Equity markets would take cues from domestic inflation data announcement, global trends and trading activity of foreign investors in a holiday-shortened week ahead, analysts said. Markets would remain closed on Tuesday for 'Diwali Balipratipada'. "As we enter a truncated week with Muhurat trading on Sunday, global cues will play a pivotal role in shaping the market direction.
Buying one's dream home requires planning, funds, and these days, putting on an AI-enabled virtual reality (VR) headset. Realtors are increasingly providing customers an immersive experience, courtesy generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), mixed reality, and metaverse. For realty consultancy Anarock group, AI and machine learning (ML) are enabling predictive market analysis, facilitating virtual property tours, and improving property management through predictive maintenance.
Kareem, a chef in Bahrain, came in contact with the woman over the Internet.
Moody's Investors Service on Thursday said India is likely continue to face challenges in raising longer-term growth potential and creating enough jobs for its young population in the absence of higher trade openness. In its report on South Asia sovereigns, Moody's said compared with other South Asian economies, India appears to be in a better position to deepen its integration in global value chains, attract FDI and increase exports. The country has better macroeconomic fundamentals, more stable politics and a more developed export sector.
Payouts to key management personnel in non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) are under the banking regulator's scrutiny. Top industry officials said this is a follow-through on the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) circular of April 29, 2022, which asked NBFCs in the "middle" and "upper" layer of its four-tiered scale-based regulatory (SBR) framework to put in place a board-approved compensation policy.
Global trends, trading activity of foreign investors and movement of oil benchmark Brent crude would dictate terms in the domestic markets this week, analysts said. Equity markets, which fell nearly 3 per cent last week, may face volatile trends amid the monthly derivatives expiry on Thursday. "This week marks the September month Futures and Options (F&O) expiry, which is expected to bring about volatility in the market," said Santosh Meena, Head of Research, Swastika Investmart Ltd.
The government on Saturday said a person who is eligible for Aadhaar can enroll using iris scan in case fingerprints are unavailable. The statement comes after Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar intervened to ensure the enrollment of a woman, Josymol P Jose, in Kerala who could not get enrolled for Aadhaar as she did not have fingers. A team from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) visited Jose at her home in Kumarakam, Kottayam district, in Kerala, the same day and got her Aadhaar number generated, the statement said.
Retail inflation eased to an 11-month low of 4.83 per cent in April as prices of some kitchen items declined though overall food basket firmed up marginally, according to a government data released on Monday. The Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based retail inflation was 4.85 per cent in March. It was 4.7 per cent in April 2023.
India SME Forum, an organisation for small and medium businesses, has called for creating a dedicated fund of Rs 5000 crore for the export capacity development, promotion, and marketing of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in its Budget recommendation. The forum for MSMEs with over 98,000 members said that to enhance India's global competitiveness and increase its market share in global exports, it was "crucial to increase the number of active exporters and enable at least 3-4 lakh first-time micro, small, and medium exporters while supporting them in promoting Indian products globally."
The Supreme Court has sought responses of the Centre, CBI, the Enforcement Directorate and others including 13 states on a plea alleging fraudulent activities by motivational speaker Vivek Bindra and his firm Bada Business Pvt Ltd. Accusing the social media influencer and his firm of tricking people into giving them their money through a ponzi scheme that promised big returns, the petition sought a direction to the Centre to constitute a special investigation team (SIT) of the CBI to probe the case. A bench comprising MM Sundresh and SVN Bhatti took note of the submissions of senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for Shubham Chaudhary and 19 other petitioners, that Bindra and his firm have duped several people of their money.
Mobile wallet adoption is surging in India and swiftly becoming a primary payment option, surpassing traditional methods like cash and cards. Over the next few years, payments via mobile wallets in India are likely to surpass the Rs 531.8 trillion mark in 2028, witnessing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.3 per cent between 2024 and 2028, according to GlobalData - a London-based leading data and analytics company. The value of mobile wallet payments in India, as per a GlobalData report, grew at a CAGR of 72.1 per cent between 2019 and 2023 to reach Rs 202.8 trillion ($2.5 trillion) in 2023.
Showing the effect of the slowdown in global economic activity, the equity foreign direct investment (FDI) into India declined sharply to $13.9 billion in April-July 2023 from $22.04 billion a year ago. The net FDI, inflows minus outflows, declined from $17.28 billion in April-July 2022 to $5.70 billion in April-July 2023 on account of moderating gross FDI and a rise in repatriation. Gross FDI into India moderated to $22.0 billion during April-July 2023 from $29.6 billion a year ago, according to Reserve Bank of India data.
Retirement fund body EPFO has extended the date for filing applications to opt for a higher pension till June 26, 2023. In order to provide a larger window of opportunity and in order to enable all eligible persons to file their applications, the timeline for filing applications would now be till 26th June, 2023, according to a statement. "The EPFO (Employees' Provident Fund Organisation) has made arrangements for obtaining applications for validation of option/joint option from pensioners/members as per the Supreme Court order on November 4, 2022," labour ministry said in a statement.
Continuing on the fiscally prudent path, the Modi government in the interim Budget refrained from announcing populist measures, which will help it trim the fiscal deficit to 5.1 per cent of the GDP next fiscal and 4.5 per cent in FY26.
The combined market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies hit an all-time high of Rs 343.48 lakh crore on Monday, amid a rally in equities after the BJP registered victory in assembly polls in three Hindi heartland states. Following the sharp uptick in the market, investors became richer by over Rs 5.81 lakh crore on Monday. The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 1,383.93 points, or 2.05 per cent, to close at a lifetime high of 68,865.12.
The revamped Special Economic Zone (SEZ) law is unlikely to see the light of the day before the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, two people aware of the matter said. The commerce department had sought the Union Cabinet's nod to bring amendments to the existing SEZ Act, 2005 late last year. The plan, thereafter, was to introduce the Bill in the winter session of Parliament. Cabinet's approval remains pending.
As the total number of bank frauds increased from 6,800 in FY19 to more than 13,500 in FY23, the share of private banks in the occurrence went from 34 per cent to 66 per cent.
The finance ministry on Friday amended the foreign exchange management rules to exclude international credit card spends from the purview of liberalised remittance scheme (LRS). The amendment to the Foreign Exchange Management (Current Account Transactions) Rules, 2000, will be effective retrospectively from May 16, the ministry said in a notification. "...the use of International Credit Card for making payment by a person towards meeting expenses while such person is on a visit outside India" will not be covered under LRS, the notification said while inserting Rule 7 in the FEM (CAT) Rules.
The relatives have lodged a complaint with the police alleging that the instant loan app's depraved tactics to recover a loan borrowed by the family is likely to have led to them taking the extreme step.
In a relief to homebuyers, assets in a real estate project that have been handed over to the allottee would be kept out of the liquidation process of the company, the latest amendment to the rules by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has said. The notification dated February 12 said: "For the purposes of clause (e) of sub-section (4) of section 36, wherever the corporate debtor has given possession to an allottee in a real estate project, such asset shall not form a part of the liquidation estate of the corporate debtor." Real estate experts call it a "pragmatic approach" by the regulator. "However, there are many cases where possession has not been given because the property is stuck in insolvency.
'We expect market consolidation and recommend buying during market dips.'
Stock markets will be largely driven by global trends and macroeconomic data announcements in a holiday-shortened week which may see volatility amid monthly derivatives expiry, say analysts. Equity markets will remain closed on Monday for Gurunanak Jayanti. Trading activity of foreign investors and the movement of the rupee against the dollar will also be tracked by investors.
Tata Consultancy Services has expanded its partnership with Google Cloud for generative AI offerings, the company said on Monday. Under the partnership, TCS will leverage Google Cloud's generative AI services to design and deploy custom-tailored business solutions for the clients. "Our launch partnership with Google Cloud on generative AI enables us to rapidly create value for our customers.
Stock exchanges are expanding the buffet of index derivatives even as the number of stocks permitted to trade in this space, generating an average daily turnover of Rs 450 trillion, is shrinking. This week, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) started issuing futures and options (F&O) contracts based on the Nifty Next 50 Index, bringing the total count of index derivatives to five.
With digital adoption fast gaining currency, India is likely to see retail digital payments double to $7 trillion by 2030 from current levels, a study by Kearney and Amazon Pay said. In the report 'How Urban India Pays', Kearney-Amazon Pay said strong adoption of digital payments in online purchases has potentially led to a permanent shift in consumer behaviours, fuelling offline adoption as well.
Benchmark indices--Sensex and Nifty--were 0.7-0.8 per cent higher from the Saturday closing. Among the widely-tracked Nifty 50 stocks, 39 advanced and the rest 11 declined at the opening bell. Among the individual stocks, Cipla, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma, Power Grid Corp, and Bharti Airtel were the top five gainers, while Asian Paints, Hindustan Unilever, Britania, HDFC Bank, and BPCL the losers, NSE data showed. On Monday, Indian stock exchanges were closed for trading on the occasion of Pran Pratistha of Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
One out of every six sedition cases registered in India between 2014 and 2021 came from Assam.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) equity inflows in India declined 24 per cent to $20.48 billion in April-September 2023, dragged by lower inflows in computer hardware and software, telecom, auto and pharma, according to government data. FDI inflows stood at $26.91 billion during the first six months of the last fiscal. Inflows during January-March 2023 also contracted 40.55 per cent to $9.28 billion.
India Inc has reported a muted start to the financial year 2024-25, with a decline in net earnings and a modest single-digit uptick in revenues. An analysis of 488 companies that have released their results for the June 2024 quarter reveals a 1.6 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) drop in combined net profit -- the weakest performance in the past seven quarters. In stark contrast, the combined net profit of these companies experienced a 13.6 per cent Y-o-Y increase in the previous quarter (Q4FY24) and a 65.2 per cent Y-o-Y rise in Q1FY24.
The Union finance ministry has rejected a proposal sent by the labour ministry to double the monthly minimum pension amount to Rs 2,000 under the Employee Pension Scheme (EPS). The Central Board of Trustees (CBT), the apex decision-making body of the Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), was apprised of the proposal's rejection during a meeting on Saturday. "According to the recommendations made by a highly-empowered monitoring committee constituted by the government, a proposal to increase the minimum pension under EPS from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 per month, by providing additional budgetary support, was sent to the ministry of finance.
Stock markets will be largely driven by global trends in the absence of any major domestic triggers this week, say analysts. The trading activity of foreign investors, global crude oil prices and rupee-dollar movement will also influence market movement, they said. "Anticipating a period of consolidation in the absence of clear global cues, the market's trajectory will likely hinge on the movement of the US bond yields, the dollar index, and crude oil prices, as well as institutional flows.
India's largest asset manager SBI Funds Management on Tuesday said they are negative on equities from a shorter-term perspective as valuations have risen above the comfort zone. "We are not positive on equities. We think valuations are expensive. "The market has gone up a lot more than the earnings have grown," said R Srinivasan, Chief Investment Officer (CIO) - Equity at SBI Mutual Fund, at the launch of asset management companies' (AMC) yearly report on the market outlook.
'Currently, our individual first premium would be in the Rs 3,000-Rs 3,200 crore range. We want to take that to about Rs 6,000 crore in three years.'
India's share of total global venture capital (VC) funding fell to 2.9 per cent in calendar year 2023 (CY23) - the lowest since CY19 - reaching $7.3 billion as most startups struggled to raise money without compromising on their earlier valuations. Based on global data by CB Insights on VC funding, funding to Indian startups fell by nearly a third compared to CY22 when it hit $20.6 billion and accounted for 4.8 per cent of the global figure. While the data shows that the world had 71 new unicorns (21 in Asia), India contributed only two of them, as compared with CY22 when it had 22.
The post-Covid pandemic boom in corporate revenues appeared to have faded away in 2023-24. Yet, companies have reported a sharp recovery in their profits in FY24, driven by high margins. Their combined net sales, including gross interest income for lenders, rose by a modest 4.8 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in FY24.
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.
On World Diabetes Day, you can pose all your doubts and questions regarding diabetes to our health experts on rediffGURUS.
Quarterly earnings from IT majors Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, macroeconomic data announcements, global trends and trading activity of foreign investors would guide the movement in the equity market this week, analysts said. Movement of global oil benchmark Brent crude and the rupee will also influence trading in the markets. "All eyes will be on the beginning of corporate performance for the second quarter of the current fiscal year. TCS is slated to unveil its Q2 results on October 11, with HCL Technologies and Infosys following suit on October 12.
Maximum cases of advertisement norms violations were reported from the healthcare sector during 2023-24, followed by illegal offshore betting and personal care categories, according to the Advertising Standards Council of India's (Asci's) Annual Complaints Report released on Wednesday. The healthcare sector accounted for a maximum 19 per cent or 1,569 of 8,229 advertisements scrutinised by Asci during the year. Illegal offshore betting accounted for 17 per cent, while the share of personal care advertisements was 13 per cent.
After four years of high double-digit growth in profits, corporate earnings of Indian companies hit a speed bump in the April-June quarter of 2024 (Q1FY25), leading to the risk of a downward revision in India Inc profit estimates for FY25 and volatility in the equity market. Earnings growth slowed despite companies in most non-financial sectors reporting higher operating margins from lower commodity prices and a decline in interest costs.