1) Bajaj Auto Finance inks pact with India Post.
- Motorcycle finance company Bajaj Auto Finance has entered into an arrangement with post offices across India to enable buyers get information through brochures available at post offices, as well as apply for two-wheeler loans from the company.
- Subsequently, customers can also make loan repayments by depositing money in post offices.
- The project is being launched with Tamil Nadu as pilot/nodal office and the arrangement will initially be rolled out across 18 locations in the State.
2) Manappuram Fin net up 30% in FY16.
- Manappuram Finance posted a 30 per cent increase in net profit at Rs. 353.36 crore in FY16 compared with Rs. 271.31 crore profit reported in FY15.
- The operating income stood at Rs. 2,360.23 crore, an 18.8-per cent growth compared to Rs. 1,986.42 crore recorded in the previous fiscal.
- The company’s consolidated assets under management (AUM) also improved to Rs. 11,433 crore from Rs. 9,593 crore recorded in the previous fiscal.
- The recent diversification into new business areas has gained traction and new businesses contributed 12 per cent to its consolidated AUM. Its microfinance subsidiary Asirvad Microfinance Pvt Ltd ended the year with AUM of Rs. 998.82 crore, a growth of 210 per cent over Rs. 322 crore earlier.
3) Piramal to buy Pfizer’s brands for Rs. 110 crore.
- Piramal Enterprises is set to acquire four brands from multinational drug maker Pfizer Ltd for Rs. 110 crore, a move that will strengthen Piramal’s presence in the consumer products segment.
- The acquisition includes names that many associate with their childhood, like Ferradol and Waterbury’s Compound, besides Neko and Sloan’s. The agreement would also include the trademark rights for Ferradol and Waterbury’s Compound in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
- These brands have both a legacy and high consumer pull and are available in India for over 30 years, it targeted a marketplace that is pegged at Rs. 7,000 crore.
4) EPFO paid Rs. 8,200 crore as monthly pension in 2015-16.
- The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) disbursed Rs. 8,200 crore as monthly pensions and Rs. 47,630 crore as member benefits in 2015-16.
- The retirement fund body, however, a mismatch between EPF and Aadhaar data in respect of date of birth and name of pensioner was noticed in certain cases. It has, therefore, advised members to either correct their details provided to EPFO offices or those given in Aadhaar, whichever is correct.
- The retirement fund body also noted that a number of online transfer applications by members were pending with employers for attestation and verification of member details. It has asked its field offices to take up the matter on priority with employers.
- With regard to compliance, the process of digitizing the reporting system was on.
5) Frontier Lifeline ties up with Russian institute to produce artificial hearts.
- Frontier Mediville, a SEZ Medical Park 45 km north of Chennai, will partner with a Russian medical institution to produce artificial hearts at an affordable price.
- The device developed at the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics at the Russian Academy of Sciences, tested at Meshalkin Novosibirsk State Research Institute of Circulation Pathology, Siberia, will bring down the cost to about Rs. 20 lakhs, as opposed to Rs. 68 lakhs for an equivalent product now available in the market.
- Meshalkin Novosibirsk State Research Institute will invest in India to mass produce the artificial heart. It will collaborate with Frontline Mediville for preclinical trials on animals and transfer technology know-how for production.
- The operating cost for mechanical and biological heart transplants stand at Rs. 20 lakhs. But in case of biological heart which can last for up to 20 years, the patients have to spend an additional Rs. 3.6 lakhs annually on medicines, for anti-rejection therapy.
6) BHEL wins Rs. 1,600 crore order from the joint venture of NTPC and SAIL.
- State-run engineering firm BHEL has bagged a Rs. 1,600 crore order from a joint venture company of NTPC and SAIL to set up a coal-based thermal power project in Odisha.
- The 1x250 MW coal-based thermal unit will be set up at Rourkela Power Project on engineering, procurement & construction (EPC) basis.
- The Rs. 1,600 crore order for Stage-III of the Brownfield power project, located in Rourkela district of Odisha has been placed on BHEL by NTPC-SAIL Power Company (NSPCL).
- The key equipment for the contract will be manufactured at BHEL’s Trichy, Haridwar, Bhopal, Ranipet, Hyderabad, Jhansi, Thirumayam and Bengaluru plants, while the company’s power sector division shall be responsible for civil works and erection/ commissioning of the equipment.
7) Pfizer to buy Anacor Pharma in $5.2 billion deal.
- Pfizer will acquire Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc. in a deal valued at about $5.2 billion.
- Anacor`s topical treatment for eczema, called crisaborole, is currently under review by the Food and Drug Administration. If approved, Pfizer believes peak year sales could reach or exceed $2 billion. Anacor, based in Palo Alto, California, also holds the rights to a topical treatment for toenail fungus called Kerydin.
- Albert Bourla, group president of Pfizer`s global innovative pharma and global vaccines, oncology and the buyout is attractive because it provides an opportunity to address a significant unmet medical need for a large patient population with eczema
- Pfizer Inc. will pay $99.25 per Anacor share. That`s a 55 per cent premium to its closing price of $64.03.
-
8) India Power posts Rs. 586 crore revenue.
- India Power Corporation Ltd (IPCL), a power utility company, has reported gross revenue for 2015-16 at Rs. 586 crore against Rs. 618 crore in the previous fiscal.
- Its PBT improved to Rs. 43.54 crore during FY 15-16 against last year`s PBT of Rs. 36.60 crore. The board recommended a dividend of 5 per cent.
- It commissioned 220/33 kV substation at J.K. Nagar in the Asansol subdivision of West Bengla in last year connecting IPCL to the national grid and flexibility to source power.
9) WPI inflation positive for 1st time in 18 months.
- The Wholesale price index-based inflation turned positive after a gap of 17 months, rising 0.34 per cent year-on-year in April against -0.85 per cent in the previous month, as food and manufactured items turned dearer while deflation in fuel products narrowed sharply.
- On a seasonally adjusted basis, the headline WPI inflation rose 0.86 per cent month-on-month, the strongest pace of sequential jump in the last 32 months.
- Coming on the back of a spike in retail inflation to 5.39 per cent in April from 4.83 per cent in the previous month, the latest WPI data dashed hopes of a rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) at its next monetary policy review meeting.
10) 2,891 kg of gold deposited under monetisation scheme.
- The Centre has collected 2,891 kg under the Gold Monetisation Scheme.
- It also plans to start the tradability in Sovereign gold bonds by the end of the month and will launch a fourth tranche of the bonds soon.
- These issues were discussed at a meeting called by the Finance Ministry to review the progress under the Gold Monetisation Scheme and the Sovereign Gold Bond scheme.
- Banks were also asked to promote the two schemes.
11) CCEA gives approval to proposal for offering improved VRS package.
- The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave its approval to the proposal for offering an improved Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) package based on 2007 notional pay scales for the employees of Hindustan Vegetable Oils Corporation (HVOC).
- The government`s assistance would be in the form of non-plan grant of approximately Rs. 27.56 crore to the company.
- HVOC is a Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) under the Department of Food and Public Distribution, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
- The employees of HVOC have been adversely impacted due to sickness of the company.
- They are in very old pay scales of 1992. The improved VRS package will give fair amounts of compensation to the employees and help them in their post retirement rehabilitation.
12) World Bank approves $625 million loan to support rooftop solar programme in India.
- The board of World Bank has approved a $625 million loan to support the central government’s programme to generate electricity from rooftop solar power plants.
- The board also approved a co-financing loan of $120 million on concessional terms and a $5 million grant from the Climate Investment Fund’s Clean Technology Fund.
- The sanctions will help finance installation of at least 400 MW of grid connected rooftop solar photovoltaic projects across India. These installations will provide clean, renewable energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by displacing thermal generation. The project will also strengthen the capacity of key institutions and support the development of overall solar photovoltaic market.
- State Bank of India will on-lend funds to solar photovoltaic developers and end-users who wish to invest in mainly commercial and industrial rooftop solar power systems. The financing will be provided to those with sound technical capacity, relevant experience and creditworthiness as per State Bank of India’s standards.
-
13) NTPC tied-up with Coal India Limited to foray into Fertilizer Sector.
- State-run power producer NTPC signed a joint venture agreement (JVA) with state-run miner Coal India to revive plants of the Fertilizer Corporation of India Limited (FCIL).
