Bankers fear post-S4A, their Hindustan Construction Company stake may fall under 26%
The consortium of 25 lenders to construction firm Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) might end up holding a stake smaller than 26% in the firm after implementing the scheme for sustainable structuring of stressed assets or S4A, a few bankers apprehend. Bankers will finalise the details of the R5,107-crore recast on Wednesday by which a portion of the unsustainable debt will be converted into equity. However,a statement by the company saying banks will hold 24.44% of the equity following the conversion is worrying some lenders. “A 26% stake would have given us the power to block a special resolution,” a banker observed. Of the company’s total debt of R5,107 crore, R2,426 crore has been found to be “unsustainable”. Some part of this will be converted into equity and rest into optionally convertible debentures with a maturity of10 years. The promoters’ stake will fall to 27.44% from 36.07% currently. HCC will be the first company to get its debt restructured under S4A scheme. A senior banker said the joint lenders’ forum (JLF) has to set a timeline for implementation of S4A and banks will have to issue margin guarantees to HCC against R3,200 crore where the arbitration awards were in favour of the company. “The guarantees will be proportional to the money loaned by each bank of the consortium,” he said, adding that it should not take more than a month to implement S4A. The banker added that a techno-economic viability study has found 52.5% of HCC debt to be sustainable. “The sustainable portion would have been higher if the company was able to get its receivables through arbitration. However, under the current guidelines, only current cash flows can be considered to calculate the sustainable debt,” he explained. HCC reported a net loss of Rs 318 crore on revenues of Rs 8,768 crore in FY16. In July, the company had informed stock exchanges the JLF meeting held on July 12, 2016, had decided to resolve the account under S4A. Subsequently, however, bankers clarified that while they had agreed to look into the proposal, no conclusive decision had been taken at the meeting. The S4A scheme has been viewed as an improvement over the strategic debt restructuring plan since it allows banks to retain the promoters whereas SDR envisaged bringing in a new set of promoters. The S4A scheme is more lenient to lenders since bankers may need to take an effective haircut of 50% if only half the debt is found to be sustainable. The scheme, however, does not permit changes in the terms of either the moratorium or the payments of principal or the interest. Banks are permitted to convert the ‘unsustainable’ part of the debt into equity or redeemable cumulative optionally convertible preference shares. To be eligible for the scheme, the projects should have commenced commercial operations and the total exposure (including accrued interest should be more than Rs 500 crore. Moreover, lenders need to have provided for at least 20% of the total loans. Aldrick Rosas Jersey
Toll tax suspended on national highways till Nov 11, banks open this weekend
The government on Wednesday suspended toll collection on national highways across the country till November 11 and asked banks to work this weekend as millions of people grappled to adjust to a life without the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknote. “It has been decided to suspend Toll across all National Highways till midnight of 11th November to facilitate smooth traffic movement,” Union minister for road transport and highways and shipping Nitin Gadkari wrote on Facebook. “There will be logistic issues in returning change for Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes,” Gadkari said. The Reserve Bank of India said ATMs will start dispensing Rs 50 and Rs 100 notes from Thursday. Banks have also been asked not to charge any fee for ATM transactions till December 30. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s late night announcement on Tuesday demonetised Rs 500 and 1000 currency notes , resulting in 86% of currency in circulation by value no longer being accepted as legal tender. However, some concessions are allowed for use of these notes at hospitals and crematoriums, and to buy air, rail and bus tickets till November 11. Toll plazas also continued to accept the devalued currency, according to an earlier announcement by the ministry. “The commuters are giving us Rs 500, but are not ready to accept it. This is the main reason for the chaos and arguments with people. We are facing a lot of difficulty,” said public relations officer Skylark toll company Kirpal Singh. “Eighty percent of the commuters have given us Rs 1000 and are not ready to accept Rs 500 in return,” Singh added. Most commuters tried to hand in the scrapped notes at toll plazas in a bid to get them changed into Rs 100 and Rs 50 denominations, but the concessionaires