5:00 PM Mumbai – Indian stocks pared some of Tuesday’s gains to drop below the 20,000 mark. ArcelorMittal signed an agreement with Bokaro villagers to set up 12 million ton steel plant. ONGC looks to acquire Russia’s Arctic oil fields. India is in talks to finalize a $5.8 billion defense deal with the U.S.

Stocks in Mumbai traded lower after rallying for eight days in a row and nudged below 20,000.

The Sensex Index lost 0.30% or 59.83 to close at 19,941.72.

Reliance Industries achieved a new milestone of crossing 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas sales from its eastern offshore KG D-6 fields in less than six months this fiscal.

Steel giant ArcelorMittal signed a binding agreement with the villagers of Bokaro for its proposed 12-million ton steel project.

“We have got binding MOU with villagers for over 300 acres. We hope to get MOUs for the remaining 1,000 acres by December,” said an ArcelorMittal executive. The company already has been allocated 35 million cubic meters of water from the Tenughat Dam for the project.

The Reserve Bank of India wants to know how equipped are Indian banks to support the proposed National Intelligence Grid, a project proposal of the home ministry, which will house database intelligence report to counter terrorism. RBI has called a meeting with large commercial banks on October 1 in Mumbai.

The RBI also called for a separate meeting with the bank chiefs on the same day to discuss issues related to Unique Identity number. This meeting will be attended also by Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of the Unique Identity Authority.

The RBI said Tuesday investments by banks in the National Payments Corporation of India and the United Stock Exchange of India Ltd will not be counted for calculating their capital market exposure.

Axis Bank Ltd underwrote Rs 21,500 crore of domestic offerings this year, a 16% market share, as global funds pumped in an unprecedented $9.2 billion into Indian debt market, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

ICICI Bank and trailed Axis and underwrote 11% of the debt.

India’s imports of natural gas will have to be increased after Reliance Industries Ltd fell behind schedule to raise its output of natural gas used in making crop nutrients by fertilizer manufacturers.

India is aiming to finalize a $5.8 billion defense deal with the United States before the November visit of President Barack Obama in a deal that would mark the largest India-U.S. defense deal ever.

The two countries are in talks for India to acquire 10 Boeing Co’s C-17 Globemaster III planes, senior officials of the government said Wednesday.

Russian Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trutnev said Tuesday that India’s state-run energy firm ONGC put in a bid for Russia’s giant Arctic Trebs and Titov oil deposits.

Gainers & Losers

Archies Limited declined 4.1% to Rs 171.00 after gift and stationary retailer turned ex-dividend of Rs 2 per share for the year ended March.

Allied Digital Services Limited rose 0.7% to Rs 234.75 after the various solutions and service provider said board approved raising Rs 32 crore via issue of warrants on a preferential basis.

B.L. Kashyap and Sons Limited surged 9.9% to Rs 454.75 after the infra- structure development fixed October 1, as the record date for a 5-for-1 stock-split and a 1:1 bonus issue.

Gujarat Industries Power Company Limited plunged 2.2% to Rs 115.60 after the power generator said a unit at 125 megawatt lignite-based power plant in Surat stopped on technical problems with a boiler.