Private consumption is back driven by festive spending, and the medium-term economic outlook remains bullish as the innate strength of the macro-fundamentals reasserts itself, the Reserve Bank Bulletin said on Wednesday. Global economic activity remained resilient during Q4:2024 amidst fragile confidence and rising protectionism, said an article on 'State of the Economy' published in the November Bulletin.
Passenger vehicle wholesales in India declined 2.5 per cent year-on-year to 341,510 units in July, impacted by high base effect as well as companies reducing vehicle dispatches to dealers amid moderation in demand. The overall passenger vehicle (PV) dispatches from companies to dealers stood at 350,355 units in July 2023, automobile industry body Siam said on Wednesday.
Of the 15 car manufacturing companies in India, eight have a market share of below 2 per cent, raising questions about their long-term future in a competitive market that has already seen Ford Motors and General Motors slam the door on India.
The Ministry of Heavy Industries has approved 11 electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers, including Ather Energy, Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, Ola Electric, and Mahindra, to receive incentives under the recently introduced Electric Mobility Promotion Scheme (EMPS) 2024. "A total of 11 firms have been granted approval under the EMPS, with several more under consideration," informed a senior official of the ministry to Business Standard. The scheme aims to sustain the growth in EV sales, replacing the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles - II (FAME-II) scheme.
All sectoral indices ended lower. BSE Telecommunication tanked 2.18 per cent, metal (1.77 per cent), auto (1.70 per cent), energy (1.64 per cent), oil & gas (1.59 per cent), commodities (1.39 per cent) and financial services (1.37 per cent) were the major laggards.
'Like every Budget, this time, too, there is chatter around tinkering with the long-term capital gains tax.' 'Investors may not want to jump into the markets until there is clarity on this front.'
Sales of four- and two-wheelers almost halved in August, compared to the equivalent month last year.
Increase in taxes on luxury cars will not have any effect on the demand
This comes at a time when Ola is looking to replicate nationally the success of its auto-rickshaw offering in Chennai and Bengaluru.
China's covid crisis could provoke a raw material crunch for India's EV industry later this year.
India can become the number one automotive manufacturing hub in the world within five years, but auto companies need to enhance safety features to reduce deaths due to road accidents, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday. In his inaugural address at the Auto Expo 2023 here, the minister for road transport and highways asserted that the government's target is to reduce these accidents by 50 per cent before the end of 2024 while asking the auto industry to take suo moto action for road safety as the government doesn't want to make anything mandatory. Gadkari's sentiments were also echoed by Minister of Heavy Industries Mahendra Nath Pandey, who lamented that while India has only 1 per cent of the total overall vehicles, the country accounts for 11 per cent of the total global deaths due to road accidents.
The sector has grown at a mere 5% rate in the first six months.
Exporters on Thursday sought a fund of Rs 750 crore for three years to tap USD 25 billion export potential in the US, aiming to seize potential opportunities that may arise as the US President-elect, Donald Trump, has threatened to impose high tariffs on Chinese goods. In its pre-Budget meeting with the finance ministry, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President Ashwani Kumar has also demanded extension of the five per cent Interest Equalisation Scheme (IES).
The industry players couldn't hide their disappointment.
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.
For the first time in history, the luxury car market is poised to cross the sales mark of 50,000 units in 2024, with Mercedes leading the way
Passenger vehicle retail sales in India witnessed a 5 per cent on-year decline in August on account of delayed customer purchases, poor consumer sentiment and persistent heavy rains, industry body FADA said on Thursday. The overall passenger vehicle (PV) registrations last month stood at 309,053 units, as compared to 323,720 units in August 2023.
Starting with a family, which had a dealership of Bajaj Auto's scooters, to becoming the owner of a household name in consumer appliances who could afford to have Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan as the brand ambassador, Venugopal Dhoot's is a story of an aggressive small town businessman's pursuit to be on the top. Now arrested in connection with the ICICI Bank loan fraud case, Venugopal Dhoot during his heydays was not the one to simply sit on small achievements like Videocon becoming the largest television set manufacturer in India.
A record number of 85 products will be launched.
Mahindra & Mahindra, Titan, Sun Pharma, ITC, Nestle and Tata Motors were the other big gainers. Reliance Industries, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance and JSW Steel were among the laggards.
New participants included Chinese players such as Great Wall Motors and Haima Automobile along with Olectra.
IL&FS group has discharged debt of Rs 38,082 crore to its creditors as of September 30, 2024, according to the latest status report affidavit filed by the debt-ridden firm before insolvency appellate tribunal NCLAT. "As on September 30, 2024, the total debt discharged to creditors of the Respondent No 1 (IL&FS) Group aggregates to Rs 38,082 crore," the status report said. This includes Rs 20,289 crore from monetisation of assets, Rs 8,140 crore from auto-debits, green entity principal servicing, NFB release and Rs 9,653 crore from interim distribution.
Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) on Wednesday forayed into the fast-growing domestic electric mobility market with the introduction of e-scooters, ACTIVA e: and QC1, with swappable and fixed batteries. With this, the Japanese two-wheeler maker will now be competing with other legacy players such as Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, TVS Group as well as pure EV players like Ather and Ola, who already have a good presence in the segment, which is growing at 34 per cent year-on-year.
'Gujarat is the frontrunner at present.'
'However, Tamil Nadu's robust automobile ecosystem and Telangana's aggressive incentives make them strong contenders.'
While hybrids, CNG and biofuels found favour in 2018 among many carmakers including Maruti Suzuki, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota and Honda, others such as M&M and Tata Motors have shown full faith in electric vehicles.
Over 22 passenger and commercial vehicle makers and 18 two- and three-wheeler makers will take part amid proximate security.
With US-based electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla scouting for a suitable location for its foray in India, Rajasthan has joined the fray with a host of offers to woo the Elon Musk-led company. Other challengers include Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra. Sources privy to the development said that an initial meeting between the senior executives of Tesla and the government of Rajasthan, which was held last week, turned out to be "quite positive." Tesla would now carry out a survey and is expected to share the survey details with the state's investment promotion department soon.
Price of international crude oil - the raw material for making petrol and diesel - dropped to a three-year low before marginally recovering but a revision in domestic petrol and diesel rates is likely only if lower rates are sustained, industry sources and officials said. Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell below $70 per barrel on Tuesday - the first time since December 2021 - but gained thereafter after Hurricane Francine hit crude supply in the Gulf of Mexico. Brent rose above $71 a barrel on Thursday while West Texas Intermediate advanced to trade near $68.
Companies in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector may legally challenge the Haryana government's new law which mandates 75 per cent reservation of jobs in the private sector for locals. "We had earlier gone to the high court against this law, but the court said that it would hear the matter after the law was notified," said Manoj Tyagi, general secretary, IMT Industrial Association. Industries and associations feel that the law will not benefit the state and will hit MSMEs that are just coming out of the crippling effects of the lockdowns owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Maruti's results and the investor response indicate that quite a few stocks in the auto sector could be on the verge of a big bounce, says Devangshu Datta.
'Bilateral trade has suffered seriously because of the growing unrest.' 'There is a standstill on both sides amid the curfew.'
Among the 30 Sensex firms, Mahindra & Mahindra, IndusInd Bank, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank, Tata Motors and ICICI Bank were the biggest laggards. In contrast, Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services, NTPC, JSW Steel, Asian Paints and Reliance Industries were gainers.
If growth reverts to the pre-Covid level, a lot of people may have to temper their rosy optimism, points out Debashis Basu.
Ford, which had announced to quit the Indian market last year, said it was exploring the possibility of using one of its plants in India to produce electric cars for exports.
Titan was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising over 3 per cent, followed by M&M, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank, TCS, Maruti and Infosys. NSE Nifty surged 122.10 points to 15,885.15.
With little clarity on the demand outlook, investors should wait out the next couple of quarters rather than rush in to catch a falling knife, says Ram Prasad Sahu.
Tech giant Microsoft regained the top spot in the list of best employers to work for in India in 2024, followed by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Amazon, according to a Randstad Employer Brand Research report released on Wednesday. Microsoft had topped the list in 2022, but slipped to fifth in 2023. The 2024 list is based on responses from 3,507 people.
While commercial vehicles are expected to benefit from strong replacement demand, the two-wheeler and tractor segments are expected to gain from a recovery in the rural economy.
M&M was the biggest gainer on the Sensex chart, rising 5.97 per cent, followed by JSW Steel, Ultra Cement, Kotak Bank, ITC and NTPC. Reliance Industries gained 0.73 per cent to close at Rs 2,871 apiece. In contrast, TCS, HCL Tech, HUL, Nestle Industries, Bajaj Finserv, Wipro and Infosys were among the losers.
The auto ancillary industry - one of the worst hit due to the labour exodus - will need at least three months to get its factories up and running.
