Softening rural consumption and the likelihood of weak corporate earnings in the March quarter saw investors dump stocks.
The FMCG sector's demand growth will be powered by effective reduction in the personal taxes and increased allocation under NREGA, though hike in excise duty lead inflation is a cause for concern
While India Inc seems to be generally pleased with the budget, there are, however, some discordant voices with the shipping, FMCG and education sectors saying there is nothing in the budget for them.
Dabur has launched 44 products during the year.
Among the Sensex firms, State Bank of India, ITC, Nestle, Asian Paints, Tech Mahindra, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services and Hindustan Unilever were the major laggards. In contrast, HCL Technologies, Power Grid, Sun Pharma, NTPC, Bajaj Finance and Titan were the gainers.
After a sharp fall in the share prices of HDFC Bank and other private sector lenders in the past three days, the BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) sector weighting in the Nifty50 has slipped to a seven-year low of 32.03 per cent, down from nearly 36.6 per cent at the end of March 2023 and 34.5 per cent at the end of December 2023.
In an ad that is currently on air, business news channel Bloomberg UTV takes a dig at a rival channel. The ad shows Bloomberg UTV's anchor simplifying the business terms used by the anchor of a rival channel, who seems to be at great discomfort.
White-collar hiring witnessed an 8.6 per cent annual decline in September, following a negative trend in sectors including IT, BPO or ITES and FMCG, a report said on Monday. On a month-on-month basis, however, there has been a growth of almost 6 per cent in job postings. In September, there were 2,835 white-collar job postings, down by 8.6 per cent compared to the same month last year when 3,103 jobs were posted, according to Naukri.com's monthly 'Naukri JobSpeak Index'.
ITC's results for the January-March quarter (Q4) were strong, with robust growth in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) segment and a good performance in hospitality. The tobacco division's performance was on expected lines, with double-digit volume growth, helped by reclaiming of market share from the smuggled trade. There was 60 per cent growth in non-cigarette earnings before interest and tax (Ebit), despite a relatively weak performance in paperboards.
Among Sensex gainers, Power Grid jumped the most by 4.16 per cent after its board approved an investment of Rs 656 crore in transmission projects. Private lenders HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank, IndusInd Bank and ICICI Bank were also among lead gainers. NTPC, Nestle and Hindustan Unilever also ended the session with gains.
British multinational BAT PLC on Tuesday said it plans to sell up to 3.5 per cent stake in India's ITC Ltd to institutional investors through a block trade. In a statement, British American Tobacco PLC (BAT), the single largest shareholder in ITC Ltd (ITC), said its wholly-owned subsidiary Tobacco Manufacturers (India) Ltd (TMI) intends to sell up to 43,68,51,457 ordinary shares in the Indian diversified entity to institutional investors by way of an accelerated bookbuild process (block trade), subject to customary closing conditions.
Indian consumers' spending on FMCG items at modern retail stores is set to nearly triple to $5 billion by 2015 from $1.8 billion at present, according to market research firm, the Nielsen Company.
Top companies reported that despite most of them making staples and essential products, movement of raw material, goods and labour remained restricted, impacting sales.
ITC highlighted that legal cigarettes account for 9 per cent of tobacco consumption in India, but 80 per cent of tax collection is from tobacco products. While illicit cigarettes account for roughly one-third of the market share, legal cigarette volumes have recovered to around 96 per cent of peak FY13 volumes, after dipping to 70 per cent in FY21.
In a relief to FMCG major Dabur, two of its foreign subsidiaries, Dabur International and Dermoviva Skin Essentials, have been removed as a defendant in multiple lawsuits filed in a US court over allegations that their hair-relaxer products caused ovarian cancer, uterine cancer and other related health issues. However, lawsuits filed against its third international subsidiary Namaste Laboratories LLC, would continue before the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, according to a statement from Dabur on Wednesday. Dabur International and Dermoviva were removed and got relief in the multiple suits due to lack of jurisdiction as they have not either manufactured, marketed, distributed or sold hair relaxer products in the US, it added.
Most market analysts are expecting the momentum to shift towards 'quality' and 'growth' stocks in 2024 after the outperformance of 'value' stocks over the past three years. 'Value' stocks are generally well-established companies with steady profits that are trading at a discount to what they are intrinsically worth. Companies in sectors such as commodities, industrials, commercial vehicles and public sector units (PSUs) fall in this bracket.
While stable raw materials prices have spelt relief for most FMCG companies, they are still having a tough time in defining the future pricing strategy. Most have indicated that input costs have hit their margins, while others maintained that if inflation continued unabated, there would be a further correction in prices. Many FMCG companies have either raised prices or reduced the size of their products to combat the rise in farm commodity prices and packaging costs.
Over the past year, Amul has undergone a transformative journey, evolving from a dairy-centric entity to a comprehensive foods company. Since 2022, PepsiCo India, too, has embarked on extensive launches in the food category. Not to be left behind, ITC, which has been introducing an average of 100 fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) products across categories every year, has also launched a number of packaged food items.
Citing the continuing 'cyclical turnaround' in the economy and the 'positives' in Union Budget for 2003-04, mutual fund Franklin Templeton has said the FMCG segment was in for better times.
'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.'
Even as the slowdown in the information technology (IT) services sector deepens, banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), as well as oil and gas companies, emerge as the primary drivers of corporate earnings in the country. The IT services sector's share in corporate earnings declined to a five-year low of 17.4 per cent in the second quarter (Q2) of 2023-24 (FY24), whereas banks and finance companies accounted for 46.5 per cent, and oil and gas firms contributed 16.8 per cent. At their peak, IT services firms like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, HCLTech, and Wipro represented just over a third of the combined net profit of all listed companies in the Business Standard sample.
Indian stock markets are expected to be driven mostly by global factors this week amid a lack of local triggers and earnings season largely coming to an end, say analysts. Crude oil prices, rupee movement and US Federal Reserve meeting minutes to be released this week will also influence the market sentiment. "With the earnings season behind us, global cues would largely dictate the trend in the coming week," Ajit Mishra, SVP - technical research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.
Sensex rises, Nifty holds 8,900; FMCG, Pharma shares lead.
rediffGURU Ashwini Dasgupta offers advice on what you can do to grow in your career and shine at the workplace.
The issue of pollution caused due to the non-degradable material is keeping consumer goods majors - from ITC and Dabur to Nestl and PepsiCo - on their toes.
'Today's engineering graduates have to learn the skills to solve problems which is actually a higher order skill.'
Sales of refrigerators were higher this year versus last year.
Among the Sensex firms, NTPC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Power Grid, Nestle, Tata Motors, ITC, Bharti Airtel and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the major gainers. In contrast, Larsen & Toubro, Wipro, JSW Steel, UltraTech Cement, and Asian Paints were among the laggards.
Foreign investors made a significant turnaround and injected over Rs 1,500 crore into Indian equities in February, reversing the massive outflows seen in the preceding month, primarily due to robust corporate earnings and positive economic growth. Additionally, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) continued to be bullish on the debt markets as they put in over Rs 22,419 crore during the month under review, data with the depositories showed. Looking ahead to March, the outlook for FPI flow appears promising, provided the current economic trajectory and corporate performance sustain their positive momentum, potentially continuing to attract foreign investment into Indian equities, Mayank Mehraa, smallcase manager and principal partner at Craving Alpha, said.
The new push is being driven primarily by over 170,000 villages where household income is over Rs 1 lakh a year.
This is the Mukesh Ambani-led company's second entry into the dairy segment and it will directly compete with Amul and Mother Dairy.
Of the 30-share Sensex, 13 ended higher, while 17 led by Power Grid, Tata Steel, Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, NTPC, Tata Motors, Dr Reddy's, M&M, GAIL, Infosys and L&T finished lower, fell by up to 2.40 per cent
However, the government's draft policy on e-commerce companies has forced consumer companies to also adapt to the changes. For Dabur India, e-commerce channel continues to be a key driver of growth in urban India. The contribution of online sales to its entire portfolio is at six per cent compared to 1.5 per cent before the pandemic.