- The joint venture company will take up the revival of FCIL plants at Sindri in Bihar and Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh by setting up an ammonia urea plant at each location.
- The JV Company would initially be incorporated with 50:50 equity participation from both, but also contains provision of inducting strategic partners at a later date depending upon business requirement of JV Company.
-
14) PNB’s Rs. 5,367 crore shocker.
- Punjab National Bank (PNB) posted the worst-ever quarterly loss by an Indian bank after an RBI diktat on asset quality review (AQR) led to a surge in provisions for bad debt.
- PNB’s fourth-quarter net loss stood at Rs. 5,367 crore. This is the first time in recent history that the public sector lender is reporting a loss.
- It had last reported technical losses in the mid-1990s after the takeover of New Bank of India.
- PNB reported a net profit of Rs. 306 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.
- For fiscal year 2015-16, PNB reported a net loss of Rs. 3,690 crore despite its operating profit coming in at Rs. 13,100 crore. For five consecutive years now, PNB has recorded operating profits in excess of Rs. 10,000 crore.
15) BHIVE raises Rs. 6.5 crore from Blume Ventures.
- BHIVE Workspace, a co-working space in Bengaluru catering to over 150 ventures, has raised about Rs. 6.5 crore ($1 million) in funding led by Blume Ventures.
- The company, which now operates from four locations covering 50,000 sq ft and has over 800 active members, will use the money to expand in Bengaluru.
- It will also establish a presence in the top six cities in the country, attract top talent and build technology.
- BHIVE offers a range of facilities and services to corporates, small businesses and freelancers.
16) ECGC net rises 53% to Rs. 276 crore in FY16.
- ECGC reported a 53 per cent jump in net profit at Rs. 276 crore in the financial year 2016 as against Rs. 180 crore in the year-ago period.
- The profits are up despite the Corporation paying higher claims of Rs. 1,122 crore (Rs. 590 crore in the previous financial year) to banks and exporters and setting aside more as claim provision (Rs. 1,249 crore in FY2016 vs Rs. 897 crore in FY2015).
Investment income:
- Robust investment income of Rs. 633 crore (Rs. 544 crore) supported the wholly-owned government entity’s bottomline.
- Global economic slowdown had a cascading effect, with overseas buyers defaulting on payments to Indian exporters and the latter, in turn, failing to pay banks, thereby triggering the insurance claims.
17) MFI loan securitization more than doubles to Rs. 11,500 crore.
- Microfinance institutions (MFIs) have securitized Rs. 11,500 crore loan receivables in fiscal 2016 compared with Rs. 5,075 crore in 2015.
- The 125 per cent growth in securitization in the previous fiscal occurred as MFIs opted for this funding route to churn capital faster and fuelling growth.
PTCs preferred:
- Crisil observed that pass-through certificates (PTCs) continued to be the preferred route (85 per cent in fiscal 2016), whereas in the overall securitization market, direct assignments rule the roost, accounting for two-thirds of new transaction volumes.
18) IFC to invest $20 million in FCEL.
- Future Consumer Enterprise Ltd (FCEL) has informed the stock exchanges that International Finance Corporation (IFC) will invest $20 million in the company through equity-linked instruments.
- It will use the funds to support growth plans and strengthen its balance-sheet. The company had also recently raised $55 million from US-based Proterra Partners (previously known as Black River Asset Management) and the promoters of the company and this completes the current fund raising plan of $75 million.
- Other investors in FCEL include Brussels-based Verlinvest and Singapore-based Arisaig Partners.
19) World Bank arm IFC to invest $68 million in Apollo Health.
- World Bank arm International Finance Corporation (IFC) is looking to invest $68 million or Rs. 460 crore in Apollo Health & Lifestyle Limited, which runs the hospital chains small format centers.
- The proposed investment is part of the overall raise by the unit of $135 million or Rs. 900 crore.
- IFC is considering an equity investment of approximately $68 million, including approximately $34 million for its own account and approximately $34 million for IFC`s Asset Management Company.
- IFC has earlier invested in the parent company of Apollo Health & Lifestyle, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited.
20) Sebi tightens P-note norms to keep vigil on foreign investments.
- Tightening its norms to check any misuse of participatory notes (P-Notes) for laundering of black money, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) made it mandatory for users of these controversy-ridden overseas instruments to follow Indian anti-money laundering law and report any suspicious transactions immediately.
- Acting upon recommendations of the Supreme Court - appointed Special Investigation Team on black money, Sebi also tightened the due-diligence requirements for issuance and transfer of these instruments and put the onus on the original issuer for compliance to Anti-Money Laundering Regulations.
- The issuers would have to conduct periodic review and report the complete transfer trail of Offshore Derivative Instruments (ODIs) - P-Notes - to Sebi on a monthly basis in addition to the present requirement of reporting details of their holders.
- P-Notes are instruments issued by registered foreign institutional investors to overseas investors.
- At about Rs. 2.2 lakh crore, P-Notes now make up for about 10% of total foreign investment inflows into Indian markets, as against over 55% at the peak of stock market Bull Run in 2007.
21) Karnataka Bank net profit declines 20.5% to Rs. 106.79 crore in Q4.
- Karnataka Bank reported a 20.5 per cent decline in net profit at Rs. 106.79 crore in the fourth quarter of 2015-16, compared with Rs. 134.42 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
- There was growth in operating profit and net interest income. However, net profit fell slightly because of higher provisioning.
- The bank made a provision of Rs. 112.50 crore during the fourth quarter of 2015-16 as against Rs. 63.11 crore in the third quarter of 2015-16. However, there was a reversal of provisioning of around Rs. 4.49 crore during the fourth quarter of 2014-15.
22) KKR to invest Rs. 145 crore in Mantri’s Bengaluru projects.
- Bengaluru-based realtor Mantri Developers has signed an agreement with global investment firm KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) to raise Rs. 145 crore.
- The funds will be deployed in 1.3 million sq ft of luxury residential projects in Bengaluru.
- A global investor like KKR has shown confidence in our high-end project and is confident about the real estate market in Bengaluru.
23) Altico to invest Rs. 130 crore in NCR, Mumbai projects.
- NBFC Altico has closed two deals aggregating Rs. 130 crore in NCR and Mumbai.
- The first investment, of Rs. 50 crore, is in Noida-based Lotus Greens Group’s residential project named Arena I. The project is part of a larger sports city development in Noida.
- The funding proceeds will be utilized in the construction of the project. Through this transaction Altico Capital has strengthened its existing relationship with Lotus Greens. It had in the recent past funded the group for a 300-acre Sports City project in Sector-150, Noida, wherein, it invested Rs. 450 crore along with a co-lender.
- The company has also closed a Rs. 80 crore transaction with Mumbai-based Shree Sai Group for a residential project named The Nest in Andheri West.
- The project is being developed in a joint venture with Wadhwa Holdings. Shree Sai will use the proceeds of the funding to refinance existing debt and to finish project construction.
24) IDBI Bank posts loss of Rs. 1,736 crore in Q4 as loan loss provision surges.
- Huge loan loss provisioning led IDBI Bank to report a loss of Rs. 1,736 crore in the fourth quarter ended 2016, as against a profit of Rs. 546 crore in the year-ago period.
- In the preceding quarter, the government-owned bank had reported a loss of Rs. 2,184 crore.
Full-year loss:
- In the financial year ended 2016, the bank logged a loss of Rs. 3,665 crore (against Rs. 873 crore profit in the previous year).
- Loan loss provisions in the reporting quarter jumped to Rs. 4,275 crore (Rs. 1,393 crore).
- Net interest income (the difference between interest earned and interest expended) was down 14 per cent at Rs. 1,428 crore (Rs. 1,660 crore).
- Net interest margin edged lower to 1.67 per cent (2.10 per cent).
25) World Bank launches $500 million insurance fund to fight pandemics.
- The World Bank was launching a $500 million, fast-disbursing insurance fund to combat deadly pandemics in poor countries, creating the world`s first insurance market for pandemic risk.
- Japan has committed the first $50 million towards the facility, which will combine funding from reinsurance markets with the proceeds of a new type of World Bank-issued high-yield pandemic.
- In the event of a pandemic outbreak, the facility will release funds quickly to affected poor countries and qualified international first-responder agencies.
-