Utilities in the power sector present an interesting investment case at this moment. Most power stocks have lost substantial ground in the past 12 months.
Nineteen workers of National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Limited (NHPC) were trapped inside a power house after a landslide blocked tunnels of Dhauliganga Power Project in Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a devastating cloudburst in Kishtwar district that claimed 60 lives and injured over 100. Abdullah expressed condolences and assured assistance, while also questioning potential administrative lapses.
The changes will take effect on March 28, with portfolio adjustments expected before the market closes on March 27.
618 companies were part of the billion dollar club when the markets reached all-time highs on September 26, 2024. That number has fallen to 500 following a $1 trillion wipeout in India's market capitalisation amid relentless selling by FPIs.
RBI's interest rate decision, quarterly earnings and global cues would be the major driving factors for equity markets this week, analysts said adding that the impact of the Union Budget could linger on this week. Trading activity of foreign investors will also be a key driver for the markets, experts noted. "US and India's manufacturing PMI for January to be released on Monday, will be the key macro data to watch out for.
The 100-stock largecap basket of Mutual funds (MFs) has seen a major reshuffle in the latest semi-annual reclassification with seven midcap stocks and four new listings earning the largecap tag. According to a report from Nuvama Alternative & Quantitative Research, the midcap stocks that have been upgraded include CG Power, Rail Vikas Nigam, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, Polycab India, Indus Towers, Cummins India, and Info Edge.
Power utilities may report moderate growth in earnings for Q3FY25. Generation is up 3 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in Q3 on lower cooling demand and high base, to 429 billion units (BU). Peak demand was steady at 224 Gw in Q3FY25, a 10 per cent decline from the record highs of 250 Gw in May 2024.
Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Thursday said state-owned hydro-electric giant NHPC will come out with its initial public offering (IPO) within two months.
NHPC would infuse 10 per cent fresh equity through this public offer to raise Rs 1,680 crore (Rs 16.8 billion), while the government will divest its five per cent stake in the company.
As many as 10 merchant bankers, including ICICI Securities and SBI Cap, had evinced interest in managing the stake sale.
NHPC IPO has been put off for this fiscal, as the company has to appoint the requisite number of directors to the board.
National Hydroelectric Power Corporation General Manager Anil Kumar Agarwal, who was abducted by the outlawed militants belonging to the National Democratic Front of Bodoland on Saturday while he was on his way to Tezpur in Assam from project site at Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, has remained untraced, though police and army have launched an operation to trace him.
NHPC plans to issue 10 per cent of its new equity shares in the public offer, while the government alongside will divest its five per cent stake in the company. According to the listing norms by market regulator Sebi, independent directors should form 50 per cent of the board which is headed by executive chairman. To meet Sebi norms, NHPC should have seven independent directors on board before it can go to the market.
RBI interest rate decision, macroeconomic data and global trends would guide markets' movement this week, analysts said. Besides, trading activity of foreign investors and the last batch of Q1 earnings announcements would also guide trends in equities. HSBC PMI (Purchasing Managers' Index) for the services sector is scheduled to be announced on Monday.
Midcap stocks Hero MotoCorp, Zydus Lifesciences, JSW Energy, NHPC, Bharat Heavy Electricals, Bosch, and Samvardhana Motherson are expected to earn upgrades.
This is also the first stake sale by a state-run company in 17 months after REC went public in February 2008 to raise over Rs 1,600 crore (Rs 16 billion). The issue will open on August 7 and close on August 11. The company would sell 168 crore (1.68 billion) shares comprising of five per cent stake divestment of the government and infusion of 10 per cent fresh equity.
National Hydroelectric Power Corporation, the central power utility, has shortlisted five merchant banks for its initial public offering likely to hit the market in first quarter of FY08.
The government holds 85.96 per cent in NHPC.
Unidentified armed militants abducted a senior official of the National Hydro Power Corporation in Sonitpur district of north Assam while the official was coming from his work site at Tawang on Arunachal Pradesh on Saturday evening.
