Bharti to Lower Infratel Stake and Raise Capital, Castrol India Net Rises

Mukesh Buch
26 Feb, 2015
New York City

Bharti Airtel raise up to ₹2,600 crore through the sale of 72.5 million shares in Bharti Infratel. NTPC board approved the investment proposal for 1,320 megawatt thermal power project in Madhya Pradesh.

[R]6:00 PM Mumbai – Bharti Airtel raise up to ₹2,600 crore through the sale of 72.5 million shares in Bharti Infratel. NTPC board approved the investment proposal for 1,320 megawatt thermal power project in Madhya Pradesh.[/R]

Stocks in Mumbai traded lower after the release of railways budget and freight rates were revised higher as much as 10% but passenger rates were held.

Indian Railways in its latest budget announced investments in track modernization, network expansion and improve passenger comfort and facilities at stations.

The decrepit railways have suffered from underinvestment in the last two decades with many attempts to offer popular services at discount rate that rarely delivered.

In the current budget, railways minister Prabhu departed from the past practice of making new train announcements and focused on improving existing infrastructure and improve efficiency of the rail network.

Minister Prabhu plans to invest as much as $137 billion and expand the network that will reach far corners of India including sensitive border regions in the North East.

Railways in India have been neglected from decades of underinvestment and neglect and lacked basic facilities at stations.

The recent decline in diesel prices has given the government a rare chance to invest and accelerate the network expansion.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu estimated freight revenues in the next fiscal year beginning in March to increase 20% to ₹1,210 abaj and passenger traffic is expected to increase 16.7% to ₹1,840 abaj.

The government plans to spend nearly ₹2,000 abaj or $138 billion in the five-year plan to expand network and decongest bottlenecks at several junction stations.

Railways plan to increase track capacity by 14% to 138,000 km and operating ratio to edge lower to 88.5% from the current year 91.8%.

Passenger capacity is estimated to increase to 30 million from the current 21 million and annual freight capacity to jump to 1.5 billion ton from 1 billion tons in the next fiscal year.

Minister Prabhu also said that Indian Railways will seek ₹40,000 or nearly $6.5 billion from the central government for investments and also seek ₹17,000 crore or $3 billion from the market to fund its short term needs.

Indian rupee strengthened 22 paisa to 61.75 against one dollar.

The Sensex Index dropped 261.34 or 0.9% to close at 28,746.65. The CNX Nifty slipped 83.40 or 0.9% to 8,683.85.

Gainers & Losers

Bharti Airtel Limited rose 0.5% to ₹349.45 after the largest wireless carrier plans to raise up to ₹2,600 crore or $415 million through the sale of 7.25 crore or 72.5 million shares in Bharti Infratel.

Castrol India Limited slipped 1.4% to ₹464.10 after the automotive lubricants maker said net in the fourth-quarter increased 4.6% to ₹132 crore.

Net revenues rose 4% to ₹870.10 crore.

Jet Airways declined 3.4% to ₹437.55 the airline company announced special discount of 35% for limited period on international fares.

Kesoram Industries Limited advanced 1.9% to ₹122.65 after the conglomerate plans to sell its Haridwar unit at ₹3.57 crore to U.K.-based Cavendish Corporate Finance LLP, private finance company.

NTPC Limited climbed 4.9% to ₹153.15 after the power distributor’s board approved the investment proposal for 1,320 megawatt thermal power project in Madhya Pradesh.

Tata Motors Limited slipped 1.3% to ₹560.20 after the auto maker said its subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover plans to set up a plant in North America.