Mumbai

India’s airports are struggling to cope with a massive surge in passenger numbers and billions of dollars must be spent to boost their capacity, analysts have warned.

The country is witnessing a huge boom in air travel as its growing middle class increasingly takes to the skies but experts say infrastructure is failing to keep up.

“There’s an urgent need for capacity building in major Indian airports as they are bursting at the seams and close to saturation,” Binit Somaia, South Asia Director at the Centre for Aviation (CAPA), said.

ICICI Securities, a pioneer of online equity shares trading and the largest equity broker by brokerage revenue and customers, announced its initial public offering, seeking to raise Rs 4,016 crore in the price band of Rs 519 to Rs 520 per share of Rs 5 face value.

The IPO opens on March 22 and closes on March 26.

ICICI Securities is 100 per cent owned by ICICI Bank and the promoter is divesting a 23.98 per cent stake in the arm through the IPO.

Stocks of companies going through the resolution pro­cess under the Insol­ve­ncy and Bank­ruptcy Code have seen a sharp fall over the past few months as ma­ny of the cases have ran into legal tangles.

Stocks of debt-ridden companies like Monnet Ispat, Bhushan Steel, Electrosteel, Uttam Galva, IVRCL, Orchid Pharma, VISA Steel, Ruchi Soya, Amtek and Videocon, which have been going through the resolution process, have seen huge selling since January this year. These stocks have fallen by 25 to 300 per cent since then.

Buying interest

The sale process of some of the high profile NCLT cases like Essar Steel, Bhushan Steel, Jaypee Infra, Amtek Auto and Electrosteel are getting caught in legal tangle as in many cases bidders who lost out in the race are challenging the sale process in the tribunal, while in some cases lenders are not happy with the bid price 

Almost all the 12 large companies identified by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) with bad debt amounting Ra 2.5 lakh crore for early insolvency resolution are facing legal and procedural hurdles. 

State-owned Mishra Dhatu Nigam (Midhani), which manufactures strategic materials like special steels, super alloys and titanium alloys for defence services, space research and nuclear power plants, will hit the capital market on March 21 to raise about Rs 438 crore.

The initial public offering in the price band of Rs 87 to Rs 90 per share of Rs 10 face value will close on March 23. The public offer will see divestment of 25 per cent government stake in the PSU through sale of 48,708,400 equity shares.

Hitting back at the government that had criticised the central bank’s role in detecting the fraud at the Punjab National Bank, the Reserve Bank of India governor Urijit Patel said that banking regulatory powers in India ‘are not ownership neutral and called for legal reforms to empower the central bank.

While delivering the inaugural lecture at the Centre for Law and economics, Centre for Banking & Financial Laws Gujarat National Law

Facing criticism for not detecting Rs 12,700 crore fraud at Punjab National Bank that was perpetrated over seven years, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Urijit Patel broke his silence on Wednesday stating that like the ‘Neelakantha’, the central bank will consume poison and face brickbats, but will persist with its endeavour to become better with each trial.

The State Bank of India (SBI) on Tuesday reduced the penalty charges on non-maintenance of average mo­n­thly balance by up to 75 per cent from April 1 as the me­a­sure had faced a public backlash for raking in huge profits by way of penal charges.

But the bank has not lowered the monthly minimum balance requirement, which has been retained at Rs 3,000 for metro customers, Rs 2,000 for semi-urban accounts and Rs 1,000 for rural accounts.

Despite a dip in retail inflation in February, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is unlikely to reduce key policy rates in 2018, analysts at brokerages said on Tuesday.

Delhi-based auto components maker Sandhar Technologies announced a Rs 512-crore initial public offering in the price band of Rs 327 to Rs 332 per share. The public offer opens on March 19.

The IPO comprises fresh issue of equity shares worth Rs 300 crore and an offer for sale of 64 lakh shares by private equity investor GTI Capital Beta.