Corporate
DLF Pramerica Life Insurance is expecting new business of about Rs 90 crore in 2010, three times the business generated in the first year of operations.
Essar Group today said it will invest $400 million in upgrading the refinery it had bought in Kenya.
Shares of Voltas spurted 20.55 per cent to Rs 118.2 on announcement of decent FY09 results. Net profit for the year ended March 31, 2009, increased by 21 per cent to Rs 251.40 crore, while total income rose 34 per cent to Rs 4,361.72 crore during the period.
Opposition is set to rake up several issues
Mansi Taneja / New Delhi October 30, 2009, 0:18 IST
American chocolate maker Hershey and the charitable trust that controls it are nearing a final decision on whether to bid for British confectionery major Cadbury, says a media report.
Says IITs will decide the eligibility criteria.
The Blackstone Group, the global private equity giant, today said that it had pumped in an additional $23 million (around Rs 110 crore) into Allcargo Global Logistics.
Calls it ‘unappealing prospect’ from a ‘low-growth’ conglomerate.
The US-based private equity firm Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) today said it would pick up a little over 2 per cent stake in NSE, the country"s largest stock exchange in terms of trading volume, for about Rs 252 crore, valuing the bourse at over Rs 12,000 crore.
Construction firm Gammon Infrastructure Projects today said it has fixed October 27 as the record date for the proposed stock-split.
Gammon Infrastructure Projects has acquired 22.8 million shares of Vizag Seaport (VSPL) increasing its stake in the firm to 73.76 per cent and made it a subsidiary of the company.
The markets have resumed their upmove after retreating on Monday. The Sensex has again crossed the 17k mark to 17,045, higher by 62 points, and the Nifty is at 5,090, up 23 points. Metals, energy and realty stocks are in the limelight.
A court here has issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Karnataka minister for tourism and mining magnate Janardhana Reddy in connection with a criminal case against him. The Sandur Judicial First Class Magistrate (JMFC) K Amarnath issued the NBW on December 30 and posted the case for hearing to February 3.
In yet another feather to its cap, the Incredible India campaign bagged the prestigious Grand Prix Award. Tourism Minister Kumari Selja received the award for the Incredible India promotional film in Vienna yesterday.
Former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore, against whom fresh cases involving serious charges have been registered, was today granted interim bail till January 7 by a local sessions court hearing the Ruchika molestation case.
The Board of Approval (BoA), the apex body which clears special economic zone (SEZ) projects, will meet next month to approve fresh proposals.
At a time when cities are looking at improving transport and residential properties for urban development, the Asian Planning Schools" Association (APSA) concluded on the first day of its 10th International Congress held at Centre for Environment Planning and Technology (CEPT) University that the key lies in reducing number of slums as well.
Accepting that monsoon has been inadequate in several parts of northern India, the government today said that in case sowing failed due to lack of rains, it would make additional seeds available to the states.
The limited review of the first quarter results of Kingfisher Airlines has raised questions about the accounting standards being followed by the airline. The review report says that besides other irregularities, tax expense and employee cost were reported 27 per cent and 21 per cent less, respectively.
United Breweries (UBL), the country’s largest, controlled by billionaire Vijay Mallya, has posted a strong 57 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 35.5 crore for the first quarter of the current fiscal, compared with the year-ago period.
Business Standard / New Delhi July 16, 2009, 0:41 IST
Falcon Tyres has more than tripled in little over a month, post closure of its open offer. The stock has zoomed significantly from Rs 149 on 10 June to Rs 531 today.
The NSE Nifty today opened flat at 4,501, and touched a high of 4,524 before slipping into the negative zone. Post-noon trades, the index slipped deeper into red to a low of 4,436 - down 88 points from the day"s high owing to profit-taking in IT stocks.
DHL, world"s leading logistics company announced today that its freight forwarding division DHL Global Forwarding has signed a security partnership with Air India-SATS, Bengaluru.
Kolkata-based Jai Balaji Industries has raised Rs 198.50 crore through a qualified institutional placement (QIP) issue.
Enthused by a 12 per cent growth in traffic in contrast to a decline in the aviation industry, the new CEO of SpiceJet Sanjay Aggarwal has said he would transform the airline from a casual business entity to a professionally-run company within a year.
A cartoon in a Delhi newspaper, which allegedly depicted a Victoria policeman as a member of hate group Ku Klux Klan in the wake of attacks on Indians, has sparked an outrage in Australia with acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard condemning it as "deeply offensive".
TECH TONIC
If 2009 was a year when three of the country’s largest private sector financial services groups saw new faces at the top, next year could see over a dozen new faces lead state-owned financial sector entities.
The market is likely to be volatile on the last day of the expiry of the December series as rollovers in index and stocks futures on the penultimate day were substantially lower than the same time last month.
Chennai-based TVS Motor today said it might venture into the above-200cc segment in the bikes market as it looked to increase its footprint in the two-wheeler business.
The stock extended gains and surged to a new 52-week high of Rs 360 - up 6.5%. It finally ended at Rs 355, up 4.7%. The counter clocked comparatively heavy volumes of 15,401 shares as against its two-week daily average trade of 3,486.
After developing the electric version of its flagship passenger car Indica, country"s largest auto maker Tata Motors is now working on hybrid city buses aimed at providing eco-friendly transportation solutions for Indian cities.
The FBI has charged a further 14 people, including two Indians and Wall Street professionals, in a widening $53 million insider trading scam, the largest ever such case in the United States.
Even as IT bellwether Cognizant Technology Solutions raised its outlook for 2009-10, it reported a 21 per cent growth in net profit for the quarter ended September 30, 2009, to $136.6 million compared with $112.8 million during the corresponding period a year ago.
Bharti Airtel and Cisco today announced a strategic business alliance to create products and services for the small, medium and large enterprises.
Biofuels have a limited role in India due to land limitation and food security issues, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said today, a view which differs from the official line pushing for a 20 per cent blend of such fuel in gasoline and diesel by 2017.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has conveyed to the United States, India"s concern over misuse of its military and other kind of aid by Pakistan.
Accusing Pakistan of not doing enough to bring to book the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said India does not know whom to deal with in Islamabad as the army is the most powerful force in the neighbouring country.
Viceroy Hotels ended at Rs 54, higher by Rs 1 or 2.6%, on the BSE.
Buoyed by optimism, offshoots of economic revival and more stable job market vis-à-vis 2009, the people are loosening their purse strings and splurging on shopping sprees to mark the arrival of 2010.
The area under wheat rose a marginal 2 per cent this year on favourable climatic conditions. Late monsoon left adequate moisture content in the soil that suited the wheat sowing for this rabi season.
United Spirits Ltd (USL), the flagship spirits arm of the UB Group, is looking at a bond offering within the next six months in an effort to refinance Rs 3,000 crore of debt.
Scientists in the US have developed a rapid and automated swine flu testing method that will enable quick and effective diagnosis decisions.
Bajaj Auto, the country’s second largest motorcycle manufacturer, has quietly discontinued two of its flagship products in the past three months to make way for more expensive models.
Noted economist Suman Bery is both passionate and learned about this art form.
Indians living abroad are equally eligible for housing loans from banks here but with some riders.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or Icann, has set the ball rolling for web addresses in scripts other than Latin. This will allow uniform resource locators (URLs), as web addresses are called in virtual parlance, in languages other than English, including Hindi, Tamil or Bhojpuri.
With an average internet connection speed of 1,100 Kbps for the second quarter of 2009, Karnataka has been ranked second in a study of the top 10 Indian states for their average connection speeds. The state has recorded a 32 per cent increase in the average connection speed over last year.
Galleon Group LLC, the hedge fund firm at the center of a $20-million insider trading prosecution, came to the attention of prosecutors by 2001 for allegedly soliciting internal data on Silicon Valley companies.
Commotion broke out today at a conference aimed at promoting peace between India and Pakistan when a section of the audience objected to the presence of JKLF leader Yasin Malik as a speaker.
Tata Steel has invested Rs five crore on developing the Dharani Dhar sports complex at Sankarpur in Keonjhar.
World"s top forging company Bharat Forge reported a sharp decline of 68.03 per cent in consolidated net profit to Rs 20.33 crore during the fourth quarter of the financial year 2008-09 as against Rs 63.6 crore posted over the same quarter a year ago.
Kerala-based South Indian Bank (SIB) has registered 55.64 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 60.11 crore for the first quarter of the fiscal.
World"s largest car maker Toyota today said it is looking to expand its dealership network in the country with plans to have a total of 150 outlets by 2010.
The country"s second-largest car maker Hyundai Motor India today said it would invest $40 million for setting up an R&D centre in India next year.
The Indo-US nuclear deal and India"s subsequent entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), ending 34 years of nuclear isolation, has thrown open business opportunities worth an estimated $100 billion by the year 2032. The country is planning to increase its nuclear power generation by about 60,000 mega watts (Mw) within the next 25 years. This planned capacity addition is being executed by the state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL). Its head, Chairman and Managing Director SK JAIN, tells P B JAYAKUMAR about his plans and expectations. Excerpts:
Almost a year after its inception, the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar (IITGn) has got its own director in Sudhir K Jain. An expert in earthquake engineering, Jain graduated with a BE in civil engineering from IIT Roorkee before he went on to pursue a masters degree, as well as PhD in structural engineering. In an interview with VINAY UMARJI & CHITRA UNNITHAN, Jain talks about his plans of making IITGn “one of the finest institutions in the world”. Edited excerpts:
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today expressed optimism that it would be possible to clock over six per cent growth rate in the current fiscal and said there is no scope for anxiety in pursuing reforms in financial sector and disinvestment.
PTC India Ltd, the country’s largest power trading firm, has posted a 76.8 per cent rise in net profit for the quarter ended June 2009 owing to increased trading volume and higher treasury income.
Media and Entertainment Group UTV Software Communications today said its consolidated net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2009, slipped by 40.16% to Rs 11.22 crore.
Despite the economic recovery, the government"s direct tax collections increased by a marginal 3.7 per cent to Rs 1.83 lakh in the first eight months of this fiscal compared to the same period a year ago.
Shri Renuka Sugars has acquired "Vale Do Ivai S.A Acucar E Alcool (VDI)", a Brazilian sugar and ethanol production company. The acquisition includes two sugar and ethanol production facilities located in the southern state of Parana with a combined cane crushing capacity of 3.1 mn tonnes per annum. In addition, VDI holds strategic stakes in several logistics assets including terminals for staoarge and loading of sugar and ethanol at the port of Paranagua. Larger part of the sugarcane requirements at VDI are met through its own cultivation of more than 18,000 hectares of land on long lease.
The Sensex has opened down 22 points at 16,826. The index is now down 25 points at 16,825.
Riding on all-time high realisation and a sharp jump in profitability, domestic sugar companies are looking to strengthen their balance sheet by reducing debt. Prices are at an all-time high and companies expect it to remain firm for at least the next four-five quarters.
Tata Steel"s net profit dipped 49.4 per cent to Rs 902.94 crore in the second quarter of 2009 compared to Rs 1787.81 crore in the quarter ended September 30, 2008. Its total income plunged 18.23 per cent from Rs 7054.33 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2008 to Rs 5768.16 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2009.
Siemens closed at Rs 571, down by 2.5% or Rs 14 on the BSE. The stock opened at Rs 590 and touched a high of Rs 605 and a low of Rs 565 during the day. A total of 272,659 shares were traded on the BSE as against the 2-week average of 109,271 shares.
Diversified firm Siemens today said the company, in consortium with Siemens AG, has bagged an order worth Rs 403 crore from Qatar-based Ezdan Real Estate QSC for power related works.
TRF, which provides material handling/processing systems and equipment, today announced a consolidated net profit after minority interest of Rs 11.92 crore for the second quarter of current fiscal.
Despite uncertainties over cane pricing, sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh plan to commence crushing as early as possible, in order to avoid any recovery loss which may impact their operating performance.
Maytas Infra Ltd (MIL) has announced that it has bagged the Rs 790-crore Pune-Solapur road contract from IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd (ITNL). The project is to be completed in 20 months.
The British government is planning to pump in an additional capital of up to 19 billion pound into the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and hike its stake to as much as 84 per cent, a move that would virtually nationalise the bank.
A group of shareholders of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) today said it is planning to take legal action against the bank for allegedly misleading the investors in its May 2008 rights issue prospectus.
NCP has "broadly agreed" with its ally Congress on power sharing in Maharashtra and a new government would be in place in the state shortly, party leader Praful Patel said.
The government today said it does not maintain statistics of Muslim employees in Central government services but it has data for the five minority communities as a whole.
The stock touched a high of Rs 233 and finally settled 4% higher at Rs 228. The counter clocked volumes of 1.93 million shares on the BSE.
Business Standard / Mumbai October 31, 2009, 0:51 IST
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has opposed finance ministry directive of parking its surplus funds with only PSU banks saying it is losing Rs 360 crore of interest revenues annually as state-run banks offer lower interest rates when business is given to them on nomination.
Foreign investment in the Indian stock markets may cross $10 billion-mark by the end of this month as a hefty $9.8 billion (Rs 47,674 crore) have already been poured into the bourses by overseas entities so far this year, analysts feel.
The initial share sale offer of Indiabulls Power attracted five anchor investors, raising over Rs 316.46 crore, before the slated opening of the issue on Monday.
Business Standard / New Delhi October 30, 2009, 0:45 IST
Crisis in Karnataka BJP continued today with dissidents persisting with their demand for the removal of Chief Minister B S Yuddyurappa, who said that the party leadership is evolving a "new formula" to end the stalemate.
Karnataka government has decided to provide airlink as an added attraction to lure tourists to this year’s Dasara festival at Mysore. The state’s tourism department has decided to charter a 65-seater ATR short haul aircraft to fly passengers from Bangalore to Mysore from September 22 for five days, Minister for Tourism G Janardhana Reddy told reporters here.
Global technology and consultancy giant Accenture today said it is going to add around 8,000 people in India by the end of next year taking its total employee base in the country to 50,000.
Tata Steel has reduced flat steel products prices 4 per cent on account of a weakening global trend. The new prices will be effective November 1. Prices of long products will remain unchanged.
The stock dipped further to a low of Rs 19.50 - down 7% from the day"s high. It finally ended with a 5% loss at Rs 19.75. Over 7.41 million shares were traded on the BSE today.
The condition of 95-year-old marxist patriarch Jyoti Basu, who is suffering from acute pneumonia, today continued to be critical and he is being given ventilatory support, doctors attending on him said.
Public sector lender Bank of India today reported a decline of 57 per cent in net profit to Rs 323.34 crore for the second quarter of current fiscal, over the same period a year earlier.
Is it better to invest short-term money in an arbitrage fund instead of liquid funds? The returns from the former, being equity-oriented, are tax-free after a year, while those of a liquid fund, which is a debt fund, would be taxable. More, in a falling interest rate scenario, liquid funds are not expected to return 8 to 9 per cent as earlier. On the other hand, arbitrage funds can comfortably return 7 per cent. Suggest some good arbitrage funds.
The excise and custom collections from the northern region declined by 49.14 per cent and 18.21 per cent, respectively, in the first six months of this fiscal.
The Indian real estate is expected to enter the recovery phase by end-this year and macro-economic and sector-specific factors will act as catalysts in this recovery, a leading real estate consultancy said.
With wholesale price inflation not reflecting true picture of food prices, the government today justified the introduction of separate index numbers for primary products and manufacturing items, saying the new mechanism give better reflection of price movements.
Is Rs 500 enough to start an entrepreneurship venture?
The chief executive officers of JPMorgan Chase & Co, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Morgan Stanley will headline the inaugural hearing of a congressional panel investigating Wall Street’s financial crisis.
As deadline draws closer for implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST), the Centre today said discussions on various issues have made "considerable progress".
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended flat at 10,466 and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.75% to 2,270, respectively.
US fund house TIAA-CREF has exited Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and other Chinese energy companies over their investments in war-torn Sudan, but the Indian company said its operations did not support suppressive activities anywhere in the world.
The Indian rupee dropped further by 46 paisa to 46.90 against the greenback on persistent demand for dollar from oil companies amid sharp fall in equity market.
The Indian rupee today depreciated by 8 paise to 46.28 against the US currency in early trade on expectations of capital outflows by foreign funds.
The United Arab Emirate"s central bank has allayed concerns about local banks, saying these lenders have raised their capital and proved themselves by weathering the global financial crisis.
Engineering and construction firm Jaihind Projects today said it has bagged an order worth Rs 14.05 crore from Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) for a pipeline project.
With the projected traffic of the port sector in the country pegged at 1570 million tonne per annum (mtpa) by 2011-12, the government will have to remove various impediments to achieve overall growth of the ports.
The government today referred to CCEA a proposal of German commercial vehicle maker Daimler to buy out its erstwhile partner Hero Group"s entire 40 per cent stake in a joint venture to produce trucks in India.
In a major breakthrough, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) today signed agreements to pick up stake in a giant gas field and an LNG plant in Iran, which also awarded the rights to develop a gas discovery it made in the Persian Gulf two years ago.
Steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal has pulled out of a project involving development of an oilfield in Kazakhstan in partnership with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). It is now looking for buyers for its stake in another company in the Central Asian nation.
Samruddhi Cement, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Grasim Industries, is all set to merge with UltraTech Cement – Grasim’s another subsidiary, on July 1, 2010. The merger, to be completed by September 2010, will result into world’s tenth-largest cement maker.
India should aim to increase its merchandise exports to $300 billion by 2014 and adopt a multi-pronged strategy to accelerate competitiveness of domestic goods in global markets, Assocham said.
Merchandise exports contracted for the eighth consecutive month.
Indian women may not have proportionate representation in companies, but they are better off than women elsewhere. Eleven per cent of 240 large companies — Indian-owned as well as multinational, private as well as state-owned — have women CEOs, according to a study carried out by executive search firm EMA Partners. In comparison, only 3 per cent of the Fortune 500 companies have women CEOs.
Two senior officials of AES Corporation are likely to visit Orissa on 17 November to hold discussion with the government officials pertaining to the proposed expansion of the unit-3 & 4 (660Mw x 2) of the IB Thermal Power Station of the Orissa Power Generation Corporation (OPGC).
Mining, manufacturing grow in double digits.
How Wills Lifestyle hopes to stand out in the crowded readymade apparel market.
Global satellite navigation device maker Garmin today said it has entered into a tie-up with Reliance Retail to launch its car navigation products in India.
Sidhartha / Mumbai December 25, 2009, 0:43 IST
There is a need to include ethics and morals in the curriculum of engineering and management education, M C Bhandare, the Orissa governor said here at the Fifth Annual Convocation of KIIT University.
The petition filed by Nandini Raju, wife of Satyam Computer Services’ jailed founder, B Ramalinga Raju, seeking the court’s permission for her to bear his medical treatment expenses, has been posted for tomorrow.
In a significant development, Qatar today agreed to look into India"s demand for an additional 5 million tonnes a year of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to meet its growing energy needs.
A committee set by the Petroleum Ministry to probe into the causes of the devastating fire at the IOC depot near here began its inquiry today by visiting the site.
Some trends of the decade in popular music, encompassing hits, losses, challenges, rivalries, victories, tv, movies — and himesh reshammiya.
Mukesh Ambani Group firm Reliance Industries (RIL) and Anil Ambani"s Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) today joined hands to oppose the plea of a shareholder in both the companies to be made party in their ongoing dispute in the Supreme Court over the gas price to be supplied from the KG basin.
Imagine walking into a washroom at one of the multiplexes and being welcomed with a message that terms you “the Fourth Idiot”. Don’t feel offended as you are just watching the promotion of 3Idiots, an Aamir Kan-starrer to be released this Friday.
The Indian entertainment and media (E&M) corporates will prefer Hollywood over Bollywood in terms of investment in the near future, as over 90 per cent of the Bollywood movies flop annually, a study said.
The year 2009 proved to be a turning point in the ties between India and Russia as the two strategic allies put aside the chill and "misunderstandings" to re-discover each other in the changing global scenario and extended their defence cooperation for another decade.
Business Standard / December 27, 2009, 0:21 IST
India and China have not only agreed to act to cut down emissions but are also willing to be accountable for their action, Australia"s environment minister has said.
The Satyam Computer accounting scam, slowdown and resultant hiring freeze by many made 2009 a forgettable year for the Indian Information Technology industry.
Business Standard / New Delhi December 17, 2009, 0:56 IST
Every third Indian is living below the poverty line, far more than believed earlier, according to the revised estimates of an expert group on the subject, chaired by Suresh Tendulkar, eminent economist and former chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council.
Learn lessons from Jharkhand
Sanjaya Baru / New Delhi December 21, 2009, 0:42 IST
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has sanctioned Rs 793.85 crore to implement various projects in Tamil Nadu.
The West Bengal cabinet in a meeting today okayed creation of 606 new posts and filling up of 264 vacancies in different departments, the state"s finance minister, Asim Dasgupta, said.
Rajat Roy / New Delhi November 22, 2009, 0:36 IST
Debt sold by Citigroup Inc, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co is among the $450 billion of securities that Moody’s Investors Service said it may downgrade.
In an all-cash deal, a consortium of India Power Corporation Ltd (IPCL) and Srei Infrastructure Finance Ltd has won the bid for a controlling stake of 57.17 per cent in DPSC Ltd (formerly Dishergarh Power Supply Company), which was previously held by public sector units Andrew Yule, Life Insurance Corp and United India Insurance.
Taking a leaf from positive signals emanating from the stock markets in the last few sessions, companies in Uttar Pradesh hope to see further boost to the state’s industrialisation in 2010.
Companies in dire straits often roll the dice in a bid to stave off bankruptcy. The problem is that last-ditch efforts to raise new funds or restructure often come at the expense of bondholders. Struggling companies, their advisers and lenders should think twice about such strategies after an almost $700-million judgment last month against Citigroup Inc, Bank of America Corp, Wells Fargo & Co and other lenders, in connection with the bankruptcy of home builder Tousa Inc.
The rupee today appreciated by 10 paise to hit a 15-month high of 45.74 a dollar in early trade, tracking other firming Asian currencies.
Century Textiles
Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee today said that construction on coal bearing areas should not be a problem, allaying apprehensions from the state government over Coal India’s objections on having industrial projects in the Asansol-Durgapur belt of Bardhaman district.
The Future Group is foraying into the lingerie segment, with its own new brand, ‘Mohena’, as part of an aim to launch more private labels.
HCL Technologies today said it has bagged a five-year deal from US-based flavoured beverage producer Dr Pepper Snapple Group.
State-owned mining giant NMDC is all set to pick up majority stake in Kudremukh Iron Ore Company (KIOCL
Citigroup Inc, Marshall & Ilsley Corp and Huntington Bancshares Inc ended 2009 with the biggest drops in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, weighed down by defaulting property loans that may add to their declines this year.
The Comptroller and Auditor General has termed as "unwise" the crores of rupees spent on the upgradation and extension of the airstrip in Safai, the native village of Mulayam Singh Yadav, during his tenure as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
Fortis Healthcare today said it has completed the acquisition of 10 Wockhardt hospitals in metro cities of Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata for Rs 909 crore.
The Sensex and the Nifty closed in the red on Friday on profit-booking in technology stocks and lack of interest in other pivotals at current levels. The trading volume on the F&O segment remained lackluster as the Nifty provided little scope for trading since it moved in a tight range of 20-30 points on Friday.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers of Rs 494.66 crore (provisional) today, according to data released by BSE.
The indices closed flat for the third consecutive session. In line with its Asian peers, the Sensex was down nearly 200 points in opening trades. But a recovery in the Japanese markets engineered a turnaround on Dalal Street. The Sensex finally ended at 16,356, lower by one point, and the Nifty closed at 4,906, up 24 points. Consumer durables, IT and auto sectors traded firm, while FMCG and banking were sluggish.