The wholesale price-based inflation eased to a 29-month low of 1.34 per cent in March on easing prices of manufactured products and fuel items, even though food articles turned expensive.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday commended Indian financial sector regulators for doing a "world-class job" and bringing greater transparency into the system. Underlining that she is not against questioning or critiquing regulators, Sitharaman said there is a need to be "extremely conscious" about contributions made by them as well. Speaking at the Financial Express Best Banks Awards, the finance minister said, "I strongly recommend that facts are taken on board before we discuss anything to do with the regulators, strictly speaking."
Top gainers in the Sensex pack included ICICI Bank, Infosys, Bajaj Finance and HDFC Bank, rising up to 2.67 per cent.
It is unlikely that the RBI will drop rates until the inflation rate drops below five per cent.
Quarterly earnings of corporates, trading activity of foreign investors and inflation data are the key factors that are expected to drive the momentum in the equity markets this week, analysts said.
Deutsche Bank in India has managed to avoid the bad-loan problems plaguing its rivals such as Standard Chartered Plc.
From the Sensex pack, HCL Technologies, Infosys, Wipro, Bharti Airtel, Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services and Asian Paints were the major gainers. Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, JSW Steel, State Bank of India and Tata Steel were among the major laggards.
Bankers need to take a call on whether they will allow technology firms to run banks or banks themselves will turn into tech firms, says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Tomato prices have been on the boil for more than a month. Data from major cities show that the spike has been between 125 and 150 per cent at the wholesale level. Soaring vegetable prices, including tomatoes, pushed the retail inflation rate to a nine-month high of 5.49 per cent in September, according to government data. Though reports say prices are expected to come down in the next few weeks after supplies improve from Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, how long will the respite last is anybody's guess.
The World Bank on Tuesday projected India's economy to grow at 8.3 per cent in 2021 and 7.5 per cent in 2022, even as its recovery is being hampered by an unprecedented second wave of the COVID-19, the largest outbreak in the world since the beginning of the deadly pandemic. The Washington-based global lender, in its latest issue of Global Economic Prospects released here, noted that in India, an enormous second COVID-19 wave is undermining the sharper-than-expected rebound in activity seen during the second half of Fiscal Year 2020/21, especially in services.
In September, JSW MG Motor India, the newly minted joint venture between SAIC Motor, which is present in 100 countries, and Indian conglomerate JSW Group, launched the Windsor, an electric car that introduced battery as a service (BaaS).
These 10 stocks represent the best mix of value and growth, offering relatively low price-to-earnings and price-to-book ratios, a high return on equity, and sufficiently high potential from current levels.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in its quarterly monetary and macroeconomic review, has expressed concerns on the existing high levels of inflation rate when based on the consumer price index (CPI).
Fall in both WPI and CPI inflation to pressure RBI, say analysts
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Bank stocks have underperformed in the second quarter of FY'14 with the BSE Bankex declining 18 per cent compared to fall of 1 per cent in the BSE 30-stock index, Sensex, during this period.
Spiralling prices pinched the pocket of consumer as edible oil, fuel and many other commodities turned dearer this year amid pandemic-induced disruptions but the inflationary pressure is anticipated to ease, though marginally, in the coming months. As consumers, at retail as well as wholesale levels, are willy-nilly learning to live with the new normal of curbs to contain the spread of coronavirus infections, experts are of the view that elevated inflation is likely to stay longer. After dealing with the devastating blows from the second COVID wave, especially during the April-June period, the economy is well on the revival path but the emergence of Omicron might unsettle the recovery trajectory in the short term.
'In addition, we have geopolitics and politics and all the other things that will affect commodity prices.'
The RBI's rate-setting panel MPC on Monday began its three-day deliberation amid expectations of another round of hike in benchmark interest rates to contain inflation that continues to remain above the central bank's upper tolerance level. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das will announce the decision of the Monetary Policy Committee after deliberations on Wednesday. Das has already indicated that there may another hike in the repo rate, though he refrained from quantifying it.
