Bankers said the outlook of M&As in India in 2024, especially in the second half after the Lok Sabha election, seems relatively better.
The retail industry witnessed robust top-line growth for the greater part of the previous financial year, but demand has started to show signs of fatigue seen in the January-March quarter (fourth quarter, or Q4) of 2022-23 (FY23), especially in the apparel and innerwear segments. Jewellery, however, has managed to hold on to demand in the quarter. "In the discretionary space, demand moderation in urban markets is expected to impact the quick-service restaurant and apparel categories the most, while paint, luggage, and jewellery should see resilient growth," Systematic Institutional Equities observed in its preview of the sector.
10 largecaps stocks which stand to gain from the Budget.
'A cutback in hiring and compensation growth by IT companies will have a significant impact on consumer demand, especially in the urban sector of the economy.'
However, the second quarter of FY24 is expected to be muted, and, with that, the hope of double-digit growth is now being pushed to FY25. However, analysts are expecting the momentum in the closure of record total contract values (TCVs) will continue, as has been the case over the last two quarters.
Competition in the fast-growing quick commerce sector is heating up as Swiggy Instamart faces a tough challenge in narrowing the gap with Blinkit, which currently dominates the market. In the second quarter (Q2) of 2024-25 (FY25), Instamart's gross order value (GOV) rose by 42.1 per cent quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q) and 75.5 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y), reaching Rs 3,382 crore.
The company's decision may impact new projects, which are likely to get delayed, said sources in the know. Among the IT players that work with Macy's are Accenture, Cognizant, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and Infosys. Macy's is among the top 5-10 clients of these companies.
The beta of large IT firms has increased since 2008 and is expected to inch up further given the rising challenges.
Despite multiple headwinds at the start of 2023, the Indian markets delivered a strong performance, posting 19-20 per cent growth for the year. Even as new records were set, investor sentiment remains strong going into 2024, given the lower inflation, expectations of steady to lower interest rates, higher economic growth, and strong inflows. However, the overriding concern for most brokerages is valuations.
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.
This includes over $15 billion of proposed investment in the infrastructure sector in the Indo-Pacific and $9 billion for shoring up American defence in the region.
India's second largest IT services company Infosys on Thursday reported a 3.1 per cent year-on-year rise in net profit to Rs 6,215 crore for the September 2023 quarter. The earnings (before minority interest) of the Bengaluru-based company stood at Rs 6,026 crore in the year-ago period. The company - which competes in the IT services market with TCS, Wipro, HCL Technologies and others - saw its revenue rising 6.7 per cent to Rs 38,994 crore for the just-ended September quarter.
Funding for Indian startups dropped by 33 per cent to $24 billion in 2022 as compared to the previous year though it was nearly double the amount recorded in 2019 or 2020, said a PwC India report on Wednesday. Global investors were still positive about the Indian startup ecosystem despite the global slowdown, as per the report titled 'Startup Tracker-CY 22'. "Funding for Indian startups in CY22 was nearly $24 billion, a drop of 33 per cent in comparison to CY21 but was still more than twice the funds raised in CY20 and CY19 each", it said.
From the Sensex basket, Maruti, Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC, JSW Steel, Larsen & Toubro, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank, and Power Grid were the major gainers. Nestle, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC Bank, Titan, HCL Technologies and Infosys were the laggards.
Fitch Ratings on Thursday retained India's growth forecast for the current fiscal at 6.3 per cent citing economic resilience despite tighter monetary policy and exports weakness, but upped year-end inflation projection on El Nino threat. The Indian economy grew 7.8 per cent in the April-June quarter of current fiscal on strong services sector activity and robust demand. "The Indian economy continues to show resilience despite tighter monetary policy and weakness in exports, with growth outpacing other countries in the region," Fitch said, while projecting 6.3 per cent growth for current fiscal (April-March), and 6.5 per cent for next fiscal.
IT service company Wipro on Friday reported 7.8 per cent year-on-year decline in its consolidated net profit for the March quarter to about Rs 2834.6 crore, and cautioned that the macroeconomic environment remains "uncertain". The Bengaluru-headquartered company, which recently saw a change of guard with Srinivas Pallia taking over at the helm as the new chief executive officer, has given an IT Services revenue growth guidance in the (-)1.5 per cent to +0.5 per cent band for June quarter on a constant currency basis.
The Nifty IT index, data shows, has outperformed the markets in each of the last four election years post the result. announcement.
'AI is not a new thing for us. We started our AI journey in 2015.'
'We have focused on it quarter after quarter and started to build the pipeline.'
While managing rising EMIs can be challenging, the right strategy can help individuals can ease their financial burden, says rediffGURU and financial planning expert, Colonel Sanjeev Govila (retd).
After flirting with 'indulgent' variants, Horlicks and Foodles have tasted success with their health and nutrition positioning.
Some see value accretion, for others it's a de-risking hedge
This latest credit card product is a double-edged sword. Beware before you get ensnared!
Overall market reaction to the Budget was neutral. Investors absorbed the changes to the tax rates (positive for salaried class) and capital gains taxes (CGTs, negative due to the removal of indexation and increases. Other proposals largely pertain to supporting rural development, buybacks taxed as dividends, Custom duty changes that impact multiple sectors, higher outlays for clean energy, etc. There's some moderation in the growth of capex outlay across defence, fer
Innovation and quick decision making are key to growth in business.
Consumer spending, which had been growing at 10 per cent year-on-year, will now decrease. Over 34 per cent of the respondents said they would cut spends, while 16 per cent said would spend more in the coming year. However, compared to other countries where the survey was conducted like Brazil, China, Mexico, Russia, Japan, Canada, United States and Europe , Indian consumers are more confident and optimistic.
Many multiplexes are banking on promotional offers and schemes, like a 20 per cent discount on ticket prices, free popcorn, etc, for those booking tickets online. Around 70 per cent of the total revenues of multiplexes come from ticket sales, 20 per cent from food and beverages and the remaining from on- and off-screen advertisements. While footfalls have dropped 20-35 per cent, consumers' discretionary spend has stopped as far as movies are concerned.
The impact of the banking crisis in the US was visible in IT bellwether Tata Consultancy Services' (TCS) weak performance in the March quarter of fiscal 2023 (Q4FY23). The firm witnessed slower revenue growth in Q4FY23 and failed to meet its FY23 exit Ebit margin of 25 per cent as some clients, especially in the North American region, took to pausing projects and rising onsite costs offset utilisation gains. Sequentially, the company's revenue grew by just 0.6 per cent on a constant currency basis, which was one of the slowest paces in over 11 quarters.
US economic growth slowed sharply in the fourth quarter.
'.. if you do not want to take the asset allocation call.'' 'This category of funds can offer optimum risk-adjusted returns.'
However, the biggest question for the Indian information technology sector is whether purse strings will be loosened for discretionary spending in 2011 or not.
Cities have also see a decline in the savings rate.
Driven by steady recovery in demand for technology services, the Indian IT industry is expected to hire about 2.5 lakh people during this fiscal, software representative body Nasscom said.
Buoyed by steady recovery in demand for technology services, the Indian IT-BPO sector is estimated to grow 19 per cent in 2010-11 to $76 billion in revenues, software industry body Nasscom said.
Since the acquisition by Tata Steel in January 2007, which catapulted the domestic steel major to the world's sixth, this is the first layoff announced by the Corus.
Despite the inherent attractiveness of the rural market for telecom operators various challenges still mar their entry.
Operating margins have been the primary driver of corporate earnings in India in recent quarters, despite revenue growth suffering from weak consumer demand. Companies across sectors have reported a sharp improvement in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) margins over the past two years, benefiting from lower commodity and energy prices. Higher margins more than compensated for slower revenue growth, resulting in double-digit growth in net profit for five consecutive quarters.
The key risks against a fast recovery would include long delays in business travel resumption, delays in commissioning, etc.
Nasscom said growth for the current financial year (2016-17) was expected to be 8.6%
Avenue Supermarts, the operator of DMart retail chain, reported good results for the July-September quarter (Q2FY24) with strong earnings before interest before interest, taxes and depreciation (Ebitda) and profit before tax (PBT) growth, but lower PAT due to higher tax incidence. The operating margin improved, and like-to-like store sales growth was strong. Average bill value also increased though this may be a seasonal effect to some extent. Analysts are assuming this means the slowdown in retail may have bottomed out.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances