NMDC increases prices of Lump Ore by Rs 300 a tonne for June

National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), a state-run iron ore miner, has revised the prices of Iron Ore for the month of June, 2014. The state-owned company has increased the prices of Lump Ore for the month of June, 2014 by Rs 300 a tonne to Rs 4600/WMT while prices of Fines is fixed at Rs 3,160/WMT. NMDC is a state-controlled mineral producer of the Government of India. It is fully owned by the Government of India and is under administrative control of the Ministry of Steel.

Assets of MFs cross Rs10 trillion-mark in May

The assets of mutual funds rose by 22.5% to Rs. 1.85 trillion over the last two months

On account of fresh inflows and sharp rally in equity markets, the assets under management of mutual funds rose 7% to Rs. 10.11 trillion in May 2014 from Rs. 9.45 trillion in April 2014. The assets of mutual funds rose by 22.5% to Rs. 1.85 trillion over the last two months, according to SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) data. HDFC Mutual Fund stood first in terms of AUM in the quarter ended March 2014, followed by ICICI Prudential and Reliance Mutual Fund.

NHPC’s Unit 4 of Parbati -III HE Project commences commercial operations

NHPC’s Unit 4 of Parbati-III power station (4x130 MW) pursuant to successful trial run at its maximum continuous rating of 130 MW for 12 hours on June 03, 2014, has now been declared under commercial operation with the effect from June 06, 2014.

NHPC is engaged in the planning, development and implementation of an integrated and efficient network of hydroelectric projects in India. It executes all aspects of the development of hydroelectric projects, from concept to commissioning.

Tech Mahindra, Informatica form global alliance to transform data management services

Tech Mahindra, a leading IT services provider of connected solutions to the connected world, and Informatica Corporation, the world’s number one independent provider of data integration software, announced an expansion of their decade-long strategic association. The already established global alliance now brings further value to customers through its new data management services. Customers will benefit extensively from Tech Mahindra’s rich experience in data management services, along with Informatica’s cutting-edge data integration solutions. Customers utilizing these data management services will benefit from reliable, reusable and repeatable offerings with predictable outcomes. This will be delivered through Tech Mahindra’s copyrighted framework: UDMF (Unified Data Migration Framework), DQMS (Data Quality Management Services) and iDecisions, a packaged analytic framework that enables businesses to interpret information, discover knowledge and make innovative decisions. Further, Tech Mahindra and Informatica announced plans for joint investments in developing solutions at Tech Mahindra Research Centers in Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad. The Research Centers will focus on building portable frameworks, solutions and offerings and make them Informatica Vibe-enabled. The Informatica Vibe Virtual Data Machine is an embeddable data management engine that can access, aggregate and manage numerous types of data.

Crompton Greaves to supply over 1 million smart meters to Iberdrola

Avantha Group Company, Crompton Greaves (CG) has bagged Rs 244 crore contract with Spanish multinational electric utility company Iberdrola to supply over 1 million ZIV single smart meters in a year. The order comprises single-phase and three-phase meters and reiterates CG’s growing dominance in the global smart grid sector. A significant advantage for CG in the Spanish market has been the regulatory framework in the country which makes it mandatory that 70 percent of the analog meters are replaced by 2016 and 100 percent by 2018. ZIV as the world’s main PRIME meter supplier, is uniquely positioned to benefit from this regulation, by collaborating closely with the distribution utilities and assisting them in achieving the challenge on time. Crompton Greaves is a global pioneering leader in the management and application of electrical energy. With more than 15,000 employees across its operations in around 85 countries, CG provides electrical products, systems and services for utilities, power generation, industries, and consumers.

Symphony wins ‘Quality Mark 2014’ award

Symphony has been awarded the ‘Quality Mark 2014’ award, being judged the Best Quality Organization in the Home Appliances category by the Quality Mark Trust. The company has received the award in Ahmedabad from Minister of Gujarat Finance, Energy and Petrochemicals. Symphony is the only organised player providing Industrial and commercial air cooling solutions in India. In the last 12 months, company has completed installation of industrial and ducted air coolers in 109 sites pan India.

Crude oil futures decline on ECB’s rate cut decision

Crude oil futures ended at multi-week lows on Thursday, after the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its move to cut interest rates and lower rates on bank deposits parked overnight with the central bank to negative. The ECB cut its benchmark interest rate to a record-low 0.15% from the 0.25% rate held since November. Prices were also weighed down by the strength in greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, as a stronger US dollar usually weighs on oil as it makes dollar-priced commodities more expensive for holders of other currencies. Benchmark crude oil futures for July delivery declined by $0.16 or 0.2 percent to close at $102.48 a barrel after trading in a range of $102.69 and $101.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent oil for July delivery declined by 0.49 percent or 54 cents to $107.87 a barrel on the ICE.

FIIs were net sellers of Rs 266.11 crore in index futures and options segments on June 5

According to the data released by the NSE, the Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers of Rs 266.11 crore in index futures and options segments, as per Thursday’s data, June 5, 2014.

FIIs were sellers of index futures to the tune of Rs 889.76 crore and they bought index options worth Rs 623.65 crore. In the stock segment, FII’s were net buyers of stock futures worth Rs 865.26 crore, while they sold stock options worth Rs 12.69 crore.     