quickly ran out of paper money and traffic slowed to a crawl. Thousands of commuters and office goers were stranded in a massive traffic jam at the Gurgaon-Delhi Expressway on Wednesday. Wednesday’s decision to declare all roadways toll-free is to give the administration time to resolve logistical issues in replenishing plazas with lower-value currency notes. ATMs, which will remain closed on Wednesday and Thursday, will start dispensing new currency notes on November 11, relieving some of the cash crunch brought on by the surprise announcement. But panic-stricken people rushed to railway stations and petrol pumps to use up the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, spending more than Rs 1 lakh for train tickets. Railway minister Suresh Prabhu said people were lining up with Rs 1,000 notes to purchase platform tickets of Rs 10 each. Delhi Metro sparked anger earlier in the day, putting up notices saying it will not accept Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes but later reversed the decision. It said the notes of the two denominations will continue to be legal tender till Friday midnight. Deion Sanders Womens Jersey
New aircraft on Gaya-Delhi route from January 2017
Come January 2017 and the old and defect prone A320 air bus flying on Gaya-Delhi route would be taken off and a new series plane would fly on the said route. This will help to resolve the frequent grounding and emergency landing of the planes flying on this route. Till now Air India had been flying aircrafts procured a quarter century back with metal fatigue and other problems. The issue of defect prone aircraft came up at a high-level meet chaired by the Union civil aviation secretary Rajiv Nayan Choubey in Gaya on Tuesday. The participants included Gaya DM Kumar Ravi and airport director Dilip Kumar. Nolan Cromwell Authentic Jersey
Runway shuts due to stalled aircraft
The main runway at Kolkata airport had to be shut down for two-and-a-half hours on Monday after an aircraft developed a snag during take off and was stuck on the tarmac. All flight operations were shifted to the shorter, secondary runway during the crisis. According to airport officials, Singapore Airlines flight SQ517 operated with an Airbus 330 aircraft was taxing for take-off scheduled at 11.55pm when the plane developed a snag. As the aircraft rolled into the main runway, the pilot turned the nose to align the plane with the central runway line for the take-off run, the nose wheel mechanism jammed, stalling the aircraft on the runway. The night was a crucial time for air traffic management (ATM) team as many international flights were scheduled to land. Once the pilot radioed the air traffic control tower, operations were switched from the primary runway to the secondary strip. Rashaad Penny Authentic Jersey
Why the long delay in making Doon an international airport?
Over one lakh foreign tourists visit Uttarakhand every year. A significant number of NRIs also make a trip to the state. All of them have to take a circuitous route to reach the state as they are forced to break their journey in a big city like Delhi or Mumbai. Several hours of transit and flying time of these tourists can be saved if the long-pending proposal of converting Dehradun’s Jolly Grant airport into an international airport is realised soon. Many feel that at least, as a first step, flights from Dubai or Kathmandu can be started. “All US and European cities are connected with non-stop flights to a place like Dubai and tourists would definitely prefer taking an onward flight from Dubai to Dehradun rather than flying Dubai- Delhi and then catching another flight to Dehradun,” said Rahul Semwal, a travel planner based in Dehradun. Albert Wilson Womens Jersey
Air India plans to rope in consultant to chalk out business strategy
Air India plans to rope in consultant for hand-holding and to help it chalk out short and long-term business plan strategy as it seeks to turn profitable by March 2019, much ahead of the original deadline of fiscal 2021-22. The government-owned carrier has recently issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the purpose of selecting a consulting entity that has expertise in airlines sector in this regard. Air India, which has reported an operating profit of Rs 105 crore for the fiscal ended March 2016, the first time since Indian Airlines merged with it in 2007, is staying afloat on a Rs 30,000 crore government bailout. “The consulting firm shall review existing internal processes and prepare business plan strategy for short and long-term (10 years), engagement would also include benchmarking as per industry standards,” Air India said in the RFP document. Besides, the firm would also carry out gap analysis, recommendations for changes and detailed implementation blue print, keeping in mind current and future market scenario, handhold Air India in implementing these plans, it said. Air India along with its two subsidiaries –Air India Express and Alliance Air — at present has a fleet of over 130 aircraft in its fleet, comprising Airbus, Boeing, ATR and CRJ planes. The airline commands 14.7 per cent market share in the domestic air space. David Pastrnak Authentic Jersey
