MUMBAI: Gautam Adani-led Adani Group has finally acquired Lanco Infratech's 1200 MW Udupi power plant for an enterprise value of Rs 6,300 crore — Rs 300 crore or 5% more than the deal value of Rs 6,000 crore announced in August last year.

TOI first reported on February 10 that Adani struck a new deal agreeing to value the asset 5-7% higher to accommodate additional interest accruals made by the banks. The original deal struck in August last year had run into trouble and missed deadline as lenders sought better terms to approve the transaction.

With gold giving negative returns for three years in a row, investors are experiencing that sinking feeling. While gold has always been a favourite investment option during Akshaya Tritiya, the falling prices may put off many, with investors having lost over 11% on the metal bought last year on the same occasion.

Since equities are faring better, gold’s lure as an asset class has been dampened across the globe. Data from World Gold Council show that investment demand for the yellow metal (bars and coins) fell to 44 tonne in the quarter ended December 2014 from 98 tonne in the quarter ended March 2013.

Reliance Industries (RIL) has so far committed Rs 88,000 crore ($14 billion) of capital to its telecom business, sources told FE. This does not include the Rs 10,077.53 crore the telecom subsidiary, Reliance Jio Infocomm, will spend for its 800-MHz and 1,800- MHz spectrum won in the recently held auctions.

An Kotak Institutional Equities report dated April 20, notes that Reliance Jio has so far deployed about Rs 52,400 crore of capital as of March 31, against Rs 37,800 crore, as of March 31, 2014. Reliance Jio holds broadband wireless access spectrum in all the 22 telecom circles and has made significant progress in rolling out its 4G business, including physical network infrastructure, systems and processes, sales and distribution network.

NEW DELHI: The government proposes to make the rules regarding benami property ownership much more stringent than they are currently. As part of efforts to prevent black money being tucked away into convenient domestic hidey holes, it could sharply prune the list of relatives in whose names property can be acquired to spouses and unmarried daughters.

The new law is likely to say that property acquired in the name of any other person —brother, sister, father, mother, son —risks being confiscated and would lead to jail time.

Markets turned choppy weighed down by pharma shares with Sun Pharma leading the decline while gains in ITC and financials helped offset some of the losses.

At 10:45AM, the 30-share Sensex was down 100 points at 27,786 and the 50-share Nifty was down 33 points at 8,444.

Bharat PetroResources Limited, upstream arm of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), and Videocon Industries, announced that Petrobras, operator of the block SEAL-M-426 in BM-SEAL-11 Concession, Brazil, had completed assessment of the petroleum potential of the wells located in the ultra-deep waters of the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin.

"The results confirmed the presence of light oil and good productivity of the reservoirs. This drilling identified two reservoir intervals of light oil and gas - the top with a thickness of 44 metres, and the bottom 11 metres thick, the bottom zone being a new discovery for the area," Bharat PetroResources and Videocon said in a filing to an exchange.

Just months after a Rs 22,600-crore disinvestment in the company, Coal India Ltd (CIL) is back in the reckoning for another stake sale, with the government considering selling five per cent in the public sector giant this financial year, it is learnt. The move will reduce the Centre’s stake in the company to 75 per cent, as mandated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

At current market prices, selling five per cent stake could fetch the government Rs 12,000-13,000 crore. This could go a long way in helping the Centre meet its disinvestment target of Rs 41,000 for FY16.

CHENNAI: It may not be as radical as a ban on motor vehicles or pedestrian-only zones, but corporation of Chennai has a plan that could decongest Mylapore and make it a walker-friendly neighbourhood.

The civic body has selected a firm from among six private bidders to help it implement its proposal to limit motor vehicles and create better pedestrian facilities in Mylapore. The corporation plans to get going on the 5.5-crore project in June and complete it within six months.

There is nothing official about it, but the so-called memorandum of understanding that the nation’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) had signed with Gujarat’s Adani Group in November 2014 to build a $7.8 billion coal mine in Australia has died a natural death. Neither the lender nor the borrower is keen to follow up the agreement that raked up a huge controversy after it was announced in Brisbane where Adani Group boss Gautam Adani was accompanying a business delegation for the Group of 20 summit, attended by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Opposition parties dubbed this as an instance of the crony capitalism that has been plaguing India’s Rs.90 trillion banking industry. Many suspected that the decision was influenced by Modi, who till May 2014 was Gujarat’s chief minister.

Fresh fears over the impact of retrospective taxation rattled foreign investors and Indian markets on Monday, traders said, as stocks fell for a fourth consecutive day and the rupee hit its weakest in more than a month.

The benchmark BSE index Sensex fell as much as 2.25 percent, its biggest fall since March 26. The index provisionally ended down 1.95 percent, while the NSE Nifty index fell 1.83 percent – Sensex 555.89 pts down at 27,886.21; Nifty 157.90 pts down at 8,448.10.

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.