The cement sector may be looking at better realisations and higher volume offtake going by the trends of the October-December quarter of the 2022-23 financial year (Q3FY23), a recent price hike, and the promise of a continued infrastructure thrust in FY24. In Q3, revenues rose by an aggregate of 17 per cent year-on-year (YoY), but Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) per tonne, fell by 14 per cent YoY while profit after tax (PAT) rose by 23 per cent YoY. Expenses were up 30 per cent per tonne YoY - power and fuel costs in particular - and that's no surprise given the rise in fossil fuel prices.
Consolidated earnings of Bharat Forge in Q3FY23 missed estimates, largely due to higher-than-expected interest burden, although operational numbers (including standalone numbers) were close to consensus. Still, the management guidance was positive and appeared to be based on logic.
Axis Bank's results for the fourth quarter of the 2022-23 financial year (Q4FY23) were skewed due to large one-off charges related to its acquisition of Citi's retail business. Axis reported a loss of Rs 5,730 crore on account of exceptional items of Rs 12,350 crore (net of tax) towards Citi's acquisition, policy harmonisation etc. Excluding this one-off, the adjusted net profit or profit after tax (PAT) would be Rs 6,630 crore, up 61 per cent year-on-year (YoY).
Redress for a victim is not easy. It is not really painful to file a cyber-crime complaint.
But someone who is technically unsophisticated enough to fall for a scam will find it hard to navigate the processes, points out Devangshu Datta.
Maruti's results and the investor response indicate that quite a few stocks in the auto sector could be on the verge of a big bounce, says Devangshu Datta.
The public sector banks are not in a position to cut rates because of their weak balance sheets and massive portfolios of non-performing assets, says Devangshu Datta.
The central bank's currency management will be critical over the next few months. A weaker rupee could help to revive exports. But, the currency must fall slowly and in controlled fashion, says Devangshu Datta.
In a world without politics, time zones would change by an hour for a shift of 15 degrees of longitude. But, of course, political considerations apply, explains Devangshu Datta.
The automobile sector is considered a good indicator of economic health. It has a very long value chain, from primary materials, like metals, glass and plastic, to value-added high-end electronic components, specialised alloys, and software.
A strong business update for the April-June quarter of the 2023-24 financial year Q1FY24 has led to a big jump of over 7 per cent in the share price of Bajaj Finance on Tuesday (July 4). The non-banking financial company's (NBFC's) new loan book grew 34 per cent with 9.9 million new loans booked in Q1FY24 from 7.2 million loans booked in Q1FY23. The company's total customer franchise rose to 72.98 million (as on June 30, 2023), compared to 60.30 million year-on-year (YoY) with the highest-ever quarterly increase of 3.84 million in Q1FY24. Assets under management (AUM) grew by 32 per cent to about Rs. 270,050 crore in Q1FY24 from Rs. 204,018 crore in Q1FY23.
It is useful to note that Indian markets have not gone into a tailspin as the Greece crisis has developed, says Devangshu Datta.
Making sense of the international crude market is incredibly hard.
Notwithstanding the windfall tax placing a cap on profits, oil and gas producers like Oil India (OIL) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) have done well in the October-December quarter (third quarter, or Q3) of 2022-23 (FY23). ONGC faces the drag of poor results from its subsidiary Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, and in comparative terms, OIL is better off. Standalone net sales in Q3FY23 stood at Rs 5,900 crore - up 57 per cent year-on-year (YoY), up 2 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ).
It's been a roller-coaster ride since 2015 Budget.
References to the stock market occur in popular discourse only when the market is overheated and normal middle class people are entering stocks with an unhealthy short-term perspective, says Devangshu Datta.
Given the hydrogen connection, it's ironic that Hindenburg Research released a long report, accusing the Adani group of financial manipulation, observes Devangshu Datta.
Suppose NLP is weaponised to influence policymakers to go the wrong way on climate change, or launch military attacks on neighbouring countries, warns Devangshu Datta.
If currency controls are maintained indefinitely, popular support for Narendra Modi's demonetisation will turn into dislike, warns Devangshu Datta.
Bandhan Bank has declared disappointing results for the first quarter of the 2023-24 financial year (Q1FY24). While the market has been braced for known issues around microfinance exposures in West Bengal and Assam, there is higher stress in the portfolio. This means higher credit costs and poorer asset quality, leading to target downgrades by analysts.
The move towards indigenisation of defence procurement creates new opportunities for India's military industrial sector. The Government of India (GoI) has so far released five lists of items for positive indigenisation - these should be manufactured in India, rather than imported. Each item on these lists represents an opportunity for some local firm.
If rate cuts are fully transmitted, and RBI continues to cut rates in 2016, and earnings growth picks up as well, current valuations may be justified. Otherwise, equity will remain over-valued, says Devangshu Datta.
One reason for resistance to moonlighting is that WFH calls into question the necessity for the thick layers of middle and senior management which run most businesses, argues Devangshu Datta.
The laggards include FMCG (16 per cent), Energy (37 per cent) and Media (34 per cent).
Social media allowed them to connect even more directly with potential clients, and gave them multiple new marketing and outreach channels, explains Devangshu Datta.
It would be ludicrous to expect Modi, Erdogan or Biden to pay to keep blue ticks on their respective official accounts. It would be equally ludicrous to expect the Delhi Metro or the Income Tax Department to pay, points out Devangshu Datta.
Cheating poses an existential challenge to chess. It's hard to know how it will be mitigated, but it must be, if chess is to continue being a legitimate sport, asserts Devangshu Datta.
The financial sector has been deeply troubled since 2013. It is now in a full-blown crisis, warns Devangshu Datta.
Lack of access to the cosmonaut training programmes would also be a hindrance for ISRO's planned manned missions, explains Devangshu Datta.
India remains a young nation, but it will not get younger in future. India has not managed to noticeably improve education. Nor has it managed to create employment opportunities, observes Devangshu Datta.
Figuring out the nuances in the NFT market will mean opening and examining multiple new cans of worms.
Twitter can probably afford to wait it out. But would it have the moral courage to do so? asks Devangshu Datta.
Adversarial Harmful Networks -- India Case Study, cited in Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen's SEC complaints, revealed, among other things, that Facebook was a preferred platform for 'fear-mongering anti-Muslim narratives' in India, observes Devangshu Datta.
Apart from physical access to handsets, metadata and backups are two common ways in which private communications can be broken.
Every word spoken by "Alexa Bachchan" is computer-generated, not a recording.
Slowdown persists in China. India's GDP estimates for 2015-16 are liable to be pared; projections for 2016-17 are lacklustre.
The OF saga has led to sex-workers looking at cryptocurrency as an alternative, notes Devangshu Datta.
Indians supposedly have the right to freedom, and the right to equality, which cuts across gender, religion, sexual orientation, etc, observes Devangshu Datta.
The new series claims GDP grew at seven per cent between April and June 2015, while gross value added (GVA) grew at 7.1 per cent.
The Higgs filled a gap with its explanation for mass. Knowing the exact characteristics of the Higgs allows scientists to make better guesses of the structure of the universe in the first 10 microseconds after the Big Bang, says Devangshu Datta.
Only the government has the capacity to collate all death data across all facilities and count corpses dumped in rivers. And the government is patently not interested in finding out, observes Devangshu Datta.
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