AI Champdany Industries suspends work at its Rishra unit

AI Champdany Industries has declared suspension of work at one of its 100% EOU - Wellington Jute Mill unit located at Rishra from March 21, 2011. The company has declared suspension for eradication of all wasteful practice, indiscipline, frequent concerted stoppages of work on one pretext or other, state of lawlessness throughout the mill and to comply with manning pattern followed in the industry by the workers of the unit.

In January this year an incident of fire occurred on the night of January 21, 2011 in the same unit. The fire came under control in the early hours of January 22, 2011. The fire caused damage to the mill's finishing department. The work has been resumed on January 24, 2011 after suspension of work on 22nd & 23rd January 2011.

AI Champdany Industries has gradually moved from manufacture of traditional Jute products like Hessian, Sacking etc. towards more value-added non-traditional Jute Products like Jute Yarn, Blended yarn made of Jute blended with other natural and man-made fibres like Cotton, Ramie, Viscose, Poly Propelene, Flax, Wool etc. Special Food Grade Jute Bags, Jute blended carpets, Fabrics for soft luggages / shoe uppers / wearing apparels for export markets.

CARE upgrades the ratings assigned to D. B. Corp

Credit rating agency CARE has upgraded the Long Term Loans (including Working Capital Limits) of D. B. Corp from ‘CARE AA (Double A)’ to ‘CARE AA+ (Double A plus)’.
Recently, DB Corp’s subsidiary company - DB Power is planning to raise Rs 2,625 crore to part-finance its mega power project in Chhattisgarh.
DB Corp is the only media conglomerate that enjoys a leadership position in multiple states, in multiple languages and is a dominant player in its all major markets. The company’s other business interests also span the radio segment through the brand - MY FM - radio station with presence in 7 states and 17 cities and a strong online presence in internet portals.

Domestic markets likely to consolidate after a big rally

The Indian markets went for a rally in previous session with a broad based buying after round of sluggishness. Today the start is likely to be flat-to-cautious as the global cues are not very supportive. Sugar stocks that have rallied in last session may move up further as government allowed sugar exports to the tune of 5 lakh tonnes. The move comes after a delay of about 3 months after the Food Minister announced exports of 5 lakh tonnes of sugar in December last year. But, the issue was referred to EgoM in the wake of surging inflation. There will be lots of scrip specific actions keeping the market buzzing however the continued rise in crude prices is likely to put further pressure on the PSU oil marketing companies.

Meanwhile, the government cleared the Bureau of Indian Standards (Amendment) Bill, 2011 paving the way for introduction of mandatory hallmarking of more products including gold. At present, about 77 items including cement, mineral water and milk products are certified with mandatory hallmarking under the BIS Act to conform to the quality level of goods and services to consumers.

The US markets closed marginally lower on Tuesday, though there was no economic report to influence the trade but the continuous rise in crude prices led the momentum go slow. The weakening of housing markets weighed on the sentiment. Most of the Asian markets have made a soft start and the Japanese markets are once again reeling deep in red, it has been reported by the nuclear safety agency that workers at Japan nuclear plant are unable to continue work at reactor no.2 due to high radiation levels.

Back home, after remaining most part of the session around the crucial support levels of 5,400 and 18,000, the domestic benchmarks have snapped the day with about a percent gain but off the day’s high level. The local markets were outclassed by the markets across the globe by a large extent on Monday, however, the frontline indices smartly bounced back in day’s trade as many investors, smarting from huge losses, took up reverse positions, vowing to avenge the next day. Sanguine local and global cues too buttressed the chances of a rebound for the domestic indices which were reeling under the pressure of spiraling crude oil prices for three consecutive days. The consolidation in crude prices was seen as an opportunity by the local investors who resorted to broad based buying as they closely watched the developments in Parliament where the Indian finance Minister tabled GST and Banking Laws Bill. On the sectoral front, the high beta Realty index amassed 2.19% as strong position build up in stocks like DLF and Mahindra Lifespace which rose 3.17% and 3.66% respectively pulled the index to the top of the table. The other counter which saw huge buying interests was rate sensitive Auto which surged 1.53% on the back of jump in bellwether stocks like Maruti Suzuki up 3.58% and Apollo Tyres up 4.09% in the session. Meanwhile, shares of Healthcare companies like Opto Circuits and Fortis Healthcare jumped 3.46% and 2.23% respectively after Pranab Mukherjee rolled back the proposed 5% service tax on healthcare announced during the federal budget for 2011-12. While sugar stocks also surged on the buzz that Government will be allowing 200,000 tonne of sugar exports under unrestricted sales or the open general license (OGL). The benchmarks got a gap-up start and the indices gradually gained traction and conquered the crucial support levels of 5,400 and 18,000 and gyrated around those levels for most part of the trade. Some bouts of profit booking were witnessed in late trade when the frontline indices touched intra-day highs which dragged the bourses below crucial supports. However, some short covering in dying minutes helped the indices to snap the three day losing streak with gains of almost a percent. Finally, the BSE Sensex surged by 149.25 points or 0.84% to settle at 17,988.30 while the S&P CNX Nifty climbed by 49.10 points or 0.92% to end at 5,413.85.

US markets closed marginally lower on Tuesday to snap the three days winning streak, though there was not much on economy front, the earthquake-tsunami disaster in Japan and the crisis at the country's nuclear plants that followed sent stocks lower. Energy stocks rose higher for the second day as Crude oil prices, a major source of concern, rose $2 per barrel. Oil briefly topped $105 on concerns that conflicts in the Middle East could pinch oil supplies as demand begins to rise.

According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency's monthly home-price index US home prices fell for a third straight month in January, adding to evidence that the housing market is weakening even though the economy is improving. Home prices fell 0.3% on a seasonally adjusted basis in January compared with December.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 17.90 points to close at 12,018.63. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell by 4.61 points, or 0.36 percent, to 1,293.77, while the Nasdaq composite index closed lower by 8.22 points, or 0.31 percent, to 2,683.87.

Crude prices rose to their highest level on Tuesday since Japan's devastating earthquake struck 11 days ago, as fighting in Libya and tensions in the Middle East renewed and Allied air strikes against targets in Libya stoked more concerns about supply disruptions. raders will receive an update on US oil and fuel supplies from the Department of Energy on Wednesday, oil inventories are expected to rise.

However, American Petroleum Institute reported a 970,000 barrel build in domestic crude stocks last week, far less than the expected. The API data showed a 7.9 million barrel drawdown in gasoline stockpiles and Distillate stocks fell 612,000 barrels.

Benchmark crude for April delivery settled up $1.67, or 1.6%, at $104 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. With the expiration of the April contract, the more heavily traded May contract rose $1.88, or 1.8%, to settle at $104.97 a barrel. In London, Brent crude for May settled up 74 cents, or 0.6%, at $115.70 a barrel on the ICE.

Maruti, Hero Honda, M&M and Vascon Engineers may hog the limelight today

The country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India will consider taking different measures after April to protect its margins due to fluctuation of Japanese Yen, post the devastating earthquake and tsunami.

Honda and the Hero group have ended their joint venture. However, they have signed an agreement under which Honda will give technology for new and upgraded bikes to Hero in return for royalty till June 2014.

In a major fillip to industrialisation in the backward Telangana region, Mahindra and Mahindra will set up its tractor manufacturing unit at its existing facility at Zaheerabad in Medak district of Andhra Pradesh.

Cairn Energy Plc raised expectations of Indian approval for the long-delayed sale of a stake in its Indian business to Vedanta Resources, as the UK oil explorer posted a return to profit in 2010.

The Aditya Birla Group's plans to re-enter the power sector have had a setback, as its move to buy into a Chhattisgarh-based power unit has fallen apart. AB Group is very close to purchasing Sona Power, which had plans of putting up a 660-Mw power project in Chhattisgarh.

India's top iron ore miner NMDC expects to renew soon a five-year iron ore contract with Japanese customers which expires at the end of March. The state-owned miner plans to build steel plants in India, has moved closer in its bid to acquire a coal mine in the US.

A fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) at India's Reliance Industries' old plant could start product output from today.

The need for raw material integration for its European operations is keeping Tata Steel officials busy. The company has initiated talks with the government of British Columbia, a Canadian province, to acquire coking coal mines.

Monnet Ispat & Energy, flagship Company of the Monnet Group, has bought a 65-million tonne coal mine in Indonesia for $24 million (Rs 290 crore). And, it is in talks to buy another coal mine, besides looking to set up power plants, in that country.

A consortium of Lanco Infratech and US-based Massey Energy Company, emerged as the lowest bidder for a power project by Maha Tamil Colleries.

Kotak Realty Fund, the property investment arm of India's Kotak Mahindra Bank, plans to raise as much as $500 million by the second quarter of this year, in a bet on the long term case for property in Asia's third-largest economy.

BILT, the country’s largest producer of writing and printing paper, plans to raise $330 million from London Stock Exchange, through a book building process and making offer to select institutional investors.

China's Yanzhou Coal Mining Co and India's Aditya Birla Group are among parties preparing to submit second-round bids for Australian coal miner Whitehaven Coal, which is seeking offers of more than $3.5 billion.

Chennai-based information management solutions provider Saksoft has signed an agreement with US-based analytics and decision management technology firm Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO), to market the latter's solutions in India.

Indian drugmaker Elder Pharmaceuticals plans to raise 1.05 billion rupees through 7-year bonds at 11.25 percent.

Arvind International’s board has approved the right issue price at Rs 13.50 per equity shares. The approval was granted at its meeting held on March 22, 2011.

Vascon Engineers has secured two contracts worth aggregating Rs 241 crore.The company bagged first order worth Rs 131 crore for construction of miscellaneous building for ESIC at MGM in Mumbai. However, the second order worth Rs 110 crore is for carrying out civil work for residential project in Chennai.

Jindal Saw is in talks to acquire a logistic firm that operates container trains and owns terminals for about Rs 100-150 crore. The deal is likely to be closed in three months, officials stated.

Reliance Communications, India’s largest integrated telecom operator announced the launch of free website package for all its Netconnect users.

Zylog Systems' board of directors, have given their approval for the expansion plans of the WiFi business of the wholly owned subsidiary - Zylog Systems (India).

Acropetal Technologies has entered into definitive agreements to acquire 100% equity in Line Beyond Inc and 70% of the equity in Optech Consulting Inc for a consideration of $ 4.90 million each.

Bafna Pharmaceuticals has signed an agreement with NR Jet, an affiliate of Johnson & Johnson, for the acquisition of the TradeMark --RARICAP-- and the transaction is expected to be closed by the first week of April 2011. 

US markets close marginally down after a volatile trade

US markets closed marginally lower on Tuesday to snap the three days winning streak, though there was not much on economy front, the earthquake-tsunami disaster in Japan and the crisis at the country's nuclear plants that followed sent stocks lower. Energy stocks rose higher for the second day as Crude oil prices, a major source of concern, rose $2 per barrel. Oil briefly topped $105 on concerns that conflicts in the Middle East could pinch oil supplies as demand begins to rise.

According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency's monthly home-price index US home prices fell for a third straight month in January, adding to evidence that the housing market is weakening even though the economy is improving. Home prices fell 0.3% on a seasonally adjusted basis in January compared with December.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 17.90 points or 0.15 percent to close at 12,018.63. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell by 4.61 points, or 0.36 percent, to 1,293.77, while the Nasdaq composite index closed lower by 8.22 points, or 0.31 percent, to 2,683.87.

Indian ADRs made a mixed closing on Tuesday, Infosys was down by 0.68%, ICICI Bank was down by 0.01% and Tata Motors was down by 0.17%.

On the other hand HDFC Bank was up by 0.02% and MTNL too was down by 0.02%.

FII DII DATA 23/03/2011

Net Index Futures (1664), Net Stock Futures (127), Derivative Market: Total Open Interest (Rs 1,44,520 cr), Stock Futures Open Interest (Rs 32,414 cr)

Indian ADRs Update 23/03/2011

INFOSYS Down 0.7 (1.0%), WIPRO Up 0.0 (0.0%), ICICI BANK Down 0.0 (0.0%), HDFC BANK Up 0.0 (0.0%)

Global Markets update 23/03/2011

 DJIA Down 17.9 (0.2%) NSDQ Down 8.2 (0.3%) FTSE 100 Down 23.4 (0.4%) Asian Markets as on 8.45 AM  NIKKEI Down 153 (1.6%) HANG SENG Down 66 (0.29%) SGX NIFTY Down 28

Patel Engineering bags Rs 160.69 crore worth upgradation project from Government of Karnataka

Patel Engineering, an integrated infrastructure company, has bagged Rs 160.69 crore, 73.80km Tinthini kalmala road upgradation project from Government of Karnataka, Karnataka State highways improvement projects (Public Works, Ports and Inland Water Transport Department).
The project comprises upgradation of 73.80 km long stretch from Tinthini to Kalmala, a part of state highway 61 and state Highway 15. It is expected to be completed within two and half years.
Patel Engineering provides a wide range of civil engineering services involved in design and construction of power projects, hydroelectric projects, commercial building, industrial complexes, dams, tunnels, underground structures, steel and concrete structures, bridges, marine works, flyovers and national highways in India and abroad.  It has an experience of 75 dams, 30 hydro electric projects, 30 micro tunneling projects and 130 Km of tunneling, etc.

Bond yields trade range bound on Tuesday

Bond yields are trading range bound on Tuesday in the absence of fresh triggers. High global oil prices which stoke inflation fears might send the yields higher, but hopes for an improvement in cash supply and the lack of debt sale until April would limit the gains of bond yields.

The yield on the most-traded 8.08%-2022 tad low at 8.12%, from its previous close of 8.13 % in the absence of fresh triggers, with price rises seen limited due to more monetary tightening in the offing

The yields on less liquid 10-year benchmark, the 7.80%-2020 bond yield was at 8.00% from its previous close of 8.01%.

The benchmark five-year interest rate swap was at 8.03% higher from its previous close of 8.06% on Monday.

Three State Governments have announced Auction of State Development Loans 2021 for Rs 218.650 crore on March 22, 2011.

The Reserve Bank of India has announced the auction of 91-day and 364- day Government of India Treasury Bills for notified amount of Rs 5,000 crore and Rs 3,000 crore respectively. The auction will be conducted on March 23, 2011 using 'Multiple Price Auction' method.

Call rates steadily high on Tuesday

The Inter-bank call money rates were steady at 7.70/75% from its previous close as tightness in liquidity persisted following large advance tax outflows, while demand for fund remained strong even in the second week of the reporting fortnight. Banks via Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) borrowed Rs 55,400 crore through repo window on March 21, 2011. While banks via Second Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) borrowed Rs 23,490 crore through repo window and parked Rs 55 crore via reverse repo window on the same day.

The overnight borrowing rates has touched a high of 7.70% and a low of 7.80%, so far.

According to the Clearing Corporation of India (CCIL), the weighted average rate (WAR) in the call money market was 7.71% on Monday and total volume stood at Rs 12,545 crore on the same day.

As per CCIL data, WAR in the CBLO (Collateralized Borrowing and Lending Obligation) market was 6.71% on Monday and total volume stood at Rs 55,609 crore on the same day. 

Rupee picks up pace on Tuesday; surging oil prices weigh

Rupee strengthened on Tuesday supported by gains in the stock market and dollar weakness against other currencies. However, surging oil prices have maintained lid on further appreciation of the local unit, while, even demand for dollars by oil importers may play spoilsport for the rupee's gains during the day. Brent crude futures were supported near $115 on Tuesday by supply concerns triggered by the spreading unrest in the Middle East, while uncertainty about demand from the world's No. 3 consumer Japan capped gains.
Meanwhile, dealers are also turning more optimistic about the rupee's outlook in the near term on expectations of robust dollar inflows with companies getting funds via ECBs , and remittance in this quarter due to the Middle-East crisis.
The partially convertible Rupee is currently trading at Rs 44.96/97, stronger by 5 paise from its previous close of 45.01/02 on Monday. It touched a high of 45.00 and a low of 44.96 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India's Reference Rate for the US dollar stood at Rs 45.05 and for Euro it stood at Rs 63.81 on March 21, 2011. While, the RBI's reference rate for the Yen stood at Rs 55.65 and the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 73.0508 on March 21, 2011. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.

Date	1US$	1GBP
March 21,2011	45.05	73.0508
March 18,2011	45.09	72.8226

                                                       RBI-reference rate

Prefer direct investment to portfolio inflows: RBI

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Tuesday that it preferred greater amount of long-term and stable flows through foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country rather than often short-term oriented foreign institutional investment (FII) to bridge the current account deficit (CAD) that faces.

The Governor of the central bank D Subbarao said that while inflow of foreign capital was welcome for bridging the CAD, the RBI would always prefer the stable inflows in terms of FDI, which comes with a long term commitment, rather than volatile portfolio inflows which can reverse in case of even a small change in either domestic of global economic scenario.

In fact the RBI had raised the issue in its last two monetary policy reviews as well. The Central bank had expressed concern about the widening of the CAD and the nature of its financing in its third quarter review released on Jan 25. Going by the recent robust export performance though, the CAD for 2010-11 is now estimated to come lower than earlier expected, at around 2.5% of GDP.

overnment tables GST Bill in Parliament

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday tabled the Bill aiming at amending some of the tax related constitutional provisions required for implementing the much awaited Goods and Services Tax (GST), the country's most ambitious tax reform yet.

The constitutional amendment would allow states to levy tax on services for the first time. As per the current provision in the constitution, the states cannot tax services while the Union government can also not tax goods beyond the factory gate. Therefore, taxation powers of both the Union government and states will have to be raised to bring them in line with the GST. This will need a constitutional amendment bill to be first passed by the two houses of Parliament and then by at least two-third of state assemblies.

However, the road to implementation of the GST is not very clear so far as there is no complete agreement among states yet. A number of states, particularly the opposition ruled ones, are still firm on their stand that GST in its proposed structure will erode the fiscal autonomy of states, as provided in the Constitution. The Union government has already brought out a fourth revised draft of amendment bill that takes care of some of the issues raised by the states.

For instance, the third draft had proposed setting up a GST Council by the Act of Parliament, instead of President’s order. This was not acceptable to States as it would have resulted in provincial government’s autonomy being at the mercy of Union Parliament in many other situations. In the fourth draft that has been tabled in Parliament, it is proposed to set up a GST Council by Presidential order.