Rs 250-cr for city airport revamp, 85K employments planned
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has planned to spend Rs 250 crore in next two-three years at the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) and to generate 85,000 employments directly and indirectly. AAI Chairman Dr Guruprasad Mohapatra on Tuesday informed that the AAI will spend Rs 250 crore for its proposed land-side development project at the Biju Patnaik International Airport here thereby providing employment facilities to nearly 85,000 persons, directly and indirectly. “The AAI has identified nearly 60 acres of land for the proposed land-side development to facilitate the passengers and aviation related activities such as Hospitality and Convention, Airport Business District (Retail &Commercial) and Logistics and Warehousing to cater the growing dynamics of Bhubaneswar Airport wherein an investment of Rs 250 Crore has been anticipated with direct and indirect employment generation of 35,000 and 50,000 respectively,” Mohapatra told reporters here. Dan Hampton Jersey
Bengaluru airport sees highest growth in India this year
The Kempegowda International Airport has recorded the largest growth in passenger and cargo traffic in the January-September period compared to Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi. In passenger traffic, Bengaluru recorded a 22.4% growth followed by Delhi at 21.5%, Hyderabad at 21%, and Mumbai at 11.7%. In international passenger traffic too, the city has recorded the highest growth at 11.7%. For Bengaluru, this translated to 1.8 million passengers. Delhi comes second at 10.2%. In terms of cargo traffic, the Kempegowda airport is the only metro airport to have recorded a double digit growth at 10.8%. Hyderabad had the lowest growth rate at 3.8%. The city airport handled 11 million passengers, both domestic and international, during this period and has been witnessing a blistering growth. Hyderabad had seven million passengers. In terms of absolute numbers, the Delhi airport, however, handled the largest at 2.7 million passengers followed by Mumbai at 2.2 million passengers. Ali Marpet Authentic Jersey
Angry pilots go online to protest against DGCA draft, term it danger to air safety
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation draft, that proposed draconian measures against pilots who are found by the airline doctor to have falsely reported sick for duty, has precipitated anger amongst pilots across the country. Several pilots took to online platforms to denounce the draft and call it a danger to air safety. On November 7, TOI had reported that the DGCA had put out a draft that said the government could debar a person from temporarily or permanently holding a flying licence if…in its opinion, it is necessary to do so in public interest. The draft came in the wake of last week’s flight disruptions suffered by Jet Airways after a number of its pilots reported sick and went off their assigned flight duty, sans prior warning. Aviation safety experts criticized the draft that gives the airline management power to act against pilots it feels have reported sick ‘too often’, especially during festivals and weekends. An online petition by pilots on change.org received 1,979 signatures till Tuesday evening, in protest against the draft. The draft, which will come into effect from December 1, is open for suggestion and comments till November 23. Sharrif Floyd Jersey
No power cut for delayed bill payment in Gujarat
The state finance department has issued a notification ordering that essential services like electricity, water, and gas not be suspended for non-payment of bills, till November 24. The notification comes a day after the PM’s announcement that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes were being withdrawn. The notification said that since the finance department of the central government has imposed certain restrictions on withdrawals – Rs 10,000 from a bank account in a day and Rs 20,000 in a week till November 24 – paying certain bills would not be possible. Hence the state government has ordered all boards, corporations, and companies not to disconnect essential services till that date. Education has also been covered in the notification, as have drainage systems. The state government has also stipulated that no interest shall be recovered on late payments in the period in question. A review meeting was held to discuss these precautionary arrangements. Among those who attended the meeting were the additional chief secretary to the home department, the chairman of finance department, and officials of the Reserve Bank of India and public sector and private banks. Jake Bean Jersey