IT, oil stocks drag indices slip into red zone
Dragged by late selling, the 30-share BSE Sensex fell by 176.43 points or 0.21 per cent to settle at 83,536.08. During the day, it lost 330.23 points or 0.39 per cent to 83,382.28. The 50-share NSE Nifty declined 46.40 points or 0.18 per cent to end at 25,476.10.
From the Sensex firms, HCL Tech, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, Reliance Industries, Bharat Electronics and ICICI Bank were among the laggards. Bajaj Finance, Hindustan Unilever, UltraTech Cement and Power Grid were among the gainers.
'Indian key indices remained largely range-bound, while domestic consumption themes continued to anchor investor sentiment. Despite global trade tensions and commodity tariffs, investor focus is increasingly shifting toward domestic earnings and structural growth drivers, including a likely sequential recovery in urban demand and a pickup in infrastructure-led spending,' Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.
The US has extended the suspension of its April 2 reciprocal tariffs until August 1. Shares of mining giant Vedanta dropped 3.38 per cent to end at Rs 440.80 on the BSE after US short seller Viceroy Research released a report charging billionaire Anil Agarwal's mining conglomerate to be 'financially unsustainable' and posing a severe risk to creditors. Viceroy said it was shorting the debt stack of Vedanta Resources, the parent company and majority owner of Mumbai-listed Vedanta Ltd, as it released the 85-page report.
Responding to the report, Vedanta in a statement said, 'The report is a malicious combination of selective misinformation and baseless allegations to discredit the Group'. 'Markets traded in a volatile but in a narrow range and ended marginally lower, extending the ongoing consolidation phase. While the tariff-related concerns linger, the focus now shifts to the earnings season, with IT major, TCS, scheduled to announce its results on Thursday, July 10,' Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.
The BSE SmallCap gauge climbed 0.45 per cent while midcap index dipped 0.05 per cent. Among BSE sectoral indices, oil & gas dropped the most by 1.41 per cent. Metal (1.41 per cent), realty (1.40 per cent), BSE Focused IT (0.80 per cent), teck (0.71 per cent) and IT (0.67 per cent) were among the losers. FMCG, auto, consumer durables, services, consumer discretionary and dinancial services were the gainers.
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The Print
35 minutes ago
- The Print
From Bengaluru traffic to Modi govt's diplomacy, Hotmail founder Sabeer Bhatia is ruffling feathers
Bhatia's latest was a dig at the Prime Minister's tours and civilian honours conferred on him by various heads of states over the past decade. What began as a series of acid-laced questions about India's GDP growth on record, soon escalated into an all-out punditry marathon: rants against Operation Sindoor, bemoaning lack of access to quality education, and even attacking the Narendra Modi-led central government's policy priorities. New Delhi: Indian-American entrepreneur Sabeer Bhatia, better known as the founder of Hotmail, isn't someone afraid to speak their mind. Having stayed out of the public eye these past few years, except for the occasional press interview and paid speaking tour, Bhatia made a comeback with hot takes on everything from policy to economy, and how. His opening salvo was a direct X post questioning the significance of India becoming the world's fourth-largest economy when millions of citizens can barely afford to put food on the table. The post went viral, with thousands reposting the phrase, 'Can you feel it in your pocket?' Within days, Bhatia was also writing posts about a bottom-up initiative in BJP-governed states to encourage entrepreneurship among rural women, wondering if it was more performative politics than empowerment. Some social media users hailed him as the new 'people's megaphone' while others, particularly government-aligned pundits, brushed him aside as a 'self-appointed saviour'. But the momentum gained steam: By mid-May, Bhatia's follower count on X had risen from under 50,000 to more than 200,000. Returning to India in the early 2000s after selling Hotmail, he was eager to spearhead a technology revolution. He invested in Simpa Networks—a solar-energy company set to provide pay-as-you-go power to rural villages. Bhatia's next venture—a 200-acre 'Nano City' in Haryana's Panchkula—aimed to replicate Silicon Valley's knowledge hub. But critics flagged it for opaque land deals and unrealistic timelines. In 2019, the state government formally scrapped the project, citing unmet conditions. He launched two additional ventures: a mobile-first e-learning platform, EduSpark, and a blockchain-based supply chain company, Transcircle. ThePrint looks at some of his hot takes that have ruffled feathers on X. Also read: Viksit Bharat goal needs more than GDP growth. Shift policy from entitlement to empowerment Sabeer Bhatia's hot takes The first had to be Bhatia's breakthrough tweet questioning India's GDP data. Posted on 28 May, it followed chatter over how India is on track to surpass Japan to become the fourth largest economy in nominal terms. Bhatia shared a video showing quality of life in India, captioned: 'Growth without distribution is just inflation in disguise.' We overtook Japan in GDP……but can you feel it in your pocket? Growth without distribution is just inflation in disguise. — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) May 28, 2025 Just 2 days ago, on 9 July, Bhatia cited Pakistan assuming rotational presidency of the UNSC for the month of July to ask whether PM Modi's multi-nation tour had yielded any tangible outcome for India. 90 trips to 77 countries. Countless handshakes, speeches, and photo ops. End result: Pakistan assumes Presidency of the UN Security Council. Wow. — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) July 9, 2025 In a 29 June tweet, Bhatia launched a scathing attack on the central government's Viksit Bharat agenda, questioning how it planned to accomplish this target when hunger and poverty run deep in India. 34% kids under 5 malnourished. 20% never vaccinated. 8M children in bonded labour. 150M kids out of school. 25% teacher absenteeism… And we're dreaming of becoming 'developed' by 2047?Please explain how? — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) June 29, 2025 Soon after the Air India crash in Ahmedabad last month claimed more than 200 lives, Bhatia wrote: '63 percent said I should fly Air India in the next 2 weeks. But when asked if they would fly it, only 51 percent said yes.' 63% said I should fly Air India in the next 2 weeks. But when asked if they would fly it, only 51% said yes. Interesting, right? The advice you give others is different from what you'd follow yourself. Why is that? — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) June 21, 2025 He also questioned the legal definition of poverty in India, asking whether those who earn $5 each day instead of the earlier benchmark of $3 can now be considered 'not poor'. Some say 250M people in India aren't 'poor' anymore because they now make $5/day instead of $3. Really? Can you send your kids to school, buy books, shoes, food, pay rent and utilities on that? Which world are these people living in? — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) June 20, 2025 Reacting to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's remark last month that Indians who speak English 'will soon feel ashamed', Bhatia said it illustrated how politicians wanted to take India back to the pre-British era. Amazing plan a leader has for our nation: stop speaking English or feel ashamed. Do we want to move forward or go back in time? Should our kids dream of space, robots, and large language models—or imagine life before the British came? I'm at a loss for words… — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) June 19, 2025 In another post on X in the aftermath of the AI-171 crash, Bhatia asked: 'Do you really think the 4th largest economy in the world should still be having plane crashes due to systemic failures?' Some news reports suggest that my asking a few logical questions about the plane crash is a political act. Since when did asking questions become political? What kind of democracy equates inquiry with partisanship? I'm struggling to understand this logic. — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) June 15, 2025 Do you really think the 4th largest economy in the world should still be having plane crashes due to systemic failures? Time to question what truly makes a nation great. — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) June 12, 2025 In one of his tweets in early June, Bhatia had said that Delhi tops the list of five most polluted cities in the world. He urged Indians to stop celebrating GDP growth and focus on the AQI index. Delhi tops the list of the 5 most polluted major cities in the world — followed by Dhaka, Ouagadougou, Karachi, and Lahore. Fellow Indians, it's time to stop celebrating GDP and start focusing on AQI, education, and human wellbeing. Economic growth means nothing if we can't… — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) June 3, 2025 Criticising the government's efforts to locate the terrorists who executed the Pahalgam attack, Bhatia shared a candid image of a man trying to kill a fly with a bazooka. Would you use a bazooka to kill a fly? Then why all this madness? Where are the 4 men who actually did it? — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) June 1, 2025 In another rather cryptic post on 