MUMBAI: The financially-distressed Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited (DCHL), the owner of Twenty20 cricket IPL franchise Deccan Chargers, got a relief on Monday as the Bombay High Court barred the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) from inviting tenders for a new team till it hears DCHL‘s petition on Monday, 24 September.

DCHL has challenged the decision of BCCI to terminate the IPL governing council‘s franchise agreement for Deccan Chargers team.

The hearing was postponed to Monday as the Deccan Chargers‘ counsel asked for more time to go through the affidavit filed by BCCI and prepare for the hearing. While granting Deccan Chargers‘ plea, the high court also asked BCCI to refrain from issuing a tender for a new franchise till 24 September.

Earlier, there was speculation in sections of the media that the BCCI has zeroed in on 10 potential cities for the new franchise and has fixed the base price at Rs 3 billion. The BCCI had on Friday terminated Deccan Chargers‘ contract. It was to decide on inviting tenders for a new team on Saturday.

DCHL, under the aegis of BCCI, had called for bids to sell its IPL team but received only one bid from PVP Ventures, a Chennai-based listed real estate and film financing company. The bid was rejected by DCHL saying the price quoted by the bidder was not good enough and the payment terms unacceptable. PVP Ventures had offered to pay Rs 450 crore upfront and another Rs 450 crore through convertible debentures.

BCCI had found PVP Ventures to be an eligible entity to own an IPL franchise and was unhappy at DCHL‘s decision to reject the bid. The bid was conducted in the presence of a court officer appointed by the high court as an observer.

BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale, in a statement, had said the bid was rejected despite the bidder meeting the eligibility criteria of the BCCI.

The BCCI said it had to take the extreme step of terminating the Deccan Chargers agreement as the franchise owner was in breach of the agreement and had failed to pay players‘ fees despite repeated assurances since May.

DCHL is burdened by crippling indebtedness (various estimates have put its borrowings at around Rs 4,000 crore) and is in dire need of funds to ward off any action by its lenders. The promoters have already pledged their shares in DCHL and also the trademarks of its newspaper brands - Deccan Chronicle, Financial Chronicle, Asian Age and Andhra Bhoomi -- to lenders.

MUMBAI: Virender Sehwag has stepped down as captain of IPL franchise Delhi Daredevils.

The new captain will be Mahela Jayawardene, who will lead the team in next month‘s Champions League T20 which will take place in South Africa.

Sehwag has said that he wants to focus on his batting. "After leading Delhi Daredevils in four of the five IPL editions, Virender Sehwag has sought to step down from the skipper‘s post. The new captain will be Mahela Jayawardene, who will lead the team in next month‘s Champions League T20." the Delhi Daredevils said on their site.

MUMBAI: Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd (DCHL) rejected the sole offer it received at the Thursday?s bidding for sale of its IPL franchise Deccan Chargers, raising a major question mark over the financially-distressed company‘s plans for mastering its debt crisis.

The ailing Hyderabad-based media company will have to discover a new escape route soon to stop the BCCI from taking the hard decision of terminating its IPL contract with DCHL. The working committee of India‘s cricket board meets on 15 September to decide on the fate of Deccan Chargers.

PVP Ventures, a film production company, had put in a bid of Rs 9 billion for purchase of Deccan Chargers but sources say the franchisee owner refused to accept it saying the offer to pay the price in installments was not acceptable without providing bank guarantees.

According to the sources, PVP Ventures had offered a payment of Rs 4.50 billion in cash while the remaining half would be in the shape of convertible debentures. Deccan Chronicle?s decision to reject the payment terms was prompted by lender banks. The banks, which met in Mumbai on Wednesday to considering easing the terms for repayment of loans granted to Deccan Chronicle, had deferred any decision till the next meeting on 26 September.

The bidding was conducted under the auspices of the BCCI, the owner of IPL, but only PVP Ventures submitted its bid. Videocon Industries CMD Venugopal Dhoot and a little known R.N. Sports Club had expressed their interest in buying Deccan Chargers but appear to have decided against bidding for the IPL team at the last moment. Dhoot had told Indiantelevision.com that his bid could be around Rs 7 billion.

The BCCI in a statement said the bid that was received by Deccan Chronicle met its eligibility and suitability criteria. "The bid was then reviewed by Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited which, in its discretion and with no role being played by BCCI, rejected the bid on the basis of the payment terms offered by the bidder."

