The steep cut in Customs duty on silver in the FY25 Budget to 6 per cent from 15 per cent may provide the government temporary relief by checking the spurt in silver imports from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) under the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). In FY24, silver imports from the UAE jumped to $1.7 billion from only $11.18 million in FY23, according to commerce department data. In May, about 87 per cent of India's silver imports came from Dubai.
Concerns have been raised over Marico's exposure to Bangladesh in the wake of turmoil in that country. However, the management reiterated expectations of growing domestic business at double digits and maintaining international growth. Marico scaled up its food business by 4 times between FY20-24 and aims to double it again in the next three financial years.
The hospitality industry has around 212,000 rooms, with an industry size of about Rs 82,000 crore. The industry could grow at an annual rate of 10.5 per cent for the next three financial years, despite a quiet Q1FY25. The demand will be driven by domestic travellers, who will contribute roughly 50 per cent of the growth, while foreign tourists will account for 30 per cent.
Reliance Industries' (RIL's) retail arm, Reliance Retail, is now valued at nearly twice the amount of its decades-old and lucrative oil-to-chemical (O2C) division. Bernstein's latest report on the conglomerate projects a valuation of $112 billion for its retail business, dwarfing the $57 billion valuation of its O2C division. In addition, the research firm valued Jio Platforms, the company's telecom arm, at $77 billion and the renewable energy business at $17 billion.
Reliance Industries Ltd invested over $125 billion in the last ten years as it undertook massive expansion in hydrocarbon and telecom businesses, a report said, estimating that the conglomerate's investments in the next three years would be in relatively less capex-heavy retail and upstream new energy. Reliance is coming out of a series of long and intensive capex cycles (hydrocarbons and telecom).
Upstream majors ONGC and Oil India (OIL) results for the January-March quarter (Q4) of FY24 suggest better production in future. But OIL missed its own production targets although it delivered higher volumes and it disappointed the market in terms of Ebitda. ONGC reported standalone Ebitda of Rs 17,400 crore (up 7 per cent year-on-year or Y-o-Y) in Q4FY24, slightly below estimates due to other higher expenses.
Apollo Hospitals Enterprise (APH) delivered an in-line performance for the April-June quarter of the financial year 2024-2025 (Q1FY25)with growth in the number of patients. AHLL (Apollo Health & Lifestyle), a subsidiary, posted sales growth and profitability. APH also reduced operational costs at Healthco.
UltraTech Cement's announcement that it would snap up a controlling stake in India Cements may only be a sign of more to come. In the wake of one of the country's most expensive deals in recent times, cement majors may slug it out to add smaller firms from the region to their portfolio. UltraTech's buy is the latest in the four deals the southern market has seen in less than a year, with Adani Cement being the other buyer.
Automotive (auto) major Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), which is readying to launch nine sport utility vehicles (internal combustion engine/ICE), seven Born Electric Vehicles (BEVs), and seven light commercial vehicles by 2030, has outlined an investment of Rs 27,000 crore in its auto business between 2024-25 (FY25) and 2026-27 (FY27). Over the next three years, the company will deploy Rs 37,000 crore, including its auto business, farm business (Rs 5,000 crore), and service business (Rs 5,000 crore).
'This was earlier driven by industries and the commercial sector.'
Godrej Properties (GPL) reported strong pre-sales of Rs 22,500 crore in FY24, up 84 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y). The performance was led by new launches, which increased 65 per cent to Rs 23,000 crore in FY24, and contributed 70 per cent to total pre-sales. The sales volume increased 31 per cent Y-o-Y to 20 million square feet (msf), while realisation rose 40 per cent Y-o-Y, driven by contribution from high-realisation markets of National Capital Region (NCR) Delhi and Metropolitan Mumbai Region (MMR) and positioning in the premium segment.
Adani group saw a 55 per cent profit surge in the fiscal year ended March 2024 as the apples-to-airport conglomerate is back on an expansion spree and eyeing a $90 billion capex over the next decade. Emerging from a damning report of a US short seller, which hit market value of its listed companies, Adani group in 2023-24 (April 2023 to March 2024) fiscal focused on containing debt, reducing founder share pledge and consolidating business in core competencies.
