This is also the first stake sale by a state-run company in 17 months after REC went public in February 2008 to raise over Rs 1,600 crore (Rs 16 billion). The issue will open on August 7 and close on August 11. The company would sell 168 crore (1.68 billion) shares comprising of five per cent stake divestment of the government and infusion of 10 per cent fresh equity.
The upstream oil and gas (O&G) sector has delivered a stellar performance in the stock market in the recent past. The O&G sector is dominated by PSUs and despite the imposition of a windfall tax, profitability has been impressive. Oil India Limited (OIL) is particularly favoured by investors.
Over 1.6 million employees working in the estimated 240 central public sector undertakings (PSUs) are likely to receive a 50 to 60 per cent salary increase, possibly with retrospective effect from January 2006. The second PSU pay revision committee, headed by former Supreme Court Justice M Jagannadha Rao, is in advanced stages of finalising its award due April-end and plans to submit its report to the government soon after.
Despite multiple headwinds at the start of 2023, the Indian markets delivered a strong performance, posting 19-20 per cent growth for the year. Even as new records were set, investor sentiment remains strong going into 2024, given the lower inflation, expectations of steady to lower interest rates, higher economic growth, and strong inflows. However, the overriding concern for most brokerages is valuations.
Since March 2020, when the Nifty50 plummeted to 7,511 following the announcement of a nationwide lockdown, the stock market has been on an upward trajectory. Over the next four years, the major market index has delivered a remarkable compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 31.5 per cent. In the past year alone, the Nifty50 has gained by 27 per cent, hitting a succession of record highs.
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The rally followed the govt's plan to bolster state-owned lenders.
The policy was part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat package announced by Sitharaman in May 2020 as a coherent policy where all sectors would be opened for private sector participation.
From the Sensex pack, Larsen & Toubro jumped 4.26 per cent to emerge as the biggest gainer, followed by IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra, State Bank of India, HCL Technologies, Power Grid, NTPC, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank and Wipro. Mahindra & Mahindra, Infosys, UltraTech Cement and Hindustan Unilever were the major laggards.
Analysts seem to be generally pessimistic about Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL). Out of 15 brokerages with recommendations since May this year, two have 'buy' while five have 'sell' and eight have 'underweight'/'reduce'/'underperform'/'hold' recommendations. The average target price of the public sector undertaking (PSU) is Rs 61. However, the stock has been consistently hitting new highs, which indicates that there is some kind of valuation mismatch.
By packaging rates and stabilising costs, insurers expect to cut expenses.
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Subbarao also warned of attrition in PSBs, saying, "PSBs will lose talent to the private sector."
A section of the public sector banking employees will go on two-day all-India strike from Wednesday to protest against financial sector reforms and outsourcing of jobs.
The decision to increase the quantum of capital infusion was taken at a meeting between Finance Minister P Chidambaram, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan and Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram in New Delhi.
'The revenue projection arises out of all sectors doing well and the formalisation of the economy helps in making sure the tax domain gets widened.'
Hemendra Hazari of Karvy Stock Broking believes that government banks will be impacted by rising bond yield because they have a much higher proportion of investments and their durations are higher too.
Bank of India, Canara Bank, Dena Bank, Corporation Bank and Andhra Bank are among the lenders that received capital infusion from the government.
The government's ambitious plan to make Steel Authority of India Limited a mega PSU may hit a roadblock with several smaller PSUs under the Steel Ministry expressing unwillingness to merge with the steel behemoth.
ICICI Bank was the biggest loser in the Sensex pack, slipping 2.81 per cent, followed by Mahindra & Mahindra, State Bank of India, UltraTech Cement, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tata Motors, Bajaj Finserv, Axis Bank and Power Grid. Tech Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, Asian Paints, Hindustan Unilever, Larsen & Toubro and Titan were the gainers.
The finance ministry is considering a proposal by Indian Bank's Association to give post allowance to chairmen and executive directors of public sector banks, a key official said on Tuesday.
NMDC reported a strong standalone revenue at Rs 5,410 crore, rising 45 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) and 35 per cent quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-q) in line with consensus. Iron ore sales at about 11.4 million tonnes (MT) grew 18.9 per cent Y-o-Y (19 per cent Q-o-Q). Realisation stood at Rs 4,679 per tonne, higher by 22 per cent Y-o-Y (12.9 per cent Q-o-Q).
PSU employees will now get an option to subscribe up to 5 per cent of the issue size at a discount after the completion of disinvestment in the concerned state-owned company.
India's largest PSU bank, State Bank of India, delivered excellent results, once the impact of a big jump in employee expenses was adjusted for. The net interest income (NII) beat the Street due to a better net interest margin (NIM) and good loan growth. The credit growth at 5.2 per cent quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q) (15 per cent year on year) was excellent for a large bank.
The re-invention that PSU banks have undergone recently is a great story.
The government on Wednesday decided to allow private sector employees to apply for top management jobs in PSU companies like Indian Oil, NTPC and SAIL.Private sector executives who meet the eligibility criteria for top-level management positions for which the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) conducts selections, will be considered as "non-internal" candidates. Most board-level appointments in PSUs have a five-year tenure.
The rally in PSBs, analysts feel, was more a knee-jerk reaction to the development, and the actual benefits will start to accrue once the addition takes place in 2024. "The actual benefit for banks from the inclusion in JP Morgan's EM Index will accrue from June 2024 onwards. "Until then, the larger fundamentals of the market will dictate the moves. "Once the initial euphoria subsides, bond markets will look to global cues which may trigger fresh selling," said Siddharth Khemka, head of retail research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
In August, the Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das held a meeting with chief executive officers/ managing directors (CEOs/ MDs) of large non-banking financial corporations (NBFCs). The discussions included diversifying borrowing sources for NBFCs and housing finance companies (HFCs) to contain increasing reliance on bank borrowing, risks associated with high credit growth in retail segment in unsecured loans, prioritising IT upgrades and cyber-security, improving provisioning, monitoring of stressed exposures and slippages, ensuring robust liquidity and asset-liability management, ensuring transparency in pricing, creating robust grievance redress mechanisms.
Fundraising through qualified institutional placement (QIP) has revived this year, led by commercial banks, after a lacklustre 2022. According to data compiled by Prime Database, Indian companies have raised Rs 53,070 crore in 2023 so far, of which seven banks - Union Bank of India, Indian Bank, Bank of India, Federal Bank, IDFC First Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, and J&K Bank - account for Rs 21,290 crore, or about 40 per cent. If other financial institutions are included, the figure surges to Rs 26,690 crore.
Reliance Industries Ltd was the biggest wealth creator during the five-year period from 2018 to 2023 while Adani Enterprises Ltd was the top all-round wealth creator, according to a study by Motilal Oswal Financial Services. The study, based on stock market performance of companies, said for the fifth time in succession, Reliance emerged as the largest wealth creator, adding Rs 9,63,800 crore wealth over 2018-23. It was followed by Tata Consultancy Services (Rs 6,77,400 crore wealth addition), ICICI Bank (Rs 4,15,500 crore), Infosys (Rs 3,61,800 crore) and Bharti Airtel (Rs 2,80,800 crore).
The government-run Bharat Earth Movers Limited continues to do business with the United Kingdom-based Tatra Sipox, in spite of the latter facing a criminal case filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation. The PSU sought a fresh lot of Tatra trucks, priced at Rs 59.6 lakh each, in July -- two months after the CBI filed its case against the company.
SBI, PNB, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Dena Bank, Central Bank of India ended down 3%-12% each.
The forthcoming public offers of CIL and SAIL can be a roaring success if the debut history of 28 PSUs since 2003 is any indication, as 94 per cent of these public sector companies listed with a premium of at least 10 per cent on the bourses.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said public sector banks plan to hire 50,000 persons and open 10,000 branches in the current fiscal.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday decided that 10 per cent of the government's stake in Coal India Ltd would be sold. Similarly, the sale of five per cent of its stake in ONGC and 11.4 per cent in the hydropower public-sector unit, NHPC, has been cleared.
The country's largest public sector lender State Bank of India on Monday fixed its benchmark lending rate at 7.5 per cent following a Reserve Bank directive, a move that will end the practice of sub-prime loan to corporates.
A local official confirmed the incidents but said the causes of these suicides were yet to be ascertained.
'The Nifty index looks to be 20 per cent overvalued as per our model after moving up more than 10 per cent in the last two months.'
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