Bharat Bandh protest: 4 killed in MP's Gwalior, Morena; top 10 developments

Dalit organisations across the country have called a 'Bharat bandh' on Monday to protest a recent Supreme Court ruling "diluting" the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. The protests left four people dead in Madhya Pradesh's Morena and Gwalior, where a curfew was later imposed. The Modi government on Monday filed a review petition on the Supreme Court judgment on the SC/ST Act. Protests turned violent in Rajasthan's Barmer, with cars and property being damaged. Similar reports emerged from Meerut. Visuals from Bharat Bandh protests in Gwalior showed shots being fired during the protests, news agency ANI reported.

Nineteen people were on Monday injured in Gwalior. Of them, two were said to be in a critical condition, news agency ANI reported. Further, internet service has been blocked in Gwalior district till 6:00 am tomorrow.

Speaking on the Bharat Bandh protests, Union Minister Ramvilas Paswan today told news agencies that one can understand if the people are protesting, but why is the "Opposition playing politics". Paswan said that parties like the Congress, which did not give the Bharat Ratna to B R Ambedkar, are now acting like his followers. 

New Nifty50 constituents trade mixed: Bajaj Finserv up 1.5%, Titan flat

New Nifty50 constituents, Bajaj Finserv, Grasim Industries and Titan Company were trading mixed on Monday after inclusion in the benchmark index Nifty50. While Bajaj Finserv and Grasim Industries gained as much as 1.8% and 3.7% respectively, Titan Company rose only 0.5% in intra-day trade.

On the other hand, Ambuja Cements (up 1.4%) Aurobindo Pharma (up 4.8%) and Bosch (up 2.4%) also rose, despite exclusion from the index.


With Bajaj Finserv’s inclusion, the number of financial services firms in the Nifty will increase to 11, while Aurobindo Pharma’s exit will bring down the number of pharma companies to four.

Bajaj Finserv, which rose over 275% in the last month, started offering personal loans at reduced interest rates of 12.99 per cent for a loan amount above Rs 10 lakh.

BSE to auction investment limits for govt bonds worth Rs 110 bn

Leading stock exchange BSE will auction investment limits for foreign investors to purchase government bonds worth over Rs 110 billion tomorrow.

The auction for investment limits for such securities has been receiving a good response from foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) in recent past.


The auction will be conducted on BSE's ebidxchange platform from 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm, after the close of market hours, the bourse said in a notice today.

The debt auction quota gives overseas investors the right to invest in the debt up to the limit purchased.

"Live bidding session for allocation of debt investment limits (Rs 110.45 billion) for FPI ... will be conducted on April 3, 2018 on exchange's 'ebidxchange' platform," BSE said.

In an auction conducted last month, investment limits for government debt securities had attracted bids to the tune of Rs 130.71 billion by FPIs as against Rs 109.8 billion on offer.

This stock helped Rakesh Jhunjhunwala beat markets in the March quarter

A 10 per cent rise in the stock of Titan Company during January – March 2018 (Q4FY18) helped Rakesh Jhunjhunwala outperform the market in March quarter, as his net worth declined less than 1 per cent compared to three per cent fall recorded by the S&P BSE Sensex.

As on March 28, 2018, the combined net worth of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and his family stood at Rs 130.21 billion, down 0.8 per cent or Rs 1.09 billion, as compared to Rs 131.30 billion at the end of December 31, 2017.

The figures are based on the family's holdings in companies where their total stake is more than one per cent (as publicly declared to exchanges), according to figures at the end of the October –December quarter source from CapitalinePlus database.

Among individual stocks, Titan Company made Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and his family richer Rs 6.39 billion during the last quarter. The ace investor holds 8.02 per cent stake in the company, translating to total value of Rs 70.61 billion, as against Rs 64.22 billion at beginning of the year.

ICICI Bank falls 5% as ED initiates enquiry in ICICI-Videocon loan

ICICI Bank hit five-month low, down nearly 5% on the BSE after the media reports suggested that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has started an enquiry into the Rs 32.50-billion loan sanctioned to the Videocon group and others by ICICI Bank, which was part of a consortium of lenders.
The stock of private sector lender was down 4.6% to Rs 265.40 on the BSE in early morning trade, its lowest level since October 24, 2017. On comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading 0.13% higher at 33,011 points at 09:38 am.

Videocon Industries was locked in lower circuit at Rs 12.45 on the BSE with no buyers were seen on the counter. A combined 999,693 shares changed hands and there were pending sell orders for around 63,871 shares on both the exchanges.

ED has written to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), seeking information on the Videocon group. The ED asked for details of the investigation into the group’s activities in the past few years, the Business Standard report suggests, quoting officials.

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