From Hyundai to Tata Motors, automakers are staring at a bleak future. With no succor provided in the Budget, the pain for companies is likely to continue for the next two quarters.
'Given the inherent volatility, investors should take at least a three to five-year view.'
Brokers said the market had its biggest weekly loss this year as Index of Industrial Production falling in March dampened investor sentiment amid worries over weakness in the economy.
We asked colleagues, present and past, to reflect on a man who has made such a difference to their lives and careers. Here it is then, a rich collection of memories that offer enchanting glimpses of the enigmatic Ajit Balakrishnan.
The recent equity market weakness has sobered up investor mood, but the coming festive season is keeping analysts upbeat on stocks related to the consumption basket. Among the lot, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), retail, and consumer electronics segments are expected to do well over the next few months, and investors should thus selectively take bets in these pockets, analysts suggest. "We expect good volume growth for the FMCG sector during the festive season with some improvement in rural demand.
Coal and steel were only two sectors that saw some growth.
The index of six infrastructure industries in January registered a year-on-year growth rate of 8.74 per cent, as against 8.2 per cent in the same month last year.
The supply chain for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies is seeing congestion due to persistently low demand. This has led to an increase in inventory days, with stocks accumulating at distributors and compelling them to extend higher credit periods to retailers. Distributors, Business Standard spoke to, revealed that demand inventory days have more than doubled in some cases, forcing them to offer credit terms as long as 45 days to retailers, as consumer offtake continues to face pressure.
Even as cement companies continue to announce ambitious expansion plans, analysts turn cautious over the sector as incremental supply is expected to coincide with a weak demand growth period, and other headwinds of higher fuel costs, weak monsoons and general elections. In August, JSW Cement said it will take its current 19 million tonnes (MT) capacity to 60 MT in the next five years. The country's top producers have massive expansion plans underway - UltraTech Cement targeting 200 MT, Adani Cement aiming for 140 MT and Dalmia Cement planning for 110-130 MT.
During the month, inflation in vegetables shot up to 35.99 per cent, as against 26.10 per cent in October. Likewise, the prices of cereals and eggs grew at a faster pace of 3.71 per cent.
Advance corporation tax collections grew 8 per cent in H1FY17 against 6 per cent last year. A moderate pick up in advance corporation tax collections suggest the sector might not witness significantly high growth in FY17, says Dilasha Seth.
Industrialists affirm their belief that the adverse effects of demonetisation and the goods and services tax are finally over.
India's demand for petroleum products like petrol and diesel will grow by 7.73 per cent in 2022, the fastest pace in the world, an OPEC report said. India's demand for oil products is projected to rise from 4.77 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2021 to 5.14 million bpd in 2022, OPEC said in its monthly oil report. The growth in demand is the fastest in the world ahead of 1.23 per cent of China, 3.39 per cent of the US and 4.62 per cent of Europe.
The poor performance of capital goods - a bellwether for future growth - has alarmed most analysts
UPL, the country's largest agrochemical company, had a weak July-September quarter (Q2), reporting a sharp fall in revenues across geographies. Overall, the revenues were down 19 per cent on the back of lower agrochemical prices and inventory destocking. While the overall volumes were down 7 per cent, prices fell by 15 per cent. Volume decline in the European market was on the back of high channel inventory and product bans while in India the fall by 27 per cent was on account of muted demand for segments such as cotton and pulses.
Tepid growth in verticals like banking and finance, healthcare, retail and automotive will drag overall IT spends in the current year, reports Debasis Mohapatra.
Categories such as washing machines, refrigerators and television sets have seen sales growth of around 8-10 per cent in August compared to last year, industry sources said, with September also reporting a similar growth trajectory.
While the four largest listed paint companies have seen marginal negative returns, the S&P BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) and the National Stock Exchange Nifty FMCG indices have delivered a solid 16 per cent return during the same period. Initially, volume growth and reduced costs bolstered the sector's sentiment, but brokerages have grown cautious due to increased competitive pressures.
Moody's Investors Service on Friday projected India's growth at zero per cent for the current fiscal and said the negative outlook on sovereign rating reflects increasing risks that GDP growth will remain significantly lower than in the past. The outlook also partly shows weaker policy effectiveness to address economic and institutional issues, it noted in the update to its November 2019 rating forecast.
The weak April-June quarter (first quarter, or Q1) results of the largest listed specialty chemical maker, SRF, and multiple global headwinds for the sector are expected to weigh on the prospects of Indian specialty chemical companies in 2023-24 (FY24). Stocks in the sector (down 7-18 per cent) have underperformed the benchmarks (up over 10 per cent) in the past three months, and given the multiple challenges, the trend is likely to continue. Kotak Institutional Equities expects a very weak quarter (Q1FY24) for the sector due to destocking, demand weakness across certain critical end-use industries, and price erosion amid intense competition from Chinese suppliers.
China's economy grew 6.7 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier.
Investment guru visualises the emergence of a pan-Asian currency on the lines of the euro, though not in the near future.
As many as six of eight core industries saw a contraction in output in October.
It said while Indian IT services companies were the "disruptors" and had created the modern offshoring industry, they are now incumbents, challenged by a host of specialised and niche start-ups that have emerged in the new digital environment.
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.
It has been a difficult year for the world's second-largest economy.
There is a significant amount of dispersion in the growth rates across different industries.
The second wave of COVID-19 may have a more lasting damage on the Indian economy and exports will once again be the foundation for recovery, Moody's Analytics said on Monday. In its report titled 'APAC Economic Outlook: The Delta Roadblock', Moody's Analytics said social distancing is weighing on the current quarter, but economic recovery will resume by the year-end. The Delta variant of COVID-19 is among factors now adversely affecting economies of the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, but the economic hit from the current round of movement restrictions in the region will not be as severe as the recessions in the second quarter of last year.
CEOs have complained that high interest rates have blocked their investment decisions. At the same time, customers are also deferring their purchases for new consumer durables, cars, and homes.
Relax fiscal consolidation, boost public capex and reduce cost of finance, industry tells Centre
To do so, the government will have to tackle a number of broad development challenges successfully, says Shankar Acharya
International Monetary Fund Chief Economist Gita Gopinath tells Indivjal Dhasmana high-frequency indicators for the third quarter of 2021 indicate momentum in economic recovery in India.
Moody's Investors Service on Wednesday affirmed the ratings of two major Indian IT services companies, Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS) and Infosys. In two separate statements, Moody's also retained stable outlook for both the companies. Moody's expects Infosys' revenues to climb by around 13 per cent for the financial year ending March 31, 2023, but moderate to around 8 per cent in the next 2024 fiscal.
The coronavirus outbreak has brought a large part of the world's second-largest economy China to a standstill and its impact has been felt across industries.
Can this growth in GST collection be sustained in the coming years? asks A K Bhattacharya.
Some analysts argue that Beijing has been too cautious in lowering rates and freeing up cash in the banking system, keeping real interest rates too high given low returns on investment.
'From our survey we found that there was a problem in the agricultural sector and drones could solve the problem.'
Despite strong AUM growth, MFs lag behind other popular investment avenues. MFs received only 6 per cent of total household savings in 2021-2022.
Only power generation grew faster in 2014 than in earlier years.
Six decades and more later, we are now captives of our identities. Every poll is based on elaborate calculations of electability of candidates on the basis of their castes and other narrow definers. That, along with voter promiscuity, is what defines our political culture, which remains stubbornly resistant to any change, asserts Shreekant Sambrani.
