After opening the day on a flattish note, the Indian indices have continued to trade in the similar fashion. Major sectoral indices are trading in the green with stocks from the capital goods and power sectors leading the gains.
The BSE Sensex is trading higher by 47 points (up 0.2%) and the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 10 points (up 0.1%). The BSE Mid Cap index is trading up by 0.3%, while the BSE Small Cap index is up by 0.9%. Gold prices, per 10 grams, are trading at Rs 29,560 levels. Silver price, per kilogram, is trading at Rs 39,600 levels. Crude oil is trading at Rs 3,367 per barrel. The rupee is trading at 66.83 to the US$.
As per an article in Livemint, over 239 projects involving investments worth Rs 5,000 billion have been given environmental clearance in the last two years. Projects in important sectors such as roads, railway network, pipelines, irrigation canal have remained stuck for approval for many years.
According to the data put out by the Union environment ministry, projects worth Rs 5,037 billion were cleared across all states which together have a potential of creating 164,239 jobs. Also, the Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said that average waiting period for approval of projects has been brought down to 190 days from 600 days earlier. He further added that Modi's government will bring a kind of revolution in this space ahead and the development will unlock the potential of creating millions of jobs which in turn will drive India's economic growth.
As per the data released, Maharashtra was leading among the states with 35 projects approved followed by Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat with 11 and 19 projects respectively. Projects of upto 40 hectares and linear projects will be taken up at 10 offices instead of one ministry. Also, the forest cover in India has been increased by 3,500 sq km in the last two years.
Stocks in the banking space are trading on a positive note with SBI and Bank of Baroda leading the gains. Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) has notified that its customers will continue to enjoy 6% and 5% interest per annum on savings account for balance above Rs 1 lakh and up to 1 lakh, respectively.
Notwithstanding fall in interest rates, KMB decided to continue with their 6% proposition.
KMB is among the first banks to revise its interest rates upwards to 6% while most banks still continue to offer 4% p.a.
The bank has further said, it has nothing to do with competition but it is just giving a fair deal to customers.
Scrip of Kotak Mahindra Bank is currently trading down by 1.6%.
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