The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is considering a proposal to allow mutual funds (MFs) to charge a fee based on their performance, said Ananta Barua, whole-time member of the markets regulator. He said the proposal is being reviewed by a working group formed to look into cost structures. "One working group has been set up which is going to review... One of the suggestions is that if any scheme or fund is performing well above the benchmark, it (fee) can be linked to its performance.
Led by crude oil and finished steel, the output of the six core infrastructure industries grew by 7.4 per cent in March, 2011, an improvement from the 6.8 per cent expansion clocked a year ago.
Analysts remain selective on cement stocks amid the likely government's capex push ahead of the scheduled general elections in May 2024. While UBS has initiated coverage on the Indian cement sector with an anti-consensus negative view and suggests investors sell select cement stocks on a rally, those at Nomura remain selectively bullish on the sector and prefer companies with large brownfield optionality and multi-region presence. In the near-term, UBS expects strong earnings of cement companies in the next two quarters to be driven by robust demand and margin tailwinds, but suggests any sharp uptick in stock prices could offer a good opportunity for booking profits in the related counters.
The slowdown fear, as substantiated by various parameters like the HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index as well as the Index of Industrial Production, has gripped large companies but the smaller entities still seem hopeful of excellent growth. At least, tax collection figures show this trend.
Indian equity markets have a limited upside potential in the near-term as they negotiate the ensuing cyclical slowdown, wrote analysts at Nomura in a recent coauthored report led by Saion Mukherjee, their managing director and head of equity research for India. He, however, believes that the foundations are in place for sustainable growth over the medium-to-long term, and hence suggests a 'buy on dips' strategy to equity investors. As an investment strategy, Nomura prefers domestic-oriented sectors and companies over exporters, and prefers stocks that provide valuation comfort. Industrials and banks are their overweight sectors, while IT services and consumer discretionary are their underweight sectors.
Meanwhile, IIP for June was revised upwards to a decline of 1.78 per cent from a provisional 2.2 per cent dip in production. It contracted by 2.8 per cent in May this year.
India's first-ever listed new-age company, Zomato, has seen a meteoric rise in its stock price in calendar year 2023 (CY23), rising 70.75 per cent during this period as compared to 9.5 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. From being the second worst hit new-age stock in CY22, crashing 57 per cent on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the stock hit the Rs 100-mark for the first time since January 2022 in late August. The stellar run in the stock - only after PB Fintech and One97 Communications-owned Paytm, analysts say, may be coming to an end, at least for now.
Shares of telecom services providers - Reliance Industries (parent of Reliance Jio), Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea - have shed up to 23 per cent so far in the current calendar year as growth in the wireless subscriber segment begins to plateau amid higher tariffs and rising costs of smartphones. By comparison, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex, and sectoral index BSE Telecom have dipped 1.8 per cent, and 12.6 per cent, respectively, ACE Equity data shows. However, analysts expect the trend to reverse soon as telecom services providers focus on the next leg of growth -- fixed broadband (FBB) segment.
India's manufacturing sector activities witnessed the strongest rate of growth in three months in July amid improved demand conditions and easing of some local COVID-19 restrictions, a monthly survey said on Monday. The seasonally adjusted IHS Markit India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose from 48.1 in June to 55.3 in July, pointing to the strongest rate of growth in three months. In PMI parlance, a print above 50 means expansion while a score below 50 denotes contraction.
Mobile phone manufacture in India started only in 2006.
Industrial production grew by just 1.8 per cent year-on-year in December 2011 due to contraction in mining and capital goods sectors and a lower manufacturing sector growth.
An additional factor spurring the FMP launches is MFs' desire to retain investors as many such offerings are set to mature over the next two months.
Optimistic buying in blue-chip stocks ahead of release of industrial production data for July and retail inflation for August drove stocks higher.
Mutual funds have ratcheted up Rs 53,700 crore (Rs 537 billion) through new fund offers (NFOs) in 2022 until November, against Rs 1 trillion in Calendar 2021, notwithstanding the number of launches this year eclipsing the 2021 tally. Industry insiders cite the absence of launches in popular categories as the reason behind lower collections this year. Typically, only NFOs in popular categories from major fund houses rake in the moolah.
Manufacturing activities in India eased marginally in September but remained in good shape amid companies hiring more workers and cooling price pressures, according to a monthly survey released on Monday. The seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) indicated a strong improvement in the health of the Indian manufacturing industry, as companies stepped up production in tandem with a sustained increase in new work intakes. The PMI at 55.1 in September continued to be in expansion mode for the 15th consecutive month but was slightly lower than 56.2 recorded in August.
Describing the high commodity and food prices a threat to growth and food security in energy dependent emerging economy, the Minister called for collective global action to overcome the crisis.
Soft drinks are a part of the larger consumer non-durables category, which rose five per cent in June, against a 0.5 per cent fall a year earlier, showed official data released on Monday.
Driven by a surge in manufacturing sector, the Index of Industrial Production is estimated to grow at 7.5 per cent in the current fiscal, according to Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy.
If the numbers for the Index of Industrial Production for January 2009 are in fact a precursor to a bottoming out, they suggest the transmission from policy action to economic response is lightning fast. However, the numbers need to be understood in greater detail, and must be interpreted with caution.
Natural gas and fertiliser output recorded a negative growth of 1.7 per cent and 1 per cent, according to the data of the Commerce and Industry Ministry.
Within IIP, the capital goods sub-index has contracted for seven continuous months, suggesting investment demand continues to be weak.
'Small cap funds do have their own merits and they make sense when the investor has a longer investment horizon.'
For the economy to grow by 6.9 per cent in 2011-12, GDP growth for the fourth quarter needs to be 6.9 per cent.
The overall index showed an increase of 2.4 per cent over November 2007, which is not a great performance but apparently different from the 1.4 per cent decline in the previous month. However, the base effect seems to be largely responsible for both numbers.
Inflation data and global trends would be the major driving factors for the equity markets this week which after a record-breaking run took a breather in recent trades, analysts said. The overall market sentiment remains positive, supported by improving economic data and earnings but higher valuations can trigger bouts of profit booking, they said further. During the last week, which the 30-share BSE benchmark rose by 175.12 points or 0.30 per cent.
'The market should maintain optimism on the back of range-bound oil prices, a robust fiscal balance sheet, a better-than-expected monsoon, and moderating inflation.'
Brokerages expect Nifty50 companies to have cumulatively witnessed strong double-digit growth in their earnings in the first quarter of FY24 (Q1FY24). This growth in the combined earnings is expected to have been driven by banks, automakers, and oil & gas companies. Other sectors may report muted profit growth.
Omkeshwar Singh, head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries:
What could be the reason for the successive downward revisions across the board? Some key indicators make it evident, reports Abhishek Waghmare.
The headline for corporate profit growth has been very encouraging in the July-September quarter (Q2) of 2023-24 (FY24), with the combined net profit of listed companies up by 38 per cent year-on-year. However, the earnings distribution has been very lopsided, with most of the growth coming from public-sector oil-marketing companies (OMCs), banks, non-bank lenders, automobile (auto) companies, and cement producers. By comparison, companies from information technology services, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), retail, and consumer durables were disappointed, experiencing a sharp slowdown in net sales growth and a relatively muted increase in reported net profit.
WPI-based inflation falls to 5-month low of 6.16%.
The Index of Industrial Production, which measures the industrial growth, for July is scheduled to be released by the government on Friday.
In terms of industries, 16 out of 23 industry groups in the manufacturing sector have shown positive growth during December 2017 as compared to the same month year ago.
Factory output growth, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production, fell sharply to 1.8 per cent in December 2011, from 8.1 per cent a year ago, mainly on account of contraction in mining, capital goods and poor growth in manufacturing sector.
The surprise decision of OPEC and its allies, including Russia, to cut oil output may cause an immediate rise in prices, delaying revision in fuel prices in India, industry sources said. The grouping of Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, called OPEC+, on Sunday decided to further cut oil output by around 1.16 million barrels. The move led to Brent rising by almost 6 per cent to $84.58 per barrel on Monday.
In October, the general index had declined by 4.2 per cent, while its manufacturing component went down by an even more alarming 7.6 per cent.
The overall market breadth was positive as 1,896 stocks advanced against 902 declining ones, on the BSE.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday described the industrial output in December as encouraging and said it would have a positive bearing on the economic growth figures for the current fiscal.