Govt working on rollout of GST from next April-:- Equity Research

Government is working on a target date of April 1, 2017 for the rollout of Goods and Services Tax, and the first meeting of the GST Council was held in a "very cordial and constructive environment", Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today. In his opening remarks at the Fourth Meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee meeting here, he said the government so far is following the road map for implementation of GST "as per the schedule". The subject of meeting was GST, an official release said. Jaitley said that till September 16, 2017, one year after the provisions of the Constitution (101st Amendment) Act, 2016 being brought into force, the Constitution empowers the central government to levy excise duty on manufacturing, and service tax on the supply of services. Similarly, the Constitution Amendment Act empowers the state governments to levy sales tax or Value Added Tax (VAT) on the sale of goods till that time September 16, 2016. The Finance Minister further said that the first meeting of the GST Council was held in a very cordial and constructive environment earlier this month. The second meeting is scheduled today. The GST Council is a joint forum of the Centre and the States. The Council will take decisions on important issues like tax rates, exemption list and threshold limits. Members of Consultative Committee sought various clarifications with regard to GST Law and gave suggestions for its better implementation. Some of the major suggestions include need for absolute clarity and transparency with regard to where taxes will be collected, assessed and where the appeal will be filed in case of GST regime. As per a release, the members said that it will be a challenging task to tackle complex situation arising-out of implementation of GST law in a federal system. Some of them suggested there is a need for launching a large scale awareness campaign especially for small traders as most of them are still unaware of the complex procedures and processes under the GST regime including registration and filing of returns.

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RBI shifts monetary policy timing to mid-afternoon-:- Equity Research

The Reserve Bank has decided to change the timing of announcement of its policy review, due next Tuesday, to mid-afternoon. For long, the central bank has been unveiling the monetary policy at 11 am. "The resolution of MPC will be placed on the official website of RBI at 2.30 pm on October 4," the central bank said on its website, adding that MPC will be meeting on Monday and also Tuesday to take a call on rates. The announcement, which will come in during market hours itself, will be followed by a press conference to be addressed by new Governor Urjit Patel at 2.45 pm, it said. Under his predecessor Raghuram Rajan, the press meet had been starting at 11.10 am followed by a conference call with researchers and analysts in afternoon. When D Subbarao was at the helm, he addressed the press at 3 pm after announcing the policy at 11 am while the analyst call was slated for the next afternoon. Since this is the fourth bi-monthly policy review of this fiscal and the first under the MPC framework, the Reserve Bank will be coming up with the twice-a-year Monetary Policy Report that takes stock of macroeconomic developments. This will be Patel's maiden policy announcement as the Governor. He was the deputy governor in-charge of the monetary policy function for over four years before the recent elevation. It will also be the first policy to be announced under MPC, where the decision-making on rates will shift to the six-member panel which has equal representation from RBI and the government. While RBI nominees are Executive Director Michael Patra, Deputy Governor in-charge of monetary policy R Gandhi and Patel, who has a casting vote, the government's members are Chetan Ghate of the Indian Statistical Institute, Pami Dua of Delhi School of Economics and Ravindra Dholakia of IIM Ahmedabad. The panel, which was notified only yesterday, shall be meeting on October 3 and 4 to take a view on the rates, the Reserve Bank said on its website. With inflation subsiding last month and showing signs of downward trend, arrival of a new chief of the central bank and the panel-led decision making has led to expectations of a rate cut on Tuesday.

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IOC to expand Barauni refinery with Rs 8,287 cr investment-:- Equity Research

State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) will invest over Rs 9,800 crore in expanding its Barauni refinery in Bihar and setting up a petrochemical unit at Panipat refinery in Haryana. The Board of IOC in its meeting on Thursday approved expansion of Barauni refinery from 6 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 9 MTPA. The "expansion of Barauni refinery from 6 MTPA capacity to 9 MTPA capacity along with downstream Polypropylene unit" will cost Rs 8,287 crore, the company said in a regulatory filing. Also, the Board accorded "in-principle approval for implementation of Olefin recovery project alongwith expansion of existing naphtha cracker unit, MEG revamp and benzene expansion unit modifications at Panipat at an estimated cost of Rs 1,527 crore," it added.

