Galaxy surfactants lists with 3% premium at Rs 1,520
NEW DELHI: Galaxy Surfactants, a maker of speciality chemicals got listed on both NSE and BSE on Thursday.
The company’s stocks got listed in the benchmark indices at a premium of 2.70 per cent at Rs 1,520.
The scrip underwent an Initial Public Offering (IPO) between January 29- 31 got oversubscribed 20 times. The IPO was worth Rs 937 crore and the price band was set at Rs 1,470 – Rs 1,480. ICICI Securities, Edelweiss Financial Services and J M Financial Institutional Securities managed the books.
According to data available on the NSE website, the portion reserved for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) was subscribed 54.27 times, non institutional investors 6.96 times and retail investors 6.01 times.
The company had garnered Rs 281 crores from anchor investors ahead of the IPO.
At 10.36 am, the stock was trading 5 per cent above listing price on the BSE.
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Rate panel signals inflation risks from fiscal slippage
NEW DELHI: The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has said the Centre’s fiscal slippage could impact inflation, and the deterioration in public finances risks crowding out private finance and investment — sending a signal for “stable-macro financial management” to put growth on a sustainable path.
In the Union Budget unveiled on February 1, the government had revised the fiscal deficit target for 2017-18 to 3.5% of gross domestic product (GDP), higher than the earlier estimate of 3.2%, signalling a pause in its fiscal consolidation plan due to the uncertainty over revenues after the rollout of the GST in July. It has, however, reiterated its commitment to fiscal consolidation and hopes to meet the target of limiting the deficit to 3% of GDP by 2019-20.
The MPC has put the ball in the government’s court and wants it to have a renewed focus on fiscal consolidation. While the statement had some praise for the Budget’s rural focus, the caution on inflation risks was loud and clear.
“The focus of the Union Budget on the rural and infrastructure sectors is also a welcome development as it would support rural incomes and investment, and in turn provide a further push to aggregate demand and economic activity.
“The committee is of the view that the nascent recovery needs to be carefully nurtured and growth put on a sustainably higher path through conducive and stable macro-financial management,” it added.
It said the fiscal slippage has broader macro-financial implications on economy-wide borrowing costs, which have already started rising. The MPC has preferred to wait to assess the impact of the higher minimum support price plan of the government on inflation. It also expects the increase in customs duty to have an inflationary impact. The government, which has been pushing for a sharp cut in interest rates last year, preferred to maintain a silence on Wednesday when the MPC decided to hold rates. There seems to be a change in strategy with the government preferring not to comment on interest rate cuts.
“The possible hardening of inflation due to fiscal slippages and turn in commodity cycle, which may give cost-push pressure on prices, had a bearing on the RBI decision to keep the rate constant,” said Soumya Kanti Ghosh, group chief economic adviser, SBI.
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CTS posts annual revenues of $14.81 bn, 9.8% revenue growth in q4
Chennai: US-headquartered Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS) beat street expectations, earning revenues of $14.82 billion for the calendar year 2017, growing 9.8% annually from $13.48 billion last year.
Its net income stood at $1.50 billion, 3% lesser than last year’s $1.55 billion.
The company edged past analyst expectations with its performance for the quarter ended December 2017 on the back of increased spending from banking and healthcare clients. Revenues rose to $3.83 billion, up 10.6% from last year’s $3.46 billion and up 1.6% from $3.77 billion from last quarter. Analysts expected the company to post revenues of $3.82 billion.
CTS recorded a net loss of $18 million for the December quarter, compared to a net income of $416 million last year. The results included a one-time expense of $617 million because of new US tax laws.
Revenue from the financial services sector rose 5.4% year on year while revenue from healthcare services climbed 12%.
The company grew faster than its peers in revenue growth. While TCS grew 6.2% annually, Infosys clocked 5.8% and Wipro grew 3%. Sequentially, Wipro and Infosys grew less than 1%, while TCS grew 1.3%. “Consistent and solid execution throughout 2017, along with continued investments to further accelerate the shift to digital during the year, gives us confidence that we can deliver a strong 2018,” said Francisco D’Souza, CEO, CTS.
“As companies that are already leaders in their industries integrate their domain knowledge with today’s tremendously powerful technologies like artificial intelligence, analytics, and cloud, we see a new generation of digital heavyweights emerging. CTS is resolved to be the go-to partner to these digital-industrial leaders and also to our fast-growing digital-native clients.” The company enters 2018 on a strong note with growth for for Q1 of 2018 to be in the range of 9.3% – 10.4% year on year. For the year, CTS expects to earn revenues in the range of $16 billion to $16.30 billion or 8% – 10.1% growth. As part of its Return of Capital program, the company has been declaring dividends in the past few quarters. This quarter the dividend was increased by 0.33% to $0.2 per share.
The company continues to focus on hiring in the US with over 6,000 U S citizens and permanent residents joining them in 2017. Over the next 5 years, the company plans to hire 25,000 US workers.
In a bid to support re-skilling for US workers and students, the company has formed a non-profit foundation with an initial grant of $100 million which will fund STEM education and skills programs, public-private partnerships and other initiatives designed for high school graduates, community college and college students, military veterans and others in the workforce looking to obtain specialized technical skills for digital technology jobs.
