As India's electricity demand soars, the power ministry on Tuesday reviewed the power supply situation to ensure 'zero load shedding' during the summer months. The ministry has drafted plans ranging from delaying planned maintenance of thermal power stations to mandatory operations of imported coal-based and gas-based stations till September. In a series of meetings with industry stakeholders, Union Minister for Power, New, and Renewable Energy R K Singh emphasised the importance of adequate planning to avoid situations where one state has surplus power while another state faces shortages.
Key infrastructure sectors -- from railways to power, and from coal to petroleum -- will not only be part of the achievements but promises too, as the BJP fights to get a third term at the Centre.
'China is somewhat disappointing in its recovery, and slow growth, and India is reporting strong growth numbers.'
Trinamool Congress is the second highest recipient of political donations through electoral bonds.
Engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is preparing the ground to begin the commercial sale of electrolysers in September, which would be 50 per cent cheaper than its European counterparts, a senior company executive has said. An electrolyser is a key equipment required for the generation of green hydrogen. Last quarter, L&T manufactured its first electrolyser as a prototype.
'This was earlier driven by industries and the commercial sector.'
Of the top four companies, which collectively hold more than half of India's market share, two have pitted Shah Rukh Khan and Sunny Deol against each other.
'The private sector will look to the budget to check whether there are any headwinds or tailwinds.'
Brokerage firms on Wednesday appeared divided in their calls on Larsen & Toubro (L&T) after the company's 2023-24 (FY24) October-December quarter (third quarter, or Q3) performance and guidance for the quarters ahead. While few stayed optimistic about the stock over future order inflow prospects, others saw increasing exposure to West Asia and fixed price contracts as a concern. In Wednesday's trade, L&T's share price closed at Rs 3,480 per piece, 4.22 per cent down from its previous day's close.
Investments worth more than Rs 80 trillion are expected in roads, railways and urban infrastructure between now and FY30 and the supply chains helping to build this core infrastructure are also readying to cash in on the growth. In the first half of the current financial year, orders worth more than Rs 2.6 trillion were tendered in the roads and railways segment alone, according to data sourced from ICRA Ratings and Research. "India's transportation infrastructure sector is in high gear, and we enjoy a sizable share of it," said S V Desai, whole time director and senior executive vice president (Civil Infrastructure) for Larsen & Toubro.
Reliance Industries' (RIL's) consumer business is expected to lead earnings growth in the Q3FY24 performance, according to analysts. While the energy business is expected to show sequential weakness, the consumer business, especially retail, is estimated to show strong growth. The oil-to-telecom conglomerate will announce its Q3FY24 financial results on Friday.
Earnings growth trajectory for India's capital goods firms is likely to stay buoyant for the December 2023-ended quarter (Q3 FY24), said analysts. Guidance on margins, ordering activity in an election year and export-related demand would be key monitorables. Brokerages - Motilal Oswal, Nuvama, Kotak Institutional Equities and Prabhudas Lilladher - estimated revenue growth for their capital goods universe to be 11-16 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y).
Asia's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, signed off an address to employees last week by assuring them that 2024 would be better than 2023 for both Reliance Industries and India. Ambani isn't an exception. Promoters and their representatives from several other conglomerates have expressed similar optimism.
The outer structure of Navi Mumbai International Airport's first terminal building is almost ready. Exactly behind the under-construction building, stands a partially demolished hill. Executives from the airport company are now hopeful the hill will be flattened by mid-January, paving the way for the first commercial take-off by December next year.
'This is not just the IREDA's IPO. It is the success of the ministry of new and renewable energy and of the renewable energy industry.'
For the company's latest energy initiative to expand its green energy and storage portfolio, some analysts are beginning to suggest a closer look at some of its segments. In his address to shareholders in the company's FY22 annual report, billionaire Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of the company, said: "The green energy value holds great promise to outshine all our existing growth engines in just 5-7 years." The company has marked an investment of Rs 75,000 crore towards its new energy plans, which include solar energy value chain, green hydrogen, energy storage and other similar businesses.
74 of these fatalities were reported by 8 companies: Coal India (21), L&T (14), Vedanta (13, of which Hindustan Zinc reported 7), Tata Steel (7), Power Grid Corporation of India (7), JSW Steel (6), and ONGC (6).
India's leading capital goods and engineering firms are in the midst of one of their busiest seasons, with the combined orderbook surging past Rs 8 trillion in value. As on September 30, 2023, 13 of India's top 15 listed capital goods and engineering firms, for which data for the September 2023 quarter was available, had a total orderbook worth Rs 8.45 trillion - a number unseen at least since 2018-19. "This intuitively looks like an all-time high factoring in inflation," said Anupama Arora, a senior independent analyst who tracks the capital goods sector.
India's cement demand has consistently shown double-digit growth over the past few quarters, primarily driven by infrastructure spending. However, dealers and industry executives note that state elections, festival season, and, in some markets, weddings and pollution may temporarily disrupt this demand story. While the festival season typically sees a slowdown in construction activity, some dealers anticipate this lull extending throughout the entire month as multiple states enter election mode.
'The fact still remains that we will have to deliver, so the pressure is now on us to make sure we get our resources, our supplies lined up at acceptable costs.'