Sensex, Nifty tumble to Nov '13 lows

It was devastating start to the week, as stock market in India cracked further ending near day’s low on Monday. The Nifty and the Sensex collapsed to their November 2013 lows led by selling pressure in the metals, realty, auto and IT stocks. The pressure was so intense that barring the BSE Pharma index all the other indices on the BSE ended in the red. 

Even the mid-cap and the small-cap stocks were under pressure.Even positive economic data in the form of Manufacturing PMI was unable to bring any cheer on Dalal Street. The HSBC’s Manufacturing Purchasing Manager Index rose to 51.4 in January its highest since March 2013 against 50.7 in December.

The metals stocks led the decline after China's factory growth eased to an expected six-month low in January. The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) edged down to 50.5 in January from December's 51.

Finally, BSE Sensex closed at 20,209 down 305 points, while NSE Nifty closed at 6,002 down 88 points over the previous close.

Jaypee Infratech reports 35% fall in Q3 net profit

Jaypee Infratech has reported results for third quarter ended December 31, 2013.

The company has reported 34.74% fall in its net profit at Rs 101.18 crore for the quarter as compared to Rs 155.06 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. However, total income of the company has increased by 5.60% at Rs 988.22 crore for quarter under review as compared to Rs 935.83 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2012.

Jaypee Infratech incorporated as a Special Purpose Vehicle for implementation of 165 km long 6-lane Access-Controlled Yamuna Expressway in the state of Uttar Pradesh connecting Noida and Agra.

Lupin reports 42% rise in Q3 consolidated net profit

Lupin has reported results for third quarter ended December 31, 2013.

The company has reported 18.97% rise in its net profit at Rs 533.38 crore for the quarter as compared to Rs 448.30 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. Total income from operations of the company increased by 21.35% at Rs 2430.56 crore for quarter under review, as compared to Rs 2002.77 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2012.

On the consolidated basis, the group has reported 42.03% rise in its net profit after taxes and Minority Interest at Rs 476.13 crore for the quarter as compared to Rs 335.23 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. Total income of the group has increased by 20.83% at Rs 3054.41 crore for quarter under review as compared to Rs 2527.57 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2012.

L&T Power's Supercritical Thermal Plant starts commercial operations

L&T Power has successfully completed commissioning and testing of the first unit of its 2x700 MW supercritical thermal power plant of Nabha Power on January 31, 2014.The Plant was constructed on a turnkey basis by L&T Power with more than 90% of the equipment sourced from the group companies of L&T. The supercritical boiler and turbine were manufactured by L&T's joint venture companies with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) located at Hazira, Gujarat. The plant is the largest unit of any indigenously manufactured power plant in the country.

Final pre-commercialization tests involved continuous operation of the plant for 72 hours at full peak load of 700 MW. Subsequently the plant had to undergo two sets of ramp up and ramp down tests. Conducted by an independent engineer, the tests were monitored by teams of experts from Punjab State Power Corporation, Lahmeyer International and L&T Power. The plant demonstrated near 100% stability during trial operations.

Commercial operations of the plant will significantly augment Punjab's generation capacity making the state power surplus, and will enable it to export power to the national grid. Based on supercritical technology, it will be one of the most eco-friendly and efficient coal-based thermal plants in India. 

Retail inflation for industrial workers eases to 9.13% in December’ 2013

The inflation based on consumer price index for industrial workers (CPI-IW) in the month of December eased to 9.13 percent on y-o-y basis as compared to 11.47 percent in November and 11.17 in the corresponding month in 2012 on the back of softening of prices of food items.

The food inflation stood at 11.49 percent in December against 16.17 percent in previous month and 13.53 percent during the corresponding month of 2012. Among food items, low prices of sugar, onion, ginger, brinjal, cauliflower, peas and other vegetable items are responsible for the decrease in the index. However, high prices of some food items including fish, eggs, poultry, milk, pure ghee and garlic imparted some stickiness to food inflation.

All India CPI-IW for December 2013 declined by four points and pegged at 239 points from 235 points in November. At the centre level, Giridih recorded maximum decline of 12 points followed by Ahmedabad, Chhindwara, Varanasi, Munger, Jamalpur, Nagpur and Bhavnagar (10 points each), Jamshedpur (9 points) and Rourkela, Ludhiana, Tripura and Angul Talchar (8 points each). On the contrary, Sholapur and Puducherry centres recorded increase of 4 points and 2 points respectively, while  the index remained stationary in 37 centres.

Lanco Infratech’s arm to divest 100% stake in 70MW Lanco Budhil Hydro Power Project

Lanco Infratech’s subsidiary - Lanco Hydro Power (LHPL), has signed an agreement with Tejassarnika Hydro Energies, a subsidiary of Hyderabad based Greenko Energies to divest 100% stake in 70MW Lanco Budhil Hydro Power Project.

LHPL has also entered into an MOU to sell two small hydro power plants of 5MW each located in the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, to Greenko Energies.

Lanco Infratech, is headquartered in New Delhi Region and has employee strength of 4,240. It has an adjusted net-worth of Rs 5,429 crore and is present across in 5 core sectors viz. EPC, Power, Natural Resources, Solar and Infrastructure.

HSBC Global Investment Funds sells 5.92 lakh shares of Strides Arcolab: Report

HSBC Global Investment Funds Mauritius has reportedly offloaded 5.92 lakh shares of Strides Arcolab through the open market route. The shares were sold on an average price of Rs 400 valuing the transaction to Rs 23.71 crore.

On the other hand, Route One Fund ILP has bought 4.50 lakh shares in the company for an average price of Rs 400, through open market route valuing the transaction at Rs 18 crore.

Strides Arcolab is a global pharmaceutical company headquartered in Bangalore, India that develops and manufactures wide range of IP-lead niche pharmaceutical products with an emphasis on sterile injectables.

Coal India reports production of 47.38 million tonnes in January 2013

Coal India, the world’s largest coal miner by output, has reported provisional production of 47.38 million tonnes in January 2013, as against target of 49.44 million tonnes. The company’s total off-take for the month of December stood at 44.44 million tonnes as against a target of 47.24 million tonnes.

Coal India is the world’s largest coal mining company. It also produces non-coking coal and coking coal of various grades for diverse applications.

FDI in pharma sector increases to $1.25 billion during April-November’ 2013

Amid rising concerns over increasing acquisitions of domestic pharma firms by multinationals, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the pharma sector has increased more than double to $1.25 billion during April-November’ 2013 as compared to $581 million reported in the same period of previous year.

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) had proposed the norms to arrest the increasing foreign investment in domestic pharma firms as it is of the view that continuing acquisitions of Indian pharma firms by foreign companies would pose serious problems in availability of life-saving drugs to consumers in near future. Meanwhile, the DIPP proposal to reduce FDI cap to 49 percent in critical verticals from 100 percent was rejected by the Union Cabinet. DIPP also wants to restrict FDI in brown-field or existing pharma companies amid concerns that such acquisitions could shrink India’s capacity of producing low-cost generic drugs. During the period from April 2012 to April 2013, over 96 percent of the total FDI in the sector has come into brown-field pharma, reflecting meager growth in FDI in pharma green field projects. The Indian generic drug market grew at a CAGR of around 17 per cent between 2010-11 and 2012-13 mainly on the back of rising exports of generic drug due to their low cost. Recently, the government has cleared Rs 5,168 crore proposal of US-based pharma firm Mylan Inc's to acquire Indian generic drugs company Agila Specialties.

However, overall FDI during the reported period declined by 2 percent to USD 15.45 billion from USD 15.84 billion during April-November 2012. Other sectors which received high FDI during the period include services ($1.46 billion), automobile ($838 million), construction ($889 million) and chemicals ($482 million).

Berger Paints soars on reporting 7% rise in Q3 consolidated net profit

Berger Paints India is currently trading at Rs. 210.75, up by 6.65 points or 3.26% from its previous closing of Rs. 204.10 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 207.50 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 213.50 and Rs. 207.50 respectively. So far 15507 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 2 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 256.30 on 19-Jul-2013 and a 52 week low of Rs. 169.10 on 11-Feb-2013.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 216.30 and Rs. 201.80 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 7302.09 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 74.96% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 14.45% and 10.59% respectively.

Berger Paints India has reported results for third quarter ended December 31, 2013.

The company has reported 0.33% rise in its net profit at Rs 65.65 crore for the quarter as compared to Rs 65.43 crore for the same quarter in the previous year.  Total income of the company has increased by 7.14% at Rs 889.99 crore for quarter under review as compared to Rs 830.68 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2012.

On the consolidated basis, the group has reported 7.07% rise in its net profit at Rs 82.28 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2013 as compared to Rs 76.84 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. Total income of the group has increased by 11.59% at Rs 1038.07 crore for quarter under review as compared to Rs 930.20 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2012.

JSPL buys 100% stake in Kineta Power

Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) has bought 100% stake in Kineta Power, a privately-owned coal-based 1,980 MW power plant in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh. The capacity of the power plant is between 3 units of 660 MW or 2 units of 800 MW.

