NSE revises market lots for some derivatives
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has revised the lot size of derivative contracts on 62 stocks from July 28 to align them closer to the minimum value of Rs2,00,000 as recommended by the market regulator.

For stocks whose market lot value has risen beyond Rs4,00,000 the lot size has been halved and for those with a lot value below Rs2,00,000, it has been doubled, NSE said in a circular.

Stocks whose lot sizes were halved include ABB, Bajaj Auto, Maruti Udyog, Tata Consultancy Services and Videsh Sanchar Nigam. Those whose lots were doubled included Bank of India, BPCL, Escorts India, Jet Airways and Ranbaxy Laboratories.
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RBI rewrites rules for PDs
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has increased the minimum net owned fund (NOF) requirement for a primary dealer (PD), proposing to undertake non-core activities to Rs100 crore and Rs50 crore for those who do not diversify into these activities. At the same time, all PDs have been asked to maintain at least 50 per cent of their total financial investments in government securities at any point of time.

PDs have been permitted to deal in government securities, debentures, interest rate derivatives, providing broking services in government securities and lending in call and collaterised borrowing lending obligation (CBLO) market.

Further they have also been permitted to invest in commercial papers, certificates of deposit, security receipts, asset backed securities mortgage backed securities and debt mutual funds. As part of their non-core activities, PDs have been permitted to invest in equity and equity derivatives market. They are also allowed investment in units of equity oriented mutual funds and underwriting public issues of equity.

However, PDs are not allowed to undertake broking in equity, trading and broking in commodities, gold and foreign exchange. Further, they have also been disallowed to set up step-down subsidiaries.

PDs that already have subsidiaries have been allowed to restructure the ownership pattern of these subsidiaries.
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OCL India to come out with Rs80-crore rights issue soon
Kolkata: The Orissa-based OCL India, producers of Konark brand of cement, would soon hit the market with a Rs80-crore rights issue. The funds would be used for its capacity expansion programme.

Rakesh Malhotra, the chief finance officer of OCL India, said SEBI has recently cleared the proposal filed by the company. For every six shares of OCL one new share would be offered.

OCL India is giving final touches to its expansion programme where capacity of its Rajgangpur plant would be increased to 3.8 million tonnes per annum from 1.8 million tonnes per annum at a cost of Rs700 crore. The project would be funded through a mix of debt, equity and internal accruals. The debt:equity ratio of the expansion project would be 1.5:1.

Apart from the ensuing rights issue, the company is looking at all sorts of options for raising debt and equity.
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Idea considers IPO
New Delhi: The Aditya Birla group company Idea Cellular is thinking of coming out with an initial public offer besides expanding services with 3 new circles' roll-out in the next 3 months.

Idea Cellular keen to enter the Mumbai circle has already applied to Department of Telecom for permission and is awaiting the approval.

Idea is rolling out in 3 new circles; Himachal, Rajasthan and Eastern UP in the next few months.

Its current eight circles are - Haryana, Delhi, UP (W), Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa (1 circle), MP and Chhattisgarh (1 circle), AP and Kerala.

The combined holding of Aditya Birla Group companies in Idea stands at 98.3 per cent, which includes Aditya Birla Nuvo with 35.7 per cent, Birla TMT Holdings 44.9 per cent, Grasim Industries 7.6 per cent and Hindalco Industries 10.1 per cent.
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UTI MF to come out with realty fund
Mumbai: UTI MF is planning to enter the real estate fund management business following Sebi's permission to mutual fund companies to enter the field.

Besides a real estate fund, UTI has two other new products on the anvil, a close-ended equity fund and gold exchange-traded fund, for which applications have been submitted to Sebi for approval.
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