Business News at 05:30 pm on 11th June, 2024

Let’s begin – Indian benchmark indices ended on a flat note in the volatile session today. At close, the Sensex was down 33.49 points or 0.04 percent at 76,456.59, and the Nifty was up 5.60 points or 0.02 percent at 23,264.80. About 2246 shares advanced, 1193 shares declined, and 70 shares unchanged. ONGC, L&T, Adani Ports, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors were are among the top gainers on the Nifty, while losers included Kotak Mahindra Bank, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Asian Paints, Reliance Industries and Divis Labs. Among sectors, selling was seen in the bank, FMCG, healthcare and metal names, while capital goods, oil & gas and realty up 1 percent each. The BSE midcap index rose 0.7 percent while the smallcap index added nearly 1 percent. Up next – SBI is doubling down on its loan products for MSMEs. The bank launched a ‘SME Digital Business Loans’ initiative to sanction loan requests from MSMEs within 45 minutes, given that MSME advances have been identified as the focal point for the bank’s growth and profitability over the next five years. The new solution will leverage authentic data sources including ITR, GST returns & bank statements to underwrite loans quickly. SBI said it has developed a “data-driven credit assessment engine capable of providing sanction decisions within a remarkable 10 seconds after submitting the required details, without any human intervention.” MSMEs will be able to raise loans up to Rs 50 lakh for which the bank has waived the requirement for financial statements. Moving on – The production capacity of organised paints sector is expected to double to approximately 7.8 billion litre per annum between FY24 and FY27 with investments of around Rs 19,000 crore lined up, including by one large entrant, reveals a report by CRISIL. The report further suggests that out of these, around 2.4 blpa will be operational in FY25. Additionally, this will have a share of 1.3 blpa from the new entrants into the industry, primarily in the decorative segment, which accounts for 75-80 per cent of the total paints production. Meanwhile, the volume will increase at a pace of 10-15 per cent annually in line with the past trends, however sizable capacities coming onstream will lead to increased competition for the market size. In another development – Almost 78 stocks, including LIC, Zomato, YES Bank, Jio Financial, Paytm, RVNL, and Adani Green, could enter the Futures & Options list as the markets regulator, SEBI, has proposed to review the selection criteria for the entry and exit of stocks in the derivatives market. Under the proposed rules, SEBI aims to increase the Median Quarter Sigma Order Size from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 75 lakh-Rs 1 crore. Additionally, the market-wide position limit is proposed to be raised from Rs 500 crore to Rs 1,250 crore- Rs 1,750 crore. SEBI has also proposed the introduction of the Product Success Framework for single-stock derivatives. Meanwhile – Housing Finance stocks rose after the first Cabinet meeting of the Modi 3.0 government on Monday approved assistance to construct 3 crore additional rural and urban houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. In the Cabinet meeting, it was decided to assist 3 crore additional rural and urban households for the construction of houses, to meet the housing requirements arising out of the increase in the number of eligible families, said media reports. The stock of Homes First Finance rose 11.4% to an intraday high of Rs 963. Those of Aavas Financiers surged 9.2% to hit a new 52-week high of Rs 1,894. In other news – The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Centre and the National Testing Agency on a petition seeking cancellation of this year’s National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test for Undergraduate Medical courses, citing an alleged paper leak. A vacation bench, comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Ahsanuddin Amanullah, deferred the matter to July 8, requesting a response from the National Testing Agency. The highest court was hearing petitions urging the cancellation of the NEET-UG 2024 examination due to alleged paper leaks and other irregularities this year. Aside from the paper leak, NEET-UG candidates have also raised concerns about inconsistencies in awarding compensatory marks to students for time lost during the exam. Lastly – Indian universities and higher education institutions will now be permitted to offer admissions twice a year, similar to the practice in foreign universities, following approval from the University Grants Commission, university body chief Jagadesh Kumar announced. The two admission cycles will be scheduled for July-August and January-February, beginning with the 2024-25 academic session. According to Kumar, biannual university admissions will help students maintain motivation since they do not have to wait one full year to be admitted if they miss admission in the current cycle. With biannual admissions in place, industries can also do their campus recruitment twice a year, improving employment opportunities for the graduates.