Indian stocks climbed before the release of monthly inflation and industrial output data as optimism grew over the progress of economic bills in Parliament.
ICICI Bank, State Bank of India and HDFC Bank rose at least 1%. Dr Reddy’s Laboratories was the top gainer on the S&P BSE Sensex. 
Asian Paints jumped to a record after its group sales beat analyst estimates on Wednesday. Tata Consultancy Services added 1.96%.
The Sensex index increased 0.8%, or 193.20 points, to 25,790.22, the highest since 27 April. Industrial production may have expanded 2.5% from a year earlier in March, compared with a 2% gain in February, a Bloomberg survey of economists showed before the data.
India’s Parliament passed a bill on Wednesday to overhaul archaic insolvency laws, taking Prime Minister Narendra Modi a step closer to fulfilling his pledge to make it easier to do business in the world’s fastest-growing major economy.
“Quarterly earnings are signaling an uptick in industrial demand,” Jitendra Panda, chief executive officer at Peerless Securities, said by phone from Kolkata. “Bank stocks are up after the bankruptcy legislation was passed by parliament. Investors are finding value in beaten down drugmakers and utilities.”
The bill’s passage gives Modi a political victory after opponents blocked several other pieces of legislation, including a national sales tax. It’s also one of the biggest steps in India’s battle to clean up $117bn of stressed assets. 
The inability to shut loss-making companies and collect dues had locked up funds at banks and damped lending and investment.
Consumer prices may have risen 5.05% from a year earlier in April, from 4.83% in March, a Bloomberg survey showed. Earnings are also recovering after the worst run since the global financial crisis. Eight of 15 Sensex firms that have posted March quarter results have beaten or matched estimates.
Dr Reddy’s reported group net income of Rs.74.6 crore after accounting for a Rs.431 crore charge related to its Venezuela operations. 
Foreign investors bought $58mn of local stocks on 10 May, taking this year’s inflows to $1.8bn. 
They invested $585mn last month after an inflow of $4.1bn in March, which was the highest in three years.
The Sensex has lost 1.3% this year and trades at 15.9 times 12-month projected earnings versus 11.4 for the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. 
Meanwhile the rupee closed marginally weaker against the US dollar yesterday, ahead of the key inflation and Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data.
The currency closed at 66.63, down 0.1% from its previous close of 66.57. The rupee opened at 66.62 a dollar and touched a high and a low of 66.54 and 66.68, respectively.
According to Bloomberg estimates, Consumer Price Index (CPI) will be at 5.05% for April against 4.83% in March and IIP will be at 2.5% in March as compared with 2% in February.
The government will issue Wholesale Price Index (WPI) data on May 16 after 12pm. 
According to Bloomberg analysts, WPI will be at -0.2% for April against -0.85% in March.
India’s 10-year bond yield closed at 7.424%, as compared with its Wednesday’s close of 7.427%.
So far this year, the rupee has weakened 0.68%, while foreign institutional investors have bought $1.77bn from the local equity market and sold $146.7mn in the debt market.
Asian currencies closed lower. Japanese yen was down 0.75%, Singapore dollar 0.38%, China renminbi 0.29%, Philippines peso 0.26% and Thai baht 0.18%.