In what seemed a political understanding, Trinamool Congress chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee stayed away from a cabinet committee meeting where the government finally cleared two disinvestment proposals she had been opposing.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
Coal India Limited (CIL) proved a virtual gold mine for the government in the year gone by. The spectacular share sale of the world's largest coal miner ahead of Diwali added glitter and spark to the government's fund-raising plans through divestment in key PSUs.
In the Sensex kitty, ITC turned star performer by surging 2.45 per cent, followed by NTPC rising 2.19 per cent.
The economy can't grow without increasing electrification, which requires more power plants, and given coal is the cheapest form of fuel and is abundant, it makes sense that India is looking to boost the use of the fuel.
The PSU had earlier this week filed the draft papers for its initial public offering, billed to be India's biggest issue, through which the government expects to raise up to Rs 15,000 crore (Rs 150 billion).
According to Religare, the revised announcement implies a significantly lower cash call on the markets -- from $32 billion over FY11-FY15 expected earlier to a total issuance of $9.4 billion over the same period (with $4.6 billion coming in from public sector units as against $26.3 billion earlier).
Earlier this year, the government raised around Rs 1,000-crore by selling its stake in Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
Euphoric about India's biggest IPO, possibly to garner up to Rs 15,000 crore, from the world's largest coal producer CIL, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal on Friday said October is an "auspicious" month to launch the issue.
Barring oil and gas, all BSE sectoral indices finished in the green.
It will be helpful advice for a chief minister-in-waiting who is going to have to deal with empty coffers and overflowing expectations
Top sources in the government told Business Standard that Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's opposition to divestment plans of profit-making public sector entities prompted the cabinet not to take it up for discussion today.
In the Sensex kitty on Wednesday, Tata Motors emerged as the top loser falling 3.01 per cent, followed by Vedanta shedding 2.92 per cent. Other laggards include HUL, Kotak Bank, NTPC, Infosys, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, Hero MotoCorp, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank, HDFC, IndusInd Bank and PowerGrid, falling up to 1.77 per cent.
Road projects alone worth $10 billion face delays over land disputes and other clearances.
There was a sharp fall in power output on Thursday from a plant in Gujarat that left India more than 9,000 megawatts short of peak demand, according to two officials at the state grid operator.
The government on Wednesday expressed disappointment over a French company snapping up Mahatma Gandhi's Johannesburg house, through Sotheby's auction firm, but said it will continue efforts to acquire the heritage property through a public sector company."The matter concerns national sentiment and I will leave no stone unturned to acquire the historic property and declare it a national monument," said Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal.
The 13 firms under consideration had nearly a million employees as of March 2018, including contractual and temporary workforce.
The BSE Sensex was down 326 points at 23,277 and the Nifty was down 107 points at 7,056.
Stock market bellwether Sensex hit an all-time closing high of 20,893-mark on Thursday and analysts are bullish that the index may surpass its life-time peak of 21,206.77 on Friday on the auspicious occasion of Diwali.
Mutual funds breathed easy today, with the flow into liquid and liquid-plus schemes soaring to Rs 30,000-35,000 crore. This is in contrast to the situation over the past few days when a liquidity squeeze caused by the Coal India issue soaking up cash forced companies and banks to withdraw money from mutual funds.
Committed to keep fiscal deficit under check, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has convened a high-level meeting on Tuesday to push forward the disinvestment programme with a view to achieve the budgetary target of Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) in the current fiscal.
The indices closed with losses for the week, with the Sensex declining 476.14 points, and the broader NSE Nifty falling 155.45 points during the period.
Reliance Industries on Tuesday toppled state-run oil major ONGC to become the country's second most valued firm after TCS.
In the run-up to the Coal India initial public offering (IPO), brokers are offering Rs 500-700 to 'rent' the demat accounts of retail investors not subscribing to the issue. The rent is for the duration of the issue, which opens on Monday and closes four days later.
In view of flurry of IPOs expected in the immediate future, here is a simple tip which will make investors' participation in IPOs more profitable and enjoyable.
Government-owned companies are more generous in rewarding their shareholders with dividends.
Select companies in infra, capital goods, private banks, auto, oil & gas, and mining could be considered by investors.
The provision in the new mining bill approved by a group of ministers last week for 26 per cent profit sharing by mining companies with affected residents of the area they operate in hasn't been welcomed by many in the sector.
It is up to the government to take a decision on this before it starts auctioning.
The incidence of shareholder activism in India is more than that in other Asian countries, according to a BNP Paribas Asia Strategy report.
Its market capitalisation tops those of the 3 largest Indian firms combined
Gains were led by Tata Motors amid robust sales in June along with select financials.
Coal India Ltd, the world's largest coal producer, may buy up to a 15 per cent stake in US-based Peabody Energy Corp's Australian assets early next fiscal for an estimated USD 100 million (about Rs 450 crore).
The top gainers on the Sensex are Gail(India), HDFC, Infosys.
The BSE 30-share index after a positive opening stretched to 31,772.41, but could not stay there for long buffeted by the selling pressure. It hit a low of 31,562.25 before settling lower by 79.68 points, or 0.25 per cent, at 31,592.03.
The amount is around a fifth of the cumulative investment in fixed assets by these companies.
Both benchmark indices were driven by strong gains in IT, teck, oil and gas, pharma and banking shares amid earnings optimism.
Kicking off its disinvestment drive, the government will sell 5 per cent of its stake in steel major SAIL on Nov 5.
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