Modi Govt to come out with six-month ‘Report Card’

In first of its kind initiative, Government is planning to come out with a six-month report card, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordering all ministers to submit details of their performances and achievements by this month end in the form of an e-booklet and a video clip. Though the government has not yet decided how it would like to display its six months achievements before the nation, the emphasis would be to mass-scale publicity at the grass-root level. Reports suggest that government could hold press conferences or use social networking platform to illustrate its achievements and have instructed states and MPs to distribute booklets in their respective constituencies. The plan to highlight the achievements of the government assumes importance for NDA government as several states are heading for assembly polls and bypolls. In its six months in power, the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre has taken some crucial administrative measures including opening up Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Railways, deregulating fuel and announcing mega missions like 'Make in India'.

ICRA assigns ‘AA+’ rating to Bajaj Finance’s subordinated debt programme

Credit rating agency, ICRA has assigned an ‘AA+’ rating to Rs 500 crore subordinated debt programme of Bajaj Finance. The ratings for the company factor in its ability to grow its business (Assets under management of Rs 28,004 crore as on September 30, 2014; 3 year CAGR of 36%) while diversifying its product mix as well as expanding geographically and maintaining good profitability (ROA of 3.25% in 2013-14) and maintaining good asset quality indicators (Gross NPA% of 1.41% as on September 30, 2014). Bajaj Finance is one of the leading financial companies in India. It offers personal loans that are convenient, flexible, quickly processed, have superior features like zero prepayment charges & requires no security with minimum paper work. The company offers personal loans for home renovation, marriage in family, holiday, and medical expenses without providing security or guarantors.

KEC International eyeing to reduce debt by Rs 300 crore in Q3FY15

KEC International is hopeful of reducing debt by nearly Rs 300 crore in Q3FY15 and is eyeing an improvement in debt equity ratio from Q2FY15. The company also expects a good improvement in margins next year.

The company has executed a sale deed with Ardent Properties (Ardent), a 100% subsidiary of Tata Housing Development Company and has completed all the formalities of said sale. Further the company has also received full consideration of Rs 212.35 crore from Ardent.

KEC International is a global infrastructure Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) major. It has a presence in the verticals of power transmission, power systems, cables, railways, telecom and water.

Crude Palm Oil futures trade down on subdued demand

Crude Palm Oil futures traded down on MCX following subdued demand against higher supply from producing regions in the physical market. But, concerns that monsoon rains could curb output in December, capped some losses in crude palm oil prices to some extent.

The contract for December delivery was trading at Rs 413.90, down by 0.72% or Rs 3.00 from its previous closing of Rs 416.90. The open interest of the contract stood at 2609 lots.

The contract for January delivery was trading at Rs 421.60, down by 0.68% or Rs 2.90 from its previous closing of Rs 424.50. The open interest of the contract stood at 4169 lots on MCX. 

ONGC successfully completes production test in well MD 5 at Cauvery Basin

Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), the operator of the on-land block, CY-ONN-2002/2, in the Cauvery Basin, India, has successfully completed a production test in well MD 5, to evaluate the potential of the unconventional Basement reservoir. ONGC is the operator of the block, CY-ONN-2002/2, with 60% interest in partnership with Bharat Petroleum Corporation’s (BPCL) wholly owned subsidiary - Bharat PetroResources (BPRL), holding the remaining 40%. The well, MD 5, was drilled down to a depth of 2175 m and tested barefoot in a gross interval of 500 m, which flowed gas at the rate of 61,800 cubic meters per day along with condensate at the rate of 9.6 cubic meters per day through 7 mm bean, from the Basement reservoir. The well MD-5 is located about 9 km towards east of Sirkhazhi town in Nagapattinam district, Tamil Nadu. The discovery is now known as ‘Thirunagari Gas Discovery’ after the name of the nearby village. The first discovery in this block was in October 2012, when oil was discovered in the well Madanam-3, which is under appraisal. This discovery is envisaged to enhance the commercial viability of this block.

Thermax spurts amidst sluggish trade on BSE

Thermax is currently trading at Rs. 978.40, up by 15.90 points or 1.65% from its previous closing of Rs. 962.50 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 963.75 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 988.95 and Rs. 949.15 respectively. So far 2974 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 2 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 1131.80 on 08-Dec-2014 and a 52 week low of Rs. 615.00 on 10-Feb-2014.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 1057.50 and Rs. 954.00 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 11679.70 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 61.98 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 23.05 % and 14.97 % respectively.

