Business Upturn

Tag: Capital

  • Federal Bank arm Fedfina reconsiders capital raising options

    Federal Bank arm Fedfina reconsiders capital raising options

    On Thursday, Shyam Srinivasan, chief executive of Federal Bank said that the non-banking financing arm of Federal Bank, Fedfina is reconsidering its capital raising options after a regulatory approval received earlier lapsed.

    Fedbank Financial Services Ltd (Fedfina) has over 463 branches catering to gold loan, home loan, loan against property and business loan.

    After announcing the bank’s Q1 financial result, Srinivasan said, “The company had filed a Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) last year and was exploring a capital raise but the markets were not that friendly at that point in time.”

    He said that the company in which the bank holds a 74% stake, was performing well and the bank will continue to be a majority shareholder.

    Srinivasan denied reports that the bank has paused a stake sale in Fedfina. According to reports, on 27th June the bank was unable to reach a consensus with prospective investors over the valuation of Fedbank Financial Services Ltd.

    On Federal Bank’s fundraise plans, Srinivasan said that the bank was looking to raise funds in FY24 and is working on it.

    He said, “I cannot comment on when and how much. We are in the process. We are evaluating many things but at this point in time what we have in hand is a shareholder approval to go up to ₹4,000 crore in the form of a QIP and or a preference and that is our permissible limit.”

  • Here’s how Bank of India plans to use total capital of Rs. 6,500 crore it will soon raise

    Here’s how Bank of India plans to use total capital of Rs. 6,500 crore it will soon raise

    On Tuesday, the Bank of India (BOI) gave its approval for an increase in total capital for FY24 that may reach up to 6,500 crore rupees.

    According to a statement with the stock market, the bank intends to raise a total of Rs 4,500 crore, of which Rs 2,000 crore would be in the form of equity capital.

    This is to inform you that the Board of Directors of the Bank at their meeting held on 18th April 2023, among other things considered and approved the raising of capital for the FY 2023-24 aggregating up to Rs.6,500 crores in the following manner: In accordance with Regulation 30 of the SEBI (LODR) Regulations, 2015 read in conjunction with Schedule III, Part A, this is to inform you that the Bank has been granted permission to raise capital for the FY 2023-24. a. via the issuance of new equity capital in the form of a follow-on public offering (FPO), qualified institutional placement (QIP), rights offering (Rights Issue), or preferential offering; and/or via the issuance of Basel III compliant Additional Tier-1 (AT-1) bonds (in domestic and foreign currency) up to a value of Rs.4,500 crores. b. Through the issuance of Basel III-compliant Tier-2 bonds for a maximum sum of 2,000 billion rupees.

    BOI has a capital adequacy ratio of 15.6 percent, with a common equity tier-1 capital of 12.77%, including a capital conversation buffer. BOI has nearly 5,000 branches throughout India. Up to the 31st of December, the bank recorded a solid rise in the amount of credit of 16.08 percent annually.

    During the third quarter of the last fiscal year, BoI raised a total of Rs 1,500 crore in the capital by issuing extra tier-1 bonds.

  • Prudent Corporate Advisory shares to turn ex-dividend

    Prudent Corporate Advisory shares to turn ex-dividend

    The newly formed company Prudent Advisory Limited had started out with a premium amid the weak stock market sentiments, but reports reveal the company will soon turn to its ex-dividend stocks. The board of directors of the company has decided on the dividend. Thus, to be set at Rs 1 per equity share for the financial year 2021- 2022. Although the dividend recommendation is yet to be subjected to be approved. In the next Annual General Meeting of the company. 

    In its latest exchange communication, the company had informed about the development citing, “The Board of Directors has recommended a dividend of Rs. 1/- (Rupees one only) per equity share of the face value of Rs. 5/- each for the financial year ended March 31, 2022. Subject to the approval of shareholders at the ensuing Annual General Meeting of the Company.”

    The date of the next Annual General Meeting would decide the eligibility of the shareholders. To pay the dividend and the date of the payment would also be taken into consideration. 

    Prudent Advisory Limited is one of the most growing financial services in the country the company deals with mutual funds, equities and shares and has become one of the trusted advisory companies on mutual funds investment. 

    In the financial year 2022 with the increase in India’s Retail Mutual Funds. Due to the developments of technological-based investments Prudent Advisory has definitely increased its market share with the increase of its equity-based Assets Under Management (AUM). The revenue income from the mutual funds. And the subsequent insurance distribution has increased by 62 per cent in the financial year 2022. The company had made a profit of around 22 crores in the month of March 2022. As per the recent financial statement. 

    Further updates are still awaited. 

