RIL hires SBI, other banks to raise over USD 1 bn loan

Billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries is believed to have hired banking majors SBI, Bank of America and Citigroup among others to raise debt of about USD 1.1 billion (about Rs 5,000 crore).

The energy-to-retail conglomerate plans to utilise the fresh five-year term loan to refinance its existing higher interest rate debts, sources said.

When contacted, a company spokesperson did not comment on the debt raising plans.

The banks hired for raising USD 1.1 billion of loans include SBI, Stanchart, Bank of America, RBS, HSBC, ANZ Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, DBS and Sumitomo Mitsui.

Earlier this month, Chairman and MD Mukesh Ambani said at the company''s AGM that RIL would become debt-free on net basis in the current financial year ending March 2012.

RIL had an outstanding debt of Rs 67,397 crore (USD 15.1 billion) as of March 31, 2011, as against Rs 62,495 crore (USD 13.9 billion) a year ago.

At the same time, RIL had cash and cash-equivalents of Rs 42,393 crore (USD 9.5 billion) as on March 31 this year, which was nearly double the level seen a year ago.

The company began a process last month to raise fresh loans worth about USD 1.5 billion.

Out of this, loans worth about USD 1.1 billion are for repaying its existing loans maturing in next two years, while the company would also look at further USD 400-500 million of fresh borrowings from abroad.

Last year in October, RIL had raised USD 1.5 billion for the first time through bonds denominated in US dollars.

While it raised USD one billion through 10-year bonds, another USD 500 million were arranged through sale of 30-year bonds. These funds were raised through RIL''s wholly-owned subsidiary Reliance Holding USA Inc.

This USD 1.5 billion bond sale was the company''s first such bond issue after 13 years. Besides, it was the largest ever public market offshore bond offering by RIL and largest ever corporate bond from India.

This debt raising exercise was followed by plans to raise funds through sale of bonds in global markets by other Indian companies.

These companies included the likes of Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Communications, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Essar Energy, JSW Steel and IDBI Bank.

KG basin contract: RIL under scanner again

Reliance Industry Limited (RIL) which is already facing criticism for pumping less gas than it should have from the key D6 block is once again under scanner for its alleged nexus with the Oil ministry for the KG basin gas contract.

The CAG report has said that the energy major Reliance Industries had inflated development costs on its D6 block in the Krishna-Godavari basin.

The CAG report which has ignited a lot of political fire also noted that former Director General of Hydro-carbons (DGH) permitted Reliance to inflate its development costs on extracting the gas in the D6 block to the KG basin from $2.47 billion to a whopping $ 8.84 billion.

The CAG also cited a joint venture of Reliance with BG and ONGC for hiking development costs in the Panna-Mukta and Tapti gas fields, newspaper reports added.

The Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) had asked the oil ministry to reply within two weeks as to why it had allowed some explorers to overstate costs of field developments and explore beyond their contracted areas, a newspaper report said.

It has been earlier been alleged that an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) had allowed RIL to sell per unit of the gas at a price of rupees 4.20 even as the government companies were selling the same for just rupees 1.20.

In a statement issued late Monday this week, the oil ministry said it was examining the draft report, received on June 8, and would prepare a reply to the audit observations after obtaining details from relevant agencies.

The CAG report comes at a time when the government is struggling to fend off allegations of massive corruption in awarding of telecoms licences that may have resulted in revenue losses worth billions of dollars.

Mutual funds in a demat account

Investors can now hold their mutual fund units in dematerialized form. Investor who own a demat account can use it to hold mutual fund units. It is however not mandatory to convert units into demat form. Investors can also use the electronic platforms of stock exchanges to transact in their mutual fund units through the brokers of the stock exchange.

For this, investors have to use a standard form specified by the depository (CDSL or NSDL) called the conversion request form (CRF) or destatementisation request form (DRF). This form is available with the depository participant (DP). The completed form, along with the statement of account (SoA) which shows the unit holdings of the investor, has to be submitted to the DP. The DP will verify and forward it to the registrar and transfer agent, who in turn will confirm the details of units held in the SoA. Units will be credited to the demat account after this confirmation.

1. ISIN: Each mutual fund is assigned an ISIN (International Security Identification Number). It can be obtained from NSDL or CSDL and has to be included in the CRF/DRF.

2. Details: The details of each scheme with respect to scheme name, ISIN and number of units held should be correctly mentioned in the CRF/DRF and should tally with the SoA being attached.

3. Holding Pattern

The holding pattern of the mutual fund folios and that of the demat account should be the same, and in the same order.

4. Free & Lock-in Units

Mutual fund units such as those of tax-saving schemes may be subject to lock-in. Different forms have to be used for free and locked-in units of the same scheme even if held under the same folio.

Points to note

Signatures: The CRF/DRF has to be signed by all the unit holders of the folio, irrespective of the mode of operation of the folio.

Transacting with the mutual fund: Once units are dematerialized, investors cannot transact in them directly with the mutual fund or investor service centers. Transactions are routed through the stock exchange platform or through the DP.

Re-materialsation of units: Investors can also make an application for re-materialisation of the dematerialised units and only then transact with the mutual fund.

Historic Speech Delivered by Swami Vivekananda at world’s parliament of religions, Chicago: September 11, 1983:

Sisters and Brothers of America,

It fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the warm and cordial welcome which you have given us. I thank you in the name of the most ancient order of monks in the world; I thank you in the name of the mother of religions; and I thank you in the name of millions and millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects.

My thanks, also, to some of the speakers on this platform who, referring to the delegates from the Orient, have told you that these men from far-off nations may well claim the honour of bearing to different lands the idea of toleration. I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation. I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings: “As the different streams having their sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea, so, O Lord, the different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee.”

The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: “Whosoever comes to me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me.” Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilisation and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honour of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.