HUL Trumps Infosys When it Comes to Crorepati Employees

Hindustan Unilever has been reporting sluggish growth because of weak consumer demand in India, but the country's biggest fast-moving consumer goods manufacturer is among the most generous paymasters, according to its latest annual report.

More employees in Hindustan Unilever or HUL earn over Rs 1 crore (over Rs 10 million) in salaries as compared to Infosys, the country's second biggest outsourcer.

According to HUL's 2014-15 annual report, nearly 170 employees earned more than Rs 1 crore in gross annual salary in 2014-15. Infosys had 113 such executives.

The crorepati (millionaire) list at HUL is headed by 54-year-old Sanjiv Mehta, who is the CEO and MD of HUL. Mr Mehta, whose remuneration includes perquisites and stock options, earned a gross salary of over Rs 14 crore.

Those with gross salaries of over Rs 5 crore include -- H Bakshi, executive director (home and personal care), who earned Rs 9 crore; R Sridhar, ED& CFO (Rs 7.5 crore); PB Balaji, ED & CFO (Rs 6.3 crore); Samir Singh, ED & VP (Rs 6 crore); BP Biddappa, executive director (HR) (Rs 5.85 crore), and Pradeep Banerjee, executive director (supply chain), earned Rs 5.07 crore.

Like IT companies, many young employees in HUL earn huge salaries. Nearly 50 per cent employees who earned more than Rs 1 crore in 2014-15 are in their thirties, according to HUL's annual report.

HUL had 6,289 permanent employees on the rolls as on March 31, 2015. Excluding the managerial personnel, HUL gave an average hike of 3.95 per cent to its employees.

Huge salaries at HUL indicate the willingness of traditional companies to up their game to retain key talent at a time when there's a huge buzz of start-ups among Indian employees, analysts say.

HUL, a subsidiary of Anglo-Dutch consumer group Unilever Plc., sells everyday consumer goods like Lux soap, Lipton tea and Dove shampoos through thousands of mom-and-pop shops as well as big retailers across the country. Sales at the company are widely seen as an indicator of consumer demand in the country.        

CESC's Chandrapur project rejoices by Coal Ministry's decision for coal supply

The case of re-installing of coal supplies to the plan has been favourably considered in a meeting held on Friday, also following a directive to Coal India.

Kolkata-based CESC, finally recieved  a shot at revival by coal ministry for its power plant in Chandrapur in Maharashtra. The case of re-installing of coal supplies to the plan has been favourably considered in a meeting held on Friday, also following a directive to Coal India.

Chandrapur  project is a 600 megawatt power plant and has been suffering since 2009 due to change in the policy of government in April on unexceptional change of ownership of power plants.

From the 600 megawatt (MW) needed, the company was able to initiate a tie up of only 100MW with Tamil Nadu-based public sector company TANGEDCO in a long-term agreements, while negotiation for the rest continued.

Also if the desicion implements it would effect all the other deals happening in future, leading to consolidation of the power sector through mergers and acquisitions.

CESC has invested in around  Rs 3,670 crore into the project, which includes loan of  Rs 2,600 crore from Indian commercial banks, and if the delay in coal supply continues it would majorily torture the company's financial situation.

China’s loss, India’s gain! July sees foreign investors back in Indian stock market

After taking money out of the Indian market in May and June, foreign portfolio investors have returned to Dalal Street in a big way to pump in Rs 5,560 crore so far in July.

The week gone by itself has seen the Sensex add over 800 points and foreign investors seem to be returning to the equity bright spot called India. In fact, China’s loss could well prove to be a gain for the Indian stock market.  After taking money out of the Indian market in May and June, foreign portfolio investors have returned to Dalal Street in a big way to pump in Rs 5,560 crore so far in July. Globally, we had the settlement of the stalemate over Iran nuclear talks and some deal regarding the Greece debt crisis.

The meltdown in the Chinese stock market had triggered risk-off trade across emerging markets. Stocks in mainland China, which rose as much as 150% over the past one year, crashed 30 per cent in the middle of June. But after active intervention by the government to check the rout, Chinese stocks have more or less settled down with a downward bias and investors have started returning to risky assets.

The temporary settlement of the Greece debt crisis and the Iran nuclear deal gave near-term global worries a back seat leading to a spike in stock prices in several markets across the world.

The return of FIIs to the Indian market is significant as they had started to exit the Indian market not because of global cues but largely because of domestic concerns. There were worries that the government’s policy agenda had got stuck in a political quagmire. The signs of revival in the economy were mixed as different data points showed uptick and downtick at regular intervals. Moreover, India Inc has showed little signs of profit revival.

While the March quarter earnings offered nothing to write home about, the outlook for June quarter earnings is not really encouraging though a handful of companies are expected to do better.

