'Bharat has been leading, but it cannot carry India as the bulk of the sales come from India in terms of volume and profitability.'
Infosys on Thursday posted a 7.8 per cent year-on-year rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 6,128 crore in March quarter of FY23, and gave 4-7 per cent revenue growth forecast for FY24 amid macro economic uncertainities. The net profit (after minority interest) stood at Rs 5,686 crore in the fourth quarter of FY22. Seen sequentially, the net profit for Q4 came in 7 per cent lower.
The stellar rise in corporate earnings in financial year 2021-22 (FY21) and FY22 did not result in a corresponding boom in capital expenditure (capex), with listed companies' investment in fixed assets rising just 2.3 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in FY22, growing at the slowest pace in the last six years. In comparison, the firms' combined net profit jumped 63.5 per cent YoY in FY22, while net sales increased 31.1 per cent - the fastest pace in over a decade. The 955 non-financial companies in Business Standard's sample reported combined net profit of Rs 7.18 trillion in FY22, compared with Rs 4.39 trillion in FY21 and Rs 2.59 trillion in FY20.
The move is meant to curb or reverse the export of India's financial markets to overseas trading platforms.
The Adani stock price saga will pass into public memory as one of those matters that simply escaped being nailed down, perhaps because too many vested interests were involved, notes Debashis Basu.
Hit by Covid waves and slowdown, the Indian Railways has still not been able to return to its pre-pandemic passenger traffic, data by ministry of Railways has revealed. In February, the national transporter received 413 million ticket bookings - 43 per cent higher than the previous year, but only 61 per cent of the 675 million in February 2020. According to the statistics, that was the last time the Railways saw more than 500 million bookings in a single month.
Bharti'suarterly revenue run rate continues to be hover around the $1.2 billion mar
Oberoi Realty has hit the top slot in Mumbai's ranking of the top-20 developers in terms of sales in 2021, evicting the Runwal group which was number one last year. The Lodha group which had occupied the top slot three out of five times since 2017 slipped to second place in 2020 and continues to be in the same position in 2021. The Oberoi group was in fifth place in 2019 and fourth place in 2020. This is the first time that it has occupied the number one position. The Runwal group which took the top slot in 2020 is down to third place in 2021.
Amid a political furore over a meltdown in the Adani group shares, stock market data shows it is not only the plunge now but the sharp surge of the past also drew regulatory attention and enhanced surveillance. Adani group stocks have taken a huge beating on the bourses, losing billions of dollars in market value, after US-based activist short-seller Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation at the Gautam Adani-led group. The Adani group has dismissed the charges as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.
The six billion plastic straws sold with every small tetra pack of juice, milk, lassi, coffee and other drinks can be replaced by paper straws to protect the environment but it will have to be done in phases. That was the message of the presentation made by FMCG companies using small tetra packs last week by their body, the Action Alliance for Recycling Beverage Cartons. The association told the Environment Ministry that companies need 18 months from the ministry's deadline of July 1 - when the ban on the use of single plastics for straws, plates and spoons comes into effect - to make the transition.
Telco proved the biggest draw in the 30-share BSE Sensex late afternoon on Friday as FIIs reckoned that the company will turn out exciting results for Q3.
Infosys, TCS, HUL and Reliance Industries were the top gainers of the day.
Metal shares gained on hopes that the government may adopt ordinance route for mines sector reforms
'Top lines will grow, volume growth will be there, but margins might also be impacted.'
It may be a little early to cheer the recovery in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) space as a deceleration in discretionary demand, after the festival season, may offset fragile rural recovery, analysts have cautioned. "The overall demand environment for staples remains muted, while discretionary demand trends have seen some deceleration after the festival season. "We believe margins in staples have bottomed out, but we expect only a gradual uptick with the ongoing softening in raw material prices.
"It went up to 20-odd per cent in 2019 and to 25 per cent a year later. "That's when we decided to pull the plug; it was not sustainable for our business," says Chadha. Madison & Pike, instead, turned to Mumbai-based start-up Thrive, which provides third-party delivery services to restaurants at a much lower commission - three to five per cent.
India's widening current account deficit (CAD), driven by the massive spike in commodity prices led by crude oil, is set to put pressure on the fragile recovery, warns a brokerage report that has revised upwards its CAD forecast to $45 billion or 1.4 per cent of GDP by March. According to a report by British brokerage Barclays, the worries arise from the fact that the trade deficit has been jumping continuously since July. From an average monthly trade deficit of $12 billion till June, it has jumped to $16.8 billion in July-October, with September showing the highest-ever trade deficit on record at $22.6 billion, the report said.
A disagreement between mobile operators and device manufacturers over e-SIMs has reached the government with the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) asking the DoT to order handset manufacturers to introduce eSIMs, in addition to the physical SIM slot, in all smartphones costing over Rs 10,000. The reason is the unprecedented global shortage of semiconductors which has severely impacted the supply of SIM cards across the globe and pushed up the price by four to five times. The shortage is not likely to improve before 2024.
According to Siam data, Indian auto companies sold 982,456 units of utility vehicles in the first half of FY23, a 50.29 per cent growth over the corresponding period last year.
Broader market underperformed the headline indices with BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap finishing in red
India's services sector activity expanded at the second-fastest pace in more than a decade during November, driven by sustained rise in new work and improvement in market conditions, a monthly survey said on Friday. The seasonally adjusted India Services Business Activity Index was at 58.1 in November, fractionally down from 58.4 in October. The November figure points to the second-fastest rise in output since July 2011. For the fourth straight month, the services sector witnessed an expansion in output.
Regaining the lost sheen, sales of gold jewellery and coins are set to touch pre-COVID levels in volume terms on the auspicious Dhanteras as easing pandemic concerns and pent up demand saw consumers flocking to stores to buy the precious metal. Increased footfall at stores and brisk sales online as well as relatively softer gold prices compared to record Rs 57,000 per 10 grams level in August spurred increased buying, especially light weight offerings, on Tuesday. Dhanteras is considered to be auspicious for buying precious metals and other valuable items.
Sensex ended strong, Tata Steel, HUL climb higher.
Its production declined for the third consecutive year in financial year 2020-21 (FY21) to an 11-year low, while sales volume contracted for the second year to the lowest since FY15. The company manufactured around 1.08 million vehicles last fiscal, a decline from 1.17 million the previous year, and a steeper fall from its all-time high tally of 1.62 million reported in FY18.
Alto, the Maruti brand synonymous with small cars, introduced the new generation K10 on Thursday, aiming to consolidate its position further amid shrinking demand for hatchbacks. With prices starting at Rs 399,000 and going up to Rs 533,500 (for manual transmission), the new model claims fuel efficiency of 24.90 km per litre. The Japanese car maker, which has been selling 100 Altos every hour for the last 22 years, had discontinued the model in February 2020.
Weakness in Infosys, L&T and Hindalco cap index gains.
Domestic passenger vehicles sales rose by 23 per cent to a record of 37.93 lakh units in 2022 led by the likes of Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata Motors as the companies rode on easing of pandemic related challenges and semiconductor shortages to cash in on pent up demand, specially for SUVs. Other manufacturers like Toyota Kirloskar Motor and Skoda India also reported record sales in 2022. "The industry wholesales in January to December 2022 were just short of 38 lakh units.
10 stocks which are most popular with brokerages right now and are expected to deliver maximum upside over the next 12 months.
The country's current account deficit is likely to hit a three-year high of 1.8 per cent or $43.81 billion in FY22, as against a surplus of 0.9 per cent or $23.91 billion in FY21, a report said on Thursday. According to an assessment by India Ratings, the Current Account Deficit (CAD) has moderated to $17.3 billion or 1.96 per cent of GDP in the fourth quarter of FY22 as against $8.2 billion or 1.03 per cent in the year-ago period, and massively down from $23.02 billion or 2.74 per cent in Q3, which was a 13-quarter high. The improvement in the key numbers are due to the remarkable improvement in merchandise exports in FY22, when it grew 42.4 per cent as against a negative 7.5 per cent in the pandemic-hit FY121.
Former Davis Cup captain Anand Amritraj is baffled that India's best singles players are not able to win close matches on the ATP World Tour despite having a decent game to back them.
The good news for PepsiCo is that the foods segment has normalised much faster to pre-pandemic levels than beverages.
Consumption of gold is the highest among middle-income households - those with annual income between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 10 lakh - who account for an average of 56 per cent of gold sales over the last five years, according to a nationwide survey conducted by India Gold Policy Centre (IGPC) at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A). "Per capita consumption is highest among the rich, but total volume still rests with the middle-income group. "With increasing income, there is an increasing propensity to consume gold, although the share of gold in the portfolio does not increase with the same proportion of income," the survey report says.
The five-year (2015-16 to 2020-21, or FY21) compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of the overall auto industry is now negative at 2 per cent, against 5.7-per cent growth it saw in the previous five years (from 2010-11 to 2015-16).
Google's premium smartphone series Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro will be around 15-21 per cent costlier in India compared to other countries, according to the prices revealed by the company. The company has started pre-booking the Pixel 7 at Rs 59,999 ($729.36) and Pixel 7 Pro at Rs 84,999 ($1033.27) on the e-commerce portal Flipkart. The devices would be available from October 13.
Given the school break, this is the peak travel season and companies catering to the 'friends and family' segment are expected to gain.
Feeble demand in rural areas of the country has affected sales of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) in September as compared to August, which saw heavy stocking ahead of the festival season, according to the data of Bizom, a retail intelligence platform. Sales in rural India fell 14.3 per cent while urban sales growth stood at 1.1 per cent in September as compared to the previous month. Overall FMCG sales fell by 9.6 per cent in September as compared to August.
After the Covid-19 pandemic that derailed the economy since 2019, the Durga Puja festival in West Bengal is back with an estimated 20-30 per cent jump in festive spending. Retail sector is the key contributor to the state's Durga Puja economy which was Rs 32,377 crore in 2019, according to a British Council study conducted for the state government. Retail accounts for 85 per cent of the total puja economy and the rest is shared among pandal making, decoration, illumination, entertainment, advertisement, food & beverage and others.