Govt mulls further export ban to curb inflation

Hinting at hard measures like further ban on exports to control rising prices, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said inflation is also being stoked by cartel like behaviour in some sectors of Indian economy. Listing out a number of steps, including exports ban on non-basmati rice taken by the government, he told the Wall Street Journal in an interview that the government would consider further bans. Noting that soaring prices of rice and other basic food items are a matter of worry, Chindambaram said inflation is also being stoked by a mismatch of supply and demand and by cartel-like behaviour in some sectors of the economy.

The daily said that Indian government has cut some exports and taken actions to reduce food prices, such as banning the exports of non-basmati rice and hiking the export price of basmati variety. "As a short-term measure we will consider such bans, too," Chidambaram was quoted as saying. The minister told the daily that ministries of Steel and Commerce have proposed some export bans in steel, but further ban on food exports are less likely since "all export of food items is virtually banned" already.

Canada setting up trade office in Hyderabad, Kolkata

Canada is to set up two new trade offices in Hyderabad and Kolkata, the Prime Minister, Mr Stephen Harper, has said. These new trade offices will expand Canada''s reach in India beyond our traditional concentration on the North. India''s boom is not just happening in the northern region, and Canada requires to be where all the action is, the Prime Minister said in a statement. The Prime Minister added that to further heighten trade and investment alliance, the Government will also post additional commissioners at the established offices in Mumbai and Delhi.

Tata Communications Introduces Global Suite of Security Services

Tata Communications Ltd on April 23, 2008 announced the launch of a robust suite of security services designed to protect the applications, IT systems and networks that power its customers critical business infrastructures. The high-quality, cost-effective security services, which include premise and managed services as well as professional services, enables Tata Communications to provide its customers with security solutions on a global basis.
Tata Communications delivers a full range of monitored and managed security solutions that are backed by aggressive performance-based Service Level Agreements (SLAs). The services are overseen by an experienced, globally distributed support team using state-of-the-art systems, processes and tools. Tata Communications wide range of supported vendors and solutions, combined with its globally consistent and efficient service delivery model, meets the security needs for businesses.
Research by our global network of strategic partners shows that security risks continue to increase dramatically. As attacks continue to grow in complexity, effective solutions must integrate multi-dimensionally across different categories of security infrastructure, take on global visibility of incidents and events, and build upon best-available real-time intelligence, said John Landau, Senior Vice President. Global Managed Services, Tata Communications. Tata Communications has assembled extraordinary expertise and purposefully designed its defense-in-depth services suite to address this concerning trend. We are strongly positioned to support our customers as they recognize the requirement to move beyond simple point security solutions towards globally consistent integrated threat management solutions.
Tata Communications focus on managed services allows enterprises to reduce costs by outsourcing the increasingly difficult and expensive task of both monitoring and managing their security infrastructure, while simultaneously delivering higher levels of coverage and protection. The suite of security services, which includes managed and monitored Firewalls and Unified Threat Management (UTM) appliances, Intrusion Detection and Prevention systems, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Detection and Mitigation, and Penetration Testing, offers customers proactive detection and evaluation of information security threats, accompanied by swift incident response and remediation actions. Evaluation and response is based on Tata Communications sophisticated real time security incident and event analysis, which draws upon a global base of current activity and trends.
By combining third party expertise with core security competencies, Tata Communications has assembled a suite of services robust enough to meet the needs of multinationals and global enterprises, yet priced to be accessible to small and medium sized enterprises. Additionally, Tata Communications services enable enterprise customers worldwide to enhance the confidentiality, integrity and availability of their applications, information assets and systems, while managing their regulatory, compliance and IT governance requirements.
Tata Communications customers are running their businesses on cutting-edge IP solutions, with security management being a paramount concern, stated Vinod Kumar, President of Global Data and Mobility Solutions, Tata Communications. As one of the worlds largest global network operators, our Company is committed to meet our customers unique infrastructure needs, allowing them to focus on running their businesses. Our delivery of these world-class managed security solutions is now providing our customers with the ability to reliably secure their critical business networks and applications.
Global enterprises look to Tata Communications to reduce the complexities of information and network security, while meeting key governance benchmarks. Tata Communications MSS are delivered in accordance with ITIL guidelines, and the Company is in progress of attaining ISO27001 certification in May 2008. Tata Communications experience and range of risk and security solutions help clients secure business operations and maintain regulatory compliance across the globe.

Fortis launches life insurance operations in India

IDBI Fortis Life Insurance, the joint venture between IDBI, Federal Bank and Fortis NV in India, April 22 has launched life insurance operations. Following approval from all regulators, the company has started selling a full range of life insurance and long-term saving products across the country. IDBI Fortis Life Insurance Co Ltd, is a joint venture between Fortis and two leading Indian financial conglomerates, namely India''s premier development and commercial bank - IDBI, and one of India''s leading private sector bank - Federal Bank. IDBI Fortis has recruited and trained as of today about 400 employees, servicing 490 bank branches of IDBI and 550 bank branches of Federal Bank. Both banks together have about 5 million customers, including some 800,000 non resident Indian account holders. The company will primarily focus its bancassurance activities on cross-selling across top-tier client segments.

Insurers asks for health pool for elderly

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) should make a pool for senior citizen policies, according to general insurance companies. In May 2007, Irda had constituted a seven-member panel to look into issues pertaining to senior citizen policies and health insurance. The committee had suggested an insurance pool that will be primarily sourced via government funding and involve the participation of all stakeholders, including insurance companies and policy holders. A senior public sector general insurance company executive admitted that certain senior citizens may not be readily insurable by industry standards, thanks to medical conditions. Medical science has advanced in the last few decades, leading to increased average life expectancy. Insurance companies are turning away first-time customers who are above 50 years in age and are charging almost 100 per cent additional premium for policy renewals.

Packaged Software Sales to SMBs to Hit US$770M in India in 2008

Small and medium businesses (SMBs, or companies with up to 999 employees) in India are on track to invest about US$770 million on packaged software this year, up 21% over 2007 levels. Spending on databases, accounting, networking, productivity and system software will account for more than 90% of the total software spend this year, according to the latest report by New York-based Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc. There has been strong growth in financial indicators for all the major verticals in the SMB space, which is likely to continue this year as well, says Nirupam Chaudhuri, Senior Research Manager with AMI Partners. "SMBs in India are likely to continue to invest to support business expansion plans, globalization needs, compliance and risk mitigation needs, and leverage technological advancements."

Bajaj Financial Service plans foray into AMC business

The new financial services arm of the Rahul Bajaj group, Bajaj Financial Service (BFL), plans to foray into asset management business and set up a company to distribute financial services products. The details of the distribution company will be finalized by December. The company is also open for joining hands with foreign group for the mutual fund business.

Satra Properties acquires Property at Bhopal

Satra Properties India Ltd has informed that the Company has acquired property situated at Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, through its Special Purpose Company (SPC), in which Gammon (India) Ltd is having 51% Stake and Satra Property Developers Pvt Ltd [the Wholly Owned Subsidiary Company of Satra Properties (India) Ltd] is having 49% Stake. The Special Purpose Company (SPC) has made Development Agreement with the Government of Madhya Pradesh & Collector of Madhya Pradesh.
The proposed Project shall be one of the state of art project in Madhya Pradesh and the property is to be developed for providing Shopping Malls, Street Shops, Commercial Offices, Food Courts, Five Star Restaurants, Amusement parks, First Snow Parks in Madhya Pradesh with Modern and Hi end amenities. The property is approx. 15 acres of land situated at CBD Bhopal, Opp New Market and South T.T. Nagar, i.e. in the heart of the Bhopal city and it is the prime shopping destination of the Bhopal city. It is having Basic F.S.I. of approx 16,22,673 Sq. ft. and having saleable area of approx. 22,50,000 Sq. ft. The Land & Construction cost of the proposed project is estimated at Rs 800 Crores and has the capacity to generate the Total revenue of approx. Rs 1400 - 1500 Crores. The proposed Project is expected to be completed within 3 to 4 years.

Orchid forays into strategic alliance with Ranbaxy

Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals has struck a peace partnership with Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd for jointly manufacturing and marketing of drugs across various geographies. The move comes after Ranbaxy built up a 14.7 per cent stake in Orchid by purchasing shares from the open market through a subsidiary unit Solrex. The take over of a 15 per cent stake in a firm by persons other than the founder or the founder-group will trigger a compulsory open offer for a further 20 per cent. If that happened, then Orchid''s current management would have had to give up control to Ranbaxy. On the other hand, Ranbaxy has similar strategic stakes of just under 15 per cent in other pharma companies, including Krebs Biochemicals and Industries Ltd and Jupiter Bioscience Ltd. Explaining the rationale for such investments.

Post Session Indian Stock Market Commentary

The Indian market closed lower after facing the volatility throughout the trading session. Though the market opened with marginal gains but was unable to sustained at higher levels as the profit booking prevailed. The cues from the US market are not in favor that led to the investors in the domestic market to take calculated steps to book their positions. Also the expiry of the April 2008 derivatives contract on this Thursday also add to the sentiments. From the sectoral point, most buying was witnessed from the Realty index.

The BSE Sensex closed lower by 85.83 points at 16,698.04 and NSE Nifty fell by 26.5 points to close at 5,022.80. The BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps closed with marginal gains of 28.79 points and 1.78 points at 7,066.41 and 8,799.86 respectively.

Major losers from the BSE are Indian Bank (7.08%), Idea Cellular (5.33%), SAIL (5.26%), MMTC (4.95%), United SPR (4.67%), Chambal fertilizers (4.45%), Suzlon Energy (3.74%), Biocon (3.70%), Oriental Bank (3.55%), Educomp Solutions (3.49%).

Gainers from the BSE are Spice Tele (15.85%), Ashok Leyland (9.71%), Mangalore Refineries (8.55%), Hind Zinc (7.23%), Welspun Guj (7.23%).

The Metal index closed marginally higher by 18.72 points at 15,548.10 as Hind Zinc (7.23%), Gujarat NRE (5.22%), Jindal Saw (4.33%) and Tata Steel (2.14%) closed in green while Sail (5.26%), JSW Steel (2.83%) and Bhushan Steel (2.07%) closed in red.

The Realty index grew by 150.03 points to close at 8,056.17. Major gainers are Purvankara (8.22%), Akruti City (3.83%), Omaxe (3.64%), Indbul Real (2.38%), Mahindra Life (2.24%), Phoenix mill (1.92%) and HDIL (2.02%).

The Capital Goods index fell by 157.74 points to close at 13,770.97. Losers are Suzlon Energy (3.74%), Bhel (2.40%), Siemens (1.85%), BEML (1.74%), Crompton Greaves (1.46%), SKF India (1.13%), Alstom Projects (0.70%) and ABB (0.66%).

The Bankex index dropped by 164.37 points to close at 8,552.46. Major losers are Oriental bank (3.55%), HDFC bank (3.01%), Canara bank (2.59%), BOB (2.14%), SBI (2.10%), Axis bank (1.47%) and Andhra bank (1.33%).

The IT index closed up by 52.38 points to close at 3,982.85. Scrips that gained are Infosys (2.94%), Wipro (2.88%), Rolta India (0.51%), TCS (0.32%).

Lupin expands its product basket in JapanKyowa receives Ten product approvals

Lupin Ltd on April 23, 2008 has announced that its subsidiary in Japan, Kyowa Pharmaceutical Industry Co Ltd, (Kyowa) has received approvals for 10 products from the Ministry of Health & Labour Welfare, Japan (MHLW) and expects to launch these in July 2008 post NHI listing.
Kyowas expanded product basket will now include ten more products and these are Amlodipine (CVS), Risperidone (line extension; CNS), Cabergoline (CNS), Milnacipran (CNS), Tandospirone (CNS), Meloxicam (NSAID), Fluticasone (line extension for pediatrics; Anti-Asthma), Quazepam (line extension; CNS), Ethyl Icosapentate (line extension) and Maprotiline (line extension; CNS). The combined market size of these molecules in Japan is JPY 265 Bn (USD 2.65 billion) as per IMS 2007.
Kyowa has a strong position in the CNS and CVS segment and through additional six products in the CNS category it is further consolidating its position as an indomitable player in this segment.
Amlodipine is the largest molecule in Japan, with sales of over JPY 184 billion (USD 1.84 billion) as per IMS 2007. Kyowa plans to aggressively market this product through its trained medical field force. In order to garner a dominating market share in this segment the Company has also out-licensed this product to two other generic partners in Japan.
In case of Risperidone, Kyowa is currently the second largest generic player and with the recent approval for the line extension the Company expects to consolidate its position in this molecule.
Expressing his pleasure at the development, Mr. Vinod Dhawan, President - Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Africa and Latin America, Lupin Ltd. said,
We expect that these newly registered molecules will significantly add to Kyowas growth over the next few years. It is our intention to leverage the advantage of an early entry in the progressive opening up of the generic Pharma market of Japan. We intend to rapidly introduce an array of generic therapies from our global portfolio.
Lupin had acquired Kyowa in October 2007 and it is currently focusing on enriching its product basket and expanding its therapy width. These fresh approvals will strengthen Lupins position in the worlds second largest pharmaceutical market.

Maytas Infra to construct All Weather Deep Water Port at Machilipatnam

Maytas Infra Ltd has announced that Honble Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Dr. Y S Rajasekhara Reddy on April 23, 2008 laid the foundation stone for the construction of All Weather Deep Water Port at Machilipatnam to be constructed by Maytas Infra Ltd, a Hyderabad based construction and infrastructure development Company in association with Nagarjuna Construction Company Ltd., SREI Infrastructure Finance Ltd and Sarat Chatterjee & Co (VSP) Pvt Ltd.
The proposed location for the development of a Deep Water Port at Machilipatnam is around four kilometers to the North of the existing fishing harbour at Gilakadinne.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Teja Raju, Vice Chairman, Maytas Infra said, Maytas Infra is proud to be associated with Machillipatnam Deep Water Port that will provide a strong impetus to the development activity in this region. The project would be developed in 3 years, and we look forward to contributing for the progress of our Andhra Pradesh state,.
The port, well connected by road and rail and in close vicinity of Gannavaram airport has a good potential for handling coal requirements of Vijayawada Thermal Power Plant and other cement plants spread in the Krishna belt. On completion, the Machilipatnam Deep Water Port will be well equipped to handle exports of agricultural produce, minerals and other commodities from the surrounding districts.

Dabur Pharma Equity Shareholders to approve Scheme of Arrangement

Dabur Pharma Ltd has informed that pursuant by an order on the March 11, 2008 as amended on March 27, 2008 read with order dated October 17, 2003, the Honble High Court of Delhi has directed that a meeting of the equity shareholders the Company will be held May 18, 2008, for the purpose of considering and, if thought fit, approving, with or without modification(s), the proposed modification of the Scheme of Arrangement sanctioned by the Honble High Court on October 17, 2003 to the extent that property bearing Plot No. 11 in ECHELON Institutional Area, Sector - 32, Gurgaon, Haryana shall be kept outside the purview of Scheme of Arrangement and stand omitted from the definition of Demerged Undertaking and shall not form a part of the transfer of undertaking contemplated in the said Scheme of Arrangement.

JSW Steel to maintain Prices for Two to Three Months

JSW Steel Ltd has announced that the inflationary trends in the country in the last few months are a cause of concern. To ease the inflationary pressures in the system, JSW Steel has decided to maintain the current price levels for two to three months.
The input cost for steel making has seen an unprecedented increase in the last few months. Added to this is the fact that there is a restricted availability of raw materials on a sustainable basis. Despite a global cost push, JSW is voluntarily exercising restraints on the prices. The next few months should give a clarity on whether there will be any respite to the steel maker on this front.
Mr. Sajjan Jindal said, Pro-active policies should be put in place to improve the supply side of steel by putting the Greenfield steel plant projects on a fast track and ensuring adequate raw material linkages. This would ease the pressure on prices in the long term.

India Inc heading eastern Germany

India''s booming companies are scouring the world to invest and the latest destination is eastern Germany. A recent KPMG report suggests that eastern Germany is emerging as a potential investment destination for India Inc.

Seeing the potential in these sectors, some Indian companies that could be making their foray into eastern Germany are SAIL, NTPC, Unitech, IL & FS and Cairn India.Some of the companies that already have a strong foothold in eastern Germany and are looking to expand are RIL, Suzlon, Voltas, Wockhardt and Bharat Forge.

The driving force for these companies to Eastern Germany are 30-40 per cent lower labour costs compared to western Germany and a relatively enterprise friendly political system. In addition, Germany is the largest consumer market in Europe with 80 million consumers. Indian companies are finding eastern Germany a lucrative investment destination. Indo -German trade has grown by 23 per cent in last two years and analysts say post Tata-JLR deal, they anticipate more big Indian acquisitions in the European market.

IIP numbers may get better

Red hot commodity prices have stung India''s economy dragging down growth and boosting prices. Inflation is now at a three-year high of 7 per cent but this is an election year and the government cannot afford to see prices rise this fast.

The government has fought back cutting import duties and export incentives in select commodities but it might take several weeks before inflation cools off.Analysts differ on inflation expectations with HDFC Bank pegging it at 6.84 per cent and Lehman Brothers estimating it at 7.22 per cent for the week ended March 29.

Dalal Street will also be eyeing on growth numbers which has become a major concern for many. Economists expect IIP to grow at 7.2 per cent in February against January''s 5.2 per cent. IIP numbers could improve because core sector grew 8.7 per cent in February.
Now, all eyes will be on RBI''s next credit meet scheduled for April 29 and bankers expect a CRR hike by at least 25 bps to bring inflation under check.

Rupee gains five paise at dollar

The Indian rupee on April 10 gained five paise to close at 39.94/95 against a US dollar amidst increased capital inflows and dollar sales even as fears of high oil prices loomed over the forex market. Forex dealers said there was demand for the US currency as well from oil companies which bought dollars as global crude oil prices have surged to $111 a barrel.

The local currency was trapped in range of 39.92 and 40.00 during the day after resuming flat at Rs 39.98/40.00 a dollar.Rising oil prices was a cause of concern for investors as it results in widening of trade deficit because the country imports about 70 per cent of oil requirements and in turn puts downward pressure on the rupee, they added.

Dollar weakness against major currencies in overseas markets also aided the rupee sentiment.Meanwhile, the Asian equity markets exhibited steady to sluggish trend. Indian benchmark Sensex lost about 95 points or 0.60 per cent.Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) made net purchases of $468.60 million in three days after April 4.

Indokem equity shareholders approve Scheme of Arrangement & Amalgamation

Indokem Ltd has informed that the Court convened meeting of equity shareholders of the Company held on April 08, 2008, the resolution for approval of the Scheme of Arrangement and Amalgamation of Sovereign Trading Enterprises Ltd, Tracklightning Finance And Investments Ltd and Royaltern Finance And Investments Ltd with the Company and their respective shareholders pursuant to Section 391 to 394 of the Companies Act, 1956 has been passed with the requisite majority. The said Scheme of Arrangement and Amalgamation is subject to the sanction of the Honble High Court of Judicature at Bombay.

FII Activity on 11-04-2008

The FIIs on Thursday stood as net seller in equity. The gross equity purchased was Rs2,040.80 Crore and the gross debt purchased was Rs0.00 Crore while the gross equity sold stood at Rs2,213.00 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs0.00 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity reported was (Rs172.30 Crore) and net debt was Rs0.00 Crore.

Sasken Communication Board to consider Buy-back of equity shares

Sasken Communication Technologies Ltd has informed that the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company which is scheduled to be held on April 18, 2008, will also consider a proposal for buy-back of equity shares upto such amount of the aggregate of Companys paid up equity capital and free reserves as the Board may decide in accordance with the provisions of Sections 77A, 77AA and 77B of the Companies Act, 1956 and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Buy Back of Securities) Regulations, 1998.

Pre Session Indian Stock Market Commentary

The Indian Market is likely to have a positive opening today due to favoring cues from the global markets. On Thursday, the Indian Market tumbled in the final trading hours of the session and gives all its gains to close in a negative territory. Tracking the mixed cues from the Asian markets, the domestic market opened with a gap down but sudden gathered the momentum as he buying intensified across the selective indices. However, industrial production data and weekly inflation, which is due tomorrow, led to heavy selling towards the end. From the sectoral front, Oil & Gas attracts investor’s confidence as most buying was seen from these baskets while bankex index faced heavy selling pressures. The BSE Sensex closed lower by 95.41 points at 15,695.10 and NSE Nifty fell by 14.05 points to close at 4,733. We expect that the declaration of the inflation figures by the government will give direction to the market. Also the long weekend ahead will led the investors to take calculative steps.

On Thursday, the US market closed in green. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed higher by 54.72 points at 12,581.98 along with NASDAQ closed up by 29.58 points at 2,351.70 and S&P index closed at 1,360.55 up by 6.06 points.

The Indian ADRS closed mixed. In technology sector, Satyam grew by 4.14% along with Patni computers by 1.29%, Infosys 0.69% and Wipro by 0.53%. In banking sector, ICICI bank and HDFC bank dropped by (2.38%) and (0.37%) respectively. In telecommunication sector, Tata Communication decreased by (4.79%). Sterlite industries grew by (0.77%).

