Sri Srinivasan sworn in as judge of top US court

Sri Srinivasan was on Friday sworn in as judge of the second most powerful 
court of the United States, making him the first Indian American to be on
 the bench of the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the District of Columbia Circuit. 
File photo

The Hindu :PTI :WASHINGTON, September 27, 2013

Sri Srinivasan was on Friday sworn in as judge of the second most powerful court of the United States, making him the first Indian American to be on the bench of the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Chandigarh-born Mr. Srinivasan, 46, whose parents migrated to the United States in 1970s, was sworn in the oath of office in an overflowing court room of US Courts of Appeal for the District of Columbia Circuit by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, in presence of legal luminaries, friends and families.

Gursharan Kaur, the wife of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was present on the occasion when Mr. Srinivasan took the oath of office on the Gita with his mother Saroja Srinivasan holding the holy book for him.

Ms. Gursharan Kaur, literally drive off directly from the airport, with a brief stopover at the hotel, to be in time for the swearing in ceremony of the Indian American.

It was in May this year that Mr. Srinivasan was confirmed by the U.S. Senate by a huge 97-0 vote.

He is the first South Asian American to serve as a circuit court judge in American history.

The retired Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor who administered the oath of office called Mr. Srinivasan “fair, faultless and fabulous.”

He once clerked for her.

Addressing the gathering, Mr. Srinivasan acknowledged the contribution of his parents and family on his achievements.

Mr. Srinivasan was first nominated by Mr. Obama on June 11, 2012.

On January 2, his nomination was returned to the President, due to the sine die adjournment of the Senate.

On January 3, 2013, Mr. Obama re-nominated him for the same office.

His appointment is a testimony to his credibility and calibre as a brilliant legal luminary of the U.S.

Mr. Srinivasan was previously the Principal Deputy Solicitor General of the United States.

He is a highly-respected appellate advocate who has spent a distinguished career litigating before the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Courts of Appeals, both on behalf of the United States and in private practice.

SBI stops loans to road projects with land trouble due to rising NPAs

SBI stops loans to road projects with land trouble due to rising NPAs

Sangita Mehta, ET Bureau | 25 Sep, 2013, 04.46AM 

MUMBAI: State Bank of India has stopped lending to road projects that have not completed land acquisition for any part of a proposed stretch, a move aimed at stemming the spike in bad loans that has led the Chief Vigilance Commission and Central Bureau of Investigation to urge banks to tighten their norms.

"Unless you have 100% land acquired and in your possession, we will not finance the project. Earlier, we would do so with 95%,"SBI chairman Pratip Chaudhuritold ET.

"This means that road projects will have to be capitalised on day one. If it is a single road, we will say please get 100%, otherwise we will have enough letters blaming us for financing it."

As per the Reserve Bank of India, the state-run bank's exposure to roads projects stood at 1.4 lakh crore in July, up 23% from the year-ago period.

Along with its associate banks, SBI, India's biggest lender, accounts for about a fifth of the loans, prompting apprehensions that its latest move could hold up infrastructure projects that are reeling under severe funding constraints.

However, Chaudhuri clarified that the bank would consider a proposal if it came from a large state-run company.

"If it is a company like NTPC, if they have 25 power plants and if they are starting two more, we will take a view that if these two flop the other 25 can keep the repayments going," Chaudhuri said.

CBI director Ranjit Sinha had in August indicated that officers of public sector banks should be made accountable for the rise in loan defaults.

His comments came amid a sharp rise in defaults and restructured loans that jointly account for 10% of the bank's loan book. Sinha's comments, however, evoked sharp criticism from bankers.

Subsequently, at a close-door meeting with officials of the RBI and the finance ministry a few months ago, Chaudhuri took a strong stand on banks being blamed for the rise in bad loans. "If the government and RBI continue to blame banks for rising NPAs, we will be forced to insert impossible conditions in loan covenants that will make it difficult for borrowers to avail the credit facility," Chaudhuri said, according to a banker present at the meeting.

Bankers have been blaming the government, saying undue delays in giving clearances have led to the rise in bad loans. "Is it the banks' failure in monitoring or is it the government's that it has not delivered what it promised," said a banker, who did not wish to be named.

IDBI Bank on bad loan recovery drive

M.S. Raghavan, CMD, IDBI Bank… The bank is trying to settle around 70 %
 of its total NPAs by end-December. — Paul Noronha



BL ;MUMBAI, SEPT. 23:2013

IDBI Bank wants its managers — at the zonal, regional and branch levels — to focus their energies on making recoveries from the top 20 bad loan accounts in their jurisdiction.

What this means is that the bank does not want its officials to spread themselves too thin by seeking to make recovery from all bad loan accounts at the same time.

To clean up its books, the public sector bank has launched a special ‘Own Your NPA’ (non-performing asset) campaign so that officials give it all they’ve got for faster resolution of bad debts.

According to IDBI Bank Chairman and Managing Director M.S. Raghavan, as part of the campaign, each zonal, regional and branch manager will personally go and meet the customers.

“Hitherto, the focus (recovery) was missing. So, now the focus has returned. It is not 200 accounts but the top 20 (bad loan) accounts that are getting attacked time and again,” he said.

The total number of cases identified under the campaign, which was launched on August 1 and runs up to December 31, is 1522, involving an aggregate principal outstanding of Rs 5,805 crore.

Through the campaign, the bank is trying to settle some 73 per cent of its total NPAs of Rs 7,959 crore as on June-end 2013.

Raghavan said the managers have been told that their achievements on the recovery front under the campaign will be an important factor in their overall performance appraisal.

“We said that ideally these accounts should be closed. However, we all know this is not possible. In any case, there should be substantial progress on the recovery front,” said the IDBI Bank chief.

Year-on-year, IDBI Bank has seen a 45 per cent increase in NPAs, from Rs 5,496 crore as at June-end 2012 to Rs 7,959 crore as at June-end 2013.

Raghavan observed that in any bank’s loan portfolio, about 1 per cent is the normal stress that is built up due to various reasons, including business failure.

But what is more important is the stress arising from external factors, such as slowdown in the economy.

So, the stress from external factors is one major factor that has affected the asset quality of all major banks. This will get minimised only if the economy makes a turnaround.

Sai Info CMD ‘siphoned off Rs 40 cr’ before he went ‘missing’, say staff in plaint

Sunil Kakkad, Chairman and Managing Director, Sai Infosystems

BL :  Ahmadabad :Virendra Pandit :September 19, 2013

With a Satyam-like saga slowly unfolding in Gujarat’s top IT company 

Sai Infosystems (India) Ltd, senior officials of the Rs 2,000-crore firm 

have complained to the Ahmedabad Police’s Crime Branch that 

Sunil Kakkad, Chairman and Managing Director, 

had allegedly siphoned off nearly Rs 40 crore 

in 12 days just before he went “missing” on June 28, 2013, along with his family.

Amit Mathur, Associate Vice-President, and Sangeet Nigam, Senior Vice- President, in a written 14-page complaint accompanied by 56 documents, charged Kakkad, his brother and director Sameer Kakkad, Prem Behl, also a director, and Baageshree Bhupen Savani, Senior Manager and PA to CMD of wrongdoings. Mathur personally handed over the complaint to the Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch, on September 10.

The officials and employees, many of whom had quit but could not find work due to the current market conditions, finally met V.K. Saxena, President of an NGO, National Council for Civil Liberties, to take up cudgels on their behalf.

Fudging, fabricating accounts

The complaint, besides raising the issue of non-payment of salary to the 1,400 employees of Sai Infosystems, accused these persons and Mihir Jitendra Patel, Personal Finance Consultant, in collusion with their auditors, of “fudging” and creating fabricated accounts by reflecting a “very rosy” picture of the company. On this basis, they managed to procure contracts from the Governments of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

According to the complainants, the audited balance sheets for the last two fiscal years were “manipulated” to reflect huge profits and to “defraud the employees, bankers, creditors, vendors and government-owned companies”.

Crores transferred

Between June 14 and 24, that is, just before “absconding” on June 28, Kakkad “transferred” approximately Rs 27.83 crore, from Sai Info account with State Bank of India, Ahmedabad, to his various group companies, Mathur and Nigam alleged, while furnishing the list of the amounts transferred. These amounts were transferred to the firms named Tanya, Swan, Power Info, Cameo, and Blue Eye.

Further, Kakkad, on June 26, also transferred Rs 10 crore from his another group company, Click Telecom Pvt Ltd, to a third group company Power Info, and Rs 2 crore from the account of his another group company Atrium InfoComm Pvt Ltd, to Power Info-Control & Services Pvt Ltd. Copies of transfer advice signed by Sunil Kakkad were attached with the complaint.

Besides, according to the complaint, Kakkad set up SIS Global (USA), INC, in Oak Brook, Illinois, SIS Global (FZE) in UAE and Kompac Technologies Ltd, Hong Kong.

Investments

The company’s balance sheet for the year ended March 31, 2013, showed that it had invested Rs 11.33 crore to purchase equity instruments, government securities and in mutual funds. It bought shares worth Rs 7.50 crore in Atrium Infocomm Pvt Ltd, Rs 1.41 crore in SIS Global(FZE), UAE and Rs 4.46 lakh in SIS Global (USA), Inc, all subsidiary companies of Kakkad .

Requesting the Crime Branch to register a criminal case under various sections, Mathur and Nigam have said the bank accounts of the subsidiary companies, too, be frozen. They have also sent copies of the complaint to the Chief Minister, CBI, Income Tax and Provident Fund departments.

SBI notice in dailies

Earlier, SBI had, in a public notice published in various dailies said: “The CMD of SIS Group… Shri Sunil S. Kakkad, is not contactable and is reported to be missing.” SBI, which heads a consortium of banks that have, according to sources, lent Rs 1,000-1,200 crore to SIS, warned people against dealing with the assets of SIS and its associate companies.

The SBI notice mentioned the assets of two companies, including immovable properties charged/mortgaged to the consortium as security for the various credit facilities granted. The firms were: Click Telecom Pvt Ltd (associate of SIS), with its registered office at Nariman Point, Mumbai, and Attrium Infocomm Pvt Ltd (a subsidiary of SIS), with its office at Bodakdev, Ahmedabad. Kakkad was a director in both these companies as on March 31, 2013.

Properties mortgaged

Kakkad and Sai Infosystems had reportedly mortgaged 14 properties, including eight in Gujarat, on which SBI has claimed first right. The securities charged to the banks included all the current assets owned by these two companies in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Cherthala and Parwanoo, all the receivables, plant and machinery and other fixed assets at these places, and immovable properties in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and other places.

Founded in 1992 by Kakkad, an electronics and communications engineer and a first generation entrepreneur, Sai Info had emerged as one of the fastest growing end-to-end ICT solutions providers and system integrators. It had also diversified into hardware manufacturing, software development and telecom services. SIS had, in the last couple of years launched, in a tie-up with BSNL, a video calling facility from PCOs, said to be India’s first “see phone”.

The company’s revenues had zoomed four times to Rs 1,500 crore in 2010-11 from Rs 350 crore in 2006-07. It was allegedly facing financial crunch since August 2012 despite having an order book of over Rs 2,500 crore.

The sudden ‘collapse’ of a seemingly robust company, whose hoardings asking the vehicle drivers to be careful, “Mobile Off, Seatbelts On,” can still be seen on the Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar Highway, had caught many by surprise.

Debt downgrade by Moody’s unwarranted, says SBI

Arundhati Bhattacharya, MD and CFO of SBI.


 bl :MUMBAI, SEPT. 24: 2013

‘We have clarified to Moody’s that their concerns seem to be misplaced’

 

State Bank of India on Tuesday said Moody’s action in downgrading its senior secured debt and local currency deposit ratings was not warranted.

Moody’s downgraded SBI’s ratings a notch as its credit profile continues to face negative pressures in the context of economic slowdown and it is likely to seek another round of capital injection from the Government.

Arundhati Bhattacharya, MD and CFO, said: “We have clarified to them (Moody’s) that their concerns seem to be misplaced in view of the fact that we have more than sufficient capital to meet Basel III norms and also the current RBI and Board mandated norms.”

“Further, going forward, we also do not see any reason as to why we will run short of capital given the fact that the Government has always been supportive.”

In respect of banks such as SBI, which is the country’s banking champion, there really should not be a major difficulty in raising capital from the markets, should it need to do so, she added.

DEPOSIT BASE

In respect of the local currency bank deposit rating, which has been brought down by one notch, Bhattacharya said SBI has unparalleled deposit franchise.

In the last couple of years, SBI’s market share in deposits has gone up from 16.29 per cent to 16.73 per cent, indicating its strength in the area of resource mobilisation.

“As such we believe that in respect of local currency bank deposits we have absolutely no need for any kind of concern,” said the CFO.

OVERSEAS BORROWING

Hemant Contractor, MD (International Banking), observed that the downgrade is not going to impact SBI’s foreign currency borrowing programme.

“They (Moody’s) were the one’s who had given us a rating which was above the sovereign. The other rating agencies like S&P have maintained our rating at ‘BBB-’, which is the rating given to the Government of India.

“So, the market was always pricing our MTN bond issues based on the lower of the two ratings, which happens to be S&P’s rating. So, we do not expect any significant impact of Moody’s action on the pricing of our bonds,” said Contractor.

STRESSED ASSETS

In respect of the stressed assets showing a declining trend, Bhattacharya said while the bank might take several steps to bring them down, it will also depend on the broad economy.

SBI is lending only where there is enough strength in the particular borrowing unit.

“At this point in time, it is necessary to be a bit more selective in who we lend to. This is to ensure that slippages are kept to a minimum,” said the CFO.

Bhattacharya said: “If the broad economy is in stress and there is less of demand, then obviously that will impact the topline of the businesses which we have funded, which in turn might impact their quality.

“So, to a very large extent, this is also a function of the way the economy will perform.”

Auditor refuses to sign Financial Tech accounts

BL :MUMBAI, SEPT. 24: 2013

Annual General Meeting scheduled to be held in Chennai today

 

In what could lead to a major furore at the Financial Technologies Annual General Meeting scheduled for Wednesday in Chennai, the auditors refused to authenticate the financial statement of the company due to the Rs 5,600-crore trade settlement crisis at its subsidiary, National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL).

This development may also delay dividend payment to investors as the company deferred consideration of this proposal at the AGM. Statutory auditor Deloitte Haskins & Sells said the financial statement of Financial Technologies could not be relied upon due to the crisis in NSEL.

In a statement, Financial Technologies said: “Due to purported crisis at NSEL in the recent past and based on the communication of management of NSEL and the statutory auditor of NSEL on the financial statement of NSEL, the statutory auditors of the company on September 23, in accordance with Standard on Auditing 560 informed that the audit reports dated May 30 on the standalone and the consolidated financial statement of the company for the year March 31 should no longer be relied upon.”

The company has decided to defer three agenda items, including consideration of audit report, dividend payment and reappointment of Deloitte Haskins as auditor for this financial year, at the AGM.

Following this development, the company said the financial accounts may undergo amendment together with revised Auditors’ Report which will be approved and published once the accounts are finalised.

The company also said the balance sheet was approved by the auditors and recommended to the shareholders on May 30 while the NSEL crisis broke out on July 31.

The total income generated from NSEL last fiscal was largely on account of technology services, which contributes only 4.79 per cent of the total income of FTIL. There is no outstanding amount against the same, it added.

The contribution from revenue generated from NSEL in the net profit of Rs 323 crore was 6.56 per cent.

Given the above facts, the impact on account of NSEL on income and net profit is not material in the standalone financial statement, said Financial Technologies.

IT SEARCH ON BROKER

In a fallout of the NSEL crisis, the Income-Tax Department on Tuesday conducted searches at 20 offices of Anand Rathi Commodities in Mumbai.

The broking firm confirmed that it had facilitated trade worth Rs 641 crore on the exchange platform, which abruptly suspended trading on August 1. The exchange is now struggling to settle trades worth Rs 5,600 crore.

A few days ago, the IT Department conducted survey on the broking firm’s offices in relation to the NSEL scam. The search operation on Tuesday was undertaken after collating some crucial facts from the exchange officials in the survey, said sources in the IT department.

Despite repeated attempts, Anand Rathi officials could not be reached for comments.

NSEL defaults on settlement again

The crisis-ridden National Spot Exchange has managed to collect only Rs 15 crore from investors against the requirement of Rs 174 crore, defaulting trade settlement for the sixth time in a row. The exchange has recovered Rs 9 crore from Topworth Steels by cashing fixed deposit and bank guarantee provided by the company.

