With the international markets facing uncertainty after Russia invaded Ukraine and Western nations retaliated with sanctions, Indian companies are putting their international fundraising plans on hold as they wait for the markets to recover. Bankers said apart from the geopolitical crisis, international rates are hardening in anticipation of interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve to control rising prices in the US. The Ukraine situation has implications for the market. In such a situation, international investors try to shift to safe haven assets by exiting from emerging markets.
The Centre's ambitious Rs 6-trillion National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) could fall short of yearly targets for the current fiscal year (FY22) and the next one as well (FY23), partly due to the long gestation period in monetising big-ticket railway infrastructure, Business Standard has learnt from sources in the finance and rail ministries. Officials say the major chunk of railway monetisation will happen from FY24 onwards because leasing some of the infrastructure, like stadiums and dedicated freight corridor, will not happen anytime soon. Rail infra is expected to be the second-biggest contributor to the NMP, with about Rs 1.52 trillion worth of assets to be monetised.
The $8.5 billion TVS Group received final approval for a family resettlement on February 4 from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). It is an arrangement that is noteworthy because unlike many other corporate settlements this one was sorted out amicably and without any open conflicts.
Stocks of Indian companies with exposure to Europe fell on Tuesday amid concerns about the impact on their sales in case the Russia-Ukraine crisis worsens and the US and its allies impose economic sanctions on Russia. While top conglomerates, including Reliance Industries, the Tata group, and Aditya Birla Group, said they did not have any significant exposure to Russia, executives of some of the oil and gas, pharmaceutical, and tea companies said they were monitoring the situation closely as they earned substantial income from the region. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered troops into two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine after announcing that Russia would recognise their independence.
Zombies a.k.a perpetually loss-making firms in India seem to have dampened the effectiveness of monetary policy at the margin as they use borrowed resources more for their survival than for undertaking new investment, according to a RBI study. The monetary policy does not hinder the creative destruction process by misallocating credit flows to zombies during periods of economic slowdown, showed a study by officers of Reserve Bank of India. It has been published in RBI's bulletin for February 2022. In India, zombie firms are estimated to account for about 10 per cent of total debt of the non-financial corporate sector.
Commercial banks in the country continued with their improving asset quality trend in the October-December 2021 quarter with slippages remaining under control coupled with healthy recoveries and upgradation of asset classification. The 28-listed banks reported improvement in bottom line with net profits rising 64.1 per cent year-on-year (YoY) and 21.5 per cent sequentially. This is mostly on account of a fall in provisions and contingencies.
This is following revival of demand from the corporate sector and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), even as a nascent economic recovery is taking shape. Credit growth of scheduled commercial banks had accelerated to 9.2 per cent year-on-year (YoY) by the end of December 2021 after breaching the 7 per cent-mark in November, for the first time since April 2020.
As part of the exercise, each family will get complete ownership of the businesses it manages while scrapping the holding company.
'We have all the technologies available, but it should be converted to something that can be commercially viable.'
Banks and companies in India are taking a cautious approach towards Sri Lanka, which, reeling from a financial crisis, has sought a $1-billion loan from the country to import essential commodities. A senior State Bank of India (SBI) executive said the bank was committed (to Sri Lanka) for the long term. "As far as exposures (are concerned), the bank will be cautious on its dollar exposure to Sri Lankan entities till the situation improves," he said.
After raising Rs 10 crore in seed funding last week from investors like Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Freshworks founder Girish Mathrabootham and Silicon Valley based venture capitalist firm Hourglass Venture, Chennai-based social media startup Pepul told Business Standard that it is looking to raise around Rs 200 crore by June this year for expansion. The social media platform, focused on online ethical practices, will be launched by 1,000 entrepreneurs across the country on January 26. Pepul, founded by G Suresh Kumar, will be using an Aadhaar-based user verification system to get rid of fake accounts on its platform. "We are planning to raise around Rs 200 crore by June this year.
'We were exporting copper at that time. Now India is importing copper to the tune of around $1.2 billion. Moreover, there was a larger impact on the dependent MSMEs.'
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will stay away from changing key rates - including the reverse repo rate - this fiscal in the backdrop of Omicron. However, it will continue to shape the rate movements through liquidity market operations. Soumya Kanti Ghosh, group chief economic advisor, State Bank of India, said whether Omicron surge or not, there is not going to be any hike this year. However, the central bank may continue to shape rates through market operations.
Kerala-based Kitex Garments, the world's second-largest children's garments producer, has landed in trouble after sporadic violence at its workers' camp led to an attack on the local police, injuring at least five officers. The local police told Business Standard that at least 156 migrant workers were detained after the incident and around 50 have been arrested so far. A decision on any possible action against the company will be taken after the investigation.
Factionalism between OP Panneerselvam and Edappadi Palaniswami, the dominance of the BJP, the ruling DMK having a strong face in the form of CM Stalin, 'community and region-based politics', corruption charges against former ministers, and lack of a proper ideology are the major challenges the party is facing in the state.
The asset quality of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) deteriorated in April-September 2021 (H1FY22) owing to the second wave of the pandemic. Their gross non-performing assets (NPAs) rose to 6.8 per cent in September 2021 from 6 per cent in March 2021. The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) annual Trend and Progress report (FY21) said the sector might have to grapple with higher delinquencies as and when policy measures unwound. The pandemic posed significant challenges to NBFCs during the first wave (2020) also.
Backed by the China-plus-one policy, India's textile and apparel exports have seen a 53 per cent growth during the April-November period of the current fiscal year at around $26 billion. This compares to the figure of $17 billion during the same period in FY21. According to Wazir Textile Index, all major companies including Welspun, Vardhman, Trident, KPR Mills, Indo Count, RSWM, Filatex, Nahar Spg and Indorama have posted higher sales during the first half of the current fiscal year compared to the pre-pandemic year.
RBL Bank's interim chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director (MD) Rajeev Ahuja on Sunday tried to allay concerns around the health of the bank. He said events during the weekend are not linked to RBL's asset quality. The bank said Vishwavir Ahuja, its managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO), had on Saturday proceeded on leave with immediate effect on medical grounds.
With innovations such as the introduction of new variants and the launch of tetra packs, Mohan Meakin (MML) aims to achieve a record high sales of around 10 million units of Old Monk in 2022. From almost 3 million units a few years ago, sales volume has rebounded substantially. "Today, we are over 8 million units and are targeting record sales of 10 million next year," said Vinay Mohan, the director of Mohan Meakin (MML). Mohan said the company had started giving franchisees in states where tetra packs have good sales.
'Kerala is on a par with global standards.'
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