rediffGURU Ulhas Joshi answers readers' mutual fund queries
Global private equity (PE) firms are successfully offloading large equity stakes in domestic companies in the open market, taking advantage of buoyant conditions. Strong domestic liquidity support and an upward trending market have underpinned over a dozen PE exits worth $2.5 billion, data compiled by Business Standard shows. The figures exclude PE exits during maiden share sales and shares sold by strategic investors, such as SoftBank and Ant Group in new-age companies.
Among the Sensex shares, Infosys rose the most by 1.37 per cent, followed by Larsen & Toubro (0.90 per cent), and Wipro (0.83 per cent). HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, ITC, TCS, Kotak Bank, Asian Paints and Titan were among the lead gainers.
The mutual fund (MF) industry had an action-packed 2023 as it tackled the scrapping of tax benefits for debt fund investors and surging flows into equity funds.
It recorded total income of Rs 54,606 crore (Rs 546.06 billion) and net profit of Rs 9,810 crore (Rs 98.10 billion) on stand-alone basis.
Markets regulator Sebi has ordered the attachment of bank and demat accounts as well as mutual fund holdings of Videocon Group founder Venugopal Dhoot to recover dues totalling Rs 5.16 lakh. The latest decision has been taken after Dhoot failed to pay the fine imposed on him in March by Sebi for not making disclosures about his interest in Supreme Energy as well as for not disclosing that Quality Techno Advisors Pvt Ltd (QTAPL) and Credential Finance Ltd (CFL) were related parties with respect to certain transactions. In an attachment notice on Monday, Sebi said the pending dues of Rs 5.16 lakh include the initial fine of Rs 5 lakh, interest of Rs 15,000 and a recovery cost of Rs 1,000.
The Indian arm of global FMCG major Unilever, Hindustan Unilever, was ranked at the fourth spot, Aditya Birla Group was at the sixth spot, Infosys Tech was ranked eighth and another IT major Wipro cornered the 10th slot.
Chanda Kochhar has said the lender would consider rewarding its employees with bonus, which it skipped last year on account of poor performance.
ICICI OneSource (I-OneSource), which filed papers for its initial public offering of 95.6 million (9.56 croroe) shares on Thursday, has been rechristened FirstSource.
The Reserve Bank of India is widely expected to reduce the repo rate for the first time in nine months when it announces its third quarter policy review.
Some smart moves and course corrections have helped ICICI Prudential turn profitable.
Total income declined to Rs 14,176.84 crore (Rs 141.76 billion) during the October-December quarter, from Rs 16,922.73 crore (Rs 169.22 billion) in the year- ago period, ICICI Bank said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
ICICI Bank has asked the government not to take into account overseas securities like ADR and GDR when deciding on whether a bank is Indian or foreign.
Describing the third quarterly performance of the bank as 'very positive', ICICI Bank managing director and CEO Chanda Kochhar said on Monday the bank has emerged stronger on all parameters recording an operating profit of 22 per cent minus treasury income.
Hari Pandey, who founded ICICI Bank in Canada in March 2003, is among the 11 awardees in various categories who would be felicitated at function here on Saturday, ICCC said.
The country's largest private bank, ICICI Bank, on Friday said it is focussing on the home loan segment as the real estate segment is witnessing a comeback after the economic slowdown.
Private sector lenders ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra on Tuesday announced low rates of 8.25 per cent and 8.49 per cent respectively for home loans, intensifying the cut-throat competition sparked by SBI and HDFC.
A day after downgrading its rating of public sector lender SBI's financial strength, Moody's on Wednesday re-affirmed its rating for ICICI Bank and said the private sector lender continues to maintain a robust franchise and a strong liquidity, capitalisation and earnings profile.
The equity cult has grown at a rapid pace in India in the last few years, with retail investors latching on to the stock markets like never before. At 126.6 million, the number of dematerialised (demat) accounts, where investors hold their securities in electronic form for trading purposes, are at record high levels. The growth rate, on an annualised basis, stood at 27 per cent in 2022-2023, up from barely 6 per cent a decade ago.
'There must have been some wonderful genetic disorder due to which I was attracted towards filmi songs.'
The consolidated net rose 22 per cent year-on-year.
ICICI Lombard General Insurance on Tuesday launched a travel insurance scheme for students going abroad for studies.\n\n
Move comes as stringent regulation chokes biz growth.
rediffGURU Ulhas Joshi answers your mutual fund queries.
ICICI Securities Ltd on Monday announced that Madhabi Puri-Buch has taken over as the managing director and CEO from S Mukherji, who retired on completion of his term of office. Mukherji was with the firm for 5 years.
In Chanda's defence, one can always say, why would the Videocon Group take care of her husband as a quid pro quo to get a loan? After all, the group has taken money from the entire banking industry and ICICI Bank's share in the pie is not even 10 per cent. So, if it had a quid pro quo with Chanda to get the money, it must have had similar arrangements with other banks, too. If this is not the case, one must accept that it had got money from all banks, including ICICI, without any under-the-table conditions, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
"At present, our credit card base is 7.5 million," he said. Sachin Khandelwal, senior general manager for retail assets, however, declined to comment on specific details, such as the magnitude of the reduction in the bank's credit card business over the past year. The country's second-largest lender, which spearheaded the growth of retail finance in the country, has also been going slow on retail loans for the past few years.
Brokerages have maintained their ratings and target prices on FSN E-Commerce Ventures, the parent company of Nykaa, after the fashion and beauty online retailer posted in-line numbers during the October-December quarter (Q3) of financial year 2023-24 (FY24). They have, however, cut earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) estimates after weak demand weighed across line items in Q3. "While revenue growth was healthy at 22 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y), gross margins declined 90 basis points (bps), weighed by higher discounting in own brands and lower ad income.
rediffGURU Dev Ashish answers your personal finance and mutual fund queries.
An expert committee, set up by the Supreme Court to probe allegations against the Adani group following a bombshell report from a US short seller, has members with potential conflict of interest, a fresh petition filed in the apex court on Monday said.