What has, however, improved, are a few macro indicators. Core inflation is down in India, even though food prices are showing signs of strengthening over the past two months. Industrial output is looking up, signalling that the green shoots of revival are actually taking roots. Plus, the outlook for commodity prices, including crude, is benign at this stage, mainly because of the slowdown in China where economic growth has fallen from around 10 per cent to 7 per cent level. Crude prices are ruling significantly lower and the Iran nuclear deal now raised hope of further weakening the prices. Plus, the rupee has showed a lot of resilience amid strong global headwinds, which have weakened many other global currencies.

All these factors seem to have turned India a clear favourite for foreign portfolio investors. The fact that they are buying into both largecap and midcap stocks only goes on to show their increased confidence level on Indian equities. Both largecap and madcap stocks have risen about 3 per cent this month, backed by foreign portfolio investors buying across sectors as they covered their short positions.
 
But with a rate hike by the US Fed Reserve due later this year, it remains to be seen how long these FPIs stay put in Indian equities.

Oil Marketing Companies Gain, BoAML Raises Target Price

Oil marketing companies BPCL, HPCL and Indian Oil gained on Monday as global crude prices continued to fall.

Global oil prices edged lower on Monday, extending their recent losses. International crude prices posted their third consecutive weekly losses last week on expectations of increased exports from Iran following a deal to ease sanctions against the OPEC producer.

A fall in crude prices helps lower the subsidy burden of oil marketing companies.

BofA-ML has raised its target price on oil marketing companies, citing room for re-rating amid lower global prices.

The brokerage has raised target price for HPCL to Rs 1,125 from Rs 704, BPCL's target to Rs 1,186 from Rs 926 and IOC's target to Rs 558 from Rs 498.

With outlook for global oil prices weak, BofA-ML says that FY17 profit of oil marketing companies are likely to be their highest ever.

At 10:21 a.m., shares of Indian Oil were up 1.5 per cent, HPCL edged up 0.25 per cent and BPCL rose 0.50 per cent. In comparison, Nifty was down 0.42 per cent.

Block deal on Crompton Greaves; stock flat

Around 19.8 lakh shares were traded in a multiple block at Rs. 199 on the BSE.

Shares of Crompton Greaves Ltd were trading flat at Rs. 199 on BSE today.  Around 19.8 lakh shares were traded in a multiple block at Rs. 199 on the BSE. On Thursday, the company has signed a new contract to provide ZIV protections for Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), the largest power utility company in the Middle East serving approximately five million customers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

The stock opened at Rs. 199 as against the previous close of Rs. 198.55 on BSE. It has hit a high of Rs. 201.45 and a low of Rs. 196.80 on BSE today.

Total traded quantity on the counter stood at over 22.61 lk shares on BSE.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex is down 58 points at 28,405.

Top Pharma News of the day

Delhi High Court has reserved its verdict on a PIL contending that a large number of illegal and unauthorised pathological laboratories are operating in residential areas of the national capital in violation of the city's master plan and environmental norms.

Aurobindo Pharma Ltd has announced that it has received US FDA tentative approval for sildenafil citrate, according to reports.

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd (AHEL), one of the leading hospital chains in the country, is planning to increase its capacity by around 25%. Currently, the hospital chain has 9,215 beds.

Delhi High Court has reserved its verdict on a PIL contending that a large number of illegal and unauthorised pathological laboratories are operating in residential areas of the national capital in violation of the city's master plan and environmental norms. 

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority’s (NPPA) decision last week to expand the number of drugs under price control by a further 39 drugs has no doubt increased scope of price control but the pharmaceutical industry feels the overarching objective of increasing access to medicines is not being adequately addressed.(Hindu)

Gold prices breach crucial support of US$1,130/oz

China gold reserves increased by 57% to 1,658 tons over the past six years, accounting for just 1.65% of the country’s total foreign exchange holdings.

Gold prices have breached the crucial the support of US$1,130/oz in the Asian trading session today and in the process have registered a multi-year low of US$1,087.4/oz. The precious pack is dented by the fact that vibes from US Federal Reserve and flow of economic numbers indicate that rate hike this year is very much on the cards. In addition, China’s national gold holdings number released over the weekend has also not helped the sentiment either. The country’s gold reserves increased by 57% to 1,658 tons over the past six years, accounting for just 1.65% of the country’s total foreign exchange holdings. The number was much less than the perception of China holding more than 3,000 tons.

Nevertheless, China is now the sixth largest gold holder in the world after the US, Germany, the IMF, Italy and France. China has reported this number after a gap of 6 years. There is lot of curiosity and mystery over China’s stockpiling activity of gold.

However, the recent release clearly indicates that Chinese appetite for the yellow metal has clearly mellowed down. Palpable slowdown in economic growth has adversely impacted the overall consumption.

Rupee pares losses on back of foreign capital inflows

On Friday, the rupee ended at 63.47/$, stronger by 5 paise from its previous close of 63.52/$ on Thursday. The currency touched a high and low of $63.45 and $63.52 respectively.

Indian rupee pared losses against the greenback, helped by the stability in the equity markets and healthy foreign capital inflows. Indian government has approved a policy for composite foreign investment in India. Foreign Direct Investment, Foreign Institutional Investors and other investment routes will be included under one category. The move is aimed at simplifying the process for investors to do
business and invest in India.

Nevertheless, concerns over poor monsoon linger in the minds of the market participants. Although the onset of monsoon in India has been healthy this year, July rainfall has witnessed unprecedented lull, registering 33% deficiency and overall rainfall being 6% below normal.  

On Friday, the rupee ended at 63.47/$, stronger by 5 paise from its previous close of 63.52/$ on Thursday. The currency touched a high and low of $63.45 and $63.52 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 63.49 and for Euro stood at 69.14 on July 17, 2015. While, the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 51.20, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 99.4297.

Navy Choppers : Mahindra, Tata, L&T in race for Rs.20,000 cr deal

The companies plan to form a joint ventures in the coming months for 'Make in India' chopper contracts.

With its plans to procure new utility helicopters, the Indian Navy is looking at vendors from the Indian private and public sector for the project, according to reports.

A report says that about 11 Indian companies, including Mahindra, Tata, L&T and Reliance are in race for 20k chopper deal.

The companies plan to form a joint ventures in the coming months for 'Make in India' chopper contracts.

While 11 Indian companies have expressed interest, there are other foreign companies with helicopters that meet Indian requirements which include Airbus, Bell and banned Italian entity AgustaWestland, the report added.

TCS, Infosys lead the street in weekly market cap gains

TCS market cap gained by Rs. 17,129.08 crore to Rs 5,01,307.05 crore, while Infosys jumped Rs. 14,930.14 crore to Rs. 2,30,153.86 crore.

The combined market valuation of nine of the top-10 most valued firms surged by Rs. 77,363.23 crore last week.

TCS market cap gained by Rs. 17,129.08 crore to Rs 5,01,307.05 crore, while Infosys jumped Rs. 14,930.14 crore to Rs. 2,30,153.86 crore.

Barring ONGC, RIL, HDFC Bank, CIL, ITC, Sun Pharma, HDFC and SBI surged in their market capitalisation (m-cap).

Coal India valuation was higher by Rs 6,442.69 crore to Rs. 2,71,508.92 crore, while HDFC Bank added Rs 4,495.51 crore to Rs 2,78,859.76 crore.

SBI market cap surged by Rs. 416.15 crore to Rs. 2,05,082.07 crore.

ONGC's m-cap dipped by Rs. 1,154.99 crore to Rs. 2,50,248.09 crore.

30 Stocks in focus today

Check out the companies which will be in focus during trade today based on recent and latest news developments

Aurobindo Pharma: The pharma company gets US FDA tentative approval for sildenafil citrate.

Federal Bank: The bank reported a 35.8 per cent fall in its net profit at Rs.141.39 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2015, against Rs.220.23 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Titagarh Wagons Ltd: The company said HDFC Mutual Fund has acquired over 98 lakh shares in the company, a deal that could be worth more than Rs. 103 crore, as per media report.

Torrent Pharmaceuticals: The pharma company said that it has completed acquisition of Encore Group firm Zyg Pharma Pvt Ltd.

Tata Motors: The company has earmarked Rs.388 billion as capital expenditure for the current financial year.

Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers: The company is planning to invest Rs 363 crore for reducing consumption of energy at its two urea-ammonia units in Thal in Maharashtra.

ACC: The company reported a 45 per cent drop in its consolidated net profit at Rs. 133.5 crore for the second quarter ended June 30, on account of challenging market conditions and subdued demand.

Omkar Speciality Chemicals Ltd: The company reported 64.41 per cent jump in net profit at Rs. 8.17 crore in the first quarter ended June 30 compared with Rs 4.97 crore in the same period of last fiscal.

DLF: CBI  has sought information from markets regulator  Sebi on the DLF case, referring to the investigation and a subsequent three-year ban on the real estate company.

SBI, JSW Steel, Ashok Leyland: Fund-raising from institutional investors seems to be gaining favour among listed companies as a large number of firms, including SBI, JSW Steel and Ashok Leyland, have lined up plans to raise over Rs. 55,000 crore through the route,  as per media report.

Punj Lloyd: The company has transferred all of its defence manufacturing operations to a subsidiary company for Rs.180 crore, as per media reports.

CARE: The rating company reported a 34 per cent decline in net profit at Rs. 17.49 crore for the first quarter of financial year 2015-16.

Karnataka Bank: The bank reported 10 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 109.34 crore for the April-June quarter of the current fiscal.

Phoenix Mills Ltd: The company has raised Rs 282.59 crore through private placement of shares to institutional investors.

NTPC Ltd: The four units of Koldam hydro electric power project that will supply electricity to Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, among others, have become commercially operational.

Fulford India Ltd: Shares will soon be delisted from the stock exchanges following a successful delisting offer made by promoter Dashtag, which is buying the stock at Rs. 2,400 apiece from the shareholders.

HDFC: The company will raise up to Rs. 850 bn crore by issuing NCDs (non-convertible debentures) as Tier-II capital in the next 12 months. 

Granules India: The company is now focusing on research and development and formulations, and the new acquisitions are likely to reflect this new thrust in its business strategy. 

PTC India: The company is planning to increase the number of medium-term power purchase agreements with power generators and utilities.

HSIL: The company is entering the consumer products segment to diversify its business into other product categories.

M&M: The company has entered the branded food business category with the launch of its edible oil product through its agri-business division. It has also launched the mustard oil product for the eastern market and will expand it nationally.

Jet Airways: The aviation company has announced hefty discounts on its business class fares of its domestic flights.

Maruti Suzuki India: The auto company plans to hire around 2,500 relationship managers by the end of this fiscal for its new retail outlets under Nexa brand to sell premium products, starting with its upcoming S-Cross model. 

Reliance Industries: The company has decided to relinquish two gas discoveries off the east coast and opted to carry out government prescribed confirmation tests to retain three other finds. 

Nestle India: Tj has alleged that the government laboratories were not equipped to conduct lead content test and hence a countrywide ban its popular snack Maggi noodles is "illegal". 

ONGC Videsh Ltd: The company has lost out on its bid for two oil blocks in Mexico's first licensing round in 88 years.

Sensex May Open Flat; ACC to be in Focus

8:35 a.m.: CLSA has maintained its buy call on Tata Motors for target price of Rs 600 per share. CLSA says that stock pricing is in an extremely pessimistic scenario and JLR has multiple buffers in China. CLSA expects price to improve once volume growth recovers.

8:25 a.m.: Below are the stocks which will be in focus today:

Larsen & Toubro: Reports suggest that Larsen & Toubro will produce and sell Lakshya Pilotless Target Aircraft. L&T will pay a royalty for every Lakshya Aircraft produced and sold by it.
Foreign militaries too can buy the aircraft with defence ministry's permission. Meanwhile, the financial impact is hard to judge on this but key is transfer of selling rights to a private player compared to PSUs in past.

Aurobindo Pharma: Aurobindo Pharma will go ex-bonus from today.

Crompton Greaves: Reports suggest that Crompton Greaves is in talks with First Reserve for sale of overseas power business.

HDFC: HDFC has sought for shareholders nod to issue NCDs up to Rs 85,000 crore.

Punj Lloyd: Punj Lloyd has approved execution of business transfer pact with Punj Lloyd Industries. The deal With Punj Lloyd Industries is pegged at Rs 180 crore.

Torrent Pharma: Torrent Pharma has completed acquisition of Zyg Pharma.

Phoenix Mills: Phoenix Mills has raised Rs 282 crore via qualified institutional placement.

8:00 a.m.: Federal Bank also came out with its numbers. The private sector lender disappointed the Street by posting numbers which were below expectations. The net profit came in at Rs 141 crore compared to Rs 220 crore during the same period last fiscal. The bank's non-performing loans rose to 2.6 per cent from 2.04 per cent in the previous quarter.

7:50 a.m.: ACC came out with its numbers over the weekend. ACC reported sales of Rs 2,961 crore compared to Rs 3,009 crore during the same quarter previous year. Net profit for the quarter came in at Rs 131.4 crore compared to Rs 241 crore (YOY). The numbers were below the expectations of analysts.

7:45 a.m.: Analysts say that going ahead stock markets would closely watch out for corporate earnings and how the monsoon session of parliament pans out which will start from tomorrow.

Developments in the monsoon session of Parliament regarding the fate of Land Bill and GST legislation will be closely eyed.

7:40 a.m.: The Sensex and Nifty are likely to open on a flat note. Meanwhile, most of the Asian markets were trading higher as the fears a plunging Chinese stock market and Greek debt crisis abated.

The Nifty traded on the Singapore Stock Exchange also known as the SGX Nifty was indicating a flat start for the Indian markets. The SGX Nifty was up 0.15 per cent or 13 points at 8,645.