Business Standard - October 19, 2024

In this issue

October 19, 2024

I-bankers earn record ₹493 crore from Hyundai IPO

Fees from handling equity share sales hit ₹3K cr in 2024

1 min

Rate cut at this stage could be 'risky, premature': RBI guv

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das cautioned on Friday that cutting the policy rate at this juncture could be \"very premature\" and \"risky\" in light of an uptick in the latest headline inflation reading, something that could persist until the next print, as well.

3 mins

Kotak Mahindra Bank to buy ₹4.1K cr India personal loan book of StanC

Leading private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited (KMBL) has entered into an agreement to acquire the ₹4,100 crore India personal loan portfolio of British banking major Standard Chartered Bank. The deal, for which the financial terms remain undisclosed, is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close within three months, according to KMBL.

2 mins

ITU secretary-general echoes PM's call for framework on digi tech

The world should begin working on a common global governance framework for digital technologies, especially Artificial Intelligence (AI), Doreen Bogdan-Martin, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), said on Friday, echoing Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

1 min

Real rise in India's ability to serve world in goods

Experts at BCG see India showing signs of having the appropriate supply chain to become an exporter in the goods space. MARC GILBERT, managing director (MD) and senior partner, BCG Canada, and global lead, BCG Center for Geopolitics, and NISHANT GUPTA, MD and senior partner, BCG India, spoke in an interview with Amritha Pillay in Mumbai to discuss decarbonisation, impact from West Asia tensions and geopolitical concerns. Edited excerpts:

3 mins

JSW Steel-JFE JV to buy tkES India for ₹4,051 cr

Move to help entity get instant market access, establish integrated system

2 mins

Employee grievances at India's top firms up 30% in FY24

BSE50 companies reported 8,468 complaints

3 mins

SC upholds AERA powers in setback to GMR, Adani

The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday upheld the powers of the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) to fix tariffs for certain non-aeronautical services such as ground handling and cargo handling, in a setback to the GMR and Adani groups.

1 min

Karnataka likely to levy 1-2% fee on digital apps

Move to affect platforms like Swiggy, Zomato, Flipkart, Amazon, Uber

1 min

Vedanta set to invest ₹1 trillion in Odisha

Metal and mining major Vedanta Ltd on Friday said it would invest ₹1 trillion in different projects in Odisha. The company said the investment will be directed towards an alumina refinery and aluminium plant in the state.

1 min

'Assure shareholders they will get their fair share'

BINA MODI, wife of the late industrialist KK Modi, was reappointed managing director (MD) of Godfrey Phillips India (GPI) with approval from 86.6 per cent shareholders at the annual general meeting (AGM) on September 6. Her son Samir Modi was ousted from the company's board the same day. Bina Modi talks to Bhavini Mishra in an interview in New Delhi about GPI's exit from the retail business, inheritance battle with her son, and legacy of K K Modi. Edited excerpts:

2 mins

India, China should join hands to grow together

JUSTIN YIFU LIN is a professor of economics at Peking University and former chief economist at the World Bank. During his recent visit to New Delhi to attend the Kautilya Economic Conclave, Lin spoke to Asit Ranjan Mishra about the power play between the two Asian giants - India and China - and Beijing's anti-competitive practices. Edited excerpts:

4 mins

Pact on movement of skilled Indians to Germany next week

To facilitate the movement of workers between India and Germany and recognise skills, the two countries are set to ink a pact next week.

2 mins

US charges Indian in Pannun 'plot' case

A former Indian government official has been charged by the US authorities for his alleged role in a foiled plot to assassinate Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil around the state visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

1 min

Global firms form 'good rice alliance' for Indian farmers

Four big global companies -- Bayer, GenZero (a wholly-owned arm of financial major Temasek), Shell and Mitsubishi -- have decided to scale up their carbon credit programme in nine states to empower farmers.

1 min

Indian banks in Canada fear biz loss amid row

If there is a decline in the number of Indian students pursuing higher studies in Canada due to the ongoing diplomatic tensions between the two countries, it may have implications for Indian banks operating in the North American country, senior bank officials said.

2 mins

Trudeau sidetracking from key issues: Canadian Oppn leader

A Canadian opposition leader has accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of using Hardeep Singh Nijjar's murder to divert attention from other controversies and asked the government to posthumously take away the Khalistani militant's citizenship to right the past administrative error.

1 min

PM to attend Brics meet in Russia on Oct 22-23

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia from October 22-23 at the invitation of President Vladimir Putin to attend the 16th Brics Summit in Kazan, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Friday.

1 min

‘MFI stress largely due to customer overleveraging’

The current stress in the microfinance (MFI) sector is largely driven by unchecked credit growth and the issuance of multiple loans to customers on fake voter ID cards among other documents, which resulted in significant overleveraging among borrowers, said Motilal Oswal in a report on Friday, adding that the industry's challenges are largely self-inflicted.

1 min

Forex reserves log worst fall in over 2 years

India's foreign exchange reserves dropped for a second consecutive week, falling to a one-month low of $690.43 billion as on October 11, data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed on Friday.

1 min

L&T Finance Q2 profit rises 17% on healthy NIM

L&T Finance (LTF) posted a 17 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth in consolidated net profit at ₹696 crore in the second quarter ended September 2024 (Q2FY25), on the back of healthy net interest margins (NIM) plus fees. Its consolidated net profit was ₹595 crore in Q2FY24.

1 min

Manappuram Finance stock falls 13.5%

Shares of Manappuram Finance fell 13.5 per cent to ₹153.45 apiece on Friday, a day after its subsidiary Asirvad Micro Finance was barred by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from sanctioning and disbursing loans.

1 min

Fintechs may face temporary disruption

A DAY AFTER RBI CURBS ON NBFCs

1 min

PM calls for NDA leaders' conclave twice a year

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has described the meeting of NDA leaders in Chandigarh on Thursday as the largest get-together of non-Congress political parties post 1975, the year Emergency was imposed, and called for holding such a conclave twice every year, a BJP statement said.

1 min

BIMARU IN EDUCATION

Five states that have miles to go in sending children to classrooms

1 min

Haryana govt implements sub-classification of SCs

First state to act on SC order; Mayawati says move a 'conspiracy' to divide Dalits

2 mins

Israel and its foes vow to fight on

Netanyahu says Gaza war not over; Iran, which backs Hamas & Hezbollah, asserts killing would fuel 'spirit of resistance'

1 min

Microsoft-OpenAI close partnership shows signs of fraying

Last fall, Sam Altman, OpenAI's chief executive, asked his counterpart at Microsoft, Satya Nadella, if the tech giant would invest billions of dollars in the start-up.

2 mins

At 4.6%, China's Q3 growth weakest since early 2023

China's economy grew at the slowest pace since early 2023 in the third quarter, and though consumption and factory output figures beat forecasts last month a tumbling property sector remains a major challenge for Beijing as it races to revitalise growth.

1 min

40% of global poor live in conflict-torn regions: UN

More than 1 billion people in the world live in acute poverty, over half are children and nearly 40 per cent live in conflict-torn and fragile countries, according to a report released Thursday.

1 min

Netflix shares jump on strong subscriber tally

Netflix shares hit an all-time high on Friday, buoyed by investor optimism that its robust content lineup will help the streaming giant maintain upbeat subscriber growth even as the boost from its password-sharing crackdown wanes. The company, widely seen as the winner of Hollywood's streaming wars, saw its stock rise nearly 10 per cent and was set to add more than $28 billion to its market value of about $295 billion, if gains hold.

1 min

Going nuclear again

Digital giants, Amazon, Google and Microsoft are all exploring the use of nuclear energy. Indeed, nuclear power, which has been under a PR cloud for decades, may make a big comeback as a direct consequence of the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) and, to some extent, cryptocurrencies.

