Major Asian stock markets have opened the day on a positive note. Stock markets in Hong Kong and Singapore are trading higher by 0.3% and 0.4% respectively. Major stock indices in Europe and US ended their previous session in the red. The rupee is trading at 66.13 per US dollar.
Indian stock markets have opened the day on a firm note. The BSE Sensex is trading higher by 80 points (up 0.3%) and NSE Nifty is trading higher by 10 points (up 0.1%). Both BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap are trading higher by 0.4% and 0.3% respectively. Major sectoral indices have opened in the green with stocks from pharmaceutical and capital goods sectors witnessing maximum buying interest.
As per an article in a leading financial daily, banks non-performing assets (NPA) can increase by a cumulative sum of Rs 1 trillion. Recently, the government launched Ujwal Discom Assurance Joyjana (UDAY) scheme to revive power distribution companies. As per the scheme, state governments shall takeover 75% of the loans of Discoms and convert the same into state government bonds. The balance could be converted into Discom bonds or the banks could re-price this portion of loans at a little above the base lending rate.
The concern for the banks would be for the balance proportion of debt as the same is re-priced which in turn could possibly amount to restructuring. Under the existing rules, any account restructured for a second time should be classified as a non-performing asset (NPA). If the RBI treats it as such, this would qualify as a third restructuring, which would mean that these loans would need to be classified as bad loans. This would increase their NPAs as well as hit their profitability as bad loans need higher provisioning.
However, more clarification will be required regarding the issue from the central bank as well as the government. Unless some clarification arrives, it will be too soon to assess the impact of the same.
As per an article in leading financial daily, Lupin has received approval from US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to market 'Fyavolv' tablets in America. The tablet is used to treat postmenopausal osteoporosis. The company stated that Lupin's US subsidiary, Lupin Pharmaceuticals Inc shall commence promoting the product in the US shortly. According to IMS MAT September data, Femhrt had US sales of US$ 39.9 million. Lupin is trading up by 1%.
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