Among the Sensex firms, HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Maruti, Wipro, Larsen & Toubro, Infosys, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, State Bank of India, Tech Mahindra, UltraTech Cement and Mahindra & Mahindra were the major gainers.
The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies jumped to a lifetime peak of Rs 404.18 lakh crore on Thursday helped by a five-day rally in benchmark indices, making investors richer by Rs 11.29 lakh crore. Recovering after a sell-off in early trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 486.50 points or 0.66 per cent to settle at 74,339.44 on Thursday. During the day, it surged 718.31 points or 0.97 per cent to 74,571.25.
'Continue with your SIPs to get the benefit of lower average prices in this challenging market environment.'
Corporate India is busy restructuring - through mergers, demergers and splits. That seems to be the new normal as CXOs and boards brainstorm on how to create assets and value. The pitch rose significantly during the third quarter of this financial year (FY24), translating into $32.9-billion worth of such deals - the highest quarterly total since the HDFC Bank-HDFC merger announced in FY22 Q2.
The target was for banks to sell Rs 2 trillion worth of non-performing assets to NARCL, the so-called 'bad bank, by 2021-2022. Only 10 per cent of this has been executed.
'India has formed tremendous resilience and still a strong growth.'
The month also saw Adani Power acquiring the 600-Mw Korba West thermal power plant from the Gautam Thapar-led Avantha group for Rs 4,200 crore (Rs 42 billion).
The question on who should borrow from the market and whether the borrowing will be under two buckets should be decided by the GST Council, and not by the Centre. If there is no consensus, there has to be a vote, says A K Bhattacharya.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced a Rs 11.11 lakh crore spending on infrastructure and vowed to continue reforms as she resisted resorting to populist measures in Modi government's last Budget before general elections, instead choosing to stay on the path of cutting deficit while bolstering measures for focus groups.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has pointed out several flaws in the financial practices of the Gujarat government and said there was a need to formulate a realistic budget based on the needs of the departments.
Alloting more funds for MNREGA and PM-KISAN could wipe out the entire additional money that the Centre may have for FY25.
Global fund managers remain bullish on the Japanese stock markets, which is now their most preferred destination in the Asian region. Both Morgan Stanley and Jefferies in their recent reports, have cited their preference for the Land Of The Rising Sun, which is fast becoming the land of the rising equities, too.
The Congress, Left parties, Trinamool Congress and some others were in the forefront of this attack on the government, which is set to garner around Rs 7,900 crore through the decision.
rediffGURU and financial planning expert Colonel Sanjeev Govila (retd) answers your personal finance-related questions.
Among the Sensex firms, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and JSW Steel were the major gainers during the morning deals. Nestle, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank ITC were among the laggards.
The challenge for the RBI in 2024 is likely to be less about containing elevated inflation and more about curbing excessive financial market exuberance and a 'problem of plenty', notes Sajjid Chinoy, Chief India Economist JP Morgan.
China, which is building numerous villages in Tibet close to its borders with India and Bhutan, has held several celebratory events to mark its takeover of Tibet in the new border villages with a mix of border troops and the local population, the official media in Beijing reported.
The IMF on Tuesday projected a growth rate of 6.1 per cent for India in 2023, which is a 0.2 percentage point upward revision compared with the April projection. This is reflective of the "momentum" from stronger-than-expected growth in the fourth quarter of 2022 as a result of stronger domestic investment, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said. "Growth in India is projected at 6.1 per cent in 2023, a 0.2 percentage point upward revision compared with the April projection," it said in its latest update of the World Economic Outlook.
'It makes sense to have gold in one's portfolio keeping the political and economic risks of 2024 in mind.'
The CAG has pulled up the union government for adopting an erroneous process of devolution of IGST to states and short-transfer of cesses to reserve funds, which resulted in under-reporting of deficit figures for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 fiscals. The Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST), which is levied on inter-state sale of goods and services, is shared between the Centre and states in the 50:50 ratio. In its report on the union government accounts tabled in Parliament, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) found that a sum of Rs 13,944 crore was left unapportioned and retained in the Consolidated Fund of India (CFI) in 2018-19, even though the amended IGST Act now provides for a process for ad-hoc apportionment of IGST.
'Expectations are high regarding the change in LTCG with respect to equity investments.'
Gold is an excellent asset class for diversification and should be included in all long-term portfolios.
19% of 320 institutional investors managing $1.3 trillion prefer India as investment destination in 2017
'A mule operates someone else's account to transfer illegal money.'
For women, it is important to build an emergency fund and a financial independence fund independent of the couple's joint goals and plans.
The government on Friday modified FDI policy allowing unlisted companies to directly list on stock exchanges abroad to raise funds for acquisitions or retiring overseas debts, a move which may help India in containing high current account deficit.
Funding winter and corporate governance woes separated the men from the boys in the country's startup space in 2023 that saw funds into the segment tapering to just around $8 billion. All said, investors are hopeful of strong growth of the maturing startup ecosystem in the new year. Edtech and health tech segments that grew exponentially during the pandemic plunged into an abyss of financial uncertainties, with several firms shuttering their business, and valuation of prominent players like BYJU'S and PharmEasy plummeting 85-90 per cent.
Rebalance your portfolio in case it has become overweight on equities vis-a-vis your strategic asset allocation.
Even with the Rs 20,000 crore distributed among states, it will still be a fraction of what they have been demanding in financial support and clearance of pending dues.
Do you have financial planning queries? Ask rediffGURU Anil Rego.
The capital markets regulator has incurred litigation expenditure in the range of Rs 4-5 crore (Rs 40-50 million) in each of the past three financial years, while such expenses could be even higher in the current fiscal ending this month.
'The Budget will be positive, continuing on the path of growth taken so far.'
Government is framing a rule that will make it compulsory for regulators like Sebi, Irdai and PFRDA to deposit a significant portion of their reserves into the Consolidated Fund of India.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may be brought under the category of other regulators, who might have to park their funds with the government. Banking sources said the move would deal a final blow to the financial autonomy of regulatory bodies.
'I found it unbelievable that L&T said 45,000 jobs were waiting to be filled because of unavailability of suitable skillsets.' 'So, when the Opposition sweepingly says there are no jobs, I'm sorry... I'm not saying it's raining jobs, but there are jobs. The (skill) gap has to be bridged.'
Discussion has started between blank check companies in the US and Indian PEs on possible deals in certain key sectors.
India's total value of defence production breached Rs 1 trillion-mark in the fiscal year 2022-23 (FY23), up 12 per cent year-on-year (YoY). At the bourses, this has been well reflected in related-stocks from the sector as they gained considerable ground during this period. Shares of Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, MTAR Technologies, Bharat Electronics (BEL), and Bharat Dynamics (BDL) have skyrocketed up to 160 per cent in a year, as against a 14 per cent jump in the S&P BSE Sensex.
The home loan top-up, a kind of secured multipurpose personal loan, is on the regulator's radar, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The deadline of March 31 has been postponed till the apex court delivers its final judgment.
