Natco Pharma gets USFDA nod for Oseltamivir Phosphate capsules

Natco Pharma Ltd has received tentative approval for Oseltamivir Phosphate capsules from the United States Food & Drug Administration (USFDA).

The Hyderabad-based company has tied up with Alvogen for marketing the product.

"Natco may have first to file approval status for the abbreviated new drug application (ANDA), contingent upon the successful litigation outcome of original drug patent," the company said in a release.

Tamiflu (Roche’s trade name for Oseltamivir Phosphate) had US sales of approximately $495 million for the 12 months ending September 2013, according to IMS Health.

EIL board approves dividend of Rs 3.50/share

State-owned Engineers India Ltd today said its board has approved payment of an interim dividend of Rs 3.50 per share to its shareholders.

The board of directors of the company at its meeting held on March 15 “declared an interim dividend of Rs 3.50 per share (on the face value of Rs 5 each) of the company for the financial year 2013-2014,” the company said in a filing to stock exchanges.

The interim dividend for 2013-14 on the equity shares of the company shall be payable on and from March 24, 2014.

“The dividend warrants would be posted on or after March 24 and within 30 days from the date of declaration of dividend as provided in the Companies Act,” it added.

Maruti at record high post board meet; Brokerages positive

It is celebration time with  Maruti Suzuki  stock as the board reviews Gujarat project. Shares of the auto manufacture touched record high at Rs 1899.90, up 9 percent intraday on Monday. The company, which was under heavy scrutiny over its Gujarat plant, has also agreed to seek minority shareholders' nod once contract is finalised. The company announced capex for FY15 at  Rs 4,000 crore.

“The entire capex for Gujarat sub would be funded by depreciation and equity brought in by Suzuki Motor Corporation,” it said in a statement.  However, it did not make any change in its plans to hand over the Gujarat plant to parent Suzuki. Parent company Suzuki holds the majority 56 percent stake in Maruti while the rest is held by the Indian public, institutional investors as well as LIC (7 percent).

Meanwhile, in an interview with CNBC-Tv18, Maruti chairman RC Bhargava defended the earlier decision of the company. “We did not anticipate so much skepticism to the deal,” he said. “The concept of the deal does not change. It is still designed to create a win-win for Maruti and strengthen the company and benefit its shareholders. But since a lot of people had expressed doubts over some of the aspects of the deal not being explicitly clear. We have cleared them now,” he said.

AstraZeneca Pharma gains 8% as board approves delisting

Shares of  AstraZeneca Pharma gained as much as 7.68 percent in early trade Tuesday as the board of directors has finally approved delisting proposal. "The delisting proposal received from AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals AB, Sweden, the promoter of the company, vide their letter dated March 01, 2014, was considered and approved by the board of the company at its meeting held on March 15, 2014," the company said in its filing.

Earlier on March 5, the board members had deferred this proposal because after discussion, the board had decided to seek additional information from the promoter.Promoter AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals AB Sweden holds 75 percent stake in the company as of December 2013. It had reduced its stake in Indian subsidiary by 15 percent from 90 percent to comply with minimum public shareholding norms in May 2013. 

At 09:39 hours IST, the stock rose 3.89 percent to Rs 1,205 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

FIIs invest Rs 5,000 cr in Indian equities in two weeks

Foreign investors poured in over Rs 5,000 crore in the Indian stock market in a fortnight, mainly on hopes of a strong mandate for the Government to be elected in polls starting next month.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were gross buyers of shares worth Rs 42,035 crore and sellers of stocks to the tune of Rs 36,967 crore till March 14, resulting in a net inflow of Rs 5,068 crore ($828 million), according to data with the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

FIIs also infused Rs 14,140 crore ($2.3 billion) in the debt market during the period.

According to market analysts, a sharp drop in the current account deficit and easing inflation, which bolstered expectations that the economy will see a turnaround soon, as well as hopes for a strong mandate for the next Government prompted overseas investors to pump in money in equities.Finance Minister P Chidambaram, earlier this month, said the fiscal and current account deficits are under control and the economy is more stable than it was 18 months ago.

Foreign investors have sidelined their concerns of further tapering by the US Federal Reserve.

FIIs, the major drivers of the Indian stock market, have helped push the benchmark BSE Sensex almost 690 points, or 3.26 per cent so far this month.

Overseas investors have purchased a net Rs 7,186 crore of stocks so far in 2014. They invested a net Rs 1,404 crore in equities in February and Rs 714 crore in stocks in January.As of March 14, there were 1,719 registered FIIs in the country and 6,318 sub-accounts.