US stock markets advanced, with the Dow Jones closing higher for the seventh straight consecutive session.In fact, all three major US indexes surged after weekly jobless claims data offered fresh hope for interest-rate cuts.Back home, Indian share markets are trading on a positive note following the trend on GIFT Nifty.The GIFT Nifty was trading higher by 71 points, signalling that Dalal Street was headed for a positive start.At present, the BSE Sensex is trading higher by 513 points, while the NSE Nifty is trading around 22,110 levels, up 156 points.JSW Steel and Asian Paints are among the top gainers today.Infosys and HCL Tech, on the other hand, are among the top losers today.Broader markets are trading on a positive note. The BSE Mid Cap index gained 0.4% while the BSE Small Cap index is trading higher by 0.6%.Barring IT, all sectoral indices are trading in green with stocks in the consumer durables sector, FMC sector and power sector witnessing most of the buying.Shares of V Guard, Waa Solar, and Escorts Kubota hit their 52-week high today.The rupee is trading at Rs 83.48 against the US dollar.In commodity markets, gold prices are trading 0.7% higher at Rs 72,149 per 10 grams today.
 Data Centres Opportunity for RailtelIn news from the telecom and railway equipment space, shares of Railtel Corporation have been in focus these past few days after investors factored in the massive data centres opportunity for the company.A data centre is a facility where companies store their information. They provide reliable power, cooling, security, and connectivity. What makes them unique is that they are designed to withstand natural disasters such as hurricanes or earthquakes.Data centres are becoming increasingly important to businesses. Businesses today are data driven and this means that data centres are needed to house servers.RailTel has a rural and urban mix for broadband connections in 60:40 ratio, with a focus on rural areas. So, the telecom business alone can neither ensure volume nor margin growth for the company.Telecom is a capital (capex) heavy business. RailTel has outlined capex of around 1.8 bn for the next financial year. In the future too, the capex requirement is expected to remain in the same range.As of March 2024, RailTel’s order book stood over Rs 48 bn. The company has received large orders from the Indian Railways for services such as the content on demand, video surveillance systems, and e-offices.It also has orders from Coal India, Ordnance Factory Board, Indian Air Force, etc., for system integration and bandwidth requirements.However, the key growth catalyst is expected to be the data centre business.RailTel has already set up two data centres (at Gurgaon and Hyderabad) from which it provides host of managed services including cloud and security operations for various government organisations.The company is now planning to create a 30 MW data centre at its Noida plot of 17,000 sq. metres, under a partnership model. This is expected to be an investment opportunity of approximately Rs 15 bn for the data centre partner.So, the Miniratna is on a reasonably sound footing due to its monopoly over the telecom and IT infrastructure requirements of Indian Railways.Both companies are competing neck to neck and have performed along similar lines on the stock market.

TVS Motor Company Goes Big on 2-Wheeler EVs
Moving on to news from the auto sector, two-wheeler sales in India could surpass pre-Covid peak either this fiscal year or the next, according to Sudarshan Venu, managing director at TVS Motor Company.India’s fourth-largest two-wheeler maker is expected to launch multiple products to grow faster than the market, including a slew of EVs at varied price points to cater to diverse customers.He added that electric is, of course, a big opportunity and the iQube will have new variants. TVS will also launch another new electric scooter.TVS Motor’s electric two-wheeler sales more than doubled to about 183,000 units last fiscal, as per vehicle registration data collated from VAHAN portal by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA).The company is expecting EVs to contribute 25-30% of the company’s total sales in the medium term.The company targets to launch i-Qube (its electric scooter) in multiple export markets in the next 2-3 quarters.Moreover, has lined up some new product launches like TVS Jupiter 125 with Smart Connect tech, TVS Apache RTR 310 in partnership with BMW, and TVS X which is developed on the Born Electric platform, and the company expects it to set new benchmarks in EV industry, both in India and globally.BMW CE 02 EV-designed and developed in collaboration with TVS is expected to see a global launch between March to April 2024.With all these developments, TVS Motors is turning things in its favour in 2024.TVS Motor share price is currently trading down by 1.3%.More By This Author:Sensex Today Trades Lower; L&T Share Price Falls 5% Sensex Today Tanks 609 Points; Auto Stocks DragSensex Today Trades Flat; Nifty At 22,600