India Holds Borrowing Target

Chandrasekhar Atreya
27 Dec, 2010
New York City

Stocks in Mumbai edged lower as Asian markets closed mixed and markets in China declined. Rupee edged lower. Indian government retained its borrowing target. ONGC starts building a road from Agartala in North East to Bangladesh.

[R]5:00 PM Mumbai, 8:30 AM New York – Stocks in Mumbai edged lower as Asian markets closed mixed and markets in China declined. Rupee edged lower. Indian government retained its borrowing target. ONGC starts building a road from Agartala in North East to Bangladesh.[/R]

Mumbai stocks traded lower in a choppy trade as institutional traders and foreign investors stayed away from markets.

The BSE Sensex dropped 0.22% or 44.73 to close at 20,028.93. The CNX Nifty on the National Stock Exchange fell 13.50 points to close at 5,998.10.

The rupee weakened today on the month-end demand for dollar to settle oil imports but closed unchanged at Rs 46.07 to a U.S. dollar in Mumbai today.

The Indian government will retain its borrowing target plan of Rs 4,47,000 crore in the current fiscal year, despite reducing the size of the market mop up by Rs 10,000 crore earlier this month due to liquidity constraint in the market.

Capital raised through initial and secondary offerings to existing shareholders and institutional investors hit a new high in 2010, according to the Prime Database.

The money raised Rs 100,000 crore, 25% more than 2007 when the surging markets generated a series of new issues.

State-run ONGC said today that it has agreed to raise its stake in Pawan Hans Helicopters from its current 21% to 49% according to a statement by its Chairman R. K. Tyagi in Mumbai.

Land under wheat cultivation has gone up by 11.08 lakh hectares this year, along with acreages for pulses and oilseeds also, according to the latest data reported by various government departments.

But rice acreage is worryingly low, an indication that rise prices across varieties need to be monitored in the open market by the government.

Majority of manufacturing sectors are expected to report double digit growth in production during the April-December 2010 period when compared to the same period a year ago, industry body CII said in its survey.

“The findings reveal that the July-September quarter witnessed a slight moderation in growth when compared to the April-June quarter because of soaring inflation and rising input costs. However, the performance of the sector improved drastically in the October-December quarter,” the survey said.

The Oil & Natural Gas Corp said it has undertaken a project worth Rs 25 crore to build a 50-kilometer road from Ashuganj river port in Bangladesh to Agartala and develop the port, a top company executive said today.

“This 50-kilometer road is the new Silk Route for connecting Bangladesh with India’s North East which would boost trade and commerce between that country and the Indian region,” said ONGC Chairman and Managing Director R.S. Sharma while talking to reporters in Agartala today.