Business News at 05:30 pm on 15th February, 2024

Let’s begin. The Enforcement Directorate has questioned senior Paytm executives and taken submission of documents from them following the recent RBI action of barring Paytm Payments Bank Ltd from accepting deposits or top-ups in any customer account, official sources said. The central agency, as per sources, is conducting preliminary examination of documents before it decides to launch a formal investigation into the RBI-flagged alleged irregularities at the fintech company under FEMA. Some documents have been recently submitted by Paytm executives following which they were asked certain questions. Some more information has been sought, the sources said. As of now, no irregularities have been detected and a case under FEMA will only be registered once any contravention under the said law is found. On to market. Jefferies maintains Bharti Airtel as its top pick in the sector, driven by the company’s strong prospects in terms of Ebitda and free cash flow. The strategic focus on network investments positions Bharti Airtel favorably in navigating the evolving telecom industry landscape. Despite this, Jefferies draws attention to the strategic direction taken by Bharti Airtel and Jio, emphasizing their unwavering commitment to network investments. This strategic focus has positioned them uniquely in contrast to Vodafone Idea, contributing to potential market share gains. According to the report, Bharti Airtel maintained a robust capital expenditure of Rs 57 billion in the India mobile segment during the third quarter. Speaking of Jefferies, The broking firm raised the target price on the stock of Samvardhana Motherson to Rs 135 from Rs 120, earlier. It has kept the rating unchanged to “Buy” on the stock. The brokerage believes the company’s earnings per share to increase by 67% in the current financial year and grow 42 per cent on a compound basis over the next two years. The company’s business has started to turn around due to which the brokerage expects strong growth ahead led by improving core business and recent acquisitions such as an 81% stake in Yachiyo’s four-wheeler business. This acquisition will start contributing to the company’s profit and loss statement from the next financial year, said the brokerage. Meanwhile, The retail sales value of the consumer products sector has grown tremendously throughout the year with the industry globally rising by close to 10 per cent year over year in 2023. While that surge is nearly double the 10-year average growth rate, three-quarters of it is likely due to price increases rather than volume gains, according to a survey report by Bain & Company. In the US and Europe, price increases accounted for 95 per cent of RSV growth. That imbalance isn’t sustainable, and emerging markets will be key to driving profitable, volume-driven growth for consumer packaged goods in the years ahead. Richard Webster, head of Bain & Company’s global Consumer Products practice said that as inflation slows, a paradox is emerging for consumer companies. Over to industry. Happiest Minds Technologies Limited on Thursday announced its strategic partnership with Soroco, an AI company. Through this partnership with Soroco, Happiest Minds brings intelligence to automation discovery with process and task mining. Leveraging Soroco’s flagship Scout AI model, which generates a work graph, and their combined expertise in graph technology and digital automation solutions, the partnership aims to help organizations solve complex business problems, make data-driven decisions, improve operational efficiency and cost savings, and ultimately discover, monitor, and improve their operational processes. Moving on. Shares of NMDC rose 7.2 per cent to hit a new 52-week high of Rs 252.40 after the company reported strong consolidated net profit for the third quarter of the current financial year. The company’s consolidated net profit advanced 62% to Rs 1,469.73 crore for the quarter ending December of FY24 attributed to the higher income. A year ago, the company booked a net profit of Rs 903.89 crore. The company reported the total income for the third of the current year at Rs 5,746.47, a surge of over 46% compared to Rs 3,924.75 posted in the same quarter a year ago. The stock of the company has risen 2.4% in the last five days and 18.8% in the last one month. Lastly, let’s see how the share market performed today. Indian benchmark indices ended higher for the third consecutive session on February 15 with Nifty above 21,900. At close, the Sensex was up 227.55 points or 0.32 per cent at 72,050.38, and the Nifty was up 70.80 points or 0.32 per cent at 21,910.80. About 2172 shares advanced, 1200 shares declined, and 72 shares unchanged. Top gainers on the Nifty were M&M, BPCL, ONGC, NTPC and Power Grid Corporation, while top losers were Axis Bank, Apollo Hospitals, ITC, HUL and Nestle India. On the sectoral front, except FMCG, all other indices ended in the green. BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were up 1 per cent each.