Today the major stock markets in Asia are trading firm. Japan’s Nikkei is trading higher by 272.98 points at 13,218.28 along with Hang Seng index trading up by 177.14 points at 24,364.24 and Taiwan Weighted trading at 8,879.66 up by 50.26 points and Singapore Strait Times trading up by 25.19 points at 3,089.79.

The FIIs on Thursday stood as net seller in equity. The gross equity purchased was Rs2,040.80 Crore and the gross debt purchased was Rs0.00 Crore while the gross equity sold stood at Rs2,213.00 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs0.00 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity reported was (Rs172.30 Crore) and net debt was Rs0.00 Crore.

Today, Nifty has support at 4,605 and resistance at 4,857 and BSE Sensex has support at 15,301 and resistance at 16,082.

GAIL signs contract for supply of PMT gas

Gail India Ltd (GAIL) has announced that the Company has signed a contract with the consortia of Reliance Industries, BG Group of UK and Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (the co-ventures of the PMT fields in western Offshore) for buying the entire quantity of 17.3 million metric standard cubic meter per day. GAIL will buy the gas at USD 5.73 per million British Thermal Unit for Panna field and USD 5.57 per million British Thermal Unit of the Tapti field. The contract was signed late last night and is in pursuance of the
Government nominating GAIL as its nominee to take the entire PMT Gas.
Subsequently, agreements were also reached regarding the supplies to consumers. GAIL signed a term-sheet to supply, at PSC prices, 3.6 MMSCMD of natural gas to Reliance Industries Ltd and 2.13 MMSCMD of gas to Gujarat Gas Company Ltd as per the advice from the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Government of India.
GAIL has also signed a short term Term-sheet for 15 days with Gujarat State Petroleum
Corporation Ltd for the supply of Natural gas for its City gas and small industries.
After this period of 15 days, GAIL will evolve a system for further supplies.
The present supply of 5 MMSCMD of gas at APM Prices gas to Power and Fertilizer units will be maintained.
Apart from this, GAIL will also supply 1.5 MMSCMD to Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Nigam Ltd and 1 MMSCMD of natural gas to 8 fertilizer units along the Hazira and HBJ pipeline and 0.9 MMSCMD to Torrent Power.

Post Session Indian Stock Market Commentary

The Indian market closed on a mixed note on a volatile trading session. Though the market opened on a firm note but unable to sustained at higher levels as the profit booking across the counters prevails. The market gathered the momentum after the mid session on the back of selective buying across the sectoral indices. The volatility gripped the market since the initial bell as some arbitrageurs and jobbers stayed away to protest against the change in securities transaction tax, which came into effect from today. From the sectoral front, the Oil and Gas scrips remained in the limelight as most buying was seen from these baskets.

The BSE Sensex closed lower by 17.82 points at 15,626.62 while NSE Nifty closed marginally higher by 5.05 points at 4,739.55. The Sensex has touched an intra day high of 15,834.05 and low of 15,297.96. The BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps also closed lower by 32.72 points at 6,395.10 while BSE Small Cap closed higher by 20.14 points at 7,861.76.

The market breadth was strong as 1,728 stocks closed in green as against 920 stocks that closed in red.

The Oil and Gas index closed up by 336.90 points at 10,353.72. Major gainers are RPL (6.94%), Essar Oil (6.17%), Reliance industries (3.56%), BPCL (3.38%), Cairn India (1.83%), RNRL (1.65%) and IOCL (1.20%).

From the FMCG space, HUL (4.31%), ITC (2.33%), Marico (2.23%), Glaxosmith Cons (1.57%), Tata Tea (0.79%) and Rei Agro (0.73%) closed in green.

The Capital Goods index declined by 449.09 points to close at 13,559.93. Major losers are Bhel (8.01%), Crompton Greaves (7.72%), Kalpataru Power (4.49%), L&T (4.30%), Thermax (2.60%), Praj Inds (1.73%) and Siemens (1.12%).

The BSE Realty index fell by 88.32 points to close at 7,466.48 as DLF (3.02%), MahindraLife (1.62%), Purvankara (1.58%), Phoenix mill (0.97%), Unitech (0.38%) and HDIL (0.89%).

