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122 corporates raise $10.85bn in 2017, 9 IPOs trade 50-350% higher
122 corporates are responsible for making 2017 the blockbuster year of Indian primary markets, with issuances across categories, reports The Economic Times. From new age banks to a shoe brand; from a staffing enterprise to a publisher and even a mass market grocery retailer — everyone capitalised on the optimistic market mood and strong fund flows. And when our giant homegrown insurers, capital goods and infrastructure companies also joined the party, it meant the year notching up the highest ever fundraising through IPOs. $10.85 billion is no joke.
Other statistics are equally staggering. The year saw the largest IPO in a decade, from General Insurance Corporation; nine IPOs trading 50-350% higher than their offer price while 85 of the 122 IPOs and follow-on public offers or FPOs (i.e. 70%) are trading at a premium to their offer price.
But a subtle change reflects a fundamental shift. Call it the rise of the minority shareholders. A key catalyst for opening the IPO floodgates was the need to give shareholders an exit, a far cry from traditional drivers such as raising money for capex or retiring debt. 10 companies tapped the equities market this year — not for capital, but to give an exit route to existing shareholders. Such offer-for-sale (OFS) deals accounted for over 48% of the IPO capital raised in 2017. (Picture courtesy: The Economic Times)
Google crunches data to help NASA find two new planets
Alphabet’s Google and NASA said that advanced computer analysis identified two new planets around distant stars, including one that is part of the first star system with as many planets as Earth’s solar system, reports Reuters. The research by Google and the University of Texas at Austin that used data from NASA raised the prospects of new insights into the universe by feeding data into computer programs that can churn through information faster and more in-depth than humanly possibly, a technique known as machine learning.
In this case, software learned differences between planets and other objects by analysing thousands of data points, achieving 96% accuracy, NASA said. The data came from the Kepler telescope which NASA launched into space in 2009 as part of a planet-finding mission that is expected to end next year as the spacecraft runs out of fuel.
Japanese firm says it will pay part of employees' salaries in Bitcoin
A Japanese company will start paying part of its employees' salaries in Bitcoin, as it aims to get better understanding of the virtual currency, a spokeswoman told AFP. GMO Internet, which operates a range of web-related businesses including finance, online advertising and internet infrastructure, will start paying up to 100,000 yen ($890) monthly by Bitcoin to its employees in Japan from February next year.
"Employees can receive salaries by Bitcoin if they want to," company spokeswoman Harumi Ishii said. "We hope to improve our own literacy of virtual currency by actually using it," she said. The offer will be open to around 4,000 employees of the GMO group in Japan, she said. The company started a Bitcoin trading and exchange business in May.
SC extends Aadhaar linkage deadline for new bank a/cs, mobile services to March 31, 2018
The Supreme Court has extended mandatory linking of Aadhaar for new bank accounts and mobile services to March 31, 2018. The deadline for linking Aadhaar with mobile services was earlier set at February 6 while that for new bank accounts was December 31.
However, the court ruled that new bank accounts can be opened without Aadhaar but applicants need to submit proof of Aadhaar application. The government had on December 13 extended the December 31 deadline for linking old bank accounts to Aadhaar numbers by three months to March 31, 2018.
The apex court has also extended Aadhaar linkage for all services provided by the Centre and states to March 31. This means those availing of welfare schemes have time till March 31 to link their accounts with the government’s biometric capture. The move follows the Centre updating the court on Thursday about extending deadlines for all services.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court will hear the Aadhaar case on January 17, 2018.
While focus is on North Korea, China continues South China Sea build-up
While attention in Asia has been distracted by the North Korean nuclear crisis in the past year, China has continued to install high-frequency radar and other facilities that can be used for military purposes on its man-made islands in the South China Sea, a US think tank said. Chinese activity has involved work on facilities covering 72 acres of the Spratly and Paracel islands, territory contested with several other Asian nations, according to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative of Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies. The report cited satellite images.
The United States and its allies oppose China’s building of artificial islands in the South China Sea and their militarisation, given concerns Beijing plans to use them to deny access to strategic routes. The report said that in the last several months China had constructed what appeared to be a new high-frequency radar array at the northern end of Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratlys. Subi Reef had seen tunnels completed that were likely for ammunition storage and another radar antenna array and radar domes, the report said.
