Nine of the top-10 most-valued firms together added Rs 111,012.63 crore in market valuation last week, with Tata Consultancy Services and HDFC Bank emerging as the biggest gainers. Reliance Industries was the only laggard from the top-10 list. The valuation of Tata Consultancy Services jumped Rs 24,635.68 crore to reach Rs 13,82,280.01 crore.
... And it's not just fear of job losses, says Ajit Balakrishnan.
Should we not be creating roles in India for the talented, asks Ajit Balakrishnan.
Eight of the top-10 most valued firms together lost Rs 2,21,555.61 crore from their market valuation last week in-line with the weak trend in the broader market, with Infosys and HDFC Bank suffering the biggest hit. The 30-share benchmark index, Sensex, lost 1,141.78 points or 1.95 per cent last week. From the top-10 pack, only Reliance Industries and Adani Green Energy emerged as the gainers.
The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Monday set May 3 as the deadline for subscribers to opt for a higher pension. The Supreme Court on November 4 allowed another change for employees who were existing EPS members as on September 1, 2014, to contribute up to 8.33 per cent of their actual salaries - as against 8.33 per cent of pensionable salary capped at Rs 15,000 a month - towards pension. The apex court gave a four-month window to enable opting for higher pensions.
Surplus liquidity in the banking system as measured by absorption of excess funds by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) fell sharply at the end of the last week due to outflows on account of advance tax payments. According to the RBI data, the net liquidity absorbed by the central bank on September 16 was at Rs 3,243.57 crore, much lower than the average of Rs 56,809.92 crore in the preceding four days of the week. The average absorption of funds by the RBI so far in September is at Rs 1.13 trillion, against the average of Rs 1.2 trillion in the previous month, the data showed.
Recently, Slice, a payment app, acquired a 5 per cent stake in North East Small Finance (NESF) for $3.42 million - the first such deal by a fintech in a small finance bank. Slice (valued at $1.5 billion, and backed by Tiger Global, Blume Ventures and Axis Bank) will technically get a toehold in a scheduled commercial bank if NESF were to get a licence to morph into one down the line Such a transition is well within the banking regulator's declared framework. The transaction has to be seen in a larger context.
The rate of unemployment was the highest in the urban areas, which constitute the most number of red zones due to the COVID-19 cases, at 29.22 per cent, as against 26.69 per cent for the rural areas.
With the dizzying rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in the country, India Inc has transitioned from a wait-and-watch policy to full-on emergency mode, bringing back remote and flexi work, stringent safety protocols, and allowing only essential travel. Companies - especially in metros like Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata - that had adopted a hybrid work model during the last few months when the caseload remained low, are either switching back entirely to work-from-home (WFH), or calling skeletal staff to office on select days. Take the case of cigarettes-to-hotels major, ITC, which had been on a hybrid work model over the last few months.
The mutual fund (MF) industry has seen a fair number of new entrants in the last 10 years but none of them have proved to be much of a challenge for the larger players. The list of top 20 fund houses, which manage over 90 per cent of the industry's total assets, continues to be dominated by players who have been in the business for more than a decade. Bajaj Finserv MF may change that, say experts.
India's exports entered negative territory after a gap of about two years, declining sharply by 16.65 per cent to $29.78 billion in October, mainly due to global demand slowdown, even as trade deficit widened to $26.91 billion, according to data released by the commerce ministry on Tuesday. Key export sectors, including gems and jewellery, engineering, petroleum products, ready-made garments of all textiles, chemicals, pharma, marine products, and leather, recorded negative growth during October. Imports during the month under review rose by about 6 per cent to $56.69 billion on account of increase in the inbound shipments of crude oil and certain raw materials such as cotton, fertiliser and machinery.
The government did not tell us why our economy had imploded. The prime minister simply stopped speaking on the subject, asserts Aakar Patel.
The markets may be entering a consolidation phase and are expected to trade sideways for now after a good run in the last few weeks, suggest analysts. In this backdrop, they suggest investors can book profits at the current levels and enter the market again on a decline from a medium-to-long term perspective. Thus far in fiscal 2023-24 (FY24), the S&P BSE Sensex has moved up around 5 per cent to nearly 62,000 levels.
The central government is likely to further consolidate its fiscal deficit by 50 basis points (bps) to 5.9 per cent in FY24 from 6.4 per cent in FY23, according to a recent report released by Goldman Sachs on Tuesday. In the current fiscal year, there is going to be an upside of 0.5 per cent on the receipts side due to higher nominal GDP growth, and higher tax buoyancy because of the formalisation, the report said. The upside to expenditure is mainly going to come from incremental subsidies (0.8 per cent of GDP), in both food and fertilizer, it said. The upcoming pre-election Budget will carry forward the trend of the increased capital expenditure seen in recent years.
S&P Global Ratings on Wednesday said the second wave of COVID infections poses downside risks to India's GDP and heightens the possibility of business disruptions. The second wave brings in uncertainty and a drawn-out COVID outbreak will impede India's recovery, it said.
Eight of the top-10 most valued companies suffered a combined erosion of Rs 2,61,812.14 crore in market valuation last week, with Reliance Industries emerging as the biggest laggard. In the top-10 list, Infosys and Wipro were the only gainers. During the last week, the BSE benchmark slumped 1,774.93 points or 3.01 per cent.
In order to further enhance customer convenience, and to leverage the 24x7 availability of real-time gross settlement (RTGS), NACH which is currently available on bank working days, is proposed to be made available on all days of the week effective from August 1, 2021, RBI's Shaktikanta Das said.
'Enterprises have become more demanding in terms of their productivity expectation from their employees.'
Sectors such as electronics, pharmaceuticals and automobiles can see supply disruptions in value chain, which may lead to a derailment of the domestic economic growth.
Equity market capitalisation dropped to a seven-month low in February, with the top 10 companies losing a whopping Rs 3,33,307.62 crore in market valuation last week. The total equity market capitalisation (m-cap) in February 2022 stood at Rs 2,49,97,053.39 crore. The previous low was in July 2021, when the m-cap of BSE-listed companies was at Rs 2,35,49,748.9 crore. In January, the m-cap stood at Rs 2,64,41,207.18 crore.
After turning net buyers last month, foreign investors have become aggressive shoppers of Indian equities and have invested Rs 22,452 crore in the first two weeks of August amid softening inflation concerns. This was way higher than a net investment of nearly Rs 5,000 crore by Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) in the entire month of July, data with depositories showed. FPIs had turned net buyers for the first time in July, after nine straight months of massive net outflows, which started in October last year.
A leading exporter said, there is enough stock of paracetamol in the country. At present, the US, which has become the epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak, needs paracetamol. He further said India would lose its credibility as the "pharmacy of the world" if it adopts protectionist policies during such a crisis.
Mihir Tanna, Associate Director, S K Patodia & Associates, answers your tax queries.
A mildly-spiced, sans too much garam masala 'hotel'-style potatoes with peas in a thick gravy that goes well with butter naans.
The Centre on Monday blocked 16 YouTube channels, including six operating from Pakistan, and a Facebook account for spreading disinformation related to India's national security, foreign relations and public order, according to an official statement.
Covid-19, US yields, dollar to weigh on equity flows in the near term.
Amid the rupee declining against the US dollar, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the Indian currency is relatively better placed than other global currencies against the greenback. Emerging market currencies have been falling against the dollar amid geopolitical tensions in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war, concerns over growth, high global crude prices, sustained inflation and central banks worldwide adopting hawkish monetary policy approach. "We are relatively better placed. We are not a closed economy. We are part of the globalised world.
Was this indeed the Lata who had started out with her, as a child star, in Badi Maa (1945)? Raju Bharatan recalls yet another memorable incident from Lata Mangeshkar's incredible life.
In Tamil Nadu, Divya Nair encounters jallikattu, a ban on colas and a water shortage.
The Delhi Commission for Women has issued a notice to Indian Bank seeking withdrawal of its new recruitment guidelines which prevents a woman, who is three or more months pregnant, from joining service.
Rural and urban regions present different labour participation and employment levels. These differences also are not tuned to India exploiting its demographic dividend, says Mahesh Vyas.
Banks looking to raise capital via bond sales to fund decade-high credit growth were compelled to put some of these debt issuances on hold amid a sharp rise in yields since late September, sources told Business Standard. A major private lender, Axis Bank, has not yet followed through with a planned issuance of infrastructure bonds worth around Rs 3,000 crore. This is because volatility in the bond market in late September led to investors seeking higher yields, sources said.
'Criticism is one thing, and cynicism is quite another.' 'However, we are undaunted by this negativity because we know the truth.'
The RBI working group's proposal to allow corporate houses to set up banks is a 'good-looking' step in a 'bad direction' and may lead to crony capitalism and eventual financial instability, former chief economist of World Bank Kaushik Basu said on Thursday. Basu further said that there is a good reason why all successful economies have a clear dividing line between industries and corporations on the one hand, and banks and lending organisations on the other.
'Laxman will be remembered for years to come as the person whom everybody turned to the first thing in the morning and drew a smile, however depressing the situation. It will be impossible to replace him...'
Indian rupee, which earlier this week touched an all-time low, is likely to remain under pressure and may test new levels as a fallout of the US Federal Reserve indicating more interest rate hikes, experts said. The aggressive rate hikes will dampen demand and increase the possibility of a recession in the US. This could accelerate the pace of capital outflows, weaken the rupee and raise the threat of imported inflation.
Rediff.com's Utkarsh Mishra visits the Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, which is fast being turned into another mandir-masjid dispute.
Moody's has forecast that China would be the only G-20 country to post growth this year.
Are breakthroughs on this imminent, asks Ajit Balakrishnan.
It was supposed to be a happy journey to London, one that the Imam family had been planning for the past two months. Everything was set - except the visa, which did not arrive in time for one of its members. "Visa was the villain...As a consequence, half of the family of four will be in London today and the other half at home in India and the US, respectively," Sanjar Imam, director of travel firm Panache World, wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday.
