Trade Deficit in India Rises to $13 B in July

Chandrasekhar Atreya
17 Aug, 2010
New York City

Stocks in Mumbai closed nearly flat after fluctuating through the day. Exports in July grew at the slowest pace in six months and trade deficit widened to $13 billion. Sakthi Sugar will export sugar to Pakistan through Paris-based Sucden.

[R]5:00 PM Mumbai – Stocks in Mumbai closed nearly flat after fluctuating through the day. Exports in July grew at the slowest pace in six months and trade deficit widened to $13 billion. Sakthi Sugar will export sugar to Pakistan through Paris-based Sucden.[/R]

Indian stocks fluctuated and closed nearly flat with a negative bias on lower close in Asia and mixed openings in European exchanges.

The Sensex Index lost 0.01% or 1.93 to close at 18,048.85.

India’s exports in July grew at the slowest pace in six months as demand for rice, tea and textiles weakened in the U.S. and Europe. The trade deficit widened to $13 billion.

Overseas shipments grew at 13.2% in July from a year earlier to $16.24 billion after a gain of 30.4% in June, according to data provided by the Commerce Ministry in New Delhi today. Imports in July expanded 34.3% to $29.17 billion.

Sakthi Sugars Ltd, an Indian sugar mill, sold 70,000 tons of sugar to Sucden for exports to Pakistan and said it will ship more as output surges at the world’s second-biggest grower, according to the company’s Managing Director M. Manickam.

Paris-based Sucden agreed to supply state-run Trading Corp of Pakistan sugar at $724.95 a ton, Chairman Sheik Anjum Bashir said August 2. The sugar will be supplied in the next three months, Manickam said from Coimbatore.

Technofab Engineering said it received orders of Rs 166 crore in the quarter and the order pipeline increased to Rs 680 crore.

HPCL said it plans to invest about Rs 65,000 crore on expansions in the next 10 years and is keen to buy African fuel retail stations from BP and Shell. The company also plans to invest Rs 30,000 crore in the new Maharashtra Refinery according to reports from Newswire.

Tata Consultancy Services said it plans to double its workforce in China to win more software businesses in that country.

BPCL said it will sell Treasury Notes to raise Rs 2,500 crore. The sale will take place in two tranches according to ET Now.

India could consider a stock split of MMTC before its proposed 10% stake sale later in the fiscal year, Trade Secretary Rahul Khullar told reporters on Tuesday.

India aims to sell shares of about 60 state-run firms as it looks to boost spending on social welfare schemes without widening its fiscal deficit.

Elder Health Care confirmed it signed an agreement with Japan’s Pola Chemical Industries to sell its skincare and cosmetic products in India.

The company will initially distribute Pola’s skin whitening cream and gel and plans to extend the deal to anti-ageing products, beauty treatment and fragrances.

Gainers & Losers

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited rose 1.2% to Rs 798.05 after the healthcare provider is in discussion with the US-based StemCyte for stem cell therapy.

Atlanta Limited rose 0.3% to Rs 329.60 after the construction and infrastructure developer said a consortium of the company received a road-widening contract worth Rs 153.91 crore in Orissa.

Ankur Drugs and Pharma Limited gained 1.6% to Rs 117.75 after the pharmaceutical formulation company reported a foreign bank bought a 3.93% stake in the company via bulk deals on August 16.

Biocon Limited increased 3.5% to Rs 342.50 after the global biopharmaceutical company reported global drug giant Pfizer is in talks with Biocon to buy a stake or strike a marketing alliance.

Bank of Baroda soared 6.1% to Rs 834.55 after the bank stocks traded higher on the expectations of sustained economic growth in India.

Cox and Kings (India) Limited declined 3.5% to Rs 559.45 after the travel company launched a global depository receipts on August 16.

House of Pearl Fashions Limited surged 5.4% to Rs 80.75 after the ready-to-wear apparel maker’s board approved merger of a subsidiary Pearl Global.

IFCI Limited increased 1.9% to Rs 62.15 after the financial services and investment manager said it expects its assets to grow 22% to 25% in the year ending March 2011.

Mahindra Satyam gained 2.3% to Rs 85.40 after the global information technology services provider reported New York Supreme Court ruled in favor of the company in the dispute with Upaid Systems over the settlement amount paid by Mahindra Satyam.

Royal Orchid Hotels Limited rose 2.2% to Rs 82.15 after the manager of hotels and resorts said board will meet on August 19 to consider raising funds.

Raymond Limited plunged 4.7% to Rs 377.30 after the multi-product conglomerate had soared 26.80% in the preceding two sessions.

Tips Industries Limited gained 4.7% to Rs 46.25 after the film production company has initiated a buyback of 3.90 lakh shares at an average price of Rs 47.11 each via bulk deal on the BSE and the NSE on August 16.