Stocks to watch: Shree Cement, ZEEL, Voda Idea, Srei Infra Finance, ONGC

Nifty futures on Singapore Exchange traded 38 points higher at 17,429 around 8.45 am, indicating a firm start for the benchmark indices on Wednesday.

Here are the top stocks that are likely to buzz in today's session:

Shree Cement: Rajasthan-based Shree Cement will invest Rs 4,750 crore on three projects, including Rs 3,500 crore to set up an integrated cement plant at Nawalgarh Tehsil of the state. The company's board on Tuesday approved to invest Rs 500 crore to set up solar power plants at its cement units at various locations and Rs 750 crore to set up a clinker grinding unit in the Purulia district of West Bengal by its wholly-owned subsidiary Shree Cement East.

Zee Entertainment: Ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala's Rare Enterprises Ltd and BofA Securities Europe SA on Tuesday bought shares of Zee Entertainment Enterprises worth over Rs 225 crore through open market transactions. Rare Enterprises bought 50 lakh scrips at Rs 220.44 per share through bulk deal transactions on NSE. BofA Securities Europe SA purchased 48.65 lakh shares at an average price of Rs 236.2 apiece. Further, the AGM on Tuesday did not discuss the notice sent by its largest shareholder, seeking an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of shareholders to remove the current Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer, Punit Goenka. READ MORE

Vodafone Idea, Airtel: The Union Cabinet may consider on Wednesday a moratorium on payment of spectrum dues by telecom firms as part of a package for the sector aimed at giving relief to companies such as Vodafone Idea that have to pay thousands of crores of rupees in unprovisioned past statutory dues. The relief package under consideration includes telecom firms getting an option to convert interest on spectrum dues of the four-year moratorium period into government equity, a PTI report said.

Union Bank of India: The lender has secured a sustainability-linked loan aggregating to a total syndicated facility of USD 1.5 billion (about Rs 11,050 crore) from one of the leading trading corporates globally. The tenor of the syndicated loan is three years and the coupon rate is LIBOR + 155 basis points per annum, the state-owned bank said in a release.

Srei Infrastructure Finance: Struggling to retain its staff, Srei Infrastructure Finance has suffered yet another blow as its CEO Rakesh Kumar Bhutoria resigned even as the company is going through the debt resolution process with the lenders, a PTI report said.

Wardwizard Innovations & Mobility: The company on September 20 will consider fund raising for various business purposes and to explore avenues for the same including by way of rights issue of equity shares.

Dynacons Systems & Solutions: The company won e-Governance contract worth Rs 7.46 crore for development & management of GMDMA Website, disaster management app and command & control system along with comprehensive maintenance of automatic weather stations, flow level sensor from Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai.

Jindal Steel & Power: CRISIL has upgraded its rating from 'A' with 'stable' outlook to 'A+' with 'Positive' outlook on the long term bank facilities and from "A2+" to "Al+" for short term bank facilities of the company.

Tata Steel: Rating agency Moody's Investors Service has upgraded the corporate family rating of Tata Steel Ltd to Ba1 from Ba2. The rating outlook remains stable. The upgrade to Ba1 reflects Tata Steel's conservative financial policies, which combined with Moody's expectations of strong operating performance throughout fiscal 2022, will contribute to further deleveraging and balance sheet strengthening.

ONGC: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is looking to buy out Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services' (IL&FS') stake in Mangalore Special Economic Zone (MSEZ) after protracted negotiations. IL&FS holds 50 per cent equity in the company. The deal is likely to be concluded at 'fair value' after ONGC's attempt to buy out the shadow lender’s stake in the joint venture (JV) at deep discount failed, according to a Business Standard report. READ MORE

LIC Housing Finance: Life Insurance Corporation of India's stake in the company increased to 45.239 per cent from 40.313 per cent post preferential allotment.

Power Finance Corporation: UBS Group AG increased stake in the company to 5.67 per cent from 3.4 per cent earlier via rights issue.

UTI Asset Management Company: Board of Directors to meet on September 20 to consider and approve general matters of the company.