Infrastructure Projects Awards in India

Mayank Mehta, Chandrasekhar Atreya and Darlington Musarurwa
02 Jun, 2010
New York City

Rupee loses further after shedding 80 paisa yesterday. Stocks in Mumbai traded higher on infrastructure awards. Tata opens Sanand plant for Nano. Emirates Telecom is in talks for Reliance stake. Reliance Infra wins Delhi-Agra NHAI project.

[R]5:00 PM Mumbai, 8:30 AM New York – Rupee loses further after shedding 80 paisa yesterday. Stocks in Mumbai traded higher on infrastructure awards. Tata opens Sanand plant for Nano. Emirates Telecom is in talks for Reliance stake. Reliance Infra wins Delhi-Agra NHAI project.[/R]

India’s Sensex rose 1.02% or 169.81 to 16,741.84 led by Tata Motors and infrastructure projects awards. The CNX Nifty index rose 0.25% or 12.45 to 4,982.65. Among the Sensex 30 stocks, 16 rose and 14 fell.

On BSE trading, 1,504 stocks advanced, 1,200 declined and 108 were unchanged.

ONGC rose 2.94% and Oil India gained 0.37% after these two state-run firms began charging higher price for gas from Tuesday, June 1.

The Indian rupee declined for a third day today after risk aversion forced investors to pull out funds from India.

Rupee edged lower 14 paisa to Rs. 46.49 against one dollar.

Investment by overseas investors in Indian equities rose by a net 800 crore rupees totaling to 21,400 crore rupees this year, according to the SEBI.

Nine mobile operators in India including Tata Teleservices Ltd, the Indian partner for NTT DoCoMo Inc, need funds to build third generation networks after paying $11 billion for licenses last month.

Tata Teleservices Ltd plans to raise as much as 2,000 crore rupees of debt to expand its wireless network, a company official said. The company has already raised 4,600 crore rupees through a combination of bonds and loans to pay for the right to offer 3G services in the Indian market, this official said.

Chairman Ratan Tata of Tata Motors Ltd inaugurated a factory at Sanand, Gujarat today. This plant will have capacity to build 250,000 Nano cars a year. Higher production will help the company clear a backlog of orders for the Nano.

Johannesburg-based Sasol Ltd, plans to produce 80,000 barrels a day of motor fuel by the year 2018, from a coal block awarded to Sasol and India Tata Group in the eastern state of Orissa, said Mark Schnell, President of the company’s India unit in an interview in Mumbai today.

“It is going to be a mega project of the size of $10 billion by the joint venture,” Schnell said.

The light commercial vehicle joint venture between Ashok Leyland of the Hinduja Group and Nissan of Japan will roll out its first product as scheduled in mid-2011.

“We plan to launch three new vehicles in three years in India. It will allow Ashok Leyland to expand its business at home and in other markets. At the same time it will also mark the entry of Nissan into India’s LCV market,” Said Andy Palmer, Senior Vice President of Nissan Motor Company, in Chennai today.

The BRIC countries are expected to have an increasing share in the sales revenues of Michelin tyres, Managing Director Jean-Dominique Senard said in Rio De Janeiro on Monday.

He was talking to a group of journalists after the inauguration of the 10th 2010 edition of ‘Challenge Bibendum’ event in Rio. Bibendum is the company mascot.

Gainers & Losers

Ambuja Cements Ltd rose 3% to Rs 110.20 after the company''s cement shipments rose 13.7% to 1.86 million tons in May 2010, from a year earlier.

ARSS Infrastructure Projects Limited rose 3.18% to Rs 1,069.60 after the Company received a new work order from Rayagada (R&B) Division, Rayagada, Orissa on June 01, for Rs 50.86 crore.

Cairn India Limited fell 0.07% to Rs 290.50 after crude oil prices dropped nearly 2% on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday, June 1.

GVK Power & Infrastructure Limited fell 0.4% to Rs 42.75 after the company''s wholly owned unit won a bid for a highway development project in Rajasthan of about Rs 850 crore.

Hero Honda Motors Limited rose 3.3% to Rs 1,980.85 after the company raised prices of its products by up to Rs 1,000 with immediate effect due to rising input costs.

InfoTech Enterprises Limited fell 0.4% to Rs 369.10 after the company fixed June 12 as the record date for a liberal 1 for 1 bonus issue.

Jayaswal Neco Industries Limited rose 4.9% to Rs 40.60 after the company''s board approved demerging steel division of group firm Corporate Ispat Alloys and merging it with the company with retrospective effect from April 1.

Mahindra & Mahindra Limited rose 1.8% to Rs 574.20 after the company said auto sales increased 69% to 28,486 units from a year ago.

Reliance Communications Limited rose 11% to Rs 154.60 after the Emirates Telecommunications Corporation said it is in talks to buy a 25% stake in RCL for Rs 18,000 crore.
Reliance Infrastructure Limited rose 4.03% to Rs 1,084.90 after the company won a Rs 2,960-crore project from the NHAI. The contract is for six-laning of 180-km Delhi-Agra road passing through Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and will be built on design, build, finance, operate and transfer toll basis under the National Highways Development Project.
Steel Strips Wheels Limited rose 3.9% to Rs 139.95 after the company''s wheel rims sales increased 41% to 7.29 lakh units in May 2010 over May 2009.

Tata Motors Limited fell 1.4% to Rs 744.55 after the company said total vehicle sales rose 41% to 56,779 units in May 2010 over May 2009.

VST Tillers Tractors Limited fell 3.7% to Rs 360.00.