Indian equity markets continued to trade in the green during the previous two hours of trade. Sectoral indices traded strong led by auto and banking stocks.
The BSE-Sensex is trading higher by 373 points and NSE-Nifty is trading up by 112 points. BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices are trading up by 1.4% and 1% respectively. The rupee is trading at 54.71 to the US dollar.
Indian pharma stocks are trading strong led by Elder Pharma and IPCA Labs. As per a leading daily, it is expected that Ranbaxy may have to take a hit of US$ 1 bn in the US over a period of 5 years. Earlier, this amount was estimated to be US$ 500 m when the Indian pharma company was recently found to be guilty of regulatory wrongdoings. However, the company would not just suffer monetary losses but has also lost the reputation and goodwill that it earlier enjoyed in the US. We may note here that Ranbaxy has been charged of systematically violating good manufacturing practices. Mr Dinesh Thakur, a whistleblower and an ex employee of the company uncovered these unsafe practices at Ranbaxy.
Automobile stocks are trading strong led by Eicher Motors and Tata Motors. As per a leading daily, Eicher Motors is planning to increase its production capacity of producing its motorcycles, Royal Enfield. The company wants to double the annual capacity to 1.5 lakh units by December this year and to 2.5 lakh units by 2014. We may note here that Eicher produced and sold 1.13 lakh units of two-wheelers during last year. Also, the company recently commenced operations at its second manufacturing facility at Oragadam near Chennai. For the first phase of this 50 acre plant, it is investing Rs 1.5 bn initially. The company is targeting total capital expenditure of Rs 12 bn in 2013 and 2014.
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