• SEBI to ease buy-out rule
• SEBI to amend DIP guidelines for IPOs
• India-IAEA deal formally signed
• Internet telephony put on hold
• Realtors set free of service tax burden on sale of apartments
• GoM to take up new norms on FDI today
• IRDA to make more disclosures mandatory
• Wal-Mart’s India shops to be BestPrice Modern Wholesale
• Geopost buys Continental on envoy push
• SEBI has announced that it will amend the takeover regulations to help arrive at a fair open offer price in special cases. Time frame has not been specified but the issue is likely to be addressed at the earliest.
• SEBI has announced its decision to amend the DIP guidelines to enable the issuer company making an initial public offer (IPO) to declare the floor price or price band at least two working days before the date of opening of IPO. The information on the price band should be conveyed to the people through newspaper advertisements and websites. SEBI said that the co should issue advertisements to disclose the financial ratios calculated for both upper and lower end of the price band in a move to reduce grey market activities in the IPO market. (FE)
• India has signed the safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and thus completed one of the main formalities for entering into civilian nuclear trade with other countries. The safeguards agreement with India is one that is offered to non-nuclear proliferation treaty states and is item specific. But its unique features allow India to retain military reactors, while entering into civilian nuclear trade with other countries. Now, Indian government needs to ratify the agreement which will be followed by the Atomic Energy Commission filing a declaration with IAEA on the reactors that India will place under IAEA safeguards. (ET)
• Govt has refused to lift existing curbs on Internet telephony even as it has cleared way for cheaper long-distance calls by allowing Indian subscribers to opt for a telecom operator of their choice regardless of their service provider. Accordingly the subscriber can buy calling cards from an operator of her choice, punch in a set of numbers specified in the package, and avail the cheap fares offered by the operator, all through your existing service provider. (ET)
• Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has issued a circular stating construction service provided by a builder to a person buying the apartment till the execution of sale deed would not attract service tax. The circular states that any service provided by such builder in connection with the construction of residential complex till the execution of such sale deed would be in the nature of ‘self-service’ and consequently will not attract service tax. Also, if the ultimate owner enters into a contract for construction of a residential complex with a builder who himself provides service of design, planning and construction, and after such construction the owner receives such property for his personal use, then such activity would not be subjected to service tax as this case would fall under the exclusion provided in the definition of ‘residential complex’. However, if services of any person like contractor, designer or a similar service provider are received in both the cases, then these would attract service tax. (ET)
• The group of ministers (GoM) on FDI will meet today to discuss the revised guidelines for calculation of direct and indirect foreign holding in sectors attracting foreign investment caps. The revised guidelines have been framed by the department of industrial policy and promotion in the wake of concerns raised by various ministries, including finance and telecom, on calculation of indirect equity in Indian companies. The GoM had asked the DIPP to formulate simpler guidelines for calculation of indirect holding and better address the concerns of management and control in Indian companies. (ET)
• Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) is likely to make it mandatory for insurance companies to make more disclosures to its policyholders in order to improve corporate governance of insurance companies. IRDA has stated that currently insurance companies’ disclosures to the public is limited, the level of disclosures made by stock market listed companies are higher. When people are making investments in insurance companies by buying policies they are expected to know about the company. A committee would have to be set-up in this regard and the disclosure norms are expected to be in place by the end of the next financial year. (BL)
• WalMart Stores Inc. has decided to go without its globally recognized brand name for business in India and has decided to name its upcoming 50:50 venture of cash-and-carry stores with Bharti Enterprises Ltd ‘BestPrice Modern Wholesale Bharti Wal-Mart Pvt. Ltd’. According to a consumer research by Bharti Wal-Mart to figure out whether it should use the WalMart brand for wholesale stores or use another name, given the increasing outcry against the US retailer’s entry into India, the two partners may decide to drop the WalMart name in branding. Bharti Wal-Mart is expected to roll out its first BestPrice store near Chandigarh later this year which will sell up to 10,000 products from food to furniture, and it is learnt to have already started the process of enlisting business members. (Mint)
• According to sources, French govt -owned postal services company Geopost has been allowed to pick up a 60% stake in privately-held express parcel delivery firm Continental Air Express for an undisclosed amount, following the intervention of the French envoy to India. The proposal has been cleared with some riders. FIPB had earlier rejected the proposal after the department of post (DoP) raised reservations against what it termed a ‘back-door entry into India’. (ET)
