Issuer
IFCI Limited ("the Issuer")

Offering
2,00,000 Unsecured, Redeemable, Non-Convertible Bonds of Rs. 5,000/- each aggregating to Rs. 100 Crore with a green-shoe option to retain over-subscription for issuance of additional Infrastructure Bonds

Type
Private Placement basis

Instrument
Unsecured, Redeemable, Non-Convertible Bonds Series II having benefits under section 80 CCF of the Income Tax, 1961 for long term Infrastructure Bonds

Rating
BWR AA- by BRICKWORK RATINGS INDIA PVT LIMITED

Eligible Investors
Resident Indian Individual (Major) and HUF through Karta of the HUF

Security
Unsecured

Face Value
Rs.  5,000/- per bond

Issue Price
At par (Rs. 5,000/- per bond)

Minimum Subscription
1 Bond and in multiples of 1 Bond thereafter,

Tenure
10 years, with or without buyback option after five years

Options for Subscription
The Bonds are offered under the following 4 options-
• Option I - Non-cumulative and Buyback after 5 years
• Option II - Cumulative and Buyback after 5 years
• Option III - Non-cumulative and no Buyback
• Option IV - Cumulative and no Buyback

Redemption / Maturity
At par at the end of 10 years from the deemed date of allotment. For Cumulative Option, at par with cumulated interest thereon.

Coupon rate
• Option I & II - 8% p.a.
• Option III & IV - 8.25% p.a.
Option II and Option IV will have cumulative payment at the end of the Buyback period or 10 years, as per the option opted by the Investor.

Listing
Proposed to be listed on BSE

Trustee
Axis Trustee Services Limited

Depository
National Securities Depository Ltd. and Central Depository Services (India) Ltd.

Registrars
Beetal Financial & Computer Services (P) Ltd.

Mode of Payment
Interest payment will be made through ECS/At Par Cheques/Demand Drafts

Issuance
Demat form. But, investors interested for physical form may provide a cancelled cheque, self-certified copies of PAN Card and residential proof

Trading
Demat mode only following expiry of lock-in period

Issue Open Date
November 16, 2010

Issue Close Date
December 31, 2010
• The issuer would have the right to pre-close the issue or extend the closing date by giving 1 day notice to the Arrangers

Deemed Date of Allotment
January 31, 2011

Buyback dates
January 31 every year commencing from year 2016 till year 2020.

For further information, please contact Ms Maninder Kaur/ Ms.Barkha Chhabra /Mr. Gopal Singh/ IFCI Ltd, IFCI Tower,61 Nehru Place, New Delhi at 91-11-41792800/41732000 or  maninder.kaur@ifciltd.com or barkha.chhabra@ifciltd.com or gopal.singh@ifciltd.com.

To download Application Form, click here.

To download Information Memorandum,click here .

To view collecting bank branches list,click here .

To view contact details of arrangers,click here .

To view Corrigendum for subscription of bonds in physical form ,click here .

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Imagine. You are running following filters to choose best stocks to include your portfolio among BSE500 stocks.

1. A compounded annual growth rate of more than 20% in EPS
2. The five year average Return on Networth exceeding 20%
3. Debit-Equity ratio of less than 2
4. Interest coverage ratio exceeds 2
5. Price-earnings to growth ratio was less than one
6. PE less than Sensex PE

You would get exceptionally good bluechips for your portfolio. Value Research Online’s “Wealth Insight” applied above filters and has chosen 5 stocks among 20 it got. They are

The practice of collection of cheques crossed ‘account payee’ through third party accounts (of co-operative credit societies) is not permissible. However, to facilitate collection of cheques from a payment system angle, sub-members of the clearing houses may collect the cheques of their customers for the credit to their accounts through the sponsor member, under certain circumstances.
Reserve Bank of India has notified that collecting banks may consider collecting account payee cheques drawn for an amount not exceeding Rs.50,000/- to the account of their customers who are co-operative credit societies, if the payees of such cheques are the constituents of such co-operative credit societies. While collecting the cheques as aforesaid, banks should have a clear representation in writing given by the co-operative credit societies concerned that, upon realization, the proceeds of the cheques will be credited only to the account of the member of the co-operative credit society who is the payee named in the cheque.

Source : Banknet India
However, RBI has clarified that in the event of a claim by the true owner of the cheque, the rights of the true owner of the cheque are not in any manner affected and banks will have to establish that they acted in good faith and without negligence while collecting the cheque in question.

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In India, a variant of indexed bonds, i.e. Capital Index Bond (CIB), 2002 was issued on December 29, 1997 wherein only principal repayments at the time of redemption were indexed to inflation. Based on the past experience and feedback from market participants, a new version of IIB has been designed with protection from inflation to both interest payments and principal repayments linking them to Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for all commodities.
In the backdrop of high inflation, increasing preference of investors for diversified instruments and to further improve the depth and width of G-Sec Market, it has been felt that IIBs could be issued at the current juncture, Inflation-indexed bonds will help investors and issuers insulate themselves from inflation, and help in better risk diversification.

The Reserve Bank of India has, placed a technical paper on ‘Inflation Indexed Bonds” for public comments. The technical paper sets out the structure of IIBs including method of indexation (principal or interest), inflation index lag, issuance method, and methodology to compute settlement price.
Salient features
• In the current structure of IIBs, the principal will be indexed and the coupon will be calculated on the indexed principal. This structure is the same as was set out in the discussion paper on Capital Indexed Bond issued by the Bank in 2005.
• Since the objective of the IIBs is to provide protection against actual inflation, the final WPI will be used for indexation.
• Final WPI with a lag of four months will be used as the Reference WPI for the first day of the calendar month in which ‘Issue Date’ and ‘Set Date’ falls.
• As and when WPI index is being revised on technical grounds (coverage, base year, etc.), the new WPI index will be used for indexation purpose and past value of new WPI index would be computed through a linking factor.
• In the primary auction, the IIB would be issued at par and investors would quote their bids in terms of real yield.
• In case of reissuance, investors would bid in terms of price and settlement price may be computed multiplying the sum of the cut-off price and accrued real interest by the Index Ratio.
Comments on the technical note may be forwarded to the Chief General Manager, Internal Debt Management Department, Reserve Bank of India, Central Office Building, 23rd floor, S.B. Road, Mumbai-400001 latest by December 31, 2010.

Source : News Reports & Banknet

Tamil Nadu Electricity Board has recently permitted it’s consumers to pay their EB bills online. But it seems that EB didn’t upgrade it’s servers and bandwidth before allowing it’s customers to pay online. Result ? Very poor user experience.

It takes unusually very long time to load the pages. It takes more than 5 minutes to process request even in broadband. Sometimes it shows no connectivity with database.

The Govt. should take remedial steps immediately. Otherwise it won’t add any convenience to people at large.

Image via CrunchBase

Google has published a checklist to stay secure and protect your gmail/google account.

Part I . On your Computer

1. Check for viruses and malware

While no virus scanner can catch 100% of infections, it is still important to run a scan on your computer with a trusted anti-virus software (or install a program that runs in the background and scans continuously). If the scan detects any suspicious programs or applications, remove them immediately. Find virus scanners here.

2. Make sure your operating system is up to date

Operating systems release patches to repair security vulnerabilities. Whether you use Windows or Mac OS, we recommend protecting your computer by enabling your automatic update setting, and updating when you get a notification.

3. Make sure to perform regular software updates

Some software updates aren't included in your operating system updates, but they are just as important. Software such asAdobe Flash, Adobe Reader, and Java release regular updates that may include repairs for security vulnerabilities.

Part II. Your Browser

1.Make sure your browser is up to date

To check for browser updates in Internet Explorer, select the Tools tab and click Windows Update. In Firefox, just click theHelp tab and select Check for Updates. Google Chrome automatically updates when a new version is released.

2. Check your browser for plug-ins, extensions, and third-party programs/tools that require access to your Google Account credentials

Plug-ins and extensions are downloadable computer programs that work with your browser to perform specific tasks. For example, you may have downloaded a plug-in or extension that checks your Gmail inbox for new messages. Google can't guarantee the security of these third party services. If those services are compromised, so is your Gmail password.

Part III. Your Google Account

1. Change your password

If your account has been recently compromised, you should update your password now. In general we suggest you change it periodically, following these guidelines:

• Pick a unique password that you haven't previously used on other sites or on Gmail. Just changing one character or number still counts as reusing your password.
• Don't use a dictionary word or a common word that's easily guessable. Use a combination of numbers, characters, and case-sensitive letters.

2. Check the list of websites that are authorized to access your Google Account data

Make sure that the list of authorized websites are accurate and ones that you have chosen. If your Google Account has been compromised recently, it's possible that the bad guys could have authorized their own websites to access your account data. This may allow them to access your Google Account after you have changed your password.

To edit the list of authorized websites:

1. Sign in on the Google Accounts homepage.
2. Click the My Account link displayed at the top right of the page.
3. Click Change authorized websites. This page will list all third-party sites you've granted access to.
4. Click the Revoke Access link to disable access for a site.

3. Update your account recovery options

We all may forget our passwords at some point, so we strongly encourage that you update your account recovery options. To update these options, sign in to your Google Account by going to https://www.google.com/accounts and click Change password recovery options.

• Recovery email address: We can use your recovery email address to communicate with you if you lose access to your account. Learn more.
• SMS: We can send you a recovery code to your mobile phone number, which you can use to reset your password. Learn more.
• Secret question: This option is only available if you can't use the above recovery options and only if haven't tried to sign in during the past 24 hours. An ideal answer to your security question is easy for you to remember, but hard for others to guess.

Part IV. Your Gmail Settings

1.Use a secure connection to sign in.

In your Gmail settings, select 'Always use HTTPS.' This setting protects your information from being stolen when you're signing in to Gmail on a public wireless network, like at a cafe or hotel. Read more.