Vodafone Idea's (Vi's) subscriber loss reduced to a seven-month low in March, and alongside the company added 1.1 million broadband users after two months of net loss -- two things analysts have noted as key trends that need to be monitored. While Vi has been losing customers for more than two and a half years now, the churn reduced to below a million after five straight months in March, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) data has shown. "Jio's softer than usual subscriber growth in March, and VIL's slowing subscriber market share loss are key trends to keep an eye on going forward," global investment banking and financial services major UBS said in an analyst note.
'With the deployment of a higher degree of mechanisation, awarding contractual mining to MDOs and operational efficiency, we feel confident of achieving the desired target.'
As the political uncertainty settles down, investors are reviewing their assumptions about the power sector. Demand here is likely to continue to grow strongly in the long-term at around 5-6 per cent CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) during the next 6-7 years. Given policy continuity, several trends will persist.
Ambuja Cements' announcement that it would acquire Hyderabad-based Penna Cement Industries could be the Adani Group company's first step for wider inorganic expansion, according to analysts.
FSN E-Commerce Ventures (Nykaa) hosted its annual investor day recently. The responses were positive from analysts. Although some analysts pared FY25 and FY26 estimates, the bulk continued to issue 'buy' calls after the stock rose 2.5 per cent. The management expects the Beauty & Personal Care (BPC) business to grow at a 25 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) during FY24-28.
Government-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has seen substantial gains from its investments in Adani group shares, which have experienced a significant recovery over the past year. The value of LIC's stake in Adani group companies surged by 51.6 per cent, or Rs 22,591 crore, reaching Rs 66,388 crore as of Friday's close. This compares to Rs 43,797 crore on May 31 last year, according to stock exchange data.
'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.'
Yes Bank on Saturday reported over two-fold jump in standalone net profit at Rs 452 crore for March quarter 2023-24, primarily due to benefits on the provision front. In the year-ago quarter, the bank logged a profit of Rs 202.43 crore. The private sector lender benefitted from write-back on income tax and interest on income tax returns, but the profits were limited by its inability to comply with the mandatory priority sector lending (PSL) requirements, its management said.
The stock of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise (AHEL), India's largest listed health care services company, fell 4.6 per cent on Monday (April 29) and slipped another 0.34 per cent to close at Rs 5,946.20 on Tuesday (April 30). The share declined due to a lower valuation for subsidiary Apollo HealthCo (AHL) and an aggressive valuation for Keimed, a promoter-owned drug wholesaler that is merging with AHL.
UltraTech Cement's third quarter of financial year 2023-24 (Q3FY24) performance saw a combination of 6 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) volume growth and 8 per cent revenue growth coupled with better realisations per tonne. The earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) stood at Rs 3,250 crore and Ebitda per tonne was Rs 1,191. Profit after tax (PAT) was reported at Rs 1,780 crore. Other income dipped and interest costs rose.
As Mumbai's real estate and electric vehicle penetration grows, two of the city's private power distribution companies, Adani Electricity and Tata Power, are eyeing a bigger business pie, particularly betting on high-value customers. Adani Electricity Mumbai (AEML), the subsidiary which houses Adani Energy Solutions' Mumbai distribution business, recorded a six per cent growth in total units sold in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), the company's presentation shows. This gain came at over 13 per cent growth in the year-ago period.
'Interim Budget has ignited the entrepreneurial spirit.'
Corporate India is starting to step up its capital expenditure plans amid government incentives and signs of rising demand, company executives and analysts have indicated. This coincides with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently citing a double-digit growth in private capital expenditure. Healthy balance sheets of banks and corporates, along with increasing capacity utilisation and improving business sentiment, are contributing to a favourable environment for sustained growth in private sector investments, the RBI said in its policy last week.
India will drive growth in the Asia-Pacific (Apac) region as the growth engine is likely to shift from China to South and Southeast Asia in the coming years, S&P Global Ratings said in a report on Tuesday. The rating agency's report projected China's growth to slow down to 4.6 per cent by 2026 from an estimated 5.4 per cent in 2023. India is likely to clock 7 per cent economic growth from 6.4 per cent estimated for 2023.
'Pandemic has triggered interest and awareness among the people about the need for healthcare.'
Eveready Industries India will launch a new category in Financial Year 2024-25 (FY25) as it works to double revenue, said a senior executive of the country's largest dry cell battery maker. It could be an adjacency or a new product under the Eveready brand and a final decision is expected by the end of this financial year. "We are currently working on that exercise; it's on the drawing board," said Suvamoy Saha, managing director of Eveready.
