The Indian rupee continues to lose ground. On Wednesday, the rupee touched an all-time of low of Rs 53.83 per dollar and even Reserve Bank of India intervention failed to arrest the decline. Since the RBI does not have enough fire power to stem the rupee’s slide, currency analysts expect rupee to touch 57 per dollar in the coming days, reports Business Standard.
Asian markets were trading on a subdued note as worries from Euro-zone continued. Japan’s blue-chip benchmark Nikkei Stock Average dropped 0.2%, China’s Shanghai Composite was up 0.2% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was trading flat. US markets also ended lower for the sixth consecutive day following Greece’s political impasse and new concerns about the funding of Spanish banks, reports MarketWatch.
SKS Microfinance has decided to move base from Hyderabad to Mumbai after battling to stay afloat for one-and-a-half years since a state law led to a sizeable loss of business, reports Economic Times. The company has been watering down its Andhra Pradesh loan portfolio with each successive quarter and is focusing on new markets and financial products. SKS reported a net loss of Rs 330 crore for the March quarter after a write off of Rs 272 crore on its Andhra Pradesh portfolio.
Ranbaxy Laboratories reported four-fold rise in quarterly net profit, helped mainly by sales of its generic version of cholesterol drug Lipitor in US market. Net profit rose to Rs 1,247 crore in March quarter from Rs 304 crore a year ago mainly helped by Rs 345 crore in foreign exchange gains.
The latest version of the Companies Bill awaiting Parliament’s nod could end the practice of creating treasury stock, reports Mint. It may bring a relief to minority shareholders since treasury stock has voting rights that effectively end up increasing the control of promoters. Several firms - RIL, Mahindra & Mahindra, United Spirits and JP Associates have treasury stock on their books.
IRB Infrastructure Developers is seeking to acquire highway projects from smaller construction firms to boost revenue, reports Wall Street Journal, India. Executives said company would aim to acquire projects that have been operational for two to three years and are already collecting toll charges from users. IRB Infra reported net profit rise of 17%, to Rs 120 crore in March quarter.
Lastly, Mayawati, ex-chief minister of Uttar Pradesh spent Rs 86 crore of public money to renovate her Lucknow home. This was revealed by Right-to-Information request. This includes a six-room, single-story bungalow and a 14-bedroom guesthouse sprawled over five acres of land in Lucknow with bullet proof windows, tall boundary walls and statue of herself, reports Wall Street Journal India Real Time.
