The government on Friday slapped an export tax on petrol, diesel and jet fuel (ATF) while also joining nations like the UK in imposing a windfall tax on crude oil produced locally. A Rs 6 per litre tax on export of petrol and ATF and Rs 13 per litre tax on export of diesel is effective from July 1, finance ministry notifications showed. Additionally, a Rs 23,250 per tonne tax was levied on crude oil produced domestically.
Other losers in the Sensex pack included IndusInd Bank, Tata Motors, TCS, Yes Bank and L&T, falling up to 3.26 per cent.
This comes at a time when the group's copper plant in Tamil Nadu remains shut for nearly three years, causing a Rs 5 crore loss every day.
Markets regulator Sebi on Wednesday imposed a penalty of Rs 5.25 crore on Cairn India for making a misleading announcement regarding the buyback of shares in 2014. In addition, the regulator levied a fine of Rs 15 lakh each on P Elango, who was the CEO and director of Cairn, Aman Mehta, who was the director on the company's board, and Neerja Sharma, who was director (risk assurance) and company secretary, Sebi said in an order. These three officials had signed the public advertisement regarding the buyback in January 2014 and facilitated the company in making the misleading announcement.
The windfall tax on oil produced within India and fuel exported overseas will make up for more than three-fourths of the revenue that the government lost when it cut excise duty on petrol and diesel to cool soaring inflation, industry sources said. India on July 1 joined a select league of nations globally that have taxed windfall gains accruing to oil companies from soaring energy prices. The government slapped a Rs 6 per litre tax on the export of petrol and jet fuel (ATF) and Rs 13 a litre on the export of diesel effective July 1. Additionally, a Rs 23,250 per tonne tax was levied on crude oil produced domestically.
The Vedanta group on Wednesday confirmed putting in a preliminary expression of interest (EoI) for buying the government's stake in Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL).
Strong gains in Vedanta Ltd, Adani Ports, Bharti Airtel and Maruti Suzuki helped the index touch record levels.
A reception often reserved for rockstars came the way of mining mogul Anil Agarwal when he started revealing nuggets of his ascent from a scrap-metal dealer to one of India's most prominent self-made industrialists on social media. And now he has been flooded with booking writing proposals and has even been offered money for a biopic. In February this year, Agarwal, 68, started tweeting his journey from Bihar to Mumbai first and then to London to head a globally diversified natural resources company with interests in zinc-lead-silver, iron ore, steel, copper, aluminium, power, oil and gas.
At the BSE, 1,879 companies declined, while 685 advanced and 131 remained unchanged.
Strong gains in metal, energy, auto and power shares lifted the key indices to new highs.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, research, Religare Broking, answers your stockmarket queries.
The Supreme Court Thursday termed the COVID-19 situation as almost a "national emergency" while agreeing to hear Vedanta's plea for opening of its Sterlite copper unit at Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu on the ground that it would produce thousand tonnes of oxygen and give it free of cost to treat patients.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has initiated discussions with banks to address financial stress in the telecom sector, particularly Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) that urgently requires fund infusion to stay afloat. There was a meeting of DOT officials and senior bankers on Friday on the issue of Vodafone, sources said, adding that banks have been asked to look for a solution within the prudential guidelines. According to sources, senior officials from the country's biggest lenders State Bank of India and Bank of Baroda were also present among others in the meeting. More such meetings are expected to take place in the coming days, they said.
While Vedanta Aluminium, Balco and Cairn India confirmed the job cuts, sources said Sesa Goa too had slashed jobs.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
Vedanta had sought handing over of the plant for three months saying it requires two months to start the unit and the company should be allowed to run it for four weeks to ascertain whether its polluting or not. The interim plea by Vedanta was opposed by Tamil Nadu government which claimed before a bench headed by Justice R F Nariman that the plant had been 'polluting consistently'.
