Reliance has entered into a partnership with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company or ADNOC to set up a facility at Ruwais near Abu Dhabi to position as a world class chlor alkali and PVC player. The new facility will have the capacity to produce 940,000 tons of chlor Alkali, 1.1 million tons of ethylene dichloride and 360,000 tons of PVC each year. The agreement is well timed as it will allow the company to capitalize on the growing demand for chlor alkalis. The project will be an important step in globalizing India operations.
GIC Re reported net profit of Rs.1,992 crore for the FY21. This compares favourably with a net loss of Rs.187cr reported in the FY20 fiscal year. The stellar performance in FY21 was due to, and despite, the pandemic uncertainties. However, the gross premium collections for FY21 were nearly 8% lower at Rs47,014 crore even as the incurred claims ratio improved from 97.5% in FY20 to 92.4% in FY21. Income from investments showed 22% spike to Rs.8,821 crore. Solvency ratio improved from 1.53 to 1.74 in FY21.
SEBI in its latest board meeting amended its REITS regulations in order to reduce the minimum application value for REITs and INVITs to a range of Rs.10,000 to Rs.15,000 per lot. This is a reduction of nearly 70% from the current levels, which had kept many retail players outside the ambit of REITs. This move is likely to give a boost to retail participation in REITs and improve liquidity. The current investment limits are Rs.50,000 for REITs and Rs.100,000 for INVITs. REITs have become popular in India in the last two years.
EID Parry, India’s leading sugar manufacturers, reported 145% increase in standalone net profit at Rs.169 crore in Q4. This was largely on account of better realizations from sugar and distillery business. In addition, higher export volumes and cost controls also helped. While overall revenues were lower yoy, the company also took an exceptional write-off to the tune of Rs.14 crore towards asset impairment charges. EID parry exported 41,037 tonnes of sugar. Overall cane crushed stood 8.1% higher at 3.97 MT.
Bharti Airtel proposes to invest an additional Rs.3,700 crore into OneWeb. It may be recollected that OneWeb is the satellite communications company that Bharti had rescued from bankruptcy last year, along with the UK government. This is the outcome of Bharti exercising its call option. With this deal, Bharti will now hold 38.6% in OneWeb while the UK government, Eutelsat and SoftBank will hold 19.3% each. The entire transaction is expected to be consummated in the second half of calendar year 2021.
The much awaited Monsoon Session of Parliament will start on 19-Jul and end on 13-Aug and including a total of 20 sittings. The monsoon session is likely to take up many of the proposed COVID related measures as well as higher outlays on a priority basis. However, with the NDA having a clear majority in the Lower House and a virtual dominance in the Upper House, it does not look like the ruling combine could face too many challenges at this point. Government will adhere to all COVID related protocols during the session.
NTPC plans to list its arm, NTPC Renewable Energy Ltd, in order to raise funds for its ambitious target of achieving 60 GW installed renewable energy capacity by 2032. In fact, NTPC has also declared its energy compact goals at the UN High Level Dialogue. India’s leading thermal power producer will also look to reduce its net energy intensity 10% before 2032. To add nearly 8 GW each year, NTPC needs substantial funds and that will be partially managed via NTPC Renewable listing. NTPC is likely to use blended finance.
Cipla received DCGI approval to import Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for restricted emergency use in India. The permission has been given in public interest. Cipla will have to submit 7 days safety assessment of the vaccine in first 100 beneficiaries before rolling it out. This 7 days safety assessment requirement is meant to speed up the roll out in case of vaccines that are already approved by US-FDA for emergency use. Moderna will be the fourth COVID-19 vaccine available in India after Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik.