Sensex, Nifty Fed up of gains!

Finally, BSE Sensex closed at 20,925 down 245 points over the previous close, while NSE Nifty closed at 6,237 down 70 points over the previous close.

The stock market in India extended its decline for the third consecutive trading session . Nifty creating a new high on Monday appears to be a distant memory as indices continue to struggle on  heightened expectations that the Fed may act sooner than later to unwind its stimulus after a provisional budget deal in Washington eased some of the fiscal drag on the US economy.

Weakness across the global markets weighed heavily on Dalal Street. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.6%, its sharpest one-day fall in three weeks. On one hand there are expectations that the Fed may act to unwind its stimulus while on the other the belief is it will happen after the new Fed chief takes charge.

Back home, Indices appeared to be edgy ahead of the announcement of the October IIP data and November CPI data later today.

Finally, BSE Sensex closed at 20,925  down 245  points over the previous close, while NSE Nifty closed at 6,237 down 70 points over the previous close.

Today’s decline was so fierce that majority of the BSE sectoral Indices ended in the red, with the BSE Auto index the top loser, the index was down 2.2% followed by BSE Banking and Capital goods index down 1.4% and 1% respectively. Even the Mid-Cap and the Small-Cap indices closed in red.

Tata Power, HDFC and JP Associates were among gainers in the Nifty.

Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel and RIL were among losers in the Nifty.

Meanwhile, Tata Motors extended its recent decline by ~5% to close at Rs360. Commenting on the same, Amar Ambani, Head of Research at IIFL said, “Tata Motors has seen a marked correction over the past couple of days as JLR, which has been the driving force for its profitability in recent times, has announced increase in capex estimate for FY15 from £2.75bn earlier to £3.5-3.5bn. Consequently, as against earlier estimates, the company will report negative free cash flow in FY15. While in the longer term, this would be positive given that 40% of the investment would be towards R&D leading to development of new and efficient models, in the near term it could increase stress on consolidated balance sheet.”

The advance-decline ratio was in favour of the bears. On the BSE, 1041 stocks advanced against 1427  declining stocks, while 174 remained unchanged.

The INDIA VIX was up 1% at 17.80 It hit a day’s high of 17.93 and low of 17.03.

Stocks which hit a 52-week high during the week were Accel Front,Arex Inds, Best Eastern Hot while ACCLAIM IND, Advance Lifestyles, Amit Spinning hit a  52-week low during  the week.

Stock News

Shares of Tata Motors slipped nearly 3% after its UK subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) expanded its capex guidance for the fiscal year ending March 2015 which is likely to strain the company's cash flows in near term.

Shares of SKS Microfinance was up 3% at Rs 176 after the company announced that it has completed a second securitisation deal worth Rs 80.81 crore for the current fiscal.

Shares of Just Dial Ltd gained 2.2% after index compiler FTSE says it will include the stock in its FTSE AllCap index, effective from the start of trading on December 23.

Shares of Lanco Infratech was flat at Rs7;  reports stated that a consortium of 27 banks has agreed for restructuring of loans. 

Canara Bank to approach courts for recovery of Rs 350 cr in Deccan Chronicle Holdings dues case

Canara Bank, mandated to conduct a forensic audit of the books of Deccan Chronicle Holdings (DCHL), is hopeful of recovering its dues of Rs 350 crore.

Canara Bank will approach the judiciary for attachment or sale of properties of DCHL towards initiating the recovery process.

“The loan is partially secured because there are securities that have multiple charges to various institutions. Hence, there is a fraud committed by them on the banks. Since we cannot identify a particular security for attachment, it is for the courts to take a call on these securities,” said RK Dubey, CMD, Canara Bank.
“However, we are going strongly on Deccan Chronicle promoters. We have filed civil and criminal cases. We have made enough provisions for this account and are hopeful of recovering the dues,” Dubey added. Recently, Andhra Bank had also taken possession of two properties of Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd worth over R160 crore. Besides, the Andhra Pradesh High Court allowed Kotak Mahindra Bank to sell the printing press premises of DCHL in case the company failed to repay a loan of about R100 crore.
Canara Bank had appointed audit firm Deloitte to undertake a forensic audit on DCHL in September last year. Dubey had earlier said that about 40-50% of the loan was secured by current assets and receivables.