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Repco Home Finance to raise Rs 100 crore via bonds-:- Equity Research

Repco Home Finance will raise Rs 100 crore by issuing a 3-year tenure bond on private placement basis next week. "A meeting of the Securities Allotment Committee of the Board of Directors will be held on October 5, 2016 to consider and approve the private placement of rated, listed, secured, redeemable non-convertible securities in the nature of debentures," it said in a regulatory filing. The issue size is of Rs 100 crore and the bonds are to be issued on a private placement mode, it added. The company said the bonds will mature on October 4, 2019. Coupon rate on the bonds is at 8.5 percent per annum. The Chennai-headquartered housing loan company was set up in April 2000 to tap the growth potential in the housing finance market.

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Consumers to spend Rs 25,000 cr this festive season-:- Equity Research

As festivals line up, consumers are expected to spend Rs 25,000 crore this festive season, a rise of 25 percent, as against Rs 20,000 crore spent in the year ago period, according to Assocham. The festive season starting with Navratri tomorrow is likely to register record sales and highest-ever purchase rate per minute for e-commerce giants as most people deferred their purchasing plans due to 'pitra paksha', the Assocham survey-cum-analysis said. The industry body said it interacted with about 2,500 working professionals in age group 25-40 years from diverse sectors in 10 prominent cities to ascertain their shopping plans for the upcoming festive season. The cities include Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow. "This is expected to be the busiest festive season for e-commerce companies as Indian consumers are likely to spend up to Rs 25,000 crore and more as against over Rs 20,000 crore spent in festive season last year thereby registering about 25 percent growth," said D S Rawat, General Secretary, Assocham. "About 60 percent of the total respondents said they are ready with their shopping lists and will prefer online shopping over standing long hours in store aisles, while most of the remaining opted for shopping at physical brick and mortar outlets," the survey of Assocham Social Development Foundation highlights. People are ready to grab the deals and discounts offered by e-tailers on everything from apparels to cosmetics, jewellery to mobiles, laptop, television, it said. Ease of shopping, delivery options, diverse payment modes, better offers and other such factors are key reasons to shop in the festive season starting with Navratri, followed by a Dussera and Diwali, and continue til new year, it added. As part of its analysis, Assocham also sought opinions of various experts in the field of advanced research,analytics and digital intelligence services specialising in communications insights and community trends.

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Tata Steel plans 2nd phase expansion of Kalinganagar plant-:- Equity Research

Tata Steel is planning to initiate second phase expansion at Kalinganagar plant in Odisha to double its capacity to 6 mtpa, but has no proposal to set up another green-field steel plant in immediate future. "Sometime in next six months a proposal will be sent to our board for its approval to start the second phase work at Kalinganagar, while the focus now is to achieve full 3 mtpa capacity in first phase fast," Tata Steel MD (India and South East Asia) T V Narendran said. He also said that Kalinganagar plant, set up at an investment of over Rs 25,000 crore, is likely to reach break even by the end of this fiscal. After achieving the first phase rated capacity of 3 mtpa, second phase expansion can be taken up, Narendran said. However, the steel maker has no plan to set up a third green-field steel plant in the country in near future, and would rather concentrate on raising capacities of its existing plants at Jamshedpur and Kalinganagar, the Tata Steel MD told reporters here. Noting that Jamshedpur plant's present capacity stands at 10 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), he said its capacity would go up to 11 mtpa as an approval has been obtained to add one more million tonne. Thus, both Jamshedpur and Kalinganagar would churn out up to 17 mtpa post-expansion. Tata Steel, which has 2,000 acres of land in Kalinganagar, is already in the process of getting another 1,000 acres, Narendran said, adding that with 3,000 acres of land, the newly set up steel plant would even be in a position to raise capacity up to 15-16 mtpa in a phased manner. Despite challenges before the steel sector both at home and abroad, expansion ventures would continue to raise steel making capacity in India as demand in the country is projected to rise by 5 to 6 percent, he said.

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Anti-dumping duty likely on certain Chinese steel products-:- Equity Research

The commerce ministry has recommended imposition of anti-dumping duty on imports of steel wire rods from China to protect the interest of domestic players from cheap in-bound shipments. In its preliminary findings, the directorate general of anti-dumping and allied duties (DGAD) has recommended the duty. DGAD has suggested that for certain Chinese companies, the duty should be the difference between the landed value of the steel products and USD 499 per tonne while for others, it should be the gap between the landed value and USD 538 per tonne. The duty was recommended on imports of 'wire rod of alloy or non-alloy steel', which is used in many applications and sectors such as automotive components, welding electrodes, fasteners, including nuts and bolts, nails, railway sleepers, general engineering, binding wires for construction industry and armoured cables. Steel Authority of India, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam, Usha Martin and JSW Steel had jointly filed the application to probe the dumping of these products from China. In its findings, DGAD concluded that the product has been exported to India at "below the normal value" due to which "the domestic industry has suffered material injury". "The authority recommends imposition of provisional anti-dumping duty... so as to remove the injury to the domestic industry," DGAD said in a notification. Imports of these steel products have drastically increased to 4,95,732 tonnes during the period of investigation (July- December 2015) from 1,60,582 tonnes in 2012-13. India has already slapped anti-dumping duty on certain cold-rolled flat steel products from four nations, including China and South Korea. While DGAD recommends the duty to be levied, the finance ministry imposes it. Countries initiate anti-dumping probes to determine if the domestic industry has been hurt by a surge in below-cost imports. As a counter-measure, they impose duties under the multilateral WTO regime. Anti-dumping measures are taken to ensure fair trade and provide a level-playing field to the domestic industry. They are not a measure to restrict imports or cause an unjustified increase in cost of products.

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Lupin off day's low after USFDA approval for anti-alzheimer drug-:- Equity Research

Pharma major Lupin shares halved losses in afternoon trade Thursday on approval from the US health regulator for for anti-alzheimer drug. The stock reduced its losses to 2 percent from 4 percent intraday. "... has received final approval for Memantine Hydrochloride extended-release capsules, 7 mg, 14 mg, 21 mg, and 28 mg from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market in the US," the company said in its filing. Memantine Hydrochloride extended-release capsules are the AB rated generic equivalent of Allergan's Namenda XR capsules. The drug is indicated for treatment of moderate to severe dementia of the Alzheimer's type. Lupin said Namenda XR capsules had US sales of USD 1.22 billion, according to IMS MAT June 2016. At 15:12 hours IST, the scrip of Lupin was quoting at Rs 1,482.80, down Rs 33.75, or 2.23 percent on the BSE.

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Look at ICICI Prudential at around Rs 280-285-:- Equity Research

G Chokkalingam, Founder & MD at Equinomics Research & Advisory told CNBC-TV18, "We advised our clients not to apply to ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company because we have found that it is quite stretched in terms of valuations. So, even after weak opening, I would still suggest hold and wait for anywhere below Rs 300." "If you see the last four years, its net profit has grown at around 5 percent per annum and the premium also has grown in single digit at around 8 percent. Going forward, the competition is going to be very tough because we have seen the consolidation, we have seen the infusion of FDI into the insurance sector and third the whole economy has slowed down, so therefore the insurance business also has slowed down. So, therefore I would be comfortable to look at the stock anywhere around Rs 280-285 levels," he added

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KCP Sugar may move to Rs 46-:- Equity Research

