INDIA BUSINESS UPDATE - CBI Probing 16 Cos In Housing Finance Racket; Parliament Disrupted For 10th Day; Sensex Down 141 Pts

Thursday, Nov 25, 2010 SPECIAL LEAD   Click here for India Business Update Mobile Version 5 COS BORROWED RS 1K CR TO INVEST IN STOCKS: CBI   The deadline for the notices issued by the CBI to 16 companies who allegedly received undue favours in the multi-crore housing loan racket ends on Thursday. CBI sources today claimed that five companies involved in the housing loan racket took a loan of Rs 1,000 crore to invest in stocks and manipulate share price. They say that while one company took a loan of Rs 560 crore, another one borrowed Rs 300 crore while rest of them took a loan of Rs 50-60 crore each. read more     LEAD STORIES PARLIAMENT HELD FOR 10TH DAY; COSTS NATION RS 60 CR   Parliament was derailed for the tenth day today, causing the public exchequer well over Rs 60 crore in the winter session till now. read more PRAFUL PATEL WARNS AIRLINES OF PREDATORY PRICING   Sending a strong signal to carriers over abrupt hike in fares, the Civil Aviation Ministry warned of action if airlines continued "predatory pricing". read more SENSEX DOWN 141 PTS; REALTY CRACKS 5%   Sensex shut shop at 19,318.16 points on heavy selling in realty stocks following the home loan racket. Nifty closed 66 points down to 5,799.75. read more ASIAN GAMES DAY 13: INDIA MEDAL TALLY AT 52   Ashwini Chidananda and Joseph Abraham won gold medals in the women's and men's 400m hurdles race. read more TOP STORIES • A case of individual misconduct, no system failure: LIC   • Housing finance racket a 'very small' incident: Montek   • New CEO for LIC Housing Finance in 2-3 days   • Mobile Number Portability begins from Haryana   • 2G scam: SC ticks off CBI for not questioning Raja   • Imperative to lift corporate veil: Sebi on Sahara   • Kochi IPL dream over, investors back out   • Gold Quest under MCA scanner for alleged fraud   • Cairn Energy to seek govt nod for pre-NELP blocks   • New Motor Vehicles Bill in next Parl session: Nath   • Food inflation eases to 3-mth low at 10.15%   • OP Bhatt, Pawan Munjal to advise govt on export   • Govt has no plans to buy back bonds for now   • Commexes' turnover up by 55% till Nov 15 this fiscal   • Health Min calls for tighter FDI norms in pharma   • Intl air freight grows 14.4% in Oct; signs of recovery   • Capgemini buys IT services firm Thesys   • EU to ban disputed carbon offsets from China, India   • J&J recalls 9 mn more Tylenol; label issue cited   • Cash-strapped Bank of Ireland sells off art; raises $2 mn   more stories TOP VIDEOS Bribery Scandal Not To Impact Realty Loans: OP Bhatt, Chairman, SBI   A Case Of Individual Misconduct, No System Failure: TS Vijayan, Chairman, LIC   We Have A Very Rigid System Of Well Laid Down Processes And That Is Always Followed: Alok Kumar Mishra, CMD, Bank Of India   Unaware Of Money Matters' Scam During QIP: Nirmal Jain, Founder-CMD, India Infoline   For hassle-free subscription to Forbes India just give us your contact details and our customer care agent will get in touch with you. Mobile:  Email:  AT A GLANCE BSE 19318.16 -141.69 NSE 5799.75 -66 TURNOVER Rs. 281,057 cr BSE CASH Rs. 5,547 cr NSE CASH Rs. 24,563 cr NSE F&O Rs. 250,946 cr BULLION GOLD 20361 -37 SILVER 41687 -185 CRUDE WTI 84.22 +0.36 BRENT 3930.21 +14.3 FOREX $ / Re 45.52 -0.17 £ / Re 71.854 +0.08 € / Re 60.732 -0.03 EVENTS 26-28 November Indiamart Famdent Show, Hyderabad International Convention Centre, Hyderabad 26 November Mutual Fund Summit, Le Meridien, New Delhi 26-28 November Autoplas 2010, Auto Cluster Exhibition Centre, Pune 29 November National Conference On Mergers & Acquisitions & Joint Venture Alliances, The Oberoi, New Delhi 30 November-1 December 5th CII ITC Sustainability Awards 2010, The Grand, New Delhi 30 November-2 December 8th Conference On Successful EPC Contracting In India, ITC Grand Central, Mumbai 1 December India Airports Conference 2010, The Taj Mahal, New Delhi 1-2 December Media & Entertainment Business Conclave 2010, Hyderabad   EXPERT VIEWS "We will take action against airlines that violate the price band. In fact, DGCA has sent notices to all the airlines. This kind of predatory pricing cannot be justified and it cannot be allowed to continue. They have been charging very exorbitant prices on most routes. This is a phenomenon which has been taken serious note of by the Ministry as well as the DGCA." Praful Patel Civil Aviation Minister "CBI has requested for some files (relating to loans extended to some housing companies). The outstanding amount (from) these companies were Rs 380 crore... We will see whether the internal system needs tightening, whether risk management needs tightening and whether there were any procedural shortcomings... More than the financial thing, it is the reputational risk that we are facing, not only to LIC Housing Finance, but to Life Insurance Corp also." TS Vijayan Chairman, LIC "I do not think we should make too much of a particular incident (housing scam)...The scale (size of the scam) we are talking about is very small as far as banking system as a whole is concerned. I think our banking system is pretty well regulated. Both the RBI and the (Finance) ministry, I am sure, are doing whatever is necessary to send the right signal." Montek Singh Ahluwalia Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission WATCH OUT   Sultans of South   This week we travel to Hyderabad to talk business with India's molecule millionaire, Dr Anji Reddy and the men who run his business GV Prasad and Satish Reddy. While Dr Reddy plans to be hands-on and bring back a discovery-led model for DRL; the next generation is gearing to handover to a professional CEO. But this "family in business" is very clear: they have no plans to sell out. 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