Block deal transactions by foreign institutional investors registered a significant fall in October and November. The decline was mainly because of major deal makers cashing out of the equity market to make good their mark-to-market losses and meet redemption pressure.
Eighteen companies, collectively planning to raise Rs 9,000 crore (Rs 90 billion) through initial public offers, will benefit from the Securities and Exchange Board of India's new norms to extend the IPO validity period from three months to a year.
The global credit crisis has slowed order growth of Indian construction and engineering companies, indicating that several big projects, planned earlier, are being pushed back either for lack of capital, or because they have become unviable now.
The tide for Indian firms seems to be turning. As much as 41 per cent of companies announcing their second-quarter results have registered a drop in profit.
Sales of 137 firms up 29.7%, but operating margins dip.
On January 8, there were 252 firms as against 122 now.
After four years of growth at 40 per cent or more, capital expenditure (capex) by India Inc in the current financial year (2008-09) may drop almost 30 per cent.
India Inc's creamy layer - executive directors and above - rewarded themselves handsomely with a 36 per cent pay rise in 2007-08.
The combined stake of foreign institutional investors in the top 500 Indian companies has dropped to a two-year low of 18.18 per cent as on June 30, 2008 from a high of 19.86 per cent in the corresponding period a year ago.
Foreign institutional investors were the major sellers on the Indian bourses in the last six months, accounting for total outflows of Rs 62,000 crore (Rs 620 billion).
The high interest rate regime is unlikely to hit larger companies' ongoing projects, at least for now.
As a result, new projects may have to be put on the backburner.
Weighed down by a sharp rise in input costs and limited ability to pass on the burden to customers, India Inc's operating margins took a hard knock in the first quarter of 2008-09 even though demand was buoyant as reflected in zooming sales.
More than 42 per cent of the funds mobilised through initial public offers in the last one year are idling away either in banks or debt schemes.
The Tata group companies increased their dividend payout to 28.3 per cent in the financial year ended March 2008 from 27.3 per cent a year earlier, while the corporate sector (1,121 dividend paying companies) pruned the dividend payout from 25.22 per cent to 23.04 per cent.
India Inc's order-books swelled to Rs 37,666 crore (Rs 376.66 billion) in the first quarter of the financial year 2008-2009, up 93 per cent from Rs 19,520 crore (Rs 195.2 billion) for the same period last year. In the fourth quarter of 2007-08, the order-book had increased by 121 per cent to Rs 42,545 crore
The super-rich club is shrinking at a dizzying pace. Over 100 billionaires (net worth of Rs 100 crore and above) have turned millionaires courtesy the decline in share prices over the last six months.
Analysis of data published by 1,074 manufacturing companies with turnover of at least Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million)(shows they were sitting on unsold finished stock worth Rs 18,950 crore (Rs 189.5 billion) at the end of 2007-08, up almost 70 per cent from Rs 11,164 crore (Rs 111.64 billion) a year ago.
The market meltdown since its January 8 peak has made private investments in public equity (PIPE) unprofitable as 2007's deal size of $5.31 billion is currently valued at $5.29 billion.Of the seven deals in the real estate sector, five are profitable while two made losses. Similarly, of the 17 deals in manufacturing sector, 13 reported loss.
The payout declined to 22 per cent in 2007-08 from more than 24 per cent in each of the last four years, an analysis of the 657 companies, which announced dividends in the financial year ended March, showed. The sample is from the list of 2,000 companies, which have declared results, though only 657 companies announced dividends as of June 6.
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