UBS upgrades Tech Mahindra to Buy

UBS upgrades Tech Mahindra to Buy
UBS upgrades Tech Mahindra to ' Buy' from ' Sell' and raises its target price to
Rs1,650 from Rs920, citing potential earnings upside, cheap valuations.
The investment bank says the recent rupee weakness will help offset some of the
cost associated with trying to increase revenue.
UBS adds that its shares valuations at a 50% discount to Tata Consultancy
Services( TCS) offer potential upside on earnings surprises.

     Steel Cos drop on weak China PMI data
Shares in steel companies fall on concerns that a lower-than-expected reading of
China's PMI by HSBC may weigh on the short-term prospect, according to reports.
The final HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) edged up to 50.2 in September
from August's 50.1, although that was below last week's flash reading of 51.2, with
domestic orders proving to be weaker than preliminary estimates suggested.

 Indian Hotels might get extension to operate
             Taj Mansingh Hotel
Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) is likely to get an extension of three months
to operate Taj Mansingh hotel in posh Lutyens Bungalow Zone here after its lease
expires next month.
The IHCL has been running the landmark property for past 35 years and its lease is
due to expire on October 10.
The New Delhi Municipal Council, which owns the property located in the heart of
the national capital on Mansingh road, is yet to come to any conclusion on
auctioning the hotel as it is waiting for the Solicitor General’s opinion.
The decision to grant the three months extension to IHCL is likely to be taken
during the next council meeting to be held on October 7.

GAIL gets approval for allocation of gas to
                     SPIC
GAIL has requested the petroleum ministry to issue an assurance letter for
allocation of natural gas to Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation ( SPIC)
from ONGC's Ramand field so that it can start off with its work of laying the
pipeline.
Earlier, the allocation of ONGC's gas to SPIC was denied by the petroleum ministry
on the grounds that the company's urea plant in Tamil Nadu is situated at a remote
location that does not have pipeline connectivity.
GAIL has recently agreed to lay the pipeline from ONGC's Ramand field to its
fertilizer plant; the company argues that ministry should not hesitate to allocate gas
this time.
SPIC has already entered into a gas transport agreement (GTA) with GAIL for
transportation of gas from ONGC's Ramand field to its fertilizer plant and is now
waiting for petroleum ministry's nod to allocate gas so that the gas major can
proceed with its work of laying the pipeline.
SPIC has also completed the basic and detailed engineering work and has also
procured gas burners from a UK based company, Greens Combustion Ltd.
SPIC is located within a distance of 120 km from ONGC gas field at Ramnad and
this agreement with GAIL for laying of pipeline for transportation of gas would
enable SPIC to switch over to gas as a feed stock.
View: Feedstock conversion (from naphtha to gas) will help company to improve its
energy efficiency and conversion to gas will also reduce the cost of production.
Lower cost of production will cut down its subsidy and ultimately improves its
working capital requirement.

     Dish TV gets 1 year extension from TRAI
Dish TV has announced that it has received an extension of its license to operate its
DTH business after the license was to expire on 1st October 2013.
Dish had a 10 year license to operate its DTH business. In the absence of a policy
on renewal of DTH licenses, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting decided
to grant an extension while a new policy is prepared.
I&B ministry has passed on the mantle of preparing a new policy to TRAI. Until
TRAI prepares a new policy, the DTH operator will be allowed to continue their
existing services, provided they renew their bank guarantee of Rs40 crore.
The DTH provider must also give a suitable undertaking that once the final policy in
this regard is laid down, the DTH operator will comply with that policy. Sharekhan
views this development as a positive read through for the company.

MSCI excludes MCX shares from Small Cap;
               stk down 5%
Shares of the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) dipped 5%, the maximum
daily lower limit, after index provider MSCI excluded the Indian exchange operator
from its small cap indices.
MCX shares will be deleted from the MSCI global small cap indices effective on
Wednesday, MSCI said in a statement late on Friday (September 27, 2013).

  L&T, Punj Lloyd eye Turkmenistan projects
As per media reports, L&T and Punj Llyod are planning to make big strides in
Turkmenistan by undertaking a series of high-value projects running into billions of
dollars. This comes at a time when India is firming up strategic ties with the energy-
rich nation over laying a $7 billion-plus pipeline to import natural gas besides
negotiating stakes with Turkmen authorities in giant gas fields.
L&T is hoping to win its first big order in Turkmenistan in about a month’s time,
which will mark its successful foray not only into Turkmenistan but also in CIS.
Punj Lloyd is availing opportunities in Turkmenistan including ones relating to the
building of the TAPI gas project pipeline.
L&T will also open its local office in Ashgabat in two-three month’s time, as per the
report. L&T has made a strong bid for the supply of three overseas platforms in the
Caspian for UAE-based Company Dragon Oil, as well as a gas processing plant for
Dragon, which is currently producing 70,000 barrels of oil (bpd) of oil in
Turkmenistan. L&T has also tied-up with a Turkish Company, Ronesans, for the
civil construction part of the job.

Coromandel subsidiaries to be merged with
                 company
Liberty Phosphate Limited (LPL) and Liberty Urvarak Limited (LUL), both
subsidiaries of Coromandel International Limited, will be merged with Coromandel
International through a scheme of arrangement.
Coromandel International, along with its wholly-owned subsidiary LUL, holds
79.62% equity stake in LPL. Public shareholders of LPL would be issued shares in
Coromandel International in the ratio of 7 equity shares of Re1 each of Coromandel
International for every 8 equity shares of Rs10 each of LPL in terms of the scheme.
The shares held by Coromandel International and LUL in LPL shall get
extinguished.
The merger will provide greater operational flexibility in leveraging sales and
distribution networks of both the companies besides realising synergy benefits in
the areas of manufacturing, procurement and new product development. The
combined entity will facilitate Coromandel to reach its vision of 1 mt (million tonne)
in SSP (single super phosphate) segment.

  SpiceJet dips as auditor raises red flag over
                   net worth
SpiceJet slipped over 8%, touching to Rs18.75, after the company's auditor raised
concern over the firm's net worth.
In the airline's annual report for 2012-13, auditors SR Batliboi and Associates has
stated, 'The company's operating results have been materially affected due to
various factors and as at March 31, 2013, the company's accumulated losses has
fully eroded the net worth of the company. The appropriateness of the going concern
assumption is dependent on the company's ability to establish consistent profitable
operations as well as raising adequate finance to meet its short term and long term
obligations. Based on the mitigating factors discussed in the said note, management
believes that the going concern assumption is appropriate and no adjustments have
been made in the financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2013.'
In its outlook in the annual report, SpiceJet said that while the industry outlook for
financial year 2013-14 looks a bit challenging, the company has increased its foot
print in international operations and will continue to add international destinations
and routes. This will result in additional aircraft utilisation and secure better yields.
This will also offset the risk of infusion of additional capacities into domestic
sectors.

Deepak Fertilizer may buy stake from Zuari
Deepak Fertilizer management might hold a meeting next week with Zuari
management to make an offer to buy out the latter’s stake in MCF. This would be
the first time that the suitors would meet on a deal that could benefit both.
Zuari said that they would sell their stake to the highest bidder, as he did not see
any reason for staying invested in MCF without management control. Deepak
Fertilisers said If Poddar is ready to sell stake then paying a good price for his stake
is the natural order.

                M&M increases prices by 2%
Auto maker, Mahindra & Mahindra ( M&M) has announced a 2% price hike across
its entire passenger vehicle range. The prices would be hiked between Rs 6,000 and
Rs20,000, depending upon the model and will be effective from 1 October 2013.
The depreciation of the Rupee against the US dollar has led to an increase in the
cost of raw materials necessitating a hike in the prices.
The move is in line with other passenger vehicle manufacturers (Maruti, Hyundai,
Tata Motors and General Motors) which increased prices in the range of 1-2%.

 Greaves Cotton awaits for govt nod to launch
                new products
Greaves Cotton has developed a 265 cc petrol engine to help auto OEM foray into
quadricycles, once given a go-ahead by the government.
There are multiple companies exploring an entry into the segment (Bajaj Auto is
ready with its RE60 quadricycle and players such as Piaggio, Mahindra & Mahindra
have shown an interest to enter the space).
Greaves has developed the 265 cc quadricycle petrol engines on an all-new platform
and could be adapted to run on compressed natural gas if there is need. Over the
last few years, the company has spent 5-8 % of its total R&D spends on the G 265
engine.
View: Greaves Cotton already supplies three wheeler engines to players such as
M&M and Piaggio. In the event the Government approves the “quadricycle” as new
vehicle category; Greaves Cotton is prepared to supply the engines to its existing
three wheeler customers such as M&M and Piaggio who are willing to develop
quadricycles.

      Banking, insurance sectors come under
                     scrutiny

To keep a tab on possible unfair practices, the Competition Commission of India
has begun a study of the functional aspects of the country’s growing financial
sector, including banking and insurance segments.
The study comes in the backdrop of the Government push for various financial
sector reforms as part of larger efforts to bolster the country’s economic growth.
According to CCI liberalising the financial sector would lead to participation for
more number of players and in turn may result in increased competition, while it
could also increase the fears of anti0competitive practices.

Electrosteel Steel jumps on CDR nod to recast
                      debt
Electrosteel Steel gained nearly 11%, touching to Rs4.44, after the company said
that the application of the company for restructuring of its debts to the tune of
Rs6181.20 crore has been approved by CDR EG under the CDR mechanism.
Electrosteel Steels said that the application of the company for restructuring of its
debts to the tune of Rs6181.20 crore has been approved by CDR EG under the
Corporate Debt Restructuring ( CDR) mechanism from cut off date of March 01,
2013. The term loan outstanding of non- CDR lenders amounting to 611.91 crore
will be outside the purview of CDR, the company said.
It may be recalled that Electrosteel Steels' board of directors at a meeting held on
May 20, 2013 decided to approach its bankers/lenders through the CDR process for
restructuring the company's entire debt as the company could not achieve the
'Financial Closure' of the additional loan on time as required for the project.

      Rupee recovers morning losses partially
The Indian currency fell by 40 paise to 62.91 against the dollar in early trade today,
ahead of the June quarter current account deficit data, amid month-end demand
for the American currency from oil importers.
Euro's weakness against the US dollar overseas and a lower opening in the
domestic equity market also put pressure on the local currency.
However, the rupee recovered in late trades and was currently trading down by 6
paise at 62.58 against the dollar at the interbank foreign exchange.

Bharti Airtel worried over penalty issue; stock
                     down

Shares of Bharti Airtel fall 2% on BSE, extending its Friday’s 3% fall, on reports that the telecom regulatory may
impose an additional penalty on the company for offering 3G services in the circles where it does not have
spectrum.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is likely to impose an additional penalty of Rs204.35 crore to the
country’s largest telecom operator by subscriber base Bharti Airtel for offering 3G services in the seven service
areas, through intra-circle roaming pacts with other operators, where it does not have required spectrum.
According to a recent discussion, the department has found while the operator has earned money by offering the
3G service in the seven circles where it does not have required spectrum, it has not paid the spectrum usage
charges (SUC) for the same