Just Dial rings loud on FTSE index entry

Just Dial is currently trading at Rs. 1157.00, up by 12.60 points or 1.10 % from its previous closing of Rs 1144.40 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs 1144.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs 1175.95 and Rs 1131.00 respectively. So far 1.24,000 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'B' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs 1,440.00 on 20-Nov-2013 and a 52 week low of Rs 588.85 on 06-June-2013.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 1230.00 and Rs 1079.10 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs 2432 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 33.05 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 28.28 % and 38.67 % respectively.

The company’s shares gained on reports of its inclusion in the FTSE All Cap index starting December 23 2013. FTSE, which is a part of the London Stock Exchange Group, is a world-leader in providing global index and analytical solutions.

Just Dial is one of the leading local search engines in India. It provides users search services with information and user reviews from its database of local businesses, products and services across India.

Doha Bank gets licence to start banking operations in India

Doha Bank has been granted licence to commence banking operations in India and has been permitted to open a branch in Mumbai to provide full-scale banking services, Sheikh Fahad Bin Mohammad Bin Jabor Al-Thani, Chairman of Doha Bank’s board of directors, has said.

He said in line with the bank’s expansion strategy of expanding operations at the local, regional and international levels, the licence from the Reserve Bank of India to start operations in India is another milestone in that direction.

Sheikh Fahad said with this new licence, Doha Bank will soon start operations as a foreign bank branch in Mumbai and will offer wholesale banking, retail banking, treasury and trade finance services to all customers in India.

This licence will further enhance the niche role Doha Bank is playing and facilitating the movement of trade between Qatar and India.

The proposed branch will contribute in servicing a larger segment of the bank’s customers in both the countries and will help its corporate customers in India to benefit through the representative offices located around the world.

Doha Bank’s Managing Director, Sheikh Abdul Rahman bin Mohammad bin Jabor Al-Thani said the bank is the first Qatari Bank to have full-scale operations in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and India.

This new licence for opening a branch in India will not only add value to the bank but will also enhance its capabilities in supporting all corporate and individual banking needs.

Sheikh Abdul Rahman said that Qatar-India bilateral annual trade is about $16 billion and that there are huge opportunities of growth available in infrastructure and other sectors in India.

As a result, the bank sees huge potential for bringing additional value to the shareholders through new operations in India and also due to the strategic locations where Doha Bank operates, he added.

R. Seetharaman, CEO of Doha Bank, said there is a large diaspora of Indian population in Qatar and that various Indian companies are active in infrastructure projects.

He said the licence will pave the way for the bank to support all expatriates with the best in class solutions especially remittance solutions.

Doha Bank is the largest private commercial bank in the state of Qatar.

Reliance Jio issued 2.2 cr numbers for telecom services

The numbers were issued to RJIL on the subsequent day after its signing the infrastructure sharing agreement with telecom major Bharti Airtel.

The Department of Telecom is learnt to have issued 2.2 crore numbers to Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Jio Infocomm which paves way for the company to launch its 4G services. 

"They (RJIL) have been issued 2.2 crore numbers last evening (Wednesday)," official sources told PTI. No immediate comments was received from RJIL. RJIL has Unified Licence which allows it to provide mobile phone services as well. It is only company that has pan-India broadband wireless access spectrum that can be used for 4G services. This would be the second innings for Mukesh Ambani in telecom business after he led Reliance Infocomm which is now known as Reliance Communications  and is headed by his younger brother Anil Ambani. 

The numbers were issued to RJIL on the subsequent day after its signing the infrastructure sharing agreement with telecom major Bharti Airtel  . Under the agreement, RJIL in future can also have accessto 2G and 3G airwaves held by Airtel . Airtel, on the other hand, can access the former's 4G spectrum in areas where it does not hold these airwaves. Airtel at present has 4G spectrum in 8 services area and provides these high speed services in 6 cities. RJIL is yet to launch its services. 

The company was earlier issued numbers for testing purpose. RJIL last October had approached the Department of Telecommunications for numbers to test voice services on its 4G network for Jamnagar, Delhi and Mumbai.

Sensex sheds 156 points as global markets tumble over US taper fears

Markets across the globe dived with fears of US Fed taking a hard look at the continuation of its $85-billion-a-month bond-buying programme during its meeting next week coming back to haunt the markets.

