ICAI on Tuesday said it is setting up a fast-track cell to deal with cases against chartered accountants involved in incorporating shell companies in India with Chinese links and it would aim to dispose them of by the end of the year. Those found guilty can face a lifetime ban, among other actions. The apex bodies of chartered accountants and company secretaries, ICAI and ICSI, have together received around 400 complaints on the issue and necessary actions have been initiated.
A new regulation concerning the disclosure of family arrangements by listed companies is exacerbating rifts between feuding shareholders. The latest example is Bengaluru-based TD Power Systems (TDPS), currently enmeshed in a legal dispute before the Karnataka high court over ownership of its 16 per cent equity. Vijay Kirloskar, who is asserting a claim over the 16 per cent stake held by Mohib Khericha (chairperson of TDPS) and Nikhil Kumar (managing director of TDPS and nephew of Kirloskar), has sent a letter to the market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), and stock exchanges. He accuses TDPS of insufficient disclosure concerning shareholder agreements.
Half the stocks in the Nifty 100 index have seen a reduction in their target price by analysts this year due to fears of lacklustre earnings growth and uncertain economic environment. Adani Green Energy, FSN E-Commerce (Nykaa), Adani Ports & SEZ and Indus Towers are among the companies that have seen the maximum cut in TPs during the first three months of calendar 2023, shows Bloomberg data. On the other hand, Canara Bank, JSW Steel and Bank of Baroda have seen the highest increase in TPs.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday nudged the fintech industry to break the distance barrier and have more engagements with the government and its agencies to enhance trust. Sitharaman was replying to a question by Kris Gopalakrishnan, chairman, Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2022 advisory board, who wanted to know how to ensure trust among industry, regulators, and the government. "I don't want to sound cliche, but distance brings distrust. "So, cut the distance down, have greater engagement with the government," the minister said.
The biggest jump in earnings and decline in P/E multiples has occurred with top companies in metals and mining, corporate banking, and the oil and gas sectors.
Bollywood stars shower their moms with love on Mother's Day by sharing cute throwback pix.
Online gaming companies will not be allowed to engage in betting on the outcome of games under the principle laid in draft rules, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Monday. The minister said that as of now, all permissible online gaming will need to be registered with a self-regulatory organisation that will be accountable to the online gaming rules.
The engineering and construction (E&C) sector delivered an excellent performance in the last two financial years (FY2021-22 or FY22 and FY23's nine-months) and there's reason to believe that FY24 will also see outperformance. The sector has emerged from the pandemic with stronger balance sheets and more rational cost structures. It has a big order book and it should see new order flows accelerate in FY24.
The Supreme Court has ruled that an insurance company will be liable to pay compensation to a vehicle owner, even if the vehicle involved in a mishap is manned by a driver without a valid licence.
S&P Global Ratings on Thursday said about half of the Indian companies that it rates are getting a boost in their core profitability from rupee depreciation. "Much of our rated India corporate portfolio has sizable US-dollar linked revenue and, therefore, is not exposed to rupee depreciation. "This encompasses entities in the IT, metals, and chemicals sectors. About half of the firms we rate are getting an EBITDA boost from currency weakening," the US-based rating agency said in a report.
With intermittent disruptions in the supply chain of raw materials from China, the Indian pharma industry has braced itself with bigger inventory. Even smaller drug makers are now carrying a month of buffer stock of key raw materials, said industry insiders. The lockdown in various Chinese provinces, including Shanghai, is likely to delay shipments by two weeks to a month, said domestic players. Shipments are critical for the Indian drug industry, which imports 70 per cent of its raw material from China.
The information technology services sector will see a sharp fall in revenue growth to 12-13 per cent in FY23 from 19 per cent in FY22, ratings agency Crisil said on Thursday. However, the current depreciation in the rupee, strong demand for new age technologies like artificial intelligence, cloud computing and Internet of Things will help the over $220-billion sector maintain a double digit growth, it said in a report. The moderation from 19 per cent to 12-13 per cent will be the highest in the last eight years, it said and attributed the decline to expected tightening of IT expenditure by corporates amid the inflationary headwinds in the United States and European Union (EU), which together contribute almost 85 per cent to the sector's revenue.
Scores of chartered accountants, company secretaries and cost accountants are currently under the regulatory scanner for alleged violations of the companies law with respect to setting up of certain Chinese companies and their subsidiaries in India, according to officials. The apex bodies of chartered accountants and company secretaries, ICAI and ICSI, have together received around 400 complaints on the issue and necessary actions have been initiated. The Institute of Cost Accountants of India has also initiated action against some of their members in the matter.
Ashwin has taken a slight dig at people who perceive him as an 'overthinker'
Shares of companies having investments of late billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala ended on a mixed note on Tuesday. The 62-year-old investor, who was known as the Big Bull and Warren Buffett of India for his investment acumen, passed away on Sunday. Jhunjhunwala had investments in more than three dozen companies, the most valuable being watch and jewellery maker Titan, part of the Tata group. Titan ended 0.88 pe cent higher at Rs 2,493.65.
Parle Agro, which sells beverages such as Frooti in small tetra packs, has already started importing paper straws. Dabur India, which sells its fruit juices in tetra packs under the brand Real, is also considering importing paper straws.
Leading drug firms Aurobindo Pharma, Sun Pharma and Jubilant are recalling different products in the US market for various reasons, as per the latest enforcement report by the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA). While Aurobindo Pharma is recalling Cyanocobalamin Injection, which is used to treat and prevent lack of vitamin B12, Mumbai-based Sun Pharma is recalling a drug used to increase the production of natural tears in eyes. Similarly, Jubilant Cadista is recalling a drug which is used to treat different inflammatory conditions.
The Adani Group has overtaken Mukesh Ambani Group to become the country's second biggest business group in terms of market cap behind Tatas. Adani Group cos now have a combined m-cap of Rs 19.44 trillion against Ambani Group cos combined m-cap of Rs 17.89 trillion. Tata Group leads the league table with the group market capitalisation of Rs 21.73 trillion on Monday. The Adani Group companies, however, continue to out-perform firms from business groups and the broader market on the bourses by a big margin.
Automotive (auto) and consumer appliance companies are hoping for a bounty from the harvest season after two consecutive dry spells in 2020 and 2021. The season, which also marks the beginning of the regional New Year, kicked in across the country from April 1 - Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra; Ugadi in Karnataka, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh; Bihu in the Northeast; and Chaitra Navratri in the North. Manufacturers and retailers of cars, two-wheelers, and consumer appliances said they have seen demand pick up year-on-year (YoY) at a brisk pace across categories.
In a major relief to Indian information technology (IT) companies operating in Australia, Canberra has agreed to amend its domestic laws to stop taxing offshore income of such Indian companies, as part of the free trade deal inked. This may lead to savings up to $200 million each year for over 100 Indian IT companies operating in Australia. "The Government of Australia has agreed to amend the domestic taxation law to stop the taxation of offshore income of Indian firms providing technical services to Australia. "This will resolve the issue that the Indian government has raised about the double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) between the two governments for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income," said a commerce ministry official.
'The impact of CEO transition is fairly even for stocks, with about half (53 per cent) of the events not producing any change in the relative performance of the stock.'
Passenger and commercial vehicle prices are expected to rise as automobile companies invest in upgrading vehicles to meet stricter emission norms that kick in from April next year. The Indian automobile industry is currently working to make their products meet the second phase of Bharat Stage VI, equivalent to Euro-VI emission norms, in real time driving conditions. Four-wheeler passenger and commercial vehicles will need more sophisticated equipment to be added to meet the next level of emission standards.
The proposal in the Finance Bill to amend provisions of Section 179 of the Income Tax (I-T) Act relating to tax liability of directors of private limited companies from April 1, 2022, could increase risks for directors of medium and small-sized firms in case of non-payment, said experts. While the language of the provision is quite broad, the title of the section limits itself to 'liability of directors of private companies in liquidation'. The Bill proposes to align the title with the scope of the provision, thereby ensuring that orders under this section can be issued even if the relevant company is not under liquidation.
Madhuri misses mangoes... Shilpa meditates... Hina plays the guessing game...
Amid concerns over minorities being targeted in India, former Reserve Bank governor Raghuram Rajan on Thursday cautioned that an 'anti-minority' image for the country can lead to loss of market for Indian products and may also result in foreign governments perceiving the nation as an unreliable partner. India enters the perception battle from a position of strength, the professor at Chicago's Booth School of Business said, alluding to credentials like democracy and secularism, but warned that this battle is "ours to lose". The comments came a day after bulldozers tore down several concrete and temporary structures close to a mosque in Jahangirpuri as part of an anti-encroachment drive, days after the northwest Delhi neighbourhood was rocked by communal violence.
Consumer stocks remain the biggest laggard on the bourses. The Nify50 weighting of FMCG stocks declined to a decade low of 9.9 per cent at the end of March this year, down 150 basis points from 11.4 per cent a year ago. At their peak in March 2013, major FMCG stocks, such as Hindustan Unilever, ITC, and Asian Paints, together accounted for 15 per cent of the Nifty50. But now together with automobile stocks, the consumer goods sector accounts for only 14.7 per cent of the index, down 200 basis points in the past 12 months and 37 per cent from the record high weighting of 23.4 per cent at the end of March 2014.
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum may post a combined loss of Rs 10,700 crore in June quarter on selling petrol and diesel at rates below cost, a report said on Monday. While the raw material (crude oil) prices soared in April-June, petrol and diesel prices were not revised, leading to marketing losses which offset strong refining margins, ICICI Securities said in the report. The three state-owned oil marketing companies -- IOC, BPCL and HPCL -- control 90 per cent of the retail petrol and diesel sales in the country.
A government ministry has proposed decriminalising offences under the Collection of Statistics Act 2008 as part of the government's efforts to rationalise legislations to promote the ease of doing business. The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has invited public comments on its draft proposal by October 30. The proposal to amend sections of the act will decriminalise offences like obstructing or deceiving statistics officers by doing away with the provision of simple imprisonment up to six months.