Reliance MF introduces Corporate Bond Fund

Reliance Mutual Fund has launched the New Fund Offer (NFO) of Reliance Corporate Bond Fund, a close ended income scheme. The NFO opens for subscription on Jun 06, 2014 and closes on Jun 20, 2014. No entry load or exit load will be applicable for the scheme. The minimum subscription amount is Rs 5000 and in multiples of Re. 1 thereafter. The scheme’s performance will be benchmarked against CRISIL Composite Bond Fund Index and its fund managers are Prashant Pimple and Jahnvee Shah. The investment objective of the scheme is to generate income through investments in a range of debt and money market instruments of various maturities with a view to maximizing income while maintaining the optimum balance of yield, safety and liquidity. The scheme would focus its investments predominantly in corporate bonds of various maturities and across ratings for the purpose of achieving regular income and capital appreciation.

Ranbaxy, Coromandel International and Coal India to see some action today

European health regulator has lifted suspension imposed on export of drugs produced at Ranbaxy Laboratories’ Toansa plant to the EU stating medicines produced at the site posed no risk to public health despite having a number of manufacturing deficiencies. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) stated that European regulatory authorities have finalized their assessment of reported non-compliance with Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) at the Toansa plant. As a consequence, the EU authorities will reinstate the GMP certificate which was suspended in January 2014. The certificate will be re-entered into EudraGMDP, the EU database that contains GMP certificates. Ranbaxy had voluntarily suspended exports from the Toansa plant to the EU in January 2014 after US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) had banned the company from exporting drugs produced at the plant to be sold in the US. Coromandel International, a Murugappa group company, has entered into a joint venture with Yanmar & Co and Mitsui Trading for manufacturing and marketing farm machinery. Coromandel and Yanmar will hold 40 percent stake each and Mitsui 20 percent. The said JV will initially manufacture the Yanmar brand of mini-harvesters, planters and rotavators for paddy cultivation and then expand its range to include equipment for other crops, including sugarcane and vegetables. The machinery will target small farmers, a segment in which Japanese manufacturer Yanmar has a strong presence. The equipment will be sold and leased to farmers through Coromandel International’s Gromor chain of rural market outlets. Coal India (CIL) is planning a Rs 10,000-crore joint venture along withGAIL India, Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers (RCF) and The Fertilizer Corporation of India (FCIL) to set up a urea and ammonium nitrate chemicals complex that will run on gasified coal. Coal India has appointed Projects and Development India (PDIL) to conduct a feasibility study on the project. The plan is to use around 6 million tonnes of coal from coalfields at Talcher in Odisha and manufacture about 3 lakh tonnes of urea annually and around 300-400 tonnes of ammonium nitrate per day. GAIL will be responsible for sourcing, from global suppliers, the technology for manufacturing ammonium nitrate and urea using gasified coal. The complex will come up at Fertilizer Corporation's land at Talcher, which houses a shut fertilizer plant. Bharti Airtel has entered into tie-up with African telecom operators Tigo and Zantel for providing customers in Tanzania mobile money transfer service across networks. The service is expected to start this month. Following this agreement, customers of the three firms will be able to send money by mobile to each other by using Airtel Money, Tigo Pesa or EzyPesa. This is the first agreement in Africa to adopt such interoperability whereby mobile network operators allow their customers to send and receive money across their networks and the e-money goes directly to the respective customer’s e-wallet account. HCL and Infosys are in the race for a $150-200 million contract from the US-based Rockwell Automation, an automation equipment and software maker. The contract is for modernizing IT infrastructure commonly known as IMS (infrastructure management services) and creating cloud eco-system hub for Rockwell Automation. If Infosys bags the contract, it will be its biggest during the last two fiscals. IMS is one of the fastest growing businesses for the IT sector. In the 2014 fiscal, this vertical contributed 7.1 percent to Infosys’ revenues. Wockhardt is recalling over 8,000 bottles of anti-hypertension drug Metoprolol Succinate extended-release tablets in the US market following failure of a dissolution test. According to US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), Wockhardt USA Inc, a subsidiary of Mumbai-based firm is voluntarily recalling 8,712 bottles of the drug in the American market. The nationwide recall was initiated on April 10. The 100 mg tablets in 100-count bottles were manufactured by Wockhardt and distributed in the US market by Wockhardt USA Inc. The withdrawal was classified as a Class-II recall, which the FDA defines as a situation in which use of or exposure to the product may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote. Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) has launched the limited edition XUV500 Sportz built on its W8 model. It has been priced at Rs. 13.68 lakh (ex-showroom Pune). The features of the XUV500 Sportz include unique alloy wheels with signature red inserts, rear-view camera, leather-fabric seats, fog lamps and door handles with red accents. This new offering of ‘XUV500 Sportz’ aligns with the company’s leadership position in Indian motor sports & rallying and reflects it’s ‘Sporty’ DNA very well. KIOCL will operate and maintain iron ore beneficiation and pellet plants for NMDC at Donimalai in Karnataka. KIOCL has got an edge over other public sector undertakings with an experience of running such plants for more than two decades. To begin with, NMDC’s 1.89 million tonnes per annum beneficiation plant and 1.2 mtpa pellet plant have been finalized at Donimalai. Besides, the state-run iron ore miner has increased iron ore lumps prices for the month of June by 7%. Besides, it has also upped the iron ore fine prices for the month under review by 8.6%. Gammon India’s promoters and their affiliates will bring in about Rs 100 crore as Promoter Contribution by subscribing to equity shares allotted to them on a preferential basis so that the debt restructuring package, which has been approved by lenders, can be implemented. The board of directors of the company has approved the issue of 36,968,575 equity shares of Rs 2 face value each at a price of Rs 27.05 per equity share on a preferential basis to the promoters and their affiliates. Gammon India’s debt that needs restructuring aggregates about Rs 14,800 crore. The issue and allotment will be subject to the approval of the CDR lenders and also the shareholders.