Sundararaman Ramamurthy has been an interesting choice for the publicly-listed BSE, which has seen its chief move to bigger rival -- the National Stock Exchange (NSE) -- in July. Having spent nearly two decades at the country's largest bourse, Ramamurthy is among the early architects of NSE and understands all the cogs of the exchange wheel like only a few others in the country. Just like NSE's core team, which includes its founder RH Patil, the 59-year-old Ramamurthy has worked at the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) before moving to NSE in 1995.
'Yet the market didn't do all that badly because it was cushioned by domestic inflows.'
Adani Enterprises' proposed Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) fundraising via fresh issue of equity shares through a public offer would be the fourth biggest by Indian companies, excluding banks and non-banking financial companies.
All nine Adani stocks saw a rise in their share price in H1FY23, ranging from 6.1% in case of Adani Ports to 102% in case of Adani Power.
Gold prices are struggling and are down 18 per cent from their March highs. But stock prices have fallen even more. As a result, the precious metal has begun to outperform equities - both in the domestic market and international markets. Gold prices are up 2.6 per cent in the domestic market in the current calendar year (CY22) so far, according to the World Gold Council (WGC), compared to a 1.7 per cent decline in the Sensex year-to-date (YTD).
India's equity markets are on a roller-coaster ride, after delivering spectacular returns for two consecutive years - in 2020 and 2021. The benchmark National Stock Exchange's (NSE's) Nifty50 is down 1.5 per cent in the first nine months of the current calendar year 2022 (CY22) as foreign portfolio investors sold Indian stocks due to rising bond yields in the US and across global markets, including India. The sell-off in the Indian equity markets has, however, not been broad-based and largely limited to sectors facing earnings headwinds from rising interest rates, lower commodity and energy prices, and likely economic recession in advanced economies.
Two firms belonging to the Adani group - India's most valued conglomerate - are part of the Nifty 50 index. The group, however, has no representation in the Sensex. And it could stay this way if a proposed index qualification rule change gets approved. Recently, Asia Index, a joint venture between S&P Dow Jones Indices and BSE responsible for index composition, floated a consultation paper where it proposed that a stock must have a derivative contract to be eligible for inclusion in the flagship 30-share Sensex index.
The Rs 38-trillion mutual fund (MF) industry is going through a new fund offer (NFO) rush. Since July 1, the industry has launched close to 70 NFOs. This follows the completion of a near three-month embargo period when the industry had vowed to not launch any new offerings till the time it implemented norms around pooling of investor accounts. As a result, between April and June 2022, the industry was able to launch just three NFOs.
In August, domestic equity markets garnered one of the highest foreign portfolio investor (FPI) flows since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, despite the US Federal Reserve standing firm on unwinding its stimulus measures to control inflation. FPIs pumped in over Rs 51,000 crore ($6.4 billion) in August, the most since December 2020 and the third-highest tally since March 2020-the month the Covid-19 pandemic roiled global markets. This was the second consecutive month of positive foreign flows. In the preceding nine months, FPIs had yanked out over $32 billion or Rs 2.2 trillion.
'Companies are being forced to pay higher salaries to retain and hire employees due to a big rise in attrition in the industry.'
'The idea is to invest where there is opportunity.'
The Adani Group has overtaken Mukesh Ambani Group to become the country's second biggest business group in terms of market cap behind Tatas. Adani Group cos now have a combined m-cap of Rs 19.44 trillion against Ambani Group cos combined m-cap of Rs 17.89 trillion. Tata Group leads the league table with the group market capitalisation of Rs 21.73 trillion on Monday. The Adani Group companies, however, continue to out-perform firms from business groups and the broader market on the bourses by a big margin.
Corporate earnings grew in double digits during the April-June 2022 (Q1FY23) quarter but the momentum waned. Overall corporate earnings in the quarter were down sharply from their highs in FY22. The combined net profit of 2,981 listed companies across sectors in the Business Standard sample was up 22.4 per cent YoY to Rs 2.24 trillion in the June quarter, driven by a big jump in the earnings of banks, non-banking lenders, oil & producers, and FMCG companies. Also, earnings in the corresponding quarter a year ago were affected because of the second wave of the Covid pandemic, even though the numbers were a lot better than Q1FY21 when there was a nationwide lockdown.
Mirroring the increase in the earnings of their companies, the chief executives and promoters of India's top listed firms gained handsomely from the boom last financial year. Their remuneration includes salaries, perquisites or perks, and profit-linked commissions.
The Indian equity market has been dancing to the tune of foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) for more than two decades now. Typically, when FPIs are net-buyers on Dalal Street (D-Street) and raise their ownership of Indian equities, the broader market rallies. Conversely, when FPIs turn net-sellers, the stock prices decline. FPIs have been net-sellers on D-Street for five quarters on the trot and the result has been predictable.
Stock exchanges have increased scrutiny of investors domiciled in Sikkim, following reports of illegal routing of investments through the Northeast state to evade taxes. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has directed its trading members (brokers) to re-verify and certify investors who have declared their permanent address as Sikkim. Further, brokers have been told to maintain a vigil on the location of devices used by Sikkim-based clients for trading to ensure these are genuine investors from the region.
After the massive sell-off since October, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) are no longer the biggest non-promoter-shareholders in top Indian companies. This has happened for the first time in over a decade. "At 25.6 per cent ownership of India's largest 75 companies, domestic investors are now larger holders than FPIs for the first time since 2010," said Morgan Stanley strategists Ridham Desai, Sheela Rathi and Nayant Parekh in a note.
Corporate India is more dependent than before on exporters of IT services such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, and Wipro for earning foreign exchange. Such companies account for nearly 43 per cent of the forex revenues of listed firms, up from 22 per cent a decade ago. The listed IT services companies earned nearly Rs 4.2 trillion through exports in FY22, up 15 per cent from the Rs 3.65 trillion a year earlier. In comparison, the forex revenues or exports of the rest of the BSE500 companies were down 11.9 per cent to Rs 5.6 trillion last financial year.
'The potential headwind is that the Indian economy is likely to see a slowdown in growth rates over the next two years.'
The rupee breached the 80-mark against the dollar on Tuesday. The steady depreciation in the value of the rupee against the US dollar is likely to prove expensive for corporate India. The listed companies' revenue expenses in foreign currency or imports exceed their export revenues or revenue earnings in forex. In their latest financial year, BSE500 companies, excluding banks and non-banking finance companies and insurance (BFSI), reported combined forex expenses of Rs 12.31 trillion against forex earnings of around Rs 10 trillion.
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