This follows an impression that the Bharatiya Janata Party will again form the government. The suggestion in the BJP's election manifesto for channelling provident fund money into the stock markets has induced the current rally in the market.

The Bombay Stock Exchange index moved up 63 points to 4621 points. There was huge buying in Telco, Grasim, BSES, Cummins India and Zee Telefilms.
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Cochin bourse seeks BSE, NSE membership
Kochi: The Cochin Stock Exchange will become a member of the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange. This, the bourse feels, will improve its service.
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Sebi changing rules
Mumbai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India has eased the minimum limit of public issue offerings for information technology companies to 10 per cent from 25 per cent. The proviso: the issues must be worth at least Rs 50 crore and offer at least 20 lakh shares. Sebi feels that this would enthuse high net worth software companies to seek funds in India rather than issuing instruments abroad.

The Sebi board, which discussed the recommendations of the P K Kaul Committee on mutual fund trustees, has decided that trustees should now file transaction details for deals over Rs 1 lakh on a quarterly basis.

The foreign institutional investor registration guidelines have also been relaxed. The registration criteria for FII sub-accounts have been brought down from 50 investors to 20. The maximum limit for a single investor has been increased from 5 per cent to 10 per cent.

The recommendations of the S A Dave committee on collective investment schemes (plantations) have also been accepted by Sebi. The minimum net worth for a company that floats such as scheme will now be increased to Rs 5 crore from the current Rs 3 crore. The schemes that are currently operational will have to pay Rs.10 lakhs for provisional registration, increase their net worth to Rs 1 crore in a year and to Rs 5 crore in five years.
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Institutions devise scheme for ICICI’s $500 million issue
Mumbai: Three institutions – Life Insurance Corporation, Unit Trust of India and General Insurance Corporation -- along with ICICI  have settled the issue of ICICI’s plans for a US $500 million offer.

The issue will be divided into three parts, so as to ensure that shareholder interests are not affected. According to a report in The Economic Times, LIC, GIC and the UTI will get a preferential offer of around $100 million, at a price of Rs 73 per share. About $300 million will be in the form of American depository receipts. This will ensure that there is no reduction in the total stake of 32.8 per cent held by these institutions in ICICI.
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Reliance issues bonds
Mumbai: Reliance Industries Ltd. issued zero coupon bonds worth Rs 300 crore with a tenure of more than four years. The bonds contain an implicit yield to maturity of 12.5 per cent.
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Haldia plans private placement
Mumbai: Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd has requested financial institutions to subscribe to Rs 350-400 crore by way of private placement of shares or debentures, according to a report in The Economic Times.

This, the company feels, would enable it to commence  production. The company needs funds worth more than Rs 960 crore for operations.
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