The Economic Times - Delhi, 3/29/2019 Cropped page Page: 17
17�THE ECONOMIC TIMES | NEW DELHI / GURGAON | FRIDAY | 29 MARCH 2019 | WWW.ECONOMICTIMES.COM
Companies: Pursuit of Profit
player in the country after State Bank ofIndia, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, ba-sed on interest income of 2017-18, Shar-ma, who is also managing director at thefirm, said at a media interaction.
“REC acquisition has presented PFCwith a significant inorganic growth op-portunity where by on a consolidatedbasis PFC’s asset book, income, profitwould almost double,” he said.
As of December 2018, PFC’s loan as-sets were around .̀ 6 lakh crore and onthe basis of 2017-18 financials, the con-
solidated annual inco-me would be about.̀ 50,000 crore with pro-fit of .̀ 11,000 crore.
The PFC chairmanexpressed hope thatthe merger processwould take place nextfinancial year.
The combined entitywill benefit from transfer of differentcore competencies of the firms, he sa-id. PFC has competence in lending topower generation segment while RECis a key player in transmission anddistribution segment.
Together the companies will havehigher representation among lendersfor stressed assets resolution and theywill be in a better position to plan andmonitor different government sche-mes, Sharma said.
PFC says Merger withREC Inevitable Next Yr
Our Bureau
New Delhi: State-owned Power Fi-nance Corporation on Thursday saidits merger with public infrastructurefinance firm REC is inevitable nextyear for better synergies, and that thecompany will work out ways to add-ress dilution of government’s stake inthe combined entity.
Timeline of the merger will be deci-ded by the government, PFC chair-man Rajeev Sharma said on Thursdaysoon after his firm concluded the ac-quisition of REC (formerly RuralElectrification Corporation) with re-lease of .̀ 14,500 crore payment to thecentral government towards about1,039 million REC shares constituting52.63% equity stake, along with trans-fer of management control.
The government's stake in the com-bined entity will fall below 51%. Butthe exact position will be clear onlyonce the swap ratio is reached.
When the Cabinet Committee onEconomic Affairs (CCEA) approvedthe sale of government’s stake in RECto PFC in December last year, financeminister Arun Jaitley had said thetwo companies will remain separateentities with REC becoming a subsidi-ary of PFC.
PFC will be the fourth largest financial
Co to workout ways toaddressdilution ofgovt stake inthe combinedentity
1.2 times that in urban areas comparedwith 1.5 times a year ago for fast-movingconsumer goods, according to analysts.
Dabur is not the only company hopeful ofa turnaround.
“We are witnessing a temporary slow-down in some categories due to an exten-ded winter and liquidity issues in themarket,” said Godrej Consumer Pro-ducts managing director Vivek Gamb-hir. “We are hopeful that demand will re-cover in the months ahead as the sum-mer season picks up and as rural consu-mers get some benefit from governmentdisbursement schemes.”Over the past decade, sales of branded dai-ly needs in the nation of 1.3 billion people
have increasingly relied on the rural hin-terland, home to more than 800 million,whose purchase behaviour is largely lin-ked to farm output, which grew 2.7% year-on-year in the October-December quarter,the lowest in nearly three years.
Biscuit maker Parle said growth in the ca-tegory has slowed to 6-7% in January-March compared with 9-10% in the same pe-riod last year. “The effect is more pronoun-ced in smaller towns,” said B Krishna Rao,senior category head at Parle Products.
DISCRETIONARY PRODUCTSWhite goods such as refrigerators, washingmachines and air conditioners saw flat sa-les in rural markets in January and Februa-
ry compared with 5-6% growth a year ago.Cellphone retailers said sales in rural areasdeclined 20-25% in the first 10 weeks of theyear from the year ago.
“Consumers are just spending on ne-cessities and discretionary spending isvery low. And whenever there is uncerta-inty and depressed demand, the effectsget magnified in smaller markets,” saidGodrej Appliances business head KamalNandi, who also leads the white goods in-dustry body Consumer Electronics andAppliances Manufacturers Association(CEAMA).
India’s GDP growth rate slowed to a fi-ve-quarter low of 6.6% in October-De-cember from 7% a year ago. Consumerspending growth, which accounts forabout 60% of the economy, slowed to8.4% during the period versus a 9.9% in-crease in the year earlier.
“Consumers are holding back purchasedecisions until elections as most people insmaller markets are self-employed andany government or policy change can ha-ve a big impact on their earnings,” saidLalit Agarwal, chairman of V-Mart Reta-il, a listed department store chain that fo-cuses on small towns and rural areas.
The new ecommerce policy that came in-to force in February and lack of new pro-duct launches also disrupted sales.
