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

Let’s begin – The Hinduja Group has rejected lenders’ demand to implement the resolution plan for Reliance Capital by March 31, including the release of payment, saying that it is not “tenable”. Implementing the resolution plan, especially of the size and scale of RCap, “in less than one month and 10 days is not only untenable and impractical but unimaginable,” IndusInd International Holdings said in a letter to the administrator. The Hinduja Group had bid for RCap trhough IIHL. RCap’s lenders have been seeking implementation of the resolution plan by the end of this month. The NCLT on Wednesday, however, permitted the process to be completed by May 27.
UP next – The Centre has approved the sale of the iconic Air India building at Nariman Point in Mumbai to the Maharashtra government for an estimated price of Rs 1,601 crore. The state government would use the building, which was carved out when Air India was sold to Tata Group in 2022, to house government offices. Maharashtra has agreed to waive dues of Rs 298.42 crore, which would have been otherwise payable by AI Assets Holding Company Ltd, through which the Centre holds the prestigious property, for this transaction, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said on X. The receipts from the sale of building would count towards asset monetisation receipts by the Centre.
“Moving on – New unicorns are likely to add $1 trillion to the Indian economy, which would reach $7 trillion size by 2030, and add 50 million new jobs, according to a report released by industry body CII on Thursday. Startup firms valued over $1 billion are categorised as unicorns. The report ‘Unicorn 2.0: Adding the Next Trillion’ has been prepared with McKinsey & Company as the knowledge partner, CII said. Sectors such as retail and e-commerce, next-gen financial services, manufacturing, and SaaS and digital are poised to drive massive growth in the coming years. The first unicorn was seen in India in 2011, and after a decade, India has crossed the mark of 100 unicorns.

In other news – Samsung on Thursday said it is confident that the trend of consumers moving towards premium products as well as focus on 5G phones will continue to drive strong revenue growth for the company this year. The comment comes at a time when the overall consumer demand for smartphones remains weak. Basis this, there is a pile up of inventory across channels, thereby leading to weak shipments to dealers/retailers for the smartphone companies. “We will be cautiously optimistic on the shipment numbers, but we are very optimistic on the overall revenue growth,” Raju Pullan, senior vice president of mobile business at Samsung India, told