Sensex Rebounds; India Tax Collection Rises 17%

Chandrasekhar Atreya
29 Oct, 2010
New York City

Stocks in Mumbai closed higher after direct tax collection rose 17% in the first half. Reliance ADAG places $8.29 billion order to Shanghai Electric for supply of power equipments. Reserve Bank of India conducts special auction and announce measures to lower liquidity crunch. Bank of Baroda earnings rise 61%.

[R]5:00 PM Mumbai – Stocks in Mumbai closed higher after direct tax collection rose 17% in the first half. Reliance ADAG places $8.29 billion order to Shanghai Electric for supply of power equipments. Reserve Bank of India conducts special auction and announce measures to lower liquidity crunch. Bank of Baroda earnings rise 61%.[/R]

Stocks in Mumbai reversed some losses of Thursday to cross the threshold mark of 20,000.

The BSE Sensex gained 33% or 65.86 to close at 20,006.90. The index lost 0.79% for the week but gained 0.25% for the month.

Rupee continued to trade steady as the choppy local shares failed to provide any clarity on fund flows while gains in the dollar limited any sharp upside movement.

The rupee closed at Rs 44.45 in Mumbai today.

Revenue through direct tax collections rose by 17.2% to around Rs 202,000 crore as on September, 47% of the finance ministry’s budgetary target for the current fiscal year, Sunil Mitra, Revenue Secretary, Ministry of Finance said on Thursday.

The Reserve Bank of India unveiled Friday special liquidity measures to help banks tide over their temporary cash crunch.

The RBI said banks can avail of funds under special measures up to an additional 1% of their deposits. The RBI will conduct two liquidity adjustment facility auctions on October 29 and November 1 at 2:30 p.m. and 4:15 p.m. respectively. The bank will also conduct a special 2-day repo auction on Saturday.

The mutual funds industry saw net outflow of Rs 70,000 crore as domestic investors lower exposure to funds managed under short term strategies.

Shanghai Electric Group won $8.29 billion deal to supply power equipment to Reliance ADA Group over a 10-year period. Shanghai Electric said in a statement late Wednesday that it will supply 36 coal-fired thermal power generation units, spare parts and related services to the Indian company over a 10-year period.

World’s largest electric carmaker Reva Motors, owned by Mahindra & Mahindra, plans to enter China, hoping to cash in on a rising demand for eco-friendly cars as governments push for stricter emission norms globally.

Bank of Baroda reported a 60.7% jump in net profit at Rs 1,093 crore for the second quarter ended September. The bank had a net profit of Rs 634.2 crore in the same quarter of last fiscal year.

A panel formed by the insurance council is expected to recommend that Indian healthcare systems such as ayurveda, unani and siddha should be treated on par with allopathy when it comes to medical insurance.

“The department of Ayush approached the General Insurance Council for looking into the possibility of accepting claims under non-allopathic means of treatment,” said a person in knowledge of the development.

London-listed Essar Energy Plc said Friday it commissioned the first phase of the expansion of the Vadinar power plant in Gujarat. The company said it started production of electricity and steam from the plant for use in the adjacent 12 million tons per year oil refinery.

The company has plans to increase its operating capacity from 1,220 megawatts currently to 11,470 megawatts by the end of 2014.

India agreed to an IMF and World Bank scrutiny of its financial system to assess the country’s capacity to manage a financial crisis, as part of global efforts of the two to prevent a 2008 type of financial meltdown.