Top corporate news of the day - January 12, 2015

The Kalyani Group will invest Rs6bn in a defence manufacturing facility at Dholera in Gujarat.

Seeking to modernise over 220 years old coal mining business in the country, Coal India's new chief S Bhattacharya has lined up a 'future strategy' to boost productivity with the use of latest technology and meet targets diligently. 

Reliance Industries announced Rs1000bn investment across businesses in the next 12-18 months and said India was on the path to become the world's fastest growing economy. 

Anil Agarwal is mulling merging Cairn India and Hindustan Zinc into his Vedanta Group firm to create a global natural resources giant to rival Rio Tinto or BHP Billiton.

 Bank of Baroda (BoB) plans to raise Rs10bn from bonds soon to fund business expansion. 

While the National Stock Exchange (NSE) is open to the idea of entering into alliances with other smaller exchanges in the world for its SME exchange Emerge, listing of a large number of top notch companies on it would draw the attention of a lot of international exchanges, according to Chitra Ramkrishna, Managing Director and CEO of NSE. 

Adani Enterprises Ltd and SunEdison Inc., a leading solar technology manufacturer and provider of solar energy services, announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a Joint Venture (JV) to build the largest, vertically integrated solar photovoltaic manufacturing facility in India with an investment of around US$4bn.

United Spirits Ltd (USL) said its minority shareholders have approved a proposal to enter into licensing and cost sharing agreements with certain subsidiaries of its parent Diageo Plc, which was rejected earlier last year.

Kribhco plans to invest Rs10bn for setting up a P&K fertiliser plant at Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

Adani Group has signed an agreement with Australian energy major Woodside for sourcing of LNG as well as cooperation in oil and gas exploration and production.  

Nitin Fire Protection Ltd (NFPL), an end-to end solutions provider in production and installation of the segment, is entering the Russian market, to catering to oil exploration units.

Top economic news of the day - January 12, 2015

Indian economy is likely to grow at 6.4% in 2015 and accelerate further in the next year on the back of steps being taken by the Narendra Modi-led NDA government, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said.




Peak power deficit in the country reduced to 3.3% last month due to improved coal supplies, generation capacity addition and connectivity of the southern transmission network with the National Grid.

Vibrant Gujarat 2015: Gujarat govt announces Defence Manufacturing policy

With a view to encourage domestic manufacturing of defence equipments in the country, Government of Gujarat under the aegis of Vibrant Gujarat Summit today hosted a seminar titled “Gujarat:

Preferred Hub for Defence Production” in Mahatma Mandir.

The seminar was inaugurated by Manohar Parrikar, Defence Minister of India in presence of senior Government officials from the Ministry of Defence and the industry. 

Speaking on the occasion Minister called for the need of self-reliance, greater indigenization and meaningful engagement of the private sector in defence production. 

He emphasized that no nation aspiring to be even a regional power can expect to achieve it without being substantively self-reliant in defence production

He emphasized that the modernization of the Indian defence sector will provide boundless opportunities to the industry.

Speaking on the lines of “Make in India” campaign and to promote and enhance indigenization in the defence sector, Shri Parrikar encouraged the defence companies to setup and expand their industrial base within the country which in turn will help in achieving the goal of indigenization.

Announcing Gujarat’s Defence Manufacturing policy, Saurabhbhai Patel stated that Gujarat, through its Defence Manufacturing Policy, is eyeing to build up its economy by grabbing a share in the Indian defence production. 

He added that the state Government will try and attract investments from defence companies in building warships and submarines, defence vehicles, artillery, and aircraft making, among others.

Currently, the State has attracted investments in the ship building segment with private players like Pipavav Defence & Offshore Ltd. and L&T Shipbuilding having invested in the state.

He informed that the state government is identifying areas in Kutch, Banaskantha, Sabarkantha, Ahmedabad and other coastal districts where the defence facilities can be promoted along with plans of developing a special defence manufacturing zone in the State. It is worth noting that Several defence and aerospace companies have already evinced interest in setting up or expanding their bases in Gujarat. 

The seminar saw eminent speakers from MoD, DPSUs and Private Sector deliberate and share their views on various aspects like opportunities in the Indian defence and aerospace sector, procurement procedures, challenges towardsin digenization, technology transfer, co-development of technology, co-production of defence production, FDI, exports, licensing and gave their recommendations to streamline these processes. 

The seminar also saw deliberations on how Gujarat being an emerging and a potential defence and aerospace manufacturing base in the country.

The seminar was attended by several defence industry leaders and senior Government officials.

Tata Steel India registers 3% rise in Oct-Dec sales

Shares of Tata Steel was down 1% at Rs395 after its sales from its Indian operation grew by 3.05% at 2.13 million tonnes during the October-December period. The stock has hit a high of Rs400 and a low of Rs393. Total traded quantity on the counter stood at over 1.51 lk shares.

Nifty below 8,300 levels

At 9:22AM, the S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 27,400 down 57 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 8,274 down 10 points.

The BSE Mid-cap Index was trading down 0.07%, while BSE Small-cap Index was trading flat.

Consumer Durables, FMCF, Healthcare, Teck, IT indices are the gainers, while Power, banking, capital goods, Oil and gas, PSU, metal, realty 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.

The Vibrant Gujarat Summit is underway and the Prime Minister is leaving no stone unturned to hardsell India. We will be available to hold your hands whenever you need us, Modi affirmed to the who’s who of India and global statesmen such as US Secretary of State John Kerry and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. Indian economy is likely to grow at 6.4% in 2015 and accelerate further in the next year on the back of steps being taken by the Narendra Modi-led NDA government, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has said.

The government plans to allow resolution of disputes in infrastructure development through arbitration in neutral places like Singapore, London and Malaysia, a step aimed at increasing the confidence of foreign investors in putting money in a sector that is key to economic growth but is struggling due to funds shortage, a report stated.

NTPC is expected to bid in next month's auctions of coal blocks, a top executive has said. The auction follows the Supreme Court's September order cancelling 214 coal blocks over charges of irregularities.

PVR group may acquire Sathyam Cinemas.

Oriental Bank of Commerce plans to raise additional tier-I or equity capital of up to Rs 1,000 crore through private placement of bonds.

Anil Agarwal is looking at merging Cairn India and Hindustan Zinc into Vedanta Group, says a report.

Oberoi Realty is set to raise Rs 650 crore to develop Oasis Tower project in Worli, says a report.

Kansai Nerolac Paints could see action as it will consider stock split later this month.

At the Vibrant Gujarat Summit inauguration function, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani has announced Rs 100,000 crore investment across businesses in the next 12-18 months, according to reports. Report said that the investments will be in expanding petrochemical production capacity as well as in launch the 4G broadband services.

At an award function organised by television news channel, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the government will go for major disinvestment in the next two-and-a-half months. The government will stick to the fiscal deficit target of 4.1% in the current year, added FM. In 2014-15, the government has sold 5 per cent stake in steel major SAIL.

Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL), the flagship company of the Adani Group, a global infrastructure conglomerate, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Australian energy major Woodside Energy for cooperation for exploring business opportunities across a broad spectrum in the oil and gas sector in India, as part of the Vibrant Gujarat initiative.

Kumar Mangalam Birla reportedly said the Aditya Birla Group will invest Rs 20,000 crore over a period of time in the state to ramp up capacities across various existing facilities.
"We will be continuing to grow our businesses. On the anvil are brownfield expansions at our cement plant in Sevagram, says Birla.

According to SIAM, The industry produced a total of 1,850,616 vehicles including passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, three wheelers and two wheelers in December 2014 as against 1,741,237 in December 2013, registering a growth of 6.28 percent over the same month last year.

The movement in the rupee value is not in line with improvements in the fundamentals of Indian economy, says India Ratings & Research. The twin deficits are no longer a threat to macroeconomic stability, as inflation is following the glide path. Also, capital inflow is in excess of the requirements to fund current account deficit. The economy is thus likely to achieve 5.6% growth in FY15.

Shares of SpiceJet Ltd has hit 10% upper circuit at Rs18 on reports that potential investors in the airliner, led by former promoter Ajay Singh, have submitted a rescue plan for the airline to the civil aviation ministry.

Infosys stock ended 5% upper circuit at Rs2073 after company reported net profit growth for the quarter and maintained its full-year guidance of 7-9%

Infosys Ltd has announced that the Company announced that Parvatheesam Kanchinadham, Chief Risk & Compliance Officer and Company Secretary, will be leaving the Company effective January 10, 2015.

ABB has won an order worth about Rs.256 crore from Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to supply two new 220-kilovolt (kV) substations and upgrade an existing substation in Sri Lanka.The order was booked in the quarter ending December 2014 by ABB India.The stock down 2% at Rs1267.

Cabinet will decide on reserve price for 2,100 MHz by Jan 15, report says. - See more at: http://www.indiainfoline.com/article/news-top-story/nifty-below-8-300-levels-115011200029_1.html#sthash.J6VCiWCX.dpuf