India's corporate sector, including public sector enterprises (PSEs), continues to go slow on investments and capital expenditure (capex). According to data from Motilal Oswal Financial Services (MOFSL), corporate investments declined for the second consecutive quarter in the April-June period (first quarter, or Q1) of 2023-24 (FY24). After a contraction of 0.5 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in the 2022-23 (FY23) January-March quarter, corporate investments likely fell 6.2 per cent Y-o-Y in Q1FY24, write Nikhil Gupta and Tanisha Ladhaa of MOFSL in their recent report on corporate investments.
Road awards were muted in Q1FY25. But the pace will accelerate with a bidding pipeline of Rs 1.1 trillion (September 2024), mostly dominated by HAM (Hybrid Annuity Model) projects, which contribute 47 per cent and engineering procurement and construction or EPC projects, which have about 36 per cent share. Hence, infrastructure companies mostly reported revenue decline on a year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis in Q1FY25.
The filing of Swiggy's DRHP has led to direct comparisons with Zomato, which is a direct competitor in food delivery and the fast-growing quick-commerce segment where Blinkit (owned by Zomato) faces off against Instamart (and Zepto). In Q-commerce, Flipkart, Amazon, Reliance and Big Basket are all entering the space. All of them have deep pockets, hence competitive intensity will rise going forward.
Merchandise exports to the US jumped 23.5 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to $8.3 billion in June, even as India's overall outbound shipments witnessed contraction during the month, according to the data released by the commerce department on Tuesday. The increase in outbound shipments to the US was largely driven by the rush among exporters to utilise America's pause on its plans to impose country-specific reciprocal tariffs.
Riding on strong June-quarter numbers and positive brokerage outlook, the stock of retail major Trent hit a fresh all-time high on Monday (August 14). The stock has gained 14 per cent in five trading sessions. Continuing the trend of strong revenue growth over the last few quarters, the company posted 53.5 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth in top line to Rs 2,536 crore in the June quarter (first quarter of financial year 2023-24 or Q1FY24).
India's top IT services firms delivered single-digit revenue growth in April-June, capping off a mixed, somewhat-sobering quarter as macroeconomic instability and geopolitical tensions weighed on global tech demand and delayed client decisionmaking. Management commentary painted a mixed picture, caution prevailed, yet industry CEOs also emphasised cost optimisation, vendor consolidation, and opportunities in AI makeovers.
Ola Electric could gain market share in the near term with relatively less disruption expected due to rare earth magnets shortage, according to a report by Goldman Sachs. The company has successfully developed heavy rare earths (HRE) free motors which are scheduled for production deployment in Q3 FY26.
The Indian IT services industry is expected to clock revenue growth in the mid-single digit for the financial year 2024-2025 (FY25), according to a report by Icra for the year.
The sectors that received most of the investment during this period included manufacturing, financial services, business services, computer services, electricity, and other energy sectors.
Better than expected performance in June quarter of the 2023-24 financial year (Q1FY24) and a robust outlook led to 1.2 per cent gain in Titan Company stock on Friday (July 7). The firm reported 20 per cent growth in revenues, aided by double-digit rise in its major consumer segments. Jewellery, its largest segment, accounting for about 90 per cent of its sales, stood out with a growth of 21 per cent over the year ago quarter.
The Nifty IT Index, the gauge for the performance of information technology (IT) stocks, was the worst performer on the stock exchanges on July 29, a day after Infosys posted lower-than-expected earnings growth for the June quarter and sharply cut its revenue growth guidance for 2023-24 (FY24). The IT index was down 4.1 per cent, its biggest one-day fall in three months. The decline was led by Infosys, with its shares plunging nearly 8 per cent, followed by HCLTech (-3.2 per cent), Wipro (-3.0 per cent), and TCS (-2.7 per cent).
Dabur India's stock has fallen over 17 per cent since the start of the Iran war, driven by concerns over a weak monsoon, the West Asian crisis, and rising input costs, which are expected to impact the company's revenues and margins, particularly affecting its significant rural sales and international markets.
India posted a current account surplus of $13.5 billion or 1.3 per cent of GDP in March quarter 2024-25 as compared with $4.6 billion in the year-ago period mainly on account of surge in services exports and higher remittances, according to RBI data released on Friday.
The Indian steel industry is faced with a paradox: Rising demand and falling prices. Demand continues to surge as user industries gather pace, with the World Steel Association projecting around 9 per cent annual growth for India over 2025 and 2026, the year domestic demand is projected to be almost 75 million tonnes (mt) higher than in 2020.
Co-working spaces provider WeWork India is aiming for a revenue growth of over 20 per cent for the coming years, even as its initial public offering (IPO) with only an offer for sale (OFS) component gets valued at Rs 3,000 crore at the top of the price band. The IPO opens on October 3, a newspaper advertisement said.
Fino Payments Bank (Fino) has become the first such entity to get an in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to transition into a small finance bank (SFB).
India's economic growth slowed to a 15-month low of 6.7 per cent in April-June 2024-25, mainly due to poor performance of the agriculture and services sectors, government data showed on Friday. The gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 8.2 per cent in the April-June quarter of 2022-23. India, however, remained the fastest-growing major economy, as China posted a 4.7 per cent growth in April-June 2024.
The pickup was driven partly by fresh corporate investment but more by higher working-capital demand.
Revenue, however, grew just 1 per cent to $15.01 billion in the reporting period, compared to $14.87 billion in Q1, FY'11.
Private sector banks that announced their earnings for the October-December quarter (Q3) of 2024-25 (FY25) reported a rise in credit costs due to higher provisions, mainly for unsecured retail loans.
Car market leader Maruti Udyog Limited is opting for a new name. The board of directors, at its meeting in New Delhi on Thursday, approved a proposal to change the company's name to Maruti Suzuki India Limited.
Its total income, as per Indian GAAP, for Q1FY08 surged 54% to Rs 5,873.52 crore (Rs 58.735 billion) from Rs 3,815.49 crore (Rs 38.154 billion) in Q1FY07.
Stocks of electronics manufacturing services companies have been major outperformers, with four of the top eight listed majors by market capitalisation doubling their value over the past 12 months. The biggest gainer in this space has been the market leader, Dixon Technologies (India), which is up nearly threefold.
India's real estate investment trust (Reit) sector is set for robust expansion, with at least one new Reit expected to enter the market each year over the next three-five years. This growth trajectory builds on rising occupancies, surging leasing activity, and increasing investor interest.
The revenue for Q1 FY21 came in at Rs 23,939 crore, up 15.4 per cent from year-ago period.
Over the past year, the National Stock Exchange Nifty FMCG Index, which tracks the market capitalisation of the top 15 companies in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector, has surged by 17.3 per cent. In contrast, the Nifty50, a broader market index, has witnessed an 8.8 per cent increase during the same period. The FMCG stocks have also been rally leaders in the current calendar year.
The TCS total income for the quarter stood at Rs 5,203 crore, up 25.2 per cent as against Rs 4,225.62 crore (Rs 42.246 billion) in Q1 FY07.
The hospitality industry has around 212,000 rooms, with an industry size of about Rs 82,000 crore. The industry could grow at an annual rate of 10.5 per cent for the next three financial years, despite a quiet Q1FY25. The demand will be driven by domestic travellers, who will contribute roughly 50 per cent of the growth, while foreign tourists will account for 30 per cent.
Lower crude oil costs and higher marketing margins are expected to raise the fortunes of oil marketing companies (OMCs) in the first quarter (Q1) of 2023-24 (FY24), while city gas distribution (CGD) companies could also benefit from lower spot prices of liquefied natural gas (LNG). However, in a break from the past, growth trends are expected to diverge for various segments within the broad energy sector. Analysts expect the earnings from gas production to go down for upstream national oil and gas companies such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India (OIL) due to the introduction of the new domestic gas pricing regime on April 1. After showing steep losses over the first half of 2022-23 (FY23), the marketing margins of OMCs have steadily recovered in four months.
Public sector banks (PSBs) posted 16.1 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth in net profit at Rs 39,974 crore during the June 2024 quarter. While net interest income (NII) showed subdued growth of 7.1 per cent, provisions and contingencies declined by 10.5 per cent Y-o-Y. This aided the bottom line to show steady growth.
However, both developers as well as analysts are hopeful that these business metrics will pick up once activity resumes.
The Indian economy recorded a six-quarter high growth of 8.2 per cent in July-September, as factories churned out more products in anticipation of a consumption boost from the GST rate cut, according to government data.
IT services company HCLTech on Friday posted a 20.4 per cent rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 4,257 crore for the June-ended quarter and gave a revenue growth guidance of 3-5 per cent for FY25 on GenAI diversification and strong operational execution. For the fiscal's first quarter ended June 2024 (Q1 FY25), the revenue came in at Rs 28,057 crore, 6.6 per cent more than in the year-ago period. Seen sequentially, it was 1.6 per cent lower than the March quarter.
The 50 per cent US tariff on Indian goods pose a downside risk to growth but the impact is expected to be short-lived for the economy, and consumption demand could see an uptick after the new goods and service tax (GST) rates are implemented which could even offset the external uncertainty, Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran reckoned on Friday.
The merged entity's deposits grew by 16.2 per cent YoY at Rs 20.63 trillion at the end of the first quarter. Sequentially, the merged entity's advances rose by about 0.7 per cent to Rs 22.30 trillion as of March 31, 2023. However, the pace of deposit mobilisation was higher at 1.2 per cent over Rs 20.39 trillion as of March 31, 2023.
'Due to tariff uncertainty, automotive customers reduced their steel uplift by almost 15 per cent.'
Despite state-owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) reporting an improvement in value of new business (VNB) margin in Q1FY25, analysts believe the growth has not been satisfactory in the context of the insurer's medium-term targets on margins. VNB margin is a measure of profitability of life insurance companies. LIC's VNB margin improved by 20 basis points (bps) to 13.9 per cent in Q1FY25 over the same period last year due to a change in the business mix of the insurer.
India recorded economic growth of 7.8 per cent in the April-June quarter of 2023-24 against 13.1 per cent in the year-ago period, as per the National Statistical Office (NSO) data released on Thursday. India remains the fastest-growing major economy as China's GDP growth in the April-June quarter was 6.3 per cent.
