Indian markets take a plunge

Thu, 8 Oct 11:30 am

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After opening the day on a flat note, the Indian Indices lost ground and are currently trading in the negative zone. Most of the sectoral indices are trading on a discouraging note with banking, pharma and capital goods sector leading the losers. However, IT stocks are trading in the green.

The BSE-Sensex is trading lower 133 points (down 0.5%) and the NSE-Nifty is trading down 34 points (down 0.4%). The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index are also trading weak, down by 0.6% and 0.1% respectively. The rupee is trading at 65.14 to the US dollar.

NTPC-SAIL Power Company has got environment clearance for expansion of its Durgapur captive power plant situated in West Bengal. The company is a joint venture between two state-owned firms, power major NTPC and the steel giant SAIL. The investment for this expansion is reported at Rs 3.6 billion. As per a leading financial daily, the joint venture company, among other conditions, has been asked to earmark a minimum amount of Rs 42.9 million as capital cost for CSR activities. Further, the company has also been asked to examine the feasibility of coal transportation.

The coal requirement for this expansion project has been estimated to be at 0.3 million tonnes per annum (MTPA). The same would be sourced from SAIL's Ramnagore Captive Coal mine. The project does not require any further land acquisition as per the future prospects.

It should be noted that SAIL, in a restructuring plan carried out in 2001, had transferred its Unit-II of captive power plants at Durgapur and Rourkela steel plant to one of its subsidiary- SAIL Power Supply Company. This subsidiary was later on converted into a 50:50 joint venture with NTPC in 2001.

Pharmaceutical stocks are trading on a negative note with Dishman Pharma and Torrent Pharma witnessing maximum selling pressure. As per a leading financial daily, Cipla (EU) Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of drug major Cipla has inked a pact with Biopharma SPA for establishing a joint venture company in Algeria. The definitive agreement has been entered in ordered to manufacture and market respiratory products. This will facilitate Cipla's front end presence in Algeria.

As per the agreement details, Cipla (EU) Ltd will hold a 40% stake in the JV company. The remainder will be held by a Biopharm-led Algerian consortium. The JV firm is expected to make an investment of up to UD$ 15 million in the construction of a manufacturing facility.

In its first quarter results for the financial year ending 2016, Cipla had reported a 42.7% YoY (year-on-year) growth in sales and net profits respectively. Bhavita Nagrani, our pharma analyst, has outlined detailed analysis of the results (subscription required). Here, she explains factors driving the performance in the concerned period and what to expect further from the company. Scrip of Cipla is presently trading down by nearly 0.8% on the BSE.