JSW Steel rises on hiking stake in VTPL to 50%

JSW Steel is currently trading at Rs. 1027.85, up by 13.35 points or 1.32% from its previous closing of Rs. 1014.50 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs. 1015.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 1029.85 and Rs. 1007.00 respectively. So far 18078 shares were traded on the counter. The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 1084.50 on 10-Apr-2014 and a 52 week low of Rs. 451.50 on 19-Aug-2013. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 1084.50 and Rs. 996.20 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 24694.32 crore. The promoters holding in the company stood at 38.45% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 23.29% and 38.27% respectively. JSW Steel has further acquired equity stake in Vallabh Tinplate (VTPL) on April 15, 2014 raising its stake to 50%. The company had earlier on April 07, 2014 acquired 26% equity stake in VTPL. Vallabh Tinplate is currently operating a 60,000 MT per annum tinplate manufacturing facility in Beopror Village, Rajpura, Patiala District in the state of Punjab in India. VTPL is owned by Vardhaman Industries (VIL) along with its promoters.  JSW Steel is part of the JSW group which, in turn, is a part of the O P Jindal group. JSW Steel is one of the largest steel manufacturing companies in India having units in Karnataka and Maharashtra producing crude steel, long steel and flat steel products.

IMC to discuss upon coal bidder’s concern in its meeting on

With the government having initiated the process of auctioning coal blocks, bidders have raised concerns on several serious and trivial issues, including discrepancies in reserves in the biggest of the three mines put up for sale, number of participating companies that consortium can have and the color of ink on which copies need to initialed. These issues are likely to be taken up in an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC)’s meeting on Thursday. i.e. April 17, 2014. The ministers in this meeting would also deliberate on the issue whether bidders would be permitted to take sample of coal from Central Coalfields (CCL) to perform the yield analysis of Jhirki coal block. The issues that came to light at the pre-bidding meeting on April 4, included discrepancy in the coal reserves and area of the block given in the GR and the FRP of Jhirki & Jhirki (West) coal block. According to government estimates, Jhirki & Jhirki (West) of East Bokaro Coalfield has geological reserves of 267.91 MT coking coal for steel (blast furnace) and Tokisud-II of South Karanpura Coalfield with 127.692 MT of reserves for cement plant. Additionally, another issue that would be on agenda of this meeting is the clarity on whether the permitted EUP (end use plans) would remain unchanged throughout the life of the mine or not and whether the bidders would have a free hand to change the proportion of coal consumption for different EUPs of the bidder mentioned at the time of the bidding. The Centre in late February had began the auction process putting two mines in Jharkhand and one in West Bengal on block, having an estimated 500 million tonnes of reserves, for captive use of steel, cement and sponge iron firms. This was Centre’s first auction after its earlier practice was criticized by the Comptroller and Auditor (CAG) General for having caused notional loss of Rs 1.8 lakh crore to the exchequer.

Markets trade in fine fettle in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks, after witnessing blood bath in previous session, have made a decent start and are trading in fine fettle tracking firm global cues. Further, better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings from Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and HCL Tech’s Q3 stellar performance boosted sentiment. TCS reported a 48.2% jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 5,357.6 crore for the quarter ended March 31, helped by growth in Europe and APAC and investments in digital technologies, while HCL Technologies posted a jump of 69.67% in its net profit at Rs 1412.54 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2014 as compared to Rs 832.96 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. Global cues too remained supportive with the US markets extending their gains for the third straight day ended sharply higher in last session, on the back of positive remarks by Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen who insisted again that the Fed will remain highly accommodative until employment and inflation reach healthier levels. Asian markets too were trading mostly in the green at this point of time taking cues from the US markets. Back home, the rupee firmed up against the US dollar and was up at Rs 60.28 compared to the previous close of Rs 60.39. On the sectoral front, auto, software and consumer durables witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while capital goods, banking and fast moving consumer goods remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices were trading in line with benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,036 shares on the gaining side against 497 shares on the losing side while 78 shares remain unchanged. The BSE Sensex opened at 22327.76; about 50 points higher compared to its previous closing of 22277.23, and touched a high and a low of 22364.90 and 22312.19 respectively. The index is currently trading at 22330.37, up by 53.14 points or 0.24%. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 declines on the index. The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 64.31% stocks advancing against 30.85% declines. The broader indices too were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index up was by 0.48% and Small cap gained 0.82%.  The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Auto up by 1.10%, IT up by 1.09%, Consumer Durables up by 0.89%, Teck up by 0.87% and Realty up by 0.77%, while Capital Goods down by 0.38%, FMCG down by 0.22%, Bankex down by 0.21%, PSU down by 0.07% and Power down by 0.05% were the top losers on the sectoral index. The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 2.02%, Wipro up by 1.85%, Hindalco up by 1.33%, Infosys up by 1% and ICICI Bank up by 0.96%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank was down by 2.14%, BHEL was down by 1.25%, L&T was down by 0.66%, ONGC was down by 0.58% and Hindustan Unilever was down by 0.42% were the top losers on the Sensex. Meanwhile, taking into account the rising concerns of India’s subdued exports performance, the new foreign trade policy (FTP) to be introduced this year, is expected to focus on issues such as services sector shipments, standards and branding of products. The five-year FTP (2009-14) ended on March 31 and the new government formed after the general election will introduce new FTP for the period 2014-19. FTP governs all exports and imports related activities and mainly aims at enhancing the country's exports and use trade expansion as an effective instrument of economic growth and employment generation.  It has become imperative to boost country’s exports which have been hovering near $300 billion over the last three fiscal years. The new FTP is likely to promote exports of specific products in specific geographies and would also abolish conventional method of exports through focusing more on areas like high-tech items, branding of products in the global market and new strategy for marketing. The policy may also review the current schemes which are not in compliance with the World Trade Organization (WTO) norms. According to global exports norms, India cannot provide export subsidies to a sector if outbound shipments from those particular segment crosses 3.5 percent share in the global market. Therefore, India would not be able to provide export subsidies to textile sector as the sector is reported to have crossed the 3.5 percent share in the global market. India's share in global trade stands at about 2 percent. In FY14, India's exports grew marginally by 3.96 percent to $312.35 billion, which was below the set export target at $325 billion. During April-February period, services exports, which contribute about 60 per cent to the country's GDP were worth $152.69 billion. The CNX Nifty opened at 6,695.45; about 20 point higher as compared to its previous closing of 6,675.30, and has touched a high and a low of 6,701.80 and 6,686.85 respectively. The index is currently trading at 6,696.85, up by 21.55 points or 0.32%. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 declines on the index. The top gainers of the Nifty were Tata Motors up by 2.04%, Wipro up by 1.93%, Hindalco up by 1.37%, HCL Tech up by 1.31% and Infosys up by 1.23%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 2.08%, BHEL down by 1.14%, Power Grid down by 0.70%, L&T down by 0.63% and Bank of Baroda down by 0.59% were the top losers on the index. Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Shanghai Composite up by 0.16 points or 0.01% to 2,105.28, Hang Seng up by 53.86 points or 0.24% to 22,749.87, Taiwan Weighted was up by 23.79 points or 0.27% to 8,947.61 and Jakarta Composite was up by 15.50 points or 0.32% to 4,888.51. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 tumbled 24.34 points or 0.17% to 14,393.34, Straits Times shed by 3.23 points or 0.10% to 3,249.97 and KOSPI Composite dropped by 5.02 points or 0.25% to 1,987.19.

HCL Technologies gains on reporting 70% rise in Q3 net profit

HCL Technologies is currently trading at Rs. 1436.00, up by 26.60 points or 1.89% from its previous closing of Rs. 1409.40 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs. 1446.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 1455.00 and Rs. 1415.65 respectively. So far 50182 shares were traded on the counter. The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 2 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 1588.65 on 28-Feb-2014 and a 52 week low of Rs. 673.60 on 29-Apr-2013. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 1435.50 and Rs. 1337.05 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 100456.89 crore. The promoters holding in the company stood at 61.69 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 32.28 % and 6.03 % respectively. HCL Technologies has posted a jump of 69.67% in its net profit at Rs 1412.54 crore for third quarter ended March 31, 2014 as compared to Rs 832.96 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. Total income from operations of the company has increased by 40.34% at Rs 4215.84 crore for quarter under review as compared to Rs 3004.06 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2013. On consolidated basis (as per US GAAP) , the company has reported 39.79% rise in its net income at $264.20 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2014 as compared to $189.00 million for the same quarter in the previous year. Total income from operations of the company has increased by 14.31% at $ 1361.20 million for quarter under review as compared to $1190.80 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2013.

