Benchmarks trade marginally higher in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks traded marginally higher in morning deals, led by gains in Energy, Utilities and Power stocks. Traders took a note of NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer Amitabh Kant’s statement that Aadhaar has become the bedrock for the government's welfare schemes and has saved over Rs 2 lakh crore to the government by eliminating fake and duplicate identities. However, gains remain capped as some concern came with a private report that even as the government is planning to put a leash on wasteful revenue spending to rein in fiscal deficit, it has decided against trimming the record budgetary capital expenditure target for FY23, betting big on its high multiplier effect to spur growth. The finance ministry has asked various infrastructure ministries to ensure they realise their capex goals and create durable assets. On the sectoral front, FMCG industry stocks remained in watch with a private report that the FMCG industry saw decline in volume in the January-March period as consumption was impacted by price increases, especially in the food and essentials categories. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red as investors fret over high inflation and the threat of an impending global recession.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 55535.98, up by 154.81 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 55135.11 and 55549.38. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.23%, while Small cap index was up by 0.38%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 1.58%, Utilities up by 1.58%, Power up by 1.56%, Oil & Gas up by 1.29% and IT up by 0.67%, while FMCG down by 0.48%, Auto down by 0.38%, Healthcare down by 0.36%, Bankex down by 0.21% and Capital Goods down by 0.06% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 2.63%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.32%, Nestle up by 1.16%, TCS up by 1.08% and Asian Paints up by 0.84%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 1.24%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.21%, HDFC Bank down by 0.96%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.79% and Ultratech Cement down by 0.78% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet has approved a proposal to expand the mandate of Government e-Marketplace (GeM) by allowing procurement by cooperatives. Presently, the registration of cooperatives as buyers was not covered within the existing mandate of GeM. The move will help over 8.54 lakh registered cooperatives and their 27 crore members as they would get products at competitive rates from the GeM portal. As per the existing mandate, goods and services registered at the GeM portal are not available for use by private sector buyers. Suppliers (sellers) can be from across all segments - government or private.

The GeM was launched on August 9, 2016, by the commerce ministry to create an open and transparent procurement platform for government buyers. At present, the platform is open for procurement by all government buyers -- central and state ministries, departments, public sector enterprises, autonomous institutions and local bodies. Allowing cooperative societies to register on GeM as buyers would help cooperatives in getting competitive prices through an open and transparent process.  The validated list of cooperatives to be onboarded on GeM - for the pilot as well as subsequent scale-up - will be decided by the Ministry of Cooperation in consultation with GeM special purpose vehicle (SPV). This will ensure that the technical capacity and logistics requirements of the GeM system are taken into account while deciding the pace of onboarding of cooperatives as buyers on GeM.

GeM will provide a dedicated onboarding process for cooperatives, technical infrastructure to support additional users on existing portals, as well as assistance to cooperatives for onboarding and transaction journey via available contact centres, in-field training and other support services. The Ministry of Cooperation will issue necessary advisories to encourage the cooperative societies to make use of the GeM platform for the procurement of goods and services to benefit from increased transparency, efficiency and competitive prices. To protect the interests of the broader seller community on GeM and ensure timely payments, the modalities of payment systems shall be decided by GeM in consultation with the Ministry of Cooperation.

GeM will initiate suitable actions, including the creation of necessary features and functionalities on the GeM portal, up-gradation of infrastructure, strengthening of the helpdesk and training ecosystem and onboarding of cooperatives. The overall pace and mechanism of roll-out would be decided by the Ministry of Cooperation. The milestones and target dates will be aligned mutually between the ministry and GeM.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16569.60, up by 46.85 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 16443.05 and 16580.75. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 2.53%, BPCL up by 2.19%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.48%, TCS up by 1.40% and Nestle up by 1.27%. On the flip side, Apollo Hospital down by 4.48%, Hero MotoCorp down by 3.18%, SBI Life Insurance down by 2.03%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.98% and Shree Cement down by 1.28% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 334.49 points or 1.57% to 20,960.45, Jakarta Composite lost 6.98 points or 0.1% to 7,141.99, Taiwan Weighted dropped 77.33 points or 0.46% to 16,597.76, Straits Times trembled 12.59 points or 0.39% to 3,231.41, KOSPI fell 27.44 points or 1.02% to 2,658.46 and Nikkei 225 slipped 38.02 points or 0.14% to 27,419.87.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite gained 3.36 points or 0.11% to 3,185.52.