Jubilant FoodWorks rise on mulling to diversify its present business

previous closing of Rs. 561.75 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 565.70 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 576.90 and Rs. 560.00 respectively. So far 83,571 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'B' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 670.70 on 01-Dec-2010 and a 52 week low of Rs. 251.65 on 21-May-2010.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 580.75 and Rs. 523.90 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 3628.02 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 61.29% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 30.68% and 8.03% respectively.

Jubilant FoodWorks which is operating Dominos Pizza chain in India is aiming to diversify its business into new areas, including operating hotels and other non-food segments such as garments and fashion accessories. The company will get to know if the shareholders have approved new plan when the result of the postal ballot is announced on April 21, 2011.

As per the company's plan, it is seeking to enter into businesses such as stationary items, fashion accessories, toys, gift items, DVDs, VCDs and home decor items. Apart from this, it is also looking to operate hotels, restaurants, beach resorts, health resorts, cafes and motels. The company has drawn up plans to tap huge market available by venturing into new business initiatives in the food business. Other items that the company could start dealing in are baby and dietetic products, pickles, spices, wines and liquors. The firm also has intentions to cultivate, prepare or market any organic, agricultural or plantation produce and sell it in India or elsewhere.

The company is also planning to construct, own, hire or maintain cold storages, ice plants, warehouses, freezing houses and room coolers for storing food products being dealt by the company as a part of its business in India.

Allcargo Global Logistics marginally up on its plan to foray into third-party logistics biz

Allcargo Global Logistics is currently trading at Rs. 160.25, up by 0.20 points or 0.12% from its previous closing of Rs. 160.05 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 162.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 162.00 and Rs. 160.10 respectively.

The BSE group 'B' stock of face value Rs. 2 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 200.80 on 15-Apr-2010 and a 52 week low of Rs. 125.05 on 31-Jan-2011.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 163.80 and Rs. 146.50 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 2114.57 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 69.83% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 11.81% and 18.36% respectively.

In an aim to become an integrated logistics player in a few months, Allcargo Global Logistics is planning to enter third-party logistics business space. It is also planning to expand its warehousing capacity at Verna (Goa), Hosur and Nagpur to 400,000 sq ft with an investment of Rs 40 crore.

Allcargo is a market leader in the less-than-container-load (LCL) segment -- shipments that are insufficient either in weight or quantity for standard containers. The company is planning to rapidly expand the ICD (inland container deposit) footprint across India and aims to grow by setting up own facilities or through acquisitions. The company is actively scouting for acquisitions in the fast growing markets of India and East Asia as it aims to almost double its revenue to $1 billion by 2014.

Of its total capex of Rs 250 crore for the year ending December 2011, the company plans to utilise Rs 40 crore for ICD development at Dadri and Hyderabad. Last year, Allcargo had acquired business rights and controlling stake in Hong Kong based companies engaged in NVOCC business in China and other parts of eastern regions.

Third-party logistics providers handle all or most of a company's freight and production distribution activities, thus relieving the customer from day-to-day logistical issues. Allcargo provides various services such as inbound and outbound consolidation, multi-city consolidation, FCL forwarding airfreight forwarding activities project cargo handling and transportation and CFS operations.

Jain Irrigation rises on the BSE

Jain Irrigation Systems is currently trading at Rs 183.10, up by 0.80 points or 0.44% from its previous closing of Rs 182.30 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs 182.70 and has touched a high and low of Rs 184.55 and Rs 181.00 respectively. So far 82,014 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs 2 has touched a 52 week high of Rs 264.57 on 09-Aug-2010 and a 52 week low of Rs 155.15 on 01-Feb-2011.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs 193.50 and Rs 179.40 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs 6998.58 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 30.76% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 57.82% and 10.78% respectively.

Mumbai-based Jain Irrigation Systems has won the FT (Financial Times) ArcelorMittal Environment Award for 2011 for its contribution to the agriculture sector in India.

It is the first company to introduce drip irrigation technology to India in the 1980s. Since then it has greatly increased agricultural yields and this year the Government of India has increased subsidies for micro-irrigation to $221 million, up 133% from last year.

With over 8,000 employees including 1,000 abroad, the company has achieved a turnover of $1 billion this year. Drip irrigation systems, sprinkler irrigation systems, automation systems, valves, water filters, fertigation, equipment, green houses, plant tissue culture, nursery plants and systems, bio fertilizers are some of the manufacturing products of the company. The company also has its operations in the USA, Europe and Brazil.

Jain Irrigation is a diversified company with a market capitalization of Rs 7,500 crore approx. Jain’s product portfolio includes Irrigation Products, Piping Products, Plastic Sheets, Dehydrated Foods, Fruit Puree and Juice concentrates.

Airlines stock trades lower on the bourses

Airlines stocks declined in the trade as oil firms hike jet fuel prices by over 6 per cent and increase in international crude prices also weighed the sentiments.

Kingfisher Airlines is currently trading at Rs 39.80, down by 0.95 points or 2.33% from its previous closing of Rs 40.75 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs 41.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs 41.10 and Rs 39.55 respectively. So far 2,46,851 shares were traded on the counter.

Jet Airways (India) is currently trading at Rs 461.50, down by 9.00 points or 1.91% from its previous closing of Rs 470.50 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs 471.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs 471.00 and Rs 457.20 respectively. So far 98,866 shares were traded on the counter.

Spicejet is currently trading at Rs 39.00, down by 1.15 points or 2.86% from its previous closing of Rs 40.15 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs 40.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs 40.35 and Rs 38.85 respectively. So far 8,52,659 shares were traded on the counter.

State-owned oil firms hiked jet fuel prices by a massive 6 per cent, the 11th rate increase in six months. Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) rates in Delhi have been hiked by Rs 3,377.09 per kilolitre (kl), or 6.14 per cent, to Rs 58,310.45 per kl.

The hike comes on the back of three consecutive massive hikes since February this year, when crude oil spiked to over $100 per barrel.

Meanwhile, benchmark crude for April rose $3.40 to expire at $101.38 a barrel, after trading in a range from $96.60 to $101.99 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, ICE Brent crude for May rose $4.30, or 3.89 percent, to settle at $114.90 a barrel on the ICE.

Subex moves up on wining multi-million dollar deal from Middle East operator

Subex is currently trading at Rs. 50.70, up by 1.35 points or 2.74% from its previous closing of Rs. 49.35 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 50.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 52.65 and Rs. 49.50 respectively. So far 10,81,658 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'B' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 94.90 on 12-Nov-2010 and a 52 week low of Rs. 45.85 on 25-May-2010.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 55.65 and Rs. 48.95 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 344.47 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 11.69% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 24.75% and 50.29% respectively.

Subex, a leading global provider of Operations and Business Support Systems (OSS/BSS) for Communications Service Providers, will be providing its acclaimed and unique platform, Revenue Operations Center (ROC) for Fraud Management and Revenue Assurance to a Middle East fixed and mobile service provider, for a multi-million dollar deal.

These solutions will deliver additional value and help the service provider address any vulnerability to fraud and revenue leakages, by putting in place a formidable system to combat such leakages.

The ROC Fraud Management solution is built to drive fraud prevention by eliminating known frauds, uncovering new fraud patterns, minimizing fraud run time, augmenting internal controls, and supporting continuous fraud management process improvement. ROC Fraud Management detects known fraud types and patterns of unusual behaviour, helps investigate these unusual patterns for potential fraud, and uses the knowledge, thus generated, to upgrade and protect against future intrusions.

ROC Revenue Assurance solution is a first-of-its-kind, complete revenue assurance solution, designed to tackle critical challenges across the entire revenue chain. It offers a set of pre-configured solution templates to address revenue assurance challenges inherent to individual service verticals -- Wireless, Fixed, Cable MSPs, and MVNOs. These solution templates address revenue assurance issues across multiple functional areas, such as service fulfillment, usage integrity, retail billing, interconnect/wholesale billing, and content settlement.

