India Signs Nuclear Convention; Sensex Drops

Chandrasekhar Atreya
28 Oct, 2010
New York City

Stocks in Mumbai seesawed to drop below threshold of 20,000. India signs the international convention for nuclear materials commerce. Qualcomm decides to exit BWA spectrum in India. India plans to start rare earth production in 2011 in Orissa.

[R]5:00 PM Mumbai – Stocks in Mumbai seesawed to drop below threshold of 20,000. India signs the international convention for nuclear materials commerce. Qualcomm decides to exit BWA spectrum in India. India plans to start rare earth production in 2011 in Orissa.[/R]

The BSE Sensex seesawed on Thursday ahead of the expiry of the monthly derivatives contracts to drop below threshold mark of 20,000.

The BSE Sensex dropped 0.32% or 64.33 points to close at 19,941.04. The CNX Nifty on the National Stock Exchange lost 24.95 points to drop below 6,000 at 5,987.70.

The rupee was largely steady on a lackluster trade to close at Rs 44.51 in Mumbai today.

India today signed the Convention on Supplementary Compensation, which sets parameters on a nuclear operator''s financial liability, at the IAEA meeting in Vienna.

The Indian move is seen as an effort towards allaying concerns of American companies on account of the newly-enacted Nuclear Liability Law by parliament. The signing is expected to expedite nuclear plant building in India by international companies.

""We can confirm that the Indian government has signed the CSC this morning,"" International Atomic Energy Agency press officials told PTI from Vienna. The international convention provides for compensation in case of trans-national implications of a nuclear accident and has been signed by 14 countries including India.

The wholesale price index in India decreased 0.4% to 181.0 from 181.8 for the previous week. For the year to the week calculated on point to point basis inflation fell to 16.82% compared to 18.05% for the previous week.

The CMDA chipmaker Qualcomm which won broadband wireless spectrum for four circles at Rs 4,912 crore decided to exit this business in India. Since regulations bar sale of spectrum, Qualcomm will sell its company that acquired the spectrum. This move is akin to Reliance Industries acquisition of Infotel Broadband.

The government is likely to permit 51% foreign stake in multi-brand retail chains with provisions to protect smaller retailers.

HPCL plans to add new crude distillation unit at its Vizag refinery which will raise the overall capacity to nearly 300,000 barrels per day, according to a source from the company.

This project coupled with two other projects, will boost HPCL’s refining capacity to 990,000 barrels per day, compared with 1.24 million barrels per day capacity at privately owned rival Reliance Industries.

India aims to restart production of rare earths late next year for the first time since stopping output in 2004, a top government official said Wednesday.

The Indian government is spending Rs 140 crore ($32 million) on a 5,000 ton capacity plant in Orissa, amid global concerns China maybe taking advantage of it dominance of resources to squeeze export supply and get better returns.

Punjab National Bank on Thursday reported a 15.9% growth in net profit for the second quarter ended September 30 to Rs 1,075 crore, on a total income of Rs 7,174 crore.

The bank had a net profit of Rs 927 crore in the year ago period, PNB Chairman and Managing Director K.R. Kamath said in New Delhi today.