BCCI President N Srinivasan told reporters after the bidding process, "We found that they (PVP Ventures) were acceptable. However, the owners of Deccan Chargers rejected the bid."

The BCCI will have to consider several factors, including the financial implications, before resorting to any hasty action that includes cancellation of the franchisee licence of Deccan Chronicle. GroupM ESP managing partner Hiren Pandit feels the BCCI can make the offer lucrative by offering some flexibility in the bid conditions. "It will help if the location of the franchise can be changed. Ahmedabad, for instance, has more revenue potential than Hyderabad," he said.

The suggestion to offer the buyer an option to shift the franchise base from Hyderabad to a new city like Ahmedabad will, however, mean shutting the door to an existing revenue stream. "If they want to have a new city franchise, they can always add an IPL team. It is in their best interest to continue with the Hyderabad franchise and then when they decide to have one more team, they can start afresh to get the best commercial terms," an industry observer said.

Deccan Chronicle Holdings, which has a profitable publishing business with newspaper brands such as Deccan Chronicle and Financial Chronicle, is in a financial mess having amassed huge debt (unconfirmed reports put the total debt at closer to Rs 40 billion) and is in dire need of funds to pacify angry lenders.

The rejection of the sole bid at a decent price came as a shock as a price of around Rs 7 billion, including assumption of any liabilities, was considered to be a fair valuation.

The price of Deccan Chronicle shares fell after the news that the company has rejected the sole bid broke at around 3 pm, after being higher than Wednesday?s closing price for most of the day on hopes of fund flow from sale of the IPL team. The company?s shares closed at Rs 10.84, down 1.72 per cent from Wednesday?s close and almost 80 per cent down from its 52-week high.

Deccan Chronicle had last week issued a tender inviting bids for buying the Hyderbad IPL team, under the aegis of BCCI. As per the tender notice, bidders were required to enter into a new franchisee agreement with BCCI. The purchase consideration would be paid into a bank account as decided by the lending banks, with 5 per cent payable directly to the BCCI.

The winning bidder would have acquire Deccan Chargers on an "as is where is" basis, which means that the new buyer had to use the name Deccan Chargers and also clear any liabilities.

MUMBAI: In the bidding race for the buyout of IPL franchise Deccan Chargers, there will be a surprise contender. Mumbai-based RN Sports Club, which had expressed intent to buy the franchise outright, has been told by Deccan Chronicle chairman T. Venkattram Reddy to bid for it.

Reddy today met with two executives of RN Sports Club. "While we wanted to buy the franchise outright, Reddy told us to go through the bidding route," the Club?s spokesperson Deepika Sood told Indiantelevision.com.

As had been reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, RN Sports is willing to pay Rs 9-11 billion. Backed by a celebrity and a businessman, it was ready to buy outside the bidding process. Interestingly, Bollywood star Salman Khan?s name has also cropped up in the list of possible bidders.

Earlier, Videocon CMD Venugopal Dhoot had told Indiantelevision that his company would bid around Rs 7 billion. Other names doing the rounds who could bid for the franchise include Adani Group and former Satyam COO Srini Raju who is now Peepul Capital co-founder, chairman.

Also read:

RN Sports Club willing to buy Deccan Chargers for Rs 11 bn

MUMBAI: Former Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman, commissioner Lalit Modi has said that allegations levelled in show cause notices by the ED for alleged forex law violations of over Rs 13.10 billion in the conduct of the second edition of the event in South Africa concerned "collective responsibilities" rather than being personal.

"The Enforcement Directorate (ED) show cause notices reveal that ED has been investigating alleged violations under Fema in relation to BCCI contracts and in respect of the general conduct of the IPL.

"The allegations reflect collective responsibilities rather than personal responsibilities. It is significant to note that the Enforcement Directorate has not identified any specific contravention under Fema committed by our client," a legal firm representing Modi said in its reply to the Directorate.

The 11 notices were issued by the ED against BCCI, Modi and six others for alleged contravention of Foreign Exchange Management Act (Fema) involving about Rs 13.17 billion in November last year in connection with the conduct of IPL in South Africa during 2009.

"My responses to the show cause notices show my commitment to complying with all requests made to me by the authorities in order to clear my name of any association with these investigations," Modi said.

He said the notices are to establish whether or not an inquiry should be held for the purpose of making an adjudication.

