator Sebi norm. The SEBI (Securities and exchange Board of India) in April 2012 had said that a single stock exchange can not have more than 24 percent in a depository. The regulator had given three years time to exchanges to comply with the rules. Earlier Canara Bank was also in the race to pick up BSE's stake in CDSL. Other shareholders in CDSL are Bank of India , Bank of Baroda , State Bank of India , HDFC Bank , Canara Bank , Standard Chartered Bank, Union Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra and Calcutta Stock Exchange. CDSL allows investors to deposit securities by opening an account. The securities such as shares, debentures, bonds of investors are held in electronic form (dematerialised form) at the depositories. It has a little over 1.02 crore investor accounts.

29. Sale of road assets to generate Rs 200-220cr: NCC - Infra company NCC will be selling two of its road projects in order to raise money. The company is putting its Western UP Tollway and Bangalore Elevated Tollway on the block. The company hopes to complete the stake sale

by FY16-end. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Executive VP-Finance YD Murthy, says the company will earn Rs 200-220 crore from the asset sale. Furthermore, Murthy says the proceeds will be used to fund working capital requirement.

30. Sebi orders seizing of Rs 2-crore from Polaris founder, ex-CFO - Sebi has ordered impounding of alleged 'unlawful gains' of over Rs 2 crore from Polaris' promoter Arun Jain and its former CFO R Srikanth on insider trading charges. In a statement, Jain said he would be taking all steps as legally advised to defend himself against the serious harm to reputation caused by this order, including by contesting vigorously the contents and conclusions drawn by Sebi. "The allegations are clearly denied and I am confident that upon appreciation of the robust defense that would be put up, they would be dropped," he noted. To demonstrate bonafides, Jain said the amount asked to be deposited by Sebi has been deposited under protest.

It was alleged that Jain, who was the chairman and managing director of erstwhile Polaris

Software Lab (now known as Polaris Consulting and Services), and Srikanth, ex-Chief Financial Officer, had traded in the shares of the company while in possession of 'price sensitive information'. "They had traded in the shares of Polaris during the unpublished price sensitive information (UPSI) period (ie pertaining to the declaration of quarterly financial results and commencement of real estate activities). These persons had traded in the scrip of Polaris while in possession of the UPSI and have allegedly committed the offence of insider trading. The investigations have also revealed that Srikanth had failed to make the required disclosures," Sebi said in an order.

31. USFDA gives Dr Reddy’s additional time to respond to warning letter - Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd (DRL) today said the USFDA has extended the time-frame for replying to the warning letter issued to the company by about two weeks to December 7. The company also said that it is in the process of preparing responses to the letter on November 5 by the US Food and Drug Administration. “The company is in the process of preparing a response to FDA’s warning letter. The FDA has granted an extension until December 7, 2015 for the submission of the company’s response to its warning letter,” Dr Reddy’s said in a regulatory filing. Its stock tanked by 8.21 per cent to Rs 3,110.35 on BSE on the likely impact of the warning. The FDA had earlier set a deadline for the company to respond within 15 days from the date of receiving the letter.The FDA, which issued a warning letter to Dr Reddy’s Laboratories on November 5 on three of its plants, said it found several violations with regard to current good manufacturing practices (CGMP).he US regulator cautioned that it may withhold approval to any new drugs or Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) and stop importing if the company “fails to correct the violations”. It said its inspectors have discovered “an uncontrolled custom QC laboratory (CQC)” at DRL’s Srikakulam unit.

32. Tata Group India's most creative brand: TRA Research Study - Salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group has been ranked as India's most creative brand, according to a TRA Research study.Brands insights company TRA Research, formerly Trust Research Advisory, conducted the study in 16 cities. "Creativity is not just viewed from a point of novelty, entertainment and utility alone, but from a position of future risk amelioration and protection.

Tata is a pioneer, one willing to take risks and go through unchartered territories to deliver better or new solutions. When brands display creativity, they demonstrate an 'intellectual' ability to deal with the future better," TRA Chief Executive Officer N Chandramouli said in a statement.South Korean multinational company Samsung Mobiles ranked second on creativity followed by LG and Sony, at the third and fourth place, respectively.

