Subrata Panda, Abhijit Lele &Amp; Samie Modak

Stories by Subrata Panda, Abhijit Lele &Amp; Samie Modak

Dream run to continue for small- and mid-cap stocks

Dream run to continue for small- and mid-cap stocks

Rediff.com   9 Aug 2021

The relentless rally in small- and mid-cap stocks continues as large-caps show signs of fatigue. In July, the Nifty Smallcap 100 rose 8.1 per cent, extending its year-to-date (YTD) gains to 48.5 per cent, while the Nifty Midcap 100 added 3.1 per cent, taking its YTD rise to 33.5 per cent. On the other hand, the Nifty50 remained unchanged for the month, with YTD gains of 12.7 per cent.

RBI extends deadline for shifting of current accounts till Oct 31

RBI extends deadline for shifting of current accounts till Oct 31

Rediff.com   5 Aug 2021

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday gave banks time till October 31 to comply with its guidelines on current account and overdraft facilities. The central bank indicated that it was in no mood to change the proposed rules, but would only allow for stretching the timeline for smoother implementation. The initial deadline had ended on July 31, leading to thousands of current accounts being closed or frozen by banks. Lenders had requested the RBI for some more time to resolve the operational issues in implementing the provisions of the August 2020 circular in letter and spirit.

UPI logs record 3 bn transactions in July

UPI logs record 3 bn transactions in July

Rediff.com   2 Aug 2021

Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the flagship payments platform of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), made a record in volume and value of transactions in July as digital payments rise in the pandemic. UPI processed a record 3.24 billion transactions in July up 15.7 per cent from June when it processed 2.8 billion transactions. In value terms, in July, the platform processed transactions worth Rs 6.06 trillion, up 10.76 per cent from June.

Non-life insurance: Q1 Covid-related claims higher than in entire FY21

Non-life insurance: Q1 Covid-related claims higher than in entire FY21

Rediff.com   2 Aug 2021

The non-life insurance industry has received over 1 million Covid-related claims in the first quarter of the current fiscal year (Q1FY22), higher than in the entire FY21, indicating the severity of the second wave of the pandemic. According to the General Insurance Council data, which is not publicly available, non-life insurers have received 1.22 million Covid-related claims so far in FY22 and have settled 944,573 of those worth Rs 9,178 crore. In comparison, they had received 986,366 Covid claims in FY21 and settled 849,034.

Zomato to debut on the stock markets today, 4 days ahead of schedule

Zomato to debut on the stock markets today, 4 days ahead of schedule

Rediff.com   23 Jul 2021

India's first unicorn Zomato will make its stock market debut on Friday, marking a historic moment for the domestic capital market. As per initial schedule, Zomato's listing was to take place on July 27. However, investment banks managed to complete the share allotment and listing formalities ahead of the deadline. Under the Sebi framework, the timeline between IPO closing and listing has to be six working days. Zomato's IPO had closed on July 16.

HDFC Bank writes off Rs 3,100-crore NPAs in Q1

HDFC Bank writes off Rs 3,100-crore NPAs in Q1

Rediff.com   19 Jul 2021

The country's largest private lender HDFC Bank's bad-loan write-offs doubled to Rs 3,100 crore in the April-June quarter (first quarter, or Q1) of 2021-22 (FY22), from the level of Rs 1,500 crore in the same quarter of 2020-21 (Q1FY21). It also offloaded its non-performing assets (NPAs) amounting to Rs 1,800 crore in Q1FY22 to maintain a robust asset quality profile. It had jettisoned NPAs worth Rs 1,000 crore in the last quarter. Lenders knock off stress assets from books after making full provisions. Their right to recover dues from delinquent borrowers remains intact after the write-downs.

Paytm's listing grew 370x from Rs 120 cr in 2010 to Rs 16,600 cr 11 years later

Paytm's listing grew 370x from Rs 120 cr in 2010 to Rs 16,600 cr 11 years later

Rediff.com   17 Jul 2021

According to its DRHP filed in 2010, the company's net worth was just Rs 140 crore. Its total income for the financial year 2009-10 stood at Rs 119 crore and it had a net profit of Rs 16 crore. In sharp contrast, at the end of March 2021, Paytm's networth was Rs 6,535 crore and total income stood at Rs 3,187 crore.

How RBI's bar on Mastercard impacts Indian banks

How RBI's bar on Mastercard impacts Indian banks

Rediff.com   16 Jul 2021

The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) move to ban Mastercard from issuing new cards for not complying with the local data storage guidelines may hit five private banks, a non-bank lender, and a major card-issuing company. The impact is expected to be felt for a few months as these players transition to other card networks. According to Nomura Research, RBL Bank, YES Bank, and Bajaj Finserv are the ones most impacted by the ban as all their credit card schemes are allied to Mastercard. Among others, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank have 35-40 per cent of their credit card schemes tied to Mastercard, the report said.

Zomato's entry to Nifty or Sensex would be challenging

Zomato's entry to Nifty or Sensex would be challenging

Rediff.com   15 Jul 2021

Zomato could get added to the MSCI and FTSE indices by the end of this year, while an entry to the Nifty or the Sensex would be challenging before the second half of 2022, said Brian Freitas, an analyst at independent research provider Smartkarma, in note. "With nearly the entire pre-IPO shares locked up for one year, the free float will be very low and the stock will need to move higher to around Rs 328 per share (4.3 times over possible IPO price of Rs 76) to be included in the Nifty index (with no change in the market cap of the smallest index constituent). "We can be reasonably certain that Zomato will not be included in the Nifty index till the September 2022 rebalance at the earliest," he said.

'We'll have to live with branches for some time'

'We'll have to live with branches for some time'

Rediff.com   15 Jul 2021

'67 per cent of our transactions happen digitally and about 93 per cent of transactions happen outside the branch.' 'Despite that, there is ample scope for promoting banking-related activities in branches.' 'So, for some time, we will have to, probably, live with the same structure.'

Zomato's Rs 9,375-cr IPO to open on July 14

Zomato's Rs 9,375-cr IPO to open on July 14

Rediff.com   8 Jul 2021

Food delivery company Zomato's Rs 9,375-crore initial public offering (IPO) will open for subscription on July 14, said investment banking sources on Wednesday. The company initially was looking to raise Rs 7,500 crore through the offering. Investment banking sources said the issue size has been increased because of the robust demand from investors.

Zomato mega IPO likely this month following Sebi nod

Zomato mega IPO likely this month following Sebi nod

Rediff.com   6 Jul 2021

The company, backed by China's Ant Group, is planning to issue fresh shares worth Rs 7,500 crore in the IPO. This will make this India's third-largest offering after Reliance Power and DLF.

Analysts expand stock coverage amid sharp market rally

Analysts expand stock coverage amid sharp market rally

Rediff.com   3 Jul 2021

Brokerages are expanding the universe of stocks they cover amid a boom in the market. Several stocks in the mid-cap universe are now tracked by more analysts than they were a year ago. For instance, SBI Cards and Payment Services is now tracked by 17 brokerages, compared to just four a year ago.

Digital payment transactions recover; UPI hits record high

Digital payment transactions recover; UPI hits record high

Rediff.com   2 Jul 2021

Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the flagship payments platform of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), touched a record high both in terms of volume and value of transactions in June after a slump in April and May. The platform recorded 2.8 billion transactions worth Rs 5.47 trillion in June, up 10.6 per cent in volume terms and 11.56 per cent in value terms over May. This is in sync with the opening up of the economy as Covid cases gradually came down from its peak in mid-May and lockdowns were eased in various places.

HDFC Bank plans mega infra revamp to tackle outages

HDFC Bank plans mega infra revamp to tackle outages

Rediff.com   25 Jun 2021

After facing multiple outages that irked the regulator, the country's largest private sector lender, HDFC Bank, is revamping its technology infrastructure by making large scale investments, wherein it is bringing new talent, getting into cloud-native stacks, a shift from the traditional monolithic IT infrastructures, and working with strategic partners for better products and services. The bank management is clear that it will do whatever it takes in line with its growth path to ramp up its technology infrastructure.

'Covid-related death claims are a concern'

'Covid-related death claims are a concern'

Rediff.com   24 Jun 2021

'The overall death claims have gone up.'

NSDL statement prevents a $500-million sell-off in Adani group stock

NSDL statement prevents a $500-million sell-off in Adani group stock

Rediff.com   23 Jun 2021

The clarification by the National Securities Depository (NSDL) - which is tasked with monitoring foreign portfolio investor (FPI) investment in domestic stocks - that the accounts of top investors in Adani group stocks remain 'active' has helped prevent a $500-million selloff of shares. Analysts said a freeze of the FPI accounts, as reported by some media outlets, could have prompted global index providers to cut weighting of four Adani group companies from their global indices. Brian Freitas, an analyst at independent research provider Smartkarma, said if the FPI accounts were indeed frozen, FTSE and MSCI would have reduced weighting of Adani group companies at the next rebalance, since it would have meant that the large part of the free float was not tradeable.

Dilution norms for large IPOs tweaked

Dilution norms for large IPOs tweaked

Rediff.com   21 Jun 2021

Easier dilution norms for mega initial public offerings (IPOs) have come into effect. Companies with post-listing market capitalisation (m-cap) of more than Rs 1 trillion will not be required to dilute a minimum of 10 per cent. The move to relax dilution norms is seen as a precursor to Life Insurance Corporation's IPO. The central government has said companies with an m-cap exceeding Rs 1 trillion will have to dilute Rs 5,000 crore and at least 5 per cent of their m-cap. Experts said the earlier framework discouraged large companies from listing since they were forced to offload a large volume of shares during the time of their IPO.

Decoded: What went wrong with the six schemes of Franklin Templeton

Decoded: What went wrong with the six schemes of Franklin Templeton

Rediff.com   19 Jun 2021

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has directed Franklin Templeton MF to pay Rs 5 crore as penalty, return over Rs 450 crore collected as 22-month investment management and advisory fees, and imposed a two-year ban on launching new debt schemes for alleged irregularities in running six of its debt schemes that were shuttered last year.

Vedanta arm is paying almost nothing for Videocon group: NCLT

Vedanta arm is paying almost nothing for Videocon group: NCLT

Rediff.com   16 Jun 2021

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has approved the resolution plan of Twin Star Technologies -- a promoter entity of the Vedanta Resources group -- for the Videocon group. But it has pointed out that the successful resolution applicant is "paying almost nothing" as the amount offered is only 4.15 per cent of total outstanding claim. It noted the hair cut for all the creditors is 95.85 per cent and suggested to both committee of creditors (CoC) and the successful applicant an increase in the payout.