The country’s largest power generating company NTPC, for the first time, reduced its coal consumption by as much as 5.5 per cent thereby reducing its fuel cost by Rs 1.65 per unit. But at the same time, increased its power sale to 250 billion units. As part of a reorientation to reduce costs but keep its revenues on a growth trajectory, the thermal behemoth is shifting gears across the board.

This resulted in NTPC clocking an average PLF of 78.59 per cent with its pithead plants running at around 83 per cent during the last financial year. This was when the national average PLF was hovering around 60 per cent. At the same time, it crossed the mark of 250 billion units of power sale in 2016-17.

The recent capital raise of `49 billion (30% of December 2016 net worth) has added ~300bp to Yes Bank’s (YES) CET1 ratio (~13%). With an incremental market share of 3.5%+, aggressive roll-out of retail/SME products and strong corporate relationships,YES is expected to register loan CAGR (FY17-20) of 28% – at least 2x of system loan growth. YES has increased its branch strength at a 32% CAGR and SA deposits at a 90% CAGR over FY11-16.

Indian Oil Corp Ltd stock regained momentum today after being under pressure yesterday. The share price surged to a new 52 weeks high of Rs 428.40 intraday on the BSE, up 4.76% from its yesterday’s close of Rs 408.90. The traded volume peaked at 12:19 pm with 57,808,000 shares changing hands as the share price was on the verge of breaking the psychological level of Rs 420 as the market cap of the company surged beyond 200,000 crores.

The benchmark BSE Sensex fell over 73 points and the NSE Nifty dipped below the 9,200-mark in early trade today as investors indulged in cutting down their bets on disappointing macroeconomic data and weak trend in Asian markets.

Moreover, lower-than-expected January-March earnings posted by the country's second-largest software services company Infosys also dampened trading sentiment.

Come May 1, petrol and diesel prices will change every day in sync with international rates, much like what happens in most advanced markets.

State-owned fuel retailers Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL), which own over 95 per cent of nearly 58,000 petrol pumps in the country, will launch a pilot for daily price revision in five select cities from May 1 and gradually extend it to all over the country.

Infosys, while announcing its Q4FY17 results, made changes to its capital allocation policy. Starting FY18, it will use 70% of its free cash flows for paying dividends or buying back shares. That apart, the Board has decided to pay Rs 13,000 crore to shareholders by way of dividend or buyback during FY18, subject to necessary approvals.

Market, analysts say, had been expecting a significant buyback and capital allocation strategy, and any announcement related to these would be important from stock price perspective. While most agree that the move is a step in the right direction, the amount allocated towards this could have been higher.

The Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims to be southern Tibet, will complicate the Sino-Indian border row, a Chinese commentator warned on Wednesday.

In an op-ed piece in China Daily, Xi Rao, a Beijing-based expert on international studies, said the Dalai Lama was only causing "trouble ... for the settlement of China-India border issues, regional peace".

New Delhi: Solar power tariff discovered through auctions hit a new low on Wednesday with NTPC Ltd’s 250 mega watt (MW) project at Kadapa in south-central Andhra Pradesh getting awarded for a flat Rs3.15 per unit.

The project was awarded to the Indian arm of French clean energy firm Solairedirect SA, said an NTPC official, who asked not to be named. Solairedirect Energy India Pvt. Ltd already has 182 MW of projects in India including 97 MW in operation and 85MW under construction.

Mumbai: A committee set up by India’s stock market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), to encourage investments in so-called alternative investment funds (AIF), which invest in start-ups and other young companies, will likely recommend a lower investment threshold for accredited investors, said two people familiar with the discussions of the group.

The people, who asked not to be identified, said the committee would also recommend anonymized disclosure norms which, while providing adequate information to potential investors, do not involve sharing details of specific exits (the sale of an investment).

In line with the reduction of interest rates in the market Air India, burdened with a neck-high debt of over Rs 46,000 crore, has asked 16 of its lenders to cut down the interest rates by as much as 2 percent in a letter. In order to settle its debt, the airline is also in talks with the Ministry of External Affairs and also with a state-owned infrastructure company NBCC to generate money by selling off 98 of its properties, some of which are in India and some are overseas.

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