TOP BANKING AND FINANCIAL NEWS OF THE WEEK 1. RBI restores ‘normalcy’ after staff leave trips settlements - The RBI has swung into action after a mass leave by central bank employees halted payment and RTGS settlements on Thursday morning. Government bond trading was also impacted in the first hour leading to spikes in short term rates by 65-70 basis points higher than the benchmark rate. RTGS, or Real Time Gross Settlement, a central payment mechanism for transactions, was not working when the markets opened for trading, dealers said. Overall, the RBI has ensured uninterrupted RTGS system for the day efficiently. This led to spikes in short-term rates as the inter-bank call money and collateralised borrowing and lending obligation, or CBLO, shot up to 7.40-7.45% against 6.75% — the repo or the rate at which banks borrow short-term funds from RBI. The initial one-hour interruption has also affected daily liquidity management by the central bank, which could not provide the routine details partially. According to banking sources, banks have borrowed a little more than Rs 20,000 crore from RBI's fixed repo borrowing window. "There were some interruptions to clearing and settlement operations of the Reserve Bank of India during opening hours of the day," the RBI said in a release.

2. FM to meet PSB heads on Monday ; NPAs, rate cut on agenda - Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will meet heads of PSU banks Monday to discuss various issues, including bad loans and interest rate reduction, in light of RBI lowering its policy rate in September. The performance review meeting of public sector banks (PSBs) will also take stock of the credit flow to productive sectors to spur economy and review of 'Indradhanush', the seven-pronged strategy to revive PSBs, sources said. The government in August announced the programme, which includes Rs 70,000 crore capital infusion in PSBs in four years, starting with Rs 25,000 crore this fiscal, and measures to de-stress banks by introducing governance reforms. The gross NPAs of PSBs rose to 6.03 per cent at the end of June 2015, as against 5.20 per cent in March 2015. According to the sources, the meeting is expected to review credit offtake by sectors such as home, education and corporates as well as the progress made under the Jan Dhan Yojana and Prime Minister's social security schemes, among other issues. The meeting will also examine what steps have been taken by state-owned banks in the aftermath of Rs 6,100-crore Bank of Baroda black money remittance case to avoid such episodes in future. Jaitley is expected to review the interest rate cut by banks following reduction in the key policy rate by RBI in September.

3. Axis Bank enters Bangladesh, opens rep office in Dhaka - Extending its overseas footprint, Axis BankBSE 0.60 % today opened a representative office in Dhaka, capital city of Bangladesh. Indo-Bangladesh trade is growing and opening office in Dhaka would help in leveraging the opportunity, Axis Bank group executive, (corporate relationship group & international business) P Mukherjee said. "The bank aims to leverage the growing economic integration between the two countries by actively facilitating trade transactions, both inboun as well as out-bound. The bank will also contribute towards employment generation, both directly and indirectly in the country," he said. Dhaka operations, primarily focused to promote the trade finance business, will further strengthen the bank's presence in Asia, he said. Axis Bank has already established its presence through branches in Singapore, Hong Kong, DIFC-Dubai, Colombo and Shanghai, with representative offices at Dubai and Abu Dhabi and a whollyowned subsidiary in the UK. Total overseas assets of the Axis Bank stood at USD 7.51 billion, as on September 30, 2015. Mukherjee further said that the representative office will also enable the bank to move up the value chain and enhance its risk return through secondary market risk participations with banks in Bangladesh. At a later date, he said, the bank may consider to convert this office into a branch, subject to regulatory approvals and business volume.

4. Rickshaw-pullers & hawkers made directors in Bank of Baroda scam - Rasool, 40, sells vegetables on his cart in north Delhi. Last year, he became the director of a company -without even knowing it -for a remuneration of Rs 10,000 per month. Like Rasool (name changed), 58 other people, mostly living in slums and working as rickshaw-pullers, street vendors, drivers, household workers etc became pseudo-entrepreneurs after they were approached by black money hoarders in what has come to be known as the Bank of Baroda money laundering scandal. These `directors' of 59 fake companies were the most crucial cog in the Rs 6,172 crore scam. It all started in May last year. Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate officials say these poor workers and hawkers were roped in by the accused businessmen -Gurcharan Singh, Chandan Bhatia, Gurucharan Singh, Sanjay Aggarwal and others behind the transfers to Hong Kong and Dubai. The clique had by then won over two officials of Bank of Baroda Ashok Vihar branch, assistant general manager S K Garg and head of foreign exchange division Jainish Dubey -both later arrested by CBI -to connive in the plan.

