PNB Housing Finance has raised Rs 500 crore by issuing bonds to World Bank arm International Finance Corporation (IFC) for funding its green residential projects.

"PNB Housing Finance has issued secured fixed rate NCDs to IFC to raise Rs 500 crore for funding green residential projects", the company said in a release today.

New Delhi: Assam recorded one of the highest ever turnout in the first phase of polling for the state assembly elections on Monday at 82.2%, according to the state chief electoral officer’s website.

Election officials are not calling it a record turnout because of the lack of comparative data for previous years. Elections were held for 65 constituencies in the initial phase.

Rupee recovered by 8 paise to 66.38 against the U.S. dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange in early trade on Wednesday.

A higher opening in the domestic equity market supported the rupee, dealers said.

After Tuesday’s major fall, the benchmark BSE Sensex recaptured the crucial 25,000-mark by rebounding 117 points in early trade on fresh buying by funds and retail investors in bluechips amid firm Asian cues.

The Sensex had plunged 516.06 points in yesterday’s trade after Reserve Bank cut repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.5 per cent, which was in line with market expectations. The 30-share index rebounded by 117.06 points or 0.47 per cent to 25,000.65 in early trade as realty, metal, auto and banking sector stocks led the recovery.

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-headed Union Cabinet on Wednesday is likely to take up a proposal that would overhaul the crude procurement process for government-owned refiners- IOC, BPCL, HPCL and MRPL. The move is aimed to make the refiners more competitive like their private peers such as RIL and Essar Oil and take benefits of spontaneous buying of cargoes.

Sources told FE that the petroleum ministry has sent the final proposal for clearance from the Union Cabinet, which is likely to decide on it on Wednesday.

BENGALURU: Pleas of e-commerce companies that they are mere technology facilitators is not something that government bodies seem willing to buy.

Just like state governments that want them to take responsibility for VAT payments, India's food regulator now wants e-commerce companies to come under its purview.

PUNE: Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest software services company, has set up an open innovation centre in Nashik to solve social problems in local communities.

The centre will seek to find ways to reduce the number of school dropouts, improve soil and water health, and ease parking woes in the city, among other initiatives. The challenges are open to students, early-stage startups and even individual entrepreneurs who can come up with innovative solutions, the company said.

Shares of Maruti Suzuki have been hammered by investors of late. The stock has fallen 21 per cent over the past three months due to rising concerns over capacity crunch and lower margins. The delay in the Gujarat plant will impact the company’s ability to meet new demand in the new financial year (FY17). The sharp fall in operating margin in the December 2015 quarter also impacted the stock’s performance. Sequentially, Maruti’s operating margin fell 190 basis points (bps) to 14.4 per cent. The Street now expects margins to deteriorate further.

Religare Institutional Equities has factored in lower volumes and margins for the company after its December 2015 quarter numbers.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cut repo rates by 150 basis points (bps) in the past 14 months, including a 25-bp cut on Tuesday. However, borrowers are yet to get substantial benefit from banks. The transmission, at best, has been 50-60 bps. But, things could change now for several reasons.

“Introduction of the marginal cost of funds-based lending rate (MCLR) and the recent cut in small savings rate, along with a likely improvement in liquidity (as well as more open market operations), should improve monetary transmission. The MCLR has already led to an effective decline in fresh lending rates by 25 bps, even before Tuesday’s rate cut.

It’s been six months since Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan reduced repo rate by 50 basis points to 6.75 per cent on September 29. The consensus view now is for 25 basis points cut by the central bank in the upcoming monetary policy scheduled on April 5. The government has also recently pared small savings interest rate by up to 1.3 per cent providing cushion to the Reserve Bank for cutting the policy rate.

Repo rate is the rate at which the central bank lends money to commercial banks in the event of any shortfall of funds.

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