Mid, smallcap stocks in the limelight

Mon, 18 Jul 11:30 am

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Indian stock market are trading in the green on buying interest in heavy weights over the last two hours of trade. Stocks from the realty and metal space are trading firm while stocks from the IT and Oil and gas space are trading weak.

The BSE-Sensex is trading up by 37 points while NSE-Nifty is trading 8 points above the dotted line. BSE-Midcap index is trading up by 0.6% while BSE-Small cap index is trading 0.7% above Friday's closing. The rupee is trading at 44.55 to the US dollar.

IT stocks are trading weak led by TCS and HCL Infosys. As per a leading financial daily, Wipro's Rs 11.8 bn contract with Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) for IT services is in trouble. This is due to technical glitches with the government health insurer's internet portals that have caused inconvenience to users. The project christened Project Panchdeep is aimed at improving healthcare services to ESIC's customers. The project would provide online facilities to employers and insured people for registration, payment of premiums and disbursement of cash benefits. The project has been in operation since the last six months. However, a technical problem is affecting the functioning of the insurance portal. It may be noted that Wipro had bagged the six-and-a-half year project in March, 2009. Under the contract, Wipro was mandated to set up centralized data centre and disaster recovery and computing infrastructure. The company was to also provide services related to IT support and medical information system for all ESIC hospitals and dispensaries. Besides this, Wipro was to provide IT solutions for HR, finance and general administration to increase organizational efficiency. As per a company spokesperson, Wipro is working on resolving the issue and believes that it will be worked out soon.

Power stocks are trading mixed with PTC India and Tata Power trading firm while CESC Limited and NTPC are trading weak. As per a leading financial daily, PowerGrid Corporation of India (PGCIL) has proposed an investment of Rs 170 bn during the current financial year to implement its various projects. The company is in the process of setting up nine transmission corridors. These corridors would have ultra high transmission voltages such as 1,200 kv for bulk transfer of power across long distances. PGCIL is also working in a PPP model for indigenous manufacturing to make India a manufacturing hub for electrical equipments for transmission and distribution. The company will be raising funds through all routes including external commercial borrowings, loans, internal accruals, suppliers' credit, etc to finance its capex. PGCIL further plans to capitalize about Rs 120 bn from its order book as a return on money and about 0.5% from the regulator for completing the projects on time. The company believes that it can achieve a 23% YoY growth in revenues and 30% YoY growth in net profit with the proposed projects.