Chief executive officers (CEOs) across sectors have expressed intentions to expand capacities, expecting the government's target to invest a record Rs 11.11 trillion on infrastructure development will act as a catalyst for a jump in consumer demand. "With the government planning a capex of Rs 11.11 trillion, private sector investment will come in a big way. Companies will be preparing for it right from today," H M Bangur, chairman of Shree Cement, told Business Standard. For the past few years, the investment scene in India has been dominated by government capital expenditures; private investments in the manufacturing sector have remained muted.
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.
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.
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.
An FIR was lodged against accused Ajay alias Ram Naresh after the girl's mother filed a complaint alleging 'digital rape' (forced sex using any part of the body other than male genital) with her daughter.
Amid a debate on the basis of a monetary policy stance, one may be curious enough to know how non-food retail inflation has behaved over the years in India. Let the eager souls catch a glimpse of facts. In the past 10 years, non-food inflation came down below 4 per cent on two occasions - pre-Covid period of 2019-20 and now in the first four months of the current financial year (FY25).
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.
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.
Internet shutdowns by law enforcement agencies like the one in Manipur and Punjab cost $1.9 billion to the Indian economy in the first half of 2023, a report said on Thursday. The shutdowns also led to a loss of nearly $118 million in foreign investment and triggered over 21,000 job losses, the global non-profit Internet Society said in its report 'Netloss'. The non-profit arrived at the financial impact of the shutdown going beyond the loss of output and included factors like change in the unemployment rate, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) lost, risks of future shutdowns, population in the working age etc.
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.
Retirement fund body EPFO has extended the deadline for filing applications to opt for a higher pension till July 11. This is the second extension of the deadline for applying for a higher pension. Earlier, it was extended from May 3, 2023, to June 26, 2023.
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.
On World Diabetes Day, you can pose all your doubts and questions regarding diabetes to our health experts on rediffGURUS.
Concerned over the practice of banks and Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) using penal interest as a revenue enhancement tool, the Reserve Bank on Friday came out with modified norms, under which lenders would be able to levy only "reasonable" penal charges in case of default in repayment of loans. The banks and other lending institutions will not be allowed to levy penal interest with effect from January 1, 2024, the RBI said in its notification on 'Fair Lending Practice-Penal Charges in Loan Accounts'. "Penalty, if charged, for non-compliance of material terms and conditions of loan contract by the borrower shall be treated as 'penal charges' and shall not be levied in the form of 'penal interest' that is added to the rate of interest charged on the advances," RBI said in a notification.
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."
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 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.
The high-speed free Wi-Fi internet facility is now available at 6,100 railway stations across the country, RailTel said on Tuesday. "The milestone of 6,100 stations with Wi-Fi coverage was reached today (Tuesday) with the commissioning of Wi-Fi facility at Ubarni railway station (Rae Bareli district, UP) in Lucknow Division of Northern Railway," the statement by RailTel noted.
The government on Tuesday said it has received Rs 4,353 crore as dividend tranches from seven public sector enterprises, including Coal India and PFC. Government has respectively received about Rs 575 crore and Rs 2038 crore from Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd and Coal India Ltd as dividend tranches," Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey tweeted. Besides, about Rs 887 crore and Rs 653 crore have been received from Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd as dividend tranches.
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.
'IPOs have performed exceptionally well, with a notable increase in average ticket size from Rs 800 crore in the last financial year to around Rs 1,300 crore in this financial year.'
Fiscal deficit for 2021-22 worked out to be 6.71 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP), lower than 6.9 per cent projected by the Finance Ministry in the revised Budget Estimates, according to government data released on Tuesday. Unveiling the revenue-expenditure data of the Union government for 2020-21, the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) said that the fiscal deficit in the absolute terms was be Rs 15,86,537 crore (provisional).
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.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday said the central bank does not "emulate" others when it comes to regulations and asserted that the bank's as well as his own opposition to cryptocurrencies remain unchanged, a day after US regulators allowed bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). He also said that emerging markets and the world cannot afford to have a "crypto mania". "What is good for another market need not be good for us.
Global financial firm J P Morgan has said that it plans to include Indian government bonds (IGBs) or government securities (G-Secs) into its benchmark Emerging Market index from next year, a move that will bring down borrowing cost for the government. The inclusion of the IGBs will be staggered over a 10-month period from June 28, 2024 to March 31, 2025, indicating one per cent increment on its index weight. "India's weight is expected to reach the maximum weight threshold of 10 per cent in the GBI-EM Global Diversified, and approximately 8.7 per cent in the GBI-EM Global index," J P Morgan said in a statement on Friday.
Among major Sensex movers, ITC rose the most by 1.70 per cent, Wipro by 1.43 per cent, Tech Mahindra by 1.36 per cent and Nestle India by 1.27 per cent. Other gainers included HCL Tech, Asian Paints and Reliance. On the other hand, ICICI Bank, NTPC, UltraTech Cement and Tata Steel traded with a loss of up to 0.82 per cent.
As the policy rate has seen a steady increase since May 2022, the percentage of loans offered at interest rates below 8 per cent have declined sharply, dropping from 53 per cent in March 2022 to 18 per cent by June 2023, according to a report by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The share of bank loans with interest rates of 10 per cent or higher rose from 22 per cent to 34 per cent during this period, reflecting the impact of a 250 basis point (bps) hike in the policy repo rate by the RBI's Monetary Policy Committee. In response to the rise in repo rate, 32 domestic banks have made corresponding upward revisions to their repo-linked external benchmark-based lending rates (EBLRs), aligning them with the magnitude of the rate hike.
'We expect market consolidation and recommend buying during market dips.'
'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.'
The US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision, global cues, macroeconomic data announcements and the ongoing quarterly earnings are the major triggers that will dictate trends in stock markets this week, analysts said. Besides, the trading activity of foreign investors and the movement of global oil benchmark Brent crude will also be tracked. "All eyes are on the outcome of the US Federal Reserve meeting scheduled for November 1, particularly due to the multi-year high levels of the US bond yields.
Benchmark indices ended lower on Wednesday, halting their eight days of rally, ahead of the US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision and mixed global market trends. Also, fall in index majors Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Larsen & Toubro added to the weak trend in equities. The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 161.41 points or 0.26 per cent to settle at 61,193.30.
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.
More than 50 per cent of SIP accounts come from semi-urban and rural areas.
The principal commissioner has been made responsible for developing and approving any intelligence, conducting search, and completing investigations and relevant subsequent actions, including at the lower field formations, points out T N C Rajagopalan.
Domestic new-age companies are making their presence felt at India Inc. According to a study done by Credit Suisse, only 15 per cent of the companies in the BSE500 index were formed after the year 2000. By comparison, nearly 90 per cent of unicorns - a start-up with a value of over $1 billion - were set up after 2000.
Macroeconomic data announcements, global factors and trading activity of foreign investors would be the key triggers for the domestic stock markets this week, analysts said. Last week, the benchmark indices joined the broader market's party despite a host of negative global cues. In the broader market, the BSE midcap and smallcap gauges hit their all-time highs on Friday.
Domestic equity markets will be driven mainly by quarterly earnings, global trends, and the movement in crude oil prices in this holiday-shortened week, analysts said. Investors would also keep an eye on the Middle East amid the ongoing Hamas-Israel conflict and the trading activity of foreign investors. Markets will remain closed on Tuesday for Dussehra.
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.
Do not keep a large portion of your long-term portfolio in FDs.
The Indian equity market clocked record average daily turnover (ADTV) in both the cash and derivatives segments in February amid a spike in volatility. The ADTV for the cash segment for both the exchanges combined came at Rs 1.27 trillion, while the same for the derivatives or the futures and options (F&O) segment stood at Rs 483 trillion in the previous month. The volumes for both cash and derivatives have almost doubled from a year ago on the back of rising retail participation in the world's fourth largest equity market.
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