SKINDIA INDIAN GDR MONITOR
Volume VI No 39	Sep 24-Sep 30, 1999	01-Oct-99

This week the markets started on a positive note and turned bullish on the back of exit polls giving a clear majority to the BJP and its allies. The GDR markets continued with the momentum during the week with the Skindia GDR Index rising 45.65 points,but the domestic markets lost the steam mid way and the BSE sensex managed to end the week with a marginal gain of only 28.61 points. During the week the premiums of the 63DRs on an average moved up to 8.21% on Sept 30 from 6.99% on Sept 23 & the average spreads between the bid and ask of the 40 most actively traded DRs narrowed to 6.66% on Sept 30 from 6.68% on Sept 23. Infosys: For the past few weeks Infosys Tech has been the front runner in both the domestic as well as the ADR markets. Ever since Infosys ADR was issued on March 11 at $34 it has been quoting at a premium. Till June end although the ADR was quoting at $58.38, by July16 it touched $111and after swinging between $73.75 (July 21) and $100.94 (Sept. 01), it zoomed to $138.25 on September 21.The domestic markets too followed the trend on NASDAQ and the shares of Infosys skyrocketed to Rs.7869, its all time high on Sept. 23. But the rally couldn't sustain for long. The rumour that the company was about to announce a 5 for 1 stock split, converting every 10 equity share in 5 shares with a face value of Rs.2, brought the share price down to Rs.7023.85 on monday. However later in the day the rumour was negated by the company through a press release. Infosys finally closed at its all time high at $142.50 on Sept. 30 gaining 146.75% in the second quarter on NASDAQ while it closed at Rs.7139 gaining 94.85% on BSE for the same period. The second quarter results of the company are expected to be announced on October 08. GAIL GDR ISSUE: Gas Authority of India Ltd is expected to hit the international market for divesting upto 170 million shares by the end of 1999. Morgan Stanley & Jardine Fleming would soon be reporting to the company about the market situation and the appropriate time for the GDR issue. Adverse market conditions had earlier forced GAIL to withdraw its first GDR issue in early 1998. GAIL would be divesting about 170 mil shares through GDR issue and 10 mil shares through retail domestic offering i.e. only after the GDR issue. They had divested about 30mil shares in the domestic market last year which had fetched the government over Rs.190 crore. Bank Of Baroda - GDR/ADR Offering To provide a capital cushion for its international network of 39 branches Bank of Baroda, one of the top three banks of the country, is planning an international offering through an issue of GDR or ADR. Bank's international network accounts for about 20% of its business. Currently the government holding in the bank is 66%.

DISCLAIMER : Factual material is obtained from sources believed to be reliable and SkindiaFinance is not responsible for any errors and omissions contained herein. Any recommendation contained in this report may not be suitable for all issuers.