Default and be merry

BL : R Visanathan  Former Deputy Managing Director, SBI.:24 Sep 2013

The new RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has mentioned 

that “we (RBI) will take a close look at corporate distress and bank NPAs to … 

accelerate the process of resolution”.

The truth is that this is a messy affair. 

Regarding NPAs (non-performing assets) it is no secret that sovereigns in India (both Central and State) rarely, if ever, honour their financial guarantee obligations to banks and others.

Their example is faithfully followed by some banks and their borrowers, too.

The RBI has been a silent spectator so far.

 I request the RBI to take up the matter seriously at various levels.

Many NPA advances of banks are guaranteed by the promoters, including sovereigns. 

When the advance turns sour, guarantors blithely renege on their liability.

In recent memory, no businessmen of stature has gone bankrupt because he/she failed to repay the debt guaranteed by him/her.

Among banks themselves, there have been defaults arising out of letters of credit, a structured and codified obligation.

If the amount is substantial, the guaranteeing bank refuses to honour the L/C liability on some pretext.

The matter invariably goes to the courts and is allowed to drag on for years, if not decades.

SOVEREIGN SLIP-UPS

Sovereigns are no different as guarantors. 

In my long service at a premier bank in the country, I saw

only one case about 40 years ago when a bank forcibly recovered the

 guaranteed amount from a State government account.

When a financially troubled public sector company raises a loan from a bank or floats a bond, the owner government issues a guarantee covering the obligation. 

When the borrower inevitably defaults, the guarantor refuses to pay.

Around six or seven years ago, a government company failed to repay, on maturity, the amount of bonds issued by them; this was guaranteed by the Central Government, which too did not pay.

The credit rating agency that rated the bond ‘AAA’ earlier because of sovereign cover, promptly downgraded it to default category.

Lest this be treated as a black swan event, let me mention that the RBI is fully aware that default by sovereigns is the norm, not the exception.

The annual master circular issued by it on the subject in July 2013 states:-

 “The credit facilities backed by guarantee of the Central Government though overdue may be treated as NPA only when the Government repudiates its guarantee when invoked… State Government guaranteed advances and investments in State Government guaranteed securities would attract asset classification and provisioning norms if interest and/or principal or any other amount due to the bank remains overdue for more than 90 days.”

So, the RBI acknowledges that sovereigns can and do renege on their guarantee liabilities.

On a broader plane, a guarantor will default if he is unwilling or unable to pay. A sovereign’s inability to meet local currency debts is certainly unacceptable.

If it is unwilling to pay, the implication is that the law-maker becomes a law-

breaker.

Such defaults by sovereigns even for rupee liabilities, you will agree, does not bring any credit to the country.

SOME SUGGESTIONS

To improve this sad state of affairs, some steps can be taken.

First, the RBI could effectively and promptly intervene when a bank dishonours an letter of credit liability and make the defaulting bank pay without court intervention.

Second, the RBI could make all state governments pay their obligations to banks promptly in respect of NPAs guaranteed by them. The RBI did intervene and protect banks on an earlier occasion. A few decades ago, some of the financially distressed State governments did not even pay the interest due on their sovereign bonds.

The RBI took up the matter strongly with them and ensured that the amounts due were paid even, if needed, by recovering from the fresh borrowings of the government concerned. 

A similar mechanism should be evolved for State 

government guaranteed loans.

As for Central Government guarantees, could the RBI at least ensure that the interest due on these advances is paid on time?

In conclusion, the RBI instruction to banks (quoted above) does little credit to the country. 

The earlier it is rendered unnecessary, the better.

Kingfisher Airlines in talks with a foreign investor: Vijay Mallya

L ive Mint :Mihir Dalal  Mail Me |  P.R. Sanjai  :: Tue, Sep 24 2013. 03 05 PM IST

Discussions to get funds for a restart 
are likely to conclude within 90 days, 
says Mallya

Bangalore: Kingfisher Airlines Ltd is in talks with a “foreign” investor to get funds for a re-start and may conclude the discussions within 90 days, the airline’s embattled chairman Vijay Mallya said on Tuesday.

Mallya declined to elaborate further on the talks.

“All I can say is that it is a foreigner. I’m not at liberty to give further information because of strict confidentiality clauses. Given all that has been speculated, this investor is very, very sensitive to identities being revealed,” Mallya told reporters after the airline’s annual general meeting (AGM) on Tuesday.

