To safeguard investors’ interest, Sebi today asked credit rating agencies to give a 30-day notice before withdrawal of ratings in case of open-ended mutual funds, even as it relaxed various disclosure norms for the CRAs. The decision has been taken in consultation with (credit rating agencies (CRAs) and representations received from the industry. Sebi said withdrawal of rating of is permitted in case of open ended mutual fund scheme, being perpetual in nature and having no specified maturity. Besides, such facilities are allowed in bank loans.

With nearly 50 companies launching buyback offers, shares worth R34,468 crore were bought back in 2016-17, the highest in 19 years. IT major Wipro effected the biggest buyback by a private sector firm buying shares worth R2,500 crore in June 2016. The government chose to tap cash-rich PSUs to meet its divestment target and took back as much as R18,964 crore via buybacks. At R7,519 crore, NMDC’s buyback offer was the biggest. Other PSUs that bought back shares included MOIL, Nalco, NMDC, Coal India, Bharat Electronics, Coal India, NHPC and NLC.

State-run NTPC has crossed the milestone of 50 GW power generation capacity which will help the country realise the goal of power for all. Lauding the company’s efforts, Power Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted, “Proud to announce that NTPC has crossed 50,000 MW of installed power generation capacity today. Another milestone towards 24X7 power for all.” According to a company statement, with commissioning of 500 MW unit at Unchahar in Uttar Pradesh, the total installed capacity of NTPC has increased to 50,498 MW. In FY17, NTPC’s annual generation topped 250 BU (billion units).

The State Bank of India has merged its five Associate Banks – State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Travancore besides Bharatiya Mahila Bank – with itself with effect from April 1. With this six-way mega merger, the SBI has joined the league of top 50 banks globally in terms of assets.

The country’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) today posted 8.1 per cent rise in total sales in March at 1,39,763 units as against 1,29,345 vehicles in the same month last year. The company’s domestic sales increased 7.7 per cent during the month to 1,27,999 units as against 1,18,895 units in March 2016. For 2016-17 fiscal, the company posted a 9.8 per cent jump in total sales at 15,68,603 units, against 14,29,248 vehicles in 2015-16. It turned out to be the company’s best ever year in term of sales.

India’s oil marketing companies today cut petrol price by Rs 3.77/litre and diesel by Rs 2.91/litre following the fluctuations in crude prices which have been swinging between the push and pull from coordinated output cuts by major producers on one side, and rising US stockpiles on the other. The new prices will be effective from midnight tonight – this is the first change in rates in two-and-a-half months.

Petrol is currently priced at Rs 71.14 a litre in Delhi and Diesel at Rs 59.02 per litre. Petrol price will now be reduced by Rs 3.77 per litre, excluding state levies, Indian Oil Corp (IOC) indicated in a statement.

We think RIL’s recent rally (last 2M, RIL up 23% vs. Sensex 6%), after positive news flow on Jio (100 million plus subs; monetisation from April 1; attractive offerings), was driven by the Street’s overall under-ownership of the stock. Despite the recent outperformance, RIL has unperformed the Sensex by 40% since Jan-2008 (after the last bull-run). This was driven by a long (and large) capex phase, delayed monetisation (particularly Jio), and a sharp decline in E&P fortunes.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has closed the window to let Indians who were abroad during the 50-day period of demonetization deposit the now-illegal cash. However, non-resident Indians will still be allowed to deposit their money but with a rider.

The RBI disallowed the deposit of the decommissioned Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes for the general public on December 30, 2016. However, Indians who were abroad from November 8 till the deadline, were allowed to deposit the notes till March 31, including NRIs.

The State Bank of India (SBI) has merged its operations with its four associate banks and the Bharatiya Mahila Bank, in a move that will create one of the top 50 banks in the world.

SBI has merged its operations five its four associate banks - State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Mysore, and State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur. It has also merged its operations with the Bharatiya Mahila Bank.

The government has lowered interest rates on small saving schemes like PPF, Kisan Vikas Patra and Sukanya Samriddhi scheme by 0.1 per cent for the April-June quarter, a move that would prompt banks to cut their deposit rates.

For April-June, these have been lowered by 0.1 per cent across the board compared to January-March. However, interest on savings deposits has been retained at four per cent annually.

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