The Indian markets opened in the green mirroring a positive opening in SGX Nifty, which is trading higher by 0.7%. Most of the Asian markets too are trading in the green, gaining by around 0.3%-1%. The US markets rose for the third consecutive day in a row buoyed by positive news flows arising from China and within the country. A report from Chinese Customs department showed that the country’s imports rose 14.1% in March and was more than double the estimated rate of growth. Higher than estimated rate of growth generated optimism about domestic demand in China. US markets were also boosted by minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting which indicated that the central bank will maintain its asset purchase program at the current pace until at least the middle of the year. Meanwhile, Indian markets snapped the five-day losing streak buoyed by gains in Asian as well as European markets and strengthening of Indian Rupee. The 4QFY2013 results season is scheduled to begin from tomorrow and markets are expected to react to the results declared by the companies.
NTPC-CIL dispute intensifies
State-run power producer NTPC and Coal India (CIL) have agreed to begin third party sampling of coal from the state-run miner’s collieries from Thursday. NTPC would begin settling its outstandings with CIL once the results establish uniformity in the quality of coal. Both companies had issues over the payment for coal supplies from Eastern Coalfields (ECL) to NTPC’s plants at Kahalgaon and Farakka. While CIL accused NTPC of withholding payments of around Rs 1,000 crore, the power producer had said it would only pay for the quality of coal it got. NTPC has said that ECL supplied coal mixed with boulders, stones and even dirt. The resolution to this issue came in the course of a meeting convened by coal secretary Sanjay Kumar Srivastava with CIL chairman S Narsing Rao and NTPC CMD Arup Roy Choudhury on Wednesday. “In course of the meeting, Roy Choudhury suggested third party sampling of coal produced from ECL in particular and all state-run collieries in general beginning Thursday, to which Rao promptly agreed. The NTPC chief was told that ECL has procured a bomb calorimeter and there is no hurdle to commence sampling. He also agreed that if the sampling results for the next 10-15 days reveals uniformity in the desired quality of coal, then NTPC would have no issue in releasing the outstanding money in a phased manner,” a top coal ministry official told The Indian Express.Over the past week, ECL had cut down supplies to the two NTPC plants and coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal had to ntervene in order to settle the issue. The resolution to the issue on Wednesday removes the possibility of jeopardising around 5,000 MW of electricity production from NTPC’s Kahalgaon and Farakka plants and trigger blackouts in parts of Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, were CIL to stopped coal supplies. Although there is no legal remedy provided by the fuel supply agreements as executed in 2009 on appealing on such matters, but NTPC has sought a technical explanation from CIL for the poor quality coal received. Source: financialexpress
JLR registers strong retail volume growth in March 2013
Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) today reported a 16 per cent increase in global sales at 53,772 units in March from the same month last year. "Jaguar Land Rover is seeing continued year-on-year growth following the introduction of new models, engines and drive-trains with the Jaguar XF Sportbrake, new Range Rover and Range Rover Evoque amongst our top selling models," JLR Group sales operations director Phil Popham said in a statement. Jaguar posted sales of 9,856 in March, up 28 per cent, while Land Rover reported 14 per cent increase in sales at 43,916 units. In the UK, JLR sales were up 14 per cent at 17,784 units in March, while China delivered its best-ever month retailing 8,487 units collectively, a growth of 22 per cent. "Jaguar Land Rover has had a record breaking start to the year reflecting the continued interest in our two great brands and our commitment to delivering desirable products that resonate with customers across the globe," Popham said. Source: NDTV
Tool down strike at MM’s Igatpuri plant
Labour unrest has hit auto major Mahindra & Mahindra again, with production at its Igatpuri engine plant at a standstill since yesterday following a tools-down strike by workers against the suspension of their leader, union sources said on Wednesday. "We are on a tools-down since yesterday afternoon and there is no production at all at the plant since then. We want the management to unconditionally reinstate our leader Sunil Yadav," one of the union leaders said over phone. The calls to the company spokesperson in Mumbai did not yield any response. Meanwhile, M&M said in a filing to the BSE: "There has been a stoppage of work at the company's Igatpuri plant due to a tool down strike by the Union. "The company is in constant dialogue with the union for an early solution of the issue. The company has currently sufficient stock of engines for production of its vehicles." The development comes within a month of a similar agitation at Nashik plant, where employees were demanding higher wages. The Igatpuri plant, which operates in three shifts, manufactures engines for most of M&M's popular models such as XUV500, Scorpio, Xylo, Bolero Maximo and Genio. The plant has a daily capacity of 1,100 units. It employs 1,600 workers, including those on contract. The employees are protesting the suspension of Sunil Yadav, president of Bharatiya Kamgar Sangh, affiliated to Shiv Sena, over a fight between two workers earlier this week. Sources said workers were also negotiating wage hike with the management, and have held 11 meetings recently. In a 'tools down' strike, workers report to work but keep away from assigned jobs. Source: zeenews
Tata Steel plans to merge Tata Metaliks
Tata Steel Ltd said on Wednesday that it will merge wholly-owned subsidiary companies Tata Metaliks Ltd (TML) and Tata Metaliks Kubota Pipes Ltd (TMKPL) with itself through a scheme of amalgamation, which will be sanctioned through a court approval process. The valuation reports prepared by independent chartered accountants- SR Batliboi & Co. LLP and Haribhakti & Co. and fairness opinion prepared by ICICI Securities Ltd were placed before the audit committees of Tata Steel and TML, the company said in a late night statement. For every 29 equity shares of Rs.10 each held by the public shareholders of TML, four equity shares of Rs.10 each of Tata Steel shall be issued after the scheme is approved by the courts. Tata Steel, along with a subsidiary, holds 50.09% of the equity share capital of TML. The scheme will be filed shortly with the stock exchanges where the shares of Tata Steel and TML are listed, as per capital market guidelines. Sanctioning of the scheme will also be subject to the approvals by the shareholders and creditors, the statement said. Source: Livemint
Comments
Post a Comment