Sensex plunges 1,769 pts to 3-week low, investors lose Rs 9.78 lakh cr in single day
Mumbai, Oct 3: Benchmark BSE Sensex tanked 1,769 points to slide to a three-week low on Thursday as a spiralling conflict in West Asia triggered selling in oil, banking and auto shares, wiping out Rs 9.78 lakh crore investor money in a single day.
Falling for the fourth day running, the BSE Sensex tumbled 1,769.19 points or 2.10 per cent to settle at 82,497.10, its lowest closing level since September 11. During the day, it plummeted 1,832.27 points or 2.17 per cent to 82,434.02. As many as 29 Sensex scrips closed in the red while only one stock ended in the green.
Market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies dropped by around Rs 9.78 lakh crore to Rs 4,65,07,685.08 crore (USD 5.54 trillion).
The NSE Nifty slumped 546.80 points or 2.12 per cent to 25,250.10 with 48 of its constituents ending lower.
Continuous foreign fund outflows and rising crude oil prices dented investors' sentiment, analysts said.
From the 30 Sensex firms, Larsen & Toubro, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank, Asian Paints, Tata Motors, Bajaj Finance, Maruti, Bajaj Finserv, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Titan, Adani Ports and HDFC Bank were the major laggards.
JSW Steel emerged as the only gainer.
"The domestic market took a sharp downturn following Iran’s launch of ballistic missiles at Israel, sparking fears of retaliation and escalation in the war,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services said.
“New SEBI regulations for the F&O segment have raised concerns about reduced trading volumes in the broader market. Lastly, with attractive valuations in China, FIIs have redirected their funds, adding pressure on Indian stocks," Nair added.
The BSE midcap gauge tumbled 2.27 per cent and smallcap index dropped 1.84 per cent.
All indices ended lower. Realty tanked 4.49 per cent, while capital goods (3.18 per cent), auto (2.94 per cent), services (2.87 per cent), industrials (2.75 per cent) and oil & gas (2.52 per cent) were among the major losers.
A total of 2,881 stocks declined while 1,107 advanced and 88 remained unchanged on the BSE.
"Fears of FPIs and FIIs switching to China from Indian equities were prevalent, especially considering the sharp valuations of domestic markets compared to China," said Devarsh Vakil, Deputy Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.
In Asian markets, Hong Kong settled lower while Tokyo ended in the positive territory. Markets in mainland China will be closed for the rest of the week due to the holiday.
European markets were trading mostly lower. The US markets ended marginally higher on Wednesday.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 5,579.35 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 1.37 per cent to USD 74.91 a barrel.
Equity markets were closed on Wednesday for Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti.
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CBI books ex-AAI chairman for corruption in contract for food and beverage operator at airports
New Delhi (PTI): The CBI has registered a corruption case against former Airports Authority of India (AAI) chairman V P Agarwal for allegedly favouring a consortium of airport-lounge operators and a company that runs popular fast-food chains across the country in the contract for operating food and beverage services at the Chennai and Kolkata airports in 2012-13.
After three years of a preliminary enquiry into allegations of "cheating and gross misconduct", the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has also booked then Member (Finance) S Suresh, then Executive Director R Bhandari, lounge operators Travel Food Services Chennai Private Limited and Travel Food Services Kolkata Private Limited, and Devyani International Limited, which runs several fast-food chains in India.
The questions sent to the companies remained unanswered.
The case concerns tenders for the master concessionaire contract for food and beverage services at the Chennai and Kolkata airports in 2012-13, officials said on Friday.
It is alleged that senior AAI officials engaged in gross misconduct, manipulated the tender process and made unauthorised changes to the terms and conditions of the master concessionaire contract in 2012-13 to favour the private parties.
The AAI had appointed IL&FS Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (IIDC) as its consultant in August 2011 to help enhance non-aeronautical revenue, including earnings from food and beverage outlets, retail shops, advertising and car parking, at the Chennai and Kolkata airports.
Under the proposed master concessionaire model, a single agency would be awarded the contract to develop, operate and maintain all food and beverage outlets at each airport for 10 years to boost non-aeronautical revenue.
The CBI launched the enquiry in 2022 and submitted an extensive report material, suggesting cheating and a criminal conspiracy by public servants to extend undue benefits to private entities, prompting the agency to convert the enquiry into a formal case by filing an FIR.
The tender was a two-stage process. The first one was the Request for Qualification (RFQ) stage, with the shortlisted bidders moving to the finance stage in Request for Proposal (RFP).
According to the CBI, key terms in the RFQ were altered and conditions tweaked to favour certain companies at the RFP stage, and the minimum annual guarantee (MAG) was lowered and collusive bidding done by the two shortlisted bidders, who allegedly had conflicting interests.
The then Executive Director of the AAI, A K Mishra, had raised concerns about the collusive bidding and recommended recalling the tender with revised eligibility norms.
"However, the said apprehension was ignored deliberately by the accused public servants," the FIR says.
The FIR mentions the role of Amit Arora, who is under investigation in the Delhi excise policy case. However, he has not been named as an accused in this case.
"Amit Arora was also one of the prospective bidders at RFQ stage. On May 29, 2013, Amit Arora joined as Director of Devyani Airport Services (Mumbai) Pvt. Ltd, a subsidiary of Devyani International Ltd.
"The entity, Devyani Airport Services (Mumbai) Pvt. Ltd, was incorporated on April 18, 2013. Amit Arora got associated with one of the bidders, Devyani International Ltd, after RFQ stage but prior to RFP stage," the FIR has alleged.
The second shortlisted bidder was a consortium of Travel Food Services Private Limited and its subsidiary, Authentic Restaurants Private Limited.
"Amit Arora acquired 99.99 per cent shares of Authentic Restaurants Pvt. Ltd and had also joined it as Additional Director," the FIR has alleged.
The CBI said the bids of the two shortlisted contenders were "nearly same and just higher than the mandatory minimum annual guarantee", with the consortium emerging as the H-1 bidder.
The enquiry found that Arora had direct and indirect interests in both bidders, which should have led to their disqualification.
"But, the Master Concessionaire Contracts were awarded to newly formed companies ... and the shareholders in both the companies who participated in the bidding process were same," the agency said.
According to the FIR, the bidders failed to inform the AAI about the changes in the ownership and shareholding, violating the undertakings submitted at the RFQ stage and creating a conflict of interest.
The enquiry showed that the Commercial Advisory Board (CAB) of the AAI was given three separate options for fixing the MAG for the Kolkata and Chennai airports, but it chose the lowest of the three options for both airports.
"Enquiry revealed that MAG was to be decided in a rational manner to achieve
optimum revenue for AAI. However, the accused public servant, in criminal conspiracy with private persons, deliberately and in order to facilitate undue benefits, ignored the opinion of consultant and opted for much lower amount," the CBI has said.
All these changes helped the consortium of Travel Food Services Private Limited and Authentic Restaurants Private Limited, and Devyani International Limited to emerge as shortlisted and the only bidders at the RFQ stage for both airports.
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