The rupee depreciated further by 13 paise to hit a new life-time closing low of 82.30 against the US dollar on Friday as a firm American currency and risk-averse sentiment among investors weighed on the local unit. Moreover, a negative trend in domestic equities and elevated crude oil prices sapped investor appetite, forex traders said. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened at 82.19, then fell further to 82.43. It finally settled at an all-time low of 82.30 against the American currency, registering a decline of 13 paise over its previous close.
India batted poorly to be all out for 124 in 19.4 overs after Pakistan posted a modest 137 for six.
'It will be best for investors to have a systematic investment plan in mid-cap and small-cap funds with a three-/five-year horizon.'
Real estate developers are sitting on around 7.85 lakh unsold housing units across eight major cities and it will take them 32 months to clear these stocks at current sales velocity, according to PropTiger. However, in Delhi-NCR residential market -- which has been adversely impacted due to defaults of many big builders like Amrapali, Jaypee Infratech and Unitech -- it will take 62 months to sell over 1 lakh unsold housing units. Housing brokerage firm PropTiger.com data showed that unsold housing inventory has increased to 7,85,260 units as on September 30, 2022 from 763,650 unsold units at the end of previous quarter.
'It is clear that economic policy and reform under this administration will always be afterthoughts, something to be carried out only when no other political concern intervenes -- when, in other words, the government feels safe and comfortable enough to take a moderate risk,' argues Mihir S Sharma.
As many as 34 new drugs were added to and 26 dropped from an updated list of essential medicines on Tuesday, with the government saying this will reduce "patients' out-of-pocket expenditure". The National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM 2022) has 384 drugs, up from 376 in 2015. "Drafting this list is a lengthy process, and around 350 experts from across India have held over 140 consultation meetings to draft the NLEM 2022," Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said.
India's current account deficit is expected to deteriorate in the current fiscal on account of costlier imports and tepid merchandise exports, according to the Finance Ministry's monthly economic review. The review released on Thursday by the ministry also said that global headwinds would continue to pose a downside risk to growth as crude oil and edibles, which have driven inflation in India, remain major imported components in the consumption basket. For the present, it said, "their global prices have softened, as fears of recession have dampened prices somewhat. This would weaken inflationary pressures in India and rein in inflation."
Foreign capital flows into the Indian real estate jumped over three-fold to $23.9 billion during 2017-21 period as compared to the previous five years, according to Colliers-FICCI report. In its report 'Foreign investments in Indian real estate turn a corner', property consultant Colliers mentioned that the global investors have shown an increased inclination towards investment in Indian real estate buoyed by regulatory reforms introduced in 2016. "Foreign investors, who had previously refrained from investing in the Indian real estate market due to the lack of transparency, started investing in the country with greater optimism from 2017," Colliers said.
More than 100 million users with 5G-ready smartphones wish to upgrade to a 5G subscription in 2023 while a majority of them are open to adopting a higher data-tiered plan in the next 12 months, a report by Ericsson Consumer Lab has shown. Titled "Promise of 5G in India", the study carried out in the second quarter this year reflects the views of 300 million urban smartphone users. According to the study, consumer 5G readiness remains one of the highest in the world.
In a multi-city protest on Monday, a large number of company secretaries (CS) and chartered accountants (CAs) came together to seek extension of the deadline for annual filing due to glitches in the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) portal. According to the Companies Act, firms are supposed to submit Form AOC 4 for filing of the balance sheet within 30 days of holding the annual general meeting (AGM). This deadline was over on October 29.
The Hyderabad Heist is a blow-by-blow account of an audacious theft committed in 2018, and a recounting of how the Hyderabad Police combined technology and human intelligence to crack the case.
Public sector banks have lost nearly Rs 2.85 lakh crore on account of loan dues of 13 corporates even as the banks are used to bail out ailing financial institutions such as Yes Bank and IL&FS, United Forum of Bank Unions alleged on Monday. In a press release, UFBU's convener B Rambabu said the organisation calls for a two-day all India bank strike on December 16 and 17 protesting against Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill 2021 and opposing the Centre's alleged move to privatise PSBs. According to the statistics given by the UFBU, the 13 corporates' outstanding dues were at Rs 486,800 crore and it was resolved at Rs 161,820 crore resulting in a loss of Rs 284,980 crore.
The Vishnu Purana, notes A K Bhatacharya, ends on a sombre note, but not without offering the hope that those who chant Vishnu's name can still reclaim dharma.
Joginder Tuteja lists what's up on OTT this month.
After a turnaround in performance by Indian equity markets since July that has seen the S&P BSE Sensex and the Nifty50 wipe out the year-to-date losses, analysts suggest investors start nibbling into stocks that are focused on the domestic economy. While they say intermittent corrections, led by policies of global central banks and other economic data, cannot be ruled out, analysts expect India's relative outperformance among global equity markets to continue as it looks better placed with a healthy economic recovery, and remains one of the fastest growing major economies. In this backdrop, Neeraj Chadawar, head of quantitative equity strategy at Axis Securities, believes that amid global slowdown, aggressive tightening by the central banks, and preference for domestic interests first (by the local government), export-oriented themes are likely to be muted or will deliver conservative returns in the near-term.
A strong performance by sectors including banking raised the profits of Indian companies by 28 per cent in the three months ended March 2022. The rate of growth is, however, lower than the 30 per cent seen in December. Growth in net sales was also lower than what was seen in the December quarter for the sample under consideration.
The correction seen in the stock markets thus far is insufficient and there are significant downside risks, given the way macroeconomic data is shaping up, a Nomura equity strategist said on Thursday. "The markets are trying to look through the current stress we see in the macros. There are potential risks to the market. "Our estimates assume no major impact on growth and earnings. "The market should have been at least 5 per cent lower than it is now.
The government expects indirect tax collection to be lower than the Budget Estimate (BE) of Rs 13.38 trillion this fiscal year, despite prospects of netting goods and services tax (GST) in large amounts, Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj has said. "Indirect tax collection may see lower realisation than budgeted on account of cuts in excise and customs duties. "We could see a shortfall of about Rs 1.5 trillion on account of those," he told Business Standard.
Tamil Nadu secured investments worth Rs 1.44 trillion on Monday by signing of memoranda of understanding (MoU) with 60 companies, laying of foundation stones and inauguration of new projects.
Expect heightened volatility and stress to hit the markets. Caution may be the need of the hour, alerts Akash Prakash.
Macroeconomic data, the pace of vaccination and global trends would be the major drivers for the domestic equity markets this week, analysts said. Besides, the progress of monsoon will also be monitored. "This week marks the beginning of the new month also, so participants will be eyeing the high-frequency indicators like auto sales and manufacturing PMI during the week. "Besides, the progress of monsoon will also remain on their radar.
'Investors need to have a fairly diversified basket of funds within equities.' 'We want them to allocate to largecap funds, midcap funds and flexicap schemes.'
'I don't see any major setback for the Indian markets post the US Fed event.'
Indian start-ups breathed a sigh of relief after the UK government facilitated the acquisition of the now-defunct Silicon Valley Bank's (SVB's) British arm by HSBC. In a bid to allay fears, the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FIDC) announced recently that it had transferred all deposits of start-up-focused SVB to a newly created bridge bank and all depositors would have access to their money. President Joe Biden also sought to reassure jittery depositors that they can have confidence that the US banking system is "safe".
He hinted the decision was partly due to losing the ministerial berth and also differences with the state BJP leadership.
'We suggest investors with suitable risk appetite to consider allocating 40-50 per cent in large-caps, 25-30 per cent of funds in quality mid and small-caps and the rest in debt and high yield products.'
India imported goods worth $4.23 billion in June from sanctions-hit Russia, up 6.8 times as compared to last year, as demand for shipments of crude oil grew at the fastest pace during the month. Crude oil worth $3.02 billion was imported in June, which translates into a share of 71 per cent of the total imports from Russia, commerce and industry ministry data showed. Similarly, during the April-June quarter, India's imports from Russia were valued at $9.27 billion, up 369 per cent on year.
India has moved up in rankings from ninth to the fourth spot this year in the tally of top 20 countries affected by spam calls, owing to a significant increase in sales and telemarketing calls, as per a report by Truecaller. This year, all categories of sales-related calls made up a vast majority (93.5 per cent) of all incoming spam calls. Interestingly, over 202 million spam calls were made by just one spammer in India this year between January to October - which is over 6.64 lakh calls every day and 27,000 calls every hour of every day.
