In an important judgment, the Bombay high court has ruled that life insurance policies can be traded and assigned freely. The division bench of High court ruled that such policies were “movable property” and can be traded by policy holder.

Transfer or assignment of a life insurance policies can be used as security for a house loan or just emergency cash against the policy.

Insurance policies are tradeable property: HC
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Source: The Economic Times

HC considered insurance laws, judgment in countries like US
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Source: The Times of India

Life insurance policies can be traded: HC
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Source: The Times of India

Here is the list of 10 of the most dynamic companies India has to offer as per Business Week article. Most of these companies trade on Indian and U. S. exchanges.
The companies mentioned are Tata Motor, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharat Forge, Rediff.com, Infosys Technologies, Wipro, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank.

Ten Indian Companies to Watch
The corporate high-achievers driving India’s hot economy aren’t yet immediately recognizable global brands. Here are 10 that could change that
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Source: BusinessWeek.com

ICRA rated around Rs 9,886 crore worth of debt during the first nine months of the current fiscal and has ratings outstanding on 398 issuers. Ratings account for 56% of ICRA’s total revenues, followed by consulting at 17.08% and IT at 16%. Rated corporate debt issuances in FY-06 increased 32 per cent increase over FY-05 while rated commercial paper issuances grew 47 per cent growth.

The ICRA offer is valued at 18.21 times and 15.18 times its estimated FY 07 earnings at higher and lower band of the offer. There is only one of its competitors listed on the bourses, CRISIL, which currently trades at about 34 times its estimated FY07 earnings, and 26 times its estimated FY08 earnings.

The major risk for the company is rising interest rates, which could depress debt market activity.

Moody’s Investor Services will be the sole promoter of ICRA after this offer, with a 28.5 per cent stake. This may open up new business opportunities from an expanding relationship with Moody’s.

It’s a value buy
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Source: The Economic Times

Deserves a high rating
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Source: The Financial Express

ICRA: Invest at cut-off
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Source: The Hindu Business Line

At this point of time, Mark Faber, Investment guru, is negative on emerging markets because of surplus liquidity flow to risky assets. He feels that US markets will outperform emerging markets for a while and the Indian markets could see a deeper correction going forward.

Surplus liquidity in risky assets negative for EMs: Faber
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Source: Moneycontrol.com

Art is becoming one of the hot investment for Indian investors. According to Guy Naggar, Chairman, Dawnay Day International, prices of art in India and contemporary artists have gone up 25 times. Naggar says the art index has shown a growth of 60% to 70% over the last 12 months. It seems to have cooled down during the past three-four months.

Art is hot in India
Excerpts from CNBC-TV18’s exclusive interview with Guy Naggar
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Source: Moneycontrol.com

Art is an investment today, says Tina Ambani
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Source: Zeenews.com

India’s art market booming
Soaring prices are attracting investment funds
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Source: International Herald Tribune

Art, the great new investment option
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Source: Rediff.com

ICICI Bank’s board has decided to transfer its holdings in its insurance and mutual fund companies to a newly created wholly owned subsidiary called ICICI Holdings. The bank owns 74% in each of the insurance companies, 51% in the asset management company and the trust.

This is the first step towards unlocking value in these businesses. In simple terms, it means that the bank is bracing up for an initial public offering to meet the capital requirements of both life insurance and general insurance businesses.

See ICICI Holdings’ value near USD 7 bn: ICICI Bk
Excerpts from CNBC – TV18’s interview with Kalpana Morparia:
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Source: Moneycontrol.com

Unlocking value
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Source: DNA Money

According to CRISIL, a Standard & Poor’s Company and India’s leading rating agency, the pace of India’s economic growth and inflation to moderate in the fiscal year beginning in April.

“Our projection for the year 2007-08 is 7.90 to 8.40 per cent — a slight slowdown from the current year’s performance due to the impact of interest rate increases and liquidity constraints,” Subir Gokarn, chief economist of S&P’s Indian subsidiary CRISIL, said in a conference call with journalists.

S&P: Indian Growth Will Slow
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Source: Forbes.com

CRISIL: India’s economy, sector to show robust gwth
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Source: Moneycontrol.com

GDP growth may stay at 8.4-9%: Crisil
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Source: The Economic Times

Here are the few main provisions in budget which affect NRI investors

- NRIs who file income tax returns in India will benefit marginally as the tax exemption has been raised by Rs.10,000 to Rs.110,000
- The dividend distribution tax has been raised from 12.5 to 15 percent on dividends paid by a domestic company from April 1, 2007. With education cess of three percent, it amounts to over 18 percent
- NRIs investing in a money market mutual fund or a liquid fund would pay 25 percent dividend distribution tax
- Investors receiving rental income on commercial properties would have to pay 12.5 percent service tax
- Sale of drawings, painting, sculptures or archaeological collections will attract 20% capital gains

Budget: NRI investors get lower returns
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Source: The Economic Times

Finance Minister P Chidambaram had in his Budget speech proposed making PAN the sole identification number for all participants in securities market.

“MIN will be withdrawn from tomorrow and PAN will replace it as the sole identification number for mutual fund transactions from March 2,” Association of Mutual Funds of India Chairman A P Kurien said.

PAN to replace MIN for mutual fund transactions
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Source: The Financial Express