The cost of a representative home-cooked vegetarian thali has witnessed a 5 per cent on-year increase in January, while that of the non-veg thali declined 13 per cent, a report said on Wednesday. According to Crisil Market Intelligence and Analytics (MI&A) Research 'Rice Roti Rate' estimates, the rise in prices of ingredients like pulses, rice, onion and tomato made home-cooked veg thali costlier in January, while decline in poultry rates helped in the fall in non-veg thali rates.
There is no impediment to normal operations as Tata Motors puts in place the demerger process of its commercial and passenger vehicles businesses. Instead, the demerger would provide greater manoeuvrability for both new entities to operate independently, according to Tata Motors management. While there may not be immediate value unlocking, it will give investors clarity about future growth and the financials across different segments.
Tata Motors surpassed Maruti Suzuki (India) (MSIL) to become the most-valuable automobile company, in terms of market capitalisation (mcap), after a gap of seven years. With this, the company's stock hit a new high on the BSE on Tuesday (January 30). The combined mcap of Tata Motors (Rs 285.51 crore) and Tata Motors DVR (Rs 29,119 crore) stood at Rs 3.146 trillion.
The growth in personal loans for fintech major Paytm may remain muted in the future and not replicate a three-digit year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth that it recorded in the previous years, a person familiar with the matter said. Sources said the personal loans book may grow in the range of 30 to 40 per cent Y-o-Y on its current base. On a quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q) basis, the number of personal loans the Noida-based fintech company disbursed has dropped 20 per cent from 0.3 million in the first quarter of this financial year (Q1FY24) to 0.24 million in Q2FY24, according to regulatory filings.
With sentiment for the automotive (auto) sector turning positive, stocks of two-wheeler auto majors have been hitting their 52-week highs. Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, TVS Motor Company, and Eicher Motors recently reached their yearly highs on strong sales in the festival season and the expectation of faster growth rates ahead. Since the start of this month, listed two-wheeler majors have delivered returns in the 12-17 per cent range, compared to the 7 per cent gains for the S&P BSE Auto Index and 3 per cent for the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex.
Mirroring the increase in the earnings of their companies, the chief executives and promoters of India's top listed firms gained handsomely from the boom last financial year. Their remuneration includes salaries, perquisites or perks, and profit-linked commissions.
Shares of Avenue Supermarts, which owns and operates the DMart stores, hit a two-year high of Rs 4,710.15 as they surged nearly 6 per cent on the BSE in Thursday's (April 4) intraday trade after reporting strong revenue growth in the January-March quarter (Q4) of the previous financial year (FY24). DMart, in the Q4FY24 pre-quarter update, said the company reported 20 per cent growth in standalone revenue from operations at Rs 12,393 crore, as against Rs 10,337 crore in the third quarter (Q3) of 2022-23 (FY23), driven by a 7 per cent growth in revenue per store and a robust 13 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) increase in store additions. In Q3 of 2021-22, the company reported revenue of Rs 8,606 crore and in Q3 of 2020-21, it posted revenue of Rs 7,303 crore.
HDFC Asset Management Company (HDFC AMC) reported a healthy profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 430 crore for the July-September quarter (Q2) of financial year 2023-24 (FY24). It rose 20.2 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) and decreased 8.4 per cent quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q). This was driven by good equity returns, leading to a sequential improvement in revenue yields.
The board of Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) on Tuesday approved a proposal to issue shares worth Rs 12,841 crore to parent company Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) for acquiring Suzuki Motor Gujarat (SMG). The Gujarat manufacturing plant - with an annual capacity of 750,000 units - is owned by SMG, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SMC. The shares issued to SMC will raise its ownership in MSIL from 56.48 per cent to 58.19 per cent--India's largest carmaker stated in a notice to BSE.
Mahindra & Mahindra on Wednesday posted a 20 per cent increase in its consolidated net profit at Rs 3,283 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2024. The Mumbai-based company had reported a profit after tax of Rs 2,745 crore in the year-ago period. Revenue rose 10 per cent year-on-year to Rs 37,218 crore as compared to Rs 33,892 crore in the June quarter of last fiscal, the company said.
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) on Tuesday announced the acquisition of a 95 per cent stake in Gopalpur Ports in Odisha from Shapoorji Pallonji Group and Orissa Stevedores Ltd at an equity value of Rs 1,349 crore. In Gopalpur Ports, Shapoorji Pallonji Group (SP Group) firm SP Port Maintenance Pvt Ltd has a 56 per cent stake and Orissa Stevedores Ltd (OSL) has a 44 per cent stake. Gopalpur Port is an all-weather deep-water berthing port with a capacity of 20 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) situated in Ganjam district of Odisha.