Sagar Malviya & Writankar Mukherjee
Mumbai | Kolkata:The rural engine dri-ving India’s consumption growth is slo-wing but some companies expect it to pickup speed again soon. Consumer demandfor daily groceries, apparel, smartphonesand electronics, especially in rural mar-kets, has eased since January due to pre-election uncertainty, tighter liquidity anddepressed farm incomes following a pat-chy monsoon.
“Slackening of demand, both in ruraland urban (areas), is due to the tight liqui-dity conditions and agrarian distress,”Dabur chief executive officer Sunil Dug-gal said. He expects demand to pick up, ho-wever, as the warm season sets in. Also,payments to small farmers as part of thePradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhishould lift consumption.
Consumption in rural India, which acco-unts for about a third of the market, saw arevival with double-digit growth in thepast two years, outpacing the rate of ex-pansion in cities. This was underpinnedby higher farm income and minimal supp-ly disruption in the run-up to the rollout ofthe goods and services tax (GST) in July2017. Rural growth has moderated to about
Consumer Demand in Rural MarketsCools on Election Heat, Farm Stress
SEGMENTS IMPACTED:FMCG, consumer electronics, smartphones and apparel
Consumer demand slowed down in Jan-Mar across country
Cos attribute it to overall macro-economic conditions, delayed summer and ensuing election
Slump comes amidst last year’s 1%volume decline in FMCG and just 3-4%volume growth in consumer electronics
Cos hopeful of revival in next qtr
Early Shoots Visible:AC & refrigerator salespicking up in south
Tightening Purse Strings
Illus
trat
ion:
A
nirb
an B
ora
But some companies expect demand to pick up soon on rollout of schemes such as PM-KISAN
1and March 16.“Unlike other political par-
ties, BJP has a clear mediastrategy that will allow it toreach out to its voter base aswell as those sitting on thefence. It involves the right useof traditional as well as newmedia. BJP will continue tohave the biggest share of voi-ce in political advertising,”said a top executive at a mediaagency, refusing to be named.
The data shows that altho-ugh television is the most eco-nomical medium to reach out
to the masses, political parti-es are not too keen on TV ad-vertising this time.
Political advertising on TVplunged nearly 83% duringthe period under review, com-pared to the same period befo-re the 2014 election. BJP hadthen splurged on multimediacampaign with the themes,‘Abki Baar Modi Sarkar’ and‘Janta Maaf Nahi Karegi’. TVadvertising gathered steamonly in the week startingMarch 11.
Radio is the only mediumwhich saw a 14% growth interms of total ad insertionsby political parties, while theprint media registered a dropof 9%, compared to the lastgeneral election.
While radio was one of theleast preferred medium forthe first six weeks, there wasa sudden rush from February10 when, for the followingthree weeks, political adverti-sing peaked on the medium.
For the print media, ad in-sertions were highest in thefirst four weeks of the year.
BJP Leads Political BlitzSpace with 53% Ad Share
Gaurav.Laghate @timesgroup.com
Mumbai: In the run-up to thegeneral elections, BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) is leadingthe political blitzkrieg with a53% share of advertisementsacross print and electronicmedia, according to data sour-ced from AdEx India, a divi-sion of Tam Media Research.
Rahul Gandhi-led Congresshas come adistant se-cond with a14% share ofvoice, follo-wed by NChandrababu
Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party(TDP) with 6%. Tamil Nadu-based Amma Makkal Mun-netra Kazhagam (AMMK) andAll India Anna Dravida Mun-netra Kazhagam (AIDMK) fe-atured among the top five witha 3% share each.
The data is based on ad in-sertions across TV, radio andprint media between January
Advertising on TV suffers a steep fall, gets louder on radio
ELECTIONECONOMY
Cong hascome secondwith a 14%share
Fuji ElectricClose to ConsulNeowatt Buyfor .̀ 700 crore
Mumbai: Japanese electric andthermal energy major Fuji Elec-tric is in the final stages of dis-cussions to acquire Consul Neo-watt Power Solutions, a Chennai-based power backup manufactu-rer, in a deal worth $100 million(`̀700 crore).
Fuji is seeking to buy a majoritystake in Consul Neowatt, which isowned by the private equity fundPeepul Capital, two people awareof the development told ET.
The deal will mark the first acqui-sition of Fuji Electric in India,which has a $1-billion UPS and in-verter industry. Others interestedin Consul Neowatt included Schne-ider Electric and Hitachi, said one
of the persons citedabove. For the acqu-isition, Fuji Electricis being advised byKPMG India.
Mails sent to FujiElectric, Sriram Ra-makrishnan, MD &CEO of Consul Neo-watt, and the spoke-sperson of PeepulCapital remainedunanswered untilthe publication ofthis report. A
KPMG spokesperson declined tocomment.