G Chokkalingam, Founder & MD at Equinomics Research & Advisory told CNBC-TV18, "In KCP Sugar we successfully made money and it went to Rs 46 recently. Now again it has corrected back to around Rs 33-34 level. This is one of the most efficient sugar companies in the country in terms of quality of management efficiency of sugar recovery and balance sheet. Out of 14 years, 13 years it has paid dividend consistently. That is very rare in the sugar industry because it is highly cyclical." "Second, least leveraged, the borrowed fund is only around 20-22 percent of the total capital employed. Third, it has got a lot of long-term triggers. It has got a lot of land bank in Chennai, it has got a lot of residential properties in Andhra. The company has acknowledged in the annual report about these properties in Andhra, so I firmly believe that as and when they unlock the value this can become even a multi-bagger. Otherwise, conservatively it should give somewhere around Rs 46 return; target price I meant." "Also, very interesting point is that despite a good monsoon the sugarcane sowing has come down by almost around 7-8 percent now which means that the sugar output which will come into 2017 also will be down significantly. So, that would be positive for efficient sugar companies like KCP Sugar," he said.

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Mangalore Chem up 17% after shareholders reject Zuari Agro deal -:- Equity Research

MCFL, which became a subsidiary of Zuari Fertilisers and Chemicals in 2015, proposed to enter into certain transactions, in its ordinary course of business, relating to purchase / sale of goods, availing / rendering of services, lease of office space, transfer of resources, sales and marketing services and cost recharge to and from ZACL. Since the value of the transactions with ZACL during the financial year 2015-16 exceeded 10 percent of the annual turnover of the company, the approval of the members was sought for the transactions entered with ZACL. All the transactions proposed were in the ordinary course of business; hence, it is not going to impact the company and its financials in any manner. As per the latest shareholding pattern (June 2016), promoter Zuari Fertilisers and Chemicals, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Zuari Agro Chemicals, held 53.03 percent stake in Mangalore Chemicals. Its shareholding increased from 16.47 percent to 53.03 percent in 2015 after acquisition of shares through open offer. Kingfisher Finvest, Mcdowell Holdings and United Breweries Holdings are other promoters of the company, which have 21.98 percent shareholding in MCFL controlled by Zuari Group chairman Saroj Kumar Poddar. Shareholders have given approval for re-appointment of Akshay Poddar as director, appointment of DA Prasanna as independent director, N Suresh Krishnan as managing director and K Prabhakar Rao as director-works while disapproved appointment of VS Venkataraman as director. Meanwhile, MCFL appointed Ernst & Young LLP, in March 2016, to carry out forensic investigation of two deals with UB Group companies - investments of Rs 200 crore into Bangalore Beverages by way of subscription to its preference shares and various advances made by the company to United Breweries (Holdings Limited of which a sum of Rs 16.68 crore is outstanding as of March 31, 2016). After completion of its investigations, Ernst & Young LLP, in its presentation to the board of directors in May 2016, had said, "These transactions may have involved irregularities and elements of mismanagement in the company." At 13:05 hours IST, the scrip of Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers was quoting at Rs 48.05, up 7.98 percent and Zuari Agro Chemicals was at Rs 184.00, up 0.44 percent amid high volumes on the BSE.

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A decade it took: India shines in WEF global competitive index -:- Equity Research

In a world of declining consumer demand and geo-political uncertainties, the likes of which have not been seen in the past many decades, the India growth story continues to attract positive sentiment from global markets and experts. “Declining openness in the global economy is harming competitiveness and making it harder for leaders to drive sustainable, inclusive growth,” said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum. In such a fragile environment with sustained high debt levels in emerging markets, that hampers trade and hits the free market, the Global Competitiveness Report for 2016-17 by the World Economic Forum (WEF) has placed India at the 39th spot, a whooping 16 place jump from last year. India led the group of South Asian economies and saw major improvements in areas of institutions and infrastructure (42nd and 68th), which have been particularly important in increasing overall competitiveness, the report said.

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Expect 40-50% loan growth over next 2-3 years-:- Equity Research

Bharat Financial 's loan book will grow by 40-50 percent in 2-3 years, says company Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer MR Rao. While 30 percent growth will come from customer acquisitions, another 10 percent will come from an increase in ticket size. The company successfully raised Rs 750 crore via a qualified institutional placement (QIP), allocation shares at Rs 770 per share. It allocated 65 percent shares to existing investors giving the rest to new buyers. About 80 percent of the new allocation was to foreign investors and 20 percent to domestic investors. The company's return on equity (ROE) will go below 25 percent post its QIP. But Rao also adds that barring FY17, he expects ROE to be above 25 percent.

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RCom-Jio 'virtual merger' means sharing of spectrum assets-:- Equity Research

  

Virtual merger means sharing and trading of spectrum assets and Reliance Communications already shares and trades in these virtual assets with Reliance Jio, experts tell CNBC-TV18 after Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani said the company has achieved a "virtual merger" with Jio at the Group’s AGM today. Currently, Reliance Communication has spectrum sharing with Jio in about 17 circles and trading in 10 circles. Reliance Communications, Aircel and Jio have access to the same 800-850 MHz spectrum assets which is one of the most efficient spectrum assets in the industry, says Nitin Soni, Director, Asia-Pacific Corporate Ratings at Fitch Ratings. Similarly, the companies will also be sharing infrastructure of fibre and tower assets, he adds. Ambani also shared details on the debt reduction plans at the AGM.

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Microsoft using AI to empower people, transform world

India-born Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella today said his company is not pursuing Artificial Intelligence (AI) to beat humans at games but to empower people and organisations "to solve the most pressing problems" of society and economy to make the world a better place. As the keynote speaker at the opening day of 'Microsoft's Ignite' conference, he addressed a packed crowd of over 23,000 attendees, primarily IT professionals. "We are not pursuing AI to beat humans at games. We are pursuing AI so that we can empower every person and every institution that people build with tools of AI so that they can go on to solve the most pressing problems of our society and our economy," Nadella said. "The question is, how can we use all we have in terms of computational power to solve this fundamental constraint? To make better sense of the world? That's the essence of what AI is. It's not about having AI that beats humans in games, it's about helping everyone achieve more humans and machines working together to make the world a better place," he said. He outlined the firm's four pillars to democratise AI: Agents, applications, services, and infrastructure at Philips Arena, just across the street from the Georgia World Congress Center. "We're taking a four-pronged approach to how we think about Microsoft AI and how we pursue this bold ambition to democratise AI for all: We're going to harness artificial intelligence to fundamentally change how we interact with the ambient computing, the agents, in our lives," he said. "We will infuse every every application that we interact with, on any device, at any point in time, with intelligence. We'll make these same intelligent capabilities that are infused in our own apps the cognitive capabilities available to every application developer in the world," Nadella said. Nadella said Microsoft is building the world's most powerful AI supercomputer and making it available to anyone, via the cloud, to enable all to harness its power and tackle AI challenges, large and small. Features such as handwriting recognition in Windows 10, or the ability to use Hello to unlock a device are just some of Microsoft's recent AI projects, he said. Nadella also mentioned how the company could use relationship data from LinkedIn, which it acquired in June. 'Microsoft's Ignite', the largest conference in the technology industry with a major focus on security, intelligence and the cloud platform that empowers IT professionals to lead digital transformation for their organisations. The second annual conference from September 26-30 showcases the software giant's enterprise products and services, while providing valuable IT training. It also provides opportunities for IT professionals to get together for collaboration and networking.

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PESB recommends Narendra Kumar's name for NMDC chairman

The Public Enterprises Selection Board has recommended Narendra Kumar Nada's name for the post of chairman and MD for NMDC . According to a notification issued by PESB yesterday, it has selected Nanda, currently NMDC Director (technical), for the top post after interviewing four others, including Gopal Singh, CMD of Central Coalfields. "PESB will send its recommendation to the Department of Public Enterprises, which in turn will send it to the ministry of steel for consideration. The steel ministry after getting necessary clearances from CVC and other agencies will send it to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet for approval," a source familiar with the process told PTI. "The whole process will take a few weeks." Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor to the steel ministry Bharathi S Sihag has been holding the additional charge as CMD of the iron ore company from January 1 after the previous CMD Narendra Kothari retired on December 31, 2015. PESB had earlier recommended the name of Gopal Singh for NMDC's top post. However, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet had rejected the PESB recommendation and asked it to start afresh the selection process for the post.