Construction on Mischief Reef included underground storage for ammunition and hangars, missile shelters and radar arrays. Smaller-scale work had continued in the Paracel Islands, including a new helipad and wind turbines on Tree Island and two large radar towers on Triton Island. It said the latter were especially important as waters around Triton had been the scene of recent incidents between China and Vietnam and multiple US freedom-of-navigation operations, which the US navy has used to assert what it sees as its right to free passage in international waters.
UK consumer confidence slips in December
British consumer confidence slipped in December to its second-weakest level in nearly four years, weighed by gloom about the state of the economy ahead of Brexit, a survey showed on Thursday. The Thomson Reuters/Ipsos Primary Consumer Sentiment Index fell to 48.21 from 49.46 in November, the weakest level for three months and only slightly above September’s almost four-year low of 47.78. The share of Britons who are downbeat about the state of the economy increased to 65% from 60% in November, its highest level since January 2014, the survey showed.
If Congress wins Gujarat Assembly polls, it will need to thank this ex-cop
BJP president Amit Shah turned the party into an election-winning machine with one very effective strategy—building worker strength at the booth level where the numbers actually matter during elections. The Congress took a leaf out of Shah's booth during the Gujarat elections to re-invigorate the party. The man who headed the booth-level management of the Congress is a retired state cop who took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah and later joined the Congress after he retired in 2015, reports The Economic Times.
Kuldeep Sharma, a retired IPS officer, spearheaded the party's new experiment of a rigorous booth-management system to counter the very efficient machinery of the ruling party. Sharma formed a 'Chief Election Coordination Centre' at the party's Ahmedabad headquarter from where he coordinated with the Congress foot soldiers at the booth level. Sharma, who is the state Congress vice-president, began the new experiment by appointing six salaried regional managers in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, Surat, Junagadh and Mehsana. These six men were asked to work under party secretaries since professionals could not directly interact with the voters for political initiatives.
Each regional manager was given 10 field executives who helped set up strong booth-level committees. Sharma's team combined data analytics and field reports to gauge the ground situation. This helped them focus on building booth committees only in constituencies where they felt Congress could do well. Based on field inputs, the coordination centre provided every candidate with information like constituency profile, pertinent issues, list of election-related offences and information on week booths.
Sharma had fallen out with the Modi-led Gujarat government over the encounter-killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and the subsequent of murder of his wife Kauserbi. Sheikh, a wanted criminal, was allegedly killed in a staged encounter by Gujarat's Anti-Terrorism Squad. The case is still in the courts. It is alleged that Sharma had blown the lid off the killing of Shiekh. Sharma became famous in Gujarat in 1995 when he arrested the dreaded underworld don Abdul Latif Wahab Shaikh, an associate of Dawood Ibrahim, from Jama Masjid area of Old Delhi. (Picture courtesy: The Economic Times)
Jan-Nov PE investment deal tally at $19.42bn
Private equity investments saw a significant uptrend in November with deals worth $3 billion, taking the year-to-date (YTD) deal tally to $19.42 billion, says a report. According to assurance, tax and advisory firm Grant Thornton, there were 63 private equity deals worth $3,019 million in November this year as against 62 such transactions worth $903 million in the year-ago period.
An investment of $1.8 billion by Bain Capital and LIC in Axis Bank alone contributed to about 60% of the total value of private equity deals in November 2017. In terms of deal volumes, start-ups continue to capture the interest of the PEs contributing to about 80% of the PE deal volumes.
During January-November, there were 687 deals worth $19,421 million, whereas in the same period last year the figure stood at $11,455 million through 899 deals. Supported by a surge in big-ticket investments, the private equity investments recorded a significant 70% increase in value as compared to YTD 2016, while volumes declined by 24%.
BoE, ECB leave interest rates unchanged
The Bank of England kept its main interest rate unchanged at 0.5%, a month after increasing borrowing costs for the first time in a decade to contain a rise inflation stoked by last year's Brexit vote. The European Central Bank too left its headline interest rates unchanged at historic lows and kept its massive support for the eurozone economy in place at its final meeting of the year.
Winter session of Parliament starts today, 25 pending and 14 new bills listed
As many as 25 pending bills and 14 new ones, including a bill providing Muslim women the right to seek maintenance in case of triple talaq, are expected to be placed in the Winter session of Parliament, reports PTI. The Winter session, which starts today, will have 14 sittings. The session will come to an end on January 5.
According to a list compiled by think-tank PRS Legislative Research, some of the bills listed for consideration and passage at the session include Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016, Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013 and Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016. The surrogacy bill prohibits commercial surrogacy and allows its altruistic form. It also specifies criteria for the intending couple and a surrogate mother, the think-tank said.
Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013 proposes to make giving bribe an offence and modifies the definition of 'taking a bribe' and requires prior sanction to investigate officials, it said. The transgender bill, on the other hand, defines a transgender person, prohibits discrimination against them and prescribes penalties for certain offences.
The new bills listed for introduction and passage include Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2017, Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriages) Bill, 2017 and Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to States Amendment Bill), 2017. The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriages) Bill gives women from the community the right to seek maintenance from their husbands in case of triple talaq, while the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2017 prohibits certain persons, including promoters of defaulter companies, from submitting a resolution plan, the PRS added.
The government has also listed the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill for passage in the Winter Session. The bill, which aims to tackle insolvency, purportedly allows failing banks to use depositors’ money to cut losses.
122 corporates raise $10.85bn in 2017, 9 IPOs trade 50-350% higher
122 corporates are responsible for making 2017 the blockbuster year of Indian primary markets, with issuances across categories, reports The Economic Times. From new age banks to a shoe brand; from a staffing enterprise to a publisher and even a mass market grocery retailer — everyone capitalised on the optimistic market mood and strong fund flows. And when our giant homegrown insurers, capital goods and infrastructure companies also joined the party, it meant the year notching up the highest ever fundraising through IPOs. $10.85 billion is no joke.
Other statistics are equally staggering. The year saw the largest IPO in a decade, from General Insurance Corporation; nine IPOs trading 50-350% higher than their offer price while 85 of the 122 IPOs and follow-on public offers or FPOs (i.e. 70%) are trading at a premium to their offer price.
But a subtle change reflects a fundamental shift. Call it the rise of the minority shareholders. A key catalyst for opening the IPO floodgates was the need to give shareholders an exit, a far cry from traditional drivers such as raising money for capex or retiring debt. 10 companies tapped the equities market this year — not for capital, but to give an exit route to existing shareholders. Such offer-for-sale (OFS) deals accounted for over 48% of the IPO capital raised in 2017. (Picture courtesy: The Economic Times)
Here are the top headlines at 12 pm from Moneycontrol News' Anchal Pathak
Astron Paper and Board Mill IPO opens for subscription, to raise Rs 70cr
Gujarat-based kraft paper manufacturer Astron Paper and Board Mill’s initial public offering (IPO) has opened for subscription today. The company has set a price band of Rs 45-50 per equity share for the same.
With 1,40,00,000 equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each, at the upper end of the price band, the firm could be looking to raise Rs 70 crore through the issue that will close on December 20. The issue also comprises of reservation of up to 7,00,000 equity shares for subscription by eligible employees.
The company plans to use the proceeds for setting additional facilities to make kraft paper with lower GSM ranging from 80 to 180 GSM and lower BF ranging from 12 BF to 20 BF; part repayment of unsecured loan; funding the working capital requirements and general corporate purposes.
Google crunches data to help NASA find two new planets
Alphabet’s Google and NASA said that advanced computer analysis identified two new planets around distant stars, including one that is part of the first star system with as many planets as Earth’s solar system, reports Reuters. The research by Google and the University of Texas at Austin that used data from NASA raised the prospects of new insights into the universe by feeding data into computer programs that can churn through information faster and more in-depth than humanly possibly, a technique known as machine learning.
In this case, software learned differences between planets and other objects by analysing thousands of data points, achieving 96% accuracy, NASA said. The data came from the Kepler telescope which NASA launched into space in 2009 as part of a planet-finding mission that is expected to end next year as the spacecraft runs out of fuel.
SC asks advisory body to review 349 fixed dose drugs in govt ban
The Supreme Court has asked the Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) to review combination drugs (FDCs) banned by the government. The board will decide whether 349 FDC drugs should be regulated or banned. The government had moved the apex court against the Delhi High Court order with respect to revoking the ban on 344 FDCs.
Japanese firm says it will pay part of employees' salaries in Bitcoin
A Japanese company will start paying part of its employees' salaries in Bitcoin, as it aims to get better understanding of the virtual currency, a spokeswoman told AFP. GMO Internet, which operates a range of web-related businesses including finance, online advertising and internet infrastructure, will start paying up to 100,000 yen ($890) monthly by Bitcoin to its employees in Japan from February next year.
"Employees can receive salaries by Bitcoin if they want to," company spokeswoman Harumi Ishii said. "We hope to improve our own literacy of virtual currency by actually using it," she said. The offer will be open to around 4,000 employees of the GMO group in Japan, she said. The company started a Bitcoin trading and exchange business in May.
Lok Sabha adjourns for the day after paying tributes to three sitting and seven former members.
Hope Winter Session of Parliament is productive: PM
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hoped the Winter Session of Parliament will be a productive one with constructive debates and innovative suggestions that will help resolve the country's problems. The government is expected to table 25 pending bills and 14 new ones, including a bill providing Muslim women the right to seek maintenance in case of triple talaq, during the session which begins today.
"The Winter Session of Parliament is starting and I am confident that it will be a productive session. I hope there is good debate, constructive debate and we come up with innovative solutions to our nation's problems," he said.
The prime minister said at Thursday’s all-party meeting, leaders of the political parties were clear that there is a need to take the country forward and this session should be used positively to achieve that. "I hope this Parliament session contributes to the nation's growth," he said.
De-freezing of accounts: SC dismisses Teesta Setalvad's plea
The Supreme Court dismissed the pleas of activist Teesta Setalvad, her husband and her two NGOs challenging the Gujarat High Court order rejecting their pleas for de-freezing of their personal bank accounts. A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said the pleas are dismissed.
Setalvad, her husband Javed Anand and their two NGOs - Sabrang Trust and Citizens for Justice and Peace – had challenged the October 7, 2015 verdict of the high court in the alleged misappropriation of funds received by their NGOs for Gujarat riot victims of 2002.
SC extends Aadhaar linkage deadline for new bank a/cs, mobile services to March 31, 2018
The Supreme Court has extended mandatory linking of Aadhaar for new bank accounts and mobile services to March 31, 2018. The deadline for linking Aadhaar with mobile services was earlier set at February 6 while that for new bank accounts was December 31.
However, the court ruled that new bank accounts can be opened without Aadhaar but applicants need to submit proof of Aadhaar application. The government had on December 13 extended the December 31 deadline for linking old bank accounts to Aadhaar numbers by three months to March 31, 2018.
The apex court has also extended Aadhaar linkage for all services provided by the Centre and states to March 31. This means those availing of welfare schemes have time till March 31 to link their accounts with the government’s biometric capture. The move follows the Centre updating the court on Thursday about extending deadlines for all services.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court will hear the Aadhaar case on January 17, 2018.
While focus is on North Korea, China continues South China Sea build-up
While attention in Asia has been distracted by the North Korean nuclear crisis in the past year, China has continued to install high-frequency radar and other facilities that can be used for military purposes on its man-made islands in the South China Sea, a US think tank said. Chinese activity has involved work on facilities covering 72 acres of the Spratly and Paracel islands, territory contested with several other Asian nations, according to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative of Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies. The report cited satellite images.
The United States and its allies oppose China’s building of artificial islands in the South China Sea and their militarisation, given concerns Beijing plans to use them to deny access to strategic routes. The report said that in the last several months China had constructed what appeared to be a new high-frequency radar array at the northern end of Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratlys. Subi Reef had seen tunnels completed that were likely for ammunition storage and another radar antenna array and radar domes, the report said.
Construction on Mischief Reef included underground storage for ammunition and hangars, missile shelters and radar arrays. Smaller-scale work had continued in the Paracel Islands, including a new helipad and wind turbines on Tree Island and two large radar towers on Triton Island. It said the latter were especially important as waters around Triton had been the scene of recent incidents between China and Vietnam and multiple US freedom-of-navigation operations, which the US navy has used to assert what it sees as its right to free passage in international waters.
Trump discusses North Korea situation with Putin: US President Trump spoke by phone on Thursday with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the two leaders “discussed working together to resolve the very dangerous situation in North Korea,” the White House said in a statement.
Here are the top headlines at 10 am from Moneycontrol News' Anchal Pathak
US Fed buys $4.4bn of mortgage bonds, sells none
The Federal Reserve bought $4.38 billion of agency mortgage-backed securities in the week from December 7 to December 13, compared with $7.83 billion purchased the previous week, the New York Federal Reserve Bank said on Thursday.
In a move to help the housing market begun in October 2011, the US central bank has been using funds from principal payments on the agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities, or MBS, it holds to reinvest in agency MBS. The New York Fed said on its website the Fed sold no mortgage securities guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or the Government National Mortgage Association, or Ginnie Mae, in the latest week. It sold none the prior week.
Multi-specialty hospital chain Shalby lists at a 1.7% discount of Rs 243.8 per share as against the issue price of Rs 248 apiece.
US jets fire flares to warn Russian jets in Syria
Two US F-22 fighter aircraft fired warning flares on Wednesday after two Russian Su-25 jets entered an agreed upon deconfliction area in airspace east of the Euphrates river in Syria, the US military said. Eric Pahon, a Pentagon spokesman told Reuters, said the F-22 aircraft were providing air cover to partnered ground forces when the Russian jets came into airspace near Albu Kamal.
The incident lasted for about 40 minutes and coalition officials contacted the Russians through a communication link to avoid a miscalculation. At one point, Pahon said, a Russian jet came close enough that one of the F-22 aircraft had to “aggressively manoeuver to avoid a midair collision.” US officials have said that as the battlefield against Islamic State shrinks, they expect Russian and US aircraft to be in closer proximity.
UK consumer confidence slips in December
British consumer confidence slipped in December to its second-weakest level in nearly four years, weighed by gloom about the state of the economy ahead of Brexit, a survey showed on Thursday. The Thomson Reuters/Ipsos Primary Consumer Sentiment Index fell to 48.21 from 49.46 in November, the weakest level for three months and only slightly above September’s almost four-year low of 47.78. The share of Britons who are downbeat about the state of the economy increased to 65% from 60% in November, its highest level since January 2014, the survey showed.
Japan adopts additional sanctions against North Korea: Japan will impose additional sanctions on North Korea following repeated threats by Pyongyang’s missiles and nuclear programme, Japan’s top government spokesman told Reuters. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference that Japan would freeze assets of 19 more North Korean institutions.
China says war must not be allowed on Korean peninsula
The crisis over North Korea’s weapons programs must be resolved through talks, not war, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Thursday, while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of the danger of “sleepwalking” into conflict, reports Reuters. Xi made his comments to visiting South Korean President Moon Jae-in after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered on Tuesday to begin direct talks with North Korea without pre-conditions.
If Congress wins Gujarat Assembly polls, it will need to thank this ex-cop
BJP president Amit Shah turned the party into an election-winning machine with one very effective strategy—building worker strength at the booth level where the numbers actually matter during elections. The Congress took a leaf out of Shah's booth during the Gujarat elections to re-invigorate the party. The man who headed the booth-level management of the Congress is a retired state cop who took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah and later joined the Congress after he retired in 2015, reports The Economic Times.
Kuldeep Sharma, a retired IPS officer, spearheaded the party's new experiment of a rigorous booth-management system to counter the very efficient machinery of the ruling party. Sharma formed a 'Chief Election Coordination Centre' at the party's Ahmedabad headquarter from where he coordinated with the Congress foot soldiers at the booth level. Sharma, who is the state Congress vice-president, began the new experiment by appointing six salaried regional managers in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, Surat, Junagadh and Mehsana. These six men were asked to work under party secretaries since professionals could not directly interact with the voters for political initiatives.
Each regional manager was given 10 field executives who helped set up strong booth-level committees. Sharma's team combined data analytics and field reports to gauge the ground situation. This helped them focus on building booth committees only in constituencies where they felt Congress could do well. Based on field inputs, the coordination centre provided every candidate with information like constituency profile, pertinent issues, list of election-related offences and information on week booths.
Sharma had fallen out with the Modi-led Gujarat government over the encounter-killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and the subsequent of murder of his wife Kauserbi. Sheikh, a wanted criminal, was allegedly killed in a staged encounter by Gujarat's Anti-Terrorism Squad. The case is still in the courts. It is alleged that Sharma had blown the lid off the killing of Shiekh. Sharma became famous in Gujarat in 1995 when he arrested the dreaded underworld don Abdul Latif Wahab Shaikh, an associate of Dawood Ibrahim, from Jama Masjid area of Old Delhi. (Picture courtesy: The Economic Times)
Market trivia: What does the Fed rate hike mean for borrowers?
The US Federal Reserve’s ultra-low interest rates over the past eight years have created the biggest pile of debt in history. Last week, the total US debt hit a new record at $68 trillion, up from $29 trillion in 2000. On Thursday, Fed chief Janet Yellen raised interest rates by 25 bps, the third time this year, increasing the cost of carrying that debt for companies and consumers.
Already, the Fed’s rate hikes have boosted the interest cost of credit card debt by about $7.5 billion a year. That will rise by another $8 billion as future scheduled increases take effect. Extrapolate to include all the nation’s debt – consumer, business, and government – and every quarter-point rate hike costs $170 billion extra in carrying costs a year. Add a whole percentage point…and you are up to $680 billion – about equal to the Pentagon’s annual budget.
Jan-Nov PE investment deal tally at $19.42bn
Private equity investments saw a significant uptrend in November with deals worth $3 billion, taking the year-to-date (YTD) deal tally to $19.42 billion, says a report. According to assurance, tax and advisory firm Grant Thornton, there were 63 private equity deals worth $3,019 million in November this year as against 62 such transactions worth $903 million in the year-ago period.
An investment of $1.8 billion by Bain Capital and LIC in Axis Bank alone contributed to about 60% of the total value of private equity deals in November 2017. In terms of deal volumes, start-ups continue to capture the interest of the PEs contributing to about 80% of the PE deal volumes.
During January-November, there were 687 deals worth $19,421 million, whereas in the same period last year the figure stood at $11,455 million through 899 deals. Supported by a surge in big-ticket investments, the private equity investments recorded a significant 70% increase in value as compared to YTD 2016, while volumes declined by 24%.
BoE, ECB leave interest rates unchanged
The Bank of England kept its main interest rate unchanged at 0.5%, a month after increasing borrowing costs for the first time in a decade to contain a rise inflation stoked by last year's Brexit vote. The European Central Bank too left its headline interest rates unchanged at historic lows and kept its massive support for the eurozone economy in place at its final meeting of the year.
Zhezkazgan: US astronaut Randy Bresnik rests in a chair shortly after he and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Paolo Nespoli, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Ryazanskiy landed in their Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Thursday. Bresnik, Nespoli and Ryazanskiy are returning after 139 days in space onboard the International Space Station. AP
US regulators rollback net neutrality rules
US regulators today voted to rollback "net neutrality" rules that require internet providers to treat all traffic equally, reports PTI. The Federal Communications Commission, in a 3-2 vote, adopted a proposal by Republican appointed chairman Indian-American Ajit Pai. The critics say the move is against the interest of the consumers and favours big corporate companies. By doing so, the Republican-majority commission has reversed the 2015 "net-neutrality" ruled of the previous Obama Administration, which mandated upon all internet service providers to treat all traffic equally, without blocking or showing content.
68.70% voting in Guj Phase II, Modi 'roadshow' under EC lens
An estimated 68.7% polling was recorded in the second and final phase of the Assembly elections covering 93 seats in Gujarat, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi hogged the limelight for a 'roadshow' that has come under the EC scanner. Barring stray incidents of violence, the polling, spread across 14 districts in central and north Gujarat, was peaceful.
Modi stood in a queue to cast his vote in a polling booth set up in a school in Sabarmati in Ahmedabad. After exercising his franchise, the prime minister walked a few metres and then briefly travelled on the foot-board of his car flashing his inked finger to the people who had gathered on the both sides of the road.
The Congress termed the event as a "roadshow", which, it claimed, violated the Model Code of Conduct. The main opposition party promptly lodged a complaint with the Election Commission (EC), which ordered an inquiry. "Approximately 68.7% polling took place in the second phase of Gujarat polls," a release issued by the office of Chief Electoral Officer BB Swain said.
In the second phase, around 2.22 crore people were eligible to exercise their franchise to choose their representatives from among 851 candidates in the fray. "The highest voting was recorded in Sabarkantha district at 77%, while the lowest was recorded in Dahod at 60%. The Ahmedabad district posted the second lowest voter turnout at 63%," it said. In the first phase on December 9, which covered 89 seats of Kutch, Saurashtra and south Gujarat, the voter turnout was 66.75%. In the 2012 elections, the overall turnout was 71.32% for all the 182 seats.
Gold climbs Rs 230 on firm global cues, jewellers' buying
Gold prices surged by Rs 230 to Rs 29,665 per 10 grams at the bullion market on Thursday largely in line with a firming trend overseas amid increased buying by local jewellers. Silver followed suit and recaptured the Rs 38,000-mark by rising Rs 680 to Rs 38,280 per kg due to increased offtake by industrial units and coin makers.
Exit polls predict BJP win in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh
The BJP looks headed for facile victories in both Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, exit polls by various media houses concluded unanimously after a rancorous campaign which saw sharp exchanges between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress's president-elect Rahul Gandhi. Almost all exit polls predicted more than 100 seats for the BJP in Gujarat where the party has been ensconced in power for close to two decades now. In Himachal Pradesh, where the electorate has chosen the Congress and BJP alternately in Assembly elections, the exit polls projected a clear majority for the saffron party, unseating the Congress.