Essar Oil cuts its gasoline production due to technical problem at CCR

Essar Oil has reportedly reduced its gasoline production on account of technical problem at a continuous catalytic reformer (CCR). Though, the problem at the reformer would not affect the crude runs at the plant and it will take about a fortnight to fix it. Operations at the CCR were hit earlier this week and Essar would have to shut the reformer completely in the next few days for maintenance. Essar operates a 900,000 tonne-per-year CCR at its 400,000 barrels-per-day Vadinar plant in Western India. A CCR converts naphtha into superior grade gasoline. Essar Oil is a fully integrated oil & gas company of international scale with strong presence across the hydrocarbon value chain from exploration & production to refining and oil retail.

Piramal Enterprises rises on plan to acquire 20% equity stake in Shriram Capital

Piramal Enterprises is currently trading at Rs 603.00, up by 7.15 points or 1.20% from its previous closing of Rs 595.85 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs. 600.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs 624.80 and Rs 600.00 respectively. So far 23867 shares were traded on the counter. The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 2 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 648.30 on 02-Sep-2013 and a 52 week low of Rs. 476.00 on 25-Jun-2013. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 599.00 and Rs. 539.10 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 10282.17 crore. The promoters holding in the company stood at 52.94% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 30.57% and 16.48% respectively. Piramal Enterprises has agreed to acquire an effective 20% equity stake in Shriram Capital, a financial services company, for an aggregate consideration of Rs 2,014 crore. Shriram Capital (SCL) is the overarching holding company for the financial services and insurance entities of the Shriram Group, created with the primary objective of optimizing the synergies across the group’s entities. Shriram Capital’s operating entities, have an overall customer base in excess of 9 million, more than 53,000 employees across 2,600 offices, net profit of Rs 800 crore with assets under management (AUM) in excess of Rs 78,000 crore. Piramal had invested Rs 1,636 crore in May last year to acquire 9.9% equity in Shriram Transport Finance Company, one of the listed NBFCs forming part of the Shriram Group. UBS was the sole financial advisor to Piramal for this transaction. Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Company acted as sole legal advisors to Piramal Enterprises. Trilegal acted as sole legal advisor to Shriram Capital.

State Bank of India unveils financing scheme for women boutique owners

State Bank of India (SBI) has launched ‘Boutique Financing’, a financing scheme for women fashion boutique owners. The scheme is designed to offer working capital expenses as well as term loan to boutique owners. Under the scheme, the bank would give loans at concessional interest rates and the maximum loan to be made available would be Rs 50 lakh for a period of seven years. Besides, the owners would also get overdraft facilities. Besides, the bank has also launched three digital banking facilities for the convenience of its customers. Two at the customer’s door step using TAB banking - one for customers opening Savings Bank accounts and another for Housing Loan applicants. The third one is e-KYC (Know your Customer).

HCC surges on bagging order worth Rs 1539 crore from DMRC

Hindustan Construction Company is currently trading at Rs. 18.75, up by 0.70 points or 3.88% from its previous closing of Rs. 18.05 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs. 18.50 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 18.90 and Rs. 18.50 respectively. So far 1,49,000 shares were traded on the counter. The BSE group 'B' stock of face value Rs. 1 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 19.80 on 10-Apr-2014 and a 52 week low of Rs. 7.75 on 02-Aug-2013. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 19.80 and Rs. 17.55 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 1,137.00 crore. The promoters holding in the company stood at 39.86% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 17.55% and 42.57% respectively. Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), India’s leading infrastructure company, has been awarded Rs 300 crore contract by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). This is the third contract for underground metro received by HCC since October 2012 under the phase III development of Delhi Metro aggregating to Rs 1539 crore. The contract is for design and construction of 1.54 km long twin tunnel on Dwarka-Najafgarh metro corridor of phase III of Delhi Metro. The twin tunnels will be constructed using Shield Tunnel Boring Machine. The contract also includes construction of one of the biggest underground station namely Municipal Corporation which is 290 meters long and 30 meters in width. The station will be built at depth of 18 meters. The work will be completed in 36 months. Prior to this order, the company has received two contracts under the Phase III of Metro development for package CC30 on the Mukundpur- Yamuna Vihar corridor in October 2012 and package CC34 on Janakpuri West-Kalindi Kunj Corridor in February 2013. HCC is a leader in engineering and construction space. The company has established a vast presence and gained recognition in the sectors of Hydro Power, Water Solutions, Transportation and Nuclear Power.

Mahindra First Choice Services inaugurates 4th authorized dealership in Indore

Mahindra & Mahindra’s (M&M) business unit - Mahindra First Choice Services (MFCS) multi-brand certified used car company, has launched its 4th authorized dealership at Indore, in state of Madhya Pradesh. The dealership, Gujarat Motors, is located at Presige Tower, Indra Complex, Navlakha and is spread over 2000 square feet. MFCWL closed FY 14 with 351 outlets, a growth of 30% from FY13. These outlets are present in 208 towns across the country, with 64 towns boasting of more than one outlet. It plans to expand Madhya Pradesh footprint to 21 outlets by year end. Mahindra First Choice Services (MFCS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Mahindra & Mahindra, is a chain of multi brand car workshops across major cities in India like Bangalore, Nasik, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Surat, Vapi, Nellore, Coimbatore, Chennai, Ludhiana and Delhi NCR. The company aims to offer a world class car servicing experience in India at value for money prices.

Markets to get a flat start, may move higher in latter part of trade

The Indian markets dashing all hopes of recovery plunged further in last session and both the benchmarks ended lower by around a percent. Today, the start is likely to be flat-to positive on good global cues, and traders will be reacting to the better than expected results of number one IT company TCS, announced after the market hours. The company has reported stellar performance due to growth and deal wins in Europe and Asia Pacific region and investments in digital technologies. Apart from equity, money markets too are likely to remain in action, as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked the Fixed Income Money Market and Derivatives Association of India (FIMMDA) and the Foreign Exchange Dealers’ Association of India (FEDAI) to act as administrators of the Indian rupee interest rate and foreign exchange benchmarks. There will be some buzz in the coal and mining sector stocks, as an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) will be meeting to discuss “whether bidders should be allowed to take sample of coal from Central Coalfields (CCL) to perform the yield analysis of Jhirki coal block.” The IMC in its meeting will also look at “when the coal will be considered surplus. If it is beyond 80 percent of demand or beyond 100 percent of demand.” PSU oil marketing companies are likely to get some relief, as the loss on sale of diesel has been trimmed by 44 paise to Rs 5.49 a litre after appreciation in the value of the rupee made imports cheaper. The US markets extending their gains for the third straight day ended sharply higher in last session, on the back of positive remarks by Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen who insisted again that the Fed will remain highly accommodative until employment and inflation reach healthier levels. Asian markets have made a mixed start though some of the indices are trading higher taking cues from the US markets. Chinese market was marginally in red, as the Premier Li Keqiang said China isn’t considering "strong" stimulus. Back home, extending the southward journey for third straight session, distressed markets clobbered out of shape in Wednesday’s trade with benchmarks ending the session with a cut of around a percentage point and frontline gauges tumbled below their crucial 6,700 (Nifty) and 22,300 (Sensex) levels. Selling was both brutal and wide based as none of the sectoral indices, barring metal and FMCG on BSE were spared. Those counter which featured in the list of worst performers, included software, technology and capital goods. Earlier, markets made a flat but positive start but reversal of trend, which took place in second half of trade due to caution surrounding foreign institutional investors (FIIs) outflows, mainly weighed down sentiments. Further, muted Q4 growth expectations from TCS which will announce its earnings after market hours further dampened sentiments. Investors also remained cautious on rise in CPI numbers dashed hopes of any rate cut for India Inc. The inflation concern is likely to linger further with a private forecast that India should prepare for below normal rainfall in the crucial monsoon season this year, particularly in the agriculturally significant north-western and western central regions. The markets cracked further in noon trades, ignoring the positive cues from the global bourses. While, Asian markets ended mostly in the green after China reported economic growth a touch above forecast, European stocks made a firm start. Back home, domestic bourses continued to trade in the red after Indian rupee depreciated against dollar. The rupee was trading at 60.36 per dollar at the time of equity markets closing versus its previous close of 60.24 per dollar. Meanwhile, the information technology pack witnessed immense selling pressure, ahead of the Q4 results from Wipro and TCS. Infosys tumbled over three percent on investor concerns about the company’s ability to bag lucrative contracts due to high attrition rate in the January-March quarter even as it posted a higher-than-expected net profit for the period. Finally, the BSE Sensex plunged by 207.70 points or 0.92%, to settle at 22277.23, while the CNX Nifty declined by 57.80 points or 0.86% to settle at 6,675.30.