Domestic markets slip further; RIL drags

The domestic equity markets have taken the turn for the worst and while the global cues remain positive the local indices have plunged by over a percent in the mid morning session. Oil & gas sector is witnessing a sharp plunge partially by the rise in international crude prices and partially by the sudden fall in the index heavyweight reliance Industries, which has lost over 3 percent, declining below Rs 1000 mark again after it replied to DGH that the production of national crude oil and gas could fall further. Oil regulator Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) has asked Reliance Industries to fulfill its commitment of drilling 22 wells in the KG-D6 field to boost production. It has written last month to the company asking it to drill two more wells by April to meet its commitment of drilling 22 wells in the phase-1 development of the Dhirubhai-1 and 3 or D1 and D3 gas fields in the KG-D6 block. Back on street the broader indices too have lost their stem and were marginally trading in red while the metal index was the only gaining gauge on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,959.06, down by 190.81 points or 1.05%. The index has touched a high of 18,259.61 and low of 17,953.24 respectively. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index.

The broader indices too were trading lower; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were down by 0.24% and 0.12%, respectively.

The lone gaining sectoral indices on the BSE was Metal, up by 0.21%. On the other hand Oil & Gas down by 2.61%, IT down by 1.20%, TECk down by 0.85%, Bankex down by 0.80% and PSU down by 0.73% were the top losers.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 1.25%, Bajaj Auto up by 0.59%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.52%, Hindalco up by 0.45% and DLF was up by 0.43%.

The top losers of the index were RIL down by 3.34%, BHEL down by 1.96%, TCS down by 1.66%, HDFC down by 1.64% and M&M was down by 1.17%.

Meanwhile, after seeing eight rounds of monetary policy tightening, the Indian Inc is finally beginning to complain about surging cost of funding, notwithstanding the high inflation which might require further tightening in the central bank’s monetary policy stance. 

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) hiked its key policy rates by 25 basis points (bps) on Thursday, implementing eighth such step. Cumulatively, the repo rate, or the rate at which the central bank lends to the commercial banks, has gone up by 200 basis points over the FY11. This would mean that lending rates of banks too will go up by 200 basis points at least, if not more, although this transmission is often slow and uneven across the verticals. 

However, industry is already getting cautious of surging cost of financing. Lending rates have gone up significantly, even if not to the tune of tightening by the central bank. And, with continued deficit liquidity in the system, further upside to the rates is there. Coupled with the high inflation, this can dampen investment in the economy as many projects become unviable given the high cost of money.

Raising this point, the industry body FICCI said that the series of hikes in repo and reverse repo rates implemented so far have had a visible impact on the industrial production numbers, which were decelerating substantially in recent months. 'RBI's action in raising policy rates, though expected, will adversely affect growth prospects. There is also a lot of nervousness in the market given the global developments,' said the Director General of FICCI Rajiv Kumar.

Similarly, another industry chamber Assocham said the 25 bps increase in short-term lending and borrowing rates by RBI will hit the manufacturing sector which is already witnessing a slowdown due to rising input costs and wages. 'RBI should have waited till the new agriculture crop which is expected next month,' said the Assocham President Dilip Modi. The PHD chamber of commerce too in a similar tone said that while the rate hike might be justified due to high inflation, it will nonetheless impact growth going forward.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,397.00, down by 49.65 points or 0.91%.The index has touched high of 5,483.05 and 5,395.80 respectively. There were 13 stocks advancing against 34 declines while 3 stocks remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were SAIL up by 2.02%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.07%, Bajaj Auto up by 0.61%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.60% and Tata Steel was up by 0.51%.

The top losers of the index were Reliance Industries down by 3.52%, BHEL down by 2.34%, BPCL down by 2.12%, HDFC down by 1.79% and RPower was down by 1.76%.

All the Asian markets were trading in the green; Shanghai Composite was up by 0.57%, Hang Seng has gained 0.75%, Jakarta Composite up by 0.45%, KLSE Composite higher by 0.31%, Nikkei 225 surged by 2.87%, Straits Times up by 0.24%, Seoul Composite inched higher by 1.14% and Taiwan Weighted has gained 1.36%.

HCL Infosystem soars on securing order worth Rs 300 crore

HCL Infosystem, India’s premier hardware, services and ICT system integration company, has been awarded prestigious order worth over Rs 300 crore  from India Air Force to deploy the Wideband CDMA based Portable Wireless Network covering many Air Force Stations across India. The company will be deploying the whole project in turnkey basis.

Indian Air Force has added another feather in its cap by finalizing  contract for establishing a captive 3G Mobile network for its air worries offering latest value added services using state of art mobile communication technology.

This Wideband CDMA based Portable Wireless Network will be integrated with the Air Force Network as the backbone connectivity and ensure video interactivity for video calls, cross connectivity with other communication within Air Force Network. The 3G network will also have transportable mobile base stations for establishing communications with higher echelons even from remote locations in the country.

PSU OMCs trade lower as international crude prices surge

Increase in international crude prices drag the local PSU oil marketing companies lower. The conflict in Libya and diplomatic efforts to forge a response has once again raised the crude prices.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) is currently trading at Rs 562.05, down by 11.60 points or 2.02% from its previous closing of Rs 573.65 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs 565.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs 567.40 and Rs 561.00 respectively. So far 9895 shares were traded on the counter.

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) is currently trading at Rs 330.20, down by 7.45 points or 2.21 % from its previous closing of Rs 337.65 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs 332.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs 333.40 and Rs 329.05 respectively. So far 18576 shares were traded on the counter.

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is currently trading at Rs 303.00, down by 3.00 points or 0.98% from its previous closing of Rs 306.00 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs 305.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs 305.00 and Rs 302.10 respectively. So far 21310 shares were traded on the counter.

Crude prices surged on Thursday by about 4 percent edging back above $100 a barrel mark on escalating tensions between Libya and governments working on a response at the United Nations and on continuing unrest in the Middle East and Bahrain that kept investors worried about potential supply disruptions. The trading volume remained low and the expiration of the April contract added some volatility to the prices.

The United Nations Security Council authorized military strikes on Libya, and US and European officials said last night that air attacks against Col. Moammar Gadhafi's forces were possible 'within hours'.

Benchmark crude for April rose $3.40 to expire at $101.38 a barrel, after trading in a range from $96.60 to $101.99 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, ICE Brent crude for May rose $4.30, or 3.89 percent, to settle at $114.90 a barrel on the ICE.

M&M to develop Ssangyong brand with a big push on the investments in R&D

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) plans to focus on developing the Ssangyong brand, for which the company has completed all formalities related to the acquisition of 70% stake in Ssangyong Motor Company and is planning to invest in the company with a big push on the investments in R&D.

Pawan Goenka, the president of Mahindra's automotive and farm equipment sector, has been appointed as the Chairman of the Ssangyong Motor as he shares Mahindra’s more on the way forward.

M&M plans to give the highest priority to product development as the Korean SUV majors' pipeline of products is not very strong. Fresh recruitment will be done in critical areas such as R&D as Ssangyong lost people in the last two years.

The Korean auto major will invest over Rs 960 crore this calendar year on product development and brand building. Ssangyong has targeted sales of 1.21 lakh vehicles in 2011 against the 82,000 sold in 2010. Ssangyong intends to bring its Rexton and the Korando C to the Indian markets and will be assembled at its new Chakan facility.

Subex wins multi-million dollar deal from Middle East operator

The ROC Fraud Management solution is built to drive fraud prevention by eliminating known frauds, uncovering new fraud patterns, minimizing fraud run time, augmenting internal controls, and supporting continuous fraud management process improvement. ROC Fraud Management detects known fraud types and patterns of unusual behaviour, helps investigate these unusual patterns for potential fraud, and uses the knowledge, thus generated, to upgrade and protect against future intrusions.

ROC Revenue Assurance solution is a first-of-its-kind, complete revenue assurance solution, designed to tackle critical challenges across the entire revenue chain. It offers a set of pre-configured solution templates to address revenue assurance challenges inherent to individual service verticals -- Wireless, Fixed, Cable MSPs, and MVNOs. These solution templates address revenue assurance issues across multiple functional areas, such as service fulfillment, usage integrity, retail billing, interconnect/wholesale billing, and content settlement.

Dolphin Offshore Enterprises bags contract from SCI

Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) has appointed Dolphin Offshore Enterprises (India) as a subcontractor for providing diving services on board ONGC's two Multi Support Vessels (MSVs). In a letter bearing no. SCI/D0LPHIN/DIVSUBCON/2011-12/N0A dated March 16, 2011 received by Dolphin, SCI has subcontracted diving services of ONGC's two Multi Support Vessels (MSVs), Samudra Sevak and Samudra Prabha and one Geo Technical Vessel (GTV) Samudra Sarvekshak to Dolphin Offshore.
This contract starting from March 24, 2011 is for a firm period of one year with SCI having option to extend it for further 18 months on the same terms and conditions. The value of the contract is approximately Rs 580 million and upon extension of the contract the total potential contract value would go up to Rs 1450 million over a period of 30 months.
Dolphin Offshore Enterprises (India) (DOEIL) is a leading provider of underwater services to the Indian oil and gas industry. Over the years, it has developed a diversified portfolio for undertaking turnkey projects involving sub-sea and marine services and as an EPC contractor.

Dolphin Offshore Enterprises bags contract from SCI

Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) has appointed Dolphin Offshore Enterprises (India) as a subcontractor for providing diving services on board ONGC's two Multi Support Vessels (MSVs). In a letter bearing no. SCI/D0LPHIN/DIVSUBCON/2011-12/N0A dated March 16, 2011 received by Dolphin, SCI has subcontracted diving services of ONGC's two Multi Support Vessels (MSVs), Samudra Sevak and Samudra Prabha and one Geo Technical Vessel (GTV) Samudra Sarvekshak to Dolphin Offshore.
This contract starting from March 24, 2011 is for a firm period of one year with SCI having option to extend it for further 18 months on the same terms and conditions. The value of the contract is approximately Rs 580 million and upon extension of the contract the total potential contract value would go up to Rs 1450 million over a period of 30 months.
Dolphin Offshore Enterprises (India) (DOEIL) is a leading provider of underwater services to the Indian oil and gas industry. Over the years, it has developed a diversified portfolio for undertaking turnkey projects involving sub-sea and marine services and as an EPC contractor

Voltas planning to hike prices of its air-conditioners by 3% in April

Voltas, India’s premier air conditioning and engineering services company from the house of Tata, is planning to hike prices of its air-conditioners by another 3% in April, the second this year, to set-back the rise in metal prices it consumes. Recently, it had increased prices of its air- conditioners by 5-7 %, thus passing on the burden of increased input costs to customers.
On the other hand, prices of raw materials such as copper, aluminium and steel, has gone up drastically, thus affecting both its margins and customers. Hence, it has already started using alternatives for the same.
Recently, it has introduced its new, powerful range of air conditioners in the capacity band of 0.75 tons to 3 tons. The company this year has planned to penetrate the market with a varied set of 70 air conditioners

CARE assigns BB+ and PR4+ ratings to Glory Polyfilms bank facilities

Credit rating agency, CARE has assigned ‘CARE BB+’ to Glory Polyfilms (GPL) long-term bank facilities for Rs 88.55 crore. The agency has also assigned ‘PR4+’ ratings to the company’s short-term bank facilities for Rs 21.00 crore.

GPL’s ability to maintain its profit margin amidst volatile raw material prices as well as adequately manage its working capital is the key rating sensitivities.

The ratings are constrained by volatile raw material prices, exposure to a single supplier for raw material supply, significantly high working capital utilization and diversion of short-term funds for long-term purposes in FY10.

Glory Polyfilms’ main object is to carry on the business of manufacturing of co extruded multi layer barrier film for packing of various food and non-food products. The company mainly caters to the food industry and the FMCG sectors as well as some industrial sectors.

Power Finance Corporation gets approval for the proposed FPO

Power Finance Corporation’s (PFC) board has approved the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) for the proposed Further Public Offer (FPO) comprising of a fresh issue of 17,21,65,005 equity shares (constituting 15% of the pre issue paid up capital) by the company and an offer for sale of 5,73,88,335 equity shares (constituting 5% of the pre issue paid up capital) by the President of India, acting through the Ministry of Power, Government of India.

The approval was granted at its board meeting held on March 17, 2011.

PFC is also planning to raise Rs 5,300 crore through the public issue of tax saving infrastructure bond that opened on February 24. The issue closes on March 22, 2011. It is also planning to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary under the name PFC Green Energy for the renewable energy sector, in a couple of weeks.

PFC provides large range of financial products and services like project term loan, lease financing, direct discounting of bills, short term loan, and consultancy services for various power projects in generation, transmission, distribution sector as well as for renovation and modernization of existing power projects.

ICRA assigns A4 rating to bank facilities of Yarn Syndicate

Credit rating agency, ICRA has assigned an A4 rating to the existing fund based bank facilities of Rs 9 crore and proposed fund based bank facilities of Rs 3 crore of Yarn Syndicate.

The rating takes into account the long experience of the promoters in the cotton yarn trading business and the resumption of import of cotton yarn from Bangladesh which gives YSL an access to the textile industry based in the country.

Yarn Syndicate is largely involved in the export of various types of yarn such as cotton, polyester, viscose, and jute yarns to countries like Brazil, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, U.K, and other European Union countries.

Asian markets trade on an optimistic note on supportive global cues

Asian equity indices are trading on an optimistic note on the last trading day of the week and the markets in the region bounced back after yesterday’s pounding on supportive cues from overnight US markets which surged around one and half a percent on the back of the slew of good economic reports that helped to put aside the fear of Japanese crisis. Japanese equities surged close to two percent points after the G7 industrial nations agreed to jointly intervene in the currency market to stem the sharp rise in yen against the American greenback. The South Korean benchmark too surged over a percent lifted by foreign investors buying while buying interests in refiners too underpinned sentiments in the trade today.
Shanghai Composite climbed 17.80 points or 0.61% to 2,915.10, Hang Seng advanced 111.93 points or 0.50% to 22,396.36, Jakarta Composite amassed 18.09 points or 0.52% to 3,502.30, KLSE Composite gained 4.00 points or 0.27% to 1,496.09, Nikkei 225 jumped 158.26 points or 1.77% to 9,120.93, Straits Times added 11.14 points or 0.38% to 2,954.02, Seoul Composite surged 22.87 points or 1.17% to 1,981.90 and Taiwan Weighted soared 95.01 points or 1.15% to 8,377.70.

ICRA assigns A4 rating to bank facilities of Yarn Syndicate

Credit rating agency, ICRA has assigned an A4 rating to the existing fund based bank facilities of Rs 9 crore and proposed fund based bank facilities of Rs 3 crore of Yarn Syndicate.

The rating takes into account the long experience of the promoters in the cotton yarn trading business and the resumption of import of cotton yarn from Bangladesh which gives YSL an access to the textile industry based in the country.

Yarn Syndicate is largely involved in the export of various types of yarn such as cotton, polyester, viscose, and jute yarns to countries like Brazil, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, U.K, and other European Union countries.

Board Meetings As on Mar 18,2011

Acil Cotton Inds   inter alia, to consider the following: 1. Change of management of t ........ BalaTecGl   inter alia, to discuss and consider, allotment of 300000 Equity Shar ........ Control Print   to consider allotment of Equity shares on conversion of Warrants iss ........ Esaar India   Preferential Issue of shares inter alia to consider the proposal for ........ Globus Cons & Devp.   for the issue of fresh Equity Shares on Preferential basis as well t  IITL Projects   inter alia, to discuss and consider the proposal for acquiring 50%  MahLifeSc   inter-alia, the redemption of 10.50% 10,00,000 Non Cumulative Redeem  Monotona Securities   Bonus issue To consider the option to issue bonus shares to the shar Pondy Oxides   inter alia, to reconsider the following subjects : 1. Adoption of t  Shree Nath Comm&Fin   for the allotment of Bonus Shares (in the Ratio of 1:1) as on Record

HCL Technologies announces expansion of Smart Grid Partner Ecosystemc

HCL Technologies, a leading global IT services provider, has announced a significant expansion of its smart grid partner ecosystem by forging strategic alliances with two leading data management software firms focused on the smart grid market “eMeter” and “Tridium”. The creation of smart grids includes the modernization and digitization of aging power grids.

These partnerships enable the integration of real-time data management and analytical software with the company’s comprehensive suite of services to help utilities transform their existing infrastructure from traditional power grids to smart grids more efficiently. Additionally, the partnerships will further accelerate the company’s strategy to become an end-to-end integration services provider to the utilities companies.

The company reported net profit of Rs 285.97 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 as compared to Rs 255.44 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, up by 11.95%. Its total income also increased by 34.02% from Rs 1,259.22 crore for the December quarter last year to Rs 1,687.59 crore for the quarter under review

ABG Shipyard fixes its foreign investment at 21.91%

ABG Shipyard has fixed its foreign equity limit at the current level if 21.91% in order to be eligible to undertake defence production. The company has also applied for issuance of Industrial Licence for defence production as the defence sector has been opened up by the Ministry of Defence.

In the said process, the company had applied for FIPB (Foreign Investment Promotion Board) approval to take up defence contracts and also for the foreign equity holding upto 26% which is a procedural requirement. At the time of making application, the foreign equity holding in the company was 21.91%.

Vide their letter dated March 03, 2011, FIPB has accorded their approval for the company’s request. However, while granting the said approval, FIPB has fixed the foreign equity holding at 21.91% as the maximum ceiling.

ABG Shipyard is engaged in the business of carrying shipbuilding and ship repair business. The company has emerged as the largest private sector shipbuilding yard in India with satisfied customer base all around the world.

Power Grid Corporation gains on getting nod for three investment proposals

Power Grid Corporation is currently trading at Rs. 98.65, up by 0.50 points or 0.51% from its previous closing of Rs. 98.15 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 98.50 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 98.80 and Rs. 98.30 respectively. So far 4,924 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 120.20 on 16-Jun-2010 and a 52 week low of Rs. 91.80 on 30-Nov-2010.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 99.25 and Rs. 97.10 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 45440.75 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 69.42% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 19.24% and 11.33% respectively.

Power Grid Corporation of India’s board of directors granted their nod for three investment approvals. Out of which first is for 'Transmission System for Phase-I Generation Projects in Orissa-Part-C' at an estimated cost of Rs 2569.25 crore, with commissioning schedule of 36 months from the date of investment approval.

While, the second is for ‘Transmission System for transfer of power from Generation Projects in Sikkim to NR/WR - Part-B’ at an estimated cost of Rs 1585.12 crore, with commissioning schedule of 32 months from the date of investment approval. Finally the third approval is for 'Establishment of National Transmission Asset Management Centre (NTAMC)' at an estimated cost of Rs 195.39 crore, with commissioning schedule of 36 months from the date of investment approval.

Recently, the company’s board gave its nod for the investing in 'Fibre OPTIC Communication System in lieu of existing Unified Load Despatch and Communication (ULDC) Microwave links at north eastern, eastern and southern region at an estimated cost of Rs 34.13 crore and Rs 57.43 crore and Rs 45.09 crore respectively, with commissioning schedule of 30 months from the date of investment approval.

US markets rebound on good economic reports

The US markets pulled back and closed higher on Thursday on the back of good economic reports helping investors put aside fears over Japan’s nuclear crisis. The Labor Department reported that the number of people applying for unemployment benefits fell more than economists expected last week. Ongoing claims dropped to the lowest level since October 2008. In other economic reports, the survey from the Federal Reserve's Philadelphia branch showed new orders soared, while a gauge of manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic region jumped in February to the highest point since January 1984.

The Labor Department in separate report showed consumer prices edged higher in February. The Consumer Price Index rose 0.5 percent last month. Core prices, which exclude food and fuel costs, edged higher by 0.2 percent, the same as the previous month.

Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 161.29 points, or 1.39 percent, to 11,774.59. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 16.84 points, or 1.34 percent, at 1,273.72, while the Nasdaq rose by 19.23 points, or 0.73 percent, at 2,636.05.

Most of the Indian ADRs closed in green on Thursday, Infosys was up by 0.43%, ICICI Bank was up by 0.12%, MTNL was up by 0.04% and Tata Motors was up by 0.24%.

On the other hand, Wipro was down by 0.18% and HDFC Bank was down by 0.53%.

M&M, Bharti Airtel, HCL Infosystem and Monnnet Ispat likely to witness some action today

Utility vehicle major Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) plans to focus on developing the Ssangyong brand. M&M plans to give the highest priority to product development as the Korean SUV majors' pipeline of products is not very strong.

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has increased prices of 62 drugs, which are mainly based on indigenously manufactured insulin. The companies which would be affected by the price revision of drugs include Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Novartis, Sanofi Aventis, GSK, Biocon, Wockhardt, Lupin and Cipla

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) today said it has increased prices of 62 drugs, which are mainly based on indigenously manufactured insulin

Tata Group's consumer durables firm, Voltas, plans to hike prices of its air-conditioners by another three per cent in April, the second this year, to offset the rise in metal prices it consumes.

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) will add new facilities at its Vizag refinery to convert low-value heavy oils into premium products, which will significantly increase refining margins.

In a bid to end fuel woes of power plants in Andhra Pradesh, state-owned gas utility GAIL India will supply gas to the electricity generating units by swaping Reliance Industries' KG-D6 gas with LNG imported.

Monnet Ispat is close to acquiring a coal mine in Sumatra, Indonesia. Acquisition of the coal mine may be completed by this week.

Bangalore-based biotechnogy firm Biocon's drug development partner Optimer has received US patent for drug Fidaxomicin. The drug is used to treat diarrhea and intestinal diseases.

Retail food chain company McDonald's India has joined hands with Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to increase its presence in petrol stations in West and South and aims to more than double its sales by 2014 from both these regions.

Bharti Airtel is likely to buy yet-to-be-launched Indian wireless broadband business of Qualcomm. The US-based chip maker is set to be in an advanced stage of discussions with the country's largest telecom operator to sell its BWA licenses in all four circles.

Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Communications has drawn the first tranche of Rs 3,000 crore ($665 million) from China Development Bank.

Jubilant FoodWorks that operates Dominos Pizza chain in India plans to diversify into new areas, including operating hotels and other non-food segments such as garments and fashion accessories.

FMCG player Jyothy Laboratories is eyeing a controlling stake in Henkel India after acquiring 14.9 per cent stake in the company from Tamil Nadu Petro Products (TNPL).

Sundram Fasteners, part of the TVS group, will make its biggest capital investment in 2011-12 in an attempt to target the wind energy and automotive segments with new products.

The coal assets of one of Australia's largest thermal coal explorers - Bandanna Energy - in a deal could be valued at $1.5 billion. GVK, state-owned consortium ICVL and Reliance Power have shown early interest in bidding for the assets estimated to have reserves of over 1.3 billion tonnes of thermal coal.

ONGC India is expected to face a 'hard' market when it approaches international underwriters next week to renew its $28.5 billion insurance policy. ONGC is the holder of the biggest insurance policy in India.

IT hardware firm HCL Infosystems has bagged an order from the Indian Air Force to deploy Wideband CDMA-based portable wireless network at a cost of over Rs 300 crore.

Banks have committed to refinance nearly half of the Rs 9,500-crore debt on the books of Ispat Industries.

In its first open-market transaction in India, Blackstone, the global private equity major, has bought a two per cent share in India’s largest travel wear manufacturer, VIP Industries, which is valued at Rs 36-40 crore.

United Phosphorus  (UPL), one of the leading agro chemical and seeds company in the country, has set the target of doubling its agro chemical business in India from the present Rs 900 crore to Rs 1,800 crores in the next three years time (by FY 2013-14).

Venus Remedies, an existing EU-GMP certified Pharmaceutical manufacturing company, has been awarded a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) registration. This approval holds significance and is prestigious since such registrations are obtained by the manufacturing facilities which meet world class standards and where quality is of the prime essence.

Allcargo Global Logistics plans to enter third-party logistics business in a few months and expand its warehousing capacity to 400,000 sq ft.

Power Grid Corporation of India’s board of directors granted their nod for three investment approvals.

Reliance Infrastructure (R-Infra) has secured a contract worth Rs 7,200 crore for 2,400 MW gas based combined cycle power project at Samalkot.

Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) has received two orders from Hindalco Industries for 6 x 150 MW Captive Power Plant - Aditya Aluminium Project at Sambalpur, Orissa.

Domestic markets likely to make positive start on good global cues

The Indian markets suffered sharp decline in previous session, the global cues weighed on the sentiments though there was a credit policy announcement too and the RBI on expected lines announced 25 basis point hike in key policy rates but the investors concentrated mainly on the global cues. Today the start is likely to be good as the global cues are indicating for a positive start. Rate sensitive too may stabilize as the rate hike was already discounted. Domestic pharma companies are likely to get a boost with the decision of National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) increasing prices of 62 drugs, which are mainly based on indigenously manufactured insulin. The majority of the drugs, whose prices have been increased, are used in treatment of diabetes and tuberclosis. The companies which would be affected by the price revision of drugs include Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Novartis, Sanofi Aventis, GSK, Biocon, Wockhardt, Lupin and Cipla. NPPA said that raw material cost and revision in the norms of conversion cost, packing charges and packaging materials as notified on December 16, 2010 necessitated the move.

However the rising international crude prices are likely to put pressure on the local PSU oil marketing companies and the markets too. The conflict in Libya and diplomatic efforts to forge a response has once again raised the crude prices.

The US markets made a good pullback effort on Thursday and all the major indices gained by 1-1.5 percent, it was the slew of good economic reports that helped the markets recover from steep fall of last two session and to put aside the fear of Japanese crisis. The Asian markets have made a good start and most of the indices are trading higher with Japanese Nikkei gaining around 2 percent as G7 industrial nations agreed on Friday to jointly intervene in the currency market to stem a sharp yen rise.

Back home, stock markets in India carried forward this week’s trend of closing in the negative territory after every positive close as they settled in the red after taking cuts of around a percent a day after garnering about a percentage points. Although RBI’s eighth hike in benchmark interest rates since March 2010 by 25 basis points was in line with market expectations, sentiments however went awry as marketmen feared that escalating domestic inflation would eat in to the overall growth of Indian economy. The RBI also hiked the forecast of inflation for the current fiscal year to around 8% from its previous estimate of 7% as it expected that economic growth will be impacted from surging global commodity prices, especially crude oil prices. While weakness in the Asian markets amid concerns of aggravating nuclear crisis in Japan too undermined local sentiments. The jump of around one and half a percent in crude oil prices also took sheen off the local bourses as traders shrugged the optimistic cues from the European counterparts. Meanwhile, marginal decline in food inflation to a three-and-a-half-month low of 9.42% for the week ended March 5 failed to enthuse the investor sentiment. The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, managed to hold on to the crucial 5,450 support level while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index, Sensex closed with a two hundred point cut around the psychological 18,150 mark. The broader markets traded with some resilience and finished with moderate losses thereby outperforming their larger peers by quite a margin. Earlier on Dalal Street, the benchmark got off to a gap down start as investors squared off positions tracking discouraging leads from the overnight US markets coupled with renewed fears that a partial meltdown may have occurred at a nuclear plant in Japan which undermined sentiments significantly. The markets gained some traction from thereon till the reports of marginal fall in inflation and hike in key policy rates hit the street. Thereafter, investors opted to take profits off the table from rate sensitive sectors like Banks, Auto and Realty as RBI’s raising of March-end inflation estimate to 8% from 7% projected earlier, had an adverse impact on the domestic sentiments. The bourses after touching intraday lows in the dying hours pared some portion of decline to eventually settle with losses of over a percent. Finally, the BSE Sensex plunged by 208.82 points or 1.14% to settle at 18149.87 while the S&P CNX Nifty fell by 64.50 points or 1.17% to end at 5,446.65.

The US markets pulled back and closed higher on Thursday on the back of good economic reports helping investors put aside fears over Japan’s nuclear crisis. The Labor Department reported that the number of people applying for unemployment benefits fell more than economists expected last week. Ongoing claims dropped to the lowest level since October 2008. In other economic reports, the survey from the Federal Reserve's Philadelphia branch showed new orders soared, while a gauge of manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic region jumped in February to the highest point since January 1984.

The Labor Department in separate report showed consumer prices edged higher in February. The Consumer Price Index rose 0.5 percent last month. Core prices, which exclude food and fuel costs, edged higher by 0.2 percent, the same as the previous month.

Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 161.29 points, or 1.39 percent, to 11,774.59. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 16.84 points, or 1.34 percent, at 1,273.72, while the Nasdaq rose by 19.23 points, or 0.73 percent, at 2,636.05.

Crude prices surged on Thursday by about 4 percent edging back above $100 a barrel mark on escalating tensions between Libya and governments working on a response at the United Nations and on continuing unrest in the Middle East and Bahrain that kept investors worried about potential supply disruptions. The trading volume remained low and the expiration of the April contract added some volatility to the prices.

The United Nations Security Council authorized military strikes on Libya, and US and European officials said last night that air attacks against Col. Moammar Gadhafi's forces were possible 'within hours'.

Benchmark crude for April rose $3.40 to expire at $101.38 a barrel, after trading in a range from $96.60 to $101.99 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, ICE Brent crude for May rose $4.30, or 3.89 percent, to settle at $114.90 a barrel on the ICE.

Hindustan Composites sells its Jalna unit

Hindustan Composites has sold its Jalna unit for a total consideration of Rs 5.83 crore to Spitmaan Group of companies.

Hindustan Composites is a pioneer in the development, manufacture and marketing of industrial products and friction materials in India for over 45 years.

The company has got wide range of products suitable for a number of general and specialised applications, has been catering to the diversified needs of core sector industries, such as Railways, Engineering, Mining, Aerospace, Steel, Chemical, Petrochemical, Fertilizer, power generation, Ship building, Atomic Energy, Electrical, Oil exploration, Automotive, etc.

The products of this company are being exported to more than 30 countries. This company operates in Latin America, Greece, Middle East and South East Asia. Export turnover of this company is US $ 2 Million

Gitanjali Gems acquires N & J Finstocks

Gitanjali Gems has acquired 100% stake in N & J Finstocks and after the acquisition N & J Finstocks  - earlier a promoter group company has now become a wholly owned subsidiary of the company.

The company is also planning to acquire assets of DIT Group S.p.A. (DIT), an Italy based jewellery company, which operates in the area of manufacturing, marketing, and sale of jewels and owns some of the reputed brands like Stefan Hafner, IO Si, Roberta Porrati and LA Nouvelle Bague etc.

Gitanjali Gems is one of leading players in jewellery segment. It was the first group company to engage in cutting and polishing of diamonds in Surat, Gujarat. Today this $900 million multinational group is one of largest manufacturer, retailers and exporters of diamonds.

The company reported consolidated net profit of Rs 100.56 crores for the quarter ended December, 2010 against Rs 80.03 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago. Its net sales grew to Rs 2654.17 crore from Rs 2509.71 crore in the same period previous fiscal.

