INSURANCE behemoth, Life Insurance Corporation of India, has pumped around Rs 26,000 crore into the equities markets (April 2009-October 2009), according to a senior company official. In comparison, overseas funds during the same period have bought Indian stock worth about $16 billion. The largest insurer in the country, has also increased its investments in nonconvertible debentures (NCDs) of many blue-chip companies and has invested a little over Rs 17,000 crore in the same period. NCDs are structured debt product that cannot be converted into equity shares of the issuing company but carry a high interest rate. The life insurer has also disbursed close to Rs 5,000 crore towards various infrastructure projects including power, roads, airport and education in the current financial year.
NHAI, PFC file prospectuses, coupon rate not yet decided MORE debt investment options have opened up for investors with AAA rated tax-free bonds worth over Rs 14,000 crore lined up. The National Highway Authority of India ( NHAI ) and Power Finance Corporation ( PFC ) are offering Rs 10,000 crore and Rs 4,033.13 crore worth of tax-free bonds, respectively, as per prospectuses filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). Of a Rs 5,000 crore issue by PFC, Rs 966.87 crore has already been raised through private placement on September 28 and November 1. Tax-free bonds give investors tax-free return on any amount invested. In another kind of bonds, the long-term infrastructure bonds, investments up to Rs 20,000 are tax exempt, that is this cap amount can be deducted from the taxable income. Accordingly, the NHAI prospectus has clarified that only the amount of interest from -and not the actual investment on -its new bonds will be tax-free. "NHAI's publ...
