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BSE Ltd formulating business
plans
Mumbai:
In its new corporate avatar, the Bombay Stock Exchange
(BSE) Ltd, Asia's oldest stock exchange, has said that
it plans to bring aboard strategic investors and possibly
go in for an IPO. With its transformation into a corporate
entity, it is obligated to dilute stockbrokers' stake
to 49 per cent.
The
exchange is expected to unveil its new business plan in
the next one month.
"We
can dilute brokers' stake in the BSE either by offering
stake to strategic investors or an IPO, or both,"
Rajnikant Patel, CEO of BSE, told newspersons at a function
to announce the change.
As
per the BSE (Corporatisation and Demutalisation) Scheme
2005 notified by the SEBI, the exchange has to bring down
brokers' stake to 49 per cent in the next one year from
100 per cent. Currently, BSE has paid-up capital of Rs75
lakh with each share having a face value of Re1.
Patel
said that the BSE would also look at various other businesses
other than stock trading.
"It
could be entering into financial services business and
any other business," said Patel, adding that the
exchange will take the help of consultants for it.
The
chief mentor of Infosys Technologies, N.R. Narayana Murthy,
who was the chief guest at a function held to mark the
occasion, urged the BSE to adhere to the highest level
of corporate governance.
"Companies
which are listed on the BSE abide by corporate governance
and disclosure, but BSE should have much higher standards
than the companies traded on the exchange," he said.
He
also advised the exchange to find out the best practices
of leading international stock exchanges such as Nasdaq,
NYSE, and London Stock Exchange and adopt them.
Meanwhile
the newly corporatised BSE Ltd has also made changes to
its much accessed Web site, downloading the new format
after close of trade on Friday.
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NSDL
positioning itself as record-keeping agency for pensions
authority
Kolkata:
The National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) is scaling
up its efforts to emerge as the record-keeping agency
for the newly formed pensions authority.
"Over
the past few years, we have gained considerable experience
with regard to a number of new areas. These include the
new Tax Information Network and warehouse receipts,"
C.B. Bhave, CMD, NSDL said. He added that the depository
now expects to be chosen as the central record-keeping
organisation for pensions as well.
The
depository is now looking at an increase in dematerialised
debt, especially with respect to retail investors who
hold debt instruments such as tax-saving bonds and longer-duration
paper.
Bhave
also ruled out further rationalisation of fees by the
depository, especially after NSDL's recent decision to
cut the settlement fee charged to depository participants
and corporate action fee charged to issuers. The new rates
will be effective from October 1.
"We
have tried to reduce charges in line with increase in
our volumes. This has been done keeping in mind the interests
of the users of the depository mechanism," he told
newspersons.
Meanwhile,
NSDL's latest activity relates to the nation-wide tax
network (or TIN, as it is now called popularly), created
on behalf of the I-T department. This, it is hoped, will
do away with the process of manual issue of TDS certificates.
The target is "one hundred per cent accuracy"
in line with the Government's wishes.
NSDL
has lately seen a virtual explosion in its business, thanks
largely to a marked increase in the participation of retail
investors. This is best reflected in the number of demat
accounts registered with it - 66 lakh now, against the
38 lakh recorded about three years ago.
About
four lakh demat requests, or about 16,000 per day, are
pouring in per month. In the last year or so, 1.7 million
new accounts have been opened, while the aggregate value
of securities dematerialised with NSDL stands at over
Rs16.8 lakh crore.
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MCX
launches futures trade in plastics
Mumbai: The Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd
(MCX) on Friday launched futures trading in plastics,
namely polypropylene (PP) and high density polyethelyne
(HDPE).
The
trading was inaugurated by Nikhil Meswani, Executive Director
of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), who clicked on the first
trade. The first trade was registered at Rs63 a kg for
PP contracts while for HDPE the first trade was registered
at Rs61 a kg.
Trading
in PP, September and October 2005, and HDPE, September
and October 2005, contracts would be available for futures
trading with effect from Friday.
The
trading unit for PP and HDPE contracts are specified at
two metric tonnes (t) by the exchange. The tick size of
the contract is 10 paise with a daily price limit of two
per cent. The trading in a contract month would open on
the 21st of the month and run for three months. Each contract
would expire on the 20th day of the contract month and
there would be an initial margin of three per cent and
delivery would be in lots of 10 t at exchange-approved
warehouse at Bhiwandi.
India
ranks eighth in the world in terms of consumption of plastics
and is expected to be the third largest consumer of plastics
after the US and China by 2010.
Currently,
India has an estimated production capacity of 4.5 million
tonnes annually of polymer. Of this, 60-70 per cent accounts
for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene
(PP).
The
industry demand is expected to touch about 7.3 mt by 2006-07
and 12.4 mt by 2010-11, according to MCX data.
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IOB
ties up with Cholamandalam MF
Chennai: The Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) expects
to earn about Rs60 crore-70 crore of fee-based income
this year, the bank's Chairman and Managing Director,
T.S. Narayanasami, told journalists on Friday, mentioning
that the current year's fee income would be substantially
higher than last year's.
Narayanasami
was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting organised here
to announce a tie-up between the bank and Cholamandalam
Mutual Fund. As per the arrangement the bank will distribute
Chola's mutual fund products.
In
the current year, the bank plans to sell Rs600 crore of
mutual funds of various companies, which would earn the
bank a commission income of over Rs10 crore.
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