FII DII DATA 18/03/2011

 Net Index Futures (-566), Net Stock Futures (-176), Derivative Market: Total Open Interest (Rs 1,41,853 cr), Stock Futures Open Interest (Rs 31,988 cr)

BHEL leads the gainer list of ‘BSE Power’ space

BHEL is currently trading at Rs. 1,960.90, up by 34.00 points or 1.76% from its previous closing of Rs. 1,926.90 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 1,911.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 1,964.80 and Rs. 1,905.00 respectively. So far 71,000 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 2,695.00 on 07-Oct-2010 and a 52 week low of Rs. 1,905.35 on 15-Mar-2011.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 2,044.00 and Rs. 1,905.00 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 95879.83 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 67.72% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 25.95% and 6.33% respectively.

Recently, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) - a professional body and an engineering society, has awarded the high pressure boiler plant of Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) with ‘N’ and ‘NPT’ certificates.

Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) has also bagged a contract worth Rs 1,445 crore for 600 MW thermal power plant. The contract envisages setting up a 1x600 MW thermal power generating unit for Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation’s (APGenco) upcoming coal-based thermal power project, located at Rayalaseema in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh.

OMCs losses mount as government holds retail fuel prices

The publically controlled OMCs sell diesel and cooking fuels at prices that are generally lower than the cost. These are generally compensated by upstream companies and the government but such compensation is often not complete and OMCs have to absorb some loses. While the government has historically born 33% of the oil subsidy, the oil ministry has been asking the government to hike its share given the surge in under-recoveries.

The oil ministry has made it clear that upstream companies, which provide discounts on crude oil supplies to downstream companies as their share of under-recovery, will not bear more than 33% of the losses of retailers. This leaves the rest to be divided between the government and downstream companies. Since the OMCs does not have the financial muscle to absorb anything more than say 10-15% of the under-recovery, the government will have to hike its share to over 50% to ensure that financial health of fuel retailers is not impacted.

Just In: RBI raises repo, reverse repo rates by 25 bps

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday raised repo and reverse repo rates by 25 basis points despite some international uncertainties as domestic inflation scenario remains the biggest concern.
The new repo and reverse repo rates are 6.75% and 5.75% respectively. This was eighth increase in benchmark policy rates by the central bank in current financial year.

Videocon d2h launches HD DVR with 3D

Videocon group’s DTH arm Videocon d2h has launched India’s first HD-DVR, HD Digital Video Recorder with 3D. The company has witnessed excellent growth from the time of its inception and its objective is to increase penetration by offering channels and services across genres, increase subscriber base and better it’s ARPU’s.
Videocon d2h is a pioneer in the Indian DTH market through continuous product innovations and upgrade of technology. Videocon d2h has the maximum number of 288 channels and services with a strong regional content for its specific audiences.
High Definition Digital Video Recorder with 3D acts as a bridge between the 3D Television and the 3D Channel feed. This product would set a new precedent in the DTH market and would enable customers to move from cable to DTH.  

SBI garners Rs 5,496.90 crore through retail bonds

Rs 10,000 each and 47,65,918 Series 4 Lower Tier-II Bonds of face value Rs 10,000 to the eligible applicants. The bank thus managed to raise Rs 5,496.9 crore, as in all 54,96,996 applicants received bonds worth Rs 10,000 each.
The issue, which had opened on February 21 and closed on February 28 attracted many investors because of its competitive coupon rate and the timing. This issue is part of the Rs 10,000-crore retail bond programme SBI has planned for FY11 through FY12.
The bank had raised Rs 1,000 crore through the retail bonds in the first tranche, issued in October, 2010, which was oversubscribed 19 times. That was the first retail bond offering in the country by any bank.
State Bank of India (SBI) posted a marginal increase of 14.07% in its net profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 at Rs 2828.06 crore where as the same was at Rs 2479.05 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009.

Apar Industries’ conductor division bags order worth Rs 250 crore

Apar Industries’ conductor division has bagged order worth Rs 250 crore from Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) for manufacture and supply of ACSR Conductors.

Further, the company has received orders from other customers for supply of High Temperature Conductors (HTC) worth Rs 25 crore. This will strengthen the order book position and improve the performance of the division.

The company’s conductor division is among the top five in the world, catering to world’s leading power generation and transmission companies with decades of ongoing relationship and repeat business.

Apar caters to a wide range of industries such as power, rubber, tyre, ink, cosmetics, food, pharmaceutical, health care, steel, aluminium, petrochemical, plastic, paper, sugar, cement, automotive etc. Further, it has product presence across Asia, Middle East, Africa, Europe, Australia and Far East.

Jyothy Lab, TVS Motors, Biocon and P&G to garner investor’s attention today

Mumbai-based Jyothy Laboratories has acquired a 14.9% stake in Henkel India from Tamil Nadu Petro Products for Rs 60.73 crore in an all-cash deal.

Chennai-based Ashok Leyland Defence Systems (ALDS) has entered into a tie up with Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) GmbH and Co KG, Germany, to co-operate in developing advanced defence systems for Indian defence establishment as well as other defence forces worldwide.

Hero Honda has set aside a kitty of Rs 100 crore to create a new brand identity that will lead to a new company name and corporate logo to be etched on every bike and scooter it sells in the Indian market. The promoter of Hero Honda, Hero Investments (HIPL) has pledged further shares of the company to IL&FS Trust Company, raising an estimated Rs 200 crore.

The country’s third largest two-wheeler manufacturer, TVS Motors, is mulling a low-priced motorcycle to shore up volumes in the Indian market. The product, when introduced, would be the cheapest motorcycle in the country.

SKS Microfinance will raise additional funds from banks, a move likely to help it tide over liquidity shortage.

FMCG giant Procter and Gamble (P&G) is reducing the price of its sanitary napkins and baby diapers by up to 15 per cent as a result of the excise duty cut announced during the recent Union Budget.

FMCG major, Nestle India will not only be undertaking selective price hikes but will also be reducing the weight for its chocolate products in order to combat rising raw material costs.

Retail chain Shoppers Stop may increase prices of its products by 6-7 per cent from April this year in order to offset the 10 per cent excise duty imposed on branded apparel in the Budget 2011-12.

As per the government - Idea Cellular, Etisalat and state-owned BSNL subscribers are facing the problem of frequent call drops and they are not meeting the TRAI benchmark regarding it.

State-run Coal India (CIL) is negotiating 10-year contracts with overseas suppliers in an attempt to insulate Indian consumers from any volatility in global coal prices.

Hindustan Zinc (HZL), the world's largest integrated producer of zinc, has paid Rs 995 crore as advance tax in the current fiscal year, which is 35% higher than that last year.

The drug price regulator has allowed local pharma companies Wockhardt and Biocon to increase prices of their insulin brands due to rising input costs.

Kolkata-based consumer goods firm Emami has appointed Indian cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the brand ambassador for its digestive tonic -- Zandu Pancharishta.

Tata Group's hospitality firm Indian Hotels Company subsidiary Roots Corporation will sell a minority stake to the Singapore based Omega TC Holdings for Rs 150 crore.

Kingfisher and Paramount are defaulting airlines in payment to the Airports Authority of India for services including landing charges, parking and housing charges and licence fees for space/land allotments.

Delhi-based real estate company, Parsvnath Developers is close to selling stake in its Parsvnath City project in Sonepat for Rs 100 - 150 cr.

IT Solutions provider, 3i Infotech is all set to sell its US subsidiary, Regulus for $100 million. The deal is expected to be closed within the next 3 months.

The country’s largest fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company, Hindustan Unilever (HUL), is using ‘out-of-home’ aggressively to grow its foods business. Out-of-home here means initiatives undertaken beyond just selling products.

Nine bidders, including JSW Energy-Leighton Contractors and GVK-Samsung consortia, are in the race to develop the Rs 3,000-crore Tadadi port project in Karnataka.

Country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has raised Rs 5,496.9 crore from retail bonds to fund its expansion plans. State Bank Of India had accorded approval for raising Tier II Capital for an aggregate amount of Rs. 10,000 crore.

German multinational Siemens has set-up a financial services arm Siemens Financial Services (SFSPL) in India.

