Indian society may be more advanced than we think it is, notes Ajit Balakrishnan.
The banking regulator was uncomfortable with the runaway pace at which consumer credit was growing.
Backed by their strong physical presence across the country, UTI Mutual Fund and SBI Mutual Fund (MF) have managed to mobilise a higher proportion of their total assets under management (AUM) from towns and villages than their peers. Data compiled by Nuvama Institutional Equities shows that UTI MF and SBI MF are the only two major fund houses with over a fifth of their AUM coming from areas beyond the top 30 cities (referred to as B-30). UTI MF tops the chart with 23.8 per cent of its assets belonging to B-30 centres, followed by SBI MF with 21.2 per cent B-30 assets. The industry average stands at 17 per cent.
The combined net profit of "early bird" companies, those that have declared their quarterly results, rose for the third consecutive quarter in July-September 2023 (Q2FY24). But the figures suggest a continued slowdown in revenue growth and stagnation in earnings over recent quarters. This slowdown is severe for companies in the manufacturing and non-financial service sectors.
Invest in quality companies that make profits, advises stock market expert and rediffGURU Samraat Jadhav.
Stocks of public sector undertakings (PSUs) have been on fire in the past year as investors cheered an improvement in key operating metrics and embraced counters of these state-owned enterprises, analysts suggest. The S&P BSE PSU Index has gained over 90 per cent in the past year, rising much higher than the S&P BSE Sensex, which has rose nearly 19 per cent during this period, according to ACE Equity data. The BSE PSU Index, reports show, has delivered a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28 per cent (including dividends reinvestments) over five years and risen by almost 60 per cent in the past year.
The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad has topped the overall rankings this year.
'The risk is in not being invested and missing out on an upmove.'
Within six months, outlets carrying Vicks jumped from 60,000 pharmacies to 750,000 general stores. The trade boycott collapsed. Consumers were happy, finding Vicks now at every street corner. A fascinating excerpt from Gurcharan Das's Another Sort of Freedom.
Battered by the Covid-19 pandemic, the maker of the Fortuner and Innova models is staring at a steep loss in the ongoing financial year.
The ever-astute Ravi Matthai, Director of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad in 1971, offered me a basic salary of Rs 1,000 per month on my return from the United States. I doubt if IIMA could hire a faculty member at Rs 55,000 per month today! points out Dr Shreekant Sambrani.
'The assessment of most people is that there is a stable economic and political environment in India and that is attractive to investors.'
Health issues, divorce, court battles, moral turpitude, and more can all distract the CEO and impinge on a company's performance. So, how much of their private life should a company disclose? asks Amit Tandon.
The share of low-cost money in total deposits continued to take a knock at the close of FY23 as banks engaged in intense competition by offering higher interest rates on term money to garner funds amid tight liquidity conditions. The share of current accounts and saving accounts (CASA) in total deposits declined by 2-4 per cent by end of March 2023 from March 2022 figure, according to BSE filings by private banks. The ease of movement of funds on digital platforms and the deployment of money by businesses from current accounts also played a role in dwindling the share of CASA money.
What do we need more of: Leaders who dominate global institutions or local leaders with a 'Make-in- India' mindset?
'If individual stocks start falling 25% to 30% or more, then I doubt how many of them will be able to withstand that (kind of selloff). That is when you'll see panic coming in.'
Even as the slowdown in the information technology (IT) services sector deepens, banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), as well as oil and gas companies, emerge as the primary drivers of corporate earnings in the country. The IT services sector's share in corporate earnings declined to a five-year low of 17.4 per cent in the second quarter (Q2) of 2023-24 (FY24), whereas banks and finance companies accounted for 46.5 per cent, and oil and gas firms contributed 16.8 per cent. At their peak, IT services firms like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, HCLTech, and Wipro represented just over a third of the combined net profit of all listed companies in the Business Standard sample.
Over 85 per cent of SIP AUM, or Rs 5.8 trillion, is in equity schemes, compared to just Rs 6,100 crore in debt.
In the face of tax blow, brokerages remain sanguine about the prospects of asset management companies (AMCs). A sharp correction in the shares of AMCs over the past three months factors in most of the negatives and turned valuations attractive, observe analysts. In its latest report, Kotak Institutional Equities (KIE) has upgraded HDFC AMC to 'add' (from 'reduce') and reprised 'add' and 'buy' ratings on the rest of the listed AMCs - Nippon, UTI, and Aditya Birla Sun Life.
Having successfully executed the merger with parent HDFC, HDFC Bank's managing director and chief executive Sashidhar Jagdishan on Saturday said the country's largest lender aims to double every four years. In a letter to the over 4,000 employees from HDFC who joined the bank's rolls on Saturday, Jagdishan said the future is bright, and the work on realising the potential of the merger starts now. "The runway for financial services and mortgage, which are so underserved and under penetrated, is going to be very large. HDFC Bank - the combined entity - with a large and growing distribution and customer franchise, more than adequate capital, healthy asset quality and profitability, will be best positioned to capture growth.
The steady inflows from systematic investment plans (SIPs) into mutual funds (MFs), coupled with outflows from debt schemes, has propelled the share of SIPs in the total assets being managed by the industry to a new high of 17.1 per cent in February. SIPs are used predominantly by retail investors. Nearly seven of every 10 SIP accounts are in equity-oriented active MF schemes.
Investors are pushing back more often against companies' resolutions on what is paid out to top executives. In the first four months of financial year 2022-23 (FY23), there have already been five such rejections, according to shareholder voting data from tracker Adrian, a platform maintained by the proxy advisory firm Institutional Investor Advisory Services India (IiAS). Two of these have been at multiplex chain PVR and direct-to-home company Dish TV India.
The next annual budget of India will have to be very carefully structured to sustain the country's growth momentum, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday, noting that it will also address inflation concerns. Visiting Washington DC to attend the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, the finance minister was responding to a question on the next year's Budget at a fire-side chat with eminent economist Eshwar Prasad at the prestigious Brookings Institute. "Specifics (of the next Budget) may be difficult at this stage because it's a bit too early. "But broadly, the growth priorities will be kept absolutely on the top. "Even as I speak about the concerns that inflation brings before me. So, inflation concerns will have to be addressed. "But then how would you manage growth would be the natural question," Sitharaman said.
Nirma's tryst with the pharmaceutical space started in 2006 when it acquired the ailing Core Healthcare in a deal reported to be worth Rs 300 crore. The Ahmedabad-based manufacturer of intravenous fluids was subsequently renamed Nirlife. Pharma industry insiders say Nirma, which broke open the detergent market in the 1990s with low prices and massive advertising, tried an encore of the low-price strategy in pharma, but with mixed results.
'Considering Pai is putting his own personal money in Byju's, stakeholders in the company can look forward to more governance and transparency.'
RediffGURU Mihir Tanna broadly lists the ITRs to be filled by individuals having income from salary, house property, capital gain, business and other sources.
'This action sends out a very nasty message in a very strong way -- that nobody is exempt.' 'It is also an attempt to extend the definition of who is an anti-national, who's a terrorist, a definition that's becoming looser under this regime.' 'The sad part is that by the time the courts acquit those arrested, they would've spent years in jail and been taught a lesson.'
Displaying 'ARMY' on private transport is an attempt to milk the respect and reverence that the common citizen has for a person in the armed forces, observes Colonel K Thammayya Udupa (retd). By writing 'ARMY' and displaying regimental insignias, we expect a few misdemeanours to be overlooked.
After a sharp outperformance in the mid-and small-cap segments in the first half of calendar year 2023 (H1-CY23), analysts are now turning cautious on these two market segments and suggest investors stay selective and look for valuation comfort and earnings visibility before investing. The S&P BSE Midcap index has surged 13.7 per cent in H1-CY23, and the S&P BSE Small-cap index gained 12.7 per cent during this period, data shows. The S&P BSE Sensex, in comparison, has moved up 6.4 per cent.
Your awareness about the effect of the home loan tenure and EMI on your loan empowers you to take better decisions, explains Gaurav Mohta.
An aggressive rate hike by the US Fed and the possibility of a recession can trigger a slide in these stocks, which will be a good opportunity to buy from a long-term perspective.
'When there was no crime committed, everything had to be fabricated. They see it as a war, and everything is fair in love and war.'
Corporate India is indicating cautious hiring in the March quarter of 2023 as concerns rise over possible recession and steady inflation, a survey said on Thursday. According to the ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey, based on interviews with nearly 3,030 public and private employers, hiring intentions will decrease in the quarter both on year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter basis. During the quarter, 48 per cent employers expect to increase their staffing levels, 16 per cent anticipate a decrease in hiring intent and 34 per cent do not anticipate any change in hiring, resulting in a net employment outlook of 32 per cent.
'Most young taxpayers prefer income tax filing to be flexible yet straightforward.'
It is evident that the younger generation is increasingly choosing to postpone or completely forego the idea of getting married, observes Sybil Shiddell, country manager India, Gleeden, a discreet extra marital dating Web site.
The filing of offer documents with the capital markets regulator - Securities and Exchange Board of India - has more than halved this financial year (2022-23, or FY23) as the outlook for new share sales has worsened, following correction in the secondary market. So far in FY23, 66 companies filed their draft red herring prospectus (DRHP), as opposed to 144 in the preceding financial year (2021-22, or FY22).
The stocks of Mumbai-based real estate companies have been hitting lifetime highs on expectations that launches, steady demand, and price increases in the largest real estate market in the country would boost their financials. Macrotech Developers (Lodha) and Oberoi Realty hit their all-time highs last week, while Godrej Properties came close to its 52-week high last month before witnessing a sharp correction.
The Delhi high court on Friday sought response from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the bail plea by former managing director and chief executive officer of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) Chitra Ramkrishna in connection with the co-location case. Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain issued notice on the bail application and listed the case for further hearing on May 31. The trial court had dismissed the bail plea of the former NSE boss on May 12 and said that no ground for bail was made out at this stage.
On the whole, the case for Period Leave is compelling. It may well bring more women into the workforce. But the concept will likely be hostage to the whims of enlightened companies, notes Kanika Datta.
"We will raise Rs 300 crore via bonds of two-, three- and five-year tenures. This will be our maiden bond issuance and is part of our effort to widen funding sources," says Vimal Bhandari, executive vice-chairman and chief executive officer (CEO), Arka Fincap. The firm, a subsidiary of Kirloskar Oil, is only five years old and small (assets of around Rs 5,000 crore with an "AA" rating), but the response to this float will be closely watched: It would be the first by a non-banking finance company (NBFC) after Mint Road upped the risk weights on bank exposures to them by 25 percentage points. The move by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has caught NBFCs off guard even though the issue had been flagged by Governor Shaktikanta Das with their corner-room occupants (and that of banks) in July and August 2023 - on consumer credit and the dependency on bank borrowings.
