Flat start, Looking for survival!

Everybody has difficult years, but a lot of times the difficult years end up being the greatest years of your whole entire life, if you survive them. - Brittany Murphy

Telangana is all set to become the 29th state of India. Despite loud protests from within the ruling party and of course members of parties like Trinamool Congress and Shiv Sena, Parliament gave its nod for carving out Telangana from Andhra Pradesh.

The market may have weakened on Thursday after weak China data and some weakness in select counters.

After a difficult day on Thursday, markets are expected to start on a flat to positive note. Global markets are in the green as well. US Stocks rose after a reading on manufacturing activity hit its highest in nearly four years. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 92.67 points or 0.58%, to end at 16,133.23, while S&P 500 gained 11.03 points or 0.6%, to finish at 1,839.78. The Nasdaq Composite added 29.591 points or 0.7%, to close at 4,267.545.

Asian share markets got an early boost on Friday, though underlying concerns about China's economic growth kept investors from rushing to buy riskier assets. Japan's Nikkei share average led the way, soaring 2.1% and Australian shares tacked on 0.6% to edge near a five-year peak hit in October.

The Finance Minister P Chidambaram will lead a high level Indian delegation to attend the two day G-20 Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting scheduled to be held in Sydney, Australia. The delegation includes Dr. Raghuram G. Rajan, Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Dr. Arvind Mayaram, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs and other senior officials of Ministry of Finance among others, says a report.

Meanwhile, IIFL’s fifth global investor’s conference, Enterprising India – V enters its third and final day today. Thursday saw a host of companies presenting including Mr. Paresh Sukthankar, Deputy Managing Director, HDFC Bank, VC Sehgal, Group Chairman, Motherson Sumi and Balram Yadav, Managing Director, Godrej Agrovet. Bajaj Finserv, ICRA and Biocon were among the others who presented at the conference on the second day, which saw over 80 companies participating in the event. Ashish Dhawan, Founder & CEO, Central Square Foundation (CSF) spoke on ‘Social Entrepreneurship: The path to drive societal change’.

ICRA said that it expects GDP growth to improve somewhat to 5.0-5.5% in 2014-15, factoring in a normal monsoon, a mild improvement in manufacturing growth and a pickup in investment activity in H2FY15 says ICRA in its latest update on Economic Outlook and Macro trends.

Shree Renuka Sugars Limited announced that it has entered into an agreement with Wilmar International Limited ("Wilmar"), through its 100% subsidiary Wilmar Sugar Holdings ("WSH"), to facilitate the investment of approximately US $200 million in primary capital into SRS.

Report stated that Axis Mutual Fund is planning to acquire the assets of ING Investment Management.Axis had offered to buy ING Investment Management’s schemes for Rs 20-30 crore, says report.

Infosys Executive Chairman N R Narayana Murthy has reportedly said that the non-performance will not be tolerated.

"Performance is absolutely essential for us. We will provide all the help to people to perform better and, if for any reason they are not able to perform, well, then, we will have to bid good-bye to them," Murthy said.

Facebook Inc is planning to buy fast-growing mobile-messaging startup WhatsApp for $19 billion in cash and stock in a landmark deal.Report said that the transaction involves $4 bn in cash, $12 bn in stock and $3 billion in restricted stock that vests over several years.

The U.S. government said the consumer price index, the benchmark for inflation, rose 0.1% in January, which was slightly below what economists had predicted. A measure of manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia area fell sharply. On the bright side, initial claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, says a report. Wal-Mart reported quarterly results that topped expectations, but investors sold off after it warned that economic factors would weigh on sales this year.

Results watch: Anik Inds, SKF India and Vardhman Ind.

Trends in FII flows: The FIIs were net buyers of Rs2.06bn in the cash segment on Thursday, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers of Rs6bn, as per the provisional figures released by the NSE. The foreign funds were net buyers of Rs16.51bn in the cash segment on Wednesday, according to SEBI data.

In other news in the media

Cipla and MSD announced an India specific strategic partnership under which the former will have a non-exclusive license to market, promote and distribute MSD's 'raltegravir' 400 mg tablet, an HIV drug, under a different brand name, in the country. (BS)

MCX has decided to exit from the stock exchange venture and an overseas exchange Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange. (BS)

Diageo has selected Tata Consultancy Services as its new global IT provider. (BS)

Jindal Steel and Power Ltd announced the launch of its new retail brand Jindal Panther TMT rebars, signifying the company’s foray into the retail product segment. (ET)

ABB has won orders worth around Rs3.10bn from Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd to supply power transformers and shunt reactors. (ET)

The Inter-Ministerial Group, which is meeting next week, will not immediately take a call on de-allocation of 10 mines but will give one last chance to companies such as JSPL, Tata Steel and JSW Steel, which are yet to obtain forest clearances to seek green nod within a given time frame. (BL)

Shree Renuka Sugars will sell 257.5mn fresh equity shares to Singapore-based agri-business firm Wilmar International for Rs5.17bn in order to reduce the company's debt. Renuka Sugars said it has entered into an agreement with Wilmar International through its subsidiary Wilmar Sugar Holdings, to facilitate the "investment of about USD200mn" in the primary capital of the company. (ET)

Power Finance Corp and Rural Electrification Corp have disbursed transitional loans worth Rs337bn to state-owned power distribution companies. (BS)

Bharti Airtel will move the Supreme Court of Nigeria against a judgement, dated 14 February, of the Court of Appeal, Lagos that ruled in favour of Econet Wireless of Nigeria. (BS)

Corporation Bank is heading for aggressive expansion in Gujarat by adding 100 branches during the next financial year. (BL)

India's GDP growth rate is likely to slightly improve in 2014-15 and clock 5-5.5% expansion on expectations of a normal monsoon and an improvement in manufacturing sector, rating agency Icra said. (BS)

Directorate General of Civil Aviation has revised airline licencing norms which will restrict foreign carriers from taking control of management of domestic airlines. (BS)

Noting that India's growth has slowed markedly and inflation remains stubbornly high, the International Monetary Fund has suggested broader structural reforms to revive growth and raising the long-term growth potential. (BS)