The world's seventh-largest steelmaker - Tata Steel has decided to raise money by selling Rs 1,500 crore ($332 million) of perpetual bonds. The Tier-I bonds carry a coupon of 11.8 per cent payable semi annually.

Telecom service provider Reliance Communications has partnered with mobile solutions provider TELibrahma to deliver video updates and replays from the ICC World Cup Cricket matches on mobiles for all cricket lovers.

ARSS Infrastructure Projects has signed the concession agreement with Commerce and Transport Dept, Government of Orissa for development of modern bus terminal at Baramunda in Bhubaneswar through Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.

Educomp Solutions’ ICT division has bagged two multimedia content development projects totaling Rs 6.81 crore from the Government of Gujarat and Assam.

Aurum Soft Systems inks business transfer agreement with Accel IT Resources

Aurum Soft Systems has entered into a business transfer agreement on March 15, 2011 with Accel IT Resources (AITRL) for acquisition of the latter’s IT Resourcing Business for a total consideration of Rs. 5 crores. As part of the acquisition which would be effective from April 01, 2011, around 1400 employees of AITRL would become employees of Aurum Soft systems.

Aurum Soft Systems would continue to render IT resourcing services to Accel group companies, which is currently being rendered by AITRL to its group companies. The revenue from the IT Resourcing business over the next five year period is estimated at Rs 75 crores with a margin of around Rs 7 crores.

Aurum Soft Systems is a leading provider of Enterprise Applications and flexible IT Solutions. The company specializes in providing unique business solutions to the Hospitality, Manufacturing, Trading and Retail sectors by continuous innovation and domain focused approach.

FII DII DATA 17/03/2011

Net Index Futures (707), Net Stock Futures (288), Derivative Market: Total Open Interest (Rs 1,41,406 cr), Stock Futures Open Interest (Rs 31,954 cr)

Markets likely to make a weak start; RBI policy action eyed

The Indian markets swayed along with the global cues and made a good recovery after a big fall in last session. All the rate sensitive sectors surged shrugging off the fear of rate hike by RBI in its mid quarterly policy review. Today the start is likely to be soft-to-cautious as the global cues once again have turned negative on concerns of devastating impact of Japanese crisis aftermath. Today all eyes will be on the Reserve Bank of India for its policy announcement; the general expectation is that the apex bank will go for a 25 basis point hike in policy rates to rein in the rising inflation; however 25 basis point hike in the repo rate is not likely to push up lending rates considerably and the rate sensitive might not go for a frenzy with it as it has already been discounted however, anything higher will impact shares negatively. If the central bank raises both the repo and the reverse repo by quarter of a percentage point each, the repo rate could move up to 6.75 per cent and the reverse repo to 5.75 per cent.  Also the weekly inflation numbers will be announced and that will give direction for the further course of action. Data for February showed headline WPI rising to 8.31 per cent, much higher than the estimates and also above the RBI’s projection of 7 per cent by the end of March.

The US markets suffered sharp fall on Wednesday and major indices erased nearly all of their gains for the year. The crisis in Japan deepened while the economic news too were not supportive that led the decline in the markets. Most of the Asian markets have made a weak start and majority of the indices are trading lower by about a percent with Japanese Nikkei suffering the most.

Back home, Indian benchmarks elegantly convalesced majority of Tuesday’s losses to snap last day’s session above crucial resistance levels as investors covered the hefty short positions that got built in previous session amid the global weakness due to aftershock in Japan. The sanguinity in the global markets got transmitted into the domestic frontline indices after investors in Tokyo resorted to intense bottom fishing in the fundamentally strong but highly undervalued shares. At home too investors piled up huge positions in rate sensitive counters like realty, banks and auto ahead of RBI’s mid-quarterly policy review on March 17. However, the bounce back in crude oil prices coupled with weakness in European markets in the dying hours of trade pulled the bourses off the day’s high level but they still settled with gains of a percent each. The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, pared some of its gains in the end but managed to hold on to the crucial 5,500 support level while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index, or Sensex closed a tad short of double century gains above the psychological 18,350 mark. The broader markets too finished with strong gains and managed to outperform their larger peers. Earlier on Dalal Street, the benchmark got off to an optimistic start as the index bounced back taking cues from the rebound in other Asian markets on bargain buying and a further decline in crude oil prices. The markets continued to trade firm through the day’s trade thanks to sustained buying in several front line stocks. The bourses after touching intraday highs in the second half pared some portion of their gains due to rebound in crude oil prices coupled with somber cues from the European peers. Eventually markets managed to perform largely in line with Asian peers and settle with over a percent gain. Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 191.05 points or 1.05% to settle at 18358.69 while the S&P CNX Nifty rose by 61.50 points or 1.13% to end at 5,511.15.

The US markets plunged on Wednesday closing lower for the third consecutive day, fears that a partial meltdown may have occurred at a nuclear plant in Japan led the markets for a sharp selloff. The mood was somber from the beginning after the European Union's energy chief said that Japan’s nuclear crisis could get worse. Japan temporarily suspended work at a stricken nuclear plant after a surge in radiation made it too dangerous for workers to remain there. There was a weak economy report that catalysed the fall, the Commerce Department reported that new home construction fell to the second-lowest level on record in February, reflecting weak demand.

Home construction plunged 22.5 percent in February from January to a seasonally adjusted 479,000 homes. Single-family homes, which make up roughly 80 percent of home construction, fell 11.8 percent in February. Apartment and condominium construction dropped 47 percent, reversing much of January's gains. Building permits, an indicator of future construction, fell 8.1 percent last month to the lowest level on records dating back to 1960.

The Dow Jones industrial average plunged by 242.12 points, or 2.04 percent, to 11,613.30. The S&P index fell by 24.99 points, or 1.95 percent, to 1,256.88, while the Nasdaq composite index closed lower by 50.51 points or 1.89 percent, to 2,616.12.

Crude prices recovered on Wednesday after witnessing a sharp fall in previous session, though the trade remained volatile as Middle East unrest came on the forefront again after violent clashes in Bahrain and Yemen, near top oil producer Saudi Arabia. Also, mounting concern over Japan’s nuclear crisis and weak equities too weighed and limited the rise.

Meanwhile, US Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed gasoline stockpiles fell 4.17 million barrels last week. Distillate stocks also dropped more than expected, lifting US heating oil futures, while crude stockpiles increased more than expected.

Benchmark crude for April rose 80 cents, or 0.8 percent, to settle at $97.98 a barrel, after trading in a range from $96.22 to $99.60 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Expiring ICE Brent crude for April rose $2.10, or 1.94 percent, to settle at $110.62 a barrel on the ICE

Indian ADRs Update 17/03/2011

INFOSYS Down 1.7 (2.6%), WIPRO Up 0.1 (0.9%), ICICI BANK Up 0.0 (0.1%), HDFC BANK Down 3.0 (1.9%)

Global Markets update 17/03/2011

 DJIA Down 242 (2.0%) NSDQ Down 50 (1.9%) FTSE 100 Down 97 (1.7%) Asian Markets as on 8.45 AM  NIKKEI Down 190 (2.09%) HANG SENG Down 522 (2.3%) SGX NIFTY Down 52

BHEL gains on receiving ‘N’ and ‘NPT’ certificates from ASME

BHEL is currently trading at Rs 1934.70, up by 12.80 points or 0.67% from its previous closing of Rs 1921.90 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs 1944.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs 1944.00 and Rs 1932.00 respectively. So far 4,420 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs 2695.00 on 07-Oct-2010 and a 52 week low of Rs. 1905.35 on 15-Mar-2011.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 2058.00 and Rs. 1905.35 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 94080.85 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 67.72% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 25.95% and 6.33% respectively.

American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) - a professional body and an engineering society, has awarded the high pressure boiler plant of Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) with ‘N’ and ‘NPT’ certificates. BHEL is now authorized to use N and NPT stamps for Nuclear vessels to Cl 1, 2, 3 requirements, piping systems to Cl 1, 2, 3 requirements, storage tanks to Cl 2,3 requirements, shop assembly and fabrication without design responsibility to Cl 1, 2 and 3 requirements.