31 May, Bhatia remarked in an apparent dig at the Indian government, 'The country that taught tolerance to the world over 1000s of years is ruining its global brand by promoting untruths and misinformation.' The country that taught tolerance to the world over 1000s of years is ruining its global brand by promoting untruths and misinformation. Can the outcome of all this be good? — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) May 31, 2025 In another post on X in June, the Hotmail founder wrote that Indians must think long and hard before celebrating predictions of the country being on track to become the fourth largest economy. Instead of hanging your head in shame that 415 million people in India survive on $3.10/day, you brag about being the world's 4th largest economy. Shame on you. — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) June 10, 2025 More recently, Bhatia trained his guns at traffic management in Bengaluru. I know Bengaluru folks may call this negative… but the traffic here is INSANE. I ride the same distance on my bicycle in 1/3 the time in the Bay Area. How do people tolerate this every day? — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) July 1, 2025 In another post on X, Bhatia gave his two cents on UP Energy Minister Arvind Kumar Sharma chanting 'Jai Shri Ram, Jai Shri Bajrang Bali' when constituents surrounded him to complain about power cuts in the state. Just when you think ministerial knowledge and concern for citizens can't get more bizarre, a power minister of a major state responds to complaints about power cuts by chanting Jai Shri Ram and Jai Shri Bajrang Bali. Electricity not included. Wow. — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) July 10, 2025 Taking a jibe at BJP MP Kangana Ranaut's remarks in Mandi during her visit to her flash floods-stricken parliamentary constituency, Bhatia said she has no intention to help the people and lacks leadership skills. A leader recently told her people she can't help them—no staff, no funds, no power to act. Add to that: no intention of helping them either. Why hold office then? Leadership isn't about what you lack, it's about what you do with what you have. — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) July 8, 2025 Bhatia also had some advice for the political class: as long as they 'want to 'rule' and people think they need to be 'ruled'—not 'served'—nothing will truly change'. Indian politics hasn't changed much since 1947. As long as parties want to 'rule' and people think they need to be 'ruled'—not 'served'—nothing will truly change. — Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) June 30, 2025 (Edited by Amrtansh Arora) Also Read: #ByeByeAP to #LuluBackInAP: Naidu's moves to make Andhra 'business friendly' & woo back investors
Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
RVNL Share Price: Railway PSU wins Rs 213 crore project; stock up 215% in 2 years
RVNL Share Price: Shares of Rail Vikas Nigam Limited closed in red on Friday (July 11) after receiving contract from Indian Railways. The PSU railway stock settled at Rs 380.95 apiece, down 0.97 per cent. According to the NSE, the midcap stock has a total market cap of Rs 79,428.84 crore. The stock registered 52-week-high of Rs 647 on July 15, 2024. It recorded 52-week-low of Rs 305 on April 7, 2025. RVNL has secured a contract worth Rs 213.22 crore from South Central Railway (SCR). In an exchange filing on July 11, the railway PSU said, 'Rail Vikas Nigam Limited has received LOA from South Central Railway for 'Design, Supply, Erection, Testing and Commissioning for OHE upgradation of existing 1X25kV system to 2X25kV at feeding system with feeder and earthing works in Duvvada-Rajahmundry & Samalkot-Kakinada Port section of Vijayawada Division under South Central Railway, Total 195.5 RKM/ 391 TKM.' RVNL is a component of the BSE 200. According to the BSE analytics (as of July 12), shares of Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) fell 2.50 per cent and 3.47 per cent in the last 1 week and 2 weeks, respectively. In the last 1 year, shares of the company down 39.44 per cent. However, in the past 2 years, 3 years, and 5 years, shares of the company up 215.46 per cent, 1132.79 per cent, and 1841.73 per cent, respectively. In 2024, RVNL paid a dividend of Rs 2.11. Last year, the railway PSU announced dividends of Rs 2.13. In 2022, the company paid total dividends of Rs 1.83. RVNL never issued bonuses for the equity shareholders. RVNL is a Central Public Sector Enterprises of Ministry of Railways, and was granted Navratna Status in 2023. The company was incorporated with the twin objectives of implementation of projects relating to creation and augmentation of capacities of rail infrastructure on fast track basis and raising of extra budgetary resources for SPV projects.
Mint
an hour ago
- Mint
Diverting food security rice stocks to ethanol production flies in the face of economics
It is inconceivable that a country grappling with hunger and malnourishment, home to the world's largest population of undernourished children and a nation where 129 million people, according to a 2024 World Bank report, live in extreme poverty (defined as surviving on less than ₹180 per day) would divert rice, a key staple, to ethanol production. And yet, that is exactly what the Indian government is doing–at highly subsidised prices. It is selling a whopping 5.2 million tonnes of rice from its food security buffer stock this year to ethanol manufacturers at ₹22.50 per kg. The first tranche of 2.4 million tonnes has already gone to manufacturers, and it has now decided to release a further 2.8 million tonnes. The government has advanced three justifications for the move. First, it argues that rice stocks held by the Food Corporation of India are well above the buffer stock requirement – currently, over 38 million tonnes against the norm of 13.5 million tonnes as of May 2025. Two, it claims that using rice for ethanol helps bleed excess stock, thereby opening up storage room and also preventing loss due to spoilage. The third and clinching argument is that blending ethanol with petrol cuts dependence on costly, imported fossil fuel. Petroleum and natural gas minister Hardeep Singh Puri said last month that India has already hit the target of blending 20% ethanol with petrol, nearly six years ahead of the 2030 target, and is now examining blending 5% ethanol with diesel. He also said this has led to a saving of ₹1.5 trillion in import bills. Surplus stock argument These arguments sound plausible, even logical at first glance, but do not stand up to a deeper look. Take the 'surplus stock' argument. True, stocks are above the mandated level, but that is more due to procurement and distribution inefficiencies. India's creaky public distribution system, which supplies subsidised rice and wheat to the poor, is riddled with gaps and distortions. Besides, buffer stocks are just that–a buffer against unforeseen exigencies. Even Japan recently was forced to release 300,000 tonnes of rice due to public anger against shortages. With the vagaries of climate change, increasingly larger sections of the population are vulnerable to climate-related disasters. It is not as if there are not enough takers. It is just that those who need it are unable to access it due to a lack of resources, a lack of documentation or simply a lack of coverage of the subsidised grain distribution system. India ranked 105 out of 127 countries in the World Hunger Index for 2024. Should a country with such a severe hunger and malnourishment problem be diverting rice to alcohol production? The government has also said that only 'damaged or broken" rice will be given for ethanol conversion. First of all, broken rice is not inedible, nor does it lack a market. In fact, in March this year, the government allowed 100 per cent export of broken rice stocks. India exported close to 4 million tonnes of broken rice to Africa and South East Asia last year. Also Read: Ethanol blending: The good, the bad and the googlies If the government is unable to reach the grain to the poor and the hungry, it can at least export rice. Exports will fetch foreign exchange and raise farmer incomes. Even assuming that only grain unfit for human consumption is used, which there's no way of checking, it's not as if there is no market for that either. Damaged grain is an important – and cheap – input into poultry and animal feed. India has the world's largest cattle population of over 300 million cows and buffaloes. In addition, it is the world's third-largest egg producer and the fifth-largest chicken meat producer, with a population of over 850 million birds. Also Read: Cooperative sugar mills to be incentivized to boost ethanol production There are also alternative sources for ethanol, that do not rely on food grain. A 2021 techno-economic study by the International Council on Clean Transportation found that with some viability gap funding, the cost of second-generation ethanol–produced from rice and wheat straw and sugarcane bagasse–matches India's fixed ethanol price of ₹65.61 per litre. India produces a whopping 126 million tonnes of rice straw and over 113 million tonnes of wheat straw annually. Over the longer term, using India's massive coastline to produce algae for ethanol production provides a biomass source which does not conflict with food requirements. India needs to get serious about its hunger and nutrition challenge rather than disputing the methodologies of global studies such as the hunger index. It also needs to effectively pursue alternatives to ethanol generation for more efficient use of taxpayer money. Diverting already subsidised grain to ethanol manufacturers at further subsidised prices flies in the face of both economic rationale and social justice. Also Read: Changes in western disturbances may adversely affect food security, crop productivity