Thermax has won a repeat order worth Rs 351 crore from a leading African industrial major. The new order is also for supplying a captive power project for one of the conglomerate’s cement plants. The scope of work includes system design, manufacture, supply and supervision of erection and commissioning of the plant.

The order was won against stiff global competition. As a back-to- back repeat order, it further strengthens the company’s credentials to provide lump sum turnkey solutions for African customers.

The power plant, to be commissioned within a time frame of 15-16 months, will utilize the latest generation AFBC (Atmospheric Fluidized Bed Combustion) boilers and high pressure steam cycle to facilitate optimal plant efficiency. Air-cooled condensers will ensure low water utilization by the power plant, which has also been designed to respond to varying load requirements of the cement plant.

Banking stocks battered again

After been the market leaders for most part of the calendar year, the banking stocks are come under serious amount of profit-taking in the last few trading sessions.

With today's 1.8 per cent fall, the Bank Nifty has now tumbled by nearly 7 per cent in the last eight trading sessions.

The much-anticipated rate cut remained elusive throughout the calendar year, even as the monthly WPI inflation fell to zero per cent for the month of November.

Canara Bank is the major loser in the banking space, down nearly 4 per cent at Rs. 392.

ICICI Bank and Yes Bank have plunged 3 per cent each to Rs. 321 and Rs. 671, respectively.

Punjab National Bank and Bank of India have shed 2.5 per cent each at Rs. 1,045 and Rs. 272, respectively.

Bank of Baroda, Kotak Bank and SBI have also slipped over 2 per cent each.

Nifty now below 8,000 levels

At 10:09AM, the S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 26,510 down 270 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 7988 down 78 points.

The BSE Mid-cap Index and BSE Small-cap Index was trading down 3%

FMCG indices is only the gainer, while Power, Capital goods, PSU, Oil and gas, Realty, Healthcare, Auto, Bankex, Consumer Durables indices are losers.

GAIL, BHEL, COALINDIA,SUNPHARMA,TATASTEEL, Reliance, Hindalco are among the gainers, whereas HDFC Bank, Infosys, Axis Bank, HUL are losing sheen on BSE.

US markets ended weak ahead of the Fed Reserve meet. The Federal Reserve meeting ends today with a statement, new economic projections and a press conference by Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen. Attention will be paid on whether the Fed changes its pledge to hold rates steady for a considerable time, says reports.

Asian indices are mixed. Japan's Nikkei was up while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was lower. China's Shanghai index is in the green.

The finance ministry will move a formal proposal seeking Cabinet endorsement for the constitutional amendment bill to facilitate the goods and services tax (GST) after securing support from the states, says a report.

Vladimir Putin has little choice but to withdraw from eastern Ukraine in order to stem the financial crisis that is spinning out of control in his country, says a report.

Prices for oil futures trading on the New York Mercantile exchange made a sharp turnaround , briefly touching an all-low of $53.60 and latter hitting a high of $57.15 a barrel.

MCX is considering having Paul Parambi, Head of Group Strategy at Kotak Mahindra Bank, as a nominee on its board, according to sources close to the development

Reliance Jio plans to launch in 800 cities by April 2015: Reports

Reliance Jio Infocomm is planning to roll out its 4G LTE services in 800 Indian cities between April and June next year, says report.

Report said that the company will in the initial stage offer 4G dongles, as well as 'mi-fi devices'. 

The 'mi-fi' devices will allow users to access 4G on any 'wi-fi'-enabled phone.

The company has built over 30,000 towers of its own to fill in the gaps in the rollout.

Tata Steel spurts on nod for Odisha mining

Tata Steel spurted to a high of Rs. 401 in opening trades this morning after the company received a relief order on its mining activity from the Odisha government.

According to reports, the Odisha government has allowed mining in Bamberi, Katamati, east & west Joda mines.

The stock is now up 1.6 per cent at Rs. 396. The counter has seen trades of around 217,000 shares as against the two-week daily average volume of around 811,000 shares on the BSE.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex is now down 100 points at 26,682.

Sensex opens on a weak note

At 9:23AM, the S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 26,763 down 17 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 8,059 down 7 points.

The BSE Mid-cap Index was trading down 0.06%, while BSE Small-cap Index was trading flat.

Power, Capital goods, FMCG, PSU, Oil and gas indices are the gainers, while Realty, Healthcare, Auto, Bankex, Consumer Durables indices are losers.

GAIL, BHEL, COALINDIA,SUNPHARMA,TATASTEEL, Reliance, Hindalco are among the gainers, whereas HDFC Bank, Infosys, Axis Bank, HUL are losing sheen on BSE.

US markets ended weak ahead of the Fed Reserve meet. The Federal Reserve meeting ends today with a statement, new economic projections and a press conference by Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen. Attention will be paid on whether the Fed changes its pledge to hold rates steady for a considerable time, says reports.

Asian indices are mixed. Japan's Nikkei was up while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was lower. China's Shanghai index is in the green.

The finance ministry will move a formal proposal seeking Cabinet endorsement for the constitutional amendment bill to facilitate the goods and services tax (GST) after securing support from the states, says a report.

Vladimir Putin has little choice but to withdraw from eastern Ukraine in order to stem the financial crisis that is spinning out of control in his country, says a report.

Prices for oil futures trading on the New York Mercantile exchange made a sharp turnaround , briefly touching an all-low of $53.60 and latter hitting a high of $57.15 a barrel.

MCX is considering having Paul Parambi, Head of Group Strategy at Kotak Mahindra Bank, as a nominee on its board, according to sources close to the development

Top economic news of the day - December 17, 2014

Ahead of the outcome of the two-day US Fed meeting, the rupee slumped to a 13-month low due to selling pressure by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) in their domestic portfolios. 
 
Oil fell below $59 a barrel for the first time since May 2009, extending a six-month selloff as slowing Chinese factory activity and weakening emerging-market currencies added to concerns about demand. 
 
The Government will revisit the food safety Act to make it more stringent to check growing instances of adulteration and contamination. 

Top corporate news of the day - December 17, 2014

NTPC, has released second Expression of Interest (EOI) for acquiring coal based thermal power projects to put to use its cash reserves of around Rs50bn. 
 
Overturning directions issued by regulator the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the ministry of civil aviation (MoCA) lifted the 30-day booking restriction the DGCA had imposed ailing no-frills carrier SpiceJet. 
 
The Odisha government has issued orders to restart operations of four captive iron ore mines of Tata Steel following an interim order of the Odisha High Court (HC). 
 
Steel Ministry directed PSU iron ore miner NMDC to advance its 100 mtpa production target by four years to 2020-21 to ensure the raw material for the domestic steel industry at reasonable prices. 
 
Eyeing a major share of the homeopathy pharma segment, Emami group announced a partnership with German homeopathic company Hevert-Arzneimittel. 
 
Dr Reddy's Laboratories announced that it has launched anti viral drug Valganciclovir in the US market after the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) granted the approval. 
 
Strides Arcolab has received approval from the US drug regulator for Calcitriol softgel capsules used for treatment of patients with kidney disease who have vitamin D deficiency. 
 
HDFC Bank launched mobile banking initiative to offer round-the-clock banking facility in Varanasi. 
 
ABB and Hitachi entered into a joint venture for providing high voltage direct current (HVDC) system solutions in Japan. The new entity, to be based in Tokyo, will be responsible for the design, engineering, supply and after-sales services related to the DC system of HVDC projects. Hitachi and ABB will take equity interests of 51% and 49% respectively. 
 
Thomas Cook India (TCIL) has launched a Holiday Savings Account, in a tie-up with IndusInd Bank. 
 
Tata Power announced commissioning of the remaining 8 MW of the 32 MW wind farm at Girijashankarwadi in Maharashtra. 
 
Retail volumes of Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) declined for the second straight month after the twoTata Motors-owned brands reported production issues related to transition to new models and stock clearance in its biggest market, China. 
 
Motherson Sumi Systems Ltd would buy assets of Germany's Scherer & Trier group for about USD44.8mn through a subsidiary. 
 
Alstom T&D India said that it has secured an order worth Rs1.52bn from Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Ltd to supply a 400/220 kV sub-station in Bhadla and expand the existing sub-station in Bikaner. 
 