Rising penetration of trade generic medicines is eating into the value growth of the domestic pharmaceutical market, showed a recent analysis. According to a Kotak Institutional Equities analysis, 70-110 basis points (bps) annual dent is expected from trade generics and Jan Aushadhi on Indian Pharma Market (IPM) growth at least until FY27-28 (see chart). Trade generic medicines are those that are not pushed into the market through doctor promotions.
The currency in circulation (CIC) declined by Rs 7,600 crore in the Diwali week, making it the first such happening in two decades, a report said on Thursday. This was made possible courtesy of a greater reliance on digital payments by people, the report by economists at SBI said, adding that the Indian economy is undergoing a structural transformation at present. They clarified that the Diwali week in 2009 had also witnessed a marginal Rs 950 crore decline in currency in circulation, but that was purely due to the economic slowdown amid the global financial crisis.
A piece of slightly negative news can cause a serious setback, warns Debashis Basu.
The power sector is always strongly correlated to economic activity and is receiving its share of investor attention as India's post-Covid-19 recovery continues. India's leading integrated power producer, the public sector undertaking (PSU) NTPC controls around 25 per cent of India's power capacity. It continues to increase installed capacity, in thermal as well as renewables (solar, wind, green hydrogen) and hydropower and pumped hydro, and also has backward integration into coal mining, and explored nuclear.
Dalmia Bharat Ltd on Monday announced the acquisition of the cement assets of Jaypee Group's flagship company Jaiprakash Associates Ltd and its associate firms at an enterprise value of Rs 5,666 crore. In a regulatory filing, Dalmia Bharat informed that its wholly-owned subsidiary Dalmia Cement Bharat Limited (DCBL) has entered into a "binding framework agreement for the acquisition of clinker, cement and power plants from Jaiprakash Associates Limited and its associate company." The deal includes a total cement capacity of 9.4 Million tones (MnT) per annum, along with clinker capacity of 6.7 MnT and thermal power plants of 280MW at an enterprise value of Rs 5,666 crore, it added.
A spate of recent orders under the Indigenously Designed Developed and Manufactured (IDDM) category have led to investor focus on defence stocks. Actually, the defence index has been an outperformer for a long while with public sector undertakings (PSUs) like Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), Bharat Electronics (BEL), Bharat Dynamics (BDL), Garden Reach Shipbuilders Engineers (GRSE), Cochin Shipyard and Goa Shipyard being beneficiaries of the policy.
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.
Fitch Ratings on Friday said it has revised the outlook on India's sovereign rating to 'stable' from 'negative' as downside risks to medium-term growth have diminished on rapid economic recovery. Fitch Ratings kept the rating unchanged at 'BBB-'.
With increased consumer awareness and government support in place, it is the opportune time to enter the electric passenger vehicle segment, Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra said on Monday. With an eye on gaining leadership in the electric four-wheeler segment, the Indian auto major announced that it will launch five new electric Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) for both domestic and international markets, with the first four expected to hit the road between 2024 and 2026. The company would introduce the first of the five e-SUVs towards the end of 2024, starting with the Indian market.
Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) and the British International Investment (BII) have inked a pact to invest Rs 1,925 crore each in a wholly-owned subsidiary of the home-grown auto major to focus on four-wheel passenger electric vehicles. The Mumbai-based automaker and BII have executed a binding agreement to invest in the new entity -- "EV Co". According to the pact, BII will invest up to Rs 1,925 crore in the form of compulsory convertible instruments at a valuation of up to Rs 70,070 crore, resulting in 2.75 per cent to 4.76 per cent ownership in the EV Co, M&M said in a regulatory filing. EV Co will focus on four-wheel (4W) passenger electric vehicles, it added.
Fitch Ratings on Monday cautioned that the Indian government has little fiscal headroom at its disposal to respond to possible shocks to growth given the country's lowest investment grade credit rating with a negative outlook. "India's public debt/GDP ratio, at about 87 per cent in FY21, is well above the median of around 60% for 'BBB' rated sovereigns. "We revised the Outlook on India's rating to Negative, from Stable, in June 2020, partly owing to our assumptions about the impact of the pandemic on public finance metrics. "The government has little fiscal headroom at its current rating level to respond to possible shocks to growth," it said in a report.
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