Investors with horizon of 6-12 months can consider following scripts for their investment. These companies have potential to give higher returns than index over a long term.

Corporate Highlights

• The government has deferred the share sale of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) to the second half of 2011 following a faux pas in appointment of independent directors on the company board. The government plans to sell 5%, or 427.77 million equity shares, through the follow-on public offer (FPO) to raise up to Rs 12,000 crore.

• State Bank of India is looking to buy banks in Africa and Southeast Asia as it seeks to ramp up its overseas operations. India's largest lender plans to spend roughly $200 million on an overseas acquisition and will mainly focus on banks with strong corporate banking services in the two regions. State Bank, which has a market value of about $37 billion, is aiming to raise the international operations' contributions to the group net profit to 25 percent over the next five years from about 16 percent now.

• India's top-listed retailer Pantaloon Retail, part of Future Group, has hiked prices of its branded apparel by 18 percent from this month, its managing director said. The 10% excise hike announced will be additional, that will affect volume growth and demand.

• Tata Steel Group said that its expenses on key raw materials are likely to go up by $1 billion in the current fiscal to $7 billion due to a rise in input costs. The expectation of $1 billion rise on raw material expenses to $7 billion this fiscal is on the account of floods in Australia and increased activity from China.

• Essar group has reached a deal to acquire majority stake in Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (Zisco) and would invest an estimated $750 million for revival of the African nation's state-run steel maker. The Ruias-led Indian conglomerate said in a statement that its privately held company Essar Africa Holdings has reached an agreement with the Government of Zimbabwe for revival Zisco.

Economic Highlights

• India's exports went up by 49.8% year-on-year to $23.6 billion in February on the back of increased demand from markets like North America, Asia and Africa. During April-February, 2011, the country's merchandise shipments grew by 31.4% to $208.2 billion, surpassing the export target of $200 billion for the entire 2010-11 fiscal. Imports also went up in February, rising by 21.2% to $31.7 billion, leaving a trade gap of $8.1 billion. During April-February,
2011, imports grew by 18% to $305.3 billion. During the 11-month period, the trade deficit amounted at $97.1 billion.