Upper Ganges Sugar to float rights issue
Kolkata: Upper Ganges Sugar & Industries is planning to float a Rs70-crore rights issue.

According to C.S. Nopany, director of Upper Ganges Sugar, work on the rights issue is progressing smoothly and the company has done all the necessary formalities. The company is hoping to get the formal clearance from SEBI within the first week of May.

Upper Ganges Sugar & Industries is the flagship sugar venture of the K.K. Birla Group, would utilising the proceeds of the proposed rights issue for its long-term capital needs.

For the quarter ending March 31, 2006, the company's gross sales dropped to Rs118.26 crore from Rs125.59 crore registered in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. However, profit before tax increased to Rs18.69 crore from Rs12.23 crore. Net profit however, dropped to Rs9.99 crore from Rs10.56 crore.

Upper Ganges follows the July-June financial year. In the first nine months of 2005-06, its profit after tax jumped by over 90 per cent to end at Rs27.02 crore from Rs14.09 crore.
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RBI against short selling by FIIs
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) wants the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to put on hold its proposal permitting institutional investors especially foreign institutional investors (FIIs), to short sell equities in the secondary market.

The RBI said the stock market was overheated and it might not be the right time to allow FIIs to short sell securities. Short selling is the sale of a security that the seller does not own and is usually permitted to provide liquidity. Besides, it helps in price discovery.

The RBI says that if Sebi intends to allow institutional investors to short sell, the permission should be restricted to shares in sectors where foreign investment is allowed up to 100 per cent through the foreign direct investment and foreign institutional investment routes. This is because, if it is allowed in sectors where 100 per cent foreign holding is not allowed, FIIs might exceed the limit. There is no mechanism to monitor this limit on a daily basis in secondary market trades.

Mutual funds, banks and insurance companies have also been classified as institutional investors in the report submitted by the secondary market advisory committee of Sebi.
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Sebi institutes probe into 'swinging' sensex
New Delhi: Sebi plans to begin a probe into the steep 490-point volatility in BSE sensex on Friday, following its interim order on IPO allotment scam.

Markets crashed in initial trading a day after Sebi barred 24 operators from functioning in the market for their role in IPO scam.

The benchmark sensex tumbled by 491 points within minutes of commencement of trading on April 28 but Sebi's partial relief to India Bulls enthused sentiment with sensex ultimately gaining 17 points. In a special trading session held on Saturday, sensex closed over 12,000 points.

Sebi also scotched speculation that it went back on its interim order relating to the IPO scam to avert a stock market meltdown after FM P Chidambaram intervened.

After the market tumbled, Sebi issued clarification that transactions carried out by barred market players on behalf of their clients will not be affected by the ban giving relief to retail investors.

Regarding its decision to keep in abeyance its order to ban stock broking company Indiabulls, Sebi said it was the first to approach the market regulator and the decision is pending for verification.

The affected brokers have 15 days time to respond.
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