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ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company to list shares on Sep 29

India's largest private sector life insurer ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company will list its equity shares on September 29. It has fixed issue price at higher end of price band of Rs 300-334 per share. The Rs 6,057-crore public issue was oversubscribed 10.48 times. The reserved portion of qualified institutional buyers was oversubscribed 11.83 times and non-institutional investors' category 28.55 times. The reserved category of retail investors was oversubscribed 1.42 times and shareholders' portion 12.2 times. The 18.13 crore IPO, which opened for subscription during September 19-21, was an offer for sale by ICICI Bank . It was the largest IPO in last six years after Coal India's Rs 15,000-crore public issue. Incorporated at Mumbai in July 2000, ICICI Prudential Life is a joint venture between India's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank and Prudential Corporation Holdings, a part of the UK-based Prudential Group. After the issue, ICICI Bank's stake reduced to around 55 percent from 67.52 percent earlier. Prudential Corporation Holdings held 25.83 percent stake in the company. Hasham Traders, owned by Azim Premji, held 4 percent stake in the insurance company and Compassvale Investments, an indirectly wholly owned subsidiary of Temasek, has 2 percent shareholding.

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Tata Motors enters Bolivia with launch of three vehicles

Tata Motors has forayed into the Bolivian commercial vehicle (CV) market with the launch of three products in the South American country. The Mumbai-based auto major has entered Bolivia through a distribution agreement with local partner Bolivian Auto Motors, which is part of Salvatierra, a business conglomerate engaged in distribution of motor vehicles and motor cycles in the Latin American country. Through this partnership, Tata Motors has launched three commercial vehicles in the Bolivian market Tata SuperAce Petrol, Tata Xenon Petrol and Tata LPT 613 truck - all of which will be currently available in Santa Cruz and will soon be available in La Paz and Cochabamba. "We are delighted to be here in Bolivia, one of the fastest growing markets in the Latin American region," Tata Motors Head (International Business) Commercial Vehicles Rudrarup Maitra said in a statement. Besides Bolivia, Tata Motors commercial vehicles are sold in other South American markets like Chile and Ecuador. "We will work with Tata Motors to make sure that our customers here get the finest vehicles and services, that not only match their requirements but also the needs of their business," Bolivian Auto Motors President Johnny Salvatierra said. Tata Motors is India's largest automobile company, with consolidated revenues of Rs 2,75,561 crore in 2015-16. Through subsidiaries and associate companies, it has operations in the UK, South Korea, Thailand, South Africa and Indonesia. PTI MSS8 Bolivian commercial vehicle (CV) market with the launch of three products in the South American country. The Mumbai-based auto major has entered Bolivia through a distribution agreement with local partner Bolivian Auto Motors, which is part of Salvatierra, a business conglomerate engaged in distribution of motor vehicles and motor cycles in the Latin American country. Through this partnership, Tata Motors has launched three commercial vehicles in the Bolivian market Tata SuperAce Petrol,  Tata Xenon Petrol and Tata LPT 613 truck - all of which will be currently available in Santa Cruz and will soon be available in La Paz and Cochabamba. "We are delighted to be here in Bolivia, one of the fastest growing markets in the Latin American region," Tata Motors Head (International Business) Commercial Vehicles Rudrarup Maitra said in a statement. Besides Bolivia, Tata Motors commercial vehicles are sold in other South American markets like Chile and Ecuador. "We will work with Tata Motors to make sure that our customers here get the finest vehicles and services, that not only match their requirements but also the needs of their business," Bolivian Auto Motors President Johnny Salvatierra said. Tata Motors is India's largest automobile company, with consolidated revenues of Rs 2,75,561 crore in 2015-16. Through subsidiaries and associate companies, it has operations in the UK, South Korea, Thailand, South Africa and Indonesia.

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HUDCO raises Rs 1,300 cr via private placement of bonds

State-owned HUDCO today said it has raised Rs 1,300 crore through private placement of non- convertible bonds to finance the affordable housing and urban infrastructure projects. Housing & Urban Development Corporation Ltd said in a statement that it "has raised a sum of Rs 1300 crore through private placement issue(s) of unsecured, redeemable, non-convertible bonds at lowest possible interest rates". While the issue of Rs 700 crore was raised at 7.36 percent on September 16, the second tranche of Rs 600 crore was mopped up at 7.35 percent on September 22. These bonds would fall due for maturity on November 30, 2019 and January 22, 2020, respectively. HUDCO has raised Rs 1,800 crore so far this fiscal through private placement of bonds and mopped another Rs 250 crore through other sources including public deposits. The company had disbursed Rs 8,248 crore in housing and urban infra projects in 2015-16 and it expects to achieve higher disbursement the current financial year. HUDCO is a techno-financial institution engaged in the financing and promotion of housing and urban infrastructure projects across the country. It is under the administrative control of the Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation ministry. During the 2015-16 fiscal, the company had posted a net profit of Rs 783.79 crore over a gross income of Rs 3,302.20 crore.

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Suzlon seeks partners for $3 bn of Aus wind farm investments-:- Equity Research

India's Suzlon Energy is seeking Australian partners to develop local wind farms as it taps a surge in global investor appetite for green energy assets after the Paris climate agreement, its managing director said on Wednesday. The wind-turbine maker plans to co-develop the projects in Australia at a cost of USD 3 billion over the next five years, for which it plans to tap investment from firms such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, and funds that are looking to ramp up exposure to geographically diverse renewable assets. "Our plans for the next five years is to join hands with the local developer and we will start co-development with them, then we need a local partner for the construction. Then we will offer to the customer the total solution," Suzlon's Chairman and Managing Director Tulsi Tanti told Reuters. "Over the next five years we target to build in Australia a minimum of 2 gigawatt (GW)....the total investment will be USD 3 billion (AUSD 4 billion)." Global investors' thirst for renewable projects has grown since the Paris agreement in December that obligates states to take concrete measures to curb emissions that contribute to climate change. The agreement was ratified by the U.S. and China earlier this month. Suzlon, which already has a footprint in 19 countries, anticipates it will attempt a similar strategy in Canada, Brazil, New Zealand and parts of Eastern Europe, to boost exports of turbines and gain exposure for its investors in a broad array of renewable assets, said Tanti. "Everybody has a target of at least five countries," he said. In Australia, Suzlon has installed 764 megawatts of wind energy generation, around a fifth of the market share. Globally it has around 15 GW, which it expects to expand to 35 GW by 2020, he said. Australia wants to double its large-scale renewable energy generation to 33,000 gigawatt hours by 2020, which means solar, wind and hydro-electricity would have to make up nearly a quarter of power generation by then. Suzlon estimates that Australia will require some 5 to 6 GW of windpower capacity to meet that target, after recent years of under investment due to policy uncertainty. Wind farms are Australia's No. 2 renewable energy source, behind hydropower but ahead of solar, providing around 4 percent of its total energy demand. Suzlon is not alone. Six to eight Chinese state-owned enterprises are involved in or looking closely at Australian energy assets, Melbourne-based financial advisors SILC Group said in March, with green power coming under particular focus.

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3 academicians named as Monetary Policy Committee members-:- Equity Research

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet today announced the names of Monetary Policy Committee members, who will hold office for a period of four years. This includes Chetan Ghate, Associate professor - Economics & Planning Unit, Indian Statistical Institute; Pami Dua, Professor and Head of department at Delhi School of economics and Ravindra Dholakia, economics professor at IIT, Ahmadabad. The committee will also include the Reserve Bank Governor Urjit Patel and the deputy governor and an executive director. This comes just before the next central bank meet scheduled for October 4. The committee will streamline the rate change process. Speaking to CNBC-TV18 Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Chief Eco Advisor, SBI said that the timing of the appointment is good, coming as it does before the monetary policy meet in October. He said that all the three of them being academicians it will lead to better judgement and policy-making.