"I continue to remain confident that I have done nothing to warrant the continued investigation of my role as chairman of the IPL," Modi, who is in London, said.

Last month, the ED slapped show cause notices on Modi, officials of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, and HDFC Bank for contravention of Fema regulations to the tune of Rs. 600 million while awarding various contracts.

"This week, I have presented my reply to the Directorate of Enforcement?s 11 Show Cause notices relating to the Foreign Exchange Management Act (Fema). In simple terms, the act requires certain foreign exchange transactions to be approved by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the current investigations surround the potential contravention of the law in the BCCI?s dealings with Cricket South Africa [CSA) for IPL 2. The ED delivered the notices to several recipients including me and in doing so they gave me an opportunity to fully reflect the activities surrounding the tournament in South Africa. I have always said I have nothing to hide".

He has also said that there was no direct allegation against him and he chose to receive the notices so he could explain the issues.

" Within the 11 notices I have received, there is not one single allegation against me personally. I was, of course part of the IPL at the time and that is why I regard the receipt of the notices as an opportunity to explain the issues at hand and, in doing so, clarify the innermost workings of the BCCI at the very highest level. It?s also worth noting that I voluntarily received the Show Cause notices in order to do so."

The allegations are related to the second edition of the IPL in 2009, which was shifted to South Africa after failing to get security clearance to stage the event in India.

According to Modi?s reply, all activities of IPL had approval of the Governing Council, headed by him and involving members of the BCCI.

"All activities of IPL are acts that have documented approval from collective Governing Council or Working Committee Meetings in accordance with BCCI/IPL process.

"Our client has earlier provided documentary evidence to the complainant which illustrate collective council or board approval for all activities. Thus, no action of our client can be termed as unauthorised, unilateral actions on his behalf," the reply said.

Modi said that IPL like any other committee of BCCI for example finance committee, legal committee or marketing committee is merely to assist and aid the BCCI.

"The members of such Committees including the chairman thereof cannot be said to be person in-charge or responsible to the BCCI for the conduct of business of the BCCI.

This is so because IPL is merely a sub-committee of the BCCI and has no control over the affairs of BCCI rather it is controlled by BCCI. IPL also has no say upon any financial drawings, disbursements or remittances as such matters are controlled by persons who are incharge of BCCI namely the president, the secretary and the treasurer. IPL does not also have any separate existence".

He said the ED is investigating claims that the BCCI made payments to Cricket South Africa (CSA) and administered an account in South Africa without the necessary permissions required under Fema.

"At the time, I was, of course, IPL Chairman. As a sub-committee of the BCCI, the IPL does not have an independent existence or any financial drawing or disbursement powers. All accounts are operated by the BCCI. When it became clear that IPL 2 couldn?t take place in India because of security issues relating to the elections, we made the collective decision to take the tournament to either England [ Images ] or South Africa. That decision was taken at a meeting of the BCCI Working Committee on 22nd March, 2009. During the meeting, it was also agreed that an overseas event meant that a  new bank account would be required somewhere abroad to take care of all financial considerations and that, in accordance with the constitution, the Secretary of the BCCI, should seek clearance from the RBI".

He was following the instructions of BCCI president N Srinivasan, when it came to setting up of the bank account in South Africa. "On 25th March, I was one of several recipients of an e-mail sent by the then Secretary, Mr. N Srinivasan, which explained that RBI policies in South Africa meant the accounting set up would need to follow the methods adopted by the ICC during international tournaments. Specifically, this meant that CSA would administer the account on behalf of the BCCI with the latter making payments to balance the transactions. As was reflected in the meeting on 29th March, the appropriate BCCI offices were required to ensure all regulatory processes were adhered to. That is a singular responsibility, which constitutionally rests with the Secretary in association with the Treasurer.

"Significantly, however, it was Mr. Srinivasan?s view that because the IPL 2 account was now going to be operated by CSA, any transfer of funds would be covered under current account transactions and would not require RBI approval."

Modi was also surprised that the BCCI has said that IPL 2.0 was owned by South Africa.

"I was surprised to learn that the BCCI in its reply to ED is now portraying IPL 2 as a CSA-owned tournament in its own responses to the Show Cause notices. This is just untrue. IPL 2 was a BCCI tournament all along. The fact is that throughout the tournament, CSA administered the accounts, but was not authorised to make ANY unilateral payments from the account as the money was regarded as BCCI funds. Any transaction required BCCI authorisation and CSA was considered a service provider for which fees were paid. For additional clarity on this point, it?s important to note that all vendors, contractors and suppliers were selected and appointed by the BCCI. It?s therefore interesting to consider why the BCCI is now painting a different picture."

