Bajaj Electricals trades in green on the BSE

Bajaj Electricals is currently trading at Rs 163.00, up by 0.95 points or 0.59% from its previous closing of Rs. 162.05 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs 165.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs 165.00 and Rs 163.00 respectively. So far 1024 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'B' stock of face value Rs 2 has touched a 52 week high of Rs 233.35 on 16-Oct-2012 and a 52 week low of Rs 149.85 on 07-Aug-2013.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs 170.00 and Rs 161.50 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs 1633.49 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 66.08% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 16.77% and 17.16% respectively.

Bajaj Electricals, the country’s leading consumer durable and lighting company, has opened an exclusive company showroom ‘Bajaj World’ at Kochi in state of Kerala on September 30, 2013. This is the first ‘Bajaj World’ Store to be opened in Kerala and has a display area of 600 square feet. It will be a one-stop shop for fans, lighting and appliances.

The company is launching ‘Bajaj World’ in TIER II and TIER III cities in order to expand its network. The company has already launched 55 showrooms pan India and plans to open 100 stores by the end of the financial year.

The company is expecting to achieve top-line growth of around 25% to Rs 4,200 crore in FY14 as compared to Rs 3,400 crore in 2012-13, on back of organic growth and some new acquisitions.

Economy improving, RBI will take call on rate: FinMin

The economy grew at a four year low of 4.4% in the April-June quarter of current year

Exuding confidence that economy will improve in second quarter of current fiscal, the Finance Ministry today said steps would be taken to incentivise growth and RBI will take a call on interest rate.

"As we are seeing growth clawing back, I am quite sure that the environment will be conducive for further incentivising of growth and we will see whatever steps have to be taken," Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram told reporters here.

The economy grew at a four year low of 4.4% in the April-June quarter of current year.

"The Q2 GDP growth should be better than first quarter... The Finance Minister has said we need to incentivise growth. That continues to be the stand of the government. As far as the interest rate is concerned, it is completely the domain of RBI and Governor will take a call on that," Mayaram said.

RBI is scheduled to announce its second quarter policy review on October 29.

As for the Current Account Deficit (CAD), he said it was expected to be less than $70 billion or 3.7% of GDP for the full fiscal.

"We would certainly hope the CAD would be less than $70 billion. The $70 billion CAD will be fully and safely financed without any recourse to dipping into reserves," he said.

The CAD, which is the difference between inflow and outflow of foreign funds, was at 4.9% of GDP in the April-June quarter.

"The elevated level of CAD in Q1 is mainly due to gold import... Gold import this year would be restricted below 800 tonnes," he said.

On the impact of US shutdown, Mayaram said "We hope the impasse will be resolved so that there is no spillover to the global economy. As of today, I don't see any major impact on the Indian economy on that account".

M&M posts 10.4% decline in sales

Mahindra & Mahindra today reported a 10.45 per cent decline in its total sales at 43,289 units in September, 2013.

The company had sold 48,342 units in the same month last year, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) said in a statement.

Domestic sales stood at 40,574 units against 45,263 units, down 10.35 per cent.

Total sales of passenger vehicles, including Scorpio, XUV500, Xylo, Bolero and Verito, stood at 18,916 units against 23,808 units, down 20.54 per cent.

Sales of four-wheeler commercial vehicles were up 2 per cent at 14,709 units against 14,417 units. Three-wheelers sales were up 5.86 per cent at 6,403 units (6,048 units).

Exports too were down 11.88 per cent at 2,715 units against 3,079 units.

Commenting on the sales performance, M&M Chief Executive (Automotive Division) Pravin Shah said: “While there has been a growth over August 2013, it is not to the extent that makes us comfortable, especially as we approach the festive season.”

Factors such as increase in input and raw material costs and the depreciating rupee have not helped, he added.

“To compensate to some extent we have taken a price increase effective today. The auto industry is definitely in need of a trigger in terms of a stimulus to boost consumer sentiments leading to a turnaround in the sector as well as a revival of the economy in general,” he added.

Last week, the company had announced plans to hike the prices of its passenger cars and commercial vehicles by Rs 6,000 to Rs 20,000 from October 1.

JSW Steel in venture to set up processing unit in Pune

JSW Steel plans to set up its second steel processing centre in Pune with its joint venture partner Marubeni Itochu Steel Inc, Tokyo, with an investment of Rs 204 crore. It will be funded equally through equity and debt, said the company in a statement.

The first phase of the project is expected to come on stream by FY-2014 with an installed capacity of 180,000 tonnes per annum and will be scaled up to 360,000 tonnes per annum in phase two.

The joint venture company is equipped to process flat steel products such as hot-rolled, cold-rolled and coated products with a view to offering just-in-time solutions to the automotive, white goods, construction and other value-added segments.

Seshagiri Rao, Joint Managing Director, JSW Steel & Group Chief Financial Officer, said the rapid growth of the Indian steel industry offers tremendous opportunity for supply of high-end processed steel by leveraging the global sales network of expertise of service centre operations of MISI and the technology products manufactured by JSW.

In 2011, JSW Steel and Marubeni Itochu Steel Inc formed a joint venture to set up a steel processing centre in Haryana.

Hyundai sales decline 4% in September

Hyundai Motor India Ltd today reported a 3.99 per cent decline in total sales in September at 51,418 units as against 53,557 in the same month last year.

The company’s domestic sales stood at 30,601 units during the month, marginally down from 30,851 units in September 2012, HMIL said in a statement.

Exports during the month declined by 8.31 per cent to 20,817 units from 22,706 units in the same month last year, it added.

Commenting on the sales, HMIL Senior Vice-President, Sales and Marketing, Rakesh Srivastava, said: “In the current market scenario, volume growth is a big challenge. Last month, we launched our new model Grand in the midst of a slowdown and have received a phenomenal response from our customers.”

“We expect the market challenges to continue and have a cautious optimism for the upcoming festive season,” Srivastava added.

NHPC plans joint ventures with private players for hydel projects

NHPC has held preliminary discussions with various independent power producers

In line with its ambitious efforts to expand business, state-run NHPC plans to join hands with private sector players for developing hydel power projects.
   
In this regard, NHPC has held  preliminary discussions with various independent power producers, a senior company official said.
     
The country's largest hydro power producer is also diversifying into thermal, solar and wind energy projects.
   
NHPC would be looking to partner with private players to develop green field hydro power projects where construction is yet to start, company's Director (Finance) AB L Srivastava said.
     
It would be a "win win situation" for the company as well as the private sector if both join hands, he told reporters here last evening.
     
The plan also comes against the backdrop of many private players finding it difficult to move ahead with hydel projects.
     
"We have noted that many (hydro) projects which have been allocated to private sector are not making (much) progress," Srivastava said.
     
Noting that the move would help in expanding business, he said Expression of Interest with detailed guidelines have been floated with regard to proposed partnerships with private entities.
     
"To begin with, we will take up projects only when promoters of private sector projects are willing to offer majority stake to NHPC," Srivastava said.
   
However, he said that the planned 51% stake stipulation could be diluted since in certain projects, the respective state government itself would be holding at least 26% stake.
     
According to him, independent power producers have also suggested amendments to the guidelines.
     
"After taking into consideration all suggestions, we will come out with the final guidelines shortly... By early December," he said.
     
As part of diversification, the company would develop a 1,320 MW thermal power project along with Chattisgarh government in that state.
     
Among other things, the company plans to develop grid connected 50 MW wind and 100 MW solar power projects.
     
Currently NHPC has an installed power generation capacity of 5,702 MW.

Net NPA of banks increases to 1.68 percent in FY13

The net non-performing assets (NPA) of Indian banking industry have increased to 1.68 percent of the total loan at the end of financial year13 as against to the 1.28 of total loans in the FY12. Meanwhile, public sector banks recorded steep rise in net NPAs as compared to the private sector banks. Net NPAs of the 26 public sector banks, including State Bank of India (SBI), grew by 2.02 percent during the year as compared to 1.53 in the previous fiscal. SBI and its five associates recorded a net NPA of 2.04 percent against 1.76 percent in the comparable period. Conversely, net NPAs of new private sector bank rose marginally to 0.45 percent as compared to 0.42 percent, showing superior risk management than public sector banks.

The stress on the asset quality is a reflection of the stress in the economy of the country and over the past two years, non-performing Assets (NPAs) of banks have been increasing on account of prevailing economic downturn. Indian economic growth slowed down to four year low at 4.4 percent in Q1 FY14. Meanwhile, in the April- June quarter, 2013, gross NPAs in the banking system grew by 12.02 percent to Rs.2.06 trillion and formed 3.85 percent of the industry’s advances.

At present, banking industry is also concerned over the ongoing tight liquidity situation as it has resulted in increase in cost of funds of all commercial banks to 6.12 percent in FY13 as against 5.90 percent in FY12. For, public sector banks, the cost of funds rose to 6.27 percent from 6.06 percent in 2011-12. Further, increase in cost of funds, has been adversely impacting industry's net interest margin (NIM), which came down to 2.79 percent in FY13 from 2.90 percent a year ago. For the public sector banks, NIM came down to 2.57 percent in the reported fiscal as compared to 2.76 percent in the FY12.

Cooper Tire gets nod for merger with Apollo tyres

Cooper Tire and Rubber Company has received its shareholders’ approval to merge with Apollo Tyres, bringing the tire makers one step closer to completing their $2.5 billion deal. The combined company will be the seventh-largest tyre company in the world and will have a strong presence in high-growth end-markets across four continents. With a combined $6.6 billion in total sales in 2012, the combined company will have a comprehensive portfolio of signature brands and greater ability to cross-sell products in diverse countries with negligible overlap.

About 96 per cent of the shares that were voted at a shareholder meeting on September 30, 2013 were in favour of the merger. The company said about 78 per cent of Cooper’s outstanding common shares were voted at the shareholder meet.

Earlier on June 12 this year, Apollo Tyres had announced to acquire the US-based Cooper Tire & Rubber Company in an all cash transaction valued around $2.5 billion.

Bajaj Electricals opens ‘Bajaj World’ showroom at Kochi

Bajaj Electricals, the country’s leading consumer durable and lighting company, has opened an exclusive company showroom ‘Bajaj World’ at Kochi in state of Kerala on September 30, 2013. This is the first ‘Bajaj World’ Store to be opened in Kerala and has a display area of 600 square feet. It will be a one-stop shop for fans, lighting and appliances.

The company is launching ‘Bajaj World’ in TIER II and TIER III cities in order to expand its network. The company has already launched 55 showrooms pan India and plans to open 100 stores by the end of the financial year.

The company is expecting to achieve top-line growth of around 25% to Rs 4,200 crore in FY14 as compared to Rs 3,400 crore in 2012-13, on back of organic growth and some new acquisitions.

Bharti Airtel shines on getting nod to sell Data Centre to Nxtra Data for Rs 177 crore

Bharti Airtel is currently trading at Rs. 319.00, up by 0.75 points or 0.24% from its previous closing of Rs. 318.25 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 319.60 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 322.00 and Rs. 309.25 respectively. So far 104965 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 5 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 370.40 on 25-Jan-2013 and a 52 week low of Rs. 256.65 on 15-Oct-2012.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 339.10 and Rs. 312.00 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 125378.45 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 65.23% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 24.40% and 10.37% respectively.

Bharti Airtel has received its shareholders’ approval for proposal for selling the company’s Data Centre and Managed Services business to its wholly-owned subsidiary Nxtra Data for about Rs 177 crore.

The transfer consideration has been arrived at on the basis of enterprise value of the DCMS business after reducing the liabilities in relation to the said business. The company already, on July 30, received its board’s approval for the transaction.

Bharti Airtel owns seven operational data centres across the country. Out of them, two are in Noida, one each in Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Bhubaneswar and Mumbai.

Rupee bounce back on RBI’s announcement of OMOs

Indian rupee is showing some strength on Tuesday after making a flat opening. The Indian currency posted its first monthly gain in 5 months and a second quarter of gains, up 5.5 percent. Though, the dollar has strengthened in Asian trade due to the looming government shut down in US, but the rupee has taken support with the announcement of the Reserve Bank to conduct open market operations (OMOs) by purchasing government securities for an aggregate amount of Rs 10,000 crore on October 7.

The partially convertible currency is currently trading at 62.42, stronger by 18 paise from its previous close of 62.60 on Monday. The currency has touched a high and low of 62.60 and 62.39 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 62.77 and for Euro it stood at 84.67 on September 30, 2013. While, the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 64.15, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 101.4162. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.

Naresh Goyal acquires additional stake in Jet Airways for Rs 33.13 crore

Jet Airways’ Chairman Naresh Goyal has acquired 1.11% stake or 960,369 equity shares of the airline from Tail Winds through open market route. The scrips were purchased on an average price of Rs 345 valuing the transaction to Rs 33.13 crore.

Goyal currently holds 5.7 crore shares or 65.99% stake in the company, which increased to 67.1% after the share purchase.

On the other hand, Tail Winds holds 77.76 lakh equity shares or 9.01 per cent stake in Jet, which declined to 7.89% stake or 68.15 lakh shares after the said transactions. 

Petrol price cut by over Rs 3 a litre; diesel hiked by 50 paise

The petrol price in Delhi will be cut by Rs 3.66 to Rs 72.40 per litre, while in Mumbai it will cost Rs 79.49 per litre as against Rs 83.63 currently.

Petrol price was reduced by Rs 3.05 per litre, the first reduction in rates in over five months, while diesel prices were raised by 50 paise a litre.

The petrol price in Delhi will be cut by Rs 3.66 to Rs 72.40 per litre, while in Mumbai it will cost Rs 79.49 per litre as against Rs 83.63 currently.

While the diesel prices would cost Rs 59.46 in Mumbai as compared to Rs 58.86 currently.

In Delhi, it would cost Rs 52.54 per litre.

This price change by oil companies are excluding local sales tax or VAT and will be effective midnight tonight.

Petrol price was last cut on May 1 by Rs 3 per litre.

Markets may open higher; SGX Nifty gains

At 8:10AM Indian Standard Time the SGX Nifty was up 40 points at 5,806.

Indian shares are likely to open marginally higher after June quarter current account deficit was in line with estimates and tracking gains in most Asian markets.

At 8:10AM Indian Standard Time the SGX Nifty was up 40 points at 5,806. Indian financial markets will be closed on Wednesday, on account of Gandhi Jayanti.

In line with estimates, India’s current account deficit rose to 21.8 billion (4.9% of Gross Domestic Product) for the first quarter ended June 2013, due to rise in imports especially that of gold and shrinking exports.

The lower trade deficit and higher flow of dollars from overseas Indians, taking benefit of weak rupee, will lead to improvement in the second quarter (ended September 2013). But, India’s the external sector continues to vulnerable, warned D K Joshi, chief economist at CRISIL.

US stocks declined on Monday on rising worries over a US shutdown.In the coming days, a political face-off in the US over its government’s proposal to raise the country’s debt ceiling is expected to keep stock investors worldwide, including in India, on the edge. Economists and analysts said failure to increase the debt limit by October 17 would result in the US defaulting on its loans, which could potentially damage the sentiment in global financial markets.

If the Congress does not clear the budget before Tuesday, the immediate consequence would be a possible government shutdown in the US.

Among key US share indices the Dow Jones ended down 0.8% at 15,130, the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.3% at 3,771 and the S&P 500 ended down 0.6% at 1,682.

STOCKS TO WATCH

Automobile and cement shares are likely to be in focus, with companies set to announce sales and dispatch numbers.

SEBI wants Naresh Goyal to sell another 6% stake in Jet Airways before the company makes the proposed 24% preferential allotment to Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways.

Oil marketing companies have decided to go for a cut in petrol prices by Rs 3.05 a litre with effect from Tuesday.