The purpose of the GST is to integrate all the indirect taxes on goods and services at the state and central levels including the value-added tax (VAT), excise and service taxes etc. Since the GST will bring all these taxes under one head, it will be easy to pay and collect taxes resulting in reduced cost of collection and greater compliance. The finance ministry has in a recent study pegged the benefits from GST in terms of national output at Rs 70,000 crore in 2004-05 prices. 

Global steel production up 8% in Feb, falls marginally in India

In a signal of improving global economy, world crude steel production increased by 8.8% to 117 million tonne in the month of February 2011 compared with the same month last year, showed the data compiled by World Steel Association (WSA). However, in India, crude steel output dipped marginally by 0.5% to 5.1 million tonne during the same period.

The decline in India is mainly due to some supply constraints rather than demand weaknesses. In fact, demand for steel has been seen rising over last few months even as steel companies hiked prices at least three times in Dec-Feb period owing to higher cost of production and better demand-supply scenario in the market. Local steel producers expect that output will increase in coming months as demand from infra and auto space is likely to remain buoyant.

In case of China, the largest steel producer in world, steel production for February 2011 stood at 54.3 million tonne, up 9.7% compared to February 2010. Japan produced 8.9 million tonne of crude steel in February 2011, an increase of 5.7% compared to the same month last year. However, Japanese production is expected to be much lower in March due to ongoing nuclear crisis. In South Korea, production jumped massively by over 25% to touch 5.0 million tonne in February 2010.

Looking at the European Union, Germany’s crude steel production for February 2011 stood at 3.7 million tonne, up 7.9% on year-on-year basis while Italy’s crude steel production was 2.3 million tonne, up 4.9% compared to the same month last year. In other European countries too production was seen increasing between 6-10%, indicating that the continental economy was continuing recovery despite some sovereign debt concerns.

Elsewhere in the rich world, the US produced 6.6 million tonne of crude steel in February 2011, 5.6% higher than February 2010. Brazilian crude steel production in the month under review was 2.7 million tonne, an increase of 11.4% on February 2010. The world crude steel capacity utilization ratio stood at 82.0%, better than upwardly revised figure of 80.9% for January 2011. On year-on-year basis the utilization ratio was 2.7 percentage points higher.

IMG advocates amendment to APMC act for curbing food inflation

The inter-ministerial group (IMG) on inflation has pointed out an urgent need for states to amend the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) acts to facilitate the free movement of essential food items, which, according to the group, is very important for achieving and sustaining a lower food inflation level.

The IMG was set-up at the suggestion of the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ‘in order to review the inflation situation and suggest corrective measures.’ The second meeting of the IMG on inflation was held on Monday under the Chairmanship of Dr Kaushik Basu, Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) to the Ministry of Finance.

In Monday’s meeting, there was a discussion on the need to revise the APMC act and encourage competition among traders and also to promote efficiency in retailing. Dr Basu stressed that there were certain natural rises and falls of price which are the market’s way of signaling information to consumers and it was not a good idea to flatten out these natural price movements.

He added that it was only when a small shortfall in production results in a disproportionate rise in prices that one realizes that there might be flaws in the marketing system. Basu said that it was these flaws that we need to correct. Towards this end, the IMG felt an urgent need to reform the APMC acts and in fact the overall marketing system as far as farm produce was concerned.

While some states have already amended their APMC Acts, many states are yet to relax the norms that restrict sale of agriculture produce. Until greater freedom in movement of food articles is grated, observed the IMG, it would be very difficult to improve efficiency in marketing and bring down the difference between farm gate and consumer prices. It has been earlier noted by government agencies as well as independent economists that major reason for high food inflation was large difference between retail and wholesale prices which indicated substantial inefficiencies in marketing and distribution.

Government may allow 200,000 tonne of sugar exports today

Having waited for several months, the government is likely to allow around 200,000 tonne of sugar exports on Tuesday under unrestricted sales or the open general license (OGL) which will be first tranche of the half a million tonne of exports announced earlier.

Last December, the Union Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had announced sugar exports to the tune of 5 lakh tonne. However, the government, hit by high food inflation, kept the issue undecided and later referred it to the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM), headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. The group is slated to meet on Tuesday to consider operationalising the announcement.

The reason behind not allowing sugar exports even as domestic production scenario seemed rosy and prices were crashing was overall high food inflation. The government had withheld the request by the farm ministry as food inflation was not witnessing the traditional decline over the months of Nov-Dec. However, with the food inflation now showing significant decline in the months of Jan-Feb, there is a possibility that government will allow some exports. 

The meeting of the EGoM is being held after Pawar sought the intervention of the Mukherjee for an early decision on this issue because the window to export sugar from India is available only up to end of April. In May, sugar from Brazil, the largest sugar producer in the world, will start coming into global markets, making it very difficult for Indian producers to exports. Also, global prices might come down further by then, which will make exports unprofitable by Indian exporters.

According to the agriculture ministry, extension of stock limits and substantial surplus production of the sweetener has depressed domestic prices below cost of production. If prices remain down, it will impact the payments to cane growing farmers, which in turn will impact the area under sugarcane cultivation in the next season, thus impacting sugar output next year. 'If sugar prices are not stabilized and cash flow to mills are not improved, I fear that we will end up paying a huge subsidy to clear cane payment arrears of farmers,' Pawar said while seeking intervention of Mukherjee in exports.

Most Asian indices extend gaining run; Japan ascends about 3%

Majority of Asian equity indices have extended their gaining run for the third successive session this Tuesday taking sanguine leads from the overnight upsurge in the US markets which garnered about one and a half percent on reports of stabilizing nuclear crisis in Japan along with some acquisition report. The investors' mood also got filliped on watching the Japanese benchmark, Nikkei 225 index, mount around three percent points, after a day of break, as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission there said that situation at Fukushima Dai-ichi plant appeared to be stable and containment at three of the plant's six reactors was intact.

Shanghai Composite added 4.90 points or 0.17% to 2,914.04, Hang Seng advanced 72.45 points or 0.32% to 22,757.67, KLSE Composite rose 0.47 points or 0.03% to 1,509.35, Nikkei 225 jumped 270.74 points or 2.94% to 9,477.49, Straits Times gained 6.86 points or 0.23% to 2,990.37, Seoul Composite climbed 8.13 points or 0.41% to 2,011.55 and Taiwan Weighted surges 69.53 points or 0.82% to 8,537.24.

On the other hand only Jakarta Composite traded in the negative zone after shedding 9.12 points or 0.26% to 3,509.73.

US markets surge on some deals news and easing Japanese crisis

US markets soared on Monday and all the major indices were up by about one and a half percent on reports of that Japan's nuclear crisis was stabilizing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the situation at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant appeared to be stabile it further said that containment at three of the plant’s six reactors was intact. Also there were some deals news that helped the markets gain strength, AT&T Inc. said it would buy rival T-Mobile USA for $39 billion, creating the largest US cellphone company, while Charles Schwab Corp. said it would buy online brokerage services provider OptionsXpress for $1 billion.

However, there was a disappointment from the economy front, the National Association of Realtors, an industry group said that sales of previously owned US homes fell unexpectedly sharply in February and prices fell to their lowest in nearly nine years. Sales fell 9.6 percent month over month to an annual rate of 4.88 million units, snapping three straight months of gains. The median home price dropped 5.2 percent in February from a year earlier to $156,100, the lowest since April 2002.

The Dow Jones industrial average surged by 178.01 points, or 1.50 percent, to 12,036.53. The S&P 500 index gained 19.18 points, or 1.50 percent, to 1,298.38, while the Nasdaq composite rose by 48.42 points, or 1.83 percent, to 2,692.09.

Majority of the Indian ADRs made a green closing on Monday, Infosys was up by 0.65%, Wipro was up by 0.54%, MTNL was up by 0.03% and Tata Motors was up by 0.55%.

On the other hand HDFC Bank was down by 1.79% and ICICI Bank was down by 0.53%.

Tata Communications surges on the BSE

Tata Communications is currently trading at Rs. 216.70, up by 6.25 points or 2.97% from its previous closing of Rs. 210.45 on the BSE.
The scrip opened at Rs. 207.35 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 218.45 and Rs. 204.75 respectively. So far 138375 shares were traded on the counter.
The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 354.30 on 02-Sep-2010 and a 52 week low of Rs. 192.65 on 10-Feb-2011.
Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 222.65 and Rs. 204.75 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 6133.20 crore.
The promoters holding in the company stood at 76.15% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 13.47% and 3.29% respectively.
Tata Communications (TCL) earlier know as VSNL, asserted that it had no intention of holding on to 770 acres of surplus land that came under its fold as a part of the privatization of former long-distance monopoly VSNL, because the delay in taking a decision was hurting the company, as it was unable to raise equity. The statement came in the wake of telecom ministry ordering the department of telecommunications to find out why it was taking so long to decide what to do with the land.

Recently, the telecom ministry called for the telecom secretary to constitute a high-level committee to examine the issue and come up with recommendations to secure interest of the government and the investors within this month. In a view, the Tatas were deliberately delaying a final decision on the fate of the land, spread over five locations in Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Pune. Adding to this, in May 2005, opinion of former attorney general Milon Banerjee that claims right from the beginning, the strategic partner was not interested in hiving off/demerger of the surplus land. But TCL quoted that such an interpretation was far from the truth.
Earlier VSNL was acquired by a subsidiary of Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata group, in 2002 when it was privatized by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government. TCL does not benefit from the surplus land and has no interest in retaining it or delaying its separation from the company. As a matter of fact, the company has been seeking an expedited resolution to this issue which limits its options in raising non-debt funding. The government is in the process of evaluating various legal and financial alternatives to decide on the demerger process, company officials quoted.

Amtek Auto spurts on CARE reaffirming ratings assigned to its bank facilities

Amtek Auto is currently trading at Rs 142.00, up by 8.45 points or 6.33% from its previous closing of Rs 133.55 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs 134.40 and has touched a high and low of Rs 143.40 and Rs 132.40 respectively. So far 737363 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'B' stock of face value Rs 2 has touched a 52 week high of Rs 200.85 on 12-Apr-2010 and a 52 week low of Rs 106.00 on 10-Feb-2011.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs 143.40 and Rs 120.70 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs 3067.10 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 30.26% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 42.93% and 26.81% respectively.

Credit rating agency, CARE has reaffirmed ‘AA’ rating assigned to Rs 1845 crore (enhanced from Rs 1775 crore) long term bank facilities of Amtek Auto. The rating agency has also reaffirmed ‘PR1’ rating assigned to Rs 40 crore short term bank facilities of the company. Further, CARE has reaffirmed PR1 rating assigned to Rs 300 crore commercial papers of the company.

The rating continues to derive strength from the company’s established business position, diversified client base, long-standing relationships with automobile companies as the preferred Original Equipment (OE) supplier, reasonable profitability levels and improved capital structure.

Amtek is one of the largest suppliers of automotive components to auto companies such as Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai. It is also the first automotive component maker to foray into vehicle manufacturing. Amtek operates 43 manufacturing facilities in India and abroad. The project is expected to start with the medical vehicle segment and will have high localization.

Sesa Goa surges on acquiring assets of Bellary steel & alloys

Institutions held 28.84% and 15.43% respectively. 

Sesa Goa, the largest exporter of iron ore, has acquired the assets of the upcoming steel plant unit of the Bellary steel & alloys (BSAL) for an all cash consideration of Rs. 220 crore. The secured creditors to BSAL represented by IFCI had taken over possession of the properties of the BSAL in association with the official liquidator. IFCI then conducted sale process for the asset of the BSAL under the SARFAESI Act, 2002.

BASL is coming up with a 0.5 mtpa steel plant project at Bellary. The properties of the under construction plant acquired are free hold land or 700 acres, building and structure, plant and machinery and other assets of the steel plant.

The assets have been transferred on an ‘as is where is’ basis to SGL on March 22, 2011. The company is presently conducting a detailed assessment in order to determine the best way forward for commissioning the steel plant at the earliest.

Apollo Hospitals surge on Khazanah acquiring 8.82% stake in it

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise is currently trading at Rs. 490.60, up by 6.10 points or 1.26% from its previous closing of Rs. 484.55 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 490.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 502.00 and Rs. 488.10 respectively. So far 22,950 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'B' stock of face value Rs. 5 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 599.00 on 13-Oct-2010 and a 52 week low of Rs. 327.75 on 21-May-2010.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 502.00 and Rs. 470.05 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 6131.40 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 33.24% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 27.47% and 32.00% respectively.

Khazanah Nasional Bhd’s arm - Integrated (Mauritius) Healthcare Holdings - has acquired 11,000,000 shares representing 8.82% stake in corporate hospital chain Apollo Hospitals from Bisikan Bayu Investments, another arm of the Malaysian sovereign fund, for Rs 470 crore. This arrangement is a part of an internal arrangement to consolidate shares under a single entity of Khazanah.

CARE retains ratings of various bank facilities of Gujarat NRE Coke

Credit rating agency, CARE has retained ‘AA-’ rating on Rs 726.39 crore long term bank facilities of Gujarat NRE Coke. The rating agency has also retained PR1+ rating on Rs 1,230 crore short term bank facilities of the company. Further, the company has reaffirmed PR1+ rating assigned to Rs 100 crore commercial paper of the company.

The said ratings continue to draw strength from long track record of the company, experience of the promoters, company’s leadership position in the Low Ash Metallurgical Coke (LAMC) industry, reputed clientele, inherent advantages of sourcing of coking coal from mines owned by its subsidiaries, successful operation of the steel unit, moderate financial position, improvement in equity base through infusion of funds by the promoter and improving outlook for LAMC industry in both international and domestic arena.

Gujarat NRE Coke is the largest producer of metallurgical coal, also known as met coke. It is the only Indian company which has coking coal mines in Australia.

Indusind Bank to acquire Deutsche Bank's India credit card business: Report

Indusind Bank is reportedly looking to acquire the German lender Deutsche Bank's India-specific credit card business.  Axis Bank and IndusInd Bank are the only two bidders narrowed out of 11 bidders by Deutsche Bank and the deal is expected to conclude over the next quarter. Its credit card business in India has 1,50,000 active cards and outstanding of Rs 225-250 crore.
IndusInd is close to striking the deal with Deutsche Bank and could offer a small premium to the amount outstanding on the current credit card base, which is in the range of Rs 225-250 crore.
IndusInd Bank seems to have an edge over Axis Bank which is in the last leg of deal and would be able to absorb the 217 people employed in the credit card division of Deutsche Bank. It would be a lift and drop deal with IndusInd Bank as it is in the process of launching its credit card business.

Geometric to unveil CAMWorks 2011 at PMTS 2011

Geometric, a leader in developing advanced manufacturing software is planning to demonstrate the new features in CAMWorks 2011, the latest version of its solid-based CNC programming solution at Precision Machining Technology Show 2011 (PMTS), from 19 to 21 April, 2011 in Columbus in Ohio.

CAMWorks 2011 is intended to be a more focused upgrade in the CAMWorks line, and provides significant new capabilities including enhanced automation, improved knowledge-based machining information, smarter tool paths, and more.

CAMWorks 2011 introduces VoluMill the ultra-high performance tool path plug-in engine for high speed milling for 2.5 axis and 3 axis roughing operations. It is ideal for prismatic parts and complex 3-D shapes as its algorithms result in more intelligent tool paths to machine pockets, slots, and arbitrary shapes.

Recently, the company had unveiled eDrawings Professional for Google SketchUp version 8.0 with support for Google SketchUp 8.0 and eDrawings 2011. eDrawings is the first email enabled collaboration tool designed to ease the sharing and interpretation of 2D and 3D product design data.

Geometric is a specialist in the domain of engineering solutions, services and technologies. Its portfolio of Global Engineering services and Digital Technology solutions for Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) enables companies to formulate, implement, and execute global engineering and manufacturing strategies aimed at achieving greater efficiencies in the product realization lifecycle.

Saksoft inks distribution agreement with FICO

Saksoft, the Information Management Specialist Company and FICO, the leading provider of analytics and decision management technology have entered into an agreement to market solutions jointly in India. The distribution agreement covers FICO’s decision management solutions and custom analytics including FICO TRIAD Customer Manager and FICO TM Blaze Advisor business rules management in combination with Saksoft’s technology, products and systems integration services.
FICO TRIAD Customer Manager is the leading credit account and customer management solution, with advanced analytics and strategy consulting and tools, while, FICO TM Blaze Advisor is the world's leading business rules management system, which provides companies across industries with a scalable solution that delivers agility and easy-to-implement smarter business decisions.
The two companies’ complementary expertise will enable them to deliver technology solutions that optimize business processes and decision management for clients, principally in the banking and insurance space.

Tata Communications says, no intention of holding VSNL‘s 770 acres land

Tata Communications (TCL) earlier know as VSNL, asserted that it had no intention of holding on to 770 acres of surplus land that came under its fold as a part of the privatization of former long-distance monopoly VSNL, because the delay in taking a decision was hurting the company, as it was unable to raise equity. The statement came in the wake of telecom ministry ordering the department of telecommunications to find out why it was taking so long to decide what to do with the land.

Recently, the telecom ministry called for the telecom secretary to constitute a high-level committee to examine the issue and come up with recommendations to secure interest of the government and the investors within this month. In a view, the Tatas were deliberately delaying a final decision on the fate of the land, spread over five locations in Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Pune. Adding to this, in May 2005, opinion of former attorney general Milon Banerjee that claims right from the beginning, the strategic partner was not interested in hiving off/demerger of the surplus land. But TCL quoted that such an interpretation was far from the truth.

Earlier VSNL was acquired by a subsidiary of Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata group, in 2002 when it was privatized by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government. TCL does not benefit from the surplus land and has no interest in retaining it or delaying its separation from the company. As a matter of fact, the company has been seeking an expedited resolution to this issue which limits its options in raising non-debt funding. The government is in the process of evaluating various legal and financial alternatives to decide on the demerger process, company officials quoted.

ICICI Bank and Intuit unveils Money Manager

ICICI Bank and Intuit, a leading global developer of business and personal finance management solutions, have launched an online subscription-based personal finance management solution ‘Money Manager’ for its customers. The solution is designed to help the bank’s customers understand their spending habits and organize their finances by providing them with details of all their ICICI Bank accounts on a single platform.

This web-based solution, available through the bank’s website, delivers the flexibility to focus on specific details such as earnings, savings, spends and loans. “Money Manager” makes it easy for customers to quickly and easily categorize their expenses and set and track a realistic budget to achieve their financial goals.

ICICI Bank’s products comprise a comprehensive range of deposits, mutual fund, and investment products, demat services and loans like home loan, auto loan and personal loans to cater to different needs.

Jyothy Laboratories acquires 100% stake in Diamond Fabcare

Jyothy Laboratories’ subsidiary Jyothy Fabricare Services (JFSL) has acquired 100% stake in Delhi-based laundry player Diamond Fabcare (DFPL).

DFPL, the member of Dry Cleaning & Laundry Institute, USA has 62 outlets across Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon and Gaziabad. It enjoys core competency in the laundry segment with the state-of-the-art machinery including use of 100% RO water processing, innovative supply chain system driven by sophisticated IT systems and record keeping.

Jyothy Laboratories is engaged in manufacturing and marketing of products in fabric care, mosquito repellent, surface cleaning, personal care and incense sticks.

Hinduja Global Solutions to recruit around 2,000 employees in next fiscal

Hinduja Global Solutions, leading provider of outsourcing solutions to a global clientele of Fortune 500 companies, will be recruiting around 2,000 people in India and for its other offices in the next fiscal to ramp up its headcount to 22,000. Currently, the company has close to 20,000 employees.
HGS provides outsourcing solutions to over 80 clients through its 45 delivery centers in India, the US, UK and Philippines. It serves industries like insurance, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, life sciences, banking and financial services, consumer electronics/products, government, media and entertainment, energy and utilities, transportation and logistics.
Hinduja Global Solutions, a part of the multi billion dollar conglomerate ‐ Hinduja Group, excels in providing outsourcing solutions that include Back Office Processing, Contact Center services and customized ITES solutions to its global clientele comprising several Fortune 500 Companies.

Lanco Infratech begins trial run of first 600 Mw unit of Anpara Power project

Lanco Infratech has started the trial run of the first 600 Mw unit of Anpara Power project in Uttar Pradesh.

The company has synchronized the 600 Mw units at Lanco Anpara Power, taking the company's installed power generation capacity to 3,292 Mw. The company won this 2x600 Mw coal based thermal power project through the competitive bid under the Electricity Act.

This move will give more confidence to the company to achieve an operating capacity of 15,000 Mw by 2015 which will be in line with company’s vision, company official quoted.

The Uttar Pradesh government has tied up for the project's coal and water linkages. It has also put in place a 765 KV transmission line for power evacuation and power purchase agreement with distribution companies promoted by the Uttar Pradesh state electricity board.

SJVN expects to generate 7,100 million units of power from Nathpa Jhakri plant

Hydroelectric power producer Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) is expecting to generate over 7,100 million units of power from its 1500 MW Nathpa Jhakri Hydro Power Station in the current fiscal.

The plant has already surpassed its previous best record of generating 7,018.8 million units achieved during fiscal 2009-10. This record power was generated despite heavy rains in the catchments of river Satluj in July and August last year. The downpour led to considerable increase in silt load, forcing the shutdown of plant for 22 days during the current financial year.

The company has reported a net profit of Rs 191.50 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 as compared to a net profit of Rs 185.48 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, up by 3.25%. Its income from operations has increased by 7.17% to Rs 396.41 crore for the quarter ended from 369.89 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009.

CARE reaffirms the ratings assigned to Birla Cotsyn bank facilities

Credit rating agency CARE has reaffirmed the ‘CARE BBB-‘ratings assigned to Birla Cotsyn (BCIL) long-term bank facilities for Rs 198.07 crore.

The agency has also reaffirmed the ‘PR 2’ ratings assigned to BCIL’s short-term bank facilities for Rs 7.50 crore.

The ratings continue to be constrained by delay in project implementation, low debt coverage indicators, low profit margins and predominantly trading nature of operations. The ability of BCIL to improve its margins in the scenario of volatile cotton prices, optimally utilize its expanded capacities remains the key rating sensitivities.

BCIL produces high quality synthetic, blended ring spun yarns for usage in woven and knitted fabrics, textiles, blankets, towels, upholstery, furnishings, curtains, bed sheets, made-up and industrial fabrics.

Hindustan Copper to expand its copper ore production capacity to 12.41 mtpa by 2016-17

The only copper ore producer in India, Hindustan Copper (HCL), is aiming to invest Rs 3,677 crore to expand its existing copper ore production capacity by four times to 12.41 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) by 2016-17.The company has prepared an ambitious expansion plan to expand capacity of 3.21 million tonnes to 12.41 million tonnes, which would be funded from internal resources, fresh issue of shares and debt.
Meanwhile, the company is also planning to take up greenfield projects for exploration and ore production. HCL would spend a total of Rs 297 crore next fiscal through internal sources for part-funding expansion of the Khetri, Kolihan, Banwas and Singhbhum mines and reopening of the Rakha and Kenadadih mines. HCL has already applied for prospecting leases across the country for greenfield exploration and it proposes to explore and develop these mines in a joint venture with global mining majors.
HCL's existing capacity caters to about 3 per cent of the requirement of optimum utilization of installed capacity for smelting/refining of copper in the country. HCL plans to invest a total of Rs 174 crore for expansion of the Khetri mines from 0.5 mtpa to 1 mtpa. In the Kolihan mines, it would invest Rs 275 crore for expanding the capacity to 1.5 mtpa from 0.5 mtpa now and Rs 91 crore to develop the Banwas mine with a capacity of 0.6 mtpa. The Surda mine's capacity will be expanded to 0.9 mtpa from 0.42 mtpa now at a total cost of Rs 216 crore. HCL is likely to invest Rs 347 crore to reopen the closed Rakha mine and Rs 87 crore is for enhancing the capacity of the Kendadih mines to 0.21 mtpa.
Recenlty, after delaying its follow on public offer due to adverse capital market conditions, Hindustan Copper was in talks with aluminum major Nalco to sell stake in its mines. The company is currently negotiating with Nalco and is looking to sell about 20% equity stake in two of its copper mines. Hindustan copper is looking to expand and the stake sale is aimed to part finance its expansion plans which is estimated to cost over Rs 4,000 crore.

Ganesh Polytex looks to achieve Rs 1,000 crore of revenue in next five years

Kanpur-headquartered Ganesh Polytex (GPL) is looking to achieve the target of Rs 1,000 crore of revenue in the next five years on the back of growing demand for polyester fibre, both in the global as well as the domestic market.
The company recycles PET bottle waste and turns it into Recycled Poyester Staple Fibre (RPSF). It is also setting up a greenfield yarn spinning unit at Bilaspur in Uttar Pradesh with the capacity of 25,000 spindles. This project will cost the company around Rs 125 crore and will be financed through a mix of equity, debt and internal accruals.
GPL, which has a total installed capacity of 57,600 tonnes per annum (TPA), is also planning to increase it by another 14,000 TPA to take it to about 72,000 TPA by FY 12-13 and is further planning to venture into plastic waste recycling business.
Meanwhile, the company's revenue, which is growing at 30% per year at present, is estimated at Rs 265 crore in 2010-11.

Khazanah acquires 8.82% stake in Apollo Hospitals Enterprises for Rs 470 crore

Khazanah Nasional Bhd’s arm - Integrated (Mauritius) Healthcare Holdings - has acquired 11,000,000 shares representing 8.82% stake in corporate hospital chain Apollo Hospitals from Bisikan Bayu Investments, another arm of the Malaysian sovereign fund, for Rs 470 crore. This arrangement is a part of an internal arrangement to consolidate shares under a single entity of Khazanah.

The deal comes eight months after the fund succeeded in terminating attempts of billionaire brothers Malvinder and Shivinder Singh-promoted Fortis Healthcare to acquire a majority stake in Khazanah-controlled Parkway hospital chain of Singapore.

Bisikan Bayu had picked up a 13.2 per cent in Apollo Hospitals in August 2005 from TWL Holdings for $44.23 million.

Pipavav Shipyard sells 7.7% stake to Ovira Logistics

Ovira Logistics has acquired 5.11 crore shares or about 7.7% stake in Pipavav Shipyard at Rs 80.83 a share under bulk deal on Monday. Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services, IL&FS Financial Services and IL&FS Employee Welfare Trust sold the shares.

Pipavav Shipyard’s principal activity is to set up shipyard project. It is the sole sponsor of training at two Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) situated at Rajula and Mahuva, Gujarat, in the vicinity of the company's shipyard.

Diamant Infrastructure in green on venturing into Steel Fibre Reinforced Precast products

Diamant Infrastructure is currently trading at Rs. 55.10, up by 1.35 points or 2.51% from its previous closing of Rs. 53.75 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 56.40 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 56.75 and Rs. 54.50 respectively. So far 56,000 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'B' stock of face value Rs. 2 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 67.00 on 06-Jan-2011 and a 52 week low of Rs. 8.13 on 07-Jun-2010.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 57.50 and Rs. 51.50 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 193.62 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 15.38% while Non-Institutions hold 84.62% respectively.