"For the record, I had no transactional mandate, nor any cheque signing powers" He said that should not be held responsible for any wrongdoings as all decisions were taken by the then secretary Srinivasan.

"Everyone knows the tournament was an outstanding success. The CSA and the South African people embraced the event in a manner that was beyond our wildest dreams and IPL 2 brought in exceptional revenue for the BCCI - and consequently for India. The route for all funds was administered in accordance with the agreed principles. As Chairman of the IPL I created the tournament, while the Treasurer operated the accounting process and at all times, only did so following approval by the Secretary. It has been standard practice for the BCCI that all Fema compliances and RBI approvals are required to be actioned from the Treasurer?s office but in turn all decisions and approvals in respect of the IPL, which had any financial implication, or required the drawing or disbursing of funds - including RBI approvals - were taken by the then Secretary. For the record, I had no transactional mandate, nor any cheque signing powers.

"So these are the salient points I have reflected in my reply to the ED. It is important for me to explain the matter publicly because on 15th September, the BCCI meets in Chennai when they will apparently discuss the issue of changing the constitution to allow longer terms for officials - including of course, those currently in office. That meeting will take place under a cloud of issues that the cricket fans of India are awaiting answers to. It?s up to you to work out wether or not, they deserve your patience any longer."

Modi adds that the BCCI meets in Chennai next weekend, knowing that it has many problems to solve and the list appears to be getting longer and longer by the day. "The Deccan Chargers issue is the latest problem that?s dragging the IPL through the mud, but as well as that, sponsors are fleeing and new partners appear reticent to jump on board a ship that the beleaguered crew is finding harder and harder to steer."

MUMBAI: Former Australian cricket player Brett Lee will help push Australian tourism in India as a part of the ?Friends of Australia? advocacy program by Tourism Australia.

As part of his first stint as a Friend of Australia, Lee welcomed more than 70 of India?s leading travel agents in Melbourne with a personalised tour of the Melbourne Cricket Ground and dinner at the cricketing stadium to share his career highlights. The agents participated in a six?day India Mega Familiarisation and Workshop (IMFW) being hosted in Australia until 6 September.

The programme was jointly hosted by Tourism Australia and Tourism Victoria and it was the second time this business event was held in Australia. India represents a major visitor market for Australia and Victoria in particular. The participants will also visit a number of other Australian states as part of the familiarisation visit.

Lee who recently retired from international cricket is a popular figure in Indian sports and culture, during both his cricketing career representing Australia and playing for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League (IPL), in addition to his music pursuits and growing his Mewsic Foundation in India.

Tourism Australia managing director Andrew McEvoy said, "India is a market that continues to deliver steady growth for Australian tourism and we are delighted to have someone of Brett Lee?s calibre to further raise the profile of Australia in India and to help us best align to our year 2020 target to secure higher visitor growth from this rising market."

India is currently Australia?s 10th largest tourism market, worth Australian $0.8 billion in 2011 and delivering 152,000 visitors in the last financial year to 30 June 2012.

McEvoy said, "India has great long term potential for Australian tourism and we continue to support its development via our recently launched India Strategic 2020 Plan to grow the Indian visitor market to Australia. Brett Lee has a huge profile in India, but also possesses deep credibility by demonstrating a high level of engagement and embracing Indian culture, as a result of his stellar cricketing career and ambassadorial and charity work in country. We are thrilled to have his support to tell more Indians why they should visit Australia for their next long haul holiday."

Lee said, "Having travelled to India some 60 plus times, I now look forward, as a Friend of Australia ambassador, to encouraging Indians to visit this wonderful country and experience all that Australia has to offer."

The travel agents and tour operators participating in the familiarisation visit are among the top sellers of Australian holidays in Mumbai, Delhi and other major secondary cities in India. During their time in Australia they have already experienced Sydney and the Hunter Region (NSW), the Gold Coast (Queensland), Perth and Fremantle (Western Australia), and will now disperse throughout Victoria.

Following the Melbourne leg of their visit, where they are meeting with Australian tourism product suppliers, a number of agents will also visit The Whitsundays, Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef (Queensland), Adelaide, the Barossa Valley and Kangaroo Island (South Australia).