NCD blow for companies
Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday suggested that non-convertible debentures maturing up to one-year should not have a tenure of less than 90 days and investors cannot exercise put/call option within the 90-day period from the date of issue. The RBI issued draft norms on below 1-year NCDs. Companies must have Rs 4 crore as net worth to issue NCDs maturing below one-year, RBI said. Banks, primary dealers, and foreign institutional investors can invest in these papers, it said. Corporate bodies and non-resident Indians can also buy NCDs. Earlier banks were not allowed to invest in non-convertible debentures having an embedded put/call option.
Cognizant profit tops Street
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp posted third-quarter results that blew past market expectations, helped by strong growth across all industry sectors and geographies, and raised its outlook for the year. Third-quarter net profit rose to $136.6 million, or 45 cents a share, from $112.8 million, or 38 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 16% to $853.5 million. The results reveal a rebound at financial services -- the company's biggest segment that contributed 43% to its third-quarter revenue -- and healthcare, another key segment. For 2009, the company forecast earnings of $1.88 a share, excluding items, on revenue of at least $3.26 billion.

SAT breather for Shankar Sharma
The Securities Appellate Tribunal on Tuesday gave Shankar Sharma, vice-chairman and joint managing director, First Global Stock Broking Pvt Ltd four-week's time to appeal in the Supreme Court against Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi) order barring him from the securities market for one year. Last week, SAT had upheld the Sebi order, saying trades by Sharma were manipulative in nature as both the buy and sell orders were placed at almost the same time.

RCom, Loop in per-second plan
Reliance Communications (RCom) and Loop Mobile are the latest two wireless service operators to dial in to the pay as per use, or one-paise-per second tariffs. The company will offer this plan for short duration calls made on its network as well as on networks of other service providers anywhere in the country. It, however, did not specify what qualified as a "short duration" call. For long duration calls, it will charge Re 1 per 3 minutes, the company said.

Trade deficit narrows to $7.7 b
India's merchandise exports fell for the 12th consecutive month in September to $13.61 billion, commerce and industry ministry data showed on Tuesday. Exports were down 13.8% from a year ago. India's exports have been declining since the global financial crisis hit world markets last year. During September, the country's imports fell 31.3% on year to $21.38 billion, narrowing the trade deficit to $7.77 billion from $15.35 billion a year ago.


Essar Oil to raise Rs 1,000 cr
Essar Oil Ltd will raise around Rs 1,000 crore loans from State Bank of India and its subsidiaries to part finance development of its Raniganj coal-bed methane block in West Bengal, which will start commercial sales in January, a senior Essar official said. "SBI Capital is arranging the loans, and they will be finalised after the receipt of an international report on the Raniganj block's reserves," the official said. Meanwhile, Essar Energy Holdings Ltd has entered into a four-week exclusive negotiations with Royal Dutch Shell Plc for acquiring three of its refineries in Europe, Essar Oil managing director Naresh Nayyar said.






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