JSPL has acquired Kineta Power through Jindal Power and the share purchase agreement was signed with Bangalore-based Kineta Mines and Minerals --the original promoters of the project-- on September 4, 2013 last year.

JSPL is a part of Jindal Group and is a leading player in Steel, Power, Mining, Oil & Gas and Infrastructure. The company produces economical and efficient steel and power through backward integration from its own captive coal and iron-ore mines and passes on the benefits to its customers.

LTFH’s arm enters into partnership with HMSI

Family Credit, a wholly owned subsidiary of L&T Finance Holdings (LTFH) has entered into partnership with Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) to provide loans to two wheeler customers across India. The company already had a tie up with HMSI for financing. With this partnership HMSI hopes to reduce the turn-around-time to obtain automobile finance for its customers. Further, HMSI’s customers can avail loan up to 90% of the value of a Honda two-wheeler with repayment period of 48 months

L&T Finance Holdings is a financial holding company offering a diverse range of financial products and services across the corporate, retail and infrastructure finance sectors, as well as mutual fund products and investment management services, through its direct and indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries.

Govt revises FY13 GDP growth estimates to 4.5% from 5% earlier

Reflecting the underlying weaknesses in Asia's third-largest economy, the annual economic growth for last fiscal has been revised to 4.5 per cent from 5 per cent earlier and against a growth of 6.7 per cent in the year 2011-12, mainly due to a sharper-than-estimated slowdown in construction and mining. While, the GDP at factor cost at constant prices in 2012-13 was estimated at Rs 54.8 lakh crore as against Rs 52.5 lakh crore in 2011-12, GDP at current prices in 2012-13 was estimated at Rs 93.9 lakh crore as against Rs 83.9 lakh crore in 2011-12.

The growth rate of 4.5 per cent in the GDP during 2012-13 is likely to be on the back of growth in financing, insurance, real estate & business services (10.9 %), transport, storage and communication (6%) and community, social and personal services (5.3 %). At constant prices, in the primary sector (agriculture, forestry, fishing and mining & quarrying), agriculture, forestry & fishing showed a growth of  1.4 per cent, while mining declined by 2.2 per cent during 2012-13, as against the growth of 5 and 0.1 per cent, respectively during the year 2011-12.  Meanwhile, the growth of secondary sector (manufacturing, electricity, gas & water supply and construction) stood at 1.2 per cent and that of tertiary (services) sector at 7 per cent during 2012-13, as against a growth of 8.5 per cent and 6.6 per cent, respectively, in the previous year.

The data also showed lower than estimated growth numbers for exports, capital investment and consumption sectors. Further, the GDP growth rate in January 2013, which was earlier estimated at 6.2 per cent, was revised upwards to 6.7 per cent for the year 2011-12. While, the growth rate of GDP for the year 2010-11 was revised down from 9.3 per cent to 8.9 per cent. The latest revisions incorporate the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) data for 2011-12, replacing the provisional Index of Industrial Production numbers and new set of data available from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the government.

Merrill Lynch Capital buys 2.96 lakh shares of Aban Offshore

Merrill Lynch Capital Markets Espana SA SVB has purchased 296,914 equity shares constituting 0.7% stake of Aban Offshore through an open market transaction on January 31, 2014. The shares were purchased at Rs 414.10 a piece on National Stock Exchange (NSE) valuing the deal around Rs 12 crore.

Aban Offshore (formerly Aban Loyd Chiles Offshore) is India’s largest offshore drilling services provider to oil companies, mainly for ONGC. It is a company which provides oil field services for offshore exploration and production of hydrocarbons to the oil industry in India and abroad.

Ashoka Buildcon consortium gets selected for Rs 317.60 crore project

The Consortium has submitted its bid to the Chief Project Officer, Karnataka State Highways Improvement Project (KSHIP) engaged by Government of Karnataka (Public works Department). The Chief Project Officer of KSHIP has declared Ashoka Buildcon along with GVR Infra Projects, a Consortium (51:49) as the successful bidder on February 01, 2014 for the project.

Scope of the project is to Design, Build, Finance, Operate, Maintain and Transfer (DBFOMT) the Existing State Highway (SH18) from Mudhol to Maharashtra Border (approximate length 107.937 Kms) in the State of Karnataka on DBFOMT Annuity Basis. The project is on Annuity Basis with a Concession Period of 10 years and KSHIP cost of the Project is Rs. 317.60 crore.

Ashoka Buildcon builds and operates roads and bridges in India on a build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis. It currently operates one of the highest numbers of toll-based BOT projects in India.