Interim dividend! Coal India climbs 1% ahead of Board meeting

The board will meet to consider for payment of interim dividend. The company has fixed March 15 as a record date for the dividend.

Shares of Coal India, the largest coal miner of the country, are currently trading 0.90% higher at Rs. 314.25 on BSE ahead of its Board of Directors’ meeting on March 5, 2016.

The board will meet to consider for payment of interim dividend. The company has fixed March 15 as a record date for the dividend.

The scrip opened at Rs. 313.1 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 317.3 and Rs. 310.4 respectively. So far 3349044(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 196723.03 crore.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 447.25 on 05-Aug-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 286.9 on 21-Jan-2016. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 320 and Rs. 295.2 respectively.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 79.65 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 17.44 % and 2.91 % respectively.

The stock is currently trading above its 200 DMA.

TCS rises 1.2%; partners GE for industrial internet

TCS announced that as a new member of the GE Digital Alliance Program created by GE Digital, it will develop innovative digital solutions that increase the productivity of mobile workforces and assets in motion by leveraging Predix, GE's cloud platform for the Industrial Internet.

Tata Consultancy Services rose 1.2% to Rs. 2347.35 on Thursday after the company announced that as a new member of the GE Digital Alliance Program created by GE Digital, it will develop innovative digital solutions that increase the productivity of mobile workforces and assets in motion by leveraging Predix, GE's cloud platform for the Industrial Internet.

The scrip opened at Rs. 2324 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 2360 and Rs. 2301.2 respectively. So far 655132(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 457050.61 crore.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 1 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 2810 on 04-Mar-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 2119 on 29-Feb-2016. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 2330 and Rs. 2119 respectively.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 73.42 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 21.99 % and 4.59 % respectively.

The stock is currently trading below its 200 DMA.

Tata Steel jumps 4.4% after getting environmental approval for expansion plan

The company has received final environment clearance for its Rs.18.8 bn expansion project to be carried out at Jamshedpur Steel Works in Jharkhand.

Tata Steel jumped 4.4% to Rs.279 on BSE. The company has received final environment clearance for its Rs.18.8 bn expansion project to be carried out at Jamshedpur Steel Works in Jharkhand. Top official said in a report that, the Environment Ministry has considered the application based on the recommendations of the Expert Appraisal Committee (Industry-I) and decided to grant environment clearance (EC) to the proposal for expansion of crude steel production at Tata Steel Works.

The scrip opened at Rs. 271.7 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 279.75 and Rs. 271.7 respectively. So far 7133258(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 25946.02 crore.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 384.2 on 06-May-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 200 on 29-Sep-2015. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 269.3 and Rs. 243.4 respectively.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 31.35 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 38.79 % and 29.86 % respectively.

The stock is currently trading below its 200 DMA.

Dr. Lal PathLabs hits 52-week high

The company is planning to open a large laboratory in Calcutta, as per TV report.

Dr. Lal PathLabs jumped 4.8% to Rs.895.25 on BSE. The stock is currently trading on a 52-week high. The company is planning to open a large laboratory in Calcutta, as per TV report. Further, the company sees business opportunities in the under- served, fragmented market. 

The scrip opened at Rs. 854 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 946.75 and Rs. 854 respectively. So far 450252(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 7045.47 crore.

The BSE group 'B' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 908.1 on 28-Dec-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 696.5 on 20-Jan-2016. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 864.75 and Rs. 812.5 respectively.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 58.7 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 10.14 % and 29.22 % respectively.

The stock is currently trading below its 200 DMA.

Indian Hotels allots over 18.18 crore equity shares

Indian Hotels Company Ltd has announced that 18,18,01,228 Compulsorily Convertible Debentures of Rs. 55/- each (the "CCDs") issued by the Company on a Rights basis have been automatically and compulsorily converted into 18,18,01,228 Equity Shares.

Indian Hotels Company Ltd has announced that 18,18,01,228 Compulsorily Convertible Debentures of Rs. 55/- each (the "CCDs") issued by the Company on a Rights basis have been automatically and compulsorily converted into 18,18,01,228 Equity Shares fully paid up of the face value of Rs. 1 each at a premium of Rs. 54 upon the expiry of 18 months from the date of allotment i.e. on March 01, 2016 and the Rights Issue Committee - 2014 has subsequently approved the allotment of the aforesaid Equity Shares to the shareholders of the Company as on the Record Date i.e. February 19, 2016 at a ratio of 1:1.

Indian Hotels Co Ltd is currently trading at Rs. 99.6, down by Rs. 0.45 or 0.45% from its previous closing of Rs. 100.05 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 99.7 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 100.05 and Rs. 99 respectively. So far 31288(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 8079.04 crore.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 1 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 124.8 on 12-Jan-2016 and a 52 week low of Rs. 80.75 on 07-Sep-2015. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 102.1 and Rs. 95.5 respectively.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 37.53 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 40.95 % and 21.5 % respectively.

The stock is currently trading above its 50 DMA.

RBI may require tight monetary stance for longer: IMF

IMF added that the monetary stance remains appropriately tight for achieving near-term inflation objectives, says report.

International Monetary Fund reportedly said the central bank may require a “tight monetary stance for longer”.

IMF added that the monetary stance remains appropriately tight for achieving near-term inflation objectives, says report.

Favourable inflation dynamics gave the RBI room to cut the policy rate, while maintaining positive real interest rates broadly consistent with the ‘glide path’ towards the medium-term inflation target,” IMF was quoted as saying.

Hudco tax-free bonds sell like hot cakes

Under the Hudco tax-free bond offer, a retail investor could earn up to 7.69 per cent by subscribing to 15-year and 7.29 per cent with 10-year maturity.

Hudco has received bids of more than four-and-a-half times the total issue size of its tax-free bonds pegged at INR 1788.50 crore. It has collected subscriptions for Rs. 8,217 crore.

Under the Hudco tax-free bond offer, a retail investor could earn up to 7.69 per cent by subscribing to 15-year and 7.29 per cent with 10-year maturity.

There is unlikely to be any tax-free bond issues next year, which has sent the demand for such securities soaring, reports a business daily.

The retail portion of Hudco's tax-free bonds, which formed 40% of the issue size, was oversubscribed nearly two time. 

The qualified institutional borrowers (QIB) portion was subscribed by about nine times. The QIBs were allowed to invest up to 20% of the bond issue size.

In January, Hudco had raised INR 1,713 crore via a similar bond sale which saw 3.61 times subscription on the opening day of the issue. 

Tax is not payable on the interest earned on tax-free bonds, making them more attractive than taxable debt instruments. 

China Feb Caixin Services PMI dips to 51.2 Vs 52.4 (MoM)

Manufacturing companies meanwhile saw a further contraction of output in February, with the rate of reduction quickening to thesteepest since September 2015.

Latest data indicated a softening of growth momentum across China’s service sector, with business activity expanding at only a modest pace. Furthermore, the Caixin China General Services Business Activity Index reading of 51.2 was down from January’s six-month high of 52.4 and pointed to a rate of growth that was much slower than the historical series average. Manufacturing companies meanwhile saw a further contraction of output in February, with the rate of reduction quickening to thesteepest since September 2015.

New business growth also slowed across the service sector in February after a solid rise at the start of the year. Furthermore, the latest increase in new orders was weaker than the long-run trend and only modest, with some panellists commenting on relatively subdued client demand. New orders continued to decline at manufacturing companies, and at a slightly quicker rate than at the start of 2016. Overall, new business was broadly unchanged at the composite level in February, following a marginal rise in January.

Slower increases in both activity and new orders contributed to a weaker expansion of service sector staff numbers in February. Companies that reported higher staff numbers generally mentioned hiring new employees in line with new order growth. Job shedding meanwhile intensified across the manufacturing sector in February, with the latest decline in workforce numbers the sharpest since January 2009. As a result, composite employment fell at a rate that, though modest, was the quickest in six months.

