Bengal CM Mamata won't 'waste' funds on 'Modicare'; first state to opt out

Pointing out that West Bengal had already enrolled 5 million people under its own healthcare programme, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said that the state will not waste its resources on National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS), which was unveiled in the Union Budget this year.

This way, Bengal became the first state to opt out of the scheme, also known as Modicare, which Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced as world’s largest health insurance scheme covering 500 million people in the country.

Replacing the existing Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, the government targets an annual premium of Rs 1,200 to cover a single family.

The states have to choose between a trust-based scheme or an insurance-based scheme and will have to scrap similar existing programme.

Basmati rice stocks rally; KRBL up 8% on fund buying

Shares of basmati rice producers rallied by up to 15% on the BSE on back of heavy volumes in otherwise subdued market after the Pabrai Investment Fund bought nearly three percentage point stake in KRBL through open market purchases.
Kohinoor Foods (up 15% at Rs 79.85), KRBL (8% at Rs 647) and LT Foods (8% at Rs 99.65) have rallied more than 7% on the BSE.

On comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading 0.1% higher at 34,336 at 10:20 am.
On Monday, February 12, 2018, The Pabrai Investment Fund II LP and The Pabrai Investment Fund IV LP had bought combined 6.41 million equity shares representing 2.73% stake of KRBL for Rs 3.81 billion.
The Pabrai Investment Fund II LP bought 2.4 million shares at Rs 594 and The Pabrai Investment Fund IV LP bought 4.02 million shares at Rs 594, the bulk deal data shows.
Abdullah Ali Balsharaf and Omar A

RBI's measures are good; be selective in buying PSU banks, say analysts

Banking stocks came under selling pressure on Wednesday after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) unveiled new norms for dealing with non-performing assets (NPAs) on Monday. Nifty PSU Bank was the worst performing index, falling over 3% in intra-day deals with Punjab National Bank, Bank of India, Canara Bank, IDBI and Oriental Bank of Commerce slipping 4.3% to 7%.
Also Read: NPA levels of banks set to bloat with RBI's mega resolution framework
The fall comes on the back of a revised framework on resolution of stressed assets issued by the RBI, which is likely to increase the reported non-performing asset (NPA) levels of the banks in coming quarters. From a long-term perspective, however, analysts see the new rules helping early identification of stress and resolution of issues. Not only will the move promote better credit discipline, they see it as a precursor to implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) going ahead.

"Corporate banks with higher quantum of stressed / restructured assets (Canara Bank, PNB, Bank of India, Union Bank, SBI and ICICI Bank) may see higher proportion of their bad loans drifting toward IBC process (failing any satisfactory resolution plan), as the upgrade / recovery chances of such tenured stressed loans remains low," say analysts at Motilal Oswal Research.

Top trading ideas for today's trade: Buy Bharat Forge, UPL ltd

Nifty View: Nifty has been trading in the upward sloping channel on the daily charts and recent bottom of 10276 is placed around the lower band of that channel. So, there are good chances of bounce back from current levels. Any close above 10638, without violating the support of 10276 would result in to higher bottom followed by higher top on daily charts, indicating short term bullish trend reversal. Stochastic oscillator has exited from the oversold zone, indicating probable bullish trend reversal on the daily charts. Resistances for Nifty are 10638, 10724 and 10830. Long terms support for the Nifty is around 10000, the 200 DMA.

Buy Bharat Forge CMP: 776 SL: 750 Tgt: 820
Stock price has recently surpassed the crucial resistance of double top placed at 750 odd levels. Stock price has also ended the consolidation range between 680 and 750 for last four months.
Stock has recently registered new all-time higher volumes. Primary trend has been bullish with higher tops and higher bottoms on the monthly charts. Considering the technical evidences discussed above, we recommend buying the stock between 776 and 760, for the target of 820, keeping a stop loss at 750 on closing basis.

Buy UPL ltd CMP: Rs 726.5 Stop Loss: Rs 695 Target: Rs 770
Last week, Stock price formed strong base around 680 odd levels and reversed the trend towards north. Triple bottom formation is observed on the weekly charts, indicating bullish trend reversal. Oscillators like RSI and Stochastics have come out from the oversold zone, indicating probable pullback. Stock price has also surpassed last 5 days high with fair volumes. Considering the technical evidences discussed above, we recommend buying the stock between 726.5 and 705, for the target of 770, keeping a stop loss at 695 on closing basis

Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S leak shows all-screen front, dual cameras on back

Xiaomi is one of the companies that were the first to venture into the untapped bezel-less screen segment. The first-generation bezel-less smartphone -- the Mi Mix – from the stable of the China-based smartphone manufacturer was a concept device. It had a huge screen of 6.4-inch covering the entire front…well, almost.

The second-generation device, however, sees some major improvements in terms of handling, design and aesthetics. And the phone – the Mi Mix 2 – was launched in more countries than its predecessor.

The second-generation device, with edge-to-edge screen on three sides and a limited chin at the bottom to accommodate front camera, also made it close to be actually called an all-screen mobile phone.