WEEKLY PULSE

ISSUE – 4

ONGC eyes Exxon stake in Angolan field for $2

billion. Also in talks for Australian Advent Energy
India’s largest explorer, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), is negotiating
with global energy giant ExxonMobil’s Angolan arm to buy its 25% stake in an oil
field for about $2 billion. ONGC is also leading a consortium of India’s top state-
run energy firms, which is in talks to acquire a 25% stake in Australia’s Advent
Energy for around $1 billion. These moves can be seen as ONGC’s measure to
catch up with Chinese competitors that have left it far behind in the race for
black gold in Africa and other parts of the world. ONGC Videsh, or OVL, its
subsidiary tasked with acquiring oil and gas assets outside India, would
reportedly put a bid for ExxonMobil, soon.

October accounts for one-fourth of total FII inflows

this year
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) infused a record $6.4 billion in October,
accounting for nearly one-fourth of the total inflows came in stock market so far
this year. With this heavy inflow in just one month, the total net investment by
FIIs on the local stocks now stands at $24.79 billion (Rs 1.12 lakh crore), the
highest in a single year. Market experts said the inflows of overseas funds will
not stop here only as they have the opportunity of the better rate of returns in
emerging economies like India. This heavy inflow is causing appreciation in the
local currency.
Kamath qualified to step into my shoes: Murthy
Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy, who is set to retire from the company
in August next year, says ICICI Bank chairman KV Kamath is qualified enough to
take on his role as Infosys’ non-executive chairman, but the decision of the
nominations committee will be final. He says IT expertise is not required to be a
non-executive chairman of the software company. Kamath’s preference is mainly
due to his role in transformation of ICICI bank from a development financing
institution to a universal bank.

India's Central Bank Clamps Down on Bond Trading

India's central bank has barred three banks—Standard Chartered PLC, Calyon
and Societe General SA—from trading government bonds in the secondary
market for six months because of allegations of circular trading, a spokeswoman
for the Reserve Bank of India said. Under circular trading, entities trade among
themselves to raise volumes and artificially ramp up prices. These banks can,
however, participate in the government's debt auctions and sell the bonds they
bought through the auctions, she added. The move comes as central banks
tighten rules on banks after lax regulations led to the global financial crisis.

RBI hikes repo and reverse repo rates by 25bps, CRR

unchanged
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 2ND
November raised interest rates for the
sixth time this year to battle stubborn
inflation that remains well above its
comfort zone of 5-6 percent. The RBI
hiked repo rate by 25bps (at which it
lends to commercial banks) to 6.25
percent and the reverse repo rate by
25bps (which it pays to banks for
deposits) to 5.25 percent.

The RBI has, however, left the cash reserve ratio or bank rate, which is the
amount of cash that banks have to park with the central bank to maintain
prudential norms, unchanged at 6 per cent.
Coal India lights up Street with 40% gains on debut

Coal India Ltd soared 40% to

342.35 on debut, turning itself to
gold for its 15.2 lakh investors. the
IPO created many records on its
debut- the biggest initial public
offering, biggest coal producer in
the world, and top trading on debut.
It may surpass finance minister
Pranab Mukherjee’s targeted
40,000-crore fund-raising this year
through share sale in state-run
companies. It would also help him
narrow fiscal deficit for the year,
which has already been funded through one-off revenues from sale of spectrum
for telecom services.

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Geetanjali Gulati
Amarinder Singh
(Organising Committee, FinX)

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