Top 10 Indian Business News of the Week [4th–10th March 2013]

Here’s a look at this week’s top 10 Indian business news.

 

Government raises Rs. 310 crore from Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd stake sale

The government reportedly raised Rs. 310 crore from a 12.5% stake sale of Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd (RCF). The divestment happened through the auction route for which the floor price was set at Rs. 45 per share. The state owned fertilizer producer’s shares rose 3.65% on BSE to close at Rs. 45.45 on Friday.

Mukesh Ambani ranked India’s richest billionaire by Forbes

55 Indians made it to Forbes 2013 The Billionaires List led by Mukesh Ambani with a net worth of $21.5 billion. Steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, Chairman of Wipro Azim Premji, founder of Sun Pharmaceuticals Dilip Shanghvi and Essar Group brothers Shashi and Ravi Ruia were among the top 5 richest Indians in Forbes’ list.

GMR Group divests 70% in Singapore company for $660 million

GMR Group announced entering into an agreement to sell 70% stake in GMR Energy (Singapore) Pte Ltd (GMRE) for $660 million. GMRE was established for the construction, operation and maintenance of a natural gas fuelled power plant on Jurong Island, Singapore. “This divestment of our stake results in a profit of Rs. 1356 Crores (S$ 307 Mn) and releases capital amounting to Rs. 1616 Crores (S$ 366 Mn)” said a press release.

CavinKare Pvt Ltd to invest Rs. 80 crore for salon business

CavinKare Pvt Ltd will reportedly invest Rs. 80 crore to take its salon business across India. Under the brands Green Trends and Limelite, the company plans to triple its outlets from 110 to 350. Under the expansion plans, the company expects each Limelite outlet to cost between Rs. 75 to Rs. 80 lakh and each Green Trends outlet to cost Rs. 50 lakh.

Ratings linked loans debut in India

Rating linked loans in which cost of borrowings rise upon every downgrade will debut in India with a proposed Rs. 22,800 crore loan to Tata Steel. The company will reportedly pay 100 basis points above SBI’s base lending rate as long as it maintains an ‘A’ rating or above. Lending rate will increase to 150 basis points above SBI’s base rate if ratings fall below ‘A’, according to terms of the loan.

HPCL to set up Rs. 36,000 crore refinery in Rajasthan

The board members of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) approved the setting up of a refinery in Barmer, Rajasthan at an estimated cost of Rs. 36,000 crore.

“The refinery will have a production capacity of 9 million tonnes and the state will provide land for the project. Process of land acquisition is under way” said a government official. The facility will reportedly be HPCL’s nineteenth oil refinery in India.

Future Group sells 22.5% stake in Future General India Life insurance Company Ltd

Future Group via its retail arm Pantaloons Retail (India) Ltd (PRIL) announced the sale of 22.5% stake in its insurance JV with Italy’s Generali Group to Industrial Investment Trust Limited (IITL), a BSE listed non-banking finance company. The Kishore Biyani led retail giant will hold 52% shares in the insurance company.

Standard Chartered India operating profit before tax falls 16% to $676 million

Standard Chartered India reported a 16% fall in its operating income before tax from $804 million in 2011 to $676 million in 2012. The group posted a profit before tax of $5,136 million, down marginally by 2% from $5,216 in 2011.

“The slow GDP growth, 15% movement in the Indian currency, slow corporate activity and step-up in bad loans have affected the income from Indian operations” said Sunil Kaushal, Regional Chief Executive, India and South Asia, Standard Chartered. Up to 75% of the bank’s revenues in India reportedly come from corporate lending.

Sobha Developers Ltd founder P N C Menon commits $300 million to charity

Founder of Sobha Developers Ltd P N C Menon reportedly committed half of his wealth, $300 million to charity.

“My view is very simple; I am lucky to have made my money. After a certain point in time, money cannot make a difference in your life. I feel that its not even called charity, it’s about accountability and the responsibility of society” he said. Menon plans to open educational institutes in India and Oman.

World Bank bars L&T for 6 months, L&T sees no impact on business

World Bank barred L&T from doing business with it or any of the projects it has funded for six months. The debarment will last up to September this year and is a result of misrepresentation by a junior employee of the company’s medical equipment business, from which L&T has since divested.

“Based on the incident, preventive measures were tightened across the L&T Group to prevent recurrence of such incidents. We do not expect that these sanctions will have any significant impact on our business” said a company spokesperson to ET.