The Indian market opened flat today, mirroring flat opening trades in the SGX Nifty in spite of positive opening in the Asian markets. US market moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Thursday, after turning in lackluster performance in the previous session. The modest strength on Wall Street came following the release of a report from the Labor Department showing an unexpected drop in weekly jobless claims. The report said initial jobless claims fell to 340,000 in the week ended March 2nd, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 347,000. Most of the European markets ended the trading session on Thursday with modest gains. The markets pared their gains after the ECB and the BoE both maintained their respective interest rates. The European Central Bank maintained status quo in March amid rising concerns that the political stalemate in Italy could kindle the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis as the bloc battles a recession. Meanwhile, Indian shares extended gains for a third straight session, as technology stocks gained on expectations of improving sector earnings this year, especially in the United States.
MM workers call off protests at Nashik plant
The workers of the Nashik plant of the automotive major Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), on Thursday, called off their 'tool down' strike after the company management agreed to reinstate the two suspended office bearers of the M&M employees' union and sign the new wage agreement by April 15. Meanwhile, the production at the Nashik plant of M&M, which had been stopped from the second shift on Tuesday evening, commenced in the evening on Thursday. The company workers went on tool down strike on Tuesday evening after the suspension of union's general secretary Pravin Shinde and vice-president Amol Sonawane, who were on hunger strike from Monday to press for their demands of a revised wage agreement. An amicable settlement was reached between the company management and the union at a meeting called by the deputy labour csommissioner (DLC) R S Jadhav. The settlement was signed by general manager Anil Godbole, manufacturing head (Scorpio) N K Deshmukh and manager Mohan Kumar, on behalf of the management, while union president Shirish Bhavsar, vice-president Amol Sonawane and general secretary Pravin Shinde signed the settlement on behalf of the workers. Speaking to TOI, deputy labour commissioner R S Jadhav said, "As per the settlement, the company workers have called off the tool down and hunger strike and the management has also agreed to reinstate the two suspended office bearers of the union. The union will also withdraw its notice to call strike from March 11 that it had announced earlier. The company management will hold talks with the union office bearers and sign the new wage agreement before April 15. The new agreement will be enforced from February 6." Jadhav further said, "It has been decided to set up a special committee to decide the pay scales of workers under grade N-1. This committee will have three representatives each from the company management and the workers union." The Nashik plant of M&M has around 2,922 permanent workers. Of which, around 1,749 workers are under grade O-2 with salary range between Rs 24,000 and Rs 25,000, while 1,044 workers are under grade N-1 with salary of around Rs 12,000. The rest of the 129 workers are from O-1, O-3 and S-1 categories. The demand of the union is to include these 1,044 workers under grade O-2. The previous wage agreement period expired on February 5 and the company management had not renewed it even after having given a proposal six months back by the union. Around eight rounds of talks were held between the union and the management, but a consensus was not reached. According to sources, M&M's Nashik facility, which is located at Satpur MIDC area, manufactures around 550 vehicles daily, including Xylo, Scorpio, Quanto, Verito and Bolero. "The total production of 1,000 vehicles was affected due to the tool down strike in last three days. The production losses are estimated at around 80 crore," sources said. Source:TOI
Divestment in RCF
Stock of Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers (RCF) surged 5.7 per cent to Rs 46.35 in the opening minutes on Friday, even as the offer-for-sale by the Government is on. So far, no one has tendered any bid for the shares. The Centre intends to sell 6.9 crore shares through this auction. The Government has fixed the floor price at Rs 45 a 2.5 per cent premium to the stock’s closing price of Rs 43.80 on the NSE on Thursday. At this price, the Government could mop up over Rs 310 crore from the disinvestment. The floor price values the stock at 7.7 times its FY’14 earnings, translating into a 12 per cent premium to its competitor Chambal Fertilisers. RCF, a leading urea producer, also manufactures complex fertilisers and industrial chemicals such as methanol and methylamines. Source: BusinessLine
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