The Street's optimism on India's largest listed automotive maker by market capitalisation is not misplaced, given the robust wholesale performance in recent months and the strong 2023-24 (FY24) October-December (Q3) results.
Why is the RBI harsh on Paytm Payments Bank? Why did it give Rana Kapoor of Yes Bank Ltd such a long rope?Often, it's a long investigation process, but the RBI doesn't discuss this openly since that can threaten financial sector stability, explains Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
A weaker-than-expected sales performance, concerns about higher competitive intensity in the current year, and earning cuts by some brokerages have weighed on the stock of the country's largest paint maker, Asian Paints. While the Q3 volume show was slightly below expectations, the company's operational and bottom line beat estimates, benefiting from the falling raw material costs. The stock ended the day with a decline of over 2 per cent at Rs 3,175 apiece.
Investors shunned shares of Bajaj Finance on Friday, a day after the non-banking financial company (NBFC) reported a sharp contraction in its net interest margin (NIM) for the March quarter of the financial year 2023-24 (Q4FY24). The losses accounted for a fifth of the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex's 609-point loss. Most brokerages have tamed their earnings expectations for the next couple of quarters, after the management said it expected the pressure on NIMs to continue in the near term.
S&P Global Ratings on Thursday said the Indian economy is projected to grow at 11 per cent in the current fiscal, but flagged the "substantial" impact of broader lockdowns on the economy. In its report on Asia-Pacific Financial Institutions, S&P said the control of COVID-19 remains a key risk for the economy. New infections have spiked in recent weeks and the country is in the middle of a second pandemic wave.
The challenge before TCS is to be totally at home with the IPR regime of developed economies.
Organisations are facing growing privacy concerns over the use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) while getting attractive returns from investments in privacy, according to Cisco's latest Data Privacy Benchmark Study. The findings highlight the responses from 2,600 privacy and security professionals across 12 geographies, said the annual review of key privacy issues impacting business. "Organisations see GenAI as a fundamentally different technology with novel challenges to consider," said Dev Stahlkopf, Cisco Chief Legal Officer.
Ask rediffGURU Ulhas Joshi your mutual fund queries.
There is no impediment to normal operations as Tata Motors puts in place the demerger process of its commercial and passenger vehicles businesses. Instead, the demerger would provide greater manoeuvrability for both new entities to operate independently, according to Tata Motors management. While there may not be immediate value unlocking, it will give investors clarity about future growth and the financials across different segments.
In the backdrop of the crisis brewing at Paytm Payments Bank, major fintech companies are ramping up their workforce and inducting new faces in their leadership teams, industry sources said on Wednesday. Users will not be able to add funds to their Paytm Payments Bank Wallet after February 29, though they will still be able to use the services and the existing balance in the wallets, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) diktat. Industry sources said that competitors to Paytm are investing heavily in offline payments while doubling their salesforce.
The margins of tyre manufacturers could come under pressure given the rise in rubber prices and the moderating demand for tyres. In the past three quarters, the revenue growth for listed tyre companies has moderated from low to mid-single-digit on account of factors such as lower demand in replacement segments, weak export markets and the decline in the average selling prices to car makers (OEMs). Demand trends could remain muted in the near term, given the weak passenger vehicle replacement demand, assuming a typical replacement cycle of 3-5 years, and demand moderation in the OEM segment.
Could it be about clout? Given its size and influence, RIL doesn't need the media for that, notes Vanita Kohli-Khandekhar.
ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company reported financial improvement and optimistic commentary in Q4FY24. It reported 17 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in Gross Written Premium (GWP) and 115 bps improvement in the Combined Ratio (COR) in FY24, and improved COR guidance with COR going from 104.5 per cent in FY23 to 103.3 per cent in FY24, 102.4 per cent in FY25 and 102.0 per cent in FY26.
The message is clear: The 60-year-old wise uncles need to handhold the 40-year-old entrepreneurs when, obsessed with ambition and greed for growth, they become a victim of hubris, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
rediffGURU Dev Ashish answers your personal finance and mutual fund queries.
The number of Internet users has more than tripled in a decade.
Indian Institute of Management Bangalore is offering special digital courses taught by their professors.
Hindustan Unilever's Q3FY24 performance was lacklustre, with both sales and operating profit barely moving from the year-ago period due to price cuts and higher advertising costs. Besides weak demand, the FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) major is facing increased competitive pressures, particularly from regional players, which, coupled with a slow recovery in rural markets, could put revenues under pressure going forward. Margins are expected to remain range-bound as benefits from falling raw material costs are expected to be neutralised by rising promotional budgets.
Inspired from a real life incident, this is the story of how Aarti buckled herself up after her divorce and rebuilt her financial life.
Defence exports grew 33 per cent in the calendar year 2023 (CY23) to around Rs 21,083 crore while domestic defence orders serviced by listed companies were Rs 48,000 crore. The sector is poised for steady growth. Budgeted domestic capex is likely to hit Rs 3 trillion per annum, and exports could reach $6 billion by FY29.
There is no near-term respite for the country's largest fast-moving consumer goods maker, Hindustan Unilever (HUL), which is facing multiple challenges on the growth front. With demand showing no signs of improvement, especially in the rural segment, the October-December quarter (Q3) of 2023-24 (FY24) is likely to be similar to the previous quarter, with volume growth in the low single digits. The stock, which is down 7 per cent over the past year compared to the 11 per cent jump for the S&P BSE Sensex, could underperform the benchmark in the near term as well.
A total of 263 cases of COVID-19 sub-variant JN.1 have been detected in the country so far, with about half of them recorded in Kerala, according to the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG)'s data updated on Tuesday.
The Reserve Bank India's (RBI's) decision to ban the onboarding of new accounts on the "bob World" mobile digital platform led to a selloff in the Bank of Baroda (BoB) stock. The stock of the public sector bank dropped by around 3 per cent. The central bank cited "material supervisory concerns"; news reports claimed mobile numbers were randomly linked to accounts to purportedly inflate registrations on bob World.
While India won't be immune to global spillovers, we need to create the macro preconditions for sustained growth. Policy agility, prudence, and resilience will be key, suggests Sonal Varma.
The governor made it clear that the RBI is aware of what's happening and acts accordingly, but doesn't make a noise about that, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
'The last year's growth is a foretaste of things to come in the retail credit market.'
Learning will become genuinely global as a result of immersive experiences. Edtech advances will increase engagement, enhance knowledge and dissolve geographical barriers, says Anant Bengani, director, Zell Education.
'The vision now is not just to look at national highways as a number of kilometres, but quality as well.'
India saw a huge surge in ransomware and IoT cyber attacks in the first half of 2023, as criminals shifted to stealthier means of malicious activities, according to a report by SonicWall. While major economies like the US and the UK witnessed a decline in ransomware attacks, India (up 133 per cent) and Germany (52 per cent) are among the countries that saw a huge surge in such attacks, the 2023 SonicWall Mid-Year Cyber Threat Report for the January-June period stated. At the global level, a variety of other attacks have trended up, including cryptojacking (399 per cent), IoT malware (37 per cent) and encrypted threats (22 per cent), the report said.
Higher growth in vegetable demand relative to supply in the recent past has led to an upward trend in inflation, with spikes becoming more frequent. A study by rating agency Crisil found that vegetable inflation has been the most volatile in the food category, in fact. Inflation volatility is detrimental for both consumers and farmers and also sidetracks policymakers in the short term, necessitating frequent and repeated price-smoothing measures.
That's because India does not have a serious venture capital industry with an appetite for risk, observes T N Ninan.
'We went from zero to about 10 million users in three months. Paytm came out with the wallet play and we came out with the UPI play.'
The fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector has underperformed the Nifty over the past year as its 20 per cent return is trumped by 29 per cent of the benchmark index. The FMCG index saw a 2.2 per cent drop in the last session, while the Nifty lost 1 per cent. FMCG is seen as a defensive segment. The demand for staples like personal care products, groceries and snacks tend to be stable. FMCG companies are consistent dividend-payers.
Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy on Thursday called out "fake news items", which claimed he endorsed automated trading applications and warned the public not to fall for such fraudulent claims. He also slammed "fake interviews" that used "deepfake pictures and videos" of him. In a series of posts on X, Murthy drew the attention of the public to false content being put out by malicious sites and products or services being sold fraudulently using his name and urged people to report any such instances to the concerned regulatory authorities.
The government has imposed anti-money laundering provisions on cryptocurrencies or virtual assets as it looks to tighten oversight of digital assets. In a gazette notification, the Finance Ministry said the anti-money laundering legislation has been applied to crypto trading, safekeeping and related financial services. After this, Indian crypto exchanges will have to report suspicious activity to the Financial Intelligence Unit India (FIU-IND).
It will be in Modi's interest to reinvent his party, read the writing on the wall that voters wrote, and move ahead. He has little choice now. The country is watching, asserts Ramesh Menon.
'It is the best avenue for investors who would like to take long-term exposure to gold.'
Notwithstanding concerns about lofty valuations, smallcaps recorded their most significant monthly gain in nearly three years in November. The National Stock Exchange Nifty Smallcap 100 finished the month with a 12 per cent gain, the most since February 2021 when it rose by 12.2 per cent. After declining by 4.1 per cent in the preceding month, the Nifty Midcap 100 rose by 10.4 per cent, the most since July 2022.
'What will matter in 2024 from the market standpoint is the direction of interest rates globally, as well as in India.' 'The results of the general elections will also be keenly watched.'
After disappointing guidances in the first quarter (Apr-Jun) of the 2023-24 financial year (Q1FY24) and valuation downgrades, the Indian IT sector could see some positive repricing as the bad news for IT maybe easing in Q2FY24. A key negative factor was weaker demand from the US financial sector and from North America in general. The latest GDP (gross domestic product) estimates and sector-specific news suggest that the demand situation may not be quite so bad with a gradual recovery in tech spending in Q2.
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