| To: Mohan Marette who wrote () | 4/18/2000 2:47:00 PM | | From: Labrador | | | |
ICICI Web alters commission
Our Banking Bureau MUMBAI
04/18/2000
Business Standard
Page 13
Copyright (c) Business Standard
ICICI Web Trade Ltd has revised the commission structure on its product and would be now offering four slabs to its customers from the earlier two-tiered structure.
The lowest rate would be 0.4 per cent for those customers who trade values more than Rs 1 crore within the same settlement with the effective commission per leg for squared off trades being 0.2 per cent.
This new structure was announced at the launch of trading on the site, ICICIDirect.com.
For trades below Rs 10 lakh per quarter the commission of 0.85 per cent has been retained which is likely to be valid for most retail customers. Initially around 5,000 accounts have been activated though this number could increase soon to 22,000 which is the number of registrations that the company has received.
ICICIDirect had been accepting registrations since the middle of February and is expected to have roped in many sub brokers.
Madhabi Puri Buch, chief executive officer of ICICI Web Trade, said, "This revision in rate structure has taken place on account of customer feedback.
"Currently only the cash product is available with margins expected to be introduced in the next few months. We are also in talks with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for appropriate jurisdiction for allowing foreign investors and non-resident Indians to trade."
According to company officials, the SEC requires them not to solicit any investor in the US to trade on their site. "This would include even those individuals who have only a bank account in the US.
However, rules are not as stringent in the middle east and therefore that area is likely to be targeted more in the near future," said a company official.
Officials were also of the view that since regulations in the United Kingdom were as stringent as those in the US they would be concentrating on first sorting out issues in the latter due to the greater interest shown by investors in US.
Other new slabs include those for trades between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore which is 0.5 per cent and that for trading volumes between Rs 10 lakh to Rs 50 lakh at 0.6 per cent. |
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| To: Labrador who wrote (477) | 4/18/2000 2:49:00 PM | | From: Labrador | | | |
A balance sheet of the 1990s
ASHOK V DESAI
04/18/2000
Business Standard
Page 11
Copyright (c) Business Standard
The state of the Indian economy appears to be embarrassingly sound. It is now two years after the nuclear ceremony, which brought universal condemnation and sanctions upon India; just the month before last President Clinton christened our subcontinent the most dangerous spot in the world, thereby telling American business not to invest in India. Despite this confrontation with the capitalist world, India's balance of payments remains surprisingly strong; through hail and high water, the reserves keep rising.
And that is not because of foreign investment. Foreign direct investment is distinctly down after the coming of the BJP governments. Portfolio investment is not, but it is a fickle bird of fancy. It has been down and up. It is here today and may be gone tomorrow. In any case, capital inflows are not responsible for the rising reserves. One cannot avoid the conclusion that the external fundamentals are strong.
And more surprisingly, inflation is down. The level of inflation showed a distinct fall from 1996 onwards; in the past year it has come down to levels that have not been seen since the days before socialism and the grand follies. Something has changed; we are no longer in the boom-and-bust mode of the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s.
What has changed? Five things in particular. First, industry is no longer in a position to pass on cost increases. Domestic competition has increased, and now there is some competition from abroad as well. This accounts for much of the fall in inflation. For this, the credit must go to the Fund and the Bank, which forced us to abolish industrial licensing in 1991, and to Narasimha Rao who had the sense to yield to force. If the Fund and the Bank had any strategic sense, they would be advertising their success in India instead of drawing comfort from Cte d'Ivoire and El Salvador.
Second, the illegal balance of payments has collapsed. The hawala premium has disappeared, and billions of dollars that used to be siphoned off into illegal foreign exchange transactions. For this, credit again goes to the Fund and the Bank they forced us to devalue in 1991, begin to dismantle import licensing in 1992, and start reducing tariffs in 1993 and to Manmohan Singh at the finance ministry and P Chidambaram at the commerce ministry who carried out these changes. But I would now give greater credit to Chidambaram. For when Manmohan Singh liberalised gold imports through NRIs without releasing foreign exchange for them, he in effect legalised smuggling; most of the gold came to be brought in by couriers of big Dubai smugglers. When Chidambaram allowed a few banks to import and sell gold in 1996, he dug the grave of gold smuggling. We see the effects of this single measure today in the death-throes of hawala. The rise in the reserves is due to the fall in the demand for gold and smuggled goods, and in foreign exchange balances illegally held abroad.
The third change is something Manmohan Singh did in a moment of righteousness. He felt it was unfair that the government should take away people's savings without a by-your-leave through the loans it compulsorily sold to the banks. So he resolved in 1992, without anyone asking him, that the central government and its institutions would no longer resort to the Statutory Liquidity Ratio. On the face of it, it changed nothing; even now the Reserve Bank sells thousands of crores of central securities to the banks. But the absorption is no longer automatic; the Reserve Bank has to cajole, threaten, twist arms, and even then it sometimes cannot sell the loans. It has had to raise interest rates; the cost to the government has gone up. IDBI and ICICI have had to raise money from retail investors at high interest rates. The change is working its way through the system. When Yashwant Sinha inveighs against the fiscal deficit, he is not being a reformer; he is just reflecting the consequences of Manmohan Singh's decision.
The fourth change is in taxation. Manmohan Singh brought down the income tax rates. If I write that revenue has increased as a result, S S Bagai will immediately write back showing that it has not as a proportion of non-agricultural income. But I would still claim that that in a country where tax evasion is so rife, all taxation is unfair to honest taxpayers; the reduction in taxes has evened the scales slightly in their favour. It is not just the tax reduction; there are two further fiscal changes. One is that the rate of corporate tax and the peak personal rate of tax are about the same, so the gains from declaring personal expenses as corporate expenses have declined, and so have the advantages of controlling companies for that purpose. And Yashwant Sinha abolished the tax on dividends in the hands of shareholders, and thereby reduced the double taxation of dividends (as against the single taxation of undistributed profits). This too reduced the advantage of controlling companies. With these two changes, a promoter no longer has to control a company to be able to live off its profits; he can hand it over to competent managers and live comfortably as a shareholder. A handful of promoters have done so already; many more have hired more competent CEOs than themselves.
The last change is not very clear to me: something has happened in the foodgrain market. In the 1970s, the Green Revolution created a flood of wheat; to save Punjabi farmers from distress, the central government turned the rationing scheme into a scheme to subsidise foodgrains and increase their consumption. But there are always many claimants for a subsidy: farmers, who would like higher prices, consumers, who would like lower prices, and the officials of Food Corporation, who would like fat margins to blow up on themselves. The farmers have politically been the most powerful, and have won an annual support price increase of 10-15 per cent year after year. That is what raised the rate of inflation from an average 7 per cent in the 1950s and 1960s to 11 per cent in the 1980s, even though the growth rate of foodgrain output rose. In the 1990s, somehow, the political advantage of pushing up support prices petered out. The first sign came in the eight state elections of 1994-95, of which the Congress lost six. Manmohan Singh connected this to Balram Jakhar's pushing up of support prices by 60 per cent in three years. He applied all brakes and brought down inflation to an incredible 4 per cent by the general election of 1996; but the Congress still lost it. The present government is, if anything, even more beholden to Punjabi farmers; but it has been more circumspect in raising support prices. The urban supporters of the BJP have at last found a voice. So inflation has come down, and I think the fall may last.
These five changes have buttressed the economy and opened up great opportunities. In the next article I shall suggest how the momentum imparted by these reforms can be maintained.
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| To: Labrador who wrote (478) | 4/18/2000 2:49:00 PM | | From: Labrador | | | |
MUTUAL FUND
ICICI fund picks up 10% stake in Naukri.com
Rupali Mukherjee
04/18/2000
Financial Express
Copyright (C) 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.; Source: World Reporter (TM)
New Delhi, April 18: ICICI Venture Fund Management is picking up over 10 per cent stake in Naukri.com - the country's largest employment portal promoted by Sanjeev Bikhchandani.
To start with, ICICI Ventures is pumping in around $2 million in the venture. The investment is being made through the company InfoEdge India Pvt Ltd, which has promoted the portal. The investment has been done at a premium, sources said. Speaking to The Financial Express, president ICICI Venture Funds Management Company, AJV Jayachander said: "We think the investment makes strategic sense as the site satisfies an essential need of every individual, has the first mover advantage, and is the clear leader in this space.'
``Naukri has been able to put together a team of highly qualified professionals which has helped it attain this position," he added.
The portal was launched in April 1997. It offers 10,000 job advertisements and 30,000 vacancies, and has updates daily. Bikhchandani said "We need to consolidate our leadership position and for that we would be investing in building the brand, staffing, adding infrastructure and upgrading technology. We expect to multiply page views from two million monthly to 10 million per month in the next few months".
He added: "In the medium term our objective is that if there is a job for an Indian anywhere in the world it should be on Naukri."
ICICI Securities Ltd (I-Sec) structured the deal. When contacted, I-Sec vice president, Ravi Sardana said: "Naukri.com is one of the few portals to have a revenue model in place and has been making profits from day one. It has a large base of loyal users", he added.
Bikchandani, who is an IIM-A product, has worked in companies including Smithkine Beecham and Lintas. He has vast experience in HR consulting and has co-authored two books on career counselling. Naukri.com is a one-stop information clearing house about jobs and careers for Indians. It also gives information to students for going abroad, admission deadlines, tips on interviews and group discussions. Companies can advertise for jobs, job-seekers can search jobs and one can browse resumes on the portal. It has no plans of going international, and would remain India-specific.
Info Edge India Ltd has floated two other popular portals - Jeevansathi.com and Bachao.com.eom |
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| To: Labrador who wrote (479) | 4/18/2000 2:50:00 PM | | From: Labrador | | | |
Small investors hold key to stockmarket boom
J Mulraj
04/17/2000
The Times of India
Copyright (C) 2000 The Times of India; Source: World Reporter (TM)
No it wouldn't. How, then, can we expect capital markets to be popular if their main customer, viz. the small investor, is denied access to most rides?
Globally capital markets are being institutionalised. Over the past two decades the proportion of equity holding in individual hands in the US has fallen from 65 to 33 per cent; correspondingly, that of institutions has gone up in converse proporation.
The consequence of this, as we have observed both in global markets as well as our domestic markets, is increased volatility.
Last week at the BSE, the Sensex initially climbed 322 points (6 per cent of the Friday closing price) over the first two days (of a four day week), then fell 369 over the next two (7 per cent).
One really bemoans the fate of individual investors in India, for the way the system is often stacked against them. Start with initial public offerings (IPOs.) Individual investors are being denied the chance to participate in new economy stocks.
Because of restrictions on capital movement, Indian investors have been unable to participate in the boom in Nasdaq. They are held captive in a domestic market, in an unfriendly environment. This suits domestic issuers of capital just fine.
It also suits banks and financial institutions just fine as, in the absence of worthwhile equity issues, investors are forced to flock to debt issues of IDBI and ICICI , which are rated triple A by rating agencies set up by these institutions. Around 80 per cent of money raised through public issues went into debt issues of these two institutions.
New dot-com ventures are unable to list on the main exchanges because of existing listing guidelines which allow entry only to companies with a dividend and profit track record. Hence they are funded by either venture capitalists, angel investors or through a foreign listing (e.g. Satyam Infoway.)
Indian investors do not get to participate, at least not till the business reaches an advanced stage. The few good equity issues which did come out were through a book build issue which is again weighed in favour of institutional investors, although SEBI has recently taken an initiative to correct that.
The better brick and mortar companies, too, have various funding options, including GDR/ ADR issues, or, as Reliance has so deftly proved, brilliantly timed issuances of debt paper.
Nor is the government forthcoming with attractively priced issues of PSU stocks that would give investors an incentive to save.
Banks are also cutting down on deposit rates, under pressure from their biggest customer, the government of India, who is in financial trouble with uncontrollable fiscal deficits.
This makes bank deposits an unattractive option. The investor's confidence has also been shaken by troubles at UTI resulting in a huge bailout last year. Fortunately, some good investments made by their largest scheme, US 64, has paid off and the net asset value (NAV) has now supposedly climbed to above an arbitrarily set repurchase price.
The government has initiated talks to link repurchase price to NAV; the sooner this is done the better it would be for the health of capital markets.
Small wonder, then, that household savings rates have fallen 2 per cent. Shutting out the small investors is the worst possible way to get him to save enough for the investments but that is the way things are progressing.
So the investor's choice are restricted to investing through the mutual fund or setting out on his own. Collections by private sector mutual funds have been rising. Investments in the secondary market exposes investors to the sort of wild gyrations he recently witnessed, besides a whole host of unfair practices.
Circuit breakers which stop trading if stock prices hit 8 per cent above or below the previous close are perversely acting anti small investor, instead of for him, as intended. Large operators, sometimes acting in concert with fund managers, are better able to manipulate stock prices by misusing the circuit filters.
They place large buying orders on the way up, at the ceiling, consecutively for several days. When the circuit is finally lifted, they rush in to buy stock they felt deprivated for, exactly as intended by the operators.
In news of interest last week was the share buyback announcement by RIL, using funds it had raised through external commercial borrowings issues abroad and has now brought back ($1 b.) The stock spurted on the news, going up to a high of Rs 376. Then, upon news that the buyback was to be undertaken at Rs 303, it fell, to close the week around that level. Being one of the heavyweights, this pulled down the Sensex.
Results of both Infosys and Satyam for the year to March were excellent; this did not, however, stanch a slide in their stockprices, after the fall at NASDAQ, where both companies have listed their ADRs.
The coming week would see the same sort of wild gyrations in which scenario it is best to stay away. Roller coaster rides are fun only at Disney World. |
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| To: Mohan Marette who wrote () | 4/27/2000 3:23:00 PM | | From: Labrador | | | |
India's ICICI reports robust Web trade
NEW DELHI, April 27 (Reuters) - Indian financial services firm ICICI Ltd is seeing robust growth in Internet trading of stocks on its financial portal, which was launched in February, Managing Director K.V. Kamath said on Thursday.
``We are doubling volumes everyday,'' Kamath told a business seminar. ``The last 10 days we have doubled trading volumes everyday...The success has been stunning.''
Kamath told Reuters later that the site (www.icicidirect.com) had 20,000 registrations so far.
ICICI Bank (NYSE:IBN - news), the group's banking affiliate, has 125,000 customers who have Internet access, Kamath said.
Both Bombay-based firms are listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
He did not give details on the volume of trading.
biz.yahoo.com |
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| To: Mohan Marette who wrote () | 4/28/2000 5:56:00 AM | | From: Labrador | | | |
I received a note today from investors relations at IC regarding the dividend payment date -- I guess after this date IC and ICD should trade as a single security.
The record date for the interim dividend was April 25, 2000. The actual payment of dividend is expected to be completed by May 15, 2000. |
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| To: stock4U who wrote (483) | 5/6/2000 11:01:00 AM | | From: Labrador | | | |
Kalyani Group ties up with PwC, ICICI for e-ventures
Our Banking Bureau MUMBAI
05/06/2000
Business Standard
Page 10
Kalyani Group has entered into a strategic partnership with ICICI Ltd and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for a major thrust in the e-business area. The combined group would be setting up two e-markets.
The first would be an exchange for speciality steel sector products whereas the second would be a portal for auto components which is expected to be online in the next ninety days. A separate company would be formed for the e-business venture.
Both ICICI and PwC are expected to equity partners in this venture although the capital structure is yet to be decided. Apart from this, the new venture would also look for more partners for providing technology, insurance, testing services and credit information. The new exchange is expected to provide a global Internet market place though the portal would be India-centric in the beginning.
Baba Kalyani, chairman of Kalyani Group, said, "The new market place would provide the reach that customers would require in the currently fragmented steel industry. This is likely to be the first business-to-business (B2B) product of its kind as all other steel exchanges have been only for commodity products.
The idea is to create a truly homogenous integrated market place."
As of now, the domestic speciality steel industry has a size of Rs 7,000-8,000 crore and the auto component industry in the country has a size of Rs 15,000 crore. As they would be catering to a huge market worldwide, the Kalyani Group and partners have set a budget of Rs 40-50 crore for aggregate expense on the e-business operations which includes large expenses on technology.
PwC has been looking for the technology partner and probable names include Ariba, CommerceOne and Oracle.
A revenue model has already been set for the e-exchange. Fees charged would include transaction, lead generation, membership, sponsorship, fulfilment and allied services fees. However, the fee structure has not yet been decided.
ICICI 's role in the venture would be two fold. The first would be the provision of capital to the company and the second will be provision of credit to parties transacting on the exchange. |
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| To: Labrador who wrote (484) | 5/6/2000 11:03:00 AM | | From: Labrador | | | |
INDIA: ICICI stk down 5.5 pct despite profit rise.
05/02/2000
Reuters English News Service
BOMBAY, May 2 (Reuters) - Shares of Indian financial firm ICICI Ltd were down 5.5 percent despite posting a 20.5 percent rise in net profit for 1999/2000 (April-March).
Analysts said investment gains had helped prop up the net profit and this factor was unlikely to help a rise in net profit again in 2000/01.
