May get Rs 600-700 cr for entire stake in CARE: IDBI Bank

The  IDBI Bank board has approved the sale of part or whole of its shareholding in CARE . The bank holds 48.18 lakh share or 16.62 percent in CARE. It is in talks with PE players and financial institutions to sell the stake.

ChrysCapital, Baring PE Asia and Blackstone are likely to bid for the CARE stake. However, the formal bidding for the stake sale will begin by January 2015 and the process is likely to take place via a closed-bidding process. At current market price, IDBI Bank will get Rs 684 crore by selling its entire stake in CARE.

BK Batra, executive director and group head - corporate banking of IDBI Bank says the timing seems right to monetize a part or its entire stake in CARE. He believes the bank can get between Rs 600 crore and Rs 700 crore for its entire shareholding.

He says IDBI Bank is only looking at CARE and NSE stake sales at the moment.

Below is the verbatim transcript of BK Batra's interview with Latha Venkatesh & Sonia Shenoy on CNBC-TV18.

Latha: What is the deal with CARE? Are you bringing down the stake, have you found buyers, how much are you likely to sell?

A: We are currently holding about 16.6 percent in CARE. We are one of the significant shareholders in CARE. Today the market is doing well, CARE is doing well so the timing seems to be right to monetise some off its shareholding that we have been having. That is the reason we have decided to go in for either a portion or the whole of the shareholding that we are having for sale.

Latha: Have you already got requests or have you already got replies?

A: We have not yet ruled out any process. We have only gone to the board and opted boards approval to go ahead with this divestment. We would be evaluating our options and then we will roll out the process for sale.

Sonia: How much are you looking to raise via this stake sale?

A: If we happen to sell the entire stake then going by the current price, the amount could be somewhere between Rs 600-700 crore. However, we have not yet taken a final call whether to divest a portion of what we are holding or the whole of it.

Latha: Are you planning to sell some stake in NSE as well?

A: You are right, NSE also we are looking if we can get the right price and the right buyer then we might sell again there either a portion or the whole of nearly five percent as we are holding in NSE.

Sonia: Your capital adequacy ratio is currently about 11.7, with these stake sales what could your capital adequacy ratio rise to?

A: It will certainly improve; the point is that right now it is where you mentioned. Our tier I is also slightly less than eight percent. However, with these stake sales our profits will go up and therefore capital adequacy of both tier I and overall should improve.

Sonia: You were just telling Latha about the other stakes that you have. What about the other non-core holdings. I understand that you have about 10 percent in Nepal Development Bank, 10 percent in Universal Commodity Exchange and in Over the Counter (OTC) as well any more stake sales that are planned within this fiscal year itself?

A: Right now perhaps no more. We do have a portfolio of strategic investments. However, right now we are looking at only these two - that is CARE and NSE.

Latha: What is the status of your loan to Ratnagiri Gas or Dabhol as the case may be? How much do they owe you and is it in danger of slipping into non-performing loan (NPL) this quarter or next?

A: Ratnagiri as a project is a very good project. As an asset it is a really good asset and even today it's per megawatt cost is comparable to the current projects being set up. So, it can become a viable project provided you see the fuel that is gas that becomes available.

What we are expecting is the gas pooling arrangement that government is in the process of working out. If that gets finalised and the projects start getting gas so as to operate at least half of its capacity initially and later on as the capacity utilisation ramps up it can come back to life and become viable and service all its debtors well.

Stay tuned for more...

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Land Bill's consent clause removal major win: Mah Lifestyle

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Arun Nanda, chairman, Mahindra Lifespace says that by the removal of the consent clause, the government is attempting to protect the interest of farmers.

Arun Nanda, chairman, Mahindra Lifespace , says the government's move to approve the ordinance to amend Land Acquisition Act is a major positive for the country.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Nanda says that by the removal of the consent clause, the government is attempting to protect the interest of farmers.

The ordinance is seeking to waive the "consent clause" - the requirement to secure specific consent of owners of 70 percent -80 percent of land owners if acquisitions are meant for Public-Private Partnership projects that include defence and defence production, rural infrastructure including electrification, housing for poor and affordable housing, etc.

Below is the verbatim transcript of Arun Nanda's interview with Latha Venkatesh & Sonia Shenoy on CNBC-TV18.

Sonia: How much of a relief do you think it is as far as land acquisition is concerned going ahead and do you see a lot of construction projects increase now in terms of quantum and the ease of doing work as well?

A: I must confess that my knowledge is limited to what's been put on the media. I have not seen the text of the ordinance but it is a welcome move because what they are trying to do is protect the interest of the farmers and at the same time taking away the nuisance of the act because this consent term getting the farmers' consent term was going to be an impossible task and also the social impact study. What I make out in the press is that certain segments of the industry especially things like rural housing, affordable housing, rural electrification, rural projects, defense and public private partnership (PPP) projects and that's the best part that I see.

I do not think it is going to give boost to the real estate sector because I do not think that is the intention. The boost will only come for affordable housing. So there will have to be specific land acquisition for affordable housing to meet Mr. Modi's desire to have house for everybody but from an industry perspective I see a situation where the ownership of land will vest with the government under the PPP mode and the land will be made available to industry.

As I have said on your channel before – with 200 million odd young people coming to the workforce, we have to find manufacturing industry to grow and in the last few years dip in Index of Industrial Production (IIP) numbers is a combination of two things; yes, there is a consumer issue but there is also an issue that no manufacturing activity has started because there is no land to do manufacturing activity. Therefore, to sum up, it is a welcome move; it takes interest of the farmers because they are going to be protected from the compensation part of it but the irritable processes will be removed for certain segments of the industry is what I read.

Latha: Do you think that all the major irritants – it is not as if we are going to get anything more easily on land acquisition. Whatever the government could do has been done, things are not going to get any easier. So are you now confident at least those projects will start taking shape that you are going to see little more activity on infrastructure?

A: Unless I see the fine print, I cannot tell you but it clearly comes out that part of the 'Make for India' and doing ease of business, they are trying to remove irritants and the good part is that they have protected the farmers' economic interest and taken away the right of consent which was impossible to get because there would have been -- what happens is the vested interest becomes blackmailers – that was the biggest concern we have and that would be taken care of is my view. Now whether the thing will happen, we will have to see how it is implemented and land is a state subject, so one will have to also see how the ordinance takes care of that because land is a state subject. You ultimately have to go to the state government.

Mahindra Life stock price

On December 30, 2014, at 11:10 hrs Mahindra Lifespace Developers was quoting at Rs 472.60, up Rs 5.75, or 1.23 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 659.00 and the 52-week low was Rs 341.00.

The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 57.43 per share as per the quarter ended September 2014. The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 8.23. The latest book value of the company is Rs 277.39 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company is 1.70.

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Hope to maintain 25-30% growth in loan book: Repco Home Fin

V Raghu, executive director, Repco Home Finance says the company will pass on lower rate benefits to its customers if the central bank decides to lower rates anytime soon.

V Raghu, executive director,  Repco Home Finance says the financing company will pass on lower rate benefits to its customers if the central bank decides to lower rates anytime soon.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Raghu says the company is eyeing to grow its loan book by 25-30 percent with net interest margins (NIMs) between 3 to 5 percent.

Transcript to follow soon. 

Repco Home stock price

On December 30, 2014, at 11:14 hrs Repco Home Finance was quoting at Rs 645.00, up Rs 6.05, or 0.95 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 663.45 and the 52-week low was Rs 301.05.

The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 18.64 per share as per the quarter ended September 2014. The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 34.6. The latest book value of the company is Rs 118.96 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company is 5.42.

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ING Bk staff want job safety post merger,to strike on Jan 7

Employee unions of  ING Vysya Bank today demanded safeguarding of their interests post merger with  Kotak Bank and threatened to go on strike on January 7 - the day on which the Bengaluru-headquartered lender will seek shareholders' nod to approve the Rs 15,000-crore merger deal.

To ensure that interests of all the stakeholders are 'protected', SA Sridhar from the ING Vysya Bank officers' association said a "tri-partite agreement" between Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB), ING Vysya Bank, and employees and officers, be signed which will lay out all points in detail.

The All India ING Vysya Bank Employees Union and All India ING Vysya Bank Officiers Association, which together represent 35 per cent of the Bangalore-headquartered lender's over 10,000 employees as members, however, said they are not opposing the merger but want their interests to be protected. "We have an apprehension as the new management at KMB does not have an Union and believes in outsourcing its work. What will be the fate of our employees after the merger?"

Ramkrishna Reddy, general secretary of the employees union told reporters here. He added that recently KMB wrote to all the ING Vysya Bank employees to allay the concerns but 'bypassed' the unions. Reddy emphasised that the Uday Kotak-led bank should go through the union if it is "sincere" about its efforts.

ING Vysya Bank spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment. However, a representative for ING Vysya Bank referred to legal opinion of advisors to the deal, which said such a tripartite agreement is "infructuous".

There is no precedent of such an agreement in previous bank mergers, the legal opinion said, alleging that such a demand "seems to be red herring i.e. something that misleads or distracts from relevant issues".