Consul Consolidated was foun-ded in 1981 by four promoters — NRamesh Sankaran, KN Raja, NSunder and NP Krishnan. PeepulCapital acquired a majority stakein 2012 with an investment of $25million and hired Sriram Ramak-rishnan as CEO. In 2014, Consulwas merged with Pune-based Neo-watt Energy.
Consul Neowatt offers a widerange of power electronics pro-ducts spanning online UPS, stabi-lisers, isolation transformers, in-dustrial inverters and solar inver-ters. In 2013, the company had ac-quired Pune-based Megatech toexpand its portfolio of UPS and so-lar products.
Fuji Electric, the $8-billion globalmajor from Tokyo, had formed ajoint venture with Gemco Cont-rols in India in 2016. Fuji owns 51%in the venture — Fuji Gemco.
The deal willmark the firstacquisition ofFuji in India,which has a$1-b UPS &inverterindustry
the Companies Act and thesame has been recommended,”said the official to ET. He was re-ferring to alleged action of Dee-pak Kochhar's companies aswell as Videocon.
Any prosecution, if that wereto happen, could be carried outby the Serious Frauds Investi-gation Office (SFIO). A final de-cision will be taken by the pa-rent ministry in Delhi.
During the probe, MCA's Mum-bai office recorded the statementof the former MD & CEO of ICI-CI Bank, Chanda Kochhar. Thesources cited say that ChandaKochhar denied any knowledgeof the affairs of her husband’scompany. Adopting the same li-ne of defence as when she wasquestioned by the EnforcementDirectorate (ED) (probing herrole in a alleged money launde-ring case), Chanda Kochhar toldthe MCA that the decision togrant the loans to the two compa-nies was taken by the bank'ssanctioning committee andwasn’t her individual decision.
The MCA probe focused on a
number of investments in Dee-pak Kochhar companies. Theseinvestments are at the heart ofprobes by multiple agencies.
“The probe into the affairs ofthe companies owned by Koch-har and Dhoot have been dividedinto six heads. While the reporton the first leg is completed andsubmitted, work on the secondleg has began,”said the above ci-ted official. “ In the first leg ofthe probe we have found thatKochhar’s company NuPowerRenewable pvt ltd (NRPL) recei-ved two major loans. While theloan from Dhoot’s company wasreceived in one tranche, loansfrom companies owned by Kano-dia came in intervals. These mo-nies weren’t used for any genui-ne business purposes and looksto us as a case of accommodativelending. We have therefore re-commended prosecution aga-inst firms owned by Kochharand Dhoot,”added the official.
Earlier while speaking to ET onthe issue, Dhoot said that only so-me minor, technical irregulariti-es had been found. “They have
not found any irregularity as re-gard to the Companies Act sec-tions, which carries compulsoryprosecution, so there is no ques-tion of prosecution,” Dhoot toldET in a text message.
Messages and calls made to Ka-nodia did not elicit a response.
Other than Chanda, the MCAhas also recorded statements ofDeepak Kochhar and Dhoot. Ac-cording to sources, Deepak saidthat his firm was engaged in bu-sinesses with entities owned byVideocon and others, but thathis wife had nothing to do withthe affair of his company. “ Whi-le our mandate is not to probequid pro quo as that is beingprobed by the ED and the Cen-tral Bureau of Investigation,our probe is to look into the affa-irs of the companies, we havequestioned both the husbandthe wife as the fund flow lookssuspicious and the monies havecome to his firms around the ti-me ICICI sanctioned loans. Thestatements of the couple has be-en unsatisfactory and the samehas been concluded in the re-port,”added the official.
ED TO SEND LRSIn a related development, EDprobing money laundering ca-se against Kochhars and Dho-ot is in the process of sendingletters rogatory (LRs) to Sing-apore and Hong Kong seekingdetails of Kocchar’s bank ac-counts. LRs are a formal requ-est mechanismfrom a court toa foreign courtfor judicial as-sistance.
MCA Proposes Prosecution ofCos Owned by Kochhar, Dhoot
Mumbai: The Mumbai regio-nal office of Ministry of Corpo-rate Affairs (MCA) has recom-mended prosecution actionagainst companies owned byDeepak Kochhar, the husbandof former ICICI Bank CEOChanda Kochhar, and Videoconchairman VN Dhoot. This, afterthe department found instan-ces of what an internal reportdescribes as deliberate acts ofomission and concealment offacts. The report clams that so-me financial statements andcertificate were false or omittedcertain material facts.
An official familiar with thereport said that the MCA has fo-und that the actions of thefirms were violative of sections447, 448 and 449 of the Compani-es Act, which basically dealwith punishment of fraud.