Diamant Infrastructure has ventured into Steel Fibre Reinforced Precast products. The commercial production for modular compound wall and SFRC rain water drains has already been started. This is the modern technology where the strength of the product is very high along with long life and very economical compared to traditional method.

The SFRC rain water drains are useful for small to medium industries and very much suitable for Highway Projects. The execution time of laying road side drains on service lane will be reduced to 1/10th of time required for cast-in-situ process.

Modular SFRC compound wall is the latest technology accepted by all the industries for securing their boundaries. The range of products will include box culvert, retaining walls, building walls, SFRC pipes.

Diamant Infrastructure is engaged in the infrastructure business in India. It involves in the development and construction of roads. The company operates in three primary segments: financial, infrastructure and realty.

Essar Steel almost completes capacity expansion at its Hazira plant

Essar Steel's capacity expansion at its Hazira plant is almost complete, while all its units at Hazira (steel plant) will be commissioned in a month or so, excluding coke-oven battery, which will be commissioned in 2012.

This capacity expansion, will take its total production capacity to 10 million tonnes per annum (MTPA).The company has earlier reported that it would be investing about Rs 30,000 crore to have a total production capacity of 10 MTPA in its integrated plant at Hazira, Gujarat by the end of this fiscal. The company further aims to commission a Corex module capacity of 1.74 MTPA and CSP Caster and mill of 3.5 MTPA capacities by the current fiscal-end.

The company recently has already constructed 12 MTPA pellet plant at Paradip, Orissa and has also got its mechanical commissioning started. Post-commissioning, the company will have a total pelletisation capacity of 20 MTPA as it already has an 8 MTPA pellet plant at Vizag in Andhra Pradesh. Pellet, made from iron ore, is a processed raw material used for steel making.

BANKNIFTY FOR SUPPORT 22/03/2011

BANKNIFTY (2nd Resistance) 10916.15
(1st Resistance) 10843.3
Pivot point 10767.15
(1st Support) 10694.3
(2nd support) 10618.15

NIFTY FOR SUPPORT 22/03/2011

NIFTY (2nd Resistance) 5455.2
(1st Resistance) 5417.65
Pivot point 5387.45
(1st Support) 5349.9
(2nd support) 5319.7

Domestic markets to see some recovery in early trade

The Indian markets witnessed a volatile trade in last session, though the close was flat but the markets never looked in confident condition. Today the start is likely to be good as the global cues are firm, though crude prices are still at the elevated levels and may continue putting pressure on the PSU oil marketing companies with government in no mood to free diesel prices soon. Commodity stocks are likely to make some recovery with report of Japan situation stabilizing. However there is not good news for the India Inc, an RBI analysis has said that rise in raw material cost and soaring salary bill eroded the profitability of India Inc during April-September period of the current financial year. Meanwhile the new banking licence hopefuls too may get disappointed as the new banking licences will be given only after the government vests more powers with the Reserve Bank of India to control the new entities. RBI had earlier brought out a discussion paper in August on licences to business houses and non-banking finance companies, and regulations to foster competition and has said it will look at the business plan for financial inclusion before granting a licence.

The US markets bounced back on Monday making a good start of the week some deals news along with ease in the Japanese crisis took the markets higher while the surge in crude prices led the energy stocks gain momentum. Most of the Asian markets have made a positive start and the Japanese markets after a day of break have surged by about 3 percent in the very early trade.

Back home, Indian benchmark indices staged a lackadaisical performance in Monday’s volatile trading session after remaining in a narrow band to finally settle flat and snap the second successive day below the crucial support levels of 5,400 and 18,000. The tepid close looked shoddier because of the fact that markets across the globe displayed energetic performance and rallied as Japan made progress in cooling nuclear reactors at a crippled plant, while energy stocks benefited from higher oil and commodity prices on escalating geopolitical tensions in the Libya and neighboring nations. Spiraling crude oil prices continued to play spoilsport for the local markets as intensifying air attack in Libya by the US and Allied forces and pro-democracy protests and clashes in Syria with government forces stoked the oil prices to uncomfortable levels. Massive selling by FIIs in the past couple of trading sessions along with risks of towering inflation and solidifying interest rates capped the upside chances for the frontline indices. Earlier on Dalal Street, the benchmark ricocheted by over 100 points in the opening trade on emergence of buying in fundamentally strong shares at lower levels, driven by a firming trend in other Asian bourses. However, the frontline indices immediately erased all the opening session gains and drifted into the red to touch the low point of the day. Selective buying in some undervalued shares thereafter helped the index claw back in to the green territory in the late morning session. After gyrating in a narrow band and trading in the green for some time, the frontline indices slipped back into the red as investors took profits off the table in the dying hours. Eventually, bourses settled below the crucial support levels for the second straight day and settled with marginal losses of less than a quarter percent. Finally, the BSE Sensex lost 39.76 points or 0.22% to settle at 17839.05 while the S&P CNX Nifty fell by 8.95 points or 0.17% to end at 5,364.75.

US markets soared on Monday and all the major indices were up by about one and a half percent on reports of that Japan's nuclear crisis was stabilizing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the situation at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant appeared to be stabile it further said that containment at three of the plant’s six reactors was intact. Also there were some deals news that helped the markets gain strength, AT&T Inc. said it would buy rival T-Mobile USA for $39 billion, creating the largest US cellphone company, while Charles Schwab Corp. said it would buy online brokerage services provider OptionsXpress for $1 billion.

However, there was a disappointment from the economy front, the National Association of Realtors, an industry group said that sales of previously owned US homes fell unexpectedly sharply in February and prices fell to their lowest in nearly nine years. Sales fell 9.6 percent month over month to an annual rate of 4.88 million units, snapping three straight months of gains. The median home price dropped 5.2 percent in February from a year earlier to $156,100, the lowest since April 2002.

The Dow Jones industrial average surged by 178.01 points, or 1.50 percent, to 12,036.53. The S&P 500 index gained 19.18 points, or 1.50 percent, to 1,298.38, while the Nasdaq composite rose by 48.42 points, or 1.83 percent, to 2,692.09.

Crude prices once again resumed their gaining mood and ended up more than 1 percent on Monday as UN mandated air strikes in Libya and growing unrest in the Middle East sparked more worries about supply disruptions. Western forces launched a second wave of air strikes on Libya. Spreading unrest in the Middle East supported prices, but uncertainty about demand from the world’s No. 3 consumer Japan capped gains.

Meanwhile, Japan will allow the release of an additional 22 days worth of crude oil from privately held reserve aimed to ease energy shortages in northern Japan, which was devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11.

Benchmark crude for April delivery settled at $102.33 a barrel, gaining $1.26, or 1.25 percent, after trading in a range of $101.66 to $103.35 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude for May delivery settled up by $1.03 or 0.9 percent at $114.96 a barrel on the ICE.

Fitch Ratings reaffirms BB+(ind) rating assigned to Delton Cables

Credit rating agency, Fitch Ratings has revised Delton Cables outlook to negative from Stable. The rating agency has reaffirmed BB+ (ind) rating assigned to the company’s long term facilities.

The rating agency has also reaffirmed Rs 1.06 crore outstanding long term loan to BB+(ind), Rs 32 crore fund-based working capital limits (reduced from Rs 33.6 crore) to BB+(ind)/F4(ind) and Rs 60.6 crore non fund-based working capital limits (reduced from Rs 61.6 crore) to BB+(ind)/ F4(ind) of the company’s bank facilities.

Delton offers Total Telecom Solution Products from Conventional Telecom Cables to Microwave Accessories and others. It provides competence in Cable technology - covering measurement, control, communication and power distribution applications, as used in exploration, refining or gas processing sites, petrochemical, chemical, power generation and similar applications.

Diamant Infrastructure ventures into Steel Fibre Reinforced Precast products

commercial production for modular compound wall and SFRC rain water drains has already been started. This is the modern technology where the strength of the product is very high along with long life and very economical compared to traditional method.

The SFRC rain water drains are useful for small to medium industries and very much suitable for Highway Projects. The execution time of laying road side drains on service lane will be reduced to 1/10th of time required for cast-in-situ process.

Modular SFRC compound wall is the latest technology accepted by all the industries for securing their boundaries. The range of products will include box culvert, retaining walls, building walls, SFRC pipes.

Diamant Infrastructure is engaged in the infrastructure business in India. It involves in the development and construction of roads. The company operates in three primary segments: financial, infrastructure and realty.

NTPC gains on starting stage-III commercial operation at Korba Super Thermal Power Project

NTPC is currently trading at Rs. 174.35, up by 1.35 points or 0.78% from its previous closing of Rs. 173.00 on the BSE.
The scrip opened at Rs. 174.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 175.40 and Rs. 174.00 respectively. So far 12,000 shares were traded on the counter.
The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 222.20 on 04-Oct-2010 and a 52 week low of Rs. 168.60 on 25-Feb-2011.
Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 178.35 and Rs. 172.60 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 142646.53 crore.
The promoters holding in the company stood at 84.50% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 11.78% and 3.72% respectively.
The country’s largest power producer National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has started Stage-III commercial operation at Unit-VII of 500 MW of Korba Super Thermal Power Project with effect form March 21, 2011.
Earlier in this month, the company had commenced operations of its 500 MW unit -I of the Indira Gandhi Super Thermal Power Project at Jhajjar with effect from March 05, 2011. This project is set up by its joint venture Aravali Power Company (APCPL), along with the national grid.
NTPC posted a marginal increase of 0.27% in its net profit of Rs 2371.48 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 as compared to Rs 2364.98 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009. Its total income has increased from Rs 11961.31 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009 to Rs 14165.90 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2010

Kinetic Motor Company to increase its authorised share capital

Kinetic Motor Company has received the board approval to increase its authorised share capital from existing Rs 93.56 crore to Rs 108.56 crore subject to shareholders approval.
Further the board has also approved investment of up to Rs 20 crore in the shares of a group company subject to shareholders approval.
The approval was taken by the board at its meeting held on March 21, 2011.
Kinetic produces a complete two-wheeler portfolio which ranges from mopeds, scooters and bikes. Manufacturing plants of the company are at Pithampur (for scooters), Ahmednagar (for scooterettes and mopeds) and Koregaon (for bikes).

FII DII DATA 22/03/2011

Futures (-97), Net Stock Futures (-26), Derivative Market: Total Open Interest (Rs 1,44,823 cr), Stock Futures Open Interest (Rs 31,814 cr)

Indian ADRs Update 22/03/2011

INFOSYS Up 0.7 (1.0%), WIPRO Up 0.5 (4.1%), ICICI BANK Down 0.5 (1.2%), HDFC BANK Down 1.8 (1.2%)

Tecpro Systems completes acquisition of its subsidiary

Tecpro Systems has acquired the remaining 49% stake in its subsidiary - Tecpro Trema on March 17, 2011. With this acquisition Tecpro Trema becomes the wholly-owned subsidiary of Techpro Systems.The acquisition of Techpro Trema by Techpro Systems was approved by the board at its meeting held on November 12, 2010.Last month, it has also received its board’s approval for the scheme of amalgamation of Microbase Infosolution, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company with itself.

Recently, Tecpro Systems has received orders aggregating to Rs 188 crore from Steel Authority of India (SAIL), Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation and Gujarat State Electricity Corporation (GSECL).

Tecpro Systems is an established material handling company in India, engaged in providing turnkey solutions in material handling, ash handling, balance of plant ("BoP") and engineering, procurement and construction ("EPC") contracts.

Lords Chemicals to amalgamate Jagati Cokes

Lords Chemicals has approved in-principle amalgamation of Jagati Cokes with the company and other connected matters. The above decision was approved at the board meeting held on March 21, 2011.

The aforesaid board decision is subject to further approval by the shareholders of the company and other competent authorities.

Lords Chemicals is a leading Indian manufacturer of basic industrial chemicals like Sodium Dichromate, Chromic Acid, Chrome Oxide Green etc.

Lords Chemicals has become one of the leading producers of Sodium Dichromate through the use of Continuous Rotary Kiln Process. This chemical is used in a variety of applications like pigments, wood preservation, metal treatment, pharmaceuticals, etc.

Sharon Bio-Medicine In-House R & D Unit recognised

Sharon Bio-Medicine’s manufacturing site at L-6, MIDC, Taloja, Near Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra having its own In-House Research and Development Centre has been recognized by Department of Scientific and Industrial Research which falls under Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, New Delhi.
As per the provision of the act Sharon will avail exemptions of customs / excise duties and income tax which is available after been recognised by Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. This benefit is available till March 31, 2013 and is extendable after meeting certain criteria’s.
Last month, Sharon Bio-Medicine has signed Memorandum of Understanding with The State - Joint Stock Concern 'Uzpharmsanoat' of the Republic of Uzbekistan for setting up Pharmaceutical Plant in Navoi Free Industrial Economic Zone in Uzbekistan.
Sharon Bio-Medicine offers contract manufacturing for finished dosage forms; viz. tablets, capsules and injectables. Sharon has identified niche areas of oncology for export markets.

NHPC, TCS,Madhucon Projects and Essar Steel may witness some action today

Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal has ordered a high-level committee under a senior government officer to examine the VSNL-Tata divestment. Sibal has sought a report on the matter latest by March 31. He claims the divestment in 2002 was not fair and transparent.

The target of adding 62,000 MW of power capacity in the 11th Plan may come under pressure, as commissioning of NHPC's 2,000-MW Subansiri project in Assam is likely to be delayed by at least two years due to resistance from locals.

Leading IT Company TCS announced plans to ramp up its customers base for its product meant for Small and Medium Business (SMB) to more than 1,000 by the end of current year.

State-run Hindustan Copper plans to invest Rs 3,677 crore to almost quadruple its existing copper ore production capacity to 12.41 million tonnes per annum by 2016-17.

Ruias-owned Essar Steel's capacity expansion at its Hazira plant is almost complete, which will take its total production capacity to 10 million tonnes per annum.

Sheths of Great Eastern Shipping have deployed part of the cash generated from their traditional shipping business to expand their offshore business with Singapore as the hub for global operations.

Emami is keen to acquire Henkel AG's 51 per cent in Henkel India, the consumer goods maker, even as Jyothy Labs bagged a 14.9 per cent stake in the company.

National Aluminium Company (NALCO), the Navratna PSU, under the union ministry of mines, Govt. of India, has become the first PSU in the country by implementing a pilot-cum-demonstration project on Carbon Sequestration in its Captive Power Plant at Angul.

Integrated (Mauritius) Healthcare Holdings, an arm of Khazanah Nasional Bhd, has acquired 8.82 per cent stake in corporate hospital chain Apollo Hospitals from Bisikan Bayu Investments, another arm of the Malaysian sovereign fund, for Rs 470 crore.

The $68-billion conglomerate, Tata Group, has become the first Indian brand to figure in the top 50 global companies.

Outsourcing firm Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS) will hire about 2,000 people in the next fiscal to ramp up its headcount to 22,000.

Ganesh Polytex (GPL) is eyeing Rs 1,000 crore revenue in the next five years on the back of growing demand for polyester fibre, both in the global as well as the domestic market.

Viceroy Hotels (VHL) is looking to hive-off its Rs 560 crore Chennai project into a separate company to cut debt on its balance sheet.

Madhucon Projects has received a letter of award from National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) for 4-laning of Ranchi-Rargaon-Jamshedpur section of NH-33from Km 114.000 to Km 277.500 in the state of Jharkhand under NHDP Phase - III on design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) on Annuity basis.

Everest Industries, one of India’s fastest growing building solutions company has announced that will set up a new manufacturing facility in East India to cater to the growing demand as it aims to cross Rs 1,000 crore revenue in 2011-12.

The country’s largest power producer National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has started Stage-III commercial operation at Unit-VII of 500 MW of Korba Super Thermal Power Project with effect form March 21, 2011.

The Supreme Court has admitted the petition of Reliance Communications challenging the order of the telecom tribunal TDSAT which had set aside the plea of Anil Ambani group firm challenging penalty imposed by the state-run firm BSNL.

Reliance Industries projected a 13 per cent fall in gas production from its famed KG-D6 block to 38 million metric standard cubic meters of gas a day in 2012-13.

The US Foods and Drugs Administration (USFDA) will be sued by the US pharmaceutical company Mylan Inc, for an injunction on the launch of Ranbaxy’s cholesterol treatment drug Aricept, which is a generic version of Pfizer’s Lipitor.

ICICI Bank and Intuit, a global developer of business and personal finance management solutions, launched Money Manager, an online personal finance management solution.

Global Markets update 22/03/2011

 DJIA Up 178 (1.5%) NSDQ Up 48 (1.8%) FTSE 100 Up 68 (1.2%) Asian Markets as on 8.45 AM  NIKKEI Up 270 (2.94%) HANG SENG Up 79 (0.35%) SGX NIFTY Up 24.5

Markets bounce back;metals, auto stocks lead

The Indian equity markets have bounced back from the negative territory to the positive in late morning session as investors turn slightly positive about on metals stocks and some short covering was being seen in the Auto stocks too. Meanwhile, most of the other Asian markets were also trading in green and US index futures were showing similar trend. Though, the markets are trading in green but investors remain jittery after Western forces struck targets in Libya. Brent climbed more than $2 on Monday to top $116 after western forces launched a military campaign against Libya. Back home NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their physiological level of 5,400 and 18,000 mark respectively. In the BSE sectoral indices Realty, IT and TECk counters were still facing some selling pressure. Broader markets were trading mixed the BSE Mid cap index was down 0.01%, while Small cap index was up by 0.10%.  The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of declines which slightly outnumbered advances in the ratio of 1266:1212, while, 110 shares remained unchanged.

Tata Steel trades higher as the company has successfully completed the issuance of perpetual hybrid securities worth Rs 1,500 crore. With the issuance of this bond the company became the first Indian corporate to issue securities of such kind. ICICI Bank and J.P. Morgan Securities India were the mandated lead arrangers for the issuance. The unique features of the securities are that they are perpetual in nature with no maturity or redemption and are callable only at the option of the company. The distribution rate (which may be deferred at the company’s option) on the securities is set at 11.8 percent, with a step up provision if the securities aren’t called after 10 years.

The BSE Sensex gained 43.81 points or 0.25% to 17,922.62. The index has touched a high of 18,007.73 and a low of 17,792.17 respectively.