Faced with prospect of its assets across the globe being seized just like Pakistan and Venezuela, the government decided to scrap retrospective taxation but the international embarrassment could have been avoided had 'attached' shares of Britain's Cairn Energy Plc not been sold, according to tax and legal experts. On Thursday, the government introduced a Bill in Parliament to scrap the tax rule that gave the tax department power to go 50 years back and slap capital gains levies wherever ownership had changed hands overseas but business assets were in India. The 2012 legislation was used to levy a cumulative of Rs 1.10 lakh crore of tax on 17 entities, including UK telecom giant Vodafone, but substantial punitive action was taken only in the case of Cairn.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, research, Religare Broking, answers your stockmarket queries.
The government has received three preliminary bids for buying of controlling stake in India's second-largest fuel retailer Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Wednesday. Mining-to-oil conglomerate Vedanta had on November 18 confirmed putting in an expression of interest (EoI) for buying the government's 52.98 per cent stake in BPCL. The other two bidders are said to be global funds, one of them being Apollo Global Management.
At the BSE, 1,791 stocks declined, while 948 advanced, 110 stocks remained unchanged.
A senior company executive said the company waited for seven years for the verdict and its shareholders needed to know when it would be concluded.
The government order said it endorsed the recent closure direction of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, and also asked the TNPCB to "seal the unit and close the plant permanently".
Reflecting the bullish mood, all sectoral indices ended with gains, led by auto, oil and gas, FMCG, IT and teck. The broader NSE Nifty, after crossing the 10,600-mark, settled 68.40 points, or 0.67 per cent higher at 10,598.40.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
The broader NSE Nifty ended at 10,888, a gain of 0.77 per cent or 83 points, after shuttling between 10,900.35 and 10,844.85.
Investors were seen in a cheerful mood and widened their positions in frontliners as well as midcap and smallcap stocks to mark the beginning of their new accounts
Among Sensex components, shares of Reliance Industries, India's largest company by market value, stole the show by surging 1.61 per cent to their highest in over three months.
A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice S K Kaul said the case will be heard on January 8.
To mark the first anniversary of the Sterlite firing anniversary -- 13 people died and several were injured when the Tamil Nadu police fired on a large crowd protesting -- various organisations will hold rallies and meetings in the port city.
Mark Scialla had interviewed several people on December 28 and 29 on alleged health issues faced by them due to the now closed Sterlite copper plant. Rambha said the visa clearly stated that the American national should not embark on any work except tourist activities.
Geo-political concerns over death of a Saudi journalist, Brexit and likely breach in Italy's budget also kept investors cautious.
Other than ITC, other laggards include PowerGrid, Infosys, M&M, NTPC, SBI, HDFC, Kotak Bank, HDFC Bank, TCS, Hero MotoCorp, Coal India, ONGC, RIL, Asian Paint, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel and Axis Bank.
FMCG major ITC and private banking major ICICI Bank were the top Sensex losers
Traders said falling crude prices in the global market was a big boost for the economy as it lightens the country's import bill burden, eases inflation and current account deficit concerns.
The broader NSE Nifty slipped below the 10,500-mark by falling 103 points, or 0.97 per cent, at 10,482.20. It touched a high of 10,645.50 and a low of 10,464.05 during the day.
The NSE Nifty after shuttling between 10,441.90 and 10,341.90, ended 6.15 points, or 0.06 per cent down at 10,380.45.
Seeking ArcelorMittal be declared ineligible to bid for Essar Steel, the petition cited Section 29A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code which bars promoters of defaulting companies from bidding for stressed assets.
Oil & gas, banking and pharma sector stocks stole the show
The challenge for politicians is that the continuous electoral cycle favours short-termism and the loan waiver type of policy, whereas prosperity requires hard decisions where commonly held perceptions must be disrupted and over-turned, says Dhiraj Nayyar.
The Tamil Nadu government had, on May 28, ordered the state pollution control board to seal and "permanently" close the mining group's copper plant following violent protests over pollution concerns.
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