India's biggest non-bank finance company, Bajaj Finance (BAF), is set to raise capital after a gap of four years. On October 5, the board of directors will meet to approve the fund raise by way of preferential issue and/or qualified institutional placement (QIP) subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals. The move, analysts said, comes ahead of expectations, and could be in the wake of simmering competition in the consumer lending space, especially with the launch of Jio Financial Services (Jio Fin). "While we still do not have finer details on the game-plan of Jio Financial, it has plans to initially foray into consumer and merchant lending.
India recorded a current account surplus of $5.7 billion or 0.6 per cent of GDP in the March quarter, the Reserve Bank of India said on Monday. This is the first time in ten quarters that the crucial metric of the country's external strength has turned into surplus mode. In the year-ago period, the current account deficit stood at $1.3 billion or 0.2 per cent of GDP, and the same was $8.7 billion or 1 per cent of GDP in the preceding quarter ending December 2023.
Now that the economy is growing at a higher-than-expected rate, it is time to accelerate the pace of fiscal consolidation, and the Budget could be a good starting point, argues Rajesh Kumar.
India has allocated Rs 1.72 trillion, or 27.67 per cent of the total defence budget to cater to modernisation of the country's arsenal. Modern militaries spend up to 50 to 60 per cent of their total defence budget so that they go into combat with superior weaponry and equipment.
The dealers operating in the space have jumped nearly three times over the past two years.
Those behind recapitalisation are neither aware nor do they care. After all, they have no skin in this game. And the Lok Sabha elections are round the corner. That's what they care about, points out Debashis Basu.
The ongoing weakness in the broader equity market is likely to weigh on primary market investor participation ahead, which has already begun showing signs of fatigue, analysts said. The spillover effect, they say, will continue as long as the midcap and smallcap segments remain volatile. "The effect will be felt in the IPO market. The subscription levels have come down in the last few days and recent 4-5 IPOs have not done well.
Adani group plans to invest about Rs 1.3 lakh crore across its portfolio companies this fiscal as it doubles down on its $100 billion investment guidance over the next 7-10 years to grow businesses, group CFO said on Tuesday. The investment across portfolio companies that range from ports to energy, airports, commodities, cement and media will be 70 per cent met through internal cash generation and the remaining through debt, Group CFO Jugeshinder 'Robbie' Singh told reporters in Ahmedabad.
Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in India have moved into the slow lane, dropping 43 per cent in terms of deal value to touch $13.37 billion since January this year to date, compared to the same period in the last year. According to data sourced from Bloomberg, Indian companies reported deal value worth $23.5 billion between January and March 22, 2023. Data Infrastructure Trust's acquisition of American Tower Corporation's India telecom towers business for $2.5 billion was the top deal for the ongoing quarter so far, followed by the Highway Infrastructure Trust's acquisition of PNC Infratech's road projects for $1.08 billion.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday proposed to borrow Rs 14.13 lakh crore by issuing dated securities to meet revenue shortfall in the next financial year starting on April 1.
Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Thursday advised market regulator SEBI and the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) to exercise caution amid a significant surge in equity markets and pitched for more tribunal benches to ensure that the "backbone is stable". Inaugurating the new SAT premises here, CJI Chandrachud pitched for authorities to consider opening up new benches of the SAT given the higher workloads because of higher quantum of transactions and newer regulations.
Co-lending deals between non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and banks are likely to rise after the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) decision to increase the risk weight on consumer credit, industry leaders and experts say. Smaller NBFCs, they add, may increasingly opt for co-lending as capital markets could become costlier for them. "Smaller NBFCs will be more comfortable with co-lending because they are geography-specific in terms of industry or customers.
The need for money among banks, especially for short-term funds, may turn more intense in the last month of the financial year to feed the demand for capital for tax payments and meet year-end targets. The mobilisation of funds via the certificate of deposits (CDs) has seen a threefold increase to over Rs 60,000 crore in the fortnight that ended February 23 from around Rs 20,000 crore in the fortnight of January 26, 2024, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data.
'Sebi had no problem with derivatives until trading exploded after Covid.' 'But now, having built a dangerous road, from which different entities, mainly governments, are extracting a heavy toll, Sebi is concerned that people are driving on it in much greater numbers,' explains Debashis Basu.
"My aim is to make Maharashtra the world's big financial powerhouse and to make Mumbai a global fintech capital," he said.
There was no smooth surge in middle class prosperity for foreign businesses to tap into because of the Indian economy was mismanaged, argues Debashis Basu.
IDBI Bank had to sell its MF arm after being acquired by state-owned insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corporation since LIC already had an AMC.
'India has a skill shortage of 56%.' 'This is a very interesting paradox -- the unemployment rate is 6% to 7%, and at the same time 20% of those qualified are unemployed.'
Just ahead of its mega FPO opening to public investors, Vodafone Idea (VIL) has announced closure of its anchor book allocation, raising about Rs 5,400 crore from marquee global as well as domestic investors, according to a statutory filing by the telco. This could be the third-largest anchor book after One 97 Communications and Life Insurance Corporation (LIC). One 97 Communications and LIC had raised Rs 8,235 crore and Rs 5,627 crore in the anchor round, respectively.
Life has come full circle for Nobel laureate Professor Mohammad Yunus, who faced persecution during Sheikh Hasina's regime for embezzlement, is now all set to head of the interim government in Bangladesh after she resigned and fled the country.
All eyes will be on whether Sitharaman will deliver a populist budget leaving more money in hands of the common man or push the reform agenda by staying on the fiscal glide path to lower the fiscal deficit to 4.5 per cent of GDP by 2025-26.
'There is no immediate threat to the government, and they would prefer the growth agenda.'
The real estate sector had been going through a rough phase even before the COVID-19 crisis, marked by falling sales and piling up of inventories.
The actor-turned-politician has been allotted Panchayat Raj and Rural Development, Environment, Forests, and Science and Technology portfolios.
'We have essentially tried to set out an agenda for the next five years and it, in essence, represents the political commitment to that agenda.'
This year's tally is the second best ever after 2022 when 16 firms raised Rs 40,311 crore, led by LIC's biggest-ever IPO.
Anil Agarwal-owned Vedanta Resources (VRL), which has hired Standard Chartered Bank to raise funds for its Konkola copper mine assets, says it is engaging with several potential partners for both short-term funds and long-term equity financing for the Zambian project. A Vedanta official said its commitment to optimising capital allocation and driving expansion is a key cornerstone of its strategy for the mines. It will enhance value creation and operationalise the Konkola Copper Mines (KCM).
Domestic institutional investors pumped Rs 2.3 trillion into equities during H1 CY24. Of this, mutual funds contributed 80%.
Future Gaming and Hotel Services whose director is the lottery magnate Santiago Martin is the top purchaser of electoral bonds having purchased bonds worth Rs 1,368, according to data uploaded by the Election Commission of India on its website on Thursday.
By following the path of Kula Dharma as mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita, you will not only be securing your child's future but also contributing to your own early sukoon (peace and well-being), says Vatsal Ramaiya
Private credit is fast emerging as a major source of finance for projects in India as several entrepreneurs are looking for short-term debt to bridge the funding gap due to difference in pricing for equity dilution, top officials at PwC India said. They said while new private equity (PE) investments during the past two years have declined, several public market exits by PEs were observed during that period. Several companies are likely to approach capital markets in the near future to provide liquidity to PE fund investors.
The interim Budget proposals that will be presented on February 1 in the backdrop of the general elections scheduled in April/May 2024 are likely to have a hint of populism, believe analysts, but are unlikely to derail the government from its path of fiscal prudence.
A lot depends upon the crucial decision-making skills of the management. If you have any doubts about the management then you always have the choice of selling your shares or not buying stocks of those companies at all.
We asked colleagues, present and past, to reflect on a man who has made such a difference to their lives and careers. Here it is then, a rich collection of memories that offer enchanting glimpses of the enigmatic Ajit Balakrishnan.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday made a modest increase of 11 per cent in capital expenditure (capex) to Rs 11.11 lakh crore for the next financial year as private investment picks up. The government had hiked capex by 37.5 per cent to Rs 10 lakh crore for the current fiscal. Against this, the government expects to spend Rs 9.5 lakh crore in the financial year ending March 2024.
This is a good opportunity for long-term investors to pick quality small and midcap stocks at reasonable valuations.
Mathai George George Muthoot joined the family business as an office assistant and in 1979 he became the managing director and group chairman in February 1993.
'Probably revised guidelines will come, and then the real picture will emerge.'
Schemes among the six wound up by the fund house had given a loan of Rs 518 crore against non-convertible debentures to the firm in March 2019, according to ED's chargesheet.
The RBI's decision to tighten norms for unsecured personal loans is credit positive because lenders will need to allocate higher capital for such loans, thus improving their loss-absorbing buffers, Moody's Investors Service said on Monday. The Reserve Bank last week raised risk weights on unsecured retail loans, credit cards and lending to non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) by 25 percentage points. Moody's said unsecured loans have been growing rapidly in the past few years, exposing financial institutions to a potential spike in credit costs in case of sudden economic or interest rate shocks.
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