Manufacturers and service providers both recorded lower levels of outstanding business in February. This signalled a second successive monthly decline in backlogs at services companies, while it was the first time that the level of work-in-hand had fallen at manufacturers since April 2015. However, the rate of depletion was only slight across both sectors. Input costs continued their upward trend across the service sector in February. The rate of inflation was modest overall, however, despite quickening to a four-month high. Manufacturing firms saw a further fall in inputprices during February. That said, the rate of deflation was the least marked since August 2014. Consequently, input costs rose slightly for the first time in a year-and-a-half.

Sustained cost inflation at service providers led to the first increase in prices charged since last August, while goods producers continued to discount their selling prices in February. At the composite level, output prices fellat a marginal pace that was the slowest in nine months.

In spite of softer growth, service providers signalled improved confidence towards the one-year business outlook in February. Furthermore, the level of positive sentiment was the strongest in seven months.

Commenting on the China General Services PMI data, Dr. He Fan, Chief Economist at Caixin Insight Group said: “The headline Caixin China General Services PMI for February is 51.2, down 1.2 points from January but remaining above the neutral 50-point mark. The Caixin Composite Output Index for February came in at 49.4, dipping below 50 again, indicating the economy is still weak and unstable. Overall, the services sector has outperformed manufacturing industries, reflecting continued improvement in the economic structure. While implementing measures to stabilize economic growth, the government needs to push forward reform on the supply side in the services sector to release its potential.”

SPARC Board Meeting on March 05, 2016

Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company Ltd has announced that a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company will be held on March 05, 2016, inter alia, to fix the Issue Price, Issue Size, Rights Entitlement Ratio, Fractional Entitlement and Record Date.

Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company Ltd has announced that a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company will be held on March 05, 2016, inter alia, to fix the Issue Price, Issue Size, Rights Entitlement Ratio, Fractional Entitlement and Record Date / Book Closure Dates for determining eligibility of the shareholders to whom the equity shares are to be issued under the proposed Rights Issue of the Company.

Further, in view of the above the trading window for of dealing with equity shares of the Company by the Designated Persons has been closed with immediate effect and shall continue to remain closed until March 09, 2016.

Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company Ltd ended at Rs. 280.15, up by Rs. 16.55 or 6.28% from its previous closing of Rs. 263.6 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 268 and touched a high and low of Rs. 283.7 and Rs. 266.75 respectively. A total of 488949(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 6631.15 crore.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 1 touched a 52 week high of Rs. 598 on 10-Mar-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 245.1 on 25-Feb-2016. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 283.7 and Rs. 245.1 respectively.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 67.4 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 7.99 % and 24.61 % respectively.

The stock traded above its 200 DMA.

Top 18 stocks in focus today: SBI, Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki

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

State Bank of India: State Bank of India Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Anshula Kant told a business news channel on Wednesday that the revised RBI norms on asset revaluation may increase the bank’s tier-I capital by 100 bps or more. SBI has moved the Bangalore debt recovery tribunal (DRT), seeking an arrest warrant against Vijay Mallya, according to media reports.

Tata Steel Ltd: The company has received final environment clearance for its Rs.18.8 bn expansion project to be carried out at Jamshedpur Steel Works in Jharkhand. 

Tata Motors: Tata Motors JLR India total sales grew by 54% year-on-year to 277 units compared to 179 units reported in the year-ago period.

Central Bank of India: Central Bank of India said its board has approved raising over Rs. 165 crore by issuing additional equity shares to insurance giant LIC on preferential basis.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories: The pharma companyreceived USFDA nod for injection  treating chemotherapy-induced nausea, as per media reports. The company is seeking approval from its shareholders for a share buyback for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs. 1,569.42 crore. 

HDFC: HDFC said it will raise Rs 2,000 crore via non-convertible debentures.

NHPC: Fitch Ratings has affirmed NHPC long-term foreign and local currency issuer default ratings (IDRs) at 'BBB-' and said the outlook is stable.

Hitech Plast: The company informed BSE that there are disruptions in manufacturing operations at their Rohtak plant unit due to the recent agitation in Haryana. 

Shipping Corporation of India, Dredging Corporation of India: Shipping Corporation of India Ltd (SCI) and Dredging Corporation of India Ltd (DCI) and other government entities will have to buy only Indian-built ships from 2025 onwards when a 10-year financial assistance scheme approved by the Union Cabinet ends, reports a business daily.

Eveready Industries: Eveready Industries India Ltd. is looking to spin off its packet tea business into a separate unit and scale it up by aligning its operations with the promoter group’s McLeod Russel India Ltd, reports a business daily.

Future Group: Future Group is in the process of forming a distribution alliance with Star Bazaar, the hypermarket format under Trent for selling packaged food & grocery brands under a private label, reports a business daily.

Ballarpur Industries: Ballarpur Industries has now informed that the long stop date for sale of entire equity stake of 98.08% in Sabah Forest Industries Sdn. Bhd., Malaysia (SFI) by Ballarpur Paper Holdings B.V. (BPH), a step down subsidiary of the Company and holding company of SFI to Pandawa Sakti (Sabah) Sdn. Bhd., Malaysia (Purchaser) pursuant to the Share Sale Agreement, has been extended up to March 31, 2016, based on satisfactory discussions & written request of the Purchaser.

Inox Wind: Inox Wind Ltd has bagged a 20 MW wind power project, which would be set up at Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh. The order has been placed by PTC Energy, a 100 per cent subsidiary of PTC India.

Maruti Suzuki India: Maruti Suzuki India said its compact car Alto has crossed 30 lakh unit sales mark in the domestic market, thus becoming the only brand in India to achieve this feat.

Gayatri Projects: The company has forayed into the fast-growing railway EPC sector by winning a Rs. 4,744-crore contract for designing and building the Iqbalgarh - Vadodara section of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFCC) in a consortium with Sojitz Corporation and L&T Ltd.

Wipro: After rolling out pilot exercise to go past its traditional bell curve appraisal system last year, the third largest IT firm of the country, Wipro is now in process of implementing a new evaluation system, according to reports.

HCL Tech: HCL Tech has signed a five year Next–Generation Information Technology Outsourcing (Next–Gen ITO) contract with Husqvarna AB, a leading manufacturer of outdoor power products including robotic mowers, garden tractors, chainsaws and trimmers.

Bharat Forge: Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has increased its stake in components maker Bharat Forge Ltd by 2.02%, by buying 47.12 lakh shares in the open market.

Ashoka Buildcon: The company is likely to refinance loans worth Rs.3,200 crore as per CNBC report.

HCL Infosystems: HCL Infosystems announced a strategic alliance with Avaya, a global leader in business communications software, systems and services, to help businesses and organizations in India accelerate their digital transformation strategies.

Gas Pipeline Project of Gail in Tamil Nadu

A clarification was sent to Tamil Nadu Farmers Livelihood Protection Group that only Right of Use in land is being acquired for laying of pipeline and after completion of the process of laying of pipeline, the land will be returned to the land owner for agricultural activities

The Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply that a representation was received from the Tamil Nadu Farmers Livelihood Protection Group in the year 2012 opposing the acquisition of land for laying of gas pipeline by GAIL (India) Limited in the State of Tamil Nadu. A clarification was sent to them that only Right of Use in land is being acquired for laying of pipeline and after completion of the process of laying of pipeline, the land will be returned to the land owner for agricultural activities. Further, it was also clarified that the laying of cross country pipeline along the highway is not technically feasible for the reason of security, maintenance of pipeline and disruption of Highways. Later, GAIL (India) Limited was instructed by the Government of Tamil Nadu vide communication dated 2.4.2013, for laying pipeline alongside the National Highways without affecting the agricultural lands of the farmers of Tamil Nadu. GAIL had challenged the above order of Government of Tamil Nadu (GOTN) in the Hon’ble Madras High Court which quashed the order of GOTN vide its judgment dated 25.11.2013. The above order of the Madras High Court was challenged by the Government of Tamil Nadu in the Hon’ble Supreme Court and the same was dismissed vide judgment dated 2.2.2016. The Hon’ble Supreme Court ordered the State Government of Tamil Nadu to fix market value of land as on 1.1.2016 for the Right of Use (RoU) compensation purpose.

The ownership of the land remains with the land owner and RoU of land is acquired for laying of gas pipeline and after laying the pipeline, the land is restored back in original condition to the land owner. Compensation is paid to the land owner as per Petroleum & Minerals Pipelines Act and the Hon’ble Supreme Court have ordered that the RoU compensation against land will be 10% of market value as on 1.1.2016 + 30% Solatium. Farmers can continue agricultural activities after the restoration of land and only construction of permanent structure, plantation of deep rooted trees are not allowed in the acquired RoU and as such there will be no adverse effect to the interest of the farmers. 

Hong Kong based branding and design gurus look to engage with India

A delegation of top design, branding and marketing experts comprising of David Lo, Katarina Ivarsson and David Williams from Hong Kong were in India to share their expertise at a seminar on “Creativity for Business Success: The Hong Kong experience”hosted by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) and FICCI at New Delhi

 A delegation of top design, branding and marketing experts comprising of David Lo, Katarina Ivarsson and David Williams from Hong Kong were in India  to share their expertise at a seminar on “Creativity for Business Success: The Hong Kong experience”hosted by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) and FICCI at New Delhi. The platform saw the experts share their insights on Hong Kong’s continued success as a cutting edge design and marketing hub of Asia and offered innovative ideas on how to enhance business through better design, branding and marketing techniques.

In his welcome address, Rajesh Bhagat, Consultant, HKTDC stated that while Indians were very creative there was a need to hone skills in branding, marketing and packaging which would enable Indian SMEs to scale their operations and expand their business.

In his opening remarks, Nilankar Saxena, Senior Director at Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) said that FICCI and

HKTDC are helping SMEs and Indian corporates to expand their businesses beyond India and assured full support and cooperation to any businesses that would like to take the assistance of  FICCI and HKTDC to achieve that objective.

David Lo, Creative Director at LOMATTERS Creative Studio said that being a former British colony with a vibrant, mixed culture has helped develop the Hong Kong design industry assimilate western idea and has acted as a bridge between the sensibilities of the East and the West. ”I believe that a local insight along with classical design aesthetics and universal marketing principles creates durable branding”. He said that India has similar potential with regard to developing a design aesthetic that is rooted in local culture but is part of a global milieu.”

David Williams, Founder & Lead Digital strategist, Asia Digital MOJO spoke glowingly about the potential of India as a digital marketing market and drew on his personal experiences with setting up alliances with institutions like the NID in Ahmedabad and his own offices in Pune and now in Delhi. David Williams made a pointed reference to the buzz around E-commerce in India and introduced the concept of Online to Offline [O2O] pitching it as a natural progression from product design to experience design.

“The whole idea of branding is to migrate the product from the studios into the physical world. India has a scope for great development and I can see that E-commerce is very strong and growing in India like in China, and it is this kind of physical engagement that online allows that creates better impact for the brand. Instead of focusing on the design, the brands must focus on the effect the design can have on the brain. As much as technology is important, we must also not let it get in the way of experience”, he said.

Katarina Ivarsson, Founder & CEO, Boris Design Studio  while speaking on product design and research said that the way we see and understand products is changing and  today we integrate the design strategy and create a full circle of design. “Branding & Designing is the most tangible thing about a brand and Design Strategy is critical to any brand”, she said. Katarina Ivarsson spoke about the opportunities that Hong Kong offers for incubating start-ups in the field and invited Indian companies to collaborate and grow their potential.

The HKTDC-FICCI organized event was received with great enthusiasm by 265 attendees from Indian corporates, SME’s, designers, institutions and e-commerce sectors and provided valuable insight to how Indian design, branding and marketing professionals and companies could learn from the Hong Kong experience and grow.