US' Cooper Tire & Rubber on Monday said shareholders approved its sale to Apollo Tyres, clearing the decks for the $2.5-billion deal.

Infosys, India’s second largest IT services company is understood to have bagged a large IT outsourcing contract from Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to develop the banking system for Williams & Glyn's Bank.

The government has allowed airport operators GMR and GVK to bid for the six airports to be awarded in the second phase of airport privatisation.

April-Aug fiscal deficit swells alarmingly

Already 75% of year's budgeted total as tax revenue growth falls and Plan spending rises

An enormous rise in Plan expenditure has pushed the central government’s fiscal deficit to 74.6 per cent of the entire year’s Budget estimate (BE) at the end of only the first five months of the current financial year.

The finance ministry has already said it has drawn a red line over a deficit of 4.8 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) for 2013-14, against 4.9 per cent in 2012-13.

The fiscal deficit in the first five months of a financial year was higher than 75 per cent of BE only in 2008-09, when the global financial crisis began. But that year, BE was just 2.5 per cent of GDP and it turned out to be more than eight per cent when the year ended.

Data released by the Controller General of Accounts on Monday showed the deficit at Rs 4.05 lakh crore during April-August against the BE of Rs 5.43 lakh crore for FY14.

At this point last year, the   deficit was 65.7 per cent of the BE (and 5.1 per cent of GDP). It was largely due to a heavy dose of cuts in Plan expenditure that the government was able to rein in the deficit at 4.9 per cent of GDP in 2012-13.

Plan expenditure has ballooned, with expenditure on this count at Rs 1.83 lakh crore, constituting 33 per cent of the Rs 5.55 lakh crore in BE. Plan expenditure had accounted for 28.4 per cent of GDP at this time in 2012-13.

The other parameters rose at about the same pace as in the first five months of the previous year, except non-debt capital receipts and tax receipts. Non-tax revenues were higher as a percentage of GDP this time.

Non-Plan expenditure was Rs 4.8 lakh crore or 43.2 per cent of the Rs 11.1 lakh crore in the BE. It had been 43 per cent of BE in April-August of 2012-13, too.

Largely because of anomalies in Plan expenditure, total outlay was Rs 6.63 lakh crore in the first five months of the financial year, 39.8 per cent of the Rs 16.65-lakh-crore BE. It accounted for 37.9 per cent of BE in the first five months of 2012-13.

The Centre collected Rs 1.83 lakh crore from taxes in April-August, 20.8 per cent of the Rs 8.84 lakh crore in the BE for 2013-14. The collections had constituted 22.7 per cent of BE in the corresponding period of 2012-13. Slower growth in the economy is leading to a fall in their growth.

The economy grew only 4.4 per cent in the first quarter of this financial year.

Inflation is also less; the Budget had estimated nominal GDP to grow by 13.4 per cent in 2013-14, which does not seem the case now. If nominal GDP growth comes down, it will also magnify a given fiscal deficit as a percentage of GDP.

The government mopped Rs 68,786 crore from non-tax revenue, 39.9 per cent of the BE at Rs 1.72 lakh crore. It had constituted 29 per cent of BE in the first five months of 2012-13.

Non-debt capital receipts were just Rs 5,813 crore, representing 8.7 per cent of BE at Rs 66,468 crore. The receipts under this head had accounted for 12.2 per cent of BE at this point.

Within the category, disinvestment could yield just Rs 1,434 crore, four per cent of the BE provision of Rs 40,000 crore. The figures were low last time, too, at only five per cent of BE.

Taken together, receipts in the first five months of the current financial were almost the same as the corresponding period of 2012-13 in terms of proportion of BE.

These were Rs 2.58 lakh crore in April-August or 23 per cent of BE at Rs 11.2 lakh crore. These receipts had accounted for 23.3 per cent of BE this time in 2012-13.

The Centre revenue deficit, the gap between current expenditure and receipts, was Rs 3.32 lakh crore. This was 87.4 per cent of the BE at Rs 3.79 lakh crore. It was 79.2 per cent of BE this time last year.