  • Equitas Small Finance Bank to launch QIP at issue price of Rs 53.69

    Equitas Small Finance Bank to launch QIP at issue price of Rs 53.69

    The Board of Chennai headquartered finance bank, Equitas Small Finance Bank has approved the QIP (Qualified Institutional Placement) issue price of Rs 53.59 (including a premium of Rs 43.59 per equity share) on 17 February 2022 to be allocated to eligible institutional buyers. If SEBI ICDR Regulations permits discount, it will be also incorporated.

    According to the issue, a discount of 4.98% to the floor price of ₹56.40 per equity share is anticipated. Furthermore, the allocation note to be sent to the eligible qualified institutional buyers has also been approved and finalized by the board.

    Earlier, Equitas Small Finance Bank on Friday reported a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 108 crore for the third quarter, corresponding to Rs 111 crore in the year-ago period, documenting a plunge of 2.7%. The bank’s total income was slightly higher at Rs 1,035 crore, compared with Rs 1, 012 crores.

    PN Vasudevan, MD & CEO, said “The business environment is slowly but surely coming back to normal. The third wave of Covid is a matter of concern, but at this point, we see that normal life has not been impacted much due to this. Our flagship product, small business loans, remains resilient and affordable housing loans and new commercial vehicle loans are primed for growth in the coming quarters.”

    Equitas Small Finance Bank is a small finance bank established in 2016 as a microfinance lender. The bank has its headquarters in Chennai and is a subsidiary of holding company Equitas Holdings Ltd.

  • Sri Lanka gets $500 million fuel credit line from India

    Sri Lanka gets $500 million fuel credit line from India

    The Indian High Commission in Colombo came up with a statement on Tuesday that India presented a fresh $500 million Credit Line to Sri Lanka to fund fuel purchases as the country struggles to manage its worst financial crisis in years. The previous week India also granted Sri Lanka a $400 million swap arrangement to boost its reserves and help repay debt.

    The credit line, which was beneath negotiation since August 2021, will ease pressure on the country’s diminishing reserves that dipped to $3.1 billion at the end of December.

    “Today we are encountering the climax of a problem for which a number of governments have failed to provide a lasting solution…More than $6 billion a year in foreign debt is to be repaid over the next two years. It is the loans taken by all previous governments from time to time that we have to repay,” President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said.

    Economic analysts and opposition politicians defer the payment because of the severe foreign exchange crisis. The compensation of these bonds was allocated in 2012 despite contrasting opinions. The international rating agencies had voiced suspicions over the island nation’s ability to meet its international sovereign bond payments of $1.5 billion, including the first $500 million which matured on Tuesday.

    Shipments are getting held up at the port, while power cuts are imposed as the energy sector has been hit due to the forex crisis. They claimed that the nation’s foreign currency reserves should be used to pay for the imports of essentials. Deficiencies of food and essentials are prevailing due to the scarcity of foreign exchange.

    The next bond payment amounting to $1 billion is due in July. The total debt owed by Lanka this year is over $6 billion.

  • INDmoney raises $75 million in latest funding round

    INDmoney raises $75 million in latest funding round

    Super-money app, INDmoney has raised USD 75 million in a Series D round led by marquee global investors. After the Series D round, the valuation of INDmoney witnessed a jump of over three times from its last round and stood $635 million,

    INDmoney has sanctioned the allocation of 42,636 Series D preference shares at an issue price of Rs 562.5 crore or $75 million. Tiger Global, Steadview Capital and DF International Partners have put Rs 187.5 crore or $25 million each.
    The Ashish Kashyap-led company has raised $133 million since its inception in 2019.
    After the fresh allotments of shares, Kashyap’s holding retains from 35.63% to 31.09%. Steadview, Tigerfundraisea  Global and DF International Partners have increased their respective holdings to 37.32%, 17.66% and 6.4%.

    “We are very excited with the amount of consumer love that we have received for IndMoney. This is driven by the fact that we are solving a very large and difficult problem in the financial services space of truly becoming the one-stop-shop for finances,” Ashish Kashyap, founder at IndMoney. “The fact that our current investors Tiger, Steadview and Dragoneer are doubling down and new investors are joining, further validates the power of the platform and the strong execution capabilities of the team”, he added.

    INDmoney (previously known as INDwealth) was launched in 2019 to deliver a better financial future to individuals and families. The brand is owned by Finzoom Investment Advisors Ltd, a SEBI registered Investment Advisory entity.

  • Govt receives bid from Reliance, Ola & 8 other companies for ₹18,000 crore PLI scheme for batteries

    Govt receives bid from Reliance, Ola & 8 other companies for ₹18,000 crore PLI scheme for batteries

    Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co and automaker Mahindra & Mahindra are among the ten companies that have submitted bids underneath the country’s $2.4 billion production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for battery manufacturing in India, said the central government on Saturday.

    “A total of 10 companies submitted their bids under the Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage Programme in India for which Request for Proposal (RFP) was released by Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) on 22nd October 2021,” said the Union ministry of heavy industries in a statement.

    Reliance New Energy Solar Limited, Hyundai Global Motors Company Limited, Ola Electric Mobility Private Limited, Lucas-TVS Limited, Mahindra & Mahindra Limited, Amara Raja Batteries Limited, Exide Industries Limited, Rajesh Exports Limited, Larsen & Toubro Limited and India Power Corporation Limited are the companies that have applied for the scheme. The ten companies have submitted bids under the Rs 18,100-crore scheme for setting up about 130 GWh of capacity.

    “Under the said initiative the emphasis of the government is to achieve greater domestic value addition, while at the same time ensure that the Levelized cost of battery manufacturing in India is globally competitive,” a statement from the ministry said. The scheme was available for acquiring applications till 11 am on 14 January and the technical bids were opened on 15 January.

  • RBI updates PCA structure for banks, Check details here

    RBI updates PCA structure for banks, Check details here

    On Tuesday, The RBI published a reviewed Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) structure for banks to allow supervisory intervention at “appropriate time” and act as a mechanism for efficient market control. The RBI said that capital, asset quality, and leverage would be critical for monitoring the updated structure.

    The revised PCA structure will be effective from January 1, 2022. “The objective of the PCA Framework is to enable Supervisory intervention at an appropriate time and require the Supervised Entity to initiate and implement remedial measures in a timely manner, so as to restore its financial health,” the central bank said.

    The PCA structure is also designed to serve as a tool for an efficient market system. The central bank also emphasised that the PCA Framework does not hinder the Reserve Bank of India from exercising any other action as it considers appropriate at any time, in addition to the restorative measures directed in the framework.

    “Indicators to be tracked for capital, asset quality and leverage would be CRAR/Common Equity Tier I Ratio, Net NPA Ratio and Tier I Leverage Ratio, respectively,” according to the revised framework. Infringement of any risk threshold may end in an invocation of the PCA.

    The structure will appeal to all banks functioning in India, including foreign banks working through branches or subsidiaries based on breach of risk thresholds of distinguished indicators. “A bank will generally be placed under PCA framework based on the Audited Annual Financial Results and the ongoing Supervisory Assessment made by RBI.

    “RBI may impose PCA on any bank during the course of a year (including migration from one threshold to another) in case the circumstances so warrant,” it said. The structure also specifies conditions for exit from PCA and removal of restrictions. If a bank is put under the PCA, several restrictions are placed on it. The limitations are inflicted on dividend distribution and transmittal of profits, bringing in the capital (in the case of foreign banks), branch expansion, and capital expenditure. The framework was last updated in April 2017.

  • Fintech company Chqbook raises ₹40 crores in funding

    Fintech company Chqbook raises ₹40 crores in funding

    Finance technology startup Chqbook has raised Rs 40 crore in the Pre-Series B round which is led by the existing investors Rajiv Dadlani group and Avishkaar capital. Chqbook will use this capital to strengthen its technology platform and to increase user acquisition. Earlsfield Capital UK, Family offices and HNI investors which includes Jeremy Lim, Bhupesh Kumar, Nilesh Srivastava and others also participated in the B round

    Chqbook provides small business owners access to the current account, bookkeeping services for cash transactions along with credit and insurance. It was founded in 2017 and launched its Neo-banking platform with over ₹6,50,000 transacting customers for the services and crossed 1 million app downloads now this app processes over 3,000 crore transaction value annually.

    Chqbook to increase its lending operations, it had currently raised Rs75 million of venture debt from Innoven capital.

    Chqbook founder, Vipul Sharma stated that that they have huge demands from small business communities for their multi-product stack and launched products. Which boost their companies confidence to double down and provide their customers access to banking credit and insurance all over the country in the next 10 years to increase their growth rapidly integrated and continuously committed to solving all the issues for this community insure 10 million customers, and open 1 million accounts and around Rs 300 billion is the target to lend.

    Perhaps, the insurance gap is so much wider that this opportunity will take multiple players to join this movement.

  • Travel app Ixigo turns public ahead of IPO

    Travel app Ixigo turns public ahead of IPO

    Ixigo is a Travel app, established in the year 2007, Gurugram which reestablished itself into a public company, way forward its plan to stabilise itself in the Indian stock market. This organisation is an Internet-based faculty dealing with travel, flight booking, etc.

    This transformation has been accommodated since the appointment of the 6 new independent members of the board of directors. It has been reported that the company completed pre-IPO funding which was led by a Singapore sovereign wealth fund of $53 million, including investors like WhiteOak, Bay Capital, Orios Venture partners and others. The plan of action initiated by the company has penetrated a wave of surprise.

    This move has proved to be a variant in the market, as they have diverted in the race of the capital market and conjured a different gear. The primary markets are to be flourished with this sudden move, as the company is initiated to be in the market by the end of the year.

    With its plan of going public by way of the end of the year, the business enterprise is possible to report its DRHP in the coming month, as in keeping with media reports. The travel gig is eyeing a valuation of almost $750 million to $800 million.

  • Prime Focus shares climb 14% after Reliance Capital slams stake sale

    Prime Focus shares climb 14% after Reliance Capital slams stake sale

    Prime Focus touched a year high of Rs 58.95, rising nearly 14% intraday on December 29 after Reliance Capital opposed the stake sale by Credit Suisse.

    Reliance Capital has alleged that the proposed sale of 33.12% equity shares of Prime Focus by Credit Suisse (CS) at Rs 44.15 per share “is a blatant abuse of the purported rights by the CS under certain lending agreements” with Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group.

    Credit Suisse admittedly is in control of 33.12% shares of Prime Focus and the offer price of Rs 44.15 per share is not even one-third of the true valuation of Prime Focus shares of Rs 150, it added.

    On December 24, Credit Suisse had signed an agreement with the promoter group of Prime Focus to sell its stake in the company at a price of Rs 44.15 per share aggregating to Rs 463 crore. Credit Suisse to sell 10.5 crore shares, or 33.12% shareholding, of Prime Focus to the London-based Malhotra family, the promoter of the company. These shares were previously owned by Anil Ambani’s Reliance Mediaworks Financial Services Pvt Ltd. The shares were pledged to Credit Suisse.

    Raising concerns over the proposed sale, the debt-laden Reliance Capital said “The sale is being attempted privately and clandestinely between two foreign entities, without any open, fair and transparent process being conducted to realize the true value of the shares and disregarding basic norms of conflict of interest. The sale price is at a substantial, altogether unwarranted discount to the intrinsic value of PFL’s shares,” it said.

    Reliance Capital also added that “The proposed transaction violates several laws, rules and regulations, including inter alia SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, and the extant RBI guidelines.”

    At 09:43 hrs Prime Focus was quoting at Rs 57.65, up to Rs 5.85, or 11.29% and Reliance Capital at Rs 12.35, down Rs 0.20, or 1.59% on the BSE.

  • Agritech startup Farmkart plans to raise Rs 90 crore for pan-India expansion

    Agritech startup Farmkart plans to raise Rs 90 crore for pan-India expansion

    Madhya Pradesh-based agritech startup Farmkart, forms a consumer base of farmers through its e-commerce platform, selling a wide range of agriculture goods and services, is eying the opportunity to raise Rs 90 crore in Series A funding from venture capitalists for expansion across the country.

    Farmkart’s tech solutions cater to the interests of non-tech savvy farmers providing them with fertilisers, pesticides, fungicides, seeds, farm equipment, among others at their doorsteps with no delivery cost. Besides, farmers can also avail the benefits of modern farm equipment by renting it out from Farmkart’s e-commerce platform. Founder Atul Patidar said the company has tie-ups with top brands, both domestic as well as international, for its e-commerce platform.

    The Agri startups UIC (unique identity code) is India’s pioneer to introduce a card with a 9-digit identity, which helps a farmer select a product based on his farm profile. UIC can be recharged with any amount to make online payments. To buy a product, a farmer just needs to punch in this 9-digit code.

    This nationwide expansion will encourage the addition of more manpower, for which the company is to recruit from business schools, Patidar said.

    “Currently we have 102 people directly working for us. Our expansion will need more than 3,000 additional workforces in marketing, sales, software, business development, agronomics, among others. We will also need on-ground sales professionals who can explain our product offerings to farmers in a simple manner,” he said.

    The company also aids college students and villagers with an additional income to deliver goods and services in their own villages. The company is also working to produce a kiosk, which will be like an ATM machine, that will further equip farmers to order products from Farmkart’s e-platform without any difficulties. “The prototype of this kiosk will be ready in two years’ time. When it is ready, we plan to install them across villages pan-India. This will make it easy for farmers to place their orders,” Patidar added.