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Coal India arm seeks green nod for Rs 10,000 cr power plant-:- Equity Research

Going ahead with its plan of setting up of around Rs 10,000 crore power plant in Odisha, Coal India arm Mahanadi Coalfields has approached the environment ministry to seek green clearance for the 1,600 mw coal-based thermal plant. "Towards gainful utilisation of coal deposits in Basundhara area, Sundergarh district of Odisha...company (Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd) has envisaged coal-based thermal power plant of 1600 (2x800) mw with super-critical technology," CIL (Coal India) arm said in its annual report. "...(MoEF) Ministry of Environment and Forests has been requested for enlisting the project for hearing in the forthcoming EAC (Expert Appraisal Committee) for consideration of grant of EC (Environment Clearance)," the report said. "EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) study (for the project) has been completed," Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) said. It further said that Central Electricity Authority -- the nodal agency of the power ministry -- has recommended the ministry for consideration of coal linkage for the project. A special purpose vehicle, Mahanadi Basin Power Ltd (MBPL), has been incorporated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of MCL for setting up the project. The report said that MBPL has achieved several milestones towards installation of power plant. High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) of Odisha has approved the project in principle. Water Allocation Committee of Odisha has recommended 49 cusec of water from Hirakud reservoir to the proposed thermal power plant. "CIL board accorded its approval for the first year expenditure of Rs 1,019 crore to start the work and the proposal will be placed for approval of the project report in the CIL board subsequently," the report said.

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Den Networks pref issue to fund broadband expansion, pare debt-:- Equity Research

Den Networks ’ board on Tuesday approved preferential allotment of 1.58 crore shares at Rs 90 per share to Goldman Sachs. Sharing details of the issue with CNBC-TV18 CFO Manish Dawar said this will increase Goldman’s stake in the company to roughly 24.5 percent. Goldman has a seat on the company's board and will continue to hold it, he said. The issue totalling about Rs 142 crore will lead to equity dilution of about 8 percent and is expected to trim promoter stake in the company to 37 percent. Dawar said the funds raised through the issue will be used towards expansion of the broadband business and to pare debt. The company targets to limit its net debt to equity at 0.5 times, he said. Den’s current net debt-to-equity is at 0.3 times.

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Essar Power Gujarat posts Rs 1 cr net profit in June quarter-:- Equity Research

Ruias-owned Essar Power Gujarat Ltd (EPGL) today posted Rs 1 crore net profit in the first quarter of this fiscal due to improved efficiency. "Finance costs for first quarter of 2016-17 were lower by 12 percent, leading to a PAT (profit after tax) of Rs 1 crore against a net loss of Rs 126 crore in the corresponding quarter in the previous fiscal," the company said in a release. According to the statement, EPGL, which owns and operates a 1,200 MW imported coal-fired thermal power plant at Salaya in Gujarat s Devbhumi Dwarka district, has recorded an impressive 90 percent growth in Ebitda for the quarter ended June 2016. This spike in performance stems from significantly higher plant availability, a 32 percent jump in energy sales, a 13 percent reduction in coal cost per unit because of a widening coal basket, e-auction based procurement, falling coal prices and substantial efficiency improvements, it said. In the June quarter, plant availability improved by 82 percent, leading to a robust growth in sales, which stood at Rs 522 crore, up from Rs 396 crore a year ago. Operational efficiency, especially the heat rate, improved by about 1.5 percent following turbine overhaul in one of the units. "Essar Power Gujarat's performance is in line with our goal to harness the maximum potential of our assets through efficiency gains. We are committed to replicating this success across all our plants," Essar Power Executive Vice-Chairman Sushil Maroo said in the statement. EPGL MD Ramesh Kumar said, "We have had an excellent quarter not only because of lower coal cost, but owing to the fact that we have been able to operate efficiently." The focus is to further bring down operation and maintenance costs, which have been consistently below CERC norms. The company is on course to harness greater efficiencies and significant cost savings with the expected commissioning of a sea water intake system and coal conveyor corridor.

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