"If you strip the gains from sale on investments, profit is not all that impressive," Hemendra Hazari, banking analyst at ASK-Raymond James told Reuters.
The benchmark 30-share Bombay index rose 34 percent during the financial year, helping ICICI 's net profit from the sale of investments to touch 2.93 billion rupees against 440 million in the previous year.
ICICI 's stock was traded at 126.00 rupees at 11:15 a.m (0545 GMT) compared to Friday's close of 133.40 rupees tracking a weak market which was down over three percent at 4,510.66 points.
The firm which posted a net profit of 12.06 billion rupees ($276.29 million) for 1999/00 announced its results after close of trading on Friday.
The firm's shares have taken a beating since the central bank had questioned the firm's 1998-99 (April-March) results in early March.
ICICI had disputed a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) inspection report which said the profit figure for the year was overstated by 4.03 billion rupees on lower provision for sticky loans.
The stock had touched a high of 196.0 in early March before the central bank report dragged down the stock.
However, analysts said they were still bullish about the firm's e-commerce initiatives which would help decide future valuations.
"Its e-commerce initiatives are impressive and given the thrust there the stock is trading at reasonable levels," Vimal Jain of Prime India Broking said.
He however added that he had no recommendation for the stock.
ICICI on Friday detailed its e-commerce initiatives at an analysts' meet on Friday after announcing its results.
ICICI , along with its subsidiaries, has a strong presence in technology and offers a gamut of services including e-banking through ICICI Bank and e-broking through I-Web.
((Bombay newsroom, +91 22 265-9000, fax +91 22 264-1699, anirban.nag@reuters.com)). |
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| To: Labrador who wrote (485) | 5/6/2000 11:04:00 AM | | From: Labrador | | | |
FUND BEAT / Baring all
05/01/2000
The Economic Times
US-64, the largest and oldest mutual fund in the market, has announced its top holdings. These are Reliance Industries, Reliance petroleum, HFCL, ITC, Infosys Technologies, Global Telesystems, SSI, Satyam Computer, ICICI and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. Together these scrips constitute 53.3 per cent of the funds assets. The top 5 scrips constitute 37.11 per cent of the funds assets. For the quarter ending March 31, 2000, the net income of the scheme was Rs 738 crore. The total reserves of the scheme have also grown to Rs 4,223 crore.
UTI has also declared dividends of 16 and 20 per cent in its Mastershare and Grandmaster schemes respectively. The record date for both these dividends is May 20, 2000. In a separate move UTI has decided to issue a common application form for eight of its equity funds. these are Masterplus 91, Mastergain 92, Mastergrowth, Grandmaster 93, Primary Equity Fund, UGS 10,000, Master Index Fund and Nifty Index Fund.
UTI has also announced that, inspite of the volatility in infotech scrips, it will continue to maintain a 25 per cent exposure to this sector in its equity schemes.
Sun F&C Mutual fund is in the process of launching a high risk-high return fund called Resurgent India Equity Fund. This fund will concentrate on generating long term capital appreciation. The funds investment spectrum will consist of companies which are in the process of restructuring, privatising or growing through acquisition. Due to the high risks associated with this fund, the minimum investment will be Rs 5 lakh and in multiples of Rs 1 lakh thereafter. The initial offer period of the fund extends till May 25, 2000 and units will be available at Rs 10.
Sun F&C is also leveraging the power of the internet to make its schemes more accesible to potential existing as well as potential investors. Investors can now buy and sell the Asset Management Companys mutual fund schemes over the web.
IDBI Mutual Fund has recently issued its statement of Scheme(s)/Plan(s) portfolio. A look at the portfolio of the funds Tax I-NIT96 scheme reveals high concentration levels. The top 10 scrips constititute 69.81 per cent of the funds total assets. These are Infosys Technologies, Satyam Computers, Hindustan Lever, Zee Telefilms, Aptech, Gujarat Ambuja Cement Sun Pharmaceuticals, Reliance Industries, ITC, and Cipla Laboratories.
TATA Mutual Fund has decided to introduce a 10 per cent equity component into the portfolio of its income fund. According to the Asset Management Company, the step is a move to dilute the impact of the higher dividend distribution tax proposed in this years budget. As on March 31, 2000 Tata Income Fund had a 6.27 per cent equity component in the funds growth option. The equity holding in the dividend option was 0.57 per cent. |
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