5. Eastern states eye Rs 1,280 crore as coal auction proceeds - Coal-rich eastern states are in for a bonanza as they will get close to Rs 1,280 crore from the latest round of coal auction by this month-end, with Rs 650 crore already transferred to their kitty. The last three rounds have generated proceeds of more than Rs 3 lakh crore, which would be realised over 30 years by

eastern states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal, in addition to Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, where these mines are located. As provided in the Act, the proceeds of coal block auctions will go to states. We have already transferred Rs 650 crore to states and another Rs 630 crore will go to them by the end of the month," Vivek Bhardwaj, the nominated authority to conduct coal block auction, told PTI. Bhardwaj said fund flow will pick up as the mines start producing. Of the 34 coal blocks that had been allocated or auctioned under Schedule II -- either producing or likely to produce mines -- one is under litigation and seven of them have recorded over 5 million tonnes (MT) of output. The rest 26 blocks, as per the government, are likely to start production "in the next 2-3 months" as all issues, including necessary clearances, stamp duty, handing over of assets etc, have been resolved on the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who himself reviewed the projects. These auctions were done in three tranches while the process for the fourth round in which eight coal blocks will go under the hammer has been set into motion. These eight blocks will be auctioned on January 18-22 next year.

6. Canada’s CPPIB to commit $500 million for Kotak Mahindra Bank’s stressed asset fund - Soon after ICICI Bank's capital arm and PE firm, Apollo launched a fund for investments in debt-laden companies, now it's the turn of Uday Kotak to enter the space.

Sources with direct knowledge share that Kotak Mahindra Bank is in advanced talks with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, CPPIB, for a tie-up in the bank's stressed assets fund, Special Opportunities Fund. CPPIB is expected to commit $500 million to the fund which will provide short-term financial support to debt-laden companies, sources confirmed. Kotak Mahindra Bank had recently launched a Special Opportunities Fund focused at stressed assets under its 100% subsidiary, Kotak Investment Advisors. "This fund will work towards helping companies manage the finances in the short term which will give a huge boost to firms which show promise of turning around" a source said. It is not clear whether there will be any equity tie-up between Kotak and CPPIB" sources shared. CPPIB currently holds 4% stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank.

7. RBI will significantly reduce stress in banking system over time: Jaitley - Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said that the steps taken by the government and RBI to address issues in specific sectors will help reduce stress in the banking system over time.

Adding that he was not happy with the current level of non-performing assets (NPAs) in public sector banks, Jaitley after the meet with the PSU bank heads said that the Finance Ministry will work on coordinated action to deal with stress in public sector banks. "The health of the public

sector banks was key subject of discussion," Jaitley said after reviewing the performance of public sector banks."Discussed issue of willful defaulters. Discussed various social security schemes introduced by government, including progress of Jan Dhan Yojana. As demand picks up, credit offtake will also pick up," the Finance Minister added.Speaking about the Gold bonds, Jaitley said that the scheme will be opened in tranches.Jaitley also added that the government will sell shares in some state-run companies when market conditions improve. The government has been struggling to meet its asset sales target that is crucial to help plug in the fiscal deficit and has raised just about $2 billion or less than 20 per cent of its divestment target so far this year.

8. CVC red-flags loans handling by banks' junior staff - The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has red-flagged the processing and grant of loans by newly recruited staff on probation in banks as they can be misused by senior officials, and asked the Finance Ministry to issue necessary instructions to public sector banks in this regard. The move comes in the backdrop of cases of multi-crore frauds in banks and instances of loans turning into non-performing assets (NPAs). The anti-corruption watchdog has recently referred to CBI Rs 6,100 crore forex scam allegedly misusing Bank of Baroda. While examining the case of banks, the Commission observed vulnerability of junior untrained staff on probation and their misuse by senior officials who instruct them to process and recommend loans they are not equipped to do, a senior CVC official said. "The Commission as a system improvement advised Department of Financial Services to issue suitable instructions to public sector banks that newly recruited officers who are under probation or having a service of less than two years should not be asked to recommend and process loans. They may however do so as a learning process," he said.