“Irregularities were observedin the conduct of board mee-ting. In some of the financialstatements and annual reportssubmitted the disclosures wereinadequate or misleading. So-me members of the board weresuspected to be shadow direc-tors, all these amount of prose-cution under certain sections of
Based on Facts
MCA has found that the firms violated sections 447, 448 and 449 of the Companies Act
MCA found instances of deliberate acts of omission, concealment of facts; submission of financial statements, certificate and other reports which were false or omitted certain material facts
Kochhar’s coreceived monies in tranches from Nishant Kanodia’s Firstland Holdings and Matix Group, but ‘no business’ was carried out by Kochhar’s company, MCA probe found
Department’s reportfound deliberateacts of omission andconcealment of facts
"In any one single financial year, ifthe two conditions are satisfied, theneither party has a right for merger in-to JSW Steel,” Seshagiri Rao, jointmanaging director of JSW Steel, toldanalysts after the company announ-ced its third-quarter earnings.
In the December quarter, MonnetIspat earned an Ebitda of .̀ 21.6 crore,with sales revenue of .̀ 494 crore andnet loss of .̀ 78 crore. – Vatsala Gaur
JSW Steel Targets .̀ 650-crore Ebitda for Monnet Ispat Before Deciding on MergerMumbai: JSW Steel is targeting ope-rational earnings (Ebitda) of .̀ 650crore for Monnet Ispat and Energy,which it acquired recently, before ittakes a call on the company’s mergerwith itself, a senior executive of JSWSteel said. Monnet Ispat will also berequired to bring its net debt to Ebit-da ratio down to 3.5x before any of thetwo parties – JSW Steel or MonnetIspat – can seek a merger.
ACQUISITION COMPLETE
CCI NG 3.7 Product: ETDelhiBS PubDate: 29-03-2019 Zone: DelhiCapital Edition: 1 Page: ETDCP19 User: raj.kumar8 Time: 03-28-2019 23:22 Color: CMYK
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CASTEX TECHNOLOGIES LIMITEDCorporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) has been ongoing with regard to Castex Technolog ies Limited(CTL) as per the provisions of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC ) and the undersigned is acting as theResolution Professional of CTL.Pursuant to the decision of the Committee of Creditors (CoCL the Resolution Professional is inviting ProspectiveResolution App licants ( PRA) to submit resolution plans for CTL. Eligible interested parties are required to visit thewebsite http :Ilwww.amtek .comlaii .php to download confidentiality undertaking and submit duly executedconfidentiality undertaking along with financial statements of last 3 years, Proof of address and PAN Card copyto the undersi gned, subsequent to which they shall be provided access to the detailed process document settingout the process for submission of resolution plans for CTL, the information memorandum and other relevantinformation (as defined under the IBC) pertaining to CTL .To be eligible to submit EOI, the PRAs must satisfy the following Eligibility Criteria, as approved by the COC inaccordance with Section 25 (2)1h) of the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016 or referred to 'Code'.
1. Eligibility criteria to be satisfied by a prospective resolution applicant to submit a resolution plan for CTL:A. For Body Coroorates
Minimum Net Wort h (NW)' of INR 350 Cr at standalone or group level as per immediately precedingcompleted accounting year; ORMinimum standalone turnover or consolidated group turnover [excluding revenue from trade activities) ofINR 750 Cr for any of the preceding 3 accounting years.
B. Forfinanciallnstitutions/f unds/PEinvestors:Minimum Asset Under Management (AUMI or funds deployed of INR 1000 Cr during last 5 years as onLast Financial Reporting date or 31st March 2018, whichever is later; ORCommitted funds available for investmentldep loyment in assets of INR 1000 Cr or more as at LastFinancial Report ing date or 31st March 2018, whichever is later.
C. In case ofconsortium of resolution applicants, all the resolution apolicantsmust individually qualify forthe predetermined qualification criteria.
2. Prospective Resolution Applicant will not be eligible to submit the EOI if it or any person acting jointly or inconcert with it is disqualified under Section 29A of the Code (as amended from time to time ). In case of aConsortium, each member of the Consortium should be eligible under Section 29A of the Code.
3. Prospective Resolution Applicant or its connected persons as defined in Section 29A of the IBC, should nothave failed to implement its resolution plan approved by NCLT in accordance with its terms .
4. Prospective Resolution App licants must provide a refundable deposit/bank guarantee of INR 1 Crate('Refundable DepositlBG") within 4 days of acceptance of E01.