A person close to the development, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a Saudi Arabia-based investor with “strong Maharashtra links” is conducting a due diligence of Kingfisher.

As per the plan, Mallya and the investor will assume part of the debt of the grounded airline and invest nearly Rs.1,000 crore after settling part of the dues of lenders and vendors, this person said.

“The idea is to opt for a limited re-start with five Airbus planes and three ATR planes. A joint revival plan will be submitted to aviation regulator DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) and lenders shortly,” the person said.

Higher fuel costs largely on account of increasing taxes, a failed acquisition of a low-cost carrier (Air Deccan) and poor management of operations led to thousands of crore of losses at Kingfisher. The airline’s operating licence was suspended in October by DGCA following a strike by its employees. Its permit expired on 31 December 2012, but it can be renewed within two years.

Mallya blamed the media for potential investors walking away from putting money into the airline and said at the AGM that Kingfisher’s employees caused the airline’s licence to be suspended.

“Let’s try to get Kingfisher Airlines restarted and not have a situation where yet one more investor has been driven away because of statements made by somebody, actions taken by somebody, or speculation in the media,” he said.

Despite the increasing losses in India’s airline industry, investor interest has been strong after the government allowed overseas carriers to invest in their counterparts here in September 2012. Indian airlines, excluding Kingfisher, are expected to lose a combined $400-450 million in the second quarter of the current fiscal, according to a mid-August report by consulting firm Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (Capa). The airlines lost an estimated $1.95 billion last fiscal.

Still, this year, Etihad Airways agreed to buy a 24% stake in Jet Airways (India) Ltd. The Tata Group signed a deal to run a discount carrier with Malaysia’s AirAsia, and then last week also announced plans to launch a full-service airline with Singapore Airlines.

Mallya said on Tuesday that Kingfisher has submitted three revival plans to DGCA but hasn’t yet received a response from the regulator.

He also said the UB Group’s holding company, United Breweries (Holdings) Ltd, or UBHL, has agreed to pay Kingfisher employees a month’s salary and has approached the Karnataka high court for approval. Kingfisher hasn’t paid employee salaries since August 2012.

The permission is required because Kingfisher Airlines’ creditors have filed at least five winding-up petitions in the court to recover dues. UBHL has given corporate guarantees of nearly Rs.9,000 crore for Kingfisher’s debt.

“The Kingfisher board has requested the UBHL board for funding. The UBHL board has considered the matter in the light of the prospective investor and has agreed to provide some funding to Kingfisher Airlines. UBHL itself cannot use its own funds or its assets because of a restraining order from the Karnataka high court. We have applied to court for permission to use part of these funds and now it’s in the hands of the honourable judge,” Mallya said.

Several Kingfisher employees present at the AGM on Tuesday said that receiving just one month’s salary wasn’t enough and expressed scepticism about Mallya’s ability to restart the airline.

“He’s paying us a salary for one month out of 14 months… he’s doing a great job,” one of the employees said, declining to be named.

“He’s been saying for months now that he’ll get investors and restart the airline. But who’ll want to invest in Kingfisher? At the AGM, he also said that we were to blame for (Kingfisher) losing the licence.”

Slipping control

Kingfisher is grounded, and Diageo Plc has management control at United Spirits Ltd. Now, Mallya is in danger of losing control of another of his companies.

Zuari Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd and Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals Corp. Ltd are in contention to be the largest shareholders in the UB Group’s Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers Ltd(MCFL) after a sale of pledged MCFL shares by Kingfisher’s lenders significantly reduced Mallya’s stake.

Mallya said on Tuesday that the UB Group intended to remain the controlling shareholder in MCFL and had offered to buy the shares back.

“I have told Mr (Saroj) Poddar, as well as Shaileshbhai of Deepak Fertilizers, that I intend to keep MCFL within the UB Group fold and that we’re not sellers and if either of them wishes to sell their shares we would be happy to buy them,” he said, declining to say how he would fund any purchases. Mallya added that he had received assurances from both Zuari Fertilisers and Deepak Fertilisers that they would not attempt a hostile takeover of MCFL.Despite repeated attempts, Mint couldn’t reach both Zuari Fertilizers and Deepak Fertilizers for comment.