The Union Budget for 2026-27, presented by Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday, which was a first, had an excellent domestic macro backdrop. According to the first advance estimates, gross domestic product (GDP) in constant prices is projected to grow 7.4 per cent in the current financial year, against 6.5 per cent in 2024-25.
State-run Rural Electrification Corporation on Monday said the Reserve Bank has granted it the infrastructure finance company status which would allow the firm to lend more to power projects.
As RBI governor, Sanjay Malhotra will have to give the highest priority to the interest of the economy while deciding on the growth-inflation trade off at Mint Street.
Between January and August 2025, over 65,000 units of the Bolero were sold, making it the third-highest contributor to Mahindra's overall SUV sales. Bolero annually achieves sales of over 1 lakh units.
Sources said the company was likely to be incorporated with the four government companies holding equity in proportion to their profits, implying that the bigger the profit size, the larger their holding. The combined holding is likely to be in the range of Rs 325 crore (Rs 3.25 billion).
Public sector undertakings Bharat Earth Movers (BEML), Rural Electrification Corporation (REC), Power Grid Corporation of India and National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), are slated to hit the market with their IPOs.
Overcoming resistance from the Left Parties, government on Thursday virtually re-initiated the divestment process by targeting Rs 1500 crore (Rs 15 billion) funds for the National Investment Fund.
Taxpayers need not invest proceeds from sale of property strictly within 180 days from date of sale to get exemption under Section 54EC.
The process of selling stake in other profit-making PSUs is already underway.
Divestment Commission has recommended privatisation of three public sector enterprises, including the Rural Electrification Corporation.
Work on BSNL, MTNL sell-off plans to begin
About 3,500 will get it through off-grid or renewable energy solutions
Two years after the Centre's flagship village electrification scheme Saubhagya concluded with the government claiming 99.9 per cent success, several states have added close to 1.1 million rural households that remain to be connected to the electricity grid. This new list includes earlier unwilling households that have now agreed to have a metered connection and also those built or discovered in the states' surveys since 2019. Assam and Uttar Pradesh are the states that have the majority of such new additions.
French auction was tried for two issues - NTPC Ltd and Rural Electrification Corporation - in 2009-10.
In an attempt to improve the power generation scenario, the government has asked the old power units to undertake modernisation and renovation under the Rs 10,000 crore scheme launched through the two financial institutions.
Public sector major NTPC's follow-on public offer (FPO) managed to scrape through today, but raised questions about the state of the primary markets and the government's disinvestment programme.
Section 54EC bonds give positive returns, despite a lock-in and tax on interest income.
The parliamentary standing committee on energy has asked the government to take result-oriented steps to revatilise the Dabhol power project.
Another FPO, that of NMDC, is also likely to be held by end-this fiscal, the official said.
The primary markets are finally coming back on track, with the initial public offer (IPO) of state-run lender and electricity distributor Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) getting subscribed within 27 minutes of opening.
Shares of public sector enterprises have corrected by up to 22 per cent month-to-date until March 19, 2024. Analysts attribute this steep fall to the valuation exuberance seen after a sharp run in these counters last year and suggest investors remain selective regarding the stocks in this space. "The rally in public sector undertaking (PSU) stocks has been stretched and sharp, although it is somewhat justified by improvements seen in earnings, operations, balance sheets, and overall profitability.
At a time when exchange-traded funds (ETFs) were unloading Jio Financial Services from their portfolios, some active fund managers were placing large bets on the demerged financial services arm of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), a report by Nuvama Alternative & Quantitative Research shows. Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund and Quant Mutual Fund were the top MF buyers of the stock in August. They bought around 60 million shares each, together investing around Rs 2,800 crore.
As many as 58 companies raised money from automatic route and 8 firms raised via approval route.
Market players say the government is likely to attempt, at least, one big-ticket sale this month.
Air India sale will give a boost to India's privatisation drive, the Economic Survey said on Monday, as it suggested redefining the public sector role in business enterprises to encourage private participation in all sectors. The government earlier this month handed over ownership rights in national carrier Air India to Tata Group for Rs 18,000 crore. The amount includes the takeover of the debt burden of Rs 15,300 crore and another Rs 2,700 crore in cash.
The Chinese sub-contractor had been removed following the directives of the ministry of power regarding vulnerabilities in the power supply system and network.
With disinvestment on hold, the power ministry now seeks approval for initial public offers of power companies.
Four public sector power companies plan to mop up Rs 6,500 crore (Rs 65 billion) through initial public offers in the next three months.
A total of 180 NSE-listed companies have not appointed a woman director.
While the corporate sector has benefited from massive capital expenditure, leading to sky-rocketing stock prices, investors would do well to keep an eye on the macroeconomic picture and government finances, not just corporate profits, for signs of trouble, alerts Debashis Basu.
Did Prime Minister Narendra Modi have his facts wrong when he claimed during his address to the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort that Nagla Fatela, a tiny village in Uttar Pradesh, had finally been electrified, seven decades after independence?
And it has to be done in less than 200 days!
Hardening its stand on the issue, the Delhi government has recommended power regulator Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission to revoke the license of Reliance Infra-backed power distribution companies if they fail to pay dues to NTPC and resort to long outages in large parts of the city citing fund crunch.
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