Sensex Gains 1% on TCS, GAIL Earnings; India Leads Infrastructure Deals

Chandrasekhar Atreya
18 Jan, 2011
New York City

Stocks in Mumbai rallied more than 1% following sharply higher earnings from TCS, GAIL and Bajaj Finance. India led the global project finance deals at $81.4 billion in 2010.

[R]5:00 PM Mumbai, 8:30 AM New York – Stocks in Mumbai rallied more than 1% following sharply higher earnings from TCS, GAIL and Bajaj Finance. India led the global project finance deals at $81.4 billion in 2010.[/R]

Stocks in Mumbai gained more than 1% after upbeat results from TCS and L&T and GAIL and Bajaj Finance. Software and financials led the rally after the index dropped nearly 8% last week.

The BSE Sensex gained 1.19% or 224.71 to close at 19,106.96. The CNX Nifty gained 73.65 to close at 5,728.40.

The rupee closed at Rs 46.13 to a dollar in Mumbai today.

The Life Insurance Corp will not be able to issue tax-saving infrastructure bonds aggregating Rs 5,000 crore to retail investors this fiscal year due to a regulatory glitch.

Life insurance regulations restrict fund raising only for promoting their core business.

The oil ministry wants Vedanta Resources to furnish an update on official proceedings against the mining group and unconditionally accept the government’s view in legal disputes with Cairn India before it approves the London-listed firms $9.6 billion bid to buy Cairn’s Indian venture.

India’s largest software firm TCS on Monday declared a 29.93% jump in net profits for the third quarter ended December 31, 2010 at Rs 2,369.83 crore, driven by strong demand for outsourcing services and stable fees.

TCS had recorded a net profit of Rs 1,823.90 crore in the December quarter a year ago, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

A day after gasoline prices were hiked by about 4%, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said that there was no alternative as the state-run oil marketing companies were facing huge losses.

“The decision to hike petrol prices was taken by the oil companies. These companies are Navratnas and are making huge losses. They cannot be allowed to bleed. They had no alternative but to hike prices,” Deora told the CNN-IBN television news channel on Monday.

Global project finance volumes rose 22% to a record $354.6 billion, according to a report by Dealogic.

India accounted for $81.4 billion, or more than a fifth of the total and higher than any other country, the Dealogic Global Project Finance Review for 2010 reported.

“India was the most active market as deal volumes increased 73.9% to $53.6 from 131 completed loans,” the Thomson Reuters review noted.

International Finance Corp, an arm of the World Bank pledged $300 million for the development of renewable energy projects in India. The investments would be a mix of equity and debt over the next three years, IFC Director, Anita George said, in New Delhi today.

A quarter of the amount would be invested in the country’s nascent solar energy sector while the rest would go to wind and biomass projects, she said.