The WPI number follows retail inflation (CPI) data, which had slipped to a record low of 3.78 per cent in July.
The introduction of more technology platforms has also helped.
The wholesale price-based inflation rose for the second consecutive month in February to 4.17 per cent, as food, fuel and power prices spiked. The WPI inflation was 2.03 per cent in January and 2.26 per cent in February last year. After witnessing months of softening of prices, the food articles in February saw 1.36 per cent inflation. In January it was (-) 2.80 per cent.
For the time being, digital lending remains a grey area, notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Only three of India's 45 commercial banks have cut base lending rates since the Reserve Bank of India's surprise easing this month, hurting the government's drive to lift business investment.
Top losers in the Sensex pack include Bharti Airtel, Infosys, Asian Paints, RIL, Coal India, HDFC Bank, HDFC, TCS, ONGC and M&M, falling up to 3.09 per cent.
India's headline retail inflation is expected to moderate further in the months to come, as low wholesale inflation will transmit to consumer prices, the Ministry of Finance said in its latest monthly economic review (MER) on Monday. "Inflationary pressures eased in February, with slight moderation in Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation and Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation softening to a 25-month low. "With WPI inflation easing, its transmission to CPI inflation is soon expected," the MER for February said.
'I am optimistic about the Budget because of the fiscal discipline the government has committed to.'
'The nominal GDP growth assumption for FY25 may be revised upwards on higher growth expectations.'
After opting for status quo in policy rates, Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan on Tuesday said any more cut will depend on further transmission of previous rate cuts by banks, softening in inflation and progress of monsoon.
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan will announce the monetary policy on April 1 and expectations of a status quo are rising ever since the official data on consumer price inflation for February pointed to a cool down to 8.1 per cent.
Costlier vegetables slowly pushed retail inflation, which had remained well within the Reserve Bank's comfortable level of 4 per cent during most part of 2019, peaked to more than three-year high of 5.54 per cent in November.
'There are occasions when the prices of individual items like food raise inflation; then supply-side measures must be taken.' 'But if there is continued inflation, it means liquidity is aggravating the situation.'
Urjit Patel's reappointment will raise market hopes that Rajan, will also be offered an extension when his tenure ends in September.
India's wholesale prices declined at a faster-than-expected annual rate of 2.33 per cent in March.
Metal stocks fell on Tuesday, with the S&P BSE metal index sliding 2.8 per cent compared to the 0.64 per cent fall in the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex
The Indian economy is likely to post better than anticipated growth in the second quarter (July-September) owing to robust urban consumption and expansion in services, a Business Standard analysis of high-frequency indicators showed. While gross domestic product growth in the September quarter is expected to come below the 7.8 per cent print in the June quarter due to a favourable base fading, analysts say the print will be much closer to 7 per cent than the 6.5 per cent anticipated earlier. While the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had estimated 6.5 per cent growth for July-September, last month Governor Shaktikanta Das said the growth figure would surprise on the upside.
Inflation at 6 per cent was a matter of concern in the evolving macro-economic outlook and the Reserve Bank of India fears that consumer prices could be even higher at 7 to 8 per cent.
Retail inflation jumped to a 15-month high of 7.44 per cent in July as prices of vegetables and other food items spiked, according to official data released on Monday. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation was at 4.87 in June and 6.71 per cent in July 2022. Previously, high inflation was recorded at 7.79 per cent in April 2022.
The RBI refuses to classify a cryptocurrency as an asset since it doesn't have future cash flow and its value is always fluctuating because of speculation. There is also no consumer protection, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay, and hence the e-rupee trial run.
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan wanted to improve training for staff, through initiatives such as sending them to other central banks for short stints.
A Nielsen report found that biscuits, salty snacks, toilet soap, shampoo, washing powder and skin creams were reporting a sharp decline in sales due to demonetisation, reports Viveat Susan Pinto from Mumbai.
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