Expect heightened volatility and stress to hit the markets. Caution may be the need of the hour, alerts Akash Prakash.
The average time lag between the date of occurrence of a fraud and its detection is 23 months; for large frauds (Rs 100 crore and above), it was 57 months.
The government may provide for targeted fiscal incentives and allocation of funds for promotion of green hydrogen in the country in Union Budget 2022-23, which is slated to be unveiled in Parliament on Tuesday. The government launched National Hydrogen Mission in 2021. Earlier this month, Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh had indicated that a green hydrogen policy will be unveiled in February which would feature many incentives to boost green hydrogen in the country. "While 2021 saw the launch of National Hydrogen Mission, it is likely that the Budget may provide for targeted fiscal incentives for R&D in green hydrogen segment, creation of domestic supply chain for hydrogen and reduce customs duties on electrolysers to boost green hydrogen production," says Venkatesh Raman Prasad, Partner, J Sagar Associates (JSA).
Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty ended on a mixed note on Wednesday as the euphoria about the Budget fizzled out, with investors going for profit-taking ahead of the Fed interest rate decision. The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex climbed 158.18 points or 0.27 per cent to settle at 59,708.08 after it trimmed most of the intra-day gains. During the day, it had zoomed 1,223.54 points or 2 per cent to 60,773.44.
India's manufacturing sector activities witnessed faster growth in April amid quicker increases in production as well as factory orders, and renewed expansion in international sales, a monthly survey said on Monday. The seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose from 54.0 in March to 54.7 in April, as a retreat of COVID-19 restrictions continued to support demand. The April PMI data pointed to an improvement in overall operating conditions for the tenth straight month. In PMI parlance, a print above 50 means expansion, while a score below 50 denotes contraction.
Corporate India continues to be generous in rewarding its shareholders with big dividend payouts. This is especially true for shareholders of companies such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Hindustan Zinc (HZL), and Coal India (CIL) which are seen as cash cows of large business groups and the government. Boosted by a big payout by these three companies, the combined equity dividend payout by listed companies was up 38 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to a record high of Rs 2.27 trillion in 2022-23 (FY23), compared with Rs 1.65 trillion in 2021-22 (FY22).
The 30-share Sensex ended 50 points lower at 28,112 and the 50-share Nifty declined 12 points to close at 8,531.
Following are the highlights of the RBI's first monetary policy statement of 2022-23 unveiled by Governor Shaktikanta Das: Policy repo rate unchanged at 4%; marginal standing facility rate & bank rate too remain unchanged at 4.25%. Monetary stance to be accommodative with focus on withdrawal of accommodation to keep inflation within target. GDP growth projection for FY'23 slashed to 7.2% from 7.8%; growth projections based on assumption of crude oil (Indian basket) price at $100 a barrel during FY'23. Inflation forecast hiked to 5.7% for FY'23 from 4.5%.
'As our per capita income increases and various demographic segments emerge, the need for various kinds of protection and risk covers will become even more explicit.'
After lagging behind other segments in the automotive (auto) space over the past few years, two-wheelers are expected to reverse their volume underperformance. After witnessing a 36.3 per cent volume decline over the 2018-19 (FY19) through 2021-22 (FY22) periods, the sector staged a recovery in 2022-23 (FY23), with volumes rising 17 per cent. While volumes are still a quarter lower than the FY19 peak of 21 million units, a double-digit growth trajectory is expected to prolong.
To ramp up domestic battery manufacturing capacity and reduce the dependence on imports, the government has initiated talks with a few lithium-rich countries to supply the mineral to Indian companies, industry sources informed Business Standard. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) held a meeting with the ambassadors of countries, including Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia, among others, to put forth its request.
The Adani group will have understood the fragility of investor trust in the group. The group needs to improve transparency including in areas like share-ownership (which they have long and mistakenly believed can be side-stepped) and related-party transactions, among others, Amit Tandon and Hetal Dalal point out.
'There are many things we need to work on.' 'At the heart of it is, one, the extent of inequality, which is not good for democracy and nation; two, a structural decline on how a country ought to function, how people should be held accountable, whose role is what.'
India has a huge untapped population which doesn't have facilities for financial aid and insurance, and it is perhaps plausible to look at the option of having niche players catering to smaller sectors akin to non-banks and microfinance institutions in lending, said Rakesh Joshi, member (Finance & Investment), Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai). Speaking at the Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit, Joshi said, "Today, most of our insurance companies operate at a national level. There is arguably a case for having differentiated operations, which cater to niche sectors the same way we have non-banking financial companies (NBFC) and microfinance institutions in lending." "The capital requirement for niche players may not be as large as those having national ambitions. "Enabling these niche players, which require lower capital, will enhance the penetration in areas which hitherto had not seen traction from large players," he said.
'The aim is also to probe how the ministry and testing agencies made negligence in examining these OEMs, so that such negligence is avoided in the future.'
Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra faces the likes of reigning World champion Anderson Peters of Grenada and Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic in a star-studded field in Doha.
Six states out of 22 major states and Union Territories (UTs) generated fewer formal jobs for the youth in the September quarter than they did in the corresponding quarter a year ago, a Business Standard analysis of the data released by the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) shows. States like Punjab (-12.4 per cent), Himachal Pradesh (-10.3 per cent), Jharkhand (- 7.2 per cent), Assam (-3.7 per cent), Gujarat (-3.4 per cent) and Rajasthan (-.1.1 per cent) saw further decline in the number of net new subscribers in the second quarter (Q2) of FY23 compared to the last year. The analysis did not include northeastern states, except for Assam. This is crucial as the subscribers in the 18-28 age group are seen as first-timers in the labour market, thus reflecting the robustness of the job market.
Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) - the market leader in small cars - is eyeing the top spot in the sports utility vehicle (SUV) segment within a year - with a 33 per cent share of the pie. The company has been selling two SUVs - the Brezza and the Grand Vitara - and will start deliveries of the Jimny and the Fronx from March-end, and has set a target of growing its share from the current 11.5 per cent of the SUV market to 33 per cent by the end of 2023-24. The SUV segment is roughly about 42 per cent of the total passenger vehicle market, or around 1.3 million units.
In a bid to pitch India as an uplinking hub, the government on Tuesday announced relaxation in guidelines for compliance for television channels and also made a 30-minute daily public interest broadcast mandatory, mainly for entertainment channels.
Provisions in the Central GST Act say reduction in GST rates or the benefit of ITC must be passed on to consumers.
Maruti Suzuki India will increase the prices of its vehicles 'substantially' from next month as it looks to offset the impact of rising input costs and make provisions to update the model range to conform to stricter emission norms which kick in from April 2023. In a regulatory filing on Friday, the country's largest carmaker said it continues to witness increased cost pressure driven by overall inflation and recent regulatory requirements. While the automaker makes maximum effort to reduce cost and partially offset the increase, it has become imperative to pass on some of the impact through a price increase, it added.
'It's an open secret that the UK business is structurally not in a great place.'
The Bombay high court on Wednesday permitted Johnson & Johnson to manufacture, sell and distribute its baby powder and quashed three orders of the Maharashtra government revoking the company's license and asking it to stop the product manufacture and sale, terming them as "stringent, unreasonable and unfair". A division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and S G Dige also came down heavily on the state Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its delay in carrying out tests on a sample of the company's baby powder seized in December 2018. The bench noted that while maintaining standards of quality and safety are of utmost importance for cosmetic products, at the same time it does not seem reasonable to shut down the whole manufacturing process when there is a slight deviation in one of the products.
Allowing 12-hour shifts for all and night-time work for women was meant to benefit software firms, but is said to have clinched Foxconn's Rs 80 billion investment.
We'll need to wait a couple of years to see how many restructured loans turn bad and whether some banks fall victim to their obsession for growth, explains Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Known as the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll for her blistering performances and powerfully gritty vocals, Tina Turner died on May 24 after a long illness. She was 83.
If you have seen Zwigato, Param Kumar's story will sound familiar. Laid off from his job as a repairman at a Gurugram-based water purifier provider, he now delivers groceries and food for a mobile-based delivery app, in Delhi. Kumar, who started making deliveries last August, told Business Standard that he is working longer hours than his older salaried job as an RO repairman, and has no paid leaves or health insurance. Kumar is part of India's estimated 7.7 million-strong force of gig workers.
Shares of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) hit a new high of Rs 4,512 after surging 8 per cent on the BSE in Wednesday's intra-day trade, on the back of heavy volumes, ahead of 1:5 stock split. The trading volumes on the counter more-than-doubled today, with a combined 7.02 million equity shares having changed hands on the NSE and BSE till 11:19 am. In the past one week, the stock of the state-owned travel support services company has rallied 20 per cent after the company on September 29, 2021, said that it has fixed October 29, 2021 as the record date, to ascertain the name of shareholders entitled for subdivision/split of equity shares of Rs 10 each into five (5) equity shares of face value of Rs 2 each.
Indian women cricketers took to social media to laud the Board of Control for Cricket in India for introducing equal match fees for both men's and women's cricketers in a huge step to introduce pay equity in the sport.
The rupee had retreated from three-week high and ended six paise down at 60.67 against the dollar on demand from importers for the US currency in Thursday's trade.
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'Is it because they perceive India as a soft state?'
'The biggest risk to the Indian markets from a 12-18-month view is that the current government does not get re-elected, or loses in a way that is not represented at all in the next central government.'
'If a taxpayer opts for the new tax regime once, he can only switch back to the old tax regime once in his lifetime.'
Both are finding it difficult to sell one each of their plants -- Chennai Maraimalai Nagar (Ford) and Talegaon near Pune (GM) -- and are finding the road blocked by employee severance snarl-ups, report Sohini Das and Shine Jacob.
Reliance Industries (RIL) was the top-performing index stock on Friday (May 26) and closed the day with gains of 2.8 per cent, against a 1 per cent rise in the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex during the day. RIL's performance on the bourses on Friday was, however, an exception, and the stock has struggled to beat the broader market for nearly two years now. The company's share price is currently at the same level as in September 2021, while the benchmark index is up 6 per cent in the period.
'These companies hired in high numbers last year and are balancing that out this year by recruiting fewer freshers.'
Several changes were made to the new income-tax regime in Budget 2023. The old income-tax regime was not tinkered with and is still available.
The rupee hit a near 10-month high as an alliance led by pro-reform and business friendly Hindu nationalist Narendra was on course for an absolute majority.
Global rating agency Standard & Poor's today said 2014 will continue to be a challenging year for the asset quality and profitability of the country's banks as the economy is expected to make a tepid recovery.