Upon receiving the certification which is valid for three years from January 31, 2001, it is also recognized as a materials organization by ASME. BHEL has been awarded after in-house efforts of the company for nearly a year and rigorous audits by ASME auditors of the quality systems of the company to meet the stringent requirements of the nuclear components.

Since nuclear power is fast growing as a source of electricity in India after thermal, hydro and renewable sources, the authorization assumes important for BHEL. India has 19 nuclear power plants in operation generating 4,560 MW while four others are under construction and are expected to generate an additional 2,720 MW of energy.

ASME - one of the oldest standards-developing organizations in the world, the society produces approximately 600 codes and standards, covering many technical areas, such as boiler components, elevators, and measurement of fluid flow in closed conduits, hand and machine tools.

Voltas jumps on its plans of launching 70 new air conditioners this year

Voltas is currently trading at Rs. 156.90, up by 5.15 points or 3.39% from its previous closing of Rs. 151.75 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 154.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 158.00 and Rs. 154.00 respectively. So far 27,000 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 1 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 262.50 on 11-Nov-2010 and a 52 week low of Rs. 147.35 on 14-Mar-2011.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 158.20 and Rs. 147.35 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 5133.68 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 30.58% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 47.30% and 22.12% respectively.

Voltas, India’s premiere air conditioning and engineering services company from the house of Tatas, today introduced its new, powerful range of air conditioners in the capacity band of 0.75 tons to 3 tons. The company this year has planned to penetrate the market with a varied set of 70 air conditioners.

Amongst the new models, highlights for this year will be Vertis Elegant, Vertis Gemini, Vertis Pluto, Vertis Pearl and Platina, and the re-launch of the revolutionary DC Inverter Technology. The company’s brand is a premier player to have introduced a large assortment of 5 star rated AC’s in the 2T category, with one of a kind scroll compressor inbuilt into its product that assure maximum efficiency.

The company will back the launch of these new products with a marketing budget of Rs.50 crores for the current year. Voltas’ AC is sold from over 5000 touch points across India and expected to grow by 20% next year.

The company reported a decrease of 2.59% in net profit after tax to Rs 67.01 crore for the quarter ended December 2010 from Rs 68.79 crore in the same quarter last year. Total income for the quarter rose 8.75% to Rs 1006.88 crore as compared to Rs 925.83 crore in the same quarter last year.

Reliance Broadcasts surge on its Big CBS Prime ties up with Airtel Digital TV

Reliance Broadcast Network is currently trading at Rs. 77.00, up by 2.45 points or 3.29% from its previous closing of Rs. 74.55 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 75.75 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 77.40 and Rs. 75.70 respectively. So far 43,489 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'B' stock of face value Rs. 5 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 121.80 on 03-Sep-2010 and a 52 week low of Rs. 45.60 on 27-May-2010.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 79.80 and Rs. 73.00 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 610.18 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 63.87 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 0.62 % and 35.51 % respectively.

Reliance Broadcast Network’s arm BIG CBS Networks has announced the signing of the deal with Bharti Airtel Digital TV to further strengthen its distribution network. This alliance allows BIG CBS immediate access to the excellent audience of Bharti Airtel Digital TV, allowing for wide reach of its channels.

With this alliance Bharti Aitel digital customers can now enjoy the latest and freshest shows like NCIS, Bellator, and Survivor among others apart from its soon to be launched series like ''Big CBS Love'' and ''Big CBS Spark''. At present, Bharti Airtel has a subscriber base of five million subscribers.

BIG CBS Prime in a short span has managed to move up to number 3 position. The company wants to amplify the reach of the channel and through alliance it will get closer to its target. Big CBS Prime is already available in India across all over major digital cable and direct to platforms like Hathway, Digi Cable, Sun Direct, Reliance Digital and Videocon DTH among others.

BANKNIFTY FOR SUPPORT 16/03/2011

BANKNIFTY (2nd Resistance) 10905.43
(1st Resistance) 10814.02
Pivot point 10713.58
(1st Support) 10622.17
(2nd support) 10521.73

NIFTY FOR SUPPORT 16/03/2011

 NIFTY (2nd Resistance) 5572.07
(1st Resistance) 5509.83
Pivot point 5442.72
(1st Support) 5380.48
(2nd support) 5313.37

FII DII DATA 16/03/2011

Net Index Futures (-1614), Net Stock Futures (-116), Derivative Market: Total Open Interest (Rs 1,38,502 cr), Stock Futures Open Interest (Rs 31,207 cr)

Indian ADRs Update 16/03/2011

INFOSYS Down 1.3 (2.0%), WIPRO Down 0.6 (4.2%), ICICI BANK Down 0.2 (0.5%), HDFC BANK Up 1.1 (0.7%)

Global Markets update 16/03/2011

DJIA Down 137 (1.2%) NSDQ Down 33 (1.3%) FTSE 100 Down 80 (1.4%) Asian Markets as on 8.45 AM  NIKKEI Up 348 (4.05%) HANG SENG Down 103 (0.46%) SGX NIFTY Up 14

BANKNIFTY FOR SUPPORT 15/03/2011

BANKNIFTY (2nd Resistance) 11115.82
(1st Resistance) 11032.03
Pivot point 10891.02
(1st Support) 10807.23
(2nd support) 10666.22

NIFTY FOR SUPPORT 15/03/2011

NIFTY (2nd Resistance) 5635.7
(1st Resistance) 5595.5
Pivot point 5521.8
(1st Support) 5481.6
(2nd support) 5407.9

FII DII DATA 15/03/2011

Net Index Futures (1262), Net Stock Futures (-69), Derivative Market: Total Open Interest (Rs 1,39,355 cr), Stock Futures Open Interest (Rs 31,828 cr)

Indian ADRs Update 15/03/2011

INFOSYS Up 0.3 (0.4%), WIPRO Up 0.1 (1.0%), ICICI BANK Down 0.3 (0.6%), HDFC BANK Up 1.1 (0.7%)

Global Markets update 15/03/2011

DJIA Down 51 (0.4%) NSDQ Down 14 (0.5%) FTSE 100 Down 53 (0.9%) Asian Markets as on 8.45 AM  NIKKEI Down 957 (9.54%) HANG SENG Down 808 (3.48%) SGX NIFTY Down 165

FII DII DATA 11/03/2011

Net Index Futures (-547), Net Stock Futures (-129), Derivative Market: Total Open Interest (Rs 1,33,020 cr), Stock Futures Open Interest (Rs 31,424 cr)

Indian ADRs Update 11/03/2011

INFOSYS Down 1.6 (2.3%), WIPRO Down 0.4 (2.9%), ICICI BANK Down 1.3 (2.9%), HDFC BANK Down 5.3 (3.3%)

Global Markets update 11/03/2011

DJIA Down 228 (1.9%) NSDQ Down 51 (1.8%) FTSE 100 Down 92 (1.6%) Asian Markets as on 8.45 AM  NIKKEI Down 87 (0.83%) HANG SENG Down 234 (0.99%) SGX NIFTY Down 45

BANKNIFTY FOR SUPPORT 10/03/2011

BANKNIFTY (2nd Resistance) 11187.5
(1st Resistance) 11095.25
Pivot point 10998.25
(1st Support) 10906
(2nd support) 10809

NIFTY FOR SUPPORT 10/03/2011

NIFTY (2nd Resistance) 5625.9
(1st Resistance) 5583.85
Pivot point 5530.75
(1st Support) 5488.7
(2nd support) 5435.6

FII DII DATA 10/03/2011

Net Index Futures (94), Net Stock Futures (32), Derivative Market: Total Open Interest (Rs 1,30,906 cr), Stock Futures Open Interest (Rs 31,026 cr)

Indian ADRs Update 10/03/2011

INFOSYS Down 0.2 (0.4%), WIPRO Up 0.1 (0.5%), ICICI BANK Down 0.1 (0.2%), HDFC BANK Up 0.1 (0.0%)