ING employees and officers want internal MoUs to continue post-merger, and also stressed that perks and benefits decided by industry body IBA be continued, Sridhar said. Kotak Mahindra Bank spokesperson Rohit Rao said: "The merger process entails as per the Banking Regulation Act, approval of the shareholders and thereafter approval from the RBI in addition to CCI's approval.

"All protection related to employees have already been captured in the scheme of amalgamation which upon approval by RBI, Kotak Mahindra Bank shall fully standby and are obligated to comply with including sections relation to employees job security, wages, pension, gratuity etc."

As is evident we would like to start with good faith constructive approach that secures all employees and creates growth for all stakeholders including employees after the RBI order, Rao added. In a letter, KMB's Joint Managing Director Dipak Gupta has written to ING Vysya Bank's Chief Executive designate Uday Sareen saying that KMB will be honouring all IBA settlements and bi-partite agreements.

In one of the biggest deals of 2014, KMB had announced an all-stock deal to acquire ING Vysya Bank late last month. According to KMB, complementarity is at centre of the deal as this will give it the necessary branch network in the south. In a note earlier this month, foreign brokerage Morgan Stanley had said the unions may have apprehensions regarding the merger and had spelt it as a key issue to watch out for.

ING Vysya Bank stock price

On December 29, 2014, at 11:10 hrs ING Vysya Bank was quoting at Rs 858.75, up Rs 2.65, or 0.31 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 886.85 and the 52-week low was Rs 493.00.

The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 33.03 per share as per the quarter ended September 2014. The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 26. The latest book value of the company is Rs 370.85 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company is 2.32.

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Twitter experiences sign in issues, down for many users

Many Twitter users are unable to login to their accounts to the popular microblogging service.

In the latest in the long series of Twitter outages, many users are unable to login to their accounts to the popular microblogging service.

A two-sentence post on its Twitter Status blog, that updates users on the status of the Twitter service, says, "Some users are currently having trouble signing in to Twitter. Our engineers are currently working to resolve this."

Twitter hasn't yet posted further details.

Some users are also reporting of incorrect timestamps on some of the tweets.

Also read:  Recruitment via social networking sites on rise: Survey

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Need to take radical steps to boost manufacturing: Jaitley

Whether Make in India is made for consumers within India or consumers outside, is not so relevant, Jaitley said.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that radical steps needed to be taken to boost manufacturing in the country.

"Manufacturing is where the jobs are," Jaitley said at a public event, adding the sector had the potential to grow at 13-14 percent.

He said the entry point into manufacturing had to be eased to be able to create more jobs.

Referring to RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan's remark that the Make in India campaign should be targeted more towards domestic demand and not so much the export market, Jaitley said: "Whether Make in India is made for consumers within India or consumers outside, is not so relevant. The principle today is that consumers across the world like to buy products that are cheaper and of good quality."

Jaitley said growth in FY16 would be better than that in this fiscal.

Earlier, he told mediapersons that that the suggestions made by the finance ministers of various states would be considered while formulating policies in the Budget.

"Some state FMs even requested that the FRBM limit (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management) be raised this year in order to infuse liquidity in the market," Jaitley told reporter.

"Most states also wanted centralisation of the CSS (centrally sponsored schemes) so that they could be more attuned to the state requirements.

Several states made suggestions with regards to state specific issues. We will consider all these suggestions while formulating our policies in relation to the Budget," Jaitley said.

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Planned turnaround at Nagothane manufacturing site: RIL

Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) has scheduled a planned turnaround at its Nagothane manufacturing site. The cracker and some of the downstream units will be shut for approximately four weeks, starting around mid-January 2015.

Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL)  has scheduled a planned turnaround at its Nagothane manufacturing site. The cracker and some of the downstream units will be shut for approximately four weeks, starting around mid-January 2015.

This opportunity will be used to carry out routine maintenance activities and for implementing other profit improvement and energy conservation measures. RIL's crackers and other downstream units at other locations will continue at normal levels of operations.

With advance planning and inventory management, impact on external sales is likely to be minimal.

Disclosure: Network 18, which publishes moneycontrol.com, is part of the Reliance Group.

Reliance stock price

On December 26, 2014, Reliance Industries closed at Rs 889.00, up Rs 2.20, or 0.25 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 1142.50 and the 52-week low was Rs 794.00.

The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 69.65 per share as per the quarter ended September 2014. The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 12.76. The latest book value of the company is Rs 609.19 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company is 1.46.

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India working to fix e-commerce payments post-Uber case:Guv

The central bank is working to set a legal framework for the use of advanced e-commerce technologies but in the meantime no one can treat the absence of a solution as an excuse to violate Indian rules, Rajan told NDTV television.

US taxi-hailing company Uber Technologies violated Indian regulations by "bypassing" rules when it used an overseas gateway to conduct transactions in the country, Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan said in a television interview.

The central bank is working to set a legal framework for the use of advanced e-commerce technologies but in the meantime no one can treat the absence of a solution as an excuse to violate Indian rules, Rajan told NDTV television.

"We are willing to work to try and solve the problem, in fact we have some solutions which are coming up on doing low value transactions without too much 'jhanjhat' (hassle) as they call it," Rajan said in the interview telecast on Friday night. "But the point is you cannot violate regulations."

Earlier this year, local taxi companies complained that Uber - which directly processed payments using a customer's stored credit card information - was not following India's two-step verification for all e-commerce transactions.

In August, the RBI instructed that by Oct. 31, all transactions done with domestic credit cards had to follow the two-step verification process.

After the RBI order, Uber changed its payment method and partnered with an India-based virtual wallet provider, Paytm.

"One of the things we need to do to avoid crony capitalism is have rule of law. So our point was obey our regulation, we will work with you to fix it, to make it more useful for you," Rajan said.

Uber did not respond to request for comment on the governor's remarks.

At present, Uber is not operating in New Delhi. On Dec. 8, the Indian government banned Uber from operating in the capital after one of the company's drivers was arrested for allegedly raping a female passenger.

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Checkout Narayana Murthy mentor 3 SP Jain students

Watch NR Narayana Murthy, Co-Founder, Infosys mentoring three students from SP Jain and answering their queries.

Watch NR Narayana Murthy, Co-Founder, Infosys mentoring three students from SP Jain and answering their queries.

Watch videos for more…

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Culture shift biggest challenge for Infosys in '15: Sikka

The company is also planning to focus on reusability of components and capabilities.

Infosys  is charting out its plans for 2015 and CEO, Vishal Sikka has given analysts a glimpse of what to expect. He says the biggest challenge facing the software major in 2015 will be bringing a cultural shift.

Sikka believes Infy will be a service company that uses software in a big way. "We have not become a product company," he adds. He also says that Infosys will need to change the mindset, focus on innovation.

The company is also planning to focus on reusability of components and capabilities.

Infosys stock price

On December 26, 2014, Infosys closed at Rs 1950.35, up Rs 16.30, or 0.84 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 4401.00 and the 52-week low was Rs 1447.00.

The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 101.90 per share as per the quarter ended June 2014. The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 19.14. The latest book value of the company is Rs 366.51 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company is 5.32.

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SpiceJet has cleared employee salaries, fuel dues: CEO

Money-losing SpiceJet had delayed employees' salaries for November and briefly grounded its fleet this month for want of cash. Its majority owner, billionaire Kalanithi Maran's Sun Group, has said it cannot afford a bailout.

Troubled carrier  SpiceJet Ltd has paid employees' salaries for November and cleared dues of fuel companies as of Friday, its chief operating officer said.

Sanjiv Kapoor met senior officials in the aviation ministry on Friday along with co-founder Ajay Singh, who sources have said is planning to team up with private-equity funds to infuse funds in to the carrier.

Money-losing SpiceJet had delayed employees' salaries for November and briefly grounded its fleet this month for want of cash. Its majority owner, billionaire Kalanithi Maran's Sun Group, has said it cannot afford a bailout.

SpiceJet has bank loans of USD 47 million, Kapoor said, adding Friday's meeting was "very constructive". He did not elaborate.

Singh and government officials were not immediately available to comment.

SpiceJet stock price

On December 26, 2014, SpiceJet closed at Rs 19.25, up Rs 1.60, or 9.07 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 22.20 and the 52-week low was Rs 11.10.

The latest book value of the company is Rs -16.49 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company was -1.17.

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Microsoft looking forward to be part of Digital India

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella met IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday. The tech honcho is looking forward to be a part of Digital India. Nadella believes the world is moving to be a more 'cloud and mobile world.'

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella met IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday. The tech honcho is looking forward to be a part of Digital India. Nadella believes the world is moving to be a more 'cloud and mobile world.'

"Our engagement on both these fronts is what you will see if you look at what we are trying to do with the cloud. One of the unique capabilities that we have is to help build data centers that are locally available in India but yet are world class infrastructure. But on top of that, we also have our server infrastructure which enables every business to have its own flexibility in standing up its data centre," he added. 

Nadella is in the country to spend his first Christmas with his family after taking up the top job at Microsoft.