9. FM Arun Jaitley asks PSU banks to remove NPA blotch on balance sheets - Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has asked state-run banks to clean-up their balance sheets of nonperforming assets, saying the government was willing to take the necessary policy corrective measures to help them. He said the government has already initiated several measures to bring down NPAs or bad loans of these banks. Gross NPAs of state-run banks rose 25.19 per cent year-on-year to Rs 3.14 lakh crore in September 2015, constituting 5.64 per cent of total advances. Results of these (measures) do not come overnight. Once the process has been set into motion, which was staggering for a reasonable period of time, I think, the situation will improve significantly in a reasonable time," he said after reviewing the performance of state-run banks in the quarter to September. Jaitley said the economy is gradually picking up and as demand picks up, credit offtake will also pick up. The minister also

asked bankers to achieve growth in priority sector housing loans in order to provide a stimulus to overall growth. On the issue of willful defaulters, he said some defaulters that are a common thread running across several banks did crop for discussion. "Banks today have full authority and autonomy to take action against them (defaulters) and when the bankruptcy law gets passed, the ability of banks to get failed creditor to exit will increase," Jaitley said, adding that the Reserve Bank (RBI) had also taken a series of steps to improve the quality of assets. After review meet, the Minister said the Government had discussions with Banks and ministries on requirement of different sectors and synergies between the Banking sector and various Government sectors.

10. Warburg Pincus raises $12 billion new fund, may invest with a long-term view Warburg Pincus one of the first global private equity (PE) majors to set up an India office, has raised a new global fund of $12 billion (Rs 79,000 crore), as deal making has gathered pace in the country. The new global pool also comes at a time when the PE firm has been stepping up its investments in India, leading to seven deals worth over $1 billion, or Rs 6,500 crore, since October 2014. The New York-headquartered firm, which set up an India office back in 2000, said that Warburg Pincus XII, which was launched in May 2015, had received "third party commitments significantly in excess of its $12 billion hard cap". Globally, Warburg Pincus follows a model of growth capital investments, with venture capital and buyout deals also included in the mix. With the new fund, we aim to continue our successful strategy of combining deep industry expertise and local market experience to identify outstanding management teams and entrepreneurs to partner with and build companies of sustainable growth. Our focus remains on sectors where we have identified long-term structural growth opportunities," said Niten Malhan and Vishal Mahadevia, MD and coheads, Warburg Pincus India, in a statement. The PE firm invests across sectors, its recent deals including Rs 1,800 crore in the realty arm of Piramal Group, Rs 850 crore in e commerce focused logistics player Ecom Express, Rs 1,200 crore in jewellery retailer Kalyan, and Rs 300 crore in cloudbased software solutions maker Capillary Technologies. The private equity firm is well known for its early investment and exit from Bharti Airtel, India's largest telecom operator by number of users.

11. Vijaya Bank seeks Rs 5,000-crore from Centre under capital infusion - South-based lender Vijaya Bank has sought Rs 5,000 crore from the Centre under the capital infusion plans.

Vijaya Bank Managing Director and Chief Executive Kishore Sansi told reporters here, "We have submitted a proposal to the Union Finance Ministry seeking Rs 5,000 crore under capital

infusion." The bank would also issue bounds under Tier 2 capital to collect Rs 3,000 crore, he said on the sidelines of inauguration of new premises of regional office. The present gross NPA of the bank is 3.90 per cent which is lowest among public sector banks and the target is to reduce it to 3 per cent by March next year. The net NPA of the bank at present is 2.84 per cent and it be brought down to 2 per cent by next March, Sansi added. Sansi further said the CashDeposit ratio increased from 63.79 per cent in 2014 to 70.59 per cent in 2015 and the net interest margin improved from 1.88 per cent in 2014 to 2. 30 per cent in 2015.

12. Nippon Life increases stake in Reliance Life to 49 per cent - Nippon Life Insurance is set to hike it's stake in Reliance Life from 26% to 49%. Nippon Life will invest Rs 2,265 crore for another 23% stake in the company. The latest transaction between the Japanese company and Reliance Life pegs the latter's valuation at approximately Rs 10,000 crore. Reliance Life Insurance will be renamed Reliance Nippon Life insurance post additional stake sale. Proposed stake sale has been approved by the boards of both the companies. Post stake sale total investment by Nippon will reach Rs 8630 crore for 49% stake in each in Reliance Life Insurance and reliance mutual fund. The planned investment will make Nippon life one of the largest Japanese investors in India.

13. Federal Bank signs MoU with EICML for collateral management - Private sector lender Federal BankBSE 0.00 % today said it has entered into a tie-up with Edelweiss Integrated Commodity Management (EICML) for extending collateral management in commodity financing. The tie-up is expected to benefit farmers, traders and processors who are in need of finance, against the pledge of commodities instead of sale at low prices, Federal Bank said in a release issued here. EICML is one of the leading collateral management service providers with a pan-India presence. The MoU was signed between Federal Bank General Manager (Products) Antu Joseph and Edelweiss Group Vice President Shekar Subramanian here.