3 mins

Windmills in British Columbia

If Sikh separatists are a nuisance, itshould worry their host countries. Should it bother India if they keep killing their ownin gang rivalries and making their neighbourhoods unsafe?

5 mins

Logic of Trump's tariffs has a gaping hole

In his interview this week with John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, former President Donald Trump offered a somewhat unusual argument in favour of tariffs, which he called \"the most beautiful word in the dictionary.\" Tariffs, he suggested, are not mainly about protecting domestic industry. Rather, they may serve as a means of luring foreign direct investment to the US.

3 mins

When green is a sign of warning

It is a peculiar and jarring sight: The Sahara, that unforgiving sea of sand, is boasting blue lagoons and carpet of green; the Thar is becoming wetter; and Antarctica, an ancient expanse of ice and rock, is sprouting moss and algae on its edges.

3 mins

Is the capitalistic model broken?

Amid the public outpouring of grief upon the passing of Ratan Tata, I became reflective. Could Russian economist Nikolai Kondratiev's long-cycle theory be at work about enterprise management? Is it in decline? Should there be fresh thought and action? Can future business leaders be loved as much as they are respected?

3 mins

Zomato shares drop 5% amid fundraise plans

Shares of food aggregator Zomato fell 5 per cent on the BSE on Friday, a day after the company said it would consider a fundraising plan at its Board meeting next week.

1 min

Anil Ambani gets partial relief from SAT in Sebi ban

The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) on Friday admitted a plea by Anil Ambani against an order by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in which the markets regulator had imposed a penalty of ₹25 crore on Ambani and debarred him from the markets for five years in a matter related to Reliance Home Finance (RHFL).

1 min

Mkts end in red for 3rd straight week

Longest weekly losing streak in 14 months; FPI selloff in October tops $9 billion

2 mins

Gold tops $2,700 for first time as investors flock to safety

Gold topped $2,700 an ounce for the first time, as concerns over escalating conflicts in West Asia and a tight US election race prompt investors to flock to safety.

1 min

Subdued earnings may spur market correction

Earnings disappointment can be the next big catalyst for a market correction over the next few weeks as India Inc unveils Q2 results after Bajaj Auto's tepid festive sales dampened the market sentiment, according to analysts.

2 mins

Margin pressure ahead for city gas distribution majors

The city gas distribution (CGD) sector is struggling to cope with a sharp reduction in allocation of administered price mechanism (APM) gas.

2 mins

FPI exodus: Financial sector bears the brunt

The first fortnight of the month saw record ₹66,300 crore ($7.9 billion) outflows from foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) as the trend sell-India-buy-China gathered pace.

1 min

Limit small and medium Reit exposure at 5% till they develop track record

Propertyshare Two players, and Rudrabhishek Enterprises, have received licences from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to launch small and medium real estate investment trusts (SM Reits). The first SM Reits could debut as early as November.

2 mins

Axis Bank shares rally over 5% after Q2 results

Brokerages cut earnings estimates, see limited downside in stock

3 mins

Cost-cutting boosts ZEEL profit by 70%

Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) on Friday reported a net profit of ₹209.4 crore in the second quarter of the financial year (Q2 FY25), rising 70.2 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) after it cut costs.

1 min

Tata Consumer Products profit up 8% at ₹364 cr

Starbucks now largest café chain

1 min

Vistara in-flight experience will last for 'some time' after merger

Air India has taken the step to reassure Vistara passengers concerned over quality

2 mins

UP THE MEMORY LANE

With registration of vintage cars formalised and rise of ultra-rich Indians, brace up for a beauty parade

4 mins

Disney-Reliance JV to stream live sports only on Hotstar

All live sporting events streamed by the newly merged Disney-Reliance business in India, including Indian Premier League (IPL), will only be available on Disney's Hotstar app, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

1 min

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