INDIAN BENCHMARKS ends on a negative note

INDIAN EQUITY BENCHMARKS erased all its early gains and ended in the red on the back of profit booking.

Further, Hindalco Industries net profit declined 48.5% to Rs 248.15 crore on 20.9% growth in net sales to Rs 8359.85 crore in Q4 March 2014 over Q4 March 2013. JSW Steel reported quarterly crude steel production at 3.10 million tons for Q1 FY2014-15 showing a growth of 8% over the corresponding quarter of previous year.

The crucial resistance for Nifty is now seen at 7730 and above this 7810.Support for the immediate term is now placed at 7480 and next support will be 7540.

Highlights of the budget presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley

·         FISCAL DEFICIT

Accepts fiscal deficit target of 4.1 percent of GDP for 2014/15

Fiscal deficit seen at 3.6 percent of GDP in 2015/16

Tax-to- GDP ratio must be raised

·         GROWTH

 Aims for sustained growth of 7-8 percent in the next 3-4 years

 Finance minister says he is bound to usher in policies for higher growth, lower inflation

·         TAXATION

Aims to approve goods and services tax by end of this year

Will not change rules on retrospective taxation

All pending cases of retrospective tax for indirect transfers to be examined by a high-level committee before action is taken

Proposes changes in transfer pricing mechanism

·         INVESTMENT

Raises limit on foreign direct investment in defence sector from 26 per cent to 49 per cent raises FDI limit in insurance sector to 49 percent

Earmarks 70.6 billion rupees to create 100 'smart cities'

Will provide the necessary tax changes to introduce real estate investment trusts and infrastructure investment trusts

Proposes 40 billion rupees for affordable housing through national housing bank and extends tax incentives for housing loans

·         SUBSIDIES

Plans to make food and petroleum subsidies more targeted

Rural job-guarantee scheme, which provides 100 days of paid employment a year, will become more focused on asset creation

Proposes 80 billion rupees for rural housing scheme

·         AGRICULTURE

Will focus on achieving 4 percent growths per year in agriculture

Sets farm credit target at 8 trillion rupees for 2014/15

Proposes a long-term rural credit fund with an initial corpus of 50 billion rupees

NEWS TO WATCH :

·         Watch out for Quaterly Earning of  Infosys  on 11 July 2014.