The BSE Mid cap index was down 0.01%, while Small cap index was up by 0.10%. 

In the BSE sectoral indices Auto up 0.59%, FMCG up 0.44%, HC up 0.44%, CG up 0.38% and CD up 0.34% were the main gainers. However, Realty down by 0.44%, IT down by 0.34% and TECk down by 0.29% were the losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were M&M up 1.52%, HDFC up by 1.35%, Tata Steel up 1.12%, Sterlite Industries up by 1.04% and Tata Motors and up were up by 0.93%.

Hindalco Industries down by 2.18%, Cipla down by 0.78%, Reliance Communication down 0.77%, Infosys down by 0.71% and Maruti Suzuki down 0.31% were the top losers on the index.

Tyre stocks are trading lower on account of higher rubber prices which continued their recovery mood. Apollo Tyres climbed 1.69%, CEAT gained  1.32%, MRF advanced 1.41  and JK Tyre & Industries surged 0.99% .Rubber prices rebounded on easing of demand concerns caused by Japan earthquake and closure of automobile plants and market returned back to fundamentals. Natural rubber continues to be supported by higher prices of crude oil and tight supplies in producing countries.

The S&P CNX Nifty advanced 13.75 points or 0.26% at 5,387.45. The index has touched a high of 5413.30 and a low of 5348.20 respectively.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 2.20%, M&M up by 1.85%, SAIL up by 1.53%, Dr Reddy up by 1.49% and Suzlon up 1.32%.

The top losers of the index were Ranbaxy down by 4.47%, Hindalco down by 2.13%, Reliance Communication down by 0.91%, Reliance Power down by 0.87% and Infosys down by 0.71%.

Ranbaxy declined over 4% on reports that Mylan has sued US FDA for Lipitor. The company is seeking to block Ranbaxy's lipitor copy. Lipitor was estimated to add $ 500-600 million to Ranbaxy's sales.

All other Asian equity indices barring; Shanghai Composite,  were trading in the positive terrain at this point of time. Hang Seng surged 1.07%, Jakarta Composite added 0.42%, KLSE Composite inched up 0.08%, Straits Times increased 1.26%, Seoul Composite rose 1.13% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.87%.

Shipping Corporation to acquire two AHTSVs

Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), under the Ministry of Shipping, is all set to acquire two Anchor Handling Towing and Supply Vessels (AHTSVs) of 120T Bollard Pull capacity each. These vessels were earlier contracted by a Norwegian ship-owner and are in advance stage of construction and will now be delivered to SCI in July 2011 and September, 2011.
However, the contracts were terminated by the owners in January, 2011. Later SCI signed the shipbuilding contracts with Cochin Shipyard in February, 2011 at New Delhi.
Recently, the company took the physical delivery of its Aframax size Tanker named 'm.t. Desh Samman' of 114683 DWT (Dead Weight Ton) capacity.
The company reported an increase of 40.74% in net profit to Rs 123.06 crore for the quarter ended December 2010 compared to Rs 87.44 crore in the same quarter last year. Total income for the quarter surged marginally by 3.77% to Rs 1019.31 crore compared to Rs 982.24 crore in the same quarter last year.

BPCL delays shutdown of its refinery units

Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) has delayed the shutdown plans of hydrogen unit at its Mumbai refinery and a diesel unit at the Kochi plant in order to meet local fuel demand.  The company had planned the schedule for shutdown in the month of April but it has been deferred, company officials stated.
Indian refiners are struggling to get a good response to their diesel import tenders as traders target more lucrative sales to quake-hit Japan. Last week BPCL bought only one of the four diesel cargoes it was seeking via tender for April delivery at a very high premium.
Further, other refineries like HPCL and IOC have also planned to defer shutdown of their units.
Recently, BPCL's announced that its refinery at Bina, a new unit, is likely to deliver impressive refining margins of $11 a barrel, in spite of soaring raw material prices, company officials quoted. The margin is expected to be more than double the margin of its other units in recent months.
The company reported a decline of 50.57% in net profit from of Rs 187.38 crore for the quarter ended December 2010 compared to Rs 379.09 crore in the same quarter last year.

Coal India in talks for 10-year contracts with overseas suppliers to rein in price volatility

Coal India (CIL) - the world’s largest coal miner is negotiating 10-year contracts with overseas suppliers in an attempt to protect Indian consumers from any volatility in global coal prices. The company is in advanced talks with suppliers in Australia, Indonesia, South Africa and the US for securing coal at 10% discount to the global benchmark price.

CIL is aiming to import at least 30 million tonnes of coal in fiscal 2011-12. The company is in negotiations with global firms such as Rio Tinto, Xstrata, Anglo American, Peabody, Massey Energy, Arch Coal, Murray Energy and Sinarmas since the state owned company did not get adequate confirmed responses from domestic consumers.

Further, the company now plans to import larger quantity of the fossil fuel as its expansion plans have been severely hit by factors such as new pollution norms and law and order issues at some of its mines.

Union Bank inks pact with Nokia

Union Bank of India (UBI) has launched Union Bank Money powered by Nokia across India, starting with the National Capital Region in partnership with Nokia. The service is already available to consumers in Gurgaon, and will be soon go live in Delhi, Faridabad and Noida. This will be followed by a nationwide roll-out over the next few months. The unique service specifically targets users, who do not have a bank account, by providing access to financial services through their mobile phones and driving financial inclusion.
Union Bank Money powered by Nokia operates across all handsets in India. Making the service ubiquitous, highly accessible and user-friendly, Nokia is pre-installing the application in a wide range of Nokia mobile handsets across price points. The application can also be installed nearly on all already existing Nokia handsets in the country.
The Financial Inclusion plan will aim at bringing banking services to over 10 million customers across 32,000 villages by 2013. Nokia will supplement the existing 3000 UBI branches across the country with its unparalleled network of retail outlets spread across the country.
Union Bank of India reported a surge of 8.51% in net profit to Rs 579.57 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 against Rs 534.13 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009. Total income for the quarter stood at Rs 4,693 crore, up 24.88% over Rs 3,758 crore for the year ago period.

7Seas gets nomination for FICCI (BAF) Awards -2011

7Seas Entertainment, a Hyderabad based independent IP based games development company have been nominated for the prestigious FICCI (Best animated frames-BAF) Awards 2011.The FICCI nominated one of 7 Seas’ mobile games (The fight 3D) and online games (The dark man) under best mobile game category and best online game category respectively.
FICCI (The Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry) frames Asia’s largest convention on the business of entertainment held in Mumbai annually, draws 2500 attendees from India and abroad every year.
7Seas is India’s first independent IP-based games development company certified by ISO: 9001-2008. The company with its head quarters at Hyderabad focuses on developing PC Games, Mobile Games, Console Games and Online Games.

Lenders and promoters to acquire stake in Kingfisher Airlines at 64% premium

Both lenders and promoters of Kingfisher Airlines will pick up equity in the debt-laden airlines at a substantial 64% premium to its current market price by March 31 if the company keeps its commitment on timelines earlier agreed upon. However, the company is yet to decide the date and share conversion price based on SEBI formula.
If this plan goes ahead, all the 18 lenders will own over 12 crore shares of the airline, which could be around 19% of the expanded equity base, without considering further equity dilution via the proposed GDR issue. However, the only catch is that all these banks would have to report mark-to-market losses and accordingly make provisions for it since the stock will be trading at a discount to its acquisition price.
At the end of the third quarter, 66.27% shares in Kingfisher Airlines were held by the promoter group (with UB holdings having 30.57% stake). Kingfisher plans to reduce its debt to Rs 6,000 crore from Rs 7,650 crore after the restructuring exercise.

Indian Oil Corp may defer shutdown of its unit

Indian Oil Corp (IOC) may consider deferring shutdown of units at some of its refineries to meet local demand. IOC has to re-look at their shutdown plans when Indian fuel demand is rising at a fast face along with international fuel prices, company officials quoted.
Indian refiners are struggling to get a good response to their diesel import tenders as traders are expecting that they could get better price by selling the cargoes to Japan than India. Due to this IOC had called off its award for diesel tender.
Recently, IOC had announced its plans to close some of its secondary units and a naphtha cracker plant at northern Panipat refinery. The company’s biggest refinery is reportedly having a capacity to process 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) crude, while its giant naphtha cracker can annually produce 850,000 tonne of ethylene and 600,000 tonne of propylene in the next fiscal.
The company’s net profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 has zoomed by 134.68% at Rs 1634.76 crore as compared to Rs 696.59 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009.

Santowin Corporation inks MoU for gold mine exploring in Ghana

Santowin Corporation has executed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a party in Ghana for mining of gold in Ghana. The transaction of the business was informed at its board meeting held on March 19, 2011.

The board has empowered the managing director to take all necessary steps towards implementation of the project in Ghana and elsewhere and also empower to execute Power of Attorney agreement, etc in the interest of the company.

It has also approved that, if necessary, it will open a subsidiary in West Africa and seek listing of company at the Ghana Stock Exchange. The board has also approved to open the bank account in Ghana and remit the money so required for fulfillment of terms and conditions of agreement as and when the same is required.

Further, the company has approved to raise loan for the fulfillment of future commitment if necessary.