Kirloskar Oil Engines Ltd (KOEL) plans on selling its power generation sets in the US, the world’s largest market, and Indonesia amongst new geographies, in the bid to more than double exports by 2018. 
 
Apollo Hospitals to raise capital for next round of expansion.
 
Siemens Limited has surpassed a key milestone in manufacturing and delivering International Efficiency (IE) class industrial motors by handing the 100,000th motor to UltraTech Cement Limited. 

Sensex to open flat

There’s seems to be a massacre everywhere but we will stick to what is happening in the market. Given the crash on Tuesday, the markets really do not need a miracle to revive. The selling was accentuated by cross-asset volatility, dollar swings and the oil price movement. The Russian ruble's plunge sparked the sell-off across markets. The rupee which breached 63 levels will be paid close attention.

The outlook is a flat start. Indices will look at recovering from the hammering it received.

US markets ended weak ahead of the Fed Reserve meet. The Federal Reserve meeting ends today with a statement, new economic projections and a press conference by Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen. Attention will be paid on whether the Fed changes its pledge to hold rates steady for a considerable time, says reports.

Asian indices are mixed. Japan's Nikkei was up while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was lower. China's Shanghai index is in the green.

Hikal will see action as the board meets to consider a stock split of its equity shares.

The finance ministry will move a formal proposal seeking Cabinet endorsement for the constitutional amendment bill to facilitate the goods and services tax (GST) after securing support from the states, says a report.

Vladimir Putin has little choice but to withdraw from eastern Ukraine in order to stem the financial crisis that is spinning out of control in his country, says a report.

Prices for oil futures trading on the New York Mercantile exchange made a sharp turnaround , briefly touching an all-low of $53.60 and latter hitting a high of $57.15 a barrel.

MCX is considering having Paul Parambi, Head of Group Strategy at Kotak Mahindra Bank, as a nominee on its board, according to sources close to the development

 In the past 10 days, the price at which Indian refiners bought crude oil was almost $10 a barrel lower. Indian Oil Corporation, the country’s biggest public sector refiner-cum-retailer, is concerned. “While this is good for the import bill, for companies like ours it means heavy inventory losses,” the company’s Director-Finance, AK Sharma, said, according to a report in ET.

State-run banks saw a marked rise in incidents of fraud in the first three months of this fiscal, a list compiled by the government shows, adding to concerns over the management of these lenders. The data shows that fraudsters cheated these banks of Rs 2,417 crore of public money between April and June. The amount is more than half of the loss of Rs 4,183 crore in entire 2013-14 through 1,174 cases of fraud, a report stated.

Shares of IT companies are trading higher after the Indian rupee hit its lowest level in 13-month.Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Mindtree, were up 1-3% on BSE.

Shares of Mastek Ltd surged 9% at Rs353 after Majesco announced that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Cover-All Technologies Inc

Special Court has asked CBI to take Ex-PM Manmohan Singh's statements on coal scam, according to reports.

Moody's Investors Service outlook for the credit quality of bond funds remains stable reflecting issuers' creditworthiness underpinned by positive underlying factors, 

including the significant amount of liquidity held by corporations, strengthening capital in the banking sector and a less risky, if subdued, global economic outlook.

Shares of Motherson Sumi Systems were up 2% at Rs412 after the company has signed an agreement for purchase of assets of Germany's Scherer & Trier.

Shares of Hindalco Industries ended 6% lower at Rs144, after special court rejected closure and order CBI to further investigate coal scam involving Hindalco.

Shares of Spicejet ended 3% higher at Rs13. Minister of State for Civil Aviation reportedly said that no bail out is planned for aviation sector."We will come out for with a plan for aviation sector within 3-6 months", added Minister of State.

The historic 2014 Lok Sabha elections emerged as India’s first digital election and revealed that an online presence mattered considerably for all political parties. It’s no surprise then, that the term Elections 2014 topped Google India’s trending lists this year.

In addition to seeing Elections 2014 at the top of the trending charts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was one of the top most searched personalities this year, coming ahead of Bollywood biggies like Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif—the first time a politician has gained more search popularity than entertainment celebrities.

Report stated that at least 32 companies have been found by SEBI to be operating unauthorised money-pooling schemes in the garb of real-estate business. SEBI had received 302 complaints against 32 real estate companies and has passed orders against them for running Collective Investment Schemes (CIS) without registration, says report.