After opening the day on firm note, Indian Indices continued to trade in the positive territory. Barring a few, most major sectoral indices are trading in green. Stocks from the oil & gas and metal space are witnessing maximum buying interest.
The BSE-Sensex is trading higher by 100 points (up 0.4%) and the NSE-Nifty is trading higher by 25 points (up 0.3%). Both, BSE Mid Cap index and BSE Small Cap are trading higher by 0.2% and 0.5% respectively. Gold, per 10 grams, is trading at Rs 25,481 level. Silver, per kilogram, is trading at Rs 34,398 level. Crude oil is trading at Rs 2,509 per barrel. The rupee is trading at 66.78 to the US$.
As reported in a leading financial daily, government intends to cut bulk drugs imports from China within a period of 100 days. For this, government has set up a committee which will suggest ways to reduce the dependence on bulk imports from China. The government intends to come up with six bulk drug parks across the country to encourage the domestic production. Reportedly, India meets 80% demand of its bulk drugs or Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) from Chinese imports.
Further, a bulk drug policy is being drafted. The pharmaceutical secretary stated that they have already met the Prime Minister Office (PMO) thrice in relation to the bulk drug policy. The policy is likely to be finalized in the next week.
As per an article in Business Standard, Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) pulled up state owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) for poor planning in hiring and use of drilling rigs. Reportedly, this has resulted in a loss of Rs 79.9 billion.
The report stated that the firm lacked uniformity in the preparation of annual rig requirement plan and delayed rig acquisition and hiring. To add to this the report also stated the company had an inefficient repair and refurbishment policy.
Reportedly, CAG ordered ONGC to ensure that their plans are complete and consistent with each other. To add to this, the auditor stated that the drilling activities are a key to hydrocarbon production and constitute the single most significant operation of ONGC, both financially and operationally.
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