Today Sector News – 08.10.2018
* AGRICULTURE: The government has notified the eligibility criteria for sugar mills to avail the recentlyannounced financial assistance worth 55.38 bln rupees to help mills make timely payments to sugarcane farmers.
* AUTOMOBILE: Ford Motor India's revenue from selling vehicles in the Indian market rose 20% to 68 bln rupees in 2017-18 (Apr-Mar).
* AVIATION: The Center for Asia Pacific Aviation has called upon the government to exit Air India completely because any level of equity retention will deter investors on concern over the possibility of continued government interference post-privatisation.
-Air India has cut down its catering cost by 25 mln rupees.
-The government is planning steps to give significant autonomy to Air India's board, in terms of capital expenditure and commercial decision-making.
* COAL: Coal import increased by 35% to 21.1 mln tn in September as against 15.61 mln tn in the corresponding month of the previous financial year.
* DEFENCE: India and Russia have concluded a $5-bln pact, under which Moscow will supply advanced S-400 surface-to-air missile systems to New Delhi.
* ECONOMY: In order to enable foreign portfolio investors to invest directly in India's fixed-income market, the Reserve Bank of India, in consultation with the government and the Securities and Exchange Board of India, has proposed the introduction of a separate investment channel called the 'voluntary retention route'.
* ENERGY: India and Russia, on Friday, inked two documents in the fields of civil nuclear energy and space cooperation to bolster strategic partnership between the two nations.
-Greenko Group to buy Orange Renewable from Singapore's AT Capital Group for about $925 mln.
* ENTERTAINMENT: More than 450 movie theatre operators in Madhya Pradesh--multiplexes as well as single screens--have gone on an indefinite strike starting Friday against double taxation on movie tickets.
* FERTILISERS: On Friday, the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Indian Potash, and PhosAgro, producers of phosphate-containing fertilisers, announced joint investments in mineral fertiliser production in Russia and India.
* FUEL: Maharashtra government has slashed diesel price by 1.56 rupees a ltr, making the fuel cheaper by 4.06 rupees in the state.
* FUNDS: Non-banking finance companies are seen returning to the short-term debt market to fund their loan growth due to expectation that a fall in rates seen on Friday will be largely sustained and on the hope of an improvement in investment appetite of mutual funds.
* INFRASTRUCTURE: Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services has defaulted on paying the principal and interest for inter-corporate deposit of 1.73 bln rupees, due Friday.
Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services has put up the assets of IL&FS Wind Energy for sale and mandated HSBC to find a buyer.
-Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services under the chairmanship of Uday Kotak may meet this week again to chalk out the future course of action to resolve the current financial crisis.
* MINING: Having secured 1.81 trln rupees from e-auction of 50 mineral blocks, the government is looking to put another 100 mines on the block in the next six months, according to the Ministry of Mines.
* OIL AND GAS: The country's largest private sector fuel retailer Nayara Energy will align prices of petrol and diesel with public sector oil marketing companies, which were asked by the government to reduce prices of these fuels by 1 rupee per ltr and absorb losses arising out of the cut, Nayara's Chief Executive Officer B. Anand said.
-Under flak for asking state-owned oil marketing companies to cut petrol and diesel prices, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said there was no question of the government going back on deregulation of prices of petroleum products.
* RAILWAYS: A memorandum of cooperation was signed between the Ministry of Railways and joint-stock company Russian Railways on the sidelines of the India-Russia Summit on Friday.
* REGULATORY: The Reserve Bank of India has issued consolidated norms for electronic trading platforms offering trade in securities, money market instruments, foreign exchange instruments, and derivatives that came into effect Friday.
* RETAIL: Swedish retailer IKEA plans to invest nearly 30 bln rupees in the next three years to open three packing warehouses in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi.
-Online retailers are likely to incur a cash-burn of over $1 bln during the coming month-long festival sales.
-Big Bazaar has partnered with Google to increase footfalls in its stores with targeted advertising. Mobile phone companies have announced a price cut in their handsets by up to 62% for the upcoming four-day sale at Flipkart starting Oct 11.
* STEEL: VTB Bank's interest in Essar Steel remains unchanged, the Russian financial group's Chief Executive Andrei Kostin said on Friday. Russia's banking group VTB is set to make a solo bid for Essar Steel.
* TAXATION: After slashing excise duty on petrol and diesel, the government is likely to reduce excise duty on aviation turbine fuel to keep airfares in check and help airlines that are under financial pressure.
* TELECOMMUNICATION: Chinese telecom equipment-maker Huawei plans to start field trials for the fifth generation or 5G services in India by December, and is looking to partner with one of the telecom operators for the same.
-Indian telecom companies and banks are bracing for a six-fold jump in costs to verify antecedents of its customers after the use of a biometric database of residents was barred for all but the government.
-Ajay Prakash Sawhney, secretary at the Ministry of Information and Technology, has been given additional charge of the Department of Telecommunications till Oct 14.
* TRADE: In the first clear indication that India will continue to trade with Iran despite US sanctions, state-owned refiners INDIAN OIL CORP and MANGALORE REFINERY AND PETROCHEMICALS have contracted import of 1.25 mln tn of crude oil in November.
