Sudhir Valia of Sun Pharma to Setup Financial Services Business in India
Sudhir Valia, Dilip Shanghvi’s brother-in-law and executive director Sun Pharma, India’s largest drug company is starting up a financial services business. Valia who recently bought a 51% stake in Pay Point India Network and a 23% stake in Suzlon says his company will straddle the entire gamut of financial services and products. Valia’s company has already applied for a payment bank license from the RBI. Read more here.
Major Shuffle at Standard Chartered; CEO & Asia Head Quit
Peter Sands, chief executive officer of Standard Chartered Plc and Asia head Jaspal Bindra areamong six high-profile senior managers to quit Standard Chartered in what is clearly a major managerial reshuffle. India, may also result in the local unit facing the heat and more heads may roll. This comes at a time when the financial service giant is under tremendous shareholder pressure over its poor performance. The Indian operations are also said to be not doing well and many more may lose their jobs: Read more here.
RBS to shut down its banking operations in India, retains its back office business
Britain’s largest state-owned bank, Royal Bank of Scotland(RBS), has decided to shut down its banking operations in the country but will be retaining the back office.
“We are looking at running down the India business but we will be retaining the back office ……. bank is yet to take a final call on whether they will be selling or winding up its India operations”
The Indian banking operations mainly include investment and wholesale banking. It employs about 1,200-1,500 people in the banking business, the back office in India employs about 12,000 people and is a key global hub. Read more here.
India Beats Peers On Investment Index
Foreign portfolio investors’ allocation to India, compared to its weight in the key emerging market (EM) index, is at a record high. Foreign investors are estimated to hold around a fifth of the total Indian equity market. They hold a little over 40 per cent of the free float, the shares available to the general public. A JPMorgan India Equity Strategy report says that that such overweight positions on India have climbed to never-before seen levels. Read more here.
Rail Stocks Slide on Freight hike
The markets gave a thumbs down to Suresh Prabhu’s maiden Railway Budget with stocks of most companies that derive significant business from the railways closing lower.But analysts were upbeat about the long-term development plan that it had laid out.Among the railway stocks, Stone India lost a little over 6%, while Kalindee Rail lost 4% and Texmaco Rail was down 2.5%. However, Hind Rectifiers jumped sharply to close almost 15% higher.
Sebi imposes Rs85 cr fine on DLF, related entities
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has slapped a total fine of Rs 85 crore on DLF, its promoters, top officials and related entities for violation of Sebi norms during DLF’s initial public offer (IPO). This could probably be the biggest ever penalty imposed by Sebi in a single case. However, DLF said it did not violate any law and it will challenge the Sebi order. Read morehere.
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