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See Bharti Airtel peers hiking VoIP service rates too: KPMG

Romal Shetty does not expect Bharti's move to raise VoIP prices to ensue a pricing war between operators because over the last few years they had decided not to play the price game and have in fact tried to improve pricing.

With an unexpected move by  Bharti Airtel to take the data usage for the Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls outside the data allowance under the bulk data packs , Romal Shetty, national leader telecom, KPMG thinks other operators could follow suit because most of them are loosing money on services like Whatsapp, Viber etc., which have minimal charges.

According to Bharti's website – "All Internet/data packs or plans (through which customer can avail discounted rate) shall only be valid for internet browsing and will exclude VoIP (both incoming/ outgoing). VoIP over data connectivity would be charged at standard data rates of 4p / 10 KB (3G service) and 10p / 10 KB (2G service)."

Shetty does not expect this move to ensue a pricing war between operators because over the last few years they had decided not to play the price game and have in fact tried to improve pricing.

The expected big competition from new entrants like Reliance Jio would surely come in but may not be related to pricing, feels Shetty.

Shetty says the intent of the move seems to be to mitigate the risk of serious voice revenue cannibalisation.

more to come

Bharti Airtel stock price

On December 26, 2014, at 11:12 hrs Bharti Airtel was quoting at Rs 352.65, down Rs 1.55, or 0.44 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 419.90 and the 52-week low was Rs 282.10.

The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 27.40 per share as per the quarter ended September 2014. The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 12.87. The latest book value of the company is Rs 166.93 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company is 2.11.

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Rel Cap says Sumitomo may up stake further

Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) on Thursday announced a strategic alliance with Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank in which the Japanese bank would pick up 2.77 percent stake in Reliance Capital

India is one of the favourable destinations for Sumitomo and this is a token investment.

Sam Ghosh

CEO

Reliance Capital

Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) on Thursday announced a strategic alliance with Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank in which the Japanese bank would pick up 2.77 percent stake in Reliance Capital , the group's non-banking financial company that has interests in financing, asset management and insurance.

The deal, valued at Rs 371 crore and to be carried out via a preferential allotment, will give Japan's is part of a long-term alliance and Sumitomo may increase stake in Reliance Capital further, CEO Sam Ghosh told CNBC-TV18's Sonia Shenoy and Latha Venkatesh in an interview.

"India is one of the favourable destinations for Sumitomo and this is a token investment," he said, adding that Rel Cap will be looking to set up a joint mergers and acquisition desk.

On a question related to Reliance Capital's insurance business, Ghosh said the firm is looking to set up a separate entity focusing on health insurance and may rope in a partner for the same.

In 2011, Reliance Capital, which had total debt of about Rs 18,305 crore as of September, had sold 26 percent stake in its life insurance business to Japan's Nippon. Nippon also picked up 26 percent stake in its asset management business in 2012 and increased it to 35 percent in November this year.

Also read: Sumitomo Mitsui buys 2.77% in Reliance Cap for $58.4 mln

Rel Capital stock price

On December 26, 2014, at 11:05 hrs Reliance Capital was quoting at Rs 499.95, up Rs 2.60, or 0.52 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 668.40 and the 52-week low was Rs 304.55.

The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 17.55 per share as per the quarter ended September 2014. The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 28.49. The latest book value of the company is Rs 472.71 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company is 1.06.

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Festive sales a drab but hopes high for '15: Future Grp

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Biyani says an early Diwali and unwarranted discount schemes has confused consumers and lead them to buy products they don't necessarily need.

While delayed winter has been a cause of concern, Rakesh Biyani, joint managing director,  Future Group says the sales have started to pick up.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Biyani says an early Diwali and unwarranted discount schemes has confused consumers and lead them to buy products they don't necessarily need.

Also read: Romance with e-commerce to continue in 2015 too

But the year ahead looks positive for Biyani who believes the domestic retail business can pick up significantly if the government can seamlessly execute the Make in India reform and bring goods and services tax (GST) effectively into India's taxation system.

On the threat e-commerce sites are posing to brick-and-mortar companies, Biyani says the government should look into the way these site price their products.

"These levels of discounting and subsidizing cannot go on forever. It is not sustainable and the margins aren't as high as the discounts they offer," adds Biyani.

Transcript to follow soon.

Future Retail stock price

On December 26, 2014, at 11:10 hrs Future Retail was quoting at Rs 99.35, up Rs 2.25, or 2.32 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 147.85 and the 52-week low was Rs 70.57.

The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 2.05 per share as per the quarter ended September 2014. The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 48.46. The latest book value of the company is Rs 117.46 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company is 0.85.

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Essar Oil to convert over $1 bn rupee loan into dollar debt

Essar Oil  today said it will convert over USD 1 billion worth of rupee loan into dollar debt by March to reduce its cost of borrowings and will acquire group firm, Vadinar Power Co, for Rs 2,100 crore.

"We are continuing on our mission to dollarise debt. Being a fully dollar-driven company, it makes immense sense for us to de-risk our business from currency fluctuations by converting our long term liabilities into dollars. Till date, we have dollarised about USD 1 billion of rupee debt, which besides lowering our interest cost, also extends our debt tenure. We aim to dollarise another USD 1-plus billion by March 2015," Essar Oil Chairman Prashant S Ruia said at the firm's annual general meeting.

Essar Oil, a part of the Essar Group that is controlled by billionaire brothers Shashi and Ravi Ruia, will buy additional 73.99 per cent stake in group company Vadinar Power Company to make it a fully owned subsidiary. The acquisition was approved by board and shareholders in May.

"As you are aware, to achieve power security and get better control over our assets which will optimise operating cost, the company has decided to acquire the balance 73.99 per cent stake in Vadinar Power for upto Rs 2,100 crore," he said.

The coal fired power plant, owned by VPCL, is already providing a refining margin uplift of USD 1-1.5 per barrel to the company.

Ruia said Essar Oil is undertaking a series of low capex and short gestation projects under the banner of Optima Plus, which upon completion would provide a margin uplift of about USD 1.0-1.5 per barrel over a period of the next two years.

"These projects include setting up one more Hydrogen Manufacturing Unit and the conversion of the existing Vacuum Gas Oil (VGO) into more valuable distillates," he said.

Last fiscal, it earned USD 7.98 on converting every barrel of crude oil into fuel, which was better the industry average and came at time when global refining industry faced challenges in terms of weak demand and new capacity additions.

Its Vadinar refinery in Gujarat processed 93 per cent of heavy and ultra heavy crude, normally available at a discount to benchmark grades, against 86 per cent in the previous year.

In spite of processing such a high proportion of tough crudes, it produced 84 per cent of higher margin light and middle distillates, he said.

"Government has taken several encouraging policy decisions which has put a renewed optimism in the sector. We have seen government deregulate diesel prices and hiked gas prices, which will benefit the country in the long run in terms of fiscal discipline and energy security," he said.

Essar Oil has begun selling diesel from most of its 1400 petrol pumps in the country after price deregulation. It was selling only petrol till now as it could not compete subsidised diesel sold by public sector retailers.

Essar Oil stock price

On December 24, 2014, Essar Oil closed at Rs 106.75, down Rs 2.05, or 1.88 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 132.50 and the 52-week low was Rs 44.50.

The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 13.03 per share as per the quarter ended September 2014. The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 8.19. The latest book value of the company is Rs 16.38 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company is 6.52.

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SAT adjourns DLF case hearing to January 12, 2015

SEBI has responded to this question saying it does not require the Delhi High Court's permission to charge the appellant under any portion of the SEBI Act.

The battle between market regulator SEBI and real estate giant DLF  before the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has taken an interesting turn.

The tribunal has questioned SEBI's decision to issue an order against the company under the fraudulent and unfair trade practices regulations, when the Delhi High Court directive to the regulator was to investigate DLF for possible violations of the disclosure and investor protection guidelines.

SEBI has responded to this question saying it does not require the Delhi High Court's permission to charge the appellant under any portion of the SEBI Act. Hearing of the matter will now continue on the January 12.

Also read:  No respite for DLF: Sebi receives multiple complaints

DLF stock price

On December 24, 2014, DLF closed at Rs 131.65, down Rs 1.7, or 1.27 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 242.80 and the 52-week low was Rs 100.00.

The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 3.29 per share as per the quarter ended September 2014. The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 40.02. The latest book value of the company is Rs 93.40 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company is 1.41.

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Bharti Airtel to charge for using VoIP services

According to the company website, internet or data plans that give customers discounted rates will only be valid for internet browsing and will exclude Voice over IP services (VoIP).

Bharti Airtel Limited , India's largest telecommunications carrier by subscribers, will soon start charging users extra money for using services such as Skype as Indian operators look to boost their data network and revenues.

According to the company website, internet or data plans that give customers discounted rates will only be valid for internet browsing and will exclude Voice over IP services (VoIP).

VoIP services include those such as Skype, Line and Viber that typically let users make free calls through the internet.

An Airtel spokeswoman said the charges will only apply to pre-paid customers and will be implemented soon.

In India, telecom carriers make most of their money from pre-paid customers, or those who pay in advance to use their services, instead of being billed at the end of the month.

"We have made some revisions in the composition of our data packs, and will offer VoIP connectivity through an independent pack that will be launched shortly," Airtel said in an emailed statement.

The popularity and business model of services such as Whatsapp, Skype and others, where users can text or make calls without having to pay extra money, has been a bone of contention with telecom carriers for long, who say these services use their infrastructure to make money.

Bharti Airtel stock price

On December 24, 2014, Bharti Airtel closed at Rs 354.20, down Rs 0.95, or 0.27 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 419.90 and the 52-week low was Rs 282.10.

The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 27.40 per share as per the quarter ended September 2014. The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 12.93. The latest book value of the company is Rs 166.93 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company is 2.12.

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UltraTech deal a win-win; valuation at Rs 900cr/MT: JP Asso

Manoj Gaur, executive chairman, Jaiprakash Associates says the deal is valued at Rs 900 crore per million tonne and the company now has around 20 MT of cement capacity.

Jaiprakash Asso stock price

On December 24, 2014, at 11:13 hrs Jaiprakash Associates was quoting at Rs 24.25, up Rs 0.80, or 3.41 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 89.85 and the 52-week low was Rs 23.05.

The latest book value of the company is Rs 56.48 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company was 0.43.

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All of Warren Buffett's bad bets add up to a big year

Some of Warren Buffett's big stocks bets have tanked in 2014, and the market hasn't let it pass unnoticed. In fact, anytime a stock Buffett owns declines, the "billions being lost" by Warren makes it into the headlines.

With all the fuss over Warren Buffett's stock-picking prowess, or lack thereof, you might think Berkshire Hathaway has suffered mightily. You'd be wrong, though—way wrong. In fact, Buffett has plenty of reason to smile: Berkshire Hathaway is crushing the S&P 500.

First, a recap of the bad news:

British supermarket chain Tesco took a nosedive and has accounting issues. (Buffett dumped it after his ill-timed bet.)

Some stalwart U.S. stocks owned by Buffett, including Coca-Cola and Exxon Mobil, have limped through the latter stages of the bull market.

Most notably, IBM, which Buffett placed his first big technology sector bet on—and at what skeptics say was a lofty stock multiple—is now under fire for failing to deliver on earnings and being little more, in the skeptical view, than a fading stock reliant on buybacks and dividends.

And just last week, The New York Times noted that Chinese electric car maker BYD—in which Buffett has a significant stake—was tanking.

But now the good news for Buffett. While he may prefer to compete with the index on growth in book value of shares (and act as if all S&P dividends were reinvested when he runs the numbers, since he does not pay a dividend himself), Berkshire is way ahead of the index in market return this year. The S&P 500 was up 12 percent through Monday's close. Berkshire Hathaway, meanwhile, has generated a 28 percent return year-to-date.

In the prior two years, Berkshire ran basically neck-and-neck in stock performance with the index, barely losing out to the S&P 500 total return in 2013, while earning a narrow victory over the index in 2012, according to Morningstar data.

What's to explain the divergence between Buffett's stock and stocks?

While the headlines may not overstate the actual size of potential losses on individual stocks, they do overstate the importance of those losses to Berkshire Hathaway as a corporation. "Most investors overestimate the significance of Berkshire's equity portfolio," said Meyer Shields, Stifel analyst.

The bigger Berkshire gets, the more comments made by market pundits, including Buffett himself, on the difficulty he faces in trying to beat the S&P 500. But Shields said, "I also think investors have moved past the 'disappointment' of Berkshire's underperforming the S&P 500 over a five-year period, which probably contributed to past years' underperformance."

It's unlikely there is one single growth driver of Berkshire's performance in 2014, but possibly the most influential factor in boosting Buffett's stock is a change in the buyers of the stock.

"It's not wealthy individuals pushing up the stock. I don't think they have enough firepower," said David Rolfe, chief investment officer at Wedgewood Partners—which includes Berkshire Hathaway among its largest portfolio holdings. Morgan Koenig, Wedgewood's institutional client liaison, added, "We're seeing increased institutional ownership in a period when high-quality stocks are lagging the broad market."

In fact, Rolfe said it is the same stocks doing so poorly for Buffett that may offer a partial explanation for why Berkshire Hathaway is doing so well. "IBM, Coke, Exxon ... Look at stocks in the mega-cap sector, and look at the ones doing poorly ... and you start asking yourself, What else out there is big and part of my potential stock universe and has bulletproof earnings, and the shares aren't demanding in the context of the sixth year of a bull market?"

The book on Berkshire

If institutions were piling into shares of Berkshire earlier this year, they would have had good reason. Buffett has set a floor on the stock through his recent addition of a share buyback program, which he set at the level of Berkshire Hathaway shares falling below 1.2 times book value.

"That provides a margin of safety," Koenig said.

Berkshire shares traded very close to that limit earlier this year—they are now trading around 1.5 times book, which, while not nearly as attractive as 1.2 times book, is still not near a 20-year high for the company, Rolfe noted.

Is it already too late for other investors?

Wedgewood trimmed its Berkshire Hathaway position given the stock's performance. It is still among the investment firm's top three holdings but has come down from close to 10 percent to a little under 8 percent, Rolfe said.

"While achieving book value of close to 2 times may be a thing of the past given its size, trading in the 1.5 times to 1.7 times range is not out of line," said Paul Lountzis, president of Lountzis Asset Management, a longtime investor in Berkshire.
Read MoreLearning to buy stocks like Buffett does
Rolfe said that if it traded back down to 1.3 times book value, it would be back to a 9 percent weighting.

Rolfe said many institutions have stayed away from Berkshire historically because they make investments based on sector strategies. Berkshire does not neatly fit into any sector box. "But if I'm an institutional investor and I have to put money to work ... maybe I don't care anymore that it is a conglomerate," Rolfe said. "To hell with the sector mix. ... You have to think of where we are in the stock market now, and Berkshire may be easier to swallow as a holding."
Other Berkshire boosters

Here are some additional factors that may have contributed to Berkshire's 2014 run:

Bolt-on acquisitions: There have been a number of deals that are either bolt-on (Van Tuyl, AltaLink, Duracell) or unique to Berkshire (Burger King/Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance), which may be seen as positives. Shields said the Phillips 66 (a deal that occurred at the very end of 2013) and Duracell deals allowed Berkshire to "sell" its stock and buy entire businesses in a tax-efficient way, too. But Lountzis said these are still fairly small, and Rolfe said you don't tend to see these acquisitions reflected in the stock price before they show up in actual earnings results.

The current operating environment: Berkshire's underlying divisions are contributing high single-digit if not low double-digit growth, Koenig said. The insurance division in particular has done well this year, as there have not been a lot of weather events requiring payout. That sent the Berkshire insurance float—the cash generated from insurance policies that are ultimately needed for payouts but can be put to work in the market in the interim—up to $83 billion as of Sept. 30.

The future operating environment:

A flight to safety trade in a slowing global growth environment? "Could be, but one of many considerations," Lountzis said.

A double bet on the U.S.? With a positive outlook for U.S. growth and an improved outlook on the U.S. job market, Berkshire is both a play on the U.S. economic story and an investor in it through its stocks, so it can get twice the benefit, Shields said. Or as Buffett has often said himself, Don't bet against the U.S.

Copyright 2011 cnbc.com

Also read: How to invest like a 'greedy' Buffet

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Year 2015: Projections by Indian media industry

Catch Group M's CVL Srinivas, IPG's Shashi Sinha and Madison's Sam Balsara discuss 2014, the year that was and share their projections for 2015. The biggest names in India's media industry also share their views on some of the biggest issues and challenges faced by the industry – measurement, content and growth.

Catch Group M's CVL Srinivas, IPG's Shashi Sinha and Madison's Sam Balsara discuss 2014, the year that was and share their projections for 2015. The biggest names in India's media industry also share their views on some of the biggest issues and challenges faced by the industry – measurement, content and growth.

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Govt should take steps to protect local steel players: JSPL

The government of India needs to take steps to protect the domestic steel producers, says Ravi Uppal, MD & CEO, Jindal Steel & Power Limited.

Ravi Uppal, MD & CEO,  Jindal Steel & Power Limited (JSPL)  in an interview to CNBC-TV18's Latha Venkatesh and Sonia Shenoy spoke about the outlook for steel prices for the company and the industry.

According to him the steel prices will continue to remain under pressure on back significant imports from China.

Chinese steel is cheap compared to domestic steel because the Chinese manufactures get lot of subsidies and help from their government whereas for Indian steel manufacturers

Indian steel producers face threat from their Chinese counterparts because there is no level playing field. Chinese manufacturers can afford cheaper steel on back of aid in terms of subsidies from their government, says Uppal. Moreover the steel demand too has been weak in FY15, he adds.

According to him the government of India needs to take steps to protect the domestic steel producers.

He thinks with the coal e-auction the landscape for coal production is likely to change in the coming 12 months and India will then have adequate coal in the next 1-2 years.

Indian steel producers are very competent but need to hike up the capacity from 100 million tonne to 300 million tonne and build manufacturing sector, says Uppal.
 
Talking about expansion plans, he says the money raised from Kotak Mahanidra Bank via NCDs will be used for expansions as well as coal auction.

transcript to follow

Jindal Steel stock price

On December 23, 2014, at 11:10 hrs Jindal Steel & Power was quoting at Rs 147.35, up Rs 1.80, or 1.24 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 350.00 and the 52-week low was Rs 125.05.

The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 15.19 per share as per the quarter ended September 2014. The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 9.7. The latest book value of the company is Rs 142.79 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company is 1.03.

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Eye strategic partnership for alloy biz capex : Mukand

I think the revenue profile would still be at least whatever we have had now-minimum of around 35 percent to 40 percent will be the revenue in Mukand

Mukand Limited 's board on Monday approved the transfer of its alloy steel business to a subsidiary for a total enterprise value of Rs 1590.

In an exclusive interview to CNBC-TV18, Rajesh Shah, co chairman and managing director, says the aim is to only give the company's alloy business a new identity and not to sell it off.

Shah says the company may bring in a strategic partner in the future for expansion. He further adds that no new money has come in.

"The Rs 1590 crore is only an internal adjustment," he explains.

Below is the verbatim transcript of Rajesh Shah's interview with Latha Venkatesh and Sonia Shenoy on CNBC-TV18.

Latha: What exactly is the idea of transferring the alloy steel business to the subsidiary, have you found a buyer, what is the plan?

A: Our alloy steel business is what we have transferred to a 100 percent subsidiary. As you probably know that is our main business and it is a business in which we are giving a major thrust to our business, which is meant for the automotive industry is where the steel goes. Over the last 15-20 years we have built this up in a very strong way with our own technology and become the number one in the country as far as the quality is concerned and now we should grow it. So the idea is to only give it a separate identity, a separate kind of a thrust which we would be able to do, there is no question of selling it off or any such thing, this is very much part of Mukand's business. It is a core business that we have taken and we look forward to expanding it further within this particular structure that we have got right now.

Latha: Why should it go to a subsidiary for you to give it a thrust? In any case it is your big business, what is the advantage? I would have thought the normal reasoning would be you probably getting a strategic partner or some kind of equity help?

A: Yes, that is possible that over the next few months we are likely to talk to people to bring in a strategic partner, a partner who could help us with further global marketing or to build up the business. So this is what we are looking at and we have not finalised on anything at the moment, all our options are open and we hope to be able to do it over the next year or so.

Sonia: This Rs 1,590 crore is just an internal adjustment, right? There is no fresh money that goes to the listed entity?

A: Exactly. This is right now done on the basis of the vigorous valuation processes that we have come to a conclusion, our board met yesterday and we took this decision to make it a 100 percent subsidiary at this valuation. Right now, you are absolutely right. There is no other money transferred or anything like that.

Latha: What is left in Mukand then if you take this to the subsidiary?

A: In Mukand, we have our engineering business, machine building business, our infrastructure business where we were involved in construction of growth projects for the NHAI, we have our stainless steel long products business which is again one of our important businesses which we are having world-class quality in long products and we sell this all over so this is what we are having in Mukand. We have much of our other assets here in Thane, in Kalwe, those are also with Mukand.

Sonia: Once you transfer this alloy and steel business to a subsidiary, what could the revenue profile and the profit profile of the leftover business look like?

A: I think the revenue profile -- this would still be at least whatever we have had now minimum of around 35 percent to 40 percent will be the revenue in Mukand. We have done something very similar when we had a smaller bright bar and wire business, we have taken that out, we made it into 100 percent subsidiary, later we were able to find a partner who came in at 40 percent of the equity and we proceeded with them. That was an international company that proceeded to help us and work with us and we had expanded that business as well. So we see something similar to this. 

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Mgmts need to adapt to fundamental sector changes: Tech Mah

Vineet Nayyar, executive vice chairman, Tech Mahindra, says there is increased automation in the industry to reduce the labour-intensive nature of the work and managements will have to need to work to adapt these changes.

The businesses around us are undergoing transformation and if a business is under pressure, budgets will get impacted believes, Vineet Nayyar, executive vice chairman, Tech Mahindra .

Nayyar views come on the back of reports that three major global investment banks are likely to remove discretionary IT spending allocation in their budget for 2015 .

In a research report, brokerage house Motilal Oswal says: "(Companies') budgets will be influenced to some degree by the prevailing situation, volatility in which is reflected in fall in commodity prices as well as multiple global currencies v/s the US dollar in recent months. If the situation improves gradually through the course of the year, the velocity and extent of discretionary spending could pick up."

Nayyar says there is increased automation in the industry to reduce the labour-intensive nature of the work and managements will have to need to work to adapt these changes.

Furthermore, Nayyar says the company will continue to be focused on engineering and telecom business.

Transcript to follow soon.

Tech Mahindra stock price

On December 23, 2014, at 11:10 hrs Tech Mahindra was quoting at Rs 2587.70, down Rs 2.3, or 0.09 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 2719.00 and the 52-week low was Rs 1677.65.

The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 108.82 per share as per the quarter ended September 2014. The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 23.78. The latest book value of the company is Rs 364.54 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company is 7.10.

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GST will lead to lower costs; benefit supply chain biz: TCI

Vineet Agarwal, MD of Transport Corporation of India expects the supply chain business to grow at around 20 percent in FY15. He has a positive outlook for FY16.

With GST Bill being tabled in the Parliament, companies operating in supply chain business stand to benefit, says Vineet Agarwal, MD of Transport Corporation of India. But GST will have no direct impact on a company like his, which is a services company, since it is essentially a consumption tax and will have an impact on manufacturing.

However, the introduction of GST will lead to some reduction in expenditure, he adds.

He expects the supply chain business to grow at around 20 percent in FY15. He also has a positive outlook for FY16.

Going ahead, Agarwal sees a revival in the auto sector. Transport Corporation of India derives nearly 70 percent business from it. When compared to FY13 and FY14 he sees significant improvement in business.

Below is the verbatim transcript of Vineet Agarwal's interview with Latha Venkatesh & Sonia Shenoy on CNBC-TV18.

Sonia: If you can explain the specifics to us with respect to your own company. What is the current tax rate that you pay and if the adjusted tax rate for goods and services tax (GST) is at about 24-25 percent then how much of a benefit would companies like yours get?

A: For us the direct impact of such taxation is not there. We are a services company and not a manufacturing company, so we just pay service tax and income tax, but the impact that you mentioned is actually on manufactured products. So what will happen is essentially GST being a consumption tax, it would mean that today let's assume that there is a company which has five production units and maybe 25 warehouses across India because of saving tax, saving the central sales tax they will start reducing these numbers of warehouses, so instead of 25 warehouses they might have 15 warehouses. Therefore, the distribution matrix will change from five factories to 15 warehouses which would essentially mean that the size of these warehouses will increase essentially reducing the overall inventory but concentrating that inventory at several locations. So a lot of changes will come from supply chain perspective for manufactured products with GST coming in.

More to follow..

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India Inc discuss and debate good corporate governance

Gatekeepers of Governance a two day corporate governance summit organised by excellence enablers, stalwarts from India Inc discuss and deliberate on good corporate governance practices.

Gatekeepers of Governance a two day corporate governance summit organised by excellence enablers, stalwarts from India Inc discuss and deliberate on good corporate governance practices.

The ownership management conflict in the public sector made for an enthralling debate amidst the other engaging sessions and this formidable panel comprised of B Ashok, Chairman of  Indian Oil Corporation (IOC); SK Roongta, Vice Chairman – Balco; Ajay Shankar, Former Secretary of Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion & Ministry of Commerce & Industry and was moderated by the Prof TT Ram Mohan, of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

For complete show, watch accompanying videos.

IOC stock price

On December 22, 2014, at 11:12 hrs Indian Oil Corporation was quoting at Rs 334.50, down Rs 0.25, or 0.07 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 410.90 and the 52-week low was Rs 194.50.

The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 41.40 per share as per the quarter ended September 2014. The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 8.08. The latest book value of the company is Rs 271.80 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company is 1.23.

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Gatekeepers of Governance: Corporate governance summit

Gatekeepers of Governance a two days summit comprised of nine enlightening sessions aimed at addressing the pertinent issues regarding corporate governance.

Following a series of significant developments in the Companies Act 2013 and clause 49 of the listing agreement SEBI has demanded a stringent change in the corporate governance requirements. Gatekeepers of Governance of governance was organised by excellence enablers as a two day corporate governance summit to enable stakeholders of corporate India to discuss and deliberate on good corporate governance practices.

Spread over two days the summit comprised of nine enlightening sessions aimed at addressing the pertinent issues regarding corporate governance.

For complete show, watch accompanying videos.

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Prime Property: Acche din for Metros?

PwC says the rankings of three major metros Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi have improved significantly to attract investments. Prime Property gets you the story of PwC's latest report on Asia Pacific. Manasvi Ghelani of Prime Propertay gives you details.

PwC says the rankings of three major metros Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi have improved significantly to attract investments. Prime Property gets you the story of PwC's latest report on Asia Pacific. Manasvi Ghelani of Prime Propertay gives you details.

Watch video for details…

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Housing.com: Right click for properties!

Housing.com of new services like online rental agreements for Rs 75 and customised processes for home loan applications, Prime Property finds out more about the firm as it is also believed to be in talks to sell a strategic stake to Japan's Soft Bank.

Housing.com of new services like online rental agreements for Rs 75 and customised processes for home loan applications, Prime Property finds out more about the firm as it is also believed to be in talks to sell a strategic stake to Japan's Soft Bank.

Watch video for details…

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Prime Property: Check out Worli's latest luxury offering

Worli emerging as Mumbai's new luxury hotspot, Four Seasons branded residence go on sales for Rs 30 crore to Rs 100 crore apiece. Prime Property brings you details.

Worli emerging as Mumbai's new luxury hotspot, Four Seasons branded residence go on sales for Rs 30 crore to Rs 100 crore apiece. Prime Property brings you details.

Watch video for details…

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Vistara to launch operations from January 9

The full-service airline, which is a 51:49 joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, opened its bookings at 22:30 hours tonight. With Delhi as its hub, Vistara will initially offer flights to Mumbai and Ahmedabad, the airline said in its statement late tonight.

Tata-Singapore Airlines joint venture airline Vistara tonight announced the launch of its operations from January 9 with flight from Delhi to Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

The full-service airline, which is a 51:49 joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, opened its bookings at 22:30 hours tonight. With Delhi as its hub, Vistara will initially offer flights to Mumbai and Ahmedabad, the airline said in its statement late tonight.

Vistara will operate 148-seater Airbus A320-200 with 16 seats in business class, 36 in premium economy and 96 in economy. Phee Teik Yeoh, Chief Executive Officer, Vistara, said,"I am very excited as this day is the culmination of many months of hard work. "The activation of distribution channels is our first interface with our customer and with this, we embark on a journey to fulfil our brand promise of seamless travel experience. I would like to especially thank our partners for helping us put our best foot forward and most importantly the members of Vistara team for their diligence and resolve all this while."

Once it takes off, Vistara will be the third full service carrier after state-run Air India and Jet Airways. Vistara's technology partners -  Tata Consultancy Services (TCS),  Wipro and Amadeus - will be responsible for its customer support system and IT services. Wipro will manage the Vistara Customer Service Centre.

Tata Sons had announced forming a joint venture with Singapore Airlines in September 2013 to set up a full service airline, a year after the then Manmohan Singh government allowed investment by foreign airlines in the domestic carriers. The airline had applied to the DGCA for the permit in April and had planned to launch services by September, which has got delayed.

TCS stock price

On December 19, 2014, at 11:14 hrs Tata Consultancy Services was quoting at Rs 2493.90, up Rs 34.85, or 1.42 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 2834.00 and the 52-week low was Rs 2000.50.

The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 99.52 per share as per the quarter ended September 2014. The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 25.06. The latest book value of the company is Rs 224.90 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company is 11.09.

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CIL to get new chairman ahead of key meeting: Source

Career bureaucrat Sutirtha Bhattacharya, chairman of India's second-largest coal producer Singareni Collieries, will take over as the head of its bigger rival ahead of a key meeting at Coal India's headquarters on December 30, the officials said.

Coal India Ltd  will get a new chairman in the next few days, two officials with direct knowledge of the matter said, as the state-owned miner readies a plan to double its output in four years amid a severe shortage that has crippled power plants.

Career bureaucrat Sutirtha Bhattacharya, chairman of India's second-largest coal producer Singareni Collieries, will take over as the head of its bigger rival ahead of a key meeting at Coal India's headquarters on December 30, the officials said.

The world's largest coal miner by output has been without a full-time chairman since June. The appointment comes at a time when the Narendra Modi government is trying to sell a 10 percent stake in the company and break its near-monopoly by allowing private firms to mine and sell coal.

The officials did not want to be named before an announcement, which may come as soon as this week, but said the meeting is to discuss a detailed plan to raise output to 1 billion tonnes.

Under Bhattacharya, Singareni, majority owned by the state of Telangana, has been able to easily beat its production targets, unlike Coal India that has not met its target for the past several years.

Disruptions by worker unions, a lack of adequate railway lines and less use of machines have dragged Coal India's output. Its unions have threatened to go on a five-day strike starting January 6, opposing the divestment plan and opening up of the industry for the first time in 42 years.

Coal India stock price

On December 19, 2014, at 11:14 hrs Coal India was quoting at Rs 375.05, up Rs 7.65, or 2.08 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 423.85 and the 52-week low was Rs 240.50.

The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 21.06 per share as per the quarter ended September 2014. The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 17.81. The latest book value of the company is Rs 26.04 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company is 14.40.

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Total iron ore production in FY15 seen sub-105 MT: JSW

Currency devalution has been putting pressure on global steel prices, says Seshagiri Rao, Joint MD & Group CFO of JSW Steel , adding that domestic prices, which have corrected 5-6 percent in Q3, fell in line with international prices. He however feels stability is coming back and further corrections are unlikely.

The company's current annual coking coal requirement stands at 7-8 million tonnes. Rao feels sourcing coking coal locally will reduce operational cost.

He however, feels that the state of iron ore production is worrisome. "There is hope that more production will come into operation, but nothing has been happening on the ground.
This is leading to an increase in imports. This year around 10-15 million tonnes of iron ore has been imported, which is a matter of concern," he said.

With domestic steel industry not getting adequate iron ore to produce, he expects total iron ore production for FY15 to be sub-105 million tonnes against against 135 million tonne last year.

Below is the transcript of Seshagiri Rao's interview with Latha Venkatesh & Reema Tendulkar on CNBC-TV18.

Latha: A word on what Russian fall mean for global steel prices. Some of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries companies also sell steel, we understand there is a goodish bit of undercutting now with China which also in a mood to undercut it domestic steel consumption is falling. What is the global steel price, are your landed prices becoming a bit of a competition?

A: Yes, that is true because the currency devaluation which has happened for the last few months either ruble or Japanese yen, Korean won, it has an impact on the international prices adding to that Chinese slowdown. Therefore, the countries which are export dependent, those countries are producing more steel and looking for markets – that is also supported by the devaluation of those currencies and that is why in this quarter we have seen the prices dropping internationally but now we are seeing little stability in the prices because scrap prices started looking up which has gone down below USD 300 and now we are seeing USD 320 per tonne, so scrap prices started looking up and also the raw material price fall which was there, iron ore around USD 70 and coking coal at USD 110, they are all indications that the stability is there in the prices internationally, so correction already happened in the last two-two-and-a-half months.

Reema: A word on the approach paper on the coal auctions which was laid out yesterday. There is a provision that the total extractable reserve price cannot exceed 150 percent of the coal requirement for the company for 30 years. Can you tell us what is JSW Steel's coal requirement and therefore what is the maximum amount of coal you can bid for in the mines?

A: As far as coking coal is concerned, our annual requirement is around 7-8 million tonne per annum at the current level of production. So 7-8 million tonne will translate to 150 percent of that is around 10.5-11 million tonne. If you take 30 years, it is over 300 million tonne of the total requirement. If you look at resources, this is the final output which is required, so based on the stripping ratio we need more coal over 300 million tonne of the finished product means the actual requirement is over half a billion tonne plus based on stripping ratio. 

Latha: You cannot take into account potential expansions; you have to go with 30 year projection of your current investment?

A: The restriction there is 80 percent of the end used plant should have been done and therefore we cannot take the potential, end used plant should be ready, so current requirement is relevant. 

Latha: What is your sense though, do you expect that you are going to see a dramatic rise or at least some rise in your input prices, should we be prepared in FY16 for a pressure on margins on account of this?

A: We are anyhow importer of coking coal. If at all we are able to get locally the coking coal. I think it will reduce the cost instead of increasing the cost because we are importing it right now. As far as JSW Steel is concerned, I do not think it will have any negative impact.

JSW Steel stock price

On December 19, 2014, at 11:11 hrs JSW Steel was quoting at Rs 1057.00, up Rs 17.15, or 1.65 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 1365.35 and the 52-week low was Rs 805.00.

The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 124.82 per share as per the quarter ended September 2014. The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 8.47. The latest book value of the company is Rs 970.48 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company is 1.09.

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Right GST rate key; govt must be firm with states: Mariwala

Mariwala feels the government should set up a strong IT backbone to implement GST at a state level, and also focus on adequate training for officials for implementation of GST

Marico  founder Harsh Mariwala feels ensuring the right rate for the Goods and Service Tax (GST) will be the next important milestone for the government.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18's Latha Venkatesh, he says a higher rate could negate the benefits of GST at a broader level.

Mariwala feels the government should set up a strong IT backbone to implement GST at a state level, and also focus on adequate training for officials for implementation of GST.

He expects some roadblocks to the Bill in the Rajya Sabha.

Mariwala says the government should not give in to all the demands of the states. At present, petroleum products have been kept out of the ambit of GST because of pressure from the states. 

He sees FMCG companies benefiting in a big way from lower logistics costs, and also companies in general gaining from a simpler tax structure which will help free up resources.

Interview transcript to follow

Also read: GST Bill passed, but Jaitley needs to offer more lollipos to states

Marico stock price

On December 18, 2014, at 11:09 hrs Marico was quoting at Rs 330.20, up Rs 11.95, or 3.75 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 349.55 and the 52-week low was Rs 200.10.

The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 9.17 per share as per the quarter ended September 2014. The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 36.01. The latest book value of the company is Rs 30.60 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company is 10.79.

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No immediate plans to list Co: LT IDPL CEO

CPPIB's entry will entail a dilution from parent L&T but there are no plans on the anvil to sell its stake, said CEO and MD, K Venkatesh of L&T IDPL.

The first tranche of Rs 1000 crore investment by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) into L&T Infra Development Project will come in twelve months time said the company CEO and MD, K Venkatesh.

He said as of now the agreement has been signed for Rs 2000 crore and it could go higher depending on business prospects and market conditions.

Investment will be done via preference shares of L&T IDPL and the shares will be compulsorily convertible into equity shares by 2018.

When asked if the company had any plans of listing IDPL, he confirmed that they had no immediate plans of listing in the short to medium term.

Quashing concerns regarding cost overruns for the Hyderabad Metro project, he said almost 30 percent of the project has been completed so far with almost none cost overruns.  Basically cost overruns are a projection at different points of time, he added.

He added that the company has bought certain aspects of cost overruns under control like halving their exposure to foreign exchange by converting them into rupee terms. Also softening of oil prices and stability of cement and steel prices has helped them control costs.

Answering a query if L&T would dilute its stake in IDPL, he said with CPPIB now coming in there is sure to be dilution of L&T stake when the conversion happens, depending on valuation at that point of time but there are no plans on the anvil by L&T to sell its stake to anyone.

L&T IDP is the largest road developer in India and is a subsidiary of L&T. It is building India's largest metro project in PPP format in Hyderabad. Building roads is 53% of its project portfolio.

more to come

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Final GST rate of 20-22% ideal: KPMG's Menon

Menon says a high GST rate would lead to tax evasion and thereby lower compliance

A final Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate of 20-22 percent would be ideal, feels Sachin Menon of KPMG.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18's Latha Venkatesh, Menon says a high GST rate would lead to tax evasion and thereby lower compliance.

Menon says effective implementation of the GST will be a boon to both Centre as well as the states. He does not see states losing much revenue because of tapering petroleum products tax rate.

Interview transcript to follow shortly

Also read: India cannot hope to have a perfect GST ever

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Tata Steel allowed to operate 4 Odisha mines till Jan 28

Earlier, the state government had ordered Tata Steel to stop operations at four mines-- Bamebari, Katamati, Joda East and Joda West-- after the steel major failed to meet the November 15 deadline for forest and environment clearances.

The Odisha government has allowed  Tata Steel to operate its four iron ore mines in the state till January 28 as per an interim order of the Orissa High Court.

"We have issued permission to Tata Steel to resume operations at its four mines in view of the high court order. The state government will take the final decision on the matter basing on the judgement of the high court on January 28," Deepak Kumar Mohanty, Director of Mines, told PTI.

Earlier, the state government had ordered Tata Steel to stop operations at four mines-- Bamebari, Katamati, Joda East and Joda West-- after the steel major failed to meet the November 15 deadline for forest and environment clearances.

Tata Steel moved the high court and argued that its mines should not be shut as they were captive ones and suspension of work will lead to unemployment of a large number of workers, mostly tribals.

Tata Steel's six iron ore mines were among the 26 mines which were asked to suspend mining operations in view of a Supreme Court order on May 16 this year.

In its May 16 interim order, the apex court had called for suspending operations of 26 iron ore and manganese mines in Odisha that were operating under the provisions of deemed
extension.

The Supreme Court had held that such mines could not continue operations until the Odisha government passed express orders under relevant laws.

The state government issued express order allowing operations till January 28.

Tata Steel stock price

On December 17, 2014, at 11:14 hrs Tata Steel was quoting at Rs 400.70, up Rs 11.30, or 2.90 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 578.60 and the 52-week low was Rs 332.20.

The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 84.86 per share as per the quarter ended September 2014. The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 4.72. The latest book value of the company is Rs 629.60 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company is 0.64.

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Marans have funded SpiceJet to best of their ability: CEO

In what comes as the final nail in the coffin for beleaguered low-cost airline SpiceJet , oil marketing companies' have decided to stop fuel supply over a payment default. This is but unfortunate, says SL Narayanan, group chief executive officer, Sun Group.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Narayanan says the company has never defaulted on payments in the past and has infact paid more than Rs 3000 crore last fiscal for the same.

"This is just a situation that arose for 2-3 days of overdues" he adds. 

The strapped-for-cash airline was rescued by the Civil Aviation Ministry as it said it would request Indian banks/financial institutions to extend loans of upto Rs 600 crore to the airline as part of measures to keep the carrier functional.

"We need Rs 600 crore to get going. I am confident we will turn things around," says Narayanan confidently before adding that the promoter- the Maran family- is not shying away from its responsibility to the company, but it has already infused as much capital in the company as it could.

So, is the company shutting shop now? Narayanan says not if they can help it.

"We don't want to shut down, the government doesn't want us to shut down. We merely need some assistance to fly out of these turbulent times," he highlights.

Below is the edited transcript of SL Narayanan's interview with Latha Venkatesh and Sonia Shenoy on CNBC-TV18.

Latha: What is the latest, oil companies have stopped fuelling, have all your flights or many of your flights been grounded?

A: That is the fact unfortunately. We have had a situation, which has been forced on our hands as a result of lack of fuel supply. I just want to put this in a bit of a historical perspective. We have never defaulted on fuel payments, we have always paid in advance and in the last financial year, if my memory serves me right, we paid more than Rs 3,000 crore to the oil marketing companies (OMCs). So, what we have had as the situation is just two-three days of overdues and the whole house has come crashing down on us.

I do acknowledge that people have to work within systems and processes laid down by their respective managements. But we have been a very consistent customer of all these companies and at a time when we needed this succour, it was not forthcoming, which is why we went to Delhi to seek for assistance.

Sonia: We were given to understand that a request would be made to the OMCs to extend the credit line to SpiceJet for about 15 days. That has not come through?

A: I am not privy to internal correspondence between the organs of the government but clearly, the indication that was given to us, I must acknowledge here the ministry of civil aviation has been exemplary. I cannot thank the secretary and his staff enough. They have been outstanding and I saw the speed with which the government of India moved on Monday.

In fact, I went and told the people in the government that we are unable to raise financing from the banking system because there is almost fear, I wouldn't even say risk-aversion, people are living in mortal trade off lending to airline companies and I don't blame the banks. This is a sector, which has been extremely stressed out because of some fatal policy missteps in the past.

SpiceJet stock price

On December 17, 2014, at 11:13 hrs SpiceJet was quoting at Rs 13.70, down Rs 0.2, or 1.44 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 22.20 and the 52-week low was Rs 11.10.

The latest book value of the company is Rs -16.49 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company was -0.83.

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SpiceJet says fleet grounded on lack of fuel

Budget carrier SpiceJet Ltd's aircraft are currently grounded because oil companies have not refuelled any of its planes, a spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday.

Budget carrier SpiceJet 's aircraft are currently grounded because oil companies have not refuelled any of its planes, a spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday.

Loss-making SpiceJet owes money to creditors including oil companies.

On Tuesday, the civil aviation ministry said airport operators would be asked to give the airline 15 days to make payments, while state oil companies would be ask to give credit for up to 15 days.

The measures, the ministry said, were aimed at avoiding a collapse which it said would be a "major setback" for the civil aviation sector.

SpiceJet stock price

On December 17, 2014, at 11:12 hrs SpiceJet was quoting at Rs 13.85, down Rs 0.05, or 0.36 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 22.20 and the 52-week low was Rs 11.10.

The latest book value of the company is Rs -16.49 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company was -0.84.

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Coal scam: Court rejects Hindalco case closure by CBI

A special court hearing the case ruled further investigation is required and sought statement of coal minister in the allocation of coal blocks.

A special court on Tuesday rejected the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) closure report involving Hindalco in the coal blocks allocation scam case. It ruled that a further investigation is required and sought statement of coal minister in the allocation of coal blocks.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held charge of coal ministry at the time of allocation.

In August, the CBI had filed its closure report before special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar in a coal block allocation scam case involving Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, former Coal Secretary PC Parakh and others. But the court had rapped the agency asking what was the hurry in closing the case in which a first information report (FIR) was registered against Birla, Parakh and others.

At 10:29 hours IST, the stock was quoting at Rs 144.15, down Rs 9.25, or 6.03 percent.

Hindalco stock price

On December 16, 2014, at 11:05 hrs Hindalco Industries was quoting at Rs 143.30, down Rs 10.1, or 6.58 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 198.70 and the 52-week low was Rs 96.95.

The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 4.79 per share as per the quarter ended September 2014. The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 29.92. The latest book value of the company is Rs 177.87 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company is 0.81.

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Acquired co will be EPS accretive: Motherson Sumi

Automotive parts maker  Motherson Sumi Systems will acquire Germany's Scherer & Trier in a deal worth Rs 283 crore . While the acquired company is not profit-making yet, it will be earnings per share (EPS) accretive from the first year itself, says Vivek Chand Sehgal, chairman, Motherson Sumi Group.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Sehgal says the acquisition is debt-free and another similar deal is on the anvil.

The deal would further consolidate Motherson Sumi System's "polymer business in Europe and North America".

According to a statement released by Motherson Sumi, "The German entity develops and manufactures extrusion profiles, moulded parts made of thermoplastics and hybrid components made of metal and plastic catering to Original Equipment Manufacturers like Audi, BMW, Diamler, Ford, GM, VW etc, along with other customers."

Below is the verbatim transcript of Vivek Chand Sehgal's interview with Latha Venkatesh and Sonia Shenoy on CNBC-TV18.

Sonia: Can you tell us if this acquisition is EPS or earnings accretive?

A: Yes, in the first year itself this company would be accretive till the EPS for the first year itself.

Sonia: We understand that the turnover of this company is 240 million euros but is it profit-making?

A: Not when we take it over but as soon as we take it over, we have all the reasons why we can turn it around very quickly.

Latha: How much is its EBITDA or profit now and where do you see it?

A: What is important is when we buy the company, it is coming from an administrator so the whole deal has to be closed by January. So once that is done, I will be able to give you more colour on that.

Latha: Would you give us a ballpark number of how much you will have to spend if it is from an administrator, you may have to settle some debt so the cost will not be 36 million, it may be a little more?

A: We are not taking over any debt as such. It is a debt-free kind of an acquisition. But we will be buying the inventories and we will be buying the land building etc. So you would understand that I cannot give you a number because it is in a state of flux at the moment because it is with the administrator. We don't know what the value of the inventories are and what the balance sheet would look like, but we are very sure that in the first year it will be EPS accretive.

Sonia: Can you tell us what the margin profile of this company could be in the next couple of years and since you have acquired it through Samvardhana Motherson Reflectec (SMR), what would the blended margins look like?

A: It is not being acquired by SMR, it is being acquired by PV company, which is a joint holding company, which owns Samvardhana Motherson Peguform (SMP) and SMR PV. The company has enough wherewithal to not to take any further loans or anything like that and to buy this company just by their own cash that they have.

Latha: Does it fit with the product profile you already have between you and your already acquired companies, so will you be able to sell those products to your already long customer list?

A: Absolutely, I think in this particular space, we were asked to take over this particular asset at the last moment per se and the customer profile is the same. It is a German customer profile, we have some orders from Ford and from GM as well but this product range is absolutely in sync with what we are doing.

Sonia: Can you tell us what the cash on your books are currently and do you have any more acquisitions lined up in the next three-six months that we can look forward to?

A: We had done 500 million euro bond sometime ago and the cash etc is something very dynamic, it is always changing but yes, we still feel that there is one more acquisition which might be on the anvil. But we cannot tell you much more about that.

Latha: Will it be bigger than this one?

A: No, it will be smaller.

Sonia: What geography will it be in, are you looking at Europe itself?

A: It will be in Europe.

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RBI nod to recast project loans will boost infra: Experts

The Reserve Bank of India's move to allow banks to restructure existing project loans will help companies, especially those which are behind on interest/principal repayment by 31-90 days, says Pradeep Kumar, MD, corporate banking at SBI .

He was participating in a discussion on CNBC-TV18 on the RBI decision and its benefits for companies as well as the banking sector.

Earlier, banks were allowed to restructure only those project loans sanctioned after July 15 this calendar.

According to Kumar, banks were earlier trying to restrict the tenure of the loans. The new measure will help smoothen financing of loans and is in line with existing global standards of lending, he said.

Ranjan Dhawan, ED,  Bank of Baroda said the new norms will help bullet repayments (paying off principal at one go) to be refinanced. Also, extension of refinancing over longer periods will ease pressure on borrowers as well, he said. Dhawan said the non-performing asset situation on the ground was still stressful.

Also read: Russia hikes key interest rate to 17% to stop run on rouble

Welcoming the RBI move, Madhu terdal, Group CFO of GMR said it would give the much needed boost for infrastructure projects. He said that the success of the measures would depend on the flexibility of banks. He said if Net Present Value was protected, banks could ease initial repayment norms.

Below is the verbatim transcript of Ranjan Dhawan, P Pradeep Kumar & Madhu Terdal's interview with Latha Venkatesh & Sonia Shenoy on CNBC-TV18.

Latha: Are you really going to seize this opportunity and refinance a lot of projects?

Kumar: I do not think we have to seize an opportunity, there is no end date. This is a facility given to refinance large projects, any project above Rs 500 crore exposures to the banking system. It will give lot of relief to companies which are finding it difficult to service their loans from the accruals and we will be able to term out those repayments for a longer period of time.

It will make the life much easier for all these companies and for all of us especially those companies which are either in special mention accounts (SMA) 1 or SMA 2 or close to becoming one of these two. There is no need to seize an opportunity because there is no end date.

Latha: This is useful from a banker's point of view only for the SMA 1. To explain, SMA 1 are those categories of loans where the money the has not been paid for 90 days. Those who have not paid interest for the first 30 days and it has become a 31 or 32 day those loans are categorised as SMA. Those who have not paid for 60days become SMA 2 and if you don't pay for 90 days you become non-performing assets (NPA).

However, if it is a healthy loan that is getting paid back what is for you in it to extend it? You are only increasing your exposure and your risk isn't? Would you do it?

Kumar: No, one is a life of the project. We all are aware that infrastructure project has a very long life. Earlier we were constrained with the fact because we didn't have this refinance mechanism and we didn't have long-term liabilities. We were restricting the entire tenure of the loan to about 15 years and consequently if you see the gross servicing capability would be just above 1.2 or 1.25 and in a bad year they would find it difficult.

This will enable us to smoothen the repayment period over a longer period of time and give the company some cushion and some excess cash available for any capex they may require or maintenance capex that may be required in the life of the project.

Sonia: If you can tell us what is the exact exposure that Bank of Baroda has to the infrastructure and the steel sector and with these norms getting eased will the risk of non performing loans (NPLs) go down?

Dhawan: Bank of Baroda has a fair amount of exposure in both infrastructure and steel and I would assume that this would ease the burden on the projects. Essentially what has happened is for infrastructure projects, let us say those who have life of 30 years because of asset-liabilities mismatches in our books we were normally financing them for 10-15 years. Now that if we can extend the refinancing period over a longer period of time obviously the risk of their becoming NPAs on our books reduces and that makes intuitive sense also.

Normally in the west such projects are financed through bond issues. In our country of course the bond market is not very vibrant so financial institution has to finance these projects. What essentially the Reserve Bank has done is they are saying that look if the project has already been executed and this issue has occurred, say you can fix a repayment period for 5 to 7 years and show a bullet repayment after 7 years. After 7 years whatever that bullet repayment is that can be refinanced either by yourself or by a group of lenders or you can go to the bond market. So, this would be a more realistic scenario for a project which has a long economic life.

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Prime Property: Woman power in Karnataka

Karnataka State government is rolling out the red carpet to foster women entrepreneurship. CNBC-TV18's Poornima Murali has more details.

Karnataka State government is rolling out the red carpet to foster women entrepreneurship. CNBC-TV18's Poornima Murali has more details.
 
Watch videos for more…

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Need deeper rate cut to get back growth: KV Kamath

Kamath also believes that the signals are all right but the transmission of the signal to entreprenuer is yet to happen.

If the economy has to really get back to 10 percent trajectory, rate cut will have to be much deeper than what has being discussed so far

KV Kamath

non-executive Chairman

Infosys

In a CNBC-TV18 exclusive, KV Kamath, non-executive chairman,  ICICI Bank says that government signals are not transmitting to the ground and to get growth back the country will need much deeper rate cuts.

According to him, the twin deficits are now under control and there is no worry on that front. "I think infaltion is also on a downward trend and now you have growth which is also negative which ought not to have been. So I would think all the ingredients for a rate cut are there," Kamath adds.

He further says that the call is entirely on the Reserve Bank of India now, and if the economy has to really get back to 10 percent trajectory, rate cut will have to be much deeper than what has being discussed so far.

Kamath believes the signals are all right but the transmission of the signal to entreprenuer has not yet happened.

"You do not need to look afar for that because lot of things that the entreprenuer, company would actually like to see are not yet done, that's work in process, so work in process is taking a little longer than anticipated and I am sure it will happen," says Kamath.

ICICI Bank stock price

On December 15, 2014, at 11:10 hrs ICICI Bank was quoting at Rs 344.85, down Rs 1.75, or 0.5 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 366.30 and the 52-week low was Rs 188.85.

The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 18.21 per share as per the quarter ended September 2014. The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 18.94. The latest book value of the company is Rs 126.40 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company is 2.73.

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