Local bourses hold gains in afternoon deals

Indian equity benchmarks held their gains in afternoon session, on sustained buying by domestic institutional investors. Sentiments remained positive with report that the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is planning to set up a single window system to support foreign investors, who want to invest in India. The single-window system may have representatives from both the Centre and state governments. The system will help in getting all relevant approvals and clearances required by foreign investors. Traders also took a note of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari’s statement that the government will soon make changes to the definition of a micro, small and medium enterprise (MSMEs) and hoped to generate five crore jobs in the MSME sector in five years. On the sectoral front, telecom sector was in focus as Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) suggested exempting certain categories like data/internet based and captive contact centres from detailed registration, retaining it for voice-based outsourced other service providers (OSPs).

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red amid new uncertainty involving Brexit and Hong Kong. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39174.67, up by 210.83 points or 0.54% after trading in a range of 38866.08 and 39187.45. There were 23 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.28%, while Small cap index was up by 0.62%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.50%, IT up by 1.19%, Auto up by 1.02%, TECK up by 0.99% and Power was up by 0.87%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.67%, Realty down by 0.51%, Energy down by 0.32%, Capital Goods down by 0.19% and Industrials was down by 0.18% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 2.83%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.21%, SBI up by 2.16%, ICICI Bank up by 1.62% and Hero MotoCorp was up by 1.61%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.33%, ONGC down by 1.21%, Vedanta down by 1.17%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.63% and Indusind Bank was down by 0.57% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has suggested exempting certain categories like data/internet based and captive contact centres from detailed registration, retaining it for voice-based outsourced other service providers (OSPs). It said only voice based, outsourced OSP need to have registration at par with existing process. Data/internet based OSP would need to furnish intimation only. Notably, though, it has recommended that Contact Centre Service Provider (CCSP)/ Hosted Contact Centre Service Provider (HCCSP) involved in reselling of telecom resources, say bandwidth, would require a Virtual Network Operator or VNO license.

TRAI also said that the CCSPs/HCCSPs who provide only the platform as service including a combination of the components of EPABX, IVR, call handling/administration, call recording, contact centre data analytics, customer relationship management for contact centres, should be required to get registered with Department of Telecommunications (DoT). It said these players should be Indian company, having their data centres in India for providing the contact centre platform to OSPs.

The regulator has also recommended additional clarity in definition of OSP players. It said it expects implementation of its recommendations to create better environment for growth of the sector making India as preferred BPO/ITeS destination. In a major breather to the players, it recommended that the requirement of bank guarantee for availing Work-from-Home (WFH) facility, should be done away with. Elaborating on the terms and conditions for CCSPs/HCCSPs, it said that a complete log and record of the logical partitioning including the call detail records should be maintained by them. These records should be maintained at least for a period of one year. The CCSP/HCCSP should provide these records to DoT or security agencies designated by DoT, as and when required.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11644.60, up by 56.25 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 11554.40 and 11651.60. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eicher Motors up by 3.20%, HCL Tech. up by 2.55%, Titan Co up by 2.30%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.26% and SBI was up by 2.24%. On the flip side, Adani Ports &SEZ down by 5.35%, Zee Entertainment down by 2.20%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.27%, ONGC down by 1.21% and Grasim Industries was down by 1.18% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 262.01 points or 0.98% to 26,524.19, Taiwan Weighted dropped 31.58 points or 0.28% to 11,239.67, Straits Times trembled 16.39 points or 0.52% to 3,144.28, Shanghai Composite declined 14.01 points or 0.47% to 2,940.37 and KOSPI was down by 8.24 points or 0.39% to 2,080.62.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite soared 9.39 points or 0.15% to 6,234.89 and Nikkei 225 was up by 76.48 points or 0.34% to 22,625.38.