'There has been a huge shift. Consumer needs and requirements have changed, and differ from city to city.'
The "asset-right" strategy, reiterated by ITC chairman Sanjiv Puri during the company's 112th annual general meeting (AGM) on August 11, received a thumbs up from the analysts. They, however, believe that sustained earnings growth and synergies with the demerged hotel's vertical will help the stock break out from the ongoing consolidation. "The stock is expected to consolidate between Rs 420 and Rs 450 in the near future.
The Budget should undertake further reductions in import tariffs and seriously consider an announcement of India's intention to join one or both of the two Asian mega-regional free trade agreements, suggests Shankar Acharya, former chief economic adviser to the Government of India.
Rating agency Icra on Wednesday said while there is some evidence of the economic recovery becoming broad-based in the third quarter of fiscal 2022, it is yet to attain the durability being sought by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) as a precursor to policy transmission. The agency expects the real GDP to expand 6-6.5 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter of FY2022 (+8.4 per cent in Q2 FY2022). It also sees the RBI maintaining the status quo in the upcoming monetary policy review to be held in February.
Brokerage firms on Wednesday appeared divided in their calls on Larsen & Toubro (L&T) after the company's 2023-24 (FY24) October-December quarter (third quarter, or Q3) performance and guidance for the quarters ahead. While few stayed optimistic about the stock over future order inflow prospects, others saw increasing exposure to West Asia and fixed price contracts as a concern. In Wednesday's trade, L&T's share price closed at Rs 3,480 per piece, 4.22 per cent down from its previous day's close.
'The stabilisation of interest rates followed by reduction is going to happen over the next year.'
A Rs 525-crore contingency provision during the July-September period led to a 19 per cent fall in IndusInd Bank's share price on Friday (October 25). Contingency provisions are generally made when a lender expects more bad loans in the coming quarters. Shares of the bank on Tuesday (October 29) declined 1.53 per cent to settle at Rs 1,038.2 apiece on the BSE.
'Binary fission will happen -- startups will lead to more startups.'
In FY23, Indian operations accounted for 41.6 per cent of the consolidated revenue of India's top five multinationals, up from 34 per cent in FY18 and 33.2 per cent and 34.2 per cent in FY21.
The retail industry's business is on the brink of full recovery as it achieved 93 per cent of the pre-COVID sales in February, according to a report. Segments such as consumer durables and quick service restaurants (QSR) have shown positive growth of 15 per cent and 18 per cent respectively in February 2021, the report from the Retailers Association of India (RAI) said. "The quantum of de-growth in retail sales has reduced as most segments in retail have started to show significant improvement," it said. Categories like footwear, beauty, wellness and personal care, sports goods and food and grocery are showing steady month-on-month recovery.
Amid the political blame game over Bengal's potato ban, which led to shortages in Jharkhand and Odisha, Uttar Pradesh farmers are the unlikely winners.
In previews of Q2FY25 and beyond, industry analysts are expecting a turnaround for IT services. High teens earnings per share or EPS growth is expected for the next two-three financial years. The hopes are backed by deal wins of above $100 billion as at Q1FY25, up 16.6 per cent year-on-year ( Y-o-Y).
Fintech firm One97 Communications, which owns the Paytm brand, on Wednesday said its loss in the fourth quarter of the financial year 2023-24 has widened to Rs 550 crore following the ban imposed by the RBI on transactions related to its payments bank. The company had posted a loss of Rs 167.5 crore in the same period a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing. "Our fourth quarter FY24 results were impacted by temporary disruption on account of UPI transition etc. and permanent disruption because of the PPBL embargo.
Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) is India's largest engineering and manufacturing enterprise, operating across energy, industry, and infrastructure sectors. The investment path for the stock is based on a large order backlog, continued strong order inflows, and rising power demand, which should push demand for BHEL's equipment and services. BHEL has historically held over 70 per cent market share in power projects.
From its lows in December, the stock of Tata Motors is up about 15 per cent. The gains came on the back of better than expected December volumes in its UK-based subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). This coupled with gradual recovery in the global passenger vehicle demand, improving profitability due to product mix and lower commodity costs are expected to be key positives for the company.