Investments by private equity and venture capital funds in November stood at $6.8 billion across 102 deals, which is double by value when compared with the pandemic-impacted year-ago period but half of the bets in the preceding month of October, as per a report. In November 2020, such high-risk investors had infused $3.9 billion, while in October, the total investments had stood at $13.1 billion, the monthly data shared by industry lobby IVCA and the consultancy EY said. The overall investments in the first 11 months of the year have touched $72.6 billion, which is 53 per cent higher than the all-time high for a year achieved in 2020, it said.
Superseding the boards of two non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) in the Srei group will neither create liquidity challenges for sound entities, nor build systemic crises because the markets have factored in the problems with the Kolkata-based firms. Such regulatory steps will help in making the NBFC space more robust, bankers and market experts said. The action should have begun earlier because the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had done a special audit last financial year and asked the group to make provisions for assets considered stressed, analysts said.
The top-10 valued companies added a whopping Rs 2.72 lakh crore to their market valuation last week, as the domestic equity benchmarks witnessed heavy buying tracking an overall bullish trend in global equities. The benchmark indices made strong gains in the holiday-truncated week. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 2,313.63 points or 4.16 per cent, while the NSE Nifty advanced 656.60 points or 3.95 per cent. Mirroring the bullish trend in the broader market, the combined market capitalisation (m-cap) of the country's top-10 firms zoomed by Rs 2,72,184.67 crore during last week.
India's first auction of 5G spectrum, that powers ultra-high data speeds, is currently underway with a total of 72 GHz (gigahertz) of radiowaves worth at least Rs 4.3 lakh crore up for bidding. Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio, Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and a unit of billionaire Gautam Adani's flagship Adani Enterprises are in the race to bid for 5G spectrum, that offers speeds about 10 times faster than 4G, lag-free connectivity, and can enable billions of connected devices to share data in real-time. In addition to powering ultra-low latency connections, which allow downloading full-length high-quality video or movie to a mobile device in a matter of seconds (even in crowded areas), Fifth Generation or 5G would enable solutions such as e-health, connected vehicles, more-immersive augmented reality and metaverse experiences, life-saving use cases, and advanced mobile cloud gaming among others.
As the pandemic pushed employers to explore and adapt new ways to stay in the business, a survey has revealed that 6 out of 10 organisations have adopted 'work from home' policy post Covid-19 relaxations. Over 65 per cent of the employers have either introduced 'work from home' as a policy or are evaluating the same reflecting a maturity and the confidence in their employees, according to a survey by Grant Thornton Bharat. The survey was conducted online by Grant Thornton Bharat among 4,650 respondents across social media platforms.
Continuing efforts to boost the capital market, Sebi on Wednesday decided to tweak the 25 per cent minimum public shareholding requirement for companies undergoing insolvency process, segregate assets as well as liabilities of mutual funds, and ease norms governing promoter participation in follow-on public offers. For the mutual fund segment, the watchdog also relaxed the profitability criteria and mandated minimum Rs 100 crore net worth requirement for entities to become sponsors of mutual funds. The board of Sebi, at its meeting on Wednesday, also cleared amendment regulations pertaining to market intermediaries to avoid duplication of proceedings before the designated authority and the designated member.
However, rural demand continued to remain a concern for FMCG companies during the quarter.
Indian drug firms get a shot in the arm in the $12 bn Australian drug market as the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), Australia agrees to accelerate the drug approval process in that country for Indian players who already have an approved plant and product from one of the stringent regulatory authorities like US, EU or Canada. From current sales of $340 mn, the Indian firms can see a significant upside in sales; felt Dinesh Dua, former chairman of the Pharmaceutical Exports Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil), and the MD of Nectar Lifesciences. He highlighted that only 12 percent of the Australian drug market is generic, as against 80-90 per cent in the US or EU. Of this $1.5 bn generic drug market in India, Indian companies have a small share.
The primary market has seen hectic fundraising activity in April-November 2021, with 75 companies garnering Rs 89,066 crore through their IPOs, much higher than in any year in the last decade, Economic Survey showed on Monday. Moreover, a flurry of technology startups made their public debuts during the period. In comparison, 29 companies raised Rs 14,733 crore through initial public offerings (IPOs) during April-November 2020.
Rising prices of international coal - both coking and thermal - used in the making of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, respectively, are expected to have an impact on margins of metals companies in July-September quarter (Q2) as steel companies may see margins getting eroded, while the base firms could stand to benefit, said brokerages.
Indian IT services companies are likely to post a 9-12 per cent revenue growth in USD terms in FY22, helped by the strong demand for digital deals, a report said on Tuesday. However, the same will not translate into profits, because higher salaries will result in the operating profit margins for the same set of companies to come at 23 per cent from 24.2 per cent in FY21, domestic rating agency Icra said. The IT sector is one of the few sectors that have not been deeply impacted by the pandemic.
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