US budget deal

What stoked fears of the markets of such an eventuality was not only the improving US economy and jobs data but also the deal over the budget reached by the country's two major political adversaries removing fiscal policy uncertainties that were perceived to be a threat to the US economy.

Admittedly there was relief that the budget deal between the Democrats and Republicans staved off the possibility of a Government shutdown.

Fed bond-buying programme

But this also created apprehensions that the US Fed might take a hawkish look at its bond-buying programme since one of the potential threats to the economic recovery was out of the way at least in the near future.

The Nifty and the Sensex opened in the red on Thursday. The Nifty opened at 6,277, down 31 points, while the Sensex opened at 21,101, down 70 points.

At 1.45 p.m., the 30-share BSE Sensex was down 156.07 points or 0.74 per cent at 21,015.34 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was down 45.50 points or 0.72 per cent at 6,262.40.

The Sensex five stocks that were trading in the green were Tata Power, BHEL, GAIL, HDFC and NTPC. On the other hand, the top five Sensex losers were Tata Motors, ONGC, Coal India, Maruti and ICICI Bank.

Barring power and realty, all other BSE sectoral indices were trading in the red. Among them, auto, banking, metal and oil & gas sectors fell the most by 1.61 per cent, 0.93 per cent, 0.88 per cent and 0.87 per cent, while power index was up 0.86 per cent and realty 0.69 per cent.

In the Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei was down 1.61 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng 0.54 per cent and Singapore’s Straits Times index down 0.39 per cent.

Central Bank of India inaugurates two new branches in Nagpur

Central Bank of India has inaugurated two new branches at Wardha Road, Chhatrapati Chowk and Dighori in Nagpur in Maharashtra.  Wardha Road branch mobilized deposit of Rs 5.77 crore in 475 accounts and Dighori branch mobilized Rs 2.33 crore in 1295 accounts.

Central Bank of India has been serving more than 3,50,00,000 account holders through its 4,438 branches, 6 extension counters, 29 Satellite offices, 1,970 ATMs and 2,413 ultra small branches (USBs).

Cadila Healthcare gains on settling US patent issue

The stock was up nearly 3% at Rs 743 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Cadila Healthcare is trading higher by 2.5% at Rs 743 after the pharmaceuticals company said it has settled a patent litigation with US-based Warner Chilcott Company LLC.

The stock opened at Rs 735 and touched a high of Rs 749 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). A combined 253,324 shares have changed hands on the counter till 1040 hours on the NSE and BSE.

“Cadila Healthcare and its US subsidiary Zydus Pharmaceuticals (USA) Inc have entered into an agreement in principle with Warner Chilcott Company LLC to settle all outstanding patent litigation related to Asacol HD (mesalamine) delayed-release tablets. The agreement remains subject to preparation and execution of definitive documentation,” Zydus Cadila said in a BSE filing.

Under the terms of the agreement, Warner Chilcott Company will in principle grant Cadila and Zydus a royalty-bearing license to market a generic version of its patented drug Asacol HD beginning on November 15, 2015 or earlier after Zydus gets the nod from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) of its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for generic version of Asacol HD.

Alternatively, if Zydus does not receive USFDA approval of its generic version of Asacol HD by July 1, 2016, Zydus will be permitted to launch an authorized generic version of Asacol HD beginning on July 1, 2016. Other terms of the settlement were not disclosed, the company said.

India to achieve exports target despite slowing growth: India Inc

India Inc has expressed hope that country’s exports target of $325 billion in the current fiscal would be met despite slowing growth of overseas shipments to a five-month low in November. Indian exports increased by 5.86 percent to $24.6 billion in November owing to the declined shipments of petroleum goods and rough diamonds.

Ficci President Naina Lal Kidwai underscored that continued rise in exports for the fifth month in a row is significant and the first eight months of this fiscal have witnessed a nearly 23 percent decline in the cumulative trade deficit. During April-November’ 2013, exports grew 6.27 percent to $204 billion. Rising exports will considerably ease the pressure on the current account deficit and make the rupee more stable. India’s imports fell the most in four years, by 16.37% from a year earlier to $33.8 billion in November, leaving narrower trade deficit of $9.22 billion as against $17.2 billion deficit in November 2012.

Chairman of engineering exporters body EEPC Anupam Shah highlighted that significant fall in trade deficit is a noteworthy development, which is largely a result of a steep import compression rather than a smart rise in exports. Assocham Secretary General DS Rawat mentioned that evolving trend strongly indicates that India's trade balance in 2013-14 would improve and falling imports are a welcoming sign at this juncture. Meanwhile, decline in the imports of capital goods owing to less investment activity and rising imports of consumer goods does not augur well for the domestic economy.

Chairman of the CII Committee on Exports and Imports Sanjay Budhia commented that India will achieve exports target in current fiscal. Meanwhile, he also expressed the need for the government to come out with a scheme to expand new products basket and duty drawback rates besides taking a holistic view and make special economic zones more viable.

IVRCL to raise around Rs 1,200 crore: Report

In a bid to augment working capital requirements and infuse capital into new projects, IVRCL is reportedly planning to raise around Rs 1,200 crore. The company has enlisted the services of SBI Caps to facilitate fund-raising.

Moreover, the company, which has already divested stakes in three road projects to Tata Realty and Infrastructure (TRIL), looks to divest stake in its Chennai desalination project and Jalandhar highway project.

Recently, the company received approvals for divestment in three road projects to TRIL from the National Highways Authority of India and nod from the Income Tax Department.

IVRCL is engaged into engineering procurement and construction (EPC) activities in India. It conducts operations in 5 sectors namely Water and Environment, Transportation, Buildings, Power and Industrial Structures.

IOC inks agreement with VITO to produce fuels from CO2

Indian Oil Corporation’s (IOC) R&D Centre and VITO, Belgium, have signed a statement of intent (SOI) for joint research into utilization of CO2 as a renewable and sustainable feedstock for the production of fuels and chemicals.

This alliance between the company and VITO is for setting up a long term multidisciplinary collaborative R&D programme in the field of bio-electrochemistry. It rides on the fact that electro-bio-catalyzed conversion of CO2 to fuels and chemicals offers new possibilities to develop innovative approaches for CO2 re-use. This research will also be beneficial to climate change mitigation.

VITO (Flemish Institute for Technological Research) is a leading European independent research and consultancy centre in the areas of clean technology and sustainable development.

IIP in October likely to decline

High base effect and poor core sector to mar industrial growth

The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data which will be released today may show a contraction in the factory output in October.

This may be a result of the high base in the same month last year and also due to sluggish performance by the eight infrastructure industries. The core sectors, which constitute around 38% of the IIP, contracted after eight months in October by 0.6% after growing at a high pace of 8% in the previous month.

In October last year, the IIP grew by a massive 8.4% -- a 16-month high at that time.

A Reuters poll of 26 economists suggested that the industrial activity shrank 1.2% in October. The output had expanded 2% in September.

This may pose a worry for the government who are relying heavily on a second half recovery in the economic activity across all the sectors.

However, Moody's Analytics projected industrial growth at 2.4% in October. It said that the industrial production remained weak in this month.

"Production is capped largely by weak demand, but a range of supply side issues in infrastructure and regulation constrain production long term", the firm had said in its Asia Pacific Preview on Monday.

According to Religare Institutional Research, the factory output contracted 1% in October.

Federal Bank introduces premium savings account for high-end salary earners

Private sector lender Federal Bank has introduced a premium savings account with overdraft facility for high-end salary earners. The new savings account -- Fedclassic Premium -- offers overdraft facility for up to a maximum of Rs 1 lakh at base rate plus two per cent which is lower than the credit card interest rates. Account holders with monthly salary of up to Rs 1 lakh will be provided with free Visa gold card and those drawing Rs 1 lakh and above will get free Visa platinum card ensuring higher withdrawal limits.

Recently, the bank launched tailor made resident savings bank scheme for individual professionals, entrepreneurs and businessmen who are members of industry associations.

Infotech Enterprises hits new high on heavy volumes

The stock has surged 5% to Rs 321 in early morning deals on the BSE.

Infotech Enterprises has surged 5% to Rs 321, also its record high on the BSE, on heavy volumes. A combined 1.06 million shares have already changed hands in early morning deals, as against an average of less than 200,000 shares that were traded daily in past two weeks.

At 0915 hours, around 550,000 equity shares of the company changed hands at price of Rs 314.70 per share, the BSE data shows. Meanwhile, the stock of the company engaged in engineering services and solutions firm has outperformed the market by surging 31% in past one month compared to 3.8% rise in S&P BSE Sensex.

Since October 17, the stock has rallied 43% after the company reported highest ever revenue in a single quarter for the quarter ended September 2013. Its net profit, highest in a quarter for the company, went up by 33% quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) at Rs 72.5 crore in the quarter. The company’s operating and net profit margin improved by 323 bps and 198 bps q-o-q, respectively.

Britannia opens its first manufacturing unit in Gujarat

The manufacturing unit was set up at an investment of around 75 - 100 crores, and when scaled up is capable of producing 45000 tonnes per annum.

Britannia Industries opens its first manufacturing unit for Bakery products in Gujarat at Jhagadia Industrial Estate.
The company embarked on the strategy of setting up world class manufacturing facilities close to its markets a few years ago and has set up units in Bihar Orissa and Tamil Nadu.
The location of this manufacturing facility is very strategic with proximity to the big markets of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh with the added advantage of being close to a port for export purposes. Gujarat also offered an industrial environment with access to skilled manpower and infrastructure of power, fuel etc. The manufacturing unit was set up at an investment of around 75 - 100 crores, and when scaled up is capable of producing 45000 tonnes per annum.
Says, Varun Berry, Executive Director, Britannia Industries Limited, "Britannia has followed the strategic approach of consolidating manufacturing units and setting up large, highly automated, world class facilities to produce its differentiated products and ensuring product freshness through market proximity. Our most recent unit is the one at Jhagadia in Gujarat which leverages technology for superior baking, and also for environment safety. We are confident that this unit will produce best-in-class Britannia products at best-in-class costs to service our key markets of Gujarat and Maharashtra. The location is not just ideal from a market proximity point of view but also from the right infrastructural support required”.
Says, Vinay Singh Kushwaha, Vice President Supply Chain, Britannia Industries Limited, “We are happy to have set up this benchmark biscuit manufacturing facility in Gujarat at Jhagadia. We are confident of getting the right skilled manpower along with the infrastructure support of power supply and fuel availability.
We will manufacture household favourite brands like Good Day, MarieGold, Bourbon etc using world class technology. Our unit is energy efficient and has precise process control and leverages the continuous mixing technology. We have put in place effective measures for Health, Safety and Environment – and our employees are being trained on best practices for the same. The factory will employ close to 750 employees all of whom are first generation skilled workers. We expect to bring down the distance travelled by our products through the setting up of this facility.”

SKS Microfinance gains on completing securitization transaction worth Rs 80.81 crore

SKS Microfinance is currently trading at Rs. 175.00, up by 3.45 points or 2.01% from its previous closing of Rs. 171.55 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 173.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 176.00 and Rs. 172.75 respectively. So far 42,000 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'B' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 198.90 on 13-Dec-2012 and a 52 week low of Rs. 95.60 on 24-May-2013.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 176.00 and Rs. 169.05 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 1,893.00 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 28.62% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 42.03% and 29.35% respectively.

SKS Microfinance has concluded the second microfinance securitization during the current financial year of Rs 80.81 crore. The company has downloaded the receivables from micro loans extended to 100,850 rural women entrepreneurs to a Special Purpose Vehicle, and Pass Through Certificates (PTCs) have been purchased by a major private sector bank. Notably, the entire pool qualifies for priority sector treatment as per RBI's priority sector lending guidelines.

The pool is rated AA (SO) signifying 'High Degree of Safety regarding timely servicing of financial obligation' by one of the leading rating agencies. The pool is structured with geographical diversity as it comprises receivables from 12 non-Andhra Pradesh states and subjected to a minimum seasoning of three months.

Notably, 30% of the pool is from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe entrepreneurs, 16% from minorities, 37% from Backward Caste and the remaining 17% from women belonging to the Other Castes. The entire pool comprises receivables from women entrepreneurs from weaker sections.

SKS Microfinance (SKS) is a non-banking finance company (NBFC), registered and regulated by the Reserve Bank of India, whose mission is to provide financial services to low-income households. SKS operates across 16 states of India. 

Asian shares ease to 4-week low on Fed tapering anxiety

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.6%, adding to Wednesday's 1.1% decline

Asian shares slipped to a four-week low on Thursday on heightened expectations the Federal Reserve may act sooner than later to unwind its stimulus after a provisional budget deal in Washington eased some of the fiscal drag on the US economy.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.6 percent, adding to Wednesday's 1.1 percent decline, its sharpest one-day fall in three weeks.

In Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei shed 1.1 percent, extending declines into a third day. Still, the index, powered by Tokyo's aggressive fiscal and monetary stimulus, has rallied nearly 48 percent so far this year, on track for its best yearly gain since 1972.

Overnight, U.S. stocks posted their biggest drop in a month, with the Standard & Poor's 500 down 1.1 percent, as traders locked in recent gains after Congress announced the provisional budget deal. S&P 500 E-mini futures inched up 0.1 percent in Asian trade on Thursday.

The bipartisan budget agreement reached late on Tuesday, though modest in spending cuts, would end three years of political squabbling in Washington that climaxed in October with a two-week partial government shutdown. The U.S. House of Representatives could vote on the deal on Friday.

In September, the Fed had cited the possibility of a hit to the economy if lawmakers did not agree on a budget as one reason to keep its $85 billion-a-month bond-buying campaign.

"Following Friday's employment report, we noted that the odds of tapering at the January FOMC meeting (vs. March) had shifted from less than even to roughly even," Societe Generale said in a note.

"In light of the budget deal agreed by Congressional dealers in recent days, the odds have shifted further and we now see the January meeting as the most likely timeframe."

Market participants will also be keeping an eye out for the possibility of a surprise move by the Fed next week at its final policy meeting for 2013 on December 17 and 18.

DOLLAR REBOUNDS

The dollar was up 0.2 percent at 102.67 yen, having fallen 0.4 percent overnight, easing for a second session after a recent strong run against the Japanese yen.

The euro took a pause after rising for a seventh straight session against the dollar on Wednesday on the back of higher money market rates and diminishing expectations of any imminent easing by the European Central Bank. The single currency dipped 0.1 percent to $1.37745.

Some analysts see little value in the euro after its recent strong run.

"We entered a short EUR/USD recommendation Wednesday, targeting a move down to 1.32 with our stop set at 1.3975," analysts at BNP Paribas wrote in a note.

"We think rate differentials are likely to move against the euro once again in the near-term and EUR/USD is trading rich to key drivers" according to their analysis, they added.

The Australian dollar reversed early losses to trade as high as $0.9083 after a surprisingly strong jobs report strengthened expectations the central bank was done cutting rates. It dropped 1.1 percent on Wednesday and was within sight of a three-month low of $0.8989 touched on Friday.

Among commodities, U.S. crude prices held steady at about $97.4 a barrel, pausing for breath having shed 1.1 percent the previous day after data showed large builds in refined oil products.

Gold was steady around $1,253 an ounce, stabilising after a 0.6 percent decline in the previous session. Gold is down 25 percent so far this year, on track for its worst yearly fall since 1981.

Ultratech Cement to set up two cement plants in Uttarakhand

Ultratech Cement is planning to set up two cement plants in Uttarakhand, one at Tyuni in Dehradun district and another at Someshwar in Almora district. In this regard, the company will invest Rs 5000 crore in a phased manner. This is being considered as the biggest investment by any company in the hill state so far. 

Moreover, the company has been asked to complete all the environmental clearances for setting up the two cement plants in the environmentally-sensitive zones.

UltraTech manufactures and markets Ordinary Portland Cement, Portland Blast Furnace Slag Cement and Portland Pozzalana Cement. The company has 11 integrated plants, one white cement plant, one clinkerisation plant in UAE, 15 grinding units 11 in India, 2 in UAE, one in Bahrain and Bangladesh each and five terminals, four in India and one in Sri Lanka.

Tata Steel unveils new product ‘GGBS’ for construction industry

Tata Steel has unveiled a new value added product ‘Ground Granulated BF Slag (GGBS)’ for the construction industry which promises to be a sustainable and cost effective material, will not only increase compressive strength and durability of the concrete, but also significantly reduce the carbon foot-print.

GGBS has been widely used in developed economies for years and of late was also getting used in major construction projects in India. GGBS is blended with ordinary Portland cement (OPC) in ratio ranging from 30:70 to 70:30 to make Ready-Mix Concrete (RMC). The Mixing ratio depends on the required strength and nature of the concrete. This will cut down the cement cost in concrete by around 30-40 percent.

The company had organized an interactive session on the GGBS with builders, contractors and architects of Jamshedpur to introduce the product.

Hero MotoCorp acquires 60% stake in ‘HMC MM Auto’

Hero MotoCorp, the country’s largest two-wheeler maker has acquired 60% stake in its JV Company with Magneti Marelli. The company has subscribed to 17.49 lakh shares of face value Rs 10 in its joint venture ‘HMC MM Auto’.

The JV Company has been incorporated as a Joint Venture between Hero MotoCorp and Magneti Marelli S.p.A. The purpose of the Joint Venture is to, amongst others, sell, distribute and market complete two wheeler fuel injection systems or components parts thereof.

Hero MotoCorp is the World’s single largest two-wheeler motorcycle company. Honda Motor Company of Japan and the Hero Group entered a joint venture to setup Hero Honda Motors in 1984. Hero Honda Motors changed its name to Hero MotoCorp following the exit of its erstwhile Japanese promoter, Honda, from the company.

Sensex to open on a negative note

The market is still to find its winning ways after a great start this week. Besides the usual bout of profit booking seen at record highs, investors are unsure where to head. The global cues are not really providing any hope of a sustained rally in the near term even as a new US budget deal appears to be in place to prevent future shutdowns. On one hand there are expectations that the Federal Reserve may act sooner than later to unwind its stimulus while on the other the belief is it will happen after the new Fed chief takes charge.

Whatever the situation, back home, the RBI governor has said that tapering of the US’ bond-buying programme by the Fed might have unexpected results. Yet, India is prepared for it adding that the central bank would bring measures to augment liquidity in the debt market in coming weeks.

The outlook is a weak start. Investors will look at cues from the industrial production data for October 2013 along with general consumer price index (CPI) data for the month of November 2013. The RBI’s focus will remain on controlling inflation, the RBI chief said.  Meanwhile, the Finance Minister said, it is necessary to highlight the inaction of the state governments in this behalf, even while accepting that the central government must do all it can, within its powers, to moderate inflation.

“There will be no compromise on the decision to walk on the path of fiscal prudence and contain the fiscal deficit step by step, year by year, until we the reach the goal of 3% of GDP in 2016-17," Chidambaram said.

The trade deficit in November narrowed to $9.22bn in November. Despite the slowdown in export growth, the Government is confident that it would reach the target of $335 billion for the year, Commerce Secretary S.R. Rao said.

India Infoline Housing Finance Limited (IIHFL), the housing finance arm of India Infoline Limited, plans to open  on December 12, 2013 a public issue of Secured, Redeemable, Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) of face value of Rs 1,000 each. These NCDs have a monthly option and will be issued for a period of 5 years. The yield on the NCD works out to 12.15% p.a.

A top official at the European Central Bank has signalled it will try to force eurozone banks to hold capital against sovereign bonds, in an attempt to stop weak lenders using its cash to hoover up the debts of crisis-hit countries.

Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan has said that India needs to make opening a business a hassle-free experience for entrepreneurs. There needs to be a one-page form on the lines of Saral (the simplified income-tax return) for regulatory clearances to open a small business, said Rajan,

Asian markets are lower. Japan's Nikkei 225 index was trading 1.1 per cent lower at 15,333.50 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was trading 0.17 per cent lower at 23,298.12.
South Korea's Kospi index was trading 0.56 per cent lower at 1,966. China's Shanghai index was trading 0.12 per cent higher at 2,206.

The Dow Jones fell 129.60 points or 0.81 percent, to end at 15,843.53, while S&P 500 slid 20.40 points or 1.13 percent, to close at 1,782.22.

The Nasdaq Composite dropped 56.677 points or 1.4%, to finish at 4,003.813.
Global oil giant BP Plc and its partner Reliance Industries is planning to invest US $ 5-10 billion to quadruple natural gas production by 2020, according to media reports.

The Asian Development Bank has kept its growth forecast for India at 4.7% for this year, according to reports.Report said that ADB also sees the country growing at 5.7% in 2014.
Asia-Pacific financial institutions may face more hurdles in 2014 as pressure on the economic front is likely to bear down on their asset quality, said Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services in a recently published report.

Fitch Ratings says that credit profiles of Asian Utilities are stabilising after several years of weakening. This is chiefly as a result of cash generation from past capex feeding through although capex continues to be high for most entities.