1. Jaitley to Address RBI Board Today, Take a Call on Interim Dividend
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is scheduled to address the customary post-budget meeting of the central board of the Reserve Bank on Monday, 18 February, and highlight the key points of the interim Budget, including the fiscal consolidation roadmap.
The meeting, according to sources, will take a call on the interim dividend to be paid to the government during the current fiscal.
The government expects Rs 28,000 crore from the RBI as interim dividend for 2018-19 based on the financial position of the central bank.
(Source: Business Standard)
2. Be Ready for Another Week of Volatility, Choppy Markets
Markets were under pressure last week and lost on every single trading day. Considering that there were losses for five days, the cumulative amount was not that very large. BSE Sensex lost 737.53 points or 2.02 percent to close at 35,808.95 points. Nifty was down 219.20 points or 2.00 percent at 10,724.40 points. The broader market lost a little more with BSE100, BSE200 and BSE500 down 2.33 percent, 2.26 percent and 2.30 percent down. The bigger pain continues to be in the mid and small cap which were down 2.71 percent and 2.96 percent, respectively.
BSE midcap is less than 3 percent away from making a new 52-week low while BSE smallcap is at a 52-week low. The problem with these small shares is that there seems to be no level at which they would stop. They seem to be just falling non-stop and there are no levels for support for these stocks.
(Source: LiveMint)
3. Adani, GMR Bid for 6 Non-Metro Airports Listed for Privatisation
India’s Adani Group and GMR Infrastructure Ltd have bid for all the half-a-dozen non-metro airports put up for privatisation by the Union government, said two people aware of the development on condition of anonymity.
Indian airport operator GVK and Singapore’s Changi Airports International (CAI) did not participate in the just concluded round of bidding. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has received 32 bids for the airports in Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram and Mangaluru, said the people cited above.
Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports received the most number of bids — seven each.
(Source: LiveMint)
4. Joblessness Among Educated, Skilled Rose Sharply: NSSO Survey
After recording a fall in 2011-12, the unemployment rate among educated people in the country rose sharply in 2017-18, according to the National Sample Survey Office's first periodic labour force survey.
The rate for skilled persons almost doubled between 2011-12 and 2017-18, even as the proportion of the people who got vocational or formal training during this period was less.
The survey showed that the literacy rate went up in 2017-18. More rural people got educated and young female workers spent more years towards attaining formal education than their male counterparts.
(Source: Business Standard)
5. Reliance Group Reaches Standstill Pact With Lenders Over No Sale Of Pledged Shares
Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group has reached a “standstill agreement” with more than 90 percent of its lenders, under which they will not sell any of the shares pledged by promoters till September.
Under the pact, the group will pay the principal and interest amounts to the lenders as per the scheduled due dates, while it has also appointed investment bankers for part placement of the group’s direct 30 percent stake in Reliance Power Ltd. to institutional investors, officials at the lenders and Reliance Group said.
The investment bankers will begin roadshows for the share placement soon, they said. Some of the key lenders include Templeton Mutual Funds, DHFL Pramerica Mutual Funds, Indiabulls Mutual Fund, IndusInd Bank and Yes Bank.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
6. Govt Closer To Achieve Rs 80,000-Crore Divestment Target For FY19
The government’s divestment proceeds have touched Rs 53,558 crore so far in the current financial year against the full-year budget target of Rs 80,000 crore. Last week, as much as Rs 10,000 crore came in from Bharat-22 exchange-traded funds and another Rs 5,379 crore from the sale of Specified Undertaking of Unit Trust of India stake in Axis Bank Ltd.
The government has sold as much as 3 percent stake in Axis Bank held via SUUTI through an offer for sale and raised about Rs 5,300 crore. Besides, the additional offering or Bharat-22 ETF garnered about Rs 10,000 crore to the exchequer. The issue got bids worth Rs 49,528 crore, with foreign investors pouring in Rs 38,000 crore and retail buyers Rs 2,000 crore.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
7. Vodafone Idea in Talks to Sell Mobile Tower Stake, Other Assets
Vodafone Idea is likely to mop up about Rs 20,000 crore from its proposed stake sale in mobile tower firm Indus Tower and monetisation of optical fibre assets, sources said.
The country's largest telecom operator plans to use the funds for lowering its debt, which stood at Rs 1,23,660 crore at the end of 2018.
"Vodafone Idea has received combined valuation of around Rs 20,000 crore for mobile towers and optical fibre assets that it is planning to sell. Discussions have started around it," an industry source close to the development told PTI.
(Source: LiveMint)
8. RBI Becomes Net Buyer Of Dollars In December
The Reserve Bank of India has turned net buyer of dollars in December, first time in the current fiscal year, as it purchased $607 million of the greenback on a net basis from the spot market, according to the latest data.
The central bank bought $837 million and sold $230 million in the spot market during the reporting month.
In December 2017, the RBI was a net buyer of $5.647 billion, after it bought $6.008 billion from the market and sold $361 million. Between April and November 2018, the central bank had net sold $26.51 billion in the spot market against a net purchase of $18.02 billion a year ago.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
9. Premium Processing of H1B Visa Petitions Mild Respite to Indian IT Firms
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said it would resume premium processing of all H1B visa petitions filed on or before 21 December 2018 on Tuesday, 19 February. However, this will bring a mild respite to Indian technology firms already grappling with a shortage of talent in the US, its largest market.
Premium processing of H1B visas is like the “tatkal” scheme, which allows processing of applications within 15 calendar days for an additional fee of $1,410 per application, apart from the base fee.
This allows employers a faster route to get skilled talent in the US, and the Indian information technology (IT) industry has been a long-standing beneficiary of this programme.
(Source: Business Standard)
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