Indian share markets witnessed positive trading activity throughout the day today and ended higher.

Benchmark indices exhibited a healthy trading session today, tracking firm global cues after India reported less than 1.4 lakh daily Covid-19 cases.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 383 points (up 0.7%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed higher by 114 points (up 0.7%).

Titan Company and ONGC were among the top gainers today.

IndusInd Bank and Wipro, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 15,721, up by 91 points, at the time of writing.

Both, the BSE MidCap index and the BSE SmallCap index ended up by 1%.

Sectoral indices ended on a positive note with stocks in the consumer durables sector and realty sector witnessing most of the buying interest.

Shares of Apollo Hospitals and Titan Company hit their respective 52-week highs today.

Asian stock markets ended on a mixed note today as investors weighed inflation concerns ahead of key US economic data.

The Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite ended the day down by 1.1% and 0.4%, respectively.

The Nikkei ended up by 0.4% in today's session.

US stock futures are trading on a negative note today with the Dow Futures trading down by 65 points.

The rupee is trading at 72.91 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading up by 1% at Rs 49,650 per 10 grams.

Tata Power Wins 210-MW Solar EPC Contract From NTPC

In news from the power sector, Tata Power was among the top buzzing stocks today.

India's largest private power distribution company, Tata Power's wholly-owned subsidiary, Tata Power Solar has received a letter of award (LoA) to build 210 megawatts-peak (MWp) of solar photovoltaic (PV) projects for NTPC.

The total order value of the projects is Rs 6.9 bn. Its commissioning date has been set for November 2022.

The scope of work includes land, transmission, engineering, procurement, installation, and commissioning of the solar projects.

The NTPC project site is located in Gujarat.

With this addition, the order pipeline of Tata Power Solar stands at about 2.8 gigawatts (GW) with an approximate value of Rs 130 bn, thereby cementing its position as India's leading solar EPC (engineering-procurement-construction) player.

Tata Power CEO and MD Praveer Sinha said,

• We are pleased to announce the new win of this large solar EPC contract from NTPC.
  
  Tata Power Solar is the leader in producing solar energy across the country and this further validates Tata Power Solar's excellent execution skills in solar projects.

Over the years, Tata Power Solar has become India's leading solar rooftop EPC player due to compelling economics, especially for the commercial and industrial segments.

Favorable government policies and increased environmental awareness have been the key growth drivers.

Tata Power Solar comes with a successful background of executing large projects such as the 250 MW Ayana at Ananthapur, 50 MW Kasargod at Kerala, 56 MW Greenko, 30 MWp solar power plant in Lapanga, Odisha, and 105 MWp of floating solar at Kayamkulam.

The company has a portfolio of more than 5.4 GW of ground-mount utility-scale, over 515 MW of rooftop and distributed generation projects, and installation of over 36,000 pumps across the country to date.

Tata Power's share price ended the day up by 0.4% on the BSE.

Speaking of the power sector, it's interesting to note the power exchanged in India is about 4.5% of the overall power production, as can be seen in the chart below.

Moving on to news from the IPO space...

Nykaa Aims to List at US$ 4.5 Bn Valuation

Nykaa plans to go public later this year at a valuation of US$ 4.5 bn, a sharp rise from its earlier valuation of more than US$ 3 bn, as the beauty retailing startup gains from a marked shift towards online sales during the pandemic.

Nykaa, founded by former investment banker Falguni Nayar, will keep unchanged the size of the public offering at between US$ 500 m and US$ 700 m.

According to a source, the rise in Nykaa's overall valuation is led by a spurt in revenue and profit for the e-commerce platform, primarily due to covid-related disruptions, which has pushed more consumers to purchase online.

As per the source, 'The roadshows are on for the initial public offer (IPO), and FSN e-commerce ventures, the holding company of Nykaa, will file its draft red herring prospectus by this June-end or early July, and the IPO should take off in the March quarter of this fiscal'.

The public offer will be coupled with an offer for sale to provide an exit to existing investors.

The price band is yet to be decided, but a 10-20% stake of the company could be offered to the public for an adequate free float.

Nykaa has appointed Kotak Mahindra Capital and Morgan Stanley as managers for its IPO.

While several large startups in the unicorn league, or those with a valuation of more than US$ 1 bn, such as Paytm, Flipkart, Zomato, Policybazaar, Grofers, and Pepperfry, are also looking for public listings, Nykaa is the only startup that is profitable and will meet the criteria to list on the main board of Indian stock exchanges.

How this pans out remains to be seen. Meanwhile, we will keep you updated on the latest news from this space.