India's billion-dollar club adds 51 firms, $500 bn
The rally in the stock market and the recent appreciation in rupee value has brought 51 new members to the elite billion-dollar market-value club, while doubling its overall valuation since October when the benchmark index had dropped below the 8,000-level. The country boasts of as many as 144 companies with a market capitalisation of at least a billion dollar at present. The number represents a increase of 51 companies from just 93 in October 2008.
Interestingly, the cumulative market value of the club currently stands at about $900 billion (Rs 42,34,171.25 crore) as on June 5, more than double of its value in October last year of $410 billion (about Rs 20,41,029.8 crore).
However, when compared to the historic high achieved by the market in January last year, the billion-dollar club has shrunk in size and in value as well.
On October 27, the Sensex had plunged to a 52-week low of 7,697 points, hitting the investor confidence severely. However, the size of this elite club has shrunk by 81 companies since January 10, when the Indian stock market benchmark Sensex had hit its all-time high of 21,206.77 points.
As of January 10, 2008, India hosted 226 companies with a market value of at least a billion dollar. In value terms as well, the club had been at a high of $1,579 billion (Rs 61,99,628 crore) on January 10.
Govt slaps anti-dumping duty on CD-Rs
The government has imposed an extra levy of up to $63.84 on import of 1,000 pieces of compact discs-recordable (CD-Rs) from countries like Iran, Thailand and Korea. The Finance Ministry has imposed provisional anti-dumping duty ranged between $17.52 and $63.84 per 1,000 pieces on CD-Rs, the ministry said in a notification.
After reaching a conclusion that "the domestic industry has suffered material injury," the Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) had recommended anti- dumping duty on import of the discs from Iran, Thailand, Korea, Malaysia, UAE and Vietnam.
The DGAD had earlier found that the discs were being imported from these countries, at below its normal value, which was causing material injury to the domestic industry.
The duty shall be levied from the date of imposition of the provisional anti-dumping duty, that is, March 13, 2008, it said.
Earlier, the government had imposed the duty on several other products, including yarns, fabrics, colour picture tubes, some aluminum products and chemicals.
According to a recent WTO report, India initiated the highest number of anti-dumping investigations -- 42 such probes - followed by Brazil and China, between July and December, 2008.
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Big TV joins hands with ESPN
ADA Group's DTH arm Reliance Big TV Monday said it has partnered with sports broadcaster ESPN to launch an interactive channel 'iCricket' on its platform, targeted at garnering more viewers for the ongoing ICC Twenty20 Worldcup.
BIG TV's iCricket will enable viewers to switch between different camera angles for watching the matches along with game highlights, updates, schedule and statistics, BIG TV said in a statement.
iCricket will be available in four languages - English, Hindi, Tamil and Telegu, it added.
"iCricket is a part of our effort to deliver the best to our subscribers understanding their current demands, especially at the time of T20 World Cup," Reliance BIG TV Chief Executive Officer Sanjay Behl said.
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SBI to launch several private equity funds
After launching an infrastructure fund in collaboration with Macquaire and IFC, State Bank of India is in the process of setting up 'several' other funds to cash in on the area, which is gaining importance as an alternate asset class.
"The bank is at an advanced stage in setting up a general purpose private equity fund jointly with sovereign entities in Oman.
The Indian Government has designated the bank as the operationalising agency for a similar sovereign fund with Qatar. Several other funds are at various stages of formation," SBI said in its latest annual report. SBI has already set up an infrastructure fund in association with Macquarie of Australia and IFC Washington primarily aimed at investing in India's infrastructure space.
"All necessary regulatory approvals have been received for operationalising the fund. Over USD one billion has been mobilised from large and well-known international investors including the sponsors," the bank said.
The Macquarie-SBI Infrastructure Fund would continue to raise capital during the year. Together with Indian domestic institutions, the total capital is projected to be between USD two billion to USD three billion.
Private equity is gaining importance as an alternate asset class among the Indian Inc.
This primarily prompted the largest lender of the country to enter into the area, which offers attractive returns as well.
"As some of the funds initiated by the bank are on the verge of operationalisation, the bank is poised to play a leading role in this promising sector in coming years," SBI said.
The bank had in November last year signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Sultanate of Oman to launch a private equity fund.
The initial corpus of the fund was pegged at USD 100 million, which could be increased to USD 1.5 billion over the next few years.
According to global consultancy firm Grant Thornton, 15 private equity deals were announced in India amounting to USD 493.94 million in April this year as against 32 deals aggregating USD 562.85 million in the same month last year.
In 2008, 312 deals were announced in India with a total value of USD 10.59 billion.
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India equity funds see highest weekly inflow
Global investors have poured in close to $200 million in India-focused equity funds in the first week of June, while the overall Asia-dedicated funds witnessed the biggest inflows of as much as $1.54 billion, a report says. According to data complied by international fund tracking firm EPFR Global, India equity funds saw an inflow of $199 million in the first week of June, which is the highest amount seen in the past 55 weeks.
In Asia (excluding Japan), equity funds posted the biggest inflows in dollar terms worth $1.54 billion.
"With currency rather than growth issues on their minds, investors gravitated towards markets with a reputation for fiscal discipline (Asia) or big commodity stories (Latin America, Russia) in late May and early June," the report said.
For the second week running, China's previously dominant role in Asia (ex-Japan) equity fund flows was muted.
Besides, all emerging markets equity funds combined have now taken in $26.1 billion of net inflows year to date, a little more than half of the $50 billion in assets lost to net outflows from these funds in 2008.
Despite a solid performance by the US equity funds during the week ending June 3, the declining dollar prompted investors to rotate money out of this fund group with large cap Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) accounting for the bulk of the modest outflows.
Sector wise, EPFR Global-tracked commodity and energy sector funds saw a good week due to dollar weakness, Chinese demand and OPEC's apparent unity when it comes to reining in oil production. The commodity sector fund took in $798 million, while energy sector saw an inflow of $281 million.
The flows into commodity sector funds were the largest since the fourth week of February 2008 and took year-to-date inflows of over the six billion dollar mark, the report added.
Another round of largely successful capital raising by major banks helped financial sector funds post inflows of $481 million, while consumer goods and utilities sector funds both absorbed over $100 million for the week.
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