Most of the sectoral indices ended in the green this week. Oil & Gas, Metal, Power and FMCG gained 1-2% as we approached the closing bell on Friday. The IT sector, however, was in the red. BSE midcap and small-cap indices rose by nearly 1%. The BSE Sensex advanced and settled at 59447.18 while the Nifty closed above 17784.35 points, snapping its losing streak for 3 sessions.
Market Movers
Some of the top gainers were Bharat Dynamics Limited, Ceat Limited, Varroc Engineering Limited, Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited, and Hathway Cable and Datacom Limited. These companies gained anywhere between 8.80% and 15.35%
The losers included RBL Bank Limited, Escorts Limited, Adani Power Limited, Welspun Corp Limited and Future Consumer limited. These companies shed anywhere from 3.06% to 6.63%.
The Recap
In this week’s recap, we shall talk about the RBI’s First Bi-monthly Monetary Policy for 2022-23, how the HDFC twins will be larger than ICICI Bank, CCI’s probe on Zomato and Swiggy, Paytm’s shares, sell-off by FPIs, Coffee day’s loan repayment default, Tata Neu and more.
RBI’s First Bi-monthly Monetary Policy
The Central Bank’s Governor Shaktikanta Das the RBI’s first monetary policy statement for 2022-23. Here are a few highlights:
- The policy repo rate is unchanged at 4%; the marginal standing facility rate & bank rate remain unchanged at 4.25%.
- The monetary stance to be accommodative with a focus on withdrawal of accommodation to keep inflation within target.
- The GDP growth projection for FY’23 has been slashed to 7.2%from 7.8%.
- The inflation forecast has been hiked to 5.7% for FY’23 from 4.5%.
- Investment activity to gain traction with improving business confidence, pick up in bank credit, and government CAPEX plans.
HDFC Bank merger will create an entity twice the size of ICICI Bank
HDFC Bank is about to merge with its parent HDFC. The resultant company will be twice the size of ICICI Bank, as per S&P Global Ratings.
This is one of the largest mergers in the Indian history. It will most likely result in significant market-share gains for HDFC Bank, since HDFC Limited is the largest financier of mortgages in India.
Zomato and Swiggy to face CCI’s probe for alleged unfair business practices
Zomato and Swiggy, are to face the Competition Commission of India’s probe for alleged unfair business practices with respect to their dealings with restaurant partners since the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) filed a complaint against them.
The CCI said that both Zomato and Swiggy operate as major intermediary platforms in the food delivery space, underscoring their market power and ability to adversely as well as appreciably affect the level playing field.
CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma: Paytm shares declined due to volatile market conditions
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Paytm’s CEO said on Wednesday that Paytm’s shares declined significantly in recent times due to volatile market conditions for high growth stocks.
He expects the company to break even in terms of operating EBITDA in the next six quarters. He added that the entire Paytm team is committed to building a successful, profitable company and creating long-term shareholder value.
Equity markets saw the worst sell-off by FPIs in FY22
Foreign portfolio investors pumped in a whopping Rs 2.7 lakh crore in 2020-21 and then dumped Indian shares worth a record Rs 1.4 lakh crore in the financial year 2021-22, amid a sharp surge in coronavirus cases, concerns over the risk to economic recovery and global turmoil triggered by Russia-Ukraine war.
Flows from FPIs are expected to remain volatile in the near term given the headwinds in terms of elevated crude prices and inflation, according to experts.
HDFC Bank may raise up to Rs 50,000cr by issuing bonds
HDFC Bank on Wednesday said it is planning to raise up to Rs 50,000 crore by issuing bonds on a private placement basis in the next one year. It plans to raise these funds by issuing perpetual debt instruments (part of additional tier I capital), tier II capital bonds and long-term bonds (financing of infrastructure and affordable housing).
A meeting will be held on April 16 and the board will consider this proposal. Further, perpetual bonds carry no maturity date, so they may be treated as equity, not as debt.
Coffee Day has defaulted on Rs 480 crore loan repayment
The company said that it has defaulted a total of Rs 479.68 crore on repayment of loans and unlisted debt securities in the quarter ended March 31, 2022.
This includes Rs 224.88 crore on repayment of loans or revolving facilities like cash credit from banks and financial institutions, Rs 5.78 crore default in interest amount for the same, Rs 200 crore on payments of unlisted debt securities and Rs 49.02 crore default on the payment of interest of the debt securities.
Tata group launches super app Tata Neu
The salt to software conglomerate launched its super app, Tata Neu, which brings together grocery-to-hotel-to-airline ticket booking and medicine on a single platform, rivalling similar products from Amazon, Flipkart and Jio Mart.
Chairman N Chandrasekaran said that Tata Neu combines the traditional consumer-first approach of the group with the modern ethos of technology. Tata Neu is an exciting platform that gathers all Tata’s brands into one powerful app.
Unacademy lays off around 600 employees due to non-performance, redundancy
Unacademy looks to enhance efficiency and become profitable by the end of this year. As a result, it has laid off around 600 employees or 10% of the total workforce on account of non-performance and role redundancy.
The retrenched employees include contractual workers and educators among others. Unacademy is built on a culture of high performance and transparency, and a key aspect of that is the transparency and objectivity with which it conducts the annual appraisal process, a company spokesperson said.
IHC to invest $2 bn in Adani Group’s green portfolio
Abu Dhabi-based conglomerate International Holding Company(IHC) will invest USD 2 billion in three green-focused companies of Adani Group, helping tycoon Gautam Adani’s units fund expansion plans.
The investment is subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals. The proceeds will be utilised for pursuing the growth of the respective businesses, for further strengthening the balance sheet and for general corporate purposes.
Equity Mutual Funds see all-time high net inflow of Rs 28,463 cr in Mar
Retail and HNI investors used market correction as a good buying opportunity as equity mutual funds attracted an all-time high net inflow of Rs 28,463 crore in March. The bullishness was observed among investors despite record outflow by foreign funds.
Overall, the mutual fund industry registered a net outflow of Rs 69,883 crore in March, as compared to a net infusion of Rs 31,533 crore in February. The outflow pulled down the average assets under management (AUM) of the industry to Rs 37.7 lakh crore at the end of March, from Rs 38.56 lakh crore in the preceding month.