Mutual funds' largecap investment universe is expected to see seven changes in the upcoming stock reclassification exercise by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi). According to a report by IIFL Securities, Hero MotoCorp, Zydus Lifesciences, JSW Energy, NHPC, Bharat Heavy Electricals, Bosch and Samvardhana Motherson are expected to earn upgrades in the revised list of largecap, midcap and smallcap stocks set to be released in the first week of July. Amfi revises the list at the start of January and July every year based on the previous six-month performance of the stock.
The initial public offer of NHPC Ltd, the state-run hydropower producer, was subscribed 3.54 times what was on offer on Friday, the opening day.
'These are capex and infrastructure-linked sectors, PSUs or stocks of some corporate houses.'
'Those betting against PSUs will likely be punished in this upswing.'
The government is set to exceed its 2009-10 disinvestment target of Rs 1,120 crore through the first company that is slated to go to the markets this year -- NHPC.
In May, MFs were the net sellers in several PSUs, as they deployed Rs 47,600 crore in equities during the month.
As per the Interim Budget 2024-25 document tabled in the Lok Sabha, the government is not expected to receive any money from monetisation of public assets in the current fiscal.
Authorities of the National Hydro Power Corporation Limited have urged both the central and state government to resolve the relentless blockade of goods, fuels and machinery to its dam site at Gerukamukh along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border by anti-dam protestors in Assam. The NHPC officials have urged the governments to resolve the blockade to bring succour to the company staff and families living in the dam site as well as to help resume work on the project.
In all, 25 Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) posts, 8 MD posts and 2 Chairman posts are lying vacant, according to a written reply by Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises P Radhakrishnan in the Lok Sabha.
Sources said the kidnappers contacted the families of NHPC General Manager (projects) T Mandal and Chief Engineer K Singh in Delhi to convey their demand.
A K Agarwala, an official of the National Hydro Power Corporation, who was abducted by militants, was rescued by the Assam Police following an operation inside a thickly forested hilly area near Assam-Arunachal Pradesh boundary late Monday night.
Eighty-two-year Nirmala Kumari, the mother of National Hydroelectric Power Corporation general manger, Anil Kumar Agarwal who was abducted at gunpoint by Bodo militants in Assam, on Friday made a passionate appeal to the abductors to release her son on humanitarian ground.
Notwithstanding the recent sharp decline in the stocks of public sector companies, analysts at Jefferies remain bullish on this segment. State Bank of India, Coal India, and NTPC are their top picks in this space, they said in a recent note. The public sector undertaking (PSU) or state-owned enterprise (SOE) index, with a 70-percentage-point outperformance versus the National Stock Exchange Nifty50 over the past 12 months, comes after a decade of underperformance before 2020.
Janardan Choudhary, a key advisor to Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL), was named as one of the seven non-institutional members by the Union Environment Ministry when it reconstituted the Expert Appraisal Committee for hydroelectricity and river valley projects in September.
Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) is India's largest engineering and manufacturing enterprise, operating across energy, industry, and infrastructure sectors. The investment path for the stock is based on a large order backlog, continued strong order inflows, and rising power demand, which should push demand for BHEL's equipment and services. BHEL has historically held over 70 per cent market share in power projects.
The S&P BSE Sensex and the Nifty50 have hit record highs amid the poll outcome-triggered bull frenzy at the bourses. Most analysts feel that the indices are on course to rise further over the next few months - till the general elections - albeit amid intermittent corrections - largely triggered by global developments. Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) win in the three state elections of Madhya Pradesh (MP), Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, analysts at Jefferies believe, reinforces the consensus expectations of a Modi win 2024 national elections with a greater likelihood of over 300 seats for the BJP.
To tackle increasing demand, the Union Ministry of Power has urged central and state public-sector power-generating companies (gencos) and state power and energy departments to pick projects that are undergoing insolvency proceedings. The power ministry is looking at a quicker turnaround of these stressed power plants and enhancing power supply. Increasing demand is pushing states to scout for more power sources. "It is requested that state-owned gencos may be encouraged to participate in the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) of stressed power assets, which are of strategic and commercial significance to the capacity addition plans of the states concerned.
The last year has seen public sector undertakings (PSUs) outperforming the Nifty50, albeit by a small degree. But PSU valuations are still, on average, less than half of private sector peers at price-to-equity or PE 8.7x for the Nifty PSU Index versus 20.9x for the Nifty50. There are several reasons for lower valuation.
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