Leading stock exchange NSE on Tuesday reported a 94 per cent year-on-year surge in consolidated profit after tax to Rs 3,834 crore for three months ended December 2024. It posted a Profit After Tax (PAT) of Rs 1,975 crore in the year-ago period.
Hindustan Unilever Ltd on Friday reported a 1.08 per cent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,508 crore in the third quarter ended December 2023. The company had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 2,481 crore in the same quarter last fiscal, Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) said in a regulatory filing. Its revenue from sales of products was marginally down to Rs 15,259 crore during the quarter.
'As the Budget has taken some measures to spur growth, similar action from the MPC may be expected.'
With revenue growth impacted and uncertainty deepening in major markets, India's second largest IT services firm, Infosys, saw a net reduction in its headcount in the fourth quarter of financial year 2022-23 (Q4FY23). Infosys' workforce saw a net reduction of 3,611 employees, bringing its total headcount to 343,234. This was also the first time in many years that the company did not provide a hiring target for the next fiscal.
Although the third quarter of financial year (2023-2024) FY24 (Q3FY24) was marginally below expectations, Info Edge (India) is witnessing strong investment trends and hitting new highs. The big driver is optimism about a pickup in the jobs market, which benefits Naukri.com and could mean upgrades in Q4FY24 expectations. The JobSpeak Index, which Naukri.com releases on a monthly basis, is showing a "transformative shift".
The early bird results for the January-March quarter of 2022-23 (Q4FY23) show a pick-up in earnings growth, despite a slowdown in revenue growth, thanks to a decline in input costs and lower provisioning for bad loans by banks. The combined net profit of 66 companies that have, so far, declared their quarterly results was up 15.2 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in Q4FY23, an improvement from 4.3 per cent YoY growth in Q3. Net sales growth of these companies, however, slowed down to 11.5 per cent YoY in January-March 2023, the slowest rate in eight quarters.
The country's current account deficit is likely to decline to 1.1-1.2 per cent of the gross domestic product in the third quarter, say rating agencies.
Travellers are keen to explore traditional Indian arts and crafts like Madhubani painting in Bihar, pottery and weaving workshops in Rajasthan, or Kathakali and Kalaripayattu training in Kerala.
The country's largest listed footwear brand by market capitalisation, Metro Brands, posted better than expected December quarter results for the 2022-23 financial year (FY23), riding on store expansion and strong same store sales (SSS) growth. Profitability too remained robust, even as net profit growth was marginally lower. The company, which retails across the Metro, Mochi, Walkway, Crocs and Fitflop formats, posted a 24 per cent growth in revenues over Q3FY22.
India's economic growth accelerated to 8.4 per cent in the third quarter of 2023-24, mainly due to good performance by the manufacturing, mining & quarrying and construction sectors. The Indian economy recorded a growth of 8.4 per cent in the third quarter of this fiscal (October-December 2023), according to data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Thursday.
Gail India has posted a 64 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 635.28 crore (Rs 6.35 billion) for the third quarter ended December 31, 2004 as compared to Rs 386.98 crore (Rs 3.86 billion) for the quarter ended December 31, 2003.
The stock of Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL) fell about 3.7 per cent in trade after its Q3FY24 earnings disappointed brokerages and led to downgrades. Further, the stock, after a 15 per cent run-up over the past month prior to Monday's correction, had already factored in the upside from the business front. Its peer in the consumer space, Marico, too, saw a 4 per cent drop in its stock price.
Public-sector banks (PSBs) in Q3FY23 wrote off bad loans worth Rs 29,000 crore, up from Rs 23,000 crore in the same quarter a year ago, as part of a clean-up exercise. According to estimates by rating agency CARE Ratings, the write-offs by PSBs in April-December 2022, at Rs 81,000 crore, were lower than the Rs 90,000 crore in April-December 2021. Sanjay Agarwal, senior director, CARE Ratings, said a lot of it was driven by regulations, and assets that had 100 per cent provision coverage were written off.
However, the meeting of the company's board of directors, through video conferencing, started at 1.30 pm and ended only at 11.50 pm on Tuesday, according to a filing made to BSE at 12.51 am on Wednesday. In the 2024 December quarter, the airline, which had been facing multiple headwinds, raised Rs 3,000 crore from qualified institutional investors.
Technology start-ups that got listed in the last few quarters reported a hit to their December-quarter (Q3FY22) profitability due to higher marketing and employee costs. While fintech firms Paytm and PB Fintech saw their losses widen by 45 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 778 crore and 55 per cent to Rs 295 crore, respectively, food delivery company Zomato remained in the red despite narrowing its net loss by 81 per cent to Rs 66 crore. Meanwhile, online fashion and beauty products seller Nykaa saw its net profit drop 59 per cent to Rs 28 crore in Q3FY22.
Gold prices could hit the $3500 an ounce (oz) mark in the next 18 months - up around 13 per cent from the current levels - given the global uncertainties and aided by investment demand, said analysts at BofA Securities in a recent note. Uncertainty around Trump Administration trade policies, BofA said, could continue to push the US dollar (USD) lower, further supporting gold prices near-term.
India's top technology companies will witness a tepid revenue expansion in the third quarter (October - December) of the current financial year (Q3FY24) - along expected lines - on the back of furloughs and no blockbuster deals, even as the momentum gained from Generative AI (GenAI) is likely to take centre stage. IT services and consulting firm Accenture's first quarter numbers in FY24 showed a significant pick up in GenAI spending. It signed new bookings to the tune of $450 million in this space, a surge from the $300 million signed in the whole of FY23.
The Nifty IT index rose by 5.14 per cent on Friday (January 12), marking its best performance in a day since July 2020, followed by another 1.9 per cent rally on Monday. With this, the index, which tracks the share prices of India's 10 biggest information technology (IT) services companies, has increased 7.1 per cent in the past two sessions. However, the substantial rally in the index occurred at a time when India's four largest IT companies reported their worst quarterly performance in over five years.
Global trends, macroeconomic announcements and US tariff developments are expected to drive stock markets in a holiday-shortened week, analysts said. Market participants will also closely track foreign investor activity, geopolitical tensions, and their impact on the US dollar and crude oil prices, they added.
The third-quarter financials didn't excite market watchers. But equity investors can still make money if they invest in the right stocks.
The Reserve Bank on Wednesday lowered the inflation projection for the current fiscal to 4 per cent from 4.2 per cent earlier, taking into account good agricultural output and falling crude prices.
Maruti Udyog has posted a net profit of Rs 376.41 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2006 when compared with Rs 339.01 crore in Q3 FY06.
Industry players said IT hiring was not as strong as it was in 2022. One reason is the high bench IT firms have due to earlier hiring.
Foreign investors pulled out Rs 4,285 crore from Indian equities in the first three trading days of the month driven by apprehensions ahead of the third-quarter earnings season and high valuations of domestic stocks. This came following an investment of Rs 15,446 crore in the entire December, data with the depositories showed.
Coal India (CIL) produced 89 million tonnes (MT) in March-24, up 6 per cent year on year (Y-o-Y) and offtake was 69 MT, up 7 per cent Y-o-Y. FY24 production was 774 MT, up 10 per cent Y-o-Y. Offtake was 754 MT, up 9 per cent Y-o-Y. CIL targets production of 838 MT in FY25, up 8 per cent Y-o-Y over FY24.
'We plan to launch new initiatives, including cash flow-based lending, to ensure borrowers are not burdened and can access funds more quickly.'
The change in stance to neutral from accommodative in the June monetary policy meeting does not necessarily signal that the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) rate setting body - monetary policy committee (MPC) - will go on a prolonged pause on rate cuts going forward, believe experts.
State Bank of India (SBI), India's largest lender, reported an impressive 84% jump in its standalone net profit for the December quarter, reaching Rs 16,891 crore. This is a significant increase from the Rs 9,164 crore earned in the same period last year. The bank's total income also grew to Rs 1,28,467 crore in Q3 FY24, compared to Rs 1,18,193 crore in the same period a year ago. SBI's asset quality improved as well, with gross NPAs declining to 2.07% at the end of December from 2.42% a year ago. Net NPAs also eased to 0.53% from 0.64% in the same period last year. On a consolidated basis, SBI Group's net profit rose by 70% to Rs 18,853 crore in Q3 FY24.
The demand for buses largely remained robust in 2023, driven by the increasing need for public mobility and replacement. Ashok Leyland Limited (ALL) recorded a 64 per cent year-on-year increase in sales of medium and heavy commercial vehicle (MHCV) buses during the April-to-December period of 2023 to 11,216 units. Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles (VECV) posted 24.7 per cent sales growth between April and December for light and medium-duty buses, and 36.9 per cent growth for heavy-duty buses.
Reserve Bank on Wednesday cut India's growth forecast to 6.5 per cent from 6.7 per cent estimated earlier for the current financial year on account of impact of global trade and policy uncertainties. Prospects of agriculture sector remain bright on the back of healthy reservoir levels and robust crop production in 2025-26, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said while unveiling the outcome of the first bi-monthly Monetary Policy Committee meeting for the current financial year.
The IT giant see flat pricing on its contracts, despite a quite healthy deal pipeline.
Private sector lender HDFC Bank on Friday reported a 31.64 per cent jump in its net profit at Rs 818.50 crore (Rs 8.18 billion) for the third quarter ended December 2009, over the corresponding period a year earlier.
ICICI Bank on Saturday reported a 42 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 910.08 crore (Rs 9.10 billion) for the third quarter ended December 31, 2006 when compared with Rs 640.08 crore (Rs 6.40 billion) in Q3 FY06.
The government's total liabilities rose to Rs 128.41 lakh crore in December quarter from Rs 125.71 lakh crore in the three months ended September 2021, according to the latest public debt management report. The increase reflects a quarter-on-quarter increase of 2.15 per cent in October-December 2021-22. In absolute terms, the total liabilities, including liabilities under the 'Public Account' of the government, jumped to Rs 1,28,41,996 crore at the end of December 2021.
'However, this process will take some time. Depending on the approval timeline, it may span a few quarters.'
UltraTech Cement's third quarter of financial year 2023-24 (Q3FY24) performance saw a combination of 6 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) volume growth and 8 per cent revenue growth coupled with better realisations per tonne. The earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) stood at Rs 3,250 crore and Ebitda per tonne was Rs 1,191. Profit after tax (PAT) was reported at Rs 1,780 crore. Other income dipped and interest costs rose.
'Every hospital now tracks length of stay closely.' 'More efficiency is brought into the system now.'
Logistics major Delhivery has had promising Q2FY25 results. The Q2FY25 consolidated revenue was Rs 2,190 crore (up 0.8 per cent quarter-on-quarter or Q-o-Q and 12.8 per cent year-on-year or Y-o-Y). Express parcel revenue was Rs 1,300 crore, (up 1.7 per cent Q-o-Q/7.3 per cent Y-o-Y) alongside better yield (+5 per cent Y-o-Y) in the segment.
'Our AI strategy -- AI in Everything, Everything for AI, and AI for Everyone -- is now in action.'