Share markets in India are presently trading on a strong note.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 620 points, up 1.3% at 49, 060 levels.

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading up by 192 points.

Tata Steel and Tata Motors are among the top gainers today. Power Grid Corporation and ONGC are among the top losers today.

The BSE Mid Cap index is trading up by 1.6%.

The BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 1.1%.

On the sectoral front, all sectors are trading in green with stocks from the metal sector, witnessing most of the buying interest.

US stock futures are trading higher today, indicating a positive opening for Wall Street.

Nasdaq Futures are trading up 89 points (up 0.7%) while Dow Futures are trading up 118 points (up 0.4%)

The rupee is trading at 72.4 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading down by 0.3% at Rs 44,555 per 10 grams.

Gold prices today declined in Indian markets, tracking softer global rates. On MCX, gold futures fell 0.2% to Rs 44,590. In the previous session, gold fell 0.4%.

Note that earlier this month, gold prices had dropped to nearly one-year lows of Rs 44,150. After today's fall, the precious metal is down about Rs 11,500 from August highs of Rs 56,200.

Moving on to stock-specific news...

Among the buzzing stocks, today is Power Grid Corporation.

State-owned Power Grid Corporation on March 25, 2021, said it has acquired Bikaner-II Bhiwadi Transco (BBTL).

"Power Grid Corporation of India, pursuant to its selection as the successful bidder under tariff-based competitive bidding, has on March 25, 2021, acquired BBTL," it said in a regulatory filing.

BBTL is the project Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) which will establish a transmission system strengthening scheme for evacuation of power from solar energy zones in Rajasthan (8.1 GW) under Phase-II, on a build, own, operate, and maintain (BOOM) basis from the bid process coordinator - PFC Consulting, it added.

The entity was acquired for an aggregate value of about Rs 205 million including 10,000 equity shares at par at Rs 10 each along with assets and liabilities of the company, it said.

However, it said the acquisition price is subject to adjustment as per the audited accounts of the company as on the acquisition date.

Power Grid Corporation of India, is an Indian central public sector unit and a Maharatna company owned by the Ministry of Power, Government of India. The company is headquartered in Gurugram, India, and is engaged mainly in the transmission of power.

We will keep you posted on more updates from this space. Stay tuned.

At the time of writing, shares of Power Grid Corporation of India were trading down by 1.7% on the BSE.

Speaking of the power sector, it is interesting to note that 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 other news...

Indian Market Regulator Eases Norms for Startups to Go Public

The Indian market regulator has approved several changes to the listing rules on the Innovators Growth Platform, including reducing the time early-stage investors need to hold 25% of pre-issue capital from two years to one, and allowing IPO-bound startups to allocate up to 60% of the issue size to any eligible investor with a lock-in of 30 days on such shares.

Currently, startups going public are barred from making discretionary allotments.

The market regulator also relaxed the threshold trigger for open offers from the existing 25% to 49% for startups, barring situations where there is a change in management control of the target company.

It also eased norms for the delisting of startups. Delisting will be considered successful if the acquirer or promoter shareholding, along with the shares tendered and accepted, reaches 75% of the total issued shares of that class, and at least 50% of the public shareholding is tendered and accepted. Further, the reverse book-building mechanism will not be applicable to startups seeking to go private.

For the computation of offer price, the floor price will be determined in terms of takeover regulations, along with a delisting premium as justified by the acquirer or promoter. The rules for companies seeking to migrate to the mainboard from the Innovators Growth Platform have also been eased.

Industry experts said the market regulator's move is aimed at encouraging successful Indian startups to list in the domestic markets instead of foreign bourses. Several Indian startups and young companies, including Flipkart, are looking to list abroad. Many other well-known startups such as Zomato, Swiggy, Delhivery, Policybazaar, Freshworks, and Nykaa are also said to be eyeing public listing overseas.

The markets regulator realizes that startups are using SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) and shell companies as a way of public liquidity. If that becomes the norm, it is basically an opportunity lost for Indian capital markets and the regulator needs to provide opportunities for Indian investors. This has come at the right time as a lot of startup public market activity is at a very advanced stage.

How this pans out remains to be seen. Meanwhile, stay tuned for more updates from this space.