Published at 04:32 (GMT) 20 Nov
Bolstering sentiment among foreign investors, Bombay High Court ruled in the favour of Shell in a $1.4bn tax dispute. The Mumbai-based court set aside an order by the country's tax department on about $160mn of equity infusions made by the Hauge, Netherlands-based company in its India unit, Shell India Markets Pvt. Shell made the investment in 2009 at 10 rupees (16 cents) a share, which the tax authorities claimed were underpriced and revalued them at 183 rupees a share attracting the claim and interest. The ruling is a boost to efforts by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attract foreign investments to the South Asian nation and turn it into a manufacturing hub. The verdict, along with one last month favoring Vodafone Group Plc in a similar dispute, set a precedent for other transfer-pricing cases with overseas companies including Nokia Corp., IBM Corp. and Sanofi Holding SA (BBG).
Meanwhile, a govt. analysis, ahead of measures to curb gold imports, indicated that just six gold traders accounted for as high as 40% of total gold imports to India during April-September months. The six firms had imported 7.57 tons of gold in April that shot up to 47.26 tons in September, sources said.
Gold import surged almost four times to $4.17bn in October from $1.09bn in the same month a year ago. In volume terms, gold imports have touched 150 tonnes in October against 24 tonnes during the same period a year ago. The high imports have pushed up the country's trade deficit to $13.35 billion as against $10.59 billion in October 2013 (ET).
On FX, USD/INR gapped up to open at 62.030, breaking the recent range on the topside. Prices remained elevated, targeting 62.100 mark into noon. Series of small barriers seen ahead of the stronger technical barrier at 62.445, highs seen on 20 Feb 2014. Meanwhile, SENSEX opened in black, up 0.24%, at 28100.84. 10Y yields trading above 8.170% at last check. BB
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