 "Top headlines: Demerger of ITC's hotels biz, share transactions, and more")
Top headlines: Demerger of ITC's hotels biz, share transactions, and more
Demerger to boost ITC's cash flows, create India's 2nd biggest hotel group
The planned demerger of ITC’s hotel division into an independent listed company marks the end of an era for the tobacco and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) giant. The company had merged the erstwhile listed ITC Hotels with itself in April 2005 to create a diversified and vertically integrated conglomerate with leading presence in tobacco, personal care, ready to eat foods, paper & packaging, food & agri products and hotels. Prior to it, the company had merged ITC Bhadrachalam Paperboards with itself in April 2002. The demerger signals a reversal in ITC’s historical growth strategy of using the cash flows generated by highly profitable but slow-growing tobacco business to invest in other business such as FMCG, hotels and paper, paperboard & packaging. Read more...
Instant settlement of share transactions in the works: Sebi chief
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is working on an ambitious plan to settle secondary market trades on a real-time basis. The proposal comes less than a year after the trade settlement cycle was shortened from T+2 (T denotes trade day) to T+1. The markets regulator is also working on an overhaul of the delisting regulations in a bid to give listed firms a fair shot at going private, if they intend to. It is also reviewing the framework of “trading plan”, which is used by company insiders to deal in the shares of their firms as required under the Prohibition of Insider Trading (PIT) Regulations. Read more...
Indian entrepreneurs quietly making their way into semiconductor industry
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Indian entrepreneurs, including non-resident Indians, are quietly making their way into the country’s semiconductor industry. With proposals ranging from building compound semiconductor fabrication (fab) facilities to establishing semiconductor packaging plants in the country, these entrepreneurs are capitalising on the government’s liberal financial incentives under the semiconductor scheme. These entrepreneurs come from various industries and include real estate giants like the Hiranandanis through their company, Tarq Semiconductors, Harshad Mehta, who runs US-based Silicon Power Corporation, and Delhi-based Sahasra Electronics, an Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) and Printed Circuit Board (PCB) fab company. The latter has already set up its silicon semiconductor packaging plant in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan, after qualifying under the government scheme. Read more...
100,000 tax notices to be disposed of by March: FM Nirmala Sitharaman
About 100,000 reassessment notices issued by the income-tax (I-T) department in the past years -- where the income escaped from tax was above Rs 50 lakh -- will be concluded by March 2024, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday, assuring taxpayers of a transparent, objective, and friendly tax regime. Speaking at an Income Tax Day event in New Delhi, Sitharaman said that widening the tax base remained a priority, and that the tax collected or deducted at source (TCS and TDS) approach to “track and trace” the likely tax liabilities, along with campaigns and nudges to encourage people to come on board on taxes, would help. Read more...
FCI stops rice supply for ethanol production amid concerns over crop
In a move that could impact India’s ambitious ethanol blending petrol (EBP) programme, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has stopped the supply of rice from its depots for ethanol production since last week. About 100 distilleries across the country that depend on rice from the FCI for conversion into starch, which is processed to make ethanol, are staring at tough times. Dual-feed distilleries, which use sugarcane during the season and grains during the off-season, could also take a partial hit, industry players said. Read more...