With retail inflation surprising on the upside, the six-member monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to increase the repo rate by 35-50 basis points (bps) in the review scheduled for September 28-30. According to economists, the central bank will continue to focus on bringing inflation down even though economic growth has remained sluggish. Data released by the government on Monday showed that the consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation increased by 7 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in August, thus, staying above the upper tolerance limit of the central bank for all the eight months of 2022.
Hindustan Lever on Monday reported a 15 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 250.25 crore (Rs 2.5 billion) for the first quarter ended March 31, 2005 as against Rs 294.88 crore (Rs 2.94 billion) in Q1 FY04.
'Companies are being forced to pay higher salaries to retain and hire employees due to a big rise in attrition in the industry.'
Revenues of Indian companies, excluding those engaged in banking and oil, are expected to grow marginally at 5-6 per cent in the first quarter of this fiscal.
Tamil Nadu has cornered around 18.63 per cent of the fresh investments in Q1FY21 and topped the list of state-wise investments. These investments should help create over 67,212 jobs.
Tata Steel has a very British problem. The performance of Europe dragged the steel major's October-December (Q3FY23) performance with the UK business accounting for a major part of the operating loss; on the bottom line, the overhang of the British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS) showed. And a nearly three-year discussion with the UK government on a support package for a green transition resulted in an offer that fell short of the ask.
India's exports jumped 45.76 per cent to $33.28 billion in August on account of healthy growth in segments like engineering, petroleum products, gems and jewellery and chemicals, even as the trade deficit widened to a four-month high of $13.81 billion.
The country's exports rose by 48.34 per cent to $32.5 billion on account of healthy growth in shipments of petroleum products, gems and jewellery, and chemicals, leather and marine goods, according to the data released by the Commerce Ministry on Thursday. Imports in June too rose by 98.31 per cent to $41.87 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $9.37 billion as against a trade surplus of $0.79 billion in the same month last year. During April-June 2021, the exports increased by 85.88 per cent to $95.39 billion.
In the manufacturing sector, output is expected to decline by about 70 per cent as only food-processing, and drugs and pharma industries are allowed to operate while other segments, such as engineering and metals, have shut operations.
The country's current account deficit is likely to hit a three-year high of 1.8 per cent or $43.81 billion in FY22, as against a surplus of 0.9 per cent or $23.91 billion in FY21, a report said on Thursday. According to an assessment by India Ratings, the Current Account Deficit (CAD) has moderated to $17.3 billion or 1.96 per cent of GDP in the fourth quarter of FY22 as against $8.2 billion or 1.03 per cent in the year-ago period, and massively down from $23.02 billion or 2.74 per cent in Q3, which was a 13-quarter high. The improvement in the key numbers are due to the remarkable improvement in merchandise exports in FY22, when it grew 42.4 per cent as against a negative 7.5 per cent in the pandemic-hit FY121.
HDFC Bank, the country's largest private-sector lender, lost to competition wholesale loans of around Rs 50,000 crore after it increased interest rates in May, said Chief Financial Officer Srinivasan Vaidyanathan in an analyst call. "There were some customers who were offered lower rates by other market participants. "But we decided not to cut back on our rates," he said while addressing analysts after the announcement of the bank's Q1 earnings.
India's equity markets are on a roller-coaster ride, after delivering spectacular returns for two consecutive years - in 2020 and 2021. The benchmark National Stock Exchange's (NSE's) Nifty50 is down 1.5 per cent in the first nine months of the current calendar year 2022 (CY22) as foreign portfolio investors sold Indian stocks due to rising bond yields in the US and across global markets, including India. The sell-off in the Indian equity markets has, however, not been broad-based and largely limited to sectors facing earnings headwinds from rising interest rates, lower commodity and energy prices, and likely economic recession in advanced economies.
Gains were led by index heavyweights with Reliance Industries contributing the most.
Distribution yields could rise, but risk of Covid, higher interest rates remain.
Besides, the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine has also added another blow to FMCG makers as they expect a rise in the prices of wheat, edible oil and crude. Companies such as Dabur and Parle are watching the situation and will undertake calibrated price increases to mitigate the inflationary pressures.
Total liabilities of the government increased to Rs 107.04 lakh crore at end-September 2020 from Rs 101.3 lakh crore at end-June 2020, official data on public debt showed on Wednesday. This represented a quarter-on-quarter increase of 5.6 per cent in Q2 FY21. Public debt accounted for 91.1 per cent of total outstanding liabilities at end-September 2020, as per the latest quarterly report on public debt management.
Infosys made a gross addition of 11,506 employees during the quarter, taking its total strength to 161,284 employees as on June 30.
A looming global shortage of diesel in Europe presents India with more than one opportunity to profit from strong margins. A shortage of the fuel, a key contributor to inflation, has been exacerbated by the conflict in Ukraine, and western sanctions on Russian fuel supplies. The slowdown in natural gas supply means the West needs diesel to heat their homes this winter.
Members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) felt that though the Indian economy was resilient in the third wave, it, however, lost some momentum and with inflation likely to soften, there is room to continue with the accommodative stance and support revival, the minutes of the MPC meeting released on Thursday revealed. The six-member MPC voted to keep the policy rate unchanged and continued with the accommodative stance at its meeting on February 10. However, external member Jayanth Verma voted against the stance because he felt a switch to neutral was long overdue and the current stance has become counterproductive and deflects focus away from addressing recessionary trends that date back to at least 2019.
Tata Steel was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding over 2 per cent, followed by Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, SBI, Kotak Bank and Dr Reddy's. NSE Nifty dropped 151.75 points to 15,727.90.
Trading sentiment in the equity markets this week will be guided by global cues, Covid-19 trends and quarterly earnings by market heavyweight TCS, analysts said. Investors will also monitor movement of rupee and crude oil as well as progress of monsoon, they added.
'Money that came into mutual funds near the previous peaks -- the second half of 2017 and 2018 -- has in most cases experienced unflattering returns.' 'A large proportion of redemptions could be such inflows exiting when the market recovered sharply from July 2020 onwards.'
Together, AT&T and TechM aim to improve the agility in rolling out and supporting networks of the future, while improving returns on investment through technology-led transformation.
Shares of HCL Tech hit a fresh record high of Rs 1,118.55 on Friday, up 2 per cent on the BSE in intra-day trade, surpassing its previous high of Rs 1,101 touched on Thursday in intra-day deals.
Equity indices gave up early gains to close in the red for the third session on the trot on Wednesday, weighed by selling in banking and finance counters amid inflationary pressures and persistent foreign fund outflows. A weak rupee and lacklustre global cues also kept buying sentiment in check, traders said. The 30-share BSE Sensex opened on a firm footing but failed to hold on the momentum, finishing 237.44 points or 0.41 per cent lower at 58,338.93. On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty dipped 54.65 points or 0.31 per cent to close at 17,475.65.
Gains in auto shares helped offset losses in select index heavyweights led by Infosys.
The coming years could be exciting for Bandhan Bank, IDBI Bank, IDFC First Bank, Federal Bank, and CSB Bank.
After showing a consistent rise in the previous 4 quarters, gross NPAs of 40 listed bank declined to Rs 10.03 trillion at the end of June 2018, from Rs 10.25 trillion in the previous quarter.
India's economic growth surged to 20.1 per cent in the April-June quarter of this fiscal, helped by a low base of the year-ago period, despite a devastating second wave of COVID-19. The gross domestic product (GDP) had contracted by 24.4 per cent in the corresponding April-June quarter of 2020-21, according to data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Tuesday. The government had imposed a nationwide lockdown at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
The combined weight of IT companies in the benchmark Nifty 50 index is now at a five-year high of 15 per cent as these companies continue to outperform the broader market.
However, the SBI report said it will take almost seven-quarters from Q4 FY21 to reach the pre-pandemic level in nominal terms and there will be a permanent output loss of around 9 per cent of GDP.
The Crisil study covered 600 companies excluding financial services and oil companies, representing 71 per cent of the overall market capitalisation of India Inc.
Tech Mahindra was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, jumping over 5 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finserv, L&T, Tata Steel and Infosys. NSE Nifty surged 191.95 points to 15,824.05.
TCS emerges as a safe haven, as Infosys stumbles for sixth straight quarter.
The company's revenues also slipped four per cent to $14.42 billion in Q1 FY'13 from $15.01 billion in 2012.
After a very weak December quarter and a poor year-to-date fiscal year volumes-when sales plunged to the lowest in nine years, the signs in the first 15 days of January haven't been encouraging either. "Though the severity of the current wave is not as high as the previous one, it has hit the sentiments hard impacting conversion of enquiries into sales," said Vinkesh Gulati, president, Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA).
SpiceJet, India's second-largest private airline, kicked off the process of hiving off its logistics business to its subsidiary SpiceXpress as it looks to raise much-needed capital. On Tuesday, the company sought its shareholders' approval to complete the process and to raise up to Rs 2,500 crore via a qualified institutions placement (QIP). It is in talks with multiple private equity investors as it tries to sell shares in the logistics arm to raise money.
Conversion of debt of the stressed telecom player Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) into equity could be an option to emerge out of the crisis, lenders led by State Bank of India (SBI) have suggested to Department of Telecommunications (DoT). DoT had called senior bank officials on Friday to discuss the stress in the telecom sector arising out of the Supreme Court order last month on the adjusted gross revenue (AGR)-related dues payable by telecom majors, including Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel, sources said. The top court has given a time period of 10 years to telecom service providers struggling to pay Rs 93,520 crore of AGR-related dues to clear their outstanding amount to the government.
Warning that the new year will be riskier than the previous two in terms of growth, inflation and the perils of monetary policy normalisation on consumption demand in particular, along with other external risks, a Wall Street brokerage has pencilled in an 8.2 per cent GDP growth next fiscal, with more downside risks to the projection. The biggest risk to the projection is a derailed consumption demand that has been the main growth driver in the past many years, said the Bank of America Securities India house economists who still believe that consumption demand will remain the key driver of growth next fiscal as well.
Top gainers in the Sensex pack included Yes Bank, Sun Pharma, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, HUL, Vedanta, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, ITC, HDFC and Bajaj Auto, that rose up to 3.75 per cent.
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