Tagged: LIC of India
LIC Housing former CEO cleared realtors’ loans for bribes: CBI
Reuters | Nov 29, 2010 | 7:45pm IST
The former CEO of LIC Housing Finance took bribes to clear loans worth 4.70 billion rupees ($102 million) for three realtors, a lawyer for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said on Monday. R.R. Nair and senior officials from three state-run banks were arrested by the CBI last week for taking bribes from financial services firm, Money Matters Financial Services, for sanctioning corporate loans.
Nair took bribes for sanctioning a 2-billion-rupee loan to DB Realty, CBI’s lawyer Eijaz Khan said in a Mumbai special court. Nair also accepted bribes for granting a 2-billion-rupee loan to real estate company Mantri and a 700-million-rupee loan to Entertainment World, Khan said, while arguing for extending the custody of the accused.
The bribes-for-loan scandal is one of several to dog the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and test India’s ability to crack down on corruption.
Bribes for Loans Scandal Pulls Down Indian Share Markets
A series of financial scandals is testing the India’s ability to stand as one of the favourite destination in the world for overseas investors. The county, which is second only to the fastest growing Chinese economy, is haunted by number of irregularities and scandals, especially at the top level of the financial and manufacturing companies.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the top most investigating agency of the country, unveiled a “bribes for loans” scandal on November 24. The country’s biggest life insurer, Life Insurance Corporation of India and several banks along with private real estate companies and a private brokerage firm are involved in the fraud.
Main allegation of the CBI is that the private real estate and manufacturing companies paid bribes through a private broking firm ‘Money Matters’, to obtain property loans from public sector banks and insurance companies. The top executives of the firms were arrested and kept in remand custody for further probe. The CBI said that it was probing 21 companies for possible links to the bribes for loans scandal.
India share markets BSE (Sensex) and broader index NSE (Nifty) were on losing streak as a result of the financial scandal revelation. The Sensex began to drop on November 22 with Ireland crisis and continued to drop with the unveiling of financial scandal involving 21 companies. It dropped from 19957 on Nov 22 to 19136 on Nov 26, a drop of 4.11%. The National Stock Exchange or Nifty dropped from 6010 on Nov 22 to 5751, a drop of 4.31% in 5 days.
Main companies involved
-
Public sector Company Life Insurance Corporation of India – Investment secretary, Naresh Chopra
-
L I C Housing Finance Ltd., a subsidiary to L I C of India and a mortgage lender with a market cap of about $2 billion – Chief Executive Officer, R R Nair
-
Public Sector Bank, Punjab National Bank with a market cap of $8 billion – Deputy General Manager Venkoba Gujjal
-
Public Sector Bank, Central Bank of India with a market cap of $2 billion – Director Maninder Singh Johar
-
Public Sector Bank, Bank of India with a market cap of $5 billion – General Manager R N Tayal
The companies denied any wrong doing and added they followed procedures. The Finance Minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee said the largest insurer L I C of India will not be effected with the revelation of financial bribery scandal and it was just a case of individuals involved in the scandal. The officials of the other companies also reacted on the same line.
LIC has invested close to Rs 19,452 crore in Gujarat
MSN News | PTI | 01/09/2010
Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has invested close to Rs 19,452 crore in Gujarat, which is fast emerging as a favourite investment destination for the government-owned insurance giant. "The corporation has invested Rs 19,452 crore in Gujarat till March 31, 2010. Of this, Rs 5,488-crore investment was done in the last fiscal alone," Divisional Manager, LIC Ahmedabad, M K Kemmu said today. "Of the total investment, LIC has invested Rs 6,222 crore in the Gujarat Government securities up to the year ended March. Of this, Rs 2,150 crore was invested in the last financial year," Kemmu said.
"State of Gujarat is emerging as a favourable investment destination for the corporation," he said. "The corporation made a fresh investment of Rs 2,971 crore in the last fiscal in shares and debentures of private and public sector companies of Gujarat origin," Kemmu said. Besides, LIC has made an investment of Rs 1,255 crore in the social sector of Gujarat till the year ended March. Of this, Rs 365 crore was invested in last fiscal, he said.
Eyeing M&A, Reliance raises $577 million
Reuters | Mumbai | Mon Jan 4, 2010 | 1:21pm IST
Reliance Industries raised $577 million (Rs. 2683.05 Cr) through a share sale, the second big equity fund raising in less than four months for India’s largest listed company as it looks to buy bankrupt petrochemicals firm LyondellBasell. Reliance, controlled by India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, sold 25 million existing treasury shares at a 5 percent discount to Thursday’s market close to state-run Life Insurance Corp of India, two sources with knowledge of the transaction said. The deal follows a $660 million (Rs. 3069 Cr) share sale by conglomerate Reliance in September. Both deals are seen as part of energy major Reliance’s bid to take control of Luxembourg-based LyondellBasell, a deal sources say could be worth as much as $12 billion.
“Reliance’s major agenda is to become a leading player in the international domain,” said Alex Mathews, head of research at Geojit BNP-Paribas Financial Services. “The funds could be used to make a war chest for global acquisitions,” Mathews said. Citing bankers, Reuters Basis Point reported in December that Reliance is in preliminary talks with banks for a loan of up to $10 billion to back its bid for Continue reading
nvs Blog of Politico-Economics 