2.Check for any strange recent activity on your account.

Click the Details link next to the 'Last Account Activity' entry at the bottom of your account to see the time, date, IP address and the associated location of recent access to your account.

3.Confirm the accuracy of your mail settings to ensure that your mail stays and goes where you want it to.

Sign in to your account and click on the Settings link at the top to check the following tabs:

• General: Check Signature, Vacation Responder, and/or canned responses for spammy content
• Accounts: Verify your settings under Send mail as, which includes checking your reply-to settings, and Check mail using POP3.
• Filters: Check that no filters are sending your mail to Trash, Spam, or forwarding to an unknown account.
• Forwarding and POP/IMAP: Ensure your mail isn't sent to an unknown account or mail client.

Part V. Final Reminder

1.Watch out for messages that ask for your username and/or password. Gmail will never ask for this information.

2.Never give out your password after following a link sent to you in a message, even if it looks like Gmail's sign-in page. Access Gmail directly by typing https://mail.google.com in your browser's address bar.

3.Don’t share your password with other websites - Google can’t guarantee the security of other websites and your Gmail password could be compromised.

4.Keep secrets! Never tell anyone your password, or your secret question and answer; if you do tell someone, change it as soon as possible.

5.Clear forms, passwords, cache and cookies in your browser on a regular basis - especially on a public computer.

6.Only select 'Stay signed in' if you're signing in from a personal computer.

7.Always sign out when you've finished reading your mail.

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At last Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) has permitted it’s consumers to pay electricity bills online. To pay bills online, you need to do a one time registration in TNEB payment gateway @ https://www.tnebnet.org/awp/TNEB/ .

Click on the New User Signup for one time registration.

Fill in the details like name, zone , consumer no. and email id. Also choose a login name and password. Then click on submit.

Then check your email inbox. You can find a mail like a one below.

Hi, This is a greeting email from TNEB

Thank you for choosing to register with www.tneb.in

To complete your Registration, Click the following link to confirm

Click this link to confirm your Registration with www.tneb.in
Username:   xxxxxxxx
Password:   xxxxxxxx

Click the link in the mail, that would validate your mail Id. Immediately the web page would redirect you to login page. Fill your login name and password. The home page contains pending bills which you can pay.  You can add any number of service numbers by clicking add service No. menu.

You can pay your bills through Credit Card ( Both VISA and Master Card), Net Banking ( IB, Axis, ICICI, CUB and IOB ) and Debit Cards ( Indian Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and Canara Bank). 

Charges ? You have to pay 2.1345% extra as bank service charge/ payment validation charge. If you are an axis bank customer, you may use direct debit facility without any service charges.

Image by Unlisted Sightings via Flickr

Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), India’s largest housing finance company, will make a big-bang entry into education. HDFC will look at small towns to either set up schools or take over defunct boarding schools. The entry into education will be made through a separate subsidiary. HDFC directors will need to be on the board of schools as trustees. When a company director becomes a trustee on a school’s board, he can co-opt another trustee and the trust can be taken over. The trust can then sign agreements with interested parties to manage the assets. 

Kindergarten to class 12 (K-12) is said to be the most attractive segment of the education market, as a student usually stays on for 12 years. The K-12 segment will be the direct beneficiary of rising middle-class incomes in India. HDFC already has an educational loan unit — Credila Financial Services — in which it raised its stake to 51 per cent in July. Credila plans to leverage the distribution network and customer base of HDFC Bank to expand and also bring down the cost of funds.

Credila, which hopes to grow its loan book 2.5 times in the current financial year, is also in talks with other banks to diversify sources of funds. It has a line of credit from Punjab National Bank. At present, Credila lends around 65 per cent to students pursuing courses within the country. The company charges interest rates of between 9.75 per cent and 12.5 per cent on loans of up to Rs 50 lakh, unlike PSBs, which do not lend more than Rs 20 lakh.

The corporate loan portfolio of LIC Housing Finance Company, whose CEO is accused in a bribery case, constitutes only 11 per cent of its total loan book, as against around eight per cent last year. The retail portfolio, at 89 per cent, constitutes the major portion of the housing finance company's book.

As on September 30, the housing finance company's outstanding home loan portfolio stood at Rs 43,385 crore. Of this, loan to builders and developers works out to around Rs 4,800 crore, as against around Rs 2,600 crore in the year ago period. The asset quality of the corporate loan book is good with the gross non-performing assets from this segment at 0.08 per cent as on October 31, 2010. This is lower than the gross NPAs from the retail segment which stood at 0.84 per cent.

LIC Housing Finance has managed to keep its NPAs under 1 per cent for more than nine consecutive quarters. As on September 30, the net NPAs of the company stood at 0.21 per cent. In the fiscal ended March 2010, the company grew its loan book by 38 per cent and registered a 70 per cent year-on-year growth in disbursements. In the first six months of the current fiscal, LIC HF's loan book expanded by 36 per cent while disbursements were up by 37 per cent.

Source : News Reports