14. Finance Ministry identifies five banks requiring special focus to arrest NPAs - The finance ministry has identified five banks - Bank of India, IDBI, Indian Overseas Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, UCO Bank, and United Bank of India - which require special focus to arrest their bad loans. As per the finance ministry data, the slippages in these banks continue to be higher than the reduction and there has been an increase in impaired assets. "These banks require special focus and discussions were held with these banks on how to step up the recovery efforts," said a finance ministry official.As per the finance ministry data, the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of Bank of India increased Rs 15,767 crore to Rs 29,894 crore since September 2014. While the country's largest bank the State Bank of India continues to

have the highest gross NPAs at Rs 56,834 crore at the end of September 2015, it managed to bring it down by Rs 3,878 crore since September 2014.

15. Bad loans by public sector banks soar 27 per cent in a year - Already burdened by bad loans, 37 banks, led by public sector ones, have reported a 26.8 per cent rise in non-performing assets (NPAs) over the 12-month period ending September this year.This is a nearly 10 per cent rise from the 16.9 per cent growth in bad loans over the same period a year ago, with several projects, especially those in the infrastructure sector, stuck. While the overall NPAs now amount to Rs 3,36,685 crore, the rise in the last 12 months ended September 2015 was Rs 71,000 crore, according to figures compiled by credit rating CARE. The banks with a major share in bad loans include Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Indian Overseas Bank, SBI and Punjab National Bank. The figures show a continuous acceleration in the growth of NPAs, from 4 per cent in the second quarter of FY2014 to 4.2 per cent in Q2 of FY2015 and 4.9 per cent in the second quarter of FY2016. At the same time, in the second quarter of FY16, net profits of banks also declined, by 1.5 per cent, compared to the positive growth rate of 29.5 per cent in the same period last year. The net profit margin came down to 7.7 per cent from 8.3 per cent during this period. Among the big banks, the bad loans of Bank of India soared from Rs 14,127 crore to Rs 29,893 crore, of Bank of Baroda from Rs 13,057 crore to Rs 23,710 crore, and of Indian Overseas Bank from Rs 13,333 crore to Rs 19,423 crore.

16. Rajan to hold rates at December policy review - Bankers, economists and market participants expect the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to maintain status quo in its fifth bimonthly policy review for 2015-16, scheduled on December 1. All 12 participants in a BS poll said RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan would be in no mood to tinker with the interest rate or even the cash reserve ratio. He would ideally wait to see the impact of a possible rate hike by the US Federal Reserve on December 15-16, possibly the first by the world’s largest economy since June 2006. RBI has, since January this year, cut its policy rate four times to bring it down from eight per cent to 6.75 per cent. In the fourth monetary policy review on September 29, the central bank surprised the market by a 50 basis point (bps) cut. One bps is a hundredth of a percentage point. The repo is the rate at which the RBI lends to banks. In his monetary policy statement, Rajan said the central bank’s stance would continue to be accommodative but the focus of monetary action for the near term would “shift to working with the government to ensure that impediments to banks passing on the bulk of the cumulative 125 bps cut in the policy rate are removed”.

17. Indian banks more stable but challenges remain: Fitch - Indian banks are stable but there will be challenges ahead for state-owned banks given weak core capitalisation and slow earnings recovery, Fitch said today. Capital-raising will be a key theme for Indian banks, as asset-quality pressures gradually stabilise and banks look to revive credit growth in support of a recovering GDP outlook," the rating agency said in a report. "However, there will be challenges for state-owned banks in particular, given weak core capitalisation and expectations of slow earnings recovery due to high credit costs," it added. Public sector banks require Rs 2.40 lakh crore capital by 2018 to meet global Basel III norms. Fitch said state banks' large stressed asset stock should remain an overhang on banks' equity valuations for the foreseeable future, although the state's expected capital injection will provide a critical buffer for the near term.

The gross Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) of Public Sector Banks rose to 6.03 per cent at the end of June, as against 5.20 per cent in March this year. "Fitch believes that the banks will have to conduct much more capital raising to pursue sustainable growth rates while achieving Basel III requirements and cushioning balance-sheet stress at the same time," it said.

18. Indian Overseas Bank's Rs 3,000 crore loans cleared in H1 under finance ministry scanner - The finance ministry is looking into loans worth Rs 3,000 crore that Indian Overseas BankBSE 1.88 % (IOB) paid out in the first half of this year. The bank's approval process is being checked to see if there was any wrongdoing involved, said two senior government officials who didn't want to be named. "It is being discussed with the bank. There was a review meet and the bank is submitting its response," said one of the officials. IOB is already under the Reserve Bank of India's prompt corrective action (PCA) regime because of its poor performance. The framework is invoked by the central bank when a lender crosses threshold limits on the capital to risk-weighted assets ratio (CRAR), net non-performing assets (NPAs) and return on assets (RoA). IOB's CRAR at the end of June was 9.75 per cent and it posted a net loss of Rs 551 crore for the July-September quarter. Another government official said there had been procedural lapses on some loans that seemed to have been made without the required committee approvals.

19. IDBI Bank raises Rs 2,310 Cr via green bonds - IDBI Bank on Thursday said it has raised USD 350 million (about Rs 2,310 crore) from green bonds to fund clean energy projects.

The issue was made under the USD 5 billion medium term note (MTN) programme listed on Singapore Stock Exchange, IDBI Bank said in a statement. With this, IDBI has become the first state-owned commercial bank to raise USD 350 million by selling green bonds. The proceeds will be used for refinancing of clean energy projects assisted by the bank which include wind

energy, solar energy etc., it said. The funds raised through the issue will also be used for financing of the new projects including sustainable transport, it added. IDBI Bank launched a "USD 350 million five-year Reg S green bond issue on November 23" and the issue was oversubscribed by 3 times. Commenting on the development, IDBI Bank MD K P Kharat said the bank is keen to work in growing green debt capital market and supports government's initiatives for a green Indian economy. The bank has already deployed USD 300 million towards clean energy projects and expects to deploy an additional USD 2 billion in the next 1215 months. The end use of the proceeds of the green bonds would be certified by third party to ensure transparency and provide comfort to investors.

20. Deposits and credit growth of commercial banks declined in Q2: RBI - The deposits and credit growth of commercial banks declined to 10.2% and 8.9% in the September quarter of this fiscal. The growth rate of deposits and credit was 12.3% and 9.5%, respectively, in the same quarter last year. The deceleration was generally broad-based across the population groups except for constant deposits growth in semi-urban areas, and accelerated growth in gross bank credit in the urban areas, the apex bank said in a report titled 'Quarterly Statistics on Deposits and Credit of Commercial Banks: September 2015'. The report, however, noted that the annual growth in both aggregate deposits and gross bank credit was higher in September than a year ago for SBI and associates, regional rural banks and private sector banks. But when compared with the preceding quarters, growth in aggregate deposits of public sector banks was lower. The credit-deposit (C-D) ratio at the national level stood at 75% as of September 25, the last day of the calculation. But the ratio was the highest for Chandigarh (120.9%), followed by Tamil Nadu (115.0%), Telangana (103.3%), Andhra (103.1%), Maharashtra (93.8%), NCT of Delhi (91.4%), and Rajasthan (84.7%). Seven states -- Maharashtra, NCT of Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, UP, Bengal and Gujarat -- accounted for 68.1% of the total deposits and credit. Maharashtra alone contributed 25.1% in the total business. These seven states accounted for 65.8% of deposits and 71.2% of credit, the report said. Nationalised banks continued to maintain their dominant position, contributing around half of both the deposits as well as credit for the system. SBI and its associates and private sector banks had almost similar shares of 2023% for both aggregate deposits and gross bank credit.

21. HSBC says to shut down India private banking business - Global banking major HSBC today announced shutting down of its private banking business in India that offers wealth management services. "After a strategic review of our global private banking operations here,

we have decided to close down the business," a bank spokesperson said today. Some 70 people working in the division headed by Shantanu Ambedkar will now be absorbed into the retail bank, officials said. The bank made the announcement in an internal e-mail to employees earlier in the day. It comes within two months of Royal Bank of Scotland also exiting the private banking business by selling it off to a company floated by a few of its senior management personnel. It is not immediately known how much funds the bank has been managing under its wealth management business. The spokesperson said the business will be closed down by March 2016 and select customers will be given a choice to move to HSBC Premier, its global retail banking and wealth management platform. The British bank is also investing in HSBC Premier in India to enhance product and services suite, which can be made available to select customers, he said.

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