After opening the day in green, the Indian share markets have continued the momentum and are presently trading on a strong note. Sectoral indices are trading on a mixed note, with stocks in the information technology sector & capital goods sector leading the pack of gainers. While, energy stocks and realty stocks are leading the losses.
The BSE Sensex is trading higher by 190 points (up 0.6%) while the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 49 points (up 0.5%). The BSE Mid Cap index is trading higher by 0.2% while BSE Small Cap index is trading flat. Gold prices, per 10 grams, are trading at Rs 29,750 levels. Silver price, per kilogram is trading at Rs 39,275 levels. Crude oil is trading at Rs 4,076 per barrel. The rupee is trading at 63.76 to the US$.
In the news from the steel sector. Ahead of the Union Budget that will be presented on 1 February, the stainless-steel industry has asked the government to remove import duty on both ferro-nickel and stainless steel scrap.
At present, the import duty on Ferro nickel and stainless steel scrap is 2.5%. The Indian Stainless Steel Development Association (ISSDA) has sought removal of customs duty on key raw materials used in producing stainless steel, in its pre-budget wish list.
Though the government had removed customs duty on pure nickel in the previous Budget, it didn't help the industry much since most of nickel used by stainless steel makers is in the form ferro-nickel.
Therefore, industry body demanded that the same relief should now be extended to ferro-nickel. It noted that the raw material has to be necessarily imported because India hardly has any nickel resources.
Further, it pointed out that since all the stainless steel is produced through electric furnaces, stainless steel scrap is the main raw material which also provides cost effective source of alloying elements like chrome and nickel. It added that the scrap is also not available in the country and has to be imported.
At the time of writing, Steel stocks were trading mixed with Adhunik Metaliks and Tayo Rolls leading the losses.
Moving on to the news from automobiles sector. As per an article in a leading financial daily, Ashok Leyland has signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with Israeli firm Phinergy for use of aluminium air batteries for Electric CVs in India.
Phinergy is a leading developer of clean and high energy-density systems based on metal-air technology. With its aluminium-air battery, Phinergy has developed a revolutionary way to generate electricity using aluminium as an energy source.
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With the intention of providing varying energy management solutions to the customers, Ashok Leyland and Phinergy will work towards the adaptation of unique, competitive and sustainable solutions for high-energy applications in the commercial vehicles space.
Over the past few months, Indian automakers have been developing products on their own or entering into technology agreements with global players for EV components.
One shall note that, the government is pushing for a shift to electric vehicles across the country as a part of its plan to move to the cleaner fuel by 2030.
According to the industry, the 2030 target would require eight to ten times the global stock of such vehicles. India would need to sell more than 10 million electric cars in 2030, compared to 5,000 electric vehicles India had on the road in 2016.
As you can see from the chart below, India is barely visible compared to other developed countries when it comes to battery cars.
However, Rahul Shah, Co-head of Research, offered his views on electric vehicles segment recently. Here's an excerpt of what he wrote:
So, how should you play this trend? What are the companies best positioned to extract the maximum mileage?
Stay tuned. Rahul Shah has got a close eye on this megatrend - and he doesn't plan to miss a thing.
At the time of writing, Ashok Leyland share price was trading up by 1.4%.
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