The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved a proposal to allow 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in public sector refiners, expanding the scope for FDI in the privatisation of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL). The approval by the Cabinet will enable the sale of the government's 52.98 per cent stake in BPCL to a foreign buyer, and, at the same time, will open the door for FDI in other public sector companies in the oil sector put up for privatisation.
Recovery from the second wave of the pandemic in April-May is expected to be swifter as compared to the first wave in 2020, according to the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) chief executive officers (CEOs) poll of 119 top corporate. During the second wave, the lockdowns were largely designed to limit social gatherings and impact on economic activities was restricted. This helped arrest the impact of the second wave on economic growth, according to a survey conducted by the industry lobby group Confederation of Indian Industries (CII). About 59 per cent of the CEOs polled expect the recovery in sales to be better than in the first wave for their companies, while 46 per cent of them expressed a similar trend for their respective industry sectors.
With the threat of a third Covid-19 wave looming large, companies are scrambling to protect employees and keep operations safe--from a no-jab-no-entry-at-workplace policy to ramping up vaccination, it's an all-out effort to prevent the scale of devastation seen in the first two waves. At least two top steel companies--Tata Steel and ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India)--are pushing for vaccination certificates for entry into work premises. AM/NS India, a joint venture between world's leading steelmaker, ArcelorMittal, and Japan's Nippon Steel, is set to make vaccination the certificate a requirement from July 1.
Infosys chairman and Aadhaar architect Nandan Nilekani will join a panel set up by the central government, along with eight other members, to advise the government on designing and accelerating adoption of Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), aimed at curbing digital monopolies. The larger idea is to give 'free and fair' choice to consumers to buy products on an online platform, a senior government official said.
The Centre has slapped as many as 148 notices on e-commerce players in the past three months for not complying with the mandatory display of the 'country of origin' tag on products sold. "Of the 148 notices, 56 have compounded it (the offence) and paid up around Rs 34 lakh," a senior official told Business Standard. "Every product has to display the country of origin, along with other basic information," the official added. In the case of e-commerce companies, these details have to be clearly displayed on their portals.
With the increased death rate in the ongoing second wave of Covid-19, domestic cement companies are in no better condition than they were in the April-June quarter of FY21 when the country faced nationwide lockdown. "This wave has had high death rate which has impacted the business. "We are in no better situation than last (year) April. "Deaths of drivers, dealers, contractors and also employees have hit the industry really very hard since April (FY22)," M Ravinder Reddy, director of Bharathi Cements said.
The trade to-and-from India so far is not affected. But if the situation continues to remain the same for the next two to three months, it could definitely hurt India trade, including essential cargo.
'Supplies should start moving to the Serum Institute without any impediments.'
Since April, India has seen multiple strains of the coronanavirus sweep the nation, upending life and businesses alike. Out-of-home retail and discretionary categories such as durables, auto, fashion, lifestyle, hospitality, food services, travel, and tourism have been the worst-hit as Covid cases remain high, leaving state governments with no option but to curtail mobility and economic activity.
Meanwhile, with China switching its trading partners due to geo-political issues, increased trade with South Africa for bauxite and with the US for coal is also auguring well for vessels with tonne miles going up.
Overall, Tata Steel becomes the seventh non-financial firm, including four oil PSUs to report quarterly revenues of Rs 50,000 crore.
With the government looking to divest loss-making steel assets, significant interest from secondary players is most likely this time apart from the anticipated list of large integrated primary steel producers, said industry experts. Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL), NMDC Integrated Steel Plant (NISP)-Nagarnar, Ferro Scrap Nigam Ltd and three units of Steel Authority of India (SAIL) - Alloy Steels Plant, Durgapur; Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant, Bhadravati; and Salem Steel Plant, Salem - constitute the divestment list. All the three units of SAIL have been loss-making for more than five years.
Recently, the finance ministry waived off basic customs duty and health cess on imported oxygen and related equipment for three years.
According to Ajai Sahai, director-general and CEO of Federation of Indian Export Organisations, rising cases are a cause for concern as it adds to the uncertainty and may impact exports.
With the O2C business outlook on the mend, the Street is also looking forward to news on RIL's proposal to sell up to 20 per cent of the O2C business to a strategic investor like Saudi Aramco.
The central government is devising a mechanism to step up screening imports to protect domestic manufacturers. The details of the online monitoring system may find mention in the foreign trade policy 2021-26, which will kick in next month. The online system will make the data available to the government as well as industry about the countries from where the goods are being imported, and their quantity and quality. The data can help domestic producers analyse the market potential for such goods, said a senior government official. In the past 16 months, the government had implemented a steel- and coal-import monitoring system.
Many industry executives have said the draft e-commerce policy is being perceived as nationalistic but not overly protectionist and it is providing preference to Indian players against foreign companies. This might have an impact on investment by large players such as Walmart and Amazon in the country, said the executives. They said e-commerce was a very small portion of the retail industry and at a nascent stage and did not require heavy hammer regulations. Though the policy talks about being equally applicable to foreign and domestic players, it mentions that foreign direct investment (FDI) takes precedence over the e-commerce policy in any area of overlap.
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone and Adani Green Energy are the other two Adani Group firms to have crossed the Rs 1-trillion mark in m-cap.
'We are working in association with the state government and other transmission companies to make sure that the city never experiences blackouts'
About 50,000 truckers, most of whom are single-truck owners, could be thrown off their businesses due to the recent fuel price hike. "Already the vehicle supply on the road is higher than the requirement. "With the fuel price hike, fleet owners will look to cut down fleet size wherever needed and due to this, small single-truck owners could be at the receiving end," Ashok Goyal, managing director at BLR Logistiks (I) Ltd said. The company has a fleet of 500 vehicles of all types-small, medium and large with pan-India presence.
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