    “At present, we are functioning at 1,240 locations in Madhya Pradesh. We plan to begin our immediate expansion to 8,000 locations in Maharashtra, Gujarat, southern region and reach one lakh (locations) by December 2021, across the country in next one year. Initially, we had invested Rs 15 crore in this venture and are looking to raise Rs 90 crore in Series A funding through venture capitalists,” Farmkart founder Atul Patidar told PTI.

    Recently in the series ‘Mann Ki Baat’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also appreciated the efforts of Patidar to digitally connect farmers and deliver farming items to their doorsteps.

  • Haryana-based Shipsy secures USD 6 million funding from Surge, Info Edge

    Haryana-based Shipsy secures USD 6 million funding from Surge, Info Edge

    Shipsy on Wednesday said it has managed to secure a capital of USD 6 million (about Rs 44.3 crore) in a funding round, co-led by Sequoia Capital India’s Surge, and existing investor, Info Edge.

    Shipsy is a SaaS (software as a service) based firm that aids shippers and logistics companies in digitisation and optimisation of their operations. The platform helps shippers reduce transportation costs by automating and digitising freight negotiations, reducing incidental charges, significantly improving shipping turnaround time. This helps pull down working capital loss for shippers with the help of advanced machine learning models.

    Shipsy was co-founded in June 2015, by Soham Chokshi, Dhruv Agarwal, Himanshu Gupta, and Sahil Arora. It has raised about Rs 10 crore till date and has customers across Dubai, Saudi Arabia, North Africa, Singapore and Malaysia. The company has witnessed a 3-fold jump in revenue over in the last year and a half. It has substantially increased its customer base by over 2x over the lockdown period as enterprises lookout for a digital solution to manage shipments.

    “Owing to a substantial increase in the demand for our solution, it was important to leverage the momentum and look out for global investment partners in our next leg of our journey”, Shipsy co-founder and CEO Soham Chokshi said.

    “The money raised in the Series A funding round will further accelerate growth and enable to continue aggressive geographical expansion, besides investing in product innovation,” Chokshi added.

    In November last year, BSE-listed Info Edge – in a regulatory filing – had said it has signed an agreement to invest about Rs 5 crore in Llama Logisol – which operates Shipsy. Commenting on the follow-on fundraise, Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Founder and Executive Vice Chairman of Info Edge, said the product has secured a large consumer base with large Indian as well as overseas corporates, helping them with a significant cost reduction.

  • “The Indian Capital Goods Sector can play a major in Atmanirbhar Bharat Mission”: Minister of Environment Prakash Javadekar

    “The Indian Capital Goods Sector can play a major in Atmanirbhar Bharat Mission”: Minister of Environment Prakash Javadekar

    Union Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change Prakash Javadekar had a good discussion on the Indian Capital Goods Sector with the Union Minister of State for Heavy Industries Mr. Arjun Ram Meghwal. Mr. Javadekar discussed the role of the Indian Capital Good Sector in Atmanirbhar Bharat.

    India’s Capital Goods manufacturing industry is a strong base for sectors such as Engineering, construction, Infrastructure, and Consumer goods, amongst others.

    The industry is of mean importance for the future of India’s economic growth. The capital goods industry in FY 2018 -19 had an overall production figure amounting to $13.6 billion. The capital Goods industry in India creates great employment opportunities for the people of India, providing approximately 1.4 million direct and 7 million indirect jobs

    According to the information available on the Ministry’s website. The “Power for All” mission plans to add 93 GW by 2022 will generate huge demand for power transmission and distribution (T&D) equipment. It has the target of $100 billion for the Electrical Industry, and the T&D equipment segment is targeted to reach a size of $75 billion.

    PM Modi initiated the “Atma Nirbhar Bharat” mission, which will focus on the manufacturing of all types of things in India itself. The capital Goods industry can contribute a lot to the objectives of this mission, and thus a development plan is needed to discuss.

  • Tens of thousands of protesters gather in Belarus capital, 250 detained by police

    Tens of thousands of protesters gather in Belarus capital, 250 detained by police

    As protests erupted in  Belarus, with tens of thousands of people gathering for a demonstration in the national capital Minsk ahead of talks between strongman Alexander Lukashenko and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Belarus police detained at least 250 protesters.

    “Some 250 people were detained in various districts of the capital,” the interior ministry said in a statement, adding those arrested were carrying flags and “offensive” placards, according to sources.

     

    “Soldiers rounded us up in several circles, people were selectively pulled out of the crowd and beaten,” one unidentified demonstrator told Reuters news agency, according to Al Jazeera.

    It was also reported that Security forces dressed in riot gear used barbed wire to seal off the central square in the capital and the Independence square.