The post-budget blues of India‘s stock exchanges continued today with Mumbai Stock exchange‘s Sensex breaching the 3800-mark as banks entered the fray to sell the shares given to them as collaterals against loans. The last hour saw panic selling in tech and media counters that took the Sensex to a four-month low of 3762.

This is the third major fall since last Monday. Last Thursday also saw a plunge on fears of a payments crisis in the Calcutta and Ahmedabad stock exchanges.

Media stocks were hammered drastically till the end of the day wherein Hinduja TMT (down 14%), SaReGaMa (down 11%), Sri Adhikari, Jain Studios (both down 13%), GV Films, Cinevista, ETC Networks, Padmalaya Tele, Balaji Tele, Pritish Nandy Communication, Creative Eye hit the 8% lower circuit. There was heavy selling pressure in TV 18 counters and the scrip finally closed at Rs140, down Rs5 (earlier up 10%). However, Tips was the only major gainer among the media stocks.

Zee Telefilms, clocked the top volumes on BSE and NSE at 10 million and 14.9 million shares respectively.

After remaining in the positive for most part of the trading session, Zee drifted into the negative territory. The scrip ended at Rs 114, down 2.44 per cent.

The Sensex lost 182 points from the intra-day high of 3931 and finally closed at 3768, down by 114 points (2.9%).

In an effort to curb volatility, the SEBI had imposed additional margins on net outstanding to 25% from 10%. As a result, the total volumes on BSE and NSE have declined sharply to 84 million and 105 million shares respectively compared to their normal volumes.

The NSE Nifty Index closed at 1197.95, down by 56.80 points (-4.5%) and the CSE Index closed at 125.23, down by 4.2 points (-3.2%).

And with no immediate relief expected at the NASDAQ tech-laded index, it seems that the worst is still to come.

On Friday, 9 February, the Economic Times featured a report saying that the government may finally come around on the vexed issue of 20 per cent sectoral and foreign equity cap on broadcasters for direct-to-home broadcasting.

It is something the broadcasting sector has been lobbying for ever since the government finally gave clearance for DTH in November 2000. The report quoted officials in the information and broadcasting ministry.

There was a rider however. The government was not going back on the issue of revenue sharing with DTH service providers, it was reported.

The guidelines issued by the government stipulated a revenue sharing arrangement of 10 per cent as annual fee for the licence period of ten years. Broadcasters have been asking for a five-year moratorium on revenue-sharing.

It may be noted that just a few days earlier it had been reported that while the government was ready for a rethink on the revenue sharing arrangement it was firm that the 20 per cent cap sectoral and foreign equity cap would stay.

A day after the Holi festivities on Sunday, 11 February, after everyone got back to ground reality so to speak I&B minister Sushma Swaraj is toting the old government line: no chance of any change in DTH guidelines. And she‘s promised yet again that the DTH guidelines will be out next week.

Don‘t be too sure though. It was on 16 February that Swaraj had last promised that the guidelines would be out in a week.

"Aamir (Aamir Khan), my son, normally does not accept awards. I am in a dilemma. I don‘t know what to do. But because I believe it is a genuine award, I will accept it on his behalf."

With that statement, Aamir Khan‘s father and film maker put the stamp of approval and paid respect to the Zee Network organised Lux Zee Cine Popular Awards. The Junior Khan got the award for Best Actor, through a poll process that directly involved viewers of Zee TV, for his role in Sarfarosh.

The best actress award went to Aishwarya Raid for her able essaying of the role of a young girl forced into marriage by a doting father, her rebellion, and her final reconciliation to the fact that her husband is a much better choice for her than her lover (played by Salman Khan), in the box office success Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.

The best director award and best film award went to film maker Sanjay Leela Bhansali for Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Veteran actor Pran was given a lifetime achievement award. Ditto with film maker Nasir Hussain. Both have been associated with roles and films which have become bellwethers for the industry.

The awards function was held at a sports stadium, the Andheri Sports Complex, in northern Mumbai. A packed house - a crowd of at least 10,000-15,000 - which included the film trade, advertisers, the corporate world, media and the general public went agog with excitement every time a star got on stage to perform.

And there were perfomances aplenty by matinee stars Govinda, Anil Kapoor, Shilpa Shetty, Salman Khan, Juhi Chawla, Lucky Ali and the hearthrob of the nation, Hrithik Roshan. Anil Kapoor, Govinda, and Salman Khan stole people‘s hearts. As did Hrithik Roshan but one expected a lot more display of his dance talent when he performed on stage along with singer Lucky Ali.

Among those who presented the awards included: the breathtaking Rekha, Sushmita Sen, Akshay Khanna, Namrata Shirodkar, Shammi Kapoor, Alka Yagnik, Renuka Sahane, Sultan Ahmed, Baba Sehgal.

Among the other winners of the Lux Zee Cine Popular Awards figure:

Keep logging for further developments relating to Mr Murdoch.