"" Net Worth" means the aggregate value of the paid-up share capital and all reserves created out of the profits andsecurities premium account, after deducting the aggre gate value of the accumulated losses, deferred expenditure andmiscellaneous expenditur e not written off , as per the audited balance sheet , but does not include reserves created out ofrevaluation of assets , wr ite-back of depreciation and amalgamation.Note: The elig ibility criteria for inviting resolution p lans is determined with the approval of the CoC of CTL and may beamended or changed at any stage. The Lenders reserve the ri ght to cancel or modif y the process and I or reject I disqualif yany interested party I bid I offer at any stage of the bid process without assigning any reason and without any liability.Note: In case of foreign exchange, RBI reference rates as of 1 April,2019 shall be used for evaluation.For any further clarifications with regards to inspection, terms and conditions and other details, kindly write toipresolution .castex @in.ey.com .The last date of submission of EOI is 4th April, 2019.Resolution Professional:DinkarVenkatasubramanian(IP Registration no. IBBIIIPA-001 IIPP0 0 0 0 312 01 6- 1 7110 011)
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The Economic Times - Delhi, 3/29/2019 Cropped Page Page: 17
THE Ecoxoutc TI\IES NE“ DELHI
Consumer Demand in Rural MarketsCools on Election Heat, Farm StressBut some companies expect demand to pick up soon on rollout of schemes such as PM-KISAN
ry compared with sour growth a year agoCellphoneretailerssaldsaleslnruralareasdeclined m25nr in the first 10 weeks of theyearfrorrrtheyearago."Consumers are just speirding on netcesslties and discretionary spending is
rerylow sndwheneverthereisurrcertairrty an depressed demand, the effects
GLRGAON FRIDA‘r 29 MARCH 2mg l ttu‘tt Ecoh‘ttittCTntEs cont Companies: Pursuit of Profit 1ACQUISITION COMPLETE
PFC says Merger withREC Inevitable Next Yr
player in in coruru, airs. Bank ofIndia, HDFC Bank alid ICICI Batik. batsed on interest income of 201718 Shahma. who is alsorrrarragingdirectorat ttrerr. said atamedia nrteraction.
REC acquisition has presented PFCwittr a significant nroi-ganic growth oppor-unrity where by on a consolidatedbasis PFC's asset book, rncoirre, profitwouldalmostdouble."he saidAs of December 2013, PFC'S loan as
our Bureau
New Delhi: Staterowned Povier Fitrrarrce Corporation on Thursday saidits merger w ith pirblic infrastructurefinance firm REC is inevitable nextyear for better synergies. aird that ttrecorrrpany will work out ways to addressdilirtion of govermrrerrts stake iirtlrecombirredeirtrty.
5a ar Malvi a - - -cwiiraiiysinii‘lenea Tightening Purse Stringsslump comes amidst Early shoots Visible:last years 12. AC it refrigerator salesvolume decline in Pltklfl “P In 50““mm and lust a-A'Arvolume growth in
SEGMENTSIMPACTED:rucc. consumerelectronics,smartphtines
Mumbai | Kotitata: The rural errgine drrvirrg indras consumption growth is slowrrrg biit some companiesexpect it to pickup speed again soon. Consumer demandfor daily groceries. apparel. srrrartphonesand electronics. especially in rural martkets, lras eased since January due to preelectiorruncertairrty; tiglrterqurdrty anddepressed farm incomes following a patctryrrronsoorr.
and apparelcos attribute it to overall macroeconomic tonditions. delayedsummer and ensuing election
"slackening of demand, both in ruralaird urban (areasl. is due to thetighthquidity conditions aird agrarian distress,"Dabur chief executive officer sunil Duggal said He expects demaird to pickup. honever. as the warm seasort sets in Also.payiirents to srrrall farmers as part of tirePradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhishouldliftcorrsrrmptiorr.Consumption in rural irrdia. whictr accoriirtsforaborrta third of the irrarket. saw arevital with doubledigit growth in thepast two years. outpacing the rate of expairsion in cities. Ttrrs was underpinnedbytrrgherfarrrr incoirre andrrriniirral supply disruption intherunup to the rolloirt ofthe goods and services tax (GST) in July2017.Rlu‘al growth has moderatedto aborrt
a turnaround.aw
ded winter and liqiridi
disbursement schemes "
1.2 tirrres that in urban areas corrrparedwith is times a year ago for fasttmo irrgconsiiirrergoods.accordingtoanalystsnaburrsirottheorrlycompairyhopefirlof
are Witnessing a temporary slowdown irrsomecategoriesdueto an extent' issues in themarket," said Codi-ej Consumer Pro
dircts managing director vivek Gambhir ”We are hopefulthat demand will reCover in the months ahead as the sumsmer season picks rip and as rural consutmers get some benefit from govermrrentOverthepastdecade.salesofbrandeddarly needs iii the nation of 1 3 billion people
consumerelectronicscos hopeful ofrevtval in next otr
ttre lowest rnireaitegory has slowedriod last yeced in sniallei own
have increasingly relied on the rural hirrterland, home to more than one million.whose purchase behaviour is largekedto farrrr output. which grew 2.7% ~eaorryearirrtheOctobeiuDeceirrberquarter.Biscuit maker Parle said growth in the cat
March compared with910% or the samepe. The effect is more pronoun5." said a Krishna Rao.
senior category tread at Parle Products.DISCRETIONARY PRODUCTSwhite goods such as refrigerators. waslrnrgmachines and air conditioners saw fiat sasles rnruralrrrarkets in Janimry arrdFebrua
get rrragnified in smaller markets.’ saidGodrej Appliances business head KamalNantll. who alsoleads the white goods indrrstry body Consumer Electronics airdAppliances Manufacturers Association(CEAMA)India‘s GDP growth rate slowed to a fit
cember
to om in Januarysmaller
yea big
tetquarter low of soot in OctobersDerfrom per a year ago Consumerspending growth, which accounts for
aborrt eons of the economy. slowed tosand drrrirrgthe period \‘ersusa9.9% increase in the year earlier."Consumers are holding back purchasedecrsiorrsurrtilelectiorrsasrrrostpeoplerrrmarkets are selfemployed andany goverrrrrrerrt or policy change can hasimpact on their earnings." saidLalit Agarwal, chairman of VtMart Retatil, a listed department store chain that focuses on sirrall tow ns and rural areas.Theirewecommercepolicythat came into force in Febrtuary and lack of new prodrict launches also disruptedsales
Timeline of the merger will be decitded by the government. PFC chairsrrranRajeevslrarnrasaidoirTtrirrsdaysoon after his firm concluded the actqrrisitioir of REC (formerly RuralElectrificatioir Corporation) with release of al. ’ crore payment to thecentral government towards about1.039 millioir REC shares coirstituting52 63% equity stake. aloirg with transferofrrranagementcontrol.The goternment‘s stake in the com
bined entity will fall below 51% Btitthe exact position i t be clear onlyonce the six ap ratio isreached.When the Cabinet Committee on
Economic Affairs (CCEA) approvedthe sale of governments stake iir RECto PFC in December las year. financeminister Arun Jaitley had said thetwo companies will reirrain separateentities with REC becomingasubsiditary of PFC
PFCW' bethefourthlargestfmancial
—co to worltout ways to
govt stake inthe combinedentity
sets were around 26 lakh crore and onthe basis of 201718 financials. the cons
solidated annual incotme would be about$0.000 crore with profit of €11,000 crore.The PFC Chairman
expressetl hope thatthe merger processworrld take place nextfirraircialyear.
ecombinedeirtitywill benefit from transfer of differentcore competencies of the firms, he satid PFC has competence in lending topower generation segiireirt wirile RECis a key player in transmission anddistribution segirreirt.Together the companies will hatehigher representation among lenders
for stressed assets resoltrtiorr arrdtheywill be m a better position to plan andmonitor different goverrrrrrerrt schetmes, sharma said
Fuji ElectricClose to ConsulNeowatt Buyfor €700 crore
MCA Proposes Prosecution ofCos Owned by Kochhar, Dhoot
Munitiai: Japanese electric andthermal energy major Firji Elecrtric is in the final stages of (“Stcttssions to acquire Consul NeotwattPovver Solutions. a cliennatbased power backup nranufactui'er. in a deal worth $100 million($700 crore)Fuji is seekiirg to buy a nrajority
stake in Consul Neowatt. which isowned by the private equity fundPeepul Capital. two people awareoi the development told ET.Thedealvi‘illmarkthefirstacquis
sitioir of Fuji Electric in india.which has a $1tbillion UPS and int\‘erter industry Others interestedinConsuINeowattincludedSchneider Electric and Hitachi, said one
of the persons citedabot e. For the acqtitsitton. Fuji Electricis being advised byKPMGIndia.Mails sent to Fuji
Electric SriramRatrnakrishiian. l\iD &CEO of Consul Neovi att. and the spokesspersoir of PeepulCapital remainedunansviered untilhe publicatioir oi
this report AKPMG spokesperson declined tocorrimentConsul Consolidated was founs
ded in 1981 by four promoters 7 ‘Raniesh Saiikaran, ' Raja. t\‘Sunder and NP Krishnan. PeepulCapital acquired a majority stakein 2012 with an iiivestrrient of $25million and hired Sriram Ramaksrisliriari as CEO In 2014. Consulwas irrerged with Punebased NeowattEiiergyConsul Neoviatt offers a wide
range of power electronics prodircts spairrriirg orrlirre UPs. stabilisers, isolation transformers. industrial inverters and solar invertters. In 2013, the company had acquired Pirnebased titegatech to
The deal willmark the first
' f
inverterindumy
expand its portfolio of UPS and solarproductsFuji Electric. the SEtbillion globalmajor from To ~o, had formed ajoint venture with Gemco Conti'ols in India in 2016 PH] i owns 51“ uinthetentui'ei Fuji Gemco.
BJP Leads Political BlitzSpace with 53% Ad ShareAdvertising on TV suffers a steep fall. gets louder on radio
Mumbai: iii the runtup to thegeneral electioirs. BharatiyaJanata Party (BJPl is leadingthe political blitzk ieg witlr a53% share of adv ‘tisementsacross print and etectrorticrrredia.accordingto datasoursced from AdEx India. a divitsion of TamMedia Research.Rahul oarrdhiled Congress
has come adistant setcoiid with a14% share ofvoice foliowed by NChandrababu
Naidu's Telugu Desam Party(TH?) with 6% Tamil Nadirbased Amma Makkal MuiritetraKazhagain(A_\I]tiII/{)andAll India Anna Dravida r\IIintiietra Kazhagam (AIDMK) f9.attti'etlamongthetopfivetvttha3% share eachThe data is based on ad in
sertions across TV. radio andprintmediabetweenJantiary
—Cong hastome secondwith a 14%share
Department's reportfound deliberateacts ofomission andconcealment of facts
liasnmLRaiputtttlrnesgroup (Um
Mumb The I\Iumbai regional office of Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has recomtmended prosecution actionagaiirst conrpairies owned byDeepak Kochhar. the husbandof former ICICI Bank CEOChanda Kochhar. andVideoconchairmanVNDhoot This. afterthe department found instairces of what air internal reportdescribes as deliberate acts ofomission and concealment offacts. The report clarrrs that some financial statements aridcertificatevierefalseoromittedcertain material facts.An official familiar viith the
reportsaidtlratthe MCAhasfound that the actions of thefirms were \‘iolative of sections447. 41-18 and 449 of the Companies Act which basically dealit h purrishnreirt of fraud.
- regularities were observedin the conduct of board meettiirg In some of the financialstatements arid annttat reportssubmitted the disclosures vi ereinadequate or misleading Some members of the board vi eresuspected to be stradow direcstors. all these amount of prosectitioiiimdercertainsectionsof
Based on FactsMCA Inunli instancesof deliberateacts of omlsslon.concealment offacts. supmlsslon offinancial statements.certlntate and otherreports whlch werefalse or omlttedcertain material facts
ltlant
Kocnnar
Kochhar's coreceived moniesln trancnes from
Fltstland Huldlngsand Matlx Group.but no puslness‘was carrled out by
‘s company.MCA prube found
AsMCA III:found that meKanodla‘s
Colnpanies Act
the Companies Act arid thesame has been recommended. 'said the officialtoET. He vi‘asretferring to alleged action ofoeepak Kochhar‘s companies aswell as Videocon.Airy prosecirtioir. if that wereto happen, could be carried outby the Serious Frauds investigation Office (SFIO) A final decision will be taken by the patrent ministry in DellDining the probe, Mcr sr\Iumsbai office recorded the statementof the former MD at CEO of ICIsCI Bank, Chanda Kochhar. Thesources cited say that ChairdaKochhar denied an, knowledgeof the affairs of her husband‘scompany Adopting the same litne of defence as vihen she wasquestioned by the EirforcemeirtDirectorate (ED) (probing herrole in a alleged money laundering case). Chanda Kochhar toldt ie MCA that the decision togrant the loans to thetviocompanies was taken by the bankssanctioning corrnrtittee andwasn't her 1.“l idtial decisionThe MCA probe foctised on a
number of investments in Deerpak Rochhar companies Theseinvestments are at the heart ofprobes by irrultiple ageircies.“The probe into the affairs of
the companies owned by KochrharandDhoot| ' ‘ ' ’into six heads While the reporton the first leg is completed andsubmitted, w k on the secondleghas began saidtheabovecited official ” In the first leg ofthe probe we have foinid thatKochhars company NttPowerRenewable ptt ltd (N'RPL) receisted two major loans. While theloan from Dhoot‘s compairy wasreceited in one tranche. loansfr-orrrcomparriesownedbyKairodia came in intervals. These motiries vieren't used for any geiriiiire business purposes and looksto us asacase of accommodativeleirding We have therefore recommended prosecution agarinst firms owned by Kochhaiand Dhoot "added the official.EarlierwlrilespeakiirgtoETonthe issue. Dhoot said that oirly so
inemiiror,technicadirregularities had been found ”They have
JSW Steel Targets asso-crore Ebitda forMonnet Ispat Before DecMumbai. sw Steel is targeting operational earniirgs (Ebitda) of eesocrore for Mounet ispat and Eirer .which it acquired recently before it
ng on Merger"In any one single firraircial year. if
the two conditions are satisfied, theneither party lrasaright for merger into s Steel." seshagiri Rao, joint
“I! ITIIIIIIIII IIIUIIIIPIIII IJII'III [PFIIIIMlnulyo Ms - sysmniontstindiaoioinin FomdryNalFrAqrwfllWiGovernmentCentI' iEXPORT-IMPORTMANAGEMENT
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rrot found any irregularity as regard to the Companies Act sections. w hich carries yprosecution. so there is no question of prosecution." Dhoot toldET in a text message. a.iiodia did irotelicitaresponseOther than Chanda. the MCA
has also recorded statements ofDeepak KochharandDhootAocording to sources. Deepak saidthat his firmwas engaged in bussinesses with entities owned byVideocon and others. but thathis vi ife had nothing to do withtlreaffairoflriscoiirpany \Vhitle our mandate is not to probeqtrid pro qiro as that is beingprobed by the ED and the Centtral Bureau of investigation,our probe is to look intothe affarirs of the . we havequestioned both the husbandthe vi ife as the fluid flow lookssuspicious andttre moirieslravecome to his firms around the Usme ICICI sanctioned loans. The
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en unsatisfactory and the sarrrehas been conclutled in the report. 'added the official.ED to SEND [RSin a related development. EDprobing morreylaunderingcase against Kochhars and Dlroot is in the process of sendiirgletters rogatory (LRsl to Singapore and Hong Kong seekiirgdetails of Kocchar’s bank actcouirts LRs are a forrrral requtest mechanismfrom a cottrt to
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ELECTIONECONOMY
laiidMai'ClilB"Unlike other political par
ties BJP Iias a clear mediastrategy that will allow it toreach ottt to its voter base aswell as those sittiirg on thefence It involves ttre right useof traditional as well as newmedia. BJP \HII Continue tohave the biggest share of voice in political advertising."said a top executit e at a ntedtaagency refusing to be nametlThe data shows that althot
ughtelevisionisttrenrosteconomical medium to reach out
takes a call on the company 's merger-with itself. a senior executit e ofJSWsteel said. Monnet ispat will also berequired to bring its net debt to Ebittda ratio downtos 5x before airy of thetwo parties 7 JSW Steel or Monnetispatecarr seekamerger
analt sts ter the
to the masses. political parttes are not too keen on TV ad.vertistng this time.Political advertising on TV
plunged nearly 33% timingthe period under ret iew, com
managing director of JSWSteeI. toldwdnsmwuamer swung; . " m.nnuinritrpnu arraigned mi. in ruiIn the December quarter. ,\toimetispat earned an Ebitda of ca
with sales reverrtie of em crore andnet loss of em crore. eVatsala Gaur
b unintiulttipuyr) l inrublMtusrtbmcompany amen". 1.ouu/- tlnddutm kt. {mi—(mitkllean riihniaTult
trienninu - irrriuiri riritnin. , trainyiri i min ironic entity6 crore,
KRCH'.METR2'3MLJ;'MITFDi. Design. Build, Supply, letting. tommiiiioning and liclivetyuri Nos. tineigency
Response rum Work Boat,tendeilta KMKLWM wohxboitouilaxtdate andtlme utonllne bid Submlsslun i ISIOS/ZUIQ, MUG Ht:
1. RF? in tontultanty sriyire toilittrp city Project (bnrrptualitationtenderlli zutpgtllttgzmiigltattdate andume utbnline bid tubniissionIthdtrdattlntentstan be duwnloadedfmniwwwetendeiikciala gut/in/www.kottiinlttln.atgrunner tuiiigrnduni daddrnduni will he published unlv on website
. 15/04/lfll9,IE.DflItlS
paredtot p iuttbefore the 2014 election. BJP hadtheir splirrged on multimediacampaigir with the themes,‘Abki Baar Modi Sarkar' and‘JantaMaaf Nahi Karegi' TVadvertising gathered steamonly iii the week startingMarchllRadio is the only medium
which saw a 14% growth interms of total ad insertionsby political parties. while theprint media registered a dropof and, coirrpared to the lastgerreralelectioir.While radio was one of the
least preferred irrediiiirr forthe first six u eeks. there vi asa suddeir rirstr from February10 when, for the followingthreeweeks,politicaladvertisiirgpeakedonttre medium.For the priirt media ad in
sertions were highest iii thefirstfourweeks of theyear
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SUCCESS ANDINSPIRING MILLIONS
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