Institutional shareholders of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) are expecting big-ticket announcements from the company, including timeline for listing of its telecom and retail subsidiaries. They expect this to unlock value in the company, which has seen a sharp fall in market valuation on Friday. This is due to windfall tax imposed by the Centre on refiners and oil producers.
West Asian carriers are up against Air India and IndiGo in the battle for seats on lucrative international routes.
A depreciating rupee, which briefly hit 80 to the dollar on Tuesday, may boost India's exports but price-inelastic imports of crude oil and gold would mean limited relief on the trade deficit, which clocked a record $26.2 billion in June. Due to global risk aversion on the back of geo-political tensions and aggressive policy tightening by the Fed, the dollar has appreciated against most currencies, including the rupee. And, with other currencies depreciating, India's comparative advantage in this respect may be limited.
Jiomart B2B is the latest among organised supply-chain companies to bite the bullet, shutting down its warehouses, and asking its employees to leave. Why are companies finding it difficult to sustain the supply-chain business? Experts point out that gross margins in supplying fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) are very low.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
Equity benchmarks continued their winning momentum for the third day on Thursday and jumped over 1.50 per cent, tracking an overall bullish trend in Asian equities. On the political front, the BJP headed for a second straight win in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh and dominated the trends chart in three other states. The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex opened in the green and further zoomed 1,595.14 points or 2.91 per cent to 56,242.47 during early trade.
Here are the key decisions announced by the Reserve Bank of India on Thursday.
No capital came in through the approval route, while the rest of $9,86,681 was by way of issuance of rupee denominated bonds.
'Every single Indian dish is a jewel.'
The affidavit came in response to the government moving the Delhi high court seeking to block Reliance selling 20 per cent stake in its oil and chemical business to Saudi Aramco for $15 billion, in view of pending dues of $3.5 billion in Panna-Mukta and Tapti oil and gas fields. Countering the charges, RIL said it was a 'falsehood' and the petition is an abuse of process.
For simplification and a sharper strategic focus, BHP Billiton has been reassessing its global assets portfolio.
France's TotalEnergies has put on hold a planned investment in Adani Group's $50 billion hydrogen project pending results of an audit launched following allegations by a US short-seller, chief executive Patrick Pouyann said on Wednesday. While the partnership where the French oil giant was to take a 25 per cent stake in the hydrogen venture of the Adani group was announced in June last year, TotalEnergies has not yet signed a contract, he said at an earnings call. "Obviously, the hydrogen project will be put on hold until we have clarity" from Adani group on the allegation levelled by US short-seller Hindenburg Research, Pouyanne said.
The only fuel that showed growth was LPG as the government dole of free cooking gas cylinders to poor households fired up consumption by 21 per cent during April 1 to 15.
Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty halted their five-day rally on Tuesday and settled deep in the red, mirroring weak global markets, with decline in index heavyweights Reliance Industries, Infosys and HDFC Bank. Despite opening with gains of over 200 points, the 30-share Sensex turned highly volatile and tumbled 709.17 points or 1.26 per cent to close at 55,776.85. During the day, the benchmark index plunged 1,067.07 points or 1.88 per cent to 55,418.95. The broader NSE Nifty also declined 208.30 points or 1.23 per cent to close at 16,663.
ONGC will continue as the operator of the deepwater block, KG-DWN-2004/6 with a 34 per cent participating interest in consortium with existing partners GAIL (India) Limited, Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Limited, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited and Oil India Limited.
Our political history tells us this has never worked. A united Opposition does work in some specific, limited situations, especially in the states. But never as some brilliant pan-national collection of diverse interests with no ideological or political core, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
A host of factors including the reform measures taken by the government and decline in global oil and commodity prices have led to lower inflation, the Finance Ministry said on Wednesday.
A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam sought response from the Centre and RIL on a PIL filed by Communist Party of India Member of Parliament Gurudas Dasgupta who alleged that no due diligence was done by the government while increasing the price of natural gas.
'The recent correction in indices has made the markets cheaper to invest for the long term.'
Overseas investors have pulled out a net Rs 1,14,855.97 crore from the Indian markets in the current year so far, amid heightened geopolitical tensions and inflation concerns. Foreign portfolio investors have sold domestic equities worth Rs 48,261.65 crore so far this month, taking the year-to-date tally this year to a massive Rs 114,855.97 crore, according to depositories data. The exodus of foreign investors was largely owing to inflationary pressures and deepening global macroeconomic conditions following the Russia-Ukraine war, experts said.
Sentiments turned buoyant after RBI on Monday cut the marginal standing facility rate, at which it lends emergency funds to banks, by 0.5 per cent to 9 per cent with an aim to improve liquidity and boost economic activities.
We are serious about setting up a bank and use the parent branding that is a household name in India, says Venugopal Dhoot.
The combined market-cap of all listed Adani group firms has plunged nearly Rs 7.11 trillion since January 24 when the Hindenburg report was made public.
Trump has repeatedly blamed countries like India and China for not doing enough on climate change, labelling them as regions with air that is impossible to breathe.
India's negotiating posture at the multilateral negotiations should be aligned with a significantly transformed development strategy domestically.' 'The positions the country takes at the negotiations will then carry credibility, says Shyam Saran, former foreign secretary and India's chief negotiator on Climate Change 2007-2010.
The government shouldn't hide behind the veil of making a domestic giant out of the HPC-ONGC deal, rather it should just say it needs cash from this divestment exercise, says Sudhir Bisht.
Swaraj expressed satisfaction over the agenda of the inaugural dialogue while giving the details of the deliberations.
Fitch Ratings on Monday said uncertainty over the bidder consortiums and process complexity, including valuation, may lead to potential delays in privatisation of India's second-largest fuel retailer, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL). Affirming BPCL's rating at 'BBB-' with a negative outlook, Fitch said it continues to treat the potential divestment of the company by the Indian government as an event risk. "Bidders are conducting due diligence, but uncertainty over the bidder consortiums and process complexity, including valuation, may lead to potential delays.
Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty rebounded to close over 1 per cent higher on Thursday, propelled by buying in index majors Reliance Industries, HUL and Infosys along with an overall positive trend in global markets. The 30-share BSE benchmark jumped 701.67 points or 1.23 per cent to end at 57,521.06. During the day, it zoomed 971.46 points or 1.70 per cent to 57,790.85 on the expiry of derivatives contracts. The NSE Nifty rallied 206.65 points or 1.21 per cent to 17,245.05.
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."
No lives were lost after cyclone Biparjoy made landfall. Preparations for Biparjoy were not only extensive, they were also telecast far and wide. Ahead of the cyclone's landfall, Shyam G Menon observes there was considerable publicity on how much the government was geared up to face the storm and its aftermath.
From the 30-share pack, Sun Pharma, TCS, Tech Mahindra, NTPC, Wipro, UltraTech Cement, Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Infosys were the major gainers, jumping up to 3.99 per cent. In contrast, Tata Steel, Nestle, Titan Company, PowerGrid, Reliance Industries Limited and State Bank of India were among the laggards.
Among PSBs, the top gainers have been Union Bank of India and Corporation Bank, whose shares have rallied more than 15% each. Indian Bank and Bank of Baroda, too, registered double-digit rise
'Rising Covid cases and localised lockdowns are being closely monitored.'
'Banks will continue to increase FD rates to attract more deposits and meet the increasing demand for credit.'
India's widening current account deficit (CAD), driven by the massive spike in commodity prices led by crude oil, is set to put pressure on the fragile recovery, warns a brokerage report that has revised upwards its CAD forecast to $45 billion or 1.4 per cent of GDP by March. According to a report by British brokerage Barclays, the worries arise from the fact that the trade deficit has been jumping continuously since July. From an average monthly trade deficit of $12 billion till June, it has jumped to $16.8 billion in July-October, with September showing the highest-ever trade deficit on record at $22.6 billion, the report said.
'And Joshimath has already shown the dangers ahead.' 'We have to acknowledge that our mountains are still young babies.' 'You don't put an extra load on the back of a growing child!'
Telecom monolith Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is the top profit-making public sector unit, while steel giant Steel Authority of India Limited had the dubious distinction of topping the list of loss making state-owned enterprises.
'When you need to revive the economy, when you need to revive aggregate demand, you cut taxes.' 'But what's this government doing?' 'It's increasing taxes for the middle class and the vast majority of the poor on fuel, which has a ratchet effect on most other products.'
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.