The Metal index closed lower by 208.80 points at 13,813.76. Losers are Sesa Goa (6.60%), SAIL (5.55%), Tata Steel (3.71%), Jindal Steel (2.89%), Welspun Gujarat (2.54%), Jindal saw (1.41%).

The Bankex index dropped by 74.06 points to close at 7,643.55 as Axis bank (7.69%), Canara bank (3.13%), IOB (3.14%), Yes bank (2.76%), PNB (1.93%), ICICI bank (1.76%) and Federal bank (1.43%) closed in negative.

The IT index closed marginally lower by 7.02 points at 3,540.59 as Educomp Solutions (5.28%), Aptech (3.42%), Wipro (3.83%) and Mphasis (2.55%) closed lower while Patni Comp (5.05%), Karut Net (4.92%), Niit Techno (4.31%) and TCS (2.95%) closed higher.

Second Gas Discovery in Deepwater Exploration Block in Krishna Basin

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has announced yet another discovery in exploratory block KG-OSN-2003/1 (KG-V-D3) of Krishna Basin. The deepwater block KG-DWN-2003/1 of NELP-V is situated 45 Kms away from the coast and covers an area of 3288 Sq. Km. This is the second gas discovery in this block. RIL holds 90% participating interest (PI) and Hardy Exploration and Production India Inc holds 10% of PI in the block. The well KGVD3-B1 was drilled at a water depth of 711 m, to a total depth of 2730 m, with the objective of exploring high amplitude geobodies of Pliestocene deep water fan complex and unconformity related structural traps at Miocene level. Excellent qualities of reservoirs were encountered with gross hydrocarbon columns of around 111 meters. The potential of the zones was evaluated through wire-line based technology called Modular Dynamic Testing (MDT). This discovery namely Dhirubhai-41 has been notified to Government of India and Directorate General of Hydrocarbons. The potential commercial interest of the discovery is being ascertained through more data gathering and analysis. In February 2008, RIL made first gas discovery in the same block and the discovery was named as Dhirubhai-39 and the notification of potential commercial discovery was submitted to Government of India and Directorate General of Hydrocarbons few days back. About 70 per cent of this block is covered by 3D Seismic survey and further prospect analysis is underway. This discovery has established a petroleum system in the block, the extent of which is being analyzed. In the last quarter of this financial year (2007-08), RIL has made four discoveries, two in Krishna Basin Deep Waters, one in shallow waters of Krishna Basin and one in Mahanadi Basin.

Subhash Projects - Award of Order for Rs 329.48 Crores

Subhash Projects & Marketing Ltd has informed that the Company has bagged order worth Rs 329.48 crores for execution of Main Plant, CW & Offsite Civil Works package for Bongaigaon Thermal Power Project (3X 250 MW) from NTPC Ltd.

Zep Inc. Selects HCL Technologies as Implementation Partner for Greenfield System

HCL Technologies Ltd has informed that on April 01, 2008 announced that it has been selected by Zep Inc. (NYSE:ZEP), a leading provider of specialty chemicals, as implementation partner for its greenfield system including the SAP® ERP Financials solution. Under the terms of this agreement, HCL will deploy, customize and manage SAP ERP Financials for Zep across the United States and Canada.
HCLs collaboration with Zep comes weeks after HCL announced an expanded global services partnership with SAP AG to deliver joint business value through a customer-centric ecosystem. Through the partnership with SAP, HCL is enabling its customer Zep to access the business benefits of enterprise service-oriented architecture (SOA) based on SAP solutions and draw upon HCLs strengths in emerging geographies, strong domain experience and service Innovation capabilities.
Over the past few years, HCL has set the pace for the industry by pioneering value or entation over volume delivery, a focus that has been a key ingredient of our continued leadership,, said Sandeep Kishore, SVP, Hi-Tech and Manufacturing at HCL Technologies. The expanded partnership with SAP was a milestone for both our Companies, and this partnership with Zep is further evidence of the value of our collaboration. Were looking forward to implementing a solution that will enable Zep to achieve greater efficiency gains in financial processes and support future growth.
Through HCLs implementation and support methodology, Zeps use of SAP solutions will support and sustain the Companys standard work processes, enable profitable business growth and allow for new capabilities like electronic business-to-business transactions. SAP ERP Financials will also provide a platform for future growth.