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RBI holds rates, sees inflation spike
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday kept key interest rates on hold, while hiking its inflation outlook for the year and trimming growth forecasts. Bonds, however, rallied with the yield on the 10-year benchmark falling by 11 basis points (100bps = 1 percentage point) to 7.49% as the policy was far less hawkish than expected.
While RBI’s policy stance reduces the likelihood of rate cuts by lenders, Bank of Baroda turned out to be an outlier, reducing its benchmark rate for below one-year tenures by 15-25bps. The bank has maintained its one-year benchmark on which home loans are priced. In its sixth bi-monthly monetary policy statement, the central bank said that it expects inflation in the fourth quarter to be at 5.1% as against its earlier expectation of 4.3-4.7% for the third and fourth quarters of FY18. The central bank also trimmed its growth forecast for FY18 to 6.6% from 6.7%.
According to HDFC Bank chief economist Abheek Barua, the monetary policy was far less hawkish than expected. “Unless things go really awry — particularly in oil markets or the domestic fiscal deficit and push inflation way above the projected trajectory — the RBI could stay on hold,” he said.
Five members of the RBI’s monetary policy committee (MPC) had voted in favour of holding rates. One member, RBI executive director M D Patra, had voted in favour of a rate hike — the first by a member since the MPC was introduced. While the RBI said that it was committed to keep headline inflation close to 4% on a durable basis, it also said, “The nascent recovery needs to be carefully nurtured and growth put on a sustainably higher path through conducive and stable macro-financial management.”
“In terms of actual outcomes, headline inflation averaged 4.6% in Q3, driven primarily by an unusual pick-up in food prices in November. Though prices eased in December, the winter seasonal food price moderation was less than usual,” the RBI added.
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Supreme court allows fractured auction of Aamby Valley assets as no bidder for whole
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed fractured auction of Sahara’s Aamby Valley property after two attempts for international auction of the entire asset at one go failed and asked court-appointed liquidator and receiver of the property to complete the task within two months.
A bench of chief justice Dipak Misra and Justices Ranjan Gogoi and A K Sikri allowed the proposal of selling the property in parts after liquidator and receiver told that two corporate houses—Mahindra and the Piramal Groups— had expressed interest in buying some of the assets of Aamby Valley.
Aamby Valley is Sahara’s most valuable project, comprising luxury resorts, man-made lakes and an airport. A meticulously planned city with world-class infrastructure and facilities, Aamby Valley is spread over 10,000 hectares near Pune in Maharashtra.
Senior advocate Darius Khambata, appearing for the receiver, told the bench that Aamby Valley was a huge property and it might not be possible to sell it at one go as no one participated in the auction process which was advertised not only in India but in other countries also. He said that there were many saleable assets within Aamby Valley, including international school, golf course, hotels and restaurants, which could be sold to raise the money which the company was to pay to SEBI. He also told the bench that movable properties, including 23 Mercedes cars and hundred other vehicles, could also be easily sold.
He said that process had already been initiated for identifying the saleable properties and the list would be prepared by the end of March.
Senior advocate Arvind Datar, appearing for SEBI, told the bench that Sahara was still to pay Rs 11,569 crore out of Rs 25,781 crore of the principal amount to the market regulator.
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India to auction 60 small discovered oil, gas fields
NEW DELHI: India will auction 60 discovered small oil and gas fields with the potential to produce 194.65 million tonnes of oil and oil equivalent gas, the government said in a tweet after a cabinet meeting.
Blocks that will be auctioned were originally controlled by Oil and Natural Gas Corp and Oil India Ltd. The fields have remained undeveloped for years due to their small size and the high cost of development.
India, the world’s third-biggest oil consumer, imports nearly three-quarters of its energy requirements, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a target of cutting its fuel import dependency to two-thirds by 2022 and to half by 2030.
India’s previous auction of discovered small fields in 2016 was dominated by small Indian bidders.
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8.29% increase in foreign exchange earnings from tourist arrivals
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala government said foreign exchange earnings from tourist arrivals in the state stood at Rs 8,392.11 crore in 2017, a growth of 8.29 per cent when compared to the figures of the previous year.
Foreign tourist arrivals increased by 5.15 per cent while domestic tourist arrivals grew by 11.39 per cent during the period,especially at a time when the tourism industry suffered adverse factors like enhanched GST rates and allied aspects, an official release quoting State Minister for Tourism and Devaswom Kadakampally Surendran said.
With growth almost doubling than last year, domestic tourist arrivals achieved more than what was targeted in the Kerala Tourism Policy, it said.
In terms of tourism revenue, total direct earnings from the sector grew to Rs 26000.33 crore from Rs 23098.15 crore, a growth of 12.56 per cent.
The growth figures point to the immense popularity Kerala Tourism enjoys beyond the state borders, Surendran said.
The total growth rate in terms of tourist arrivals in 2017 was the highest registered in the last nine years, he said.
Tourism Department Secretary Rani George said the new Tourism policy 2017 has set an ambitious target of increasing domestic tourist arrivals around 15 per cent