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* AUTOMOBILE: Ford Motor India's revenue from selling vehicles in the Indian market rose 20% to 68 bln rupees in 2017-18 (Apr-Mar).
* AVIATION: The Center for Asia Pacific Aviation has called upon the government to exit Air India completely because any level of equity retention will deter investors on concern over the possibility of continued government interference post-privatisation.
-Air India has cut down its catering cost by 25 mln rupees.
-The government is planning steps to give significant autonomy to Air India's board, in terms of capital expenditure and commercial decision-making.
* COAL: Coal import increased by 35% to 21.1 mln tn in September as against 15.61 mln tn in the corresponding month of the previous financial year.
* DEFENCE: India and Russia have concluded a $5-bln pact, under which Moscow will supply advanced S-400 surface-to-air missile systems to New Delhi.
* ECONOMY: In order to enable foreign portfolio investors to invest directly in India's fixed-income market, the Reserve Bank of India, in consultation with the government and the Securities and Exchange Board of India, has proposed the introduction of a separate investment channel called the 'voluntary retention route'.
* ENERGY: India and Russia, on Friday, inked two documents in the fields of civil nuclear energy and space cooperation to bolster strategic partnership between the two nations.
-Greenko Group to buy Orange Renewable from Singapore's AT Capital Group for about $925 mln.
* ENTERTAINMENT: More than 450 movie theatre operators in Madhya Pradesh--multiplexes as well as single screens--have gone on an indefinite strike starting Friday against double taxation on movie tickets.
* FERTILISERS: On Friday, the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Indian Potash, and PhosAgro, producers of phosphate-containing fertilisers, announced joint investments in mineral fertiliser production in Russia and India.
* FUEL: Maharashtra government has slashed diesel price by 1.56 rupees a ltr, making the fuel cheaper by 4.06 rupees in the state.
* FUNDS: Non-banking finance companies are seen returning to the short-term debt market to fund their loan growth due to expectation that a fall in rates seen on Friday will be largely sustained and on the hope of an improvement in investment appetite of mutual funds.
* INFRASTRUCTURE: Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services has defaulted on paying the principal and interest for inter-corporate deposit of 1.73 bln rupees, due Friday.
Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services has put up the assets of IL&FS Wind Energy for sale and mandated HSBC to find a buyer.
-Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services under the chairmanship of Uday Kotak may meet this week again to chalk out the future course of action to resolve the current financial crisis.
* MINING: Having secured 1.81 trln rupees from e-auction of 50 mineral blocks, the government is looking to put another 100 mines on the block in the next six months, according to the Ministry of Mines.
* OIL AND GAS: The country's largest private sector fuel retailer Nayara Energy will align prices of petrol and diesel with public sector oil marketing companies, which were asked by the government to reduce prices of these fuels by 1 rupee per ltr and absorb losses arising out of the cut, Nayara's Chief Executive Officer B. Anand said.
-Under flak for asking state-owned oil marketing companies to cut petrol and diesel prices, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said there was no question of the government going back on deregulation of prices of petroleum products.
* RAILWAYS: A memorandum of cooperation was signed between the Ministry of Railways and joint-stock company Russian Railways on the sidelines of the India-Russia Summit on Friday.
* REGULATORY: The Reserve Bank of India has issued consolidated norms for electronic trading platforms offering trade in securities, money market instruments, foreign exchange instruments, and derivatives that came into effect Friday.
* RETAIL: Swedish retailer IKEA plans to invest nearly 30 bln rupees in the next three years to open three packing warehouses in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi.
-Online retailers are likely to incur a cash-burn of over $1 bln during the coming month-long festival sales.
-Big Bazaar has partnered with Google to increase footfalls in its stores with targeted advertising. Mobile phone companies have announced a price cut in their handsets by up to 62% for the upcoming four-day sale at Flipkart starting Oct 11.
* STEEL: VTB Bank's interest in Essar Steel remains unchanged, the Russian financial group's Chief Executive Andrei Kostin said on Friday. Russia's banking group VTB is set to make a solo bid for Essar Steel.
* TAXATION: After slashing excise duty on petrol and diesel, the government is likely to reduce excise duty on aviation turbine fuel to keep airfares in check and help airlines that are under financial pressure.
* TELECOMMUNICATION: Chinese telecom equipment-maker Huawei plans to start field trials for the fifth generation or 5G services in India by December, and is looking to partner with one of the telecom operators for the same.
-Indian telecom companies and banks are bracing for a six-fold jump in costs to verify antecedents of its customers after the use of a biometric database of residents was barred for all but the government.
-Ajay Prakash Sawhney, secretary at the Ministry of Information and Technology, has been given additional charge of the Department of Telecommunications till Oct 14.
* TRADE: In the first clear indication that India will continue to trade with Iran despite US sanctions, state-owned refiners INDIAN OIL CORP and MANGALORE REFINERY AND PETROCHEMICALS have contracted import of 1.25 mln tn of crude oil in November.
