Ambani dream house

Is the Maharashtra government dillydallying on ordering a CBI inquiry into the issue of the alleged illegal sale of Waqf land to industrialist Mukesh Ambani for his 27- storey ultra luxury home that is worth nearly $ 2 billion? The state government had received a letter from the Union government in June, asking it to consider ' referring' the matter to the premier investigating agency to probe the land deal. The state has, however, not taken any decision on the matter yet.

The land deal on Mumbai's posh Altamount Road has been embroiled in a controversy ever since Ambani began building his multistorey residence Antillia. On Monday, the issue was raised in the state assembly by Opposition leader Eknath Khadse.

He said the Rs 500- crore plot was shown to have been sold by the Karimbhai Ibrahimbhai Khoja Charitable Trust for just Rs 21 crore. The piece of land was originally reserved for educating children of the Khoja Muslim community.

Maharashtra's minority affairs minister Arif Nassim Khan said the state had received a letter from the Centre and had sought the opinion of the law and judiciary department.

" The legal department conveyed its opinion to the state home department on July 25," Khan said. But he did not reveal what the law department's stand was.

Khan further said a notice was served to the trust by the Maharashtra government in 2004 over the transaction. It was, however, withdrawn after the state got ` 16 lakh from the trust to regularise the deal.

Maharashtra home minister R. R. Patil said he would comment on the matter only after seeing the opinion given by the law and judiciary department.

This Waqf land deal has sparked rows earlier, too. In 2007, then minority affairs minister Anish Ahmed had mentioned a number of irregularities in the sale of the land and had asked the Maharashtra State Waqf Board to take back the plot. However, in a curious development, while the minister kept claiming the sale was illegal, then chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said there were no irregularities in the deal.

Incidentally, Ambani has still not started living in Antillia.

Sensex down 200 points

The benchmark Sensex remained under pressure due to sell-off across the globe since yesterday post disappointing manufacturing data from US, Europe and China. Even the broader indices were taking beating as about four shares falling for every one share gaining.

The 30-share BSE Sensex slipped 229 points to 18,084 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 65 points to 5,451 led by fall in 35 shares.

Financial, auto, metal, telecom, technology and realty dragging the market down.

Among largecaps, Jaiprakash Associates, Reliance Communications, SBI, Wipro, Sterlite Industries and IDFC were down between 2% & 5%. However, NTPC, Cipla, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Ranbaxy Labs and ONGC were quite supportive, gaining between 1% and 2%. Reliance Industries too was on buyers' radar, rising 0.5%.

SAIL FPO put on hold

Investors will have to wait a little while longer for the much-anticipated follow-on public offer (FPO) of steel giant Steel Authority of India (SAIL). The government, who owns the majority stake in the company, has put its FPO plans on the backburner citing hostile market conditions as the reason.

Speaking exclusively to CNBC-TV18, CS Verma, chairman of SAIL clarified that the FPO has been just put “on hold” and not been deferred. He also does not see the company's capex plans getting impacted due to the FPO uncertainty. "The capex plans will stay at Rs 15,000 crore for the company," he stated.

Commenting on the recent iron ore mining ban in Karnataka, Verma said, SAIL will not be impacted by the issues in the state. "We expect the issue to be resolved soon," he said.

Sensex nosedives

Sentiment across the Dalal Street deteriorated further in afternoon trade, especially after the European markets fell further in opening trade. Weak manufacturing data in major regions like US, Europe and China pulled the markets lower.

Arjuna Mahendran, managing director, head of investment strategy Asia, HSBC Private Bank finds that even though the US debt ceiling issue is put behind for now, nothing has been cleared. In fact, problems plaguing the US economy and Europe still exist. "Going into the second half of the year, this week growth will keep markets lackluster," he says.

The slowdown in US economic data will remain a concern for India and other emerging markets. On the India story, Mahendran says that the sluggishness could go on till Diwali.

The 30-share BSE Sensex shed 247 points to 18,066 and the 50-share NSE Niftyplunged 75 points to 5,442. Market breadth too was worsened; about four shares declining for every one share advancing on National Stock Exchange.

Sensex extends loss

Fall in manufacturing data in US, Europe and China dented investor sentiment across the globe. The benchmark Sensex shed 200 points in trade today with rate sensitives like banking, realty and capital goods taking a beating.

The 50-share NSE Nifty hit the 5450 level on downside -- trading at 5,455, down 62 points while the 30-share BSE Sensex fell 202 points to 18,112 late morning trade.

According to portfolio manager PN Vijay, global events would be the decisive factor for market in the coming six months. "There may be a slightly negative backdrop but substantially the action has to come within India."

Technology stocks were under pressure because slowdown will definitely have impact on exports of these companies. Infosys, TCS and Wipro were down between 1% & 2%.

Heavyweights Bharti Airtel, ITC, L&T, SBI, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank slipped between 1% & 2%. Reliance Industries slipped over 0.5%.