Sensex, Nifty remain under grip of bears

Indian equity benchmarks remained under a grip of bears in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty trading in deep red. Negative cues from other Asian markets impacted domestic sentiments. Traders got cautious, as a survey done by a consultancy firm has revealed that India Inc is staring at an ''integrity crisis'' in the second year of the pandemic. Adding more worries, Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan said the Indian economy has some bright spots and a number of very dark stains and the government should target its spending carefully so that there are no huge deficits. He mentioned the bright spots are the health of large firms, the roaring business the IT and IT-enabled sectors are doing, including the emergence of unicorns in a number of areas, and the strength of some parts of the financial sector.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, even after the manufacturing sector in Japan continued to expand in January, and at a faster rate, the latest survey from Jibun Bank revealed on Monday with a manufacturing PMI score of 54.6. That's up from 54.3 in December, and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58158.55, down by 878.63 points or 1.49% after trading in a range of 58138.03 and 59023.97. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 2.98%, while Small cap index down by 3.73%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty down by 4.28%, Metal down by 3.45%, Consumer Durables down by 3.42%, Consumer Discretionary down by 3.30% and Basic Materials down by 3.28%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 0.94%, Indusind Bank up by 0.77%, ICICI Bank up by 0.27% and Sun Pharma up by 0.01%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 4.54%, Bajaj Finance down by 4.38%, Wipro down by 4.10%, Titan Co down by 3.85% and Tata Steel down by 3.75% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in its latest report has said that as many as 445 infrastructure projects, each entailing investment of Rs 150 crore or more, have been hit by cost overruns totalling more than Rs 4.4 lakh crore. The Ministry monitors infrastructure projects of Rs 150 crore and above. Of 1,673 such projects, 445 projects reported cost overruns and 557 projects were delayed. Total original cost of implementation of the 1,673 projects was Rs 22,23,791.78 crore and their anticipated completion cost is likely to be Rs 26,64,649.18 crore, which reflects overall cost overruns of Rs 4,40,857.40 crore (19.82% of original cost). 

According to the report, the expenditure incurred on these projects till December 2021 is Rs 13,08,766.65 crore, which is 49.12 per cent of the anticipated cost of the projects. However, the number of delayed projects decreases to 420 if delay is calculated on the basis of the latest schedule of completion. Further, for 838 projects neither the year of commissioning nor the tentative gestation period has been reported. Out of the 557 delayed projects, 97 projects have overall delay in the range of 1-12 months, 127 projects have been delayed for 13-24 months, 217 projects for 25-60 months and 116 projects have delays of 61 months and above. The average time overrun in these 557 delayed projects is 45.69 month.

The report further stated that reasons for time overruns as reported by various project implementing agencies include delay in land acquisition, delay in obtaining forest and environment clearances, and lack of infrastructure support and linkages. Delay in tie-up for project financing, delay in finalisation of detailed engineering, change in scope, delay in tendering, ordering and equipment supply, and law and order problems are among the other reasons. It also cited state-wise lockdowns due to COVID-19 as a reason for the delay in implementation of these projects. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17321.85, down by 295.30 points or 1.68% after trading in a range of 17318.10 and 17599.40. There were 6 stocks advancing against 44 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 2.42%, ONGC up by 1.37%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.99%, Indusind Bank up by 0.55% and ICICI Bank up by 0.04%. On the flip side, JSW Steel down by 4.71%, Tech Mahindra down by 4.42%, Bajaj Finance down by 4.37%, Hindalco down by 4.30% and Wipro down by 4.07% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 229.85 points or 0.92% to 24,735.70, Jakarta Composite lost 63.70 points or 0.95% to 6,662.67, KOSPI fell 44.75 points or 1.58% to 2,789.54 and Straits Times trembled 8.89 points or 0.27% to 3,285.97. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite gained 7.06 points or 0.2% to 3,529.63, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 52.73 points or 0.29% to 17,952.03 and Nikkei 225 surged 53.06 points or 0.19% to 27,575.32.