RBI credit boost

Mumbai, Nov. 28: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has extended the time period for credit facilities given to various sectors, including exporters, to help them overcome the credit crunch and battle the economic slowdown. In view of the difficulties being faced by exporters on account of the weakening of external demand, the RBI has decided to extend the period of concessional pre-shipment credit to 180 days from 90 days. The facility will come into effect from December 1, an RBI release said. At present, exporters receive concessional credit at 2.5 per cent below the benchmark prime lending rate for pre-shipment activities. The decision was taken after a review meeting convened by RBI governor D. Subbarao with select public and private sector banks. The central bank has also clarified that the refinance facility for the mutual funds, housing finance companies (HFCs) and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) would be available “for renewal or rollover, on maturity of existing facility.” The RBI has been providing liquidity support to the NBFCs, HFCs and MFs through the refinance route to help them tackle the credit crunch.

Tata Motor rating

New Delhi, Nov. 28: Global rating agency Moody’s has downgraded Tata Motors’ corporate family rating to non-investment grade with little assurance of long-term payments following a slowdown in demand in domestic and overseas markets. Moody’s has downgraded Tata Motors’ rating by two notches to “B1” from the earlier rating of “Ba2”. Both the ratings come under the broad category of non- investment grade. While “B1” signifies less attractive investment bonds having little assurance of long-term payment, “Ba2” signifies bonds with speculative fundamentals in which security of future payments is moderate.

Arvind move

Mumbai, Nov. 28: Arvind Ltd, owners of apparel chain MegaMart, today said it would demerge its apparel and retail businesses into wholly owned subsidiaries.The board of directors of the company has approved the plans for the demerger, Arvind said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The apparel business of the company would be known as Arvind Lifestyle Ltd, while the retail business would be Arvind Retail Ltd. The demerger of the business would come into effect from April 1, 2009.

BSNL stir

New Delhi, Nov. 28: Telecom services across the country, except Delhi and Mumbai, are likely to be affected on December 11-12 with state-run BSNL’s non-executive employees going on strike to protest the delay in starting wage negotiations and interim relief. “The between the wages of executives and non-executives is widening after each wage revision. The disparity should be reduced,” the United Forum of BSNL Unions said in a statement. The government has already accepted the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission and issued orders for the Central government employees.

Oil PSU strike

New Delhi, Nov. 28: The Oil Sector Officers Association, which has called for an indefinite strike in oil PSUs from December 2 to press for higher wages, is increasingly getting isolated with executives from Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd, Oil India Limited and Engineers India Limited deciding not to join the stir. The association, which claims to represent 55,000 executives of the 14 oil PSUs, had announced an indefinite strike on Tuesday despite Delhi High Court’s order restraining it from going on strike till the next hearing in February.

Holcim plan

New Delhi, Nov. 28: Swiss cement maker Holcim is focussing on emerging markets such as India, China and Vietnam as it looks to cope with the global slowdown. “India is one of our biggest markets like China, the US and the UK. About 16 per cent of our revenues come from India,” Holcim executive committee member Paul Hugentobler said. The company is present in India through ACC and Ambuja Cements, in which it had acquired controlling stakes.