'The Casa ratio is at 33.4 per cent, which has to keep improving. Right now, there is a bit of liquidity pressure in the market.'
The Mumbai-based real estate developer Oberoi Realty has been one of the top-performing companies in its segment and most brokerage remains bullish on the stock. The company's stock price is 52 per cent in the last 12 months beating the broader market by a huge margin. The benchmark BSE Sensex is up just 6.5 per cent during the period.
'Invest only in stocks of those companies that deliver on earnings and there is earnings visibility too for the next few quarters.'
In calendar year 2024, the stock price of Trent has zoomed 160% As compared to the 18% rally in the BSE Sensex during the same period. It has outperformed the market in the past 10 consecutive years.
The filing of Swiggy's DRHP has led to direct comparisons with Zomato, which is a direct competitor in food delivery and the fast-growing quick-commerce segment where Blinkit (owned by Zomato) faces off against Instamart (and Zepto). In Q-commerce, Flipkart, Amazon, Reliance and Big Basket are all entering the space. All of them have deep pockets, hence competitive intensity will rise going forward.
Pharmaceuticals major Mankind Pharma reported a 21 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) increase in net profit, with revenue rising by 12 per cent Y-o-Y in the second quarter of the financial year 2024 (Q2FY24) in a regulatory filing lrecently.
Rise in input costs, inventory write-off, and pricing pressures led to a drop in gross margins. Higher competitive pressures led to cuts in operating profit margins and earnings estimates for FY24 and FY25. Most brokerages have a 'neutral' or a 'reduce' rating on the stock on account of valuations.
Investors should view any bounce-back in bank stocks as an opportunity to exit the pack, analysts suggested, as the worst may not be over yet. The recent quarterly results of HDFC Bank and Axis Bank disappointed the Street, triggering a marketwide selloff by foreign institutional investors, especially in banking counters. While HDFC Bank, which was the anchor for the market correction during the past week, ended 2 per cent higher amid short covering on Wednesday, Axis Bank's shares settled 3 per cent lower.
Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in India have moved into the slow lane, dropping 43 per cent in terms of deal value to touch $13.37 billion since January this year to date, compared to the same period in the last year. According to data sourced from Bloomberg, Indian companies reported deal value worth $23.5 billion between January and March 22, 2023. Data Infrastructure Trust's acquisition of American Tower Corporation's India telecom towers business for $2.5 billion was the top deal for the ongoing quarter so far, followed by the Highway Infrastructure Trust's acquisition of PNC Infratech's road projects for $1.08 billion.
A 25 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) increase in budget allocation towards the roads sector for FY24 has led to renewed interest among investors. However, a combination of escalating costs for Bharatmala and unseasonal rains to some extent have impacted progress. Bharatmala's cost has nearly doubled from Rs 5.35 trillion to Rs 10.6 trillion and the finance ministry has asked MoRTH to go slow until Cabinet approval is received.
VFS Global expects visa applications from India to surpass pre-pandemic levels in 2024 with the easing of appointment availability. Vishal Jairath, head-South Asia, VFS Global, said during a media interaction that based on indications from the client governments in terms of appointment availability and the resources deployed by them, visa applications would surpass the pre-Covid levels by a healthy margin. "We have geared up. We have looked at our infrastructure and increased capacity in many locations," he added.
Investment growth moderated slightly in the economy during the first quarter (Q1) of the current financial year (2023-24, or FY24), notwithstanding the front-loading of capital expenditure (capex) by the Centre. This was also the case despite a pick-up in demand during the period after two dismal consecutive quarters. Although growth in gross fixed capital formation (GFCF), representing investment, fell to a five-quarter low of 7.96 per cent, the comparison with the first two quarters of the previous year is a bit askew due to the low year-on-year (Y-o-Y) base of those periods.
P&G Hygiene and Healthcare's June quarter numbers were better than Street estimates, led by strong sales and robust margins. The company, which owns leading consumer brands like Whisper, Vicks and Old Spice, posted a 12.6 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth in sales at Rs 852.5 crore during the quarter. The double digit sales growth, led by expansion of its distribution reach, reverses a sluggish sales graph with three of the last four quarters reporting a fall in sales.
India's fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector witnessed growth in rural consumption in volume terms outpace urban consumption for the first time in five quarters, in the January-March period. According to a report from consumer intelligence firm NIQ, rural consumption grew at a rate of 7.6 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in Q1CY24, overtaking that in urban areas which stood at 5.7 per cent.
