5:00 PM Mumbai – Stocks in Mumbai trade down most of the day. State Bank of India expects to earn $2 billion in profit in the current year, record for any bank in India. Cairn India discovers oil and gas in KG basin. India rejects Vedanta’s bauxite mining proposal in Orissa.

Sensex Index reversed its early losses, aided by persistent buying from foreign funds, but ended the day down by 97.76 points or 0.53% to close at 18,311.59.

All Asian indexes, except China’s Shanghai Composite declined between 0.1% and 1.3%.

Enthused by its impressive first quarter numbers, State Bank of India said it expects a net profit of Rs 10,000 crore this fiscal year, record among all banks.

The bank recorded 0.4% increase in net profit of Rs 9,166.05 crore in last fiscal year.

China’s Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Company Ltd, one of the country’s biggest locomotive makers, said it secured over $700 million orders from contracts with India, Malaysia, Singapore and Saudi Arabia. In June this year, it signed a contract to supply subway trains to India.

The world’s leading luggage maker, Samsonite Corp, expects to double its turnover in India in two years, a top company official said Sunday.

“In the first half of the current year, our business grew 52% in India. We hope to grow at similar rate every year and double the turnover every two years,” said Subrata Dutta, Samsonite South Asia Pvt Ltd Managing Director.

Oil-rich Algeria, the second-largest country in Africa, invited Indian companies to participate in a $10 billion project to build an ambitious trans-Saharan gas pipeline originating from Nigeria via neighboring Niger.

“We need foreign partners outside Europe for this 4,000 kilometer long project,” Algerian Ambassador to India Echarif Mohammed-Hacene said, referring to the pipeline, which aims to provide some European companies alternative to Russian gas.

Renewable energy companies in India are expecting a major boost to demand, thanks to the government’s recent regulation that makes it mandatory for power utilities to source about 6% to 10% from renewable sources, and the introduction of the renewable energy certificate scheme.

Greenko Group based in Hyderabad plans to raise its total capacity to 1,000 megawatt by 2014.

Cairn India’s unexplored oil fields in Barmer could turn out as major attractions for bidders in the next auction of oil exploration blocks. Cairn India has exhausted the time limit for its Barmer block (RJ-ON-90/1) in Rajasthan, but a large area remains unexplored.

“Barring the development area where Cairn found crude oil, the government may put remaining area for auction under NELP,” an official in the Directorate General of Hydrocarbon said.

Cairn India discovers oil and gas in Nagayalanka-1Z well, situated in onshore Krishna Godavari basin. The company is evaluating the discovery to assess commercial potential of the find.

India’s environment ministry rejected Vedanta Resources Plc proposal to mine bauxite in Orissa, thus hampering the London-listed company’s plans of expansion in Aluminum sector.

The government will issue a show cause notice and take penal action against Vedanta for violating various laws, Minister for Environment & Forests Jairam Ramesh said in New Delhi today.

State-owned energy companies are considering bidding jointly for a stake in Cairn India as Vedanta Resources prepares its bid for the company.

Gainers & Losers

Crest Animation Studios Limited increased 1.8% to Rs 107.70 after the digital animator company''s board approved a corporate restructuring scheme.