India

Chandrasekhar Atreya
14 Dec, 2010
New York City

Mumbai stocks traded sideways after the latest read on wholesale inflation showed a decline to 11-month low. India selects 37 companies to build solar power projects to reach its target of 20GW by 2022. Reserve Bank of India injects liquidity for the third time in as many months.

[R]5:00 PM Mumbai, 8:30 AM New York – Mumbai stocks traded sideways after the latest read on wholesale inflation showed a decline to 11-month low. India selects 37 companies to build solar power projects to reach its target of 20GW by 2022. Reserve Bank of India injects liquidity for the third time in as many months.[/R]

Stocks in Mumbai traded sideways and managed to close higher as the latest read on wholesale inflation showed a decline.

The BSE Sensex Index rose 0.44% or 87.58 to close at 19,799.36. The CNX Nifty on the National Stock Exchange gained 36.45 points to close at 5,944.10.

The rupee was lower by 27 paisa to close at 45.86 in Mumbai today.

India’s benchmark wholesale price index rose 7.48% in November from a year earlier following its 8.58% rise in October, the Commerce Ministry said in a statement in New Delhi today, the lowest in 11 months.

Bharat Petroleum Corp, India’s second-largest refiner, plans to restart an 80,000 barrel per day distillation unit at its Mumbai refinery next week after completing the maintenance work at the plant.

“The refiner will also start a catalytic cracker at the 12 million ton per year plant this week, which will start in a day or two but the crude unit will restart only next week,” said Director of Finance S.K. Joshi in Mumbai today.

International Coal Ventures, a consortium of five Indian state-run companies including Steel Authority of India and Coal India, may bid for Riversdale Mining, according to a report in India’s Business Standard newspaper today.

India selected 37 companies to build solar power projects as the country moves forward to significantly scale up production of solar power from near zero to 20 gigawatts by 2022.

NTPC through its unit NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam will lead the solar plan’s initial phase via long-term contracts to buy the first gigawatt of energy from developers at Rs 15.31 per kilowatt-hour for solar thermal at about eight times the cost of coal power.

The Reserve Bank of India will inject Rs 12,000 crore on December 15 through open market operations to improve liquidity in the market which is facing cash shortage due to the busy credit season and impending advance tax payments.

“The RBI has decided to purchase government securities through auction as part of its open market operations for an aggregate amount of Rs 12,000 crore using multiple price method,” the central bank said in a statement.

Commercial banks borrowed an average Rs 8,200 crore a day this quarter using the repurchase auction window of the central bank, compared with an average of Rs 2,390 crore in the previous quarter, thus draining money from the system, according to Bloomberg survey.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority on Monday imposed Rs 50,00,000 fine on six insurance companies, including Reliance General and Apollo Munich Health in 2009-10 for failing to comply with various norms including rural and social obligations.

The maximum penalty of Rs 20,00,000 was levied on Reliance General for violation of IRDA’s regulations and guidelines.

Reliance Communications on Monday launched the 3G services in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata in less than 100 days after receiving 3G spectrum licenses in major metros.