Global rating agency S&P on Tuesday said even though the US and the Euro zone are headed to recession, India is unlikely to face the impact given the "not so coupled" nature of its economy with the global economy. "Indian economy is a lot decoupled from the global economy than we normally think of, given its large domestic demand, even though you (India) are a net importer of energy. "But you have enough forex reserves on one hand and your companies have managed to maintain healthy balance sheets," Paul F Gruenwald, S&P global chief economist and managing director, told reporters in Mumbai.
Equity market sentiment this week will be guided by global trends in the absence of any major domestic triggers, while bourses may also see some volatility amid expiry of derivatives contracts, analysts said. Fears of sooner-than-expected tapering in monetary stimulus by the US Federal Reserve, rising cases of the Delta variant of the coronavirus coupled with China's regulatory crackdown triggered selling in global markets in the previous week.
The government should not go in for an 'aggressive fiscal consolidation' in the upcoming Budget as global risks have not abated, RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) Member Ashima Goyal said on Wednesday. Goyal further said subsidies are expected to come down as food and energy inflation moderates. WPI inflation in food articles in November was 1.07 per cent against 8.33 per cent in the previous month.
The benchmark Sensex companies' underlying earnings per share are down 3 per cent (on a cumulative basis) since January 2015, against 25 per cent rise in the index value during the period
While the Opposition is making a belated effort to form a joint front against the BJP, Mamata's ambiguous stand has created confusion, observes Virendra Kapoor.
After three consecutive years of infusing huge funds, foreign portfolio investors retreated from the Indian equity markets in a big way in 2022 with the highest-ever yearly net outflow of nearly Rs 1.21 lakh crore. The huge outflow, which surpasses by a big margin the previous record of Rs 53,000 crore net withdrawal in 2008, came amid aggressive rate hikes by central banks globally but 2023 is expected to be better on positivity about overall macroeconomic trends in India, experts said. Apart from global monetary tightening, volatile crude, rising commodity prices along with Russia and Ukraine conflict led to an exodus of foreign money in 2022.
The Centre is looking to improve disclosures made by public sector undertakings (PSUs), and has asked such companies to share monthly progress made on capital expenditure targets and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives undertaken by them. New details such as gender-wise reporting of contractual workers, unused land, and profit share in joint venture companies have also been added in the list of disclosures. The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), which publishes the Public Enterprises Survey and collects information for Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) signed with PSUs, is looking to integrate data collected from government-owned companies.
The Centre's capital expenditure (capex) outlay for the April-June quarter (first quarter, or Q1) of 2022-23 (FY23) could be close to Rs 1.5 trillion, Business Standard has learnt. As a percentage of full-year capex Budget Estimates (BE) of Rs 7.5 trillion, this could be at similar levels to the trends in the past few fiscal years. It is in the July-September quarter (Q2) of FY23 that capex is expected to pick up, when a bulk of the long-term capex loans to states are expected to be expended.
'Career paths are no longer linear as professionals look to build a more holistic career portfolio that is true to their professional and financial goals.'
In August, domestic equity markets garnered one of the highest foreign portfolio investor (FPI) flows since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, despite the US Federal Reserve standing firm on unwinding its stimulus measures to control inflation. FPIs pumped in over Rs 51,000 crore ($6.4 billion) in August, the most since December 2020 and the third-highest tally since March 2020-the month the Covid-19 pandemic roiled global markets. This was the second consecutive month of positive foreign flows. In the preceding nine months, FPIs had yanked out over $32 billion or Rs 2.2 trillion.
Hindustan Zinc (HZL), a subsidiary of Vedanta, announced an interim dividend of Rs 21 per share last week, resulting in an outflow of Rs 8,863 crore. The announcement has turned the spotlight on India Inc's dividend-paying policy - more so for reasons driving the generosity of firms. An analysis of BSE 500 companies by Business Standard Research Bureau shows that some of the top 20 dividend-paying companies in 2021-22 (FY22) include Vedanta, Tata Consultancy Services, HZL, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Indian Oil Corporation (IndianOil), Hindustan Unilever (HUL), Reliance Industries (RIL), and Bajaj Auto, among others.
India Inc is not in the dark about moonlighting employees. According to a forensic accountant, companies can easily turn to experts and deploy digital tools that can be used to check if an employee is doing a second job or not - reaffirming fears of many who are wary of the practice in the context of the recent sacking of moonlighters by IT major Wipro. Arpinder Singh, global markets and India leader, forensic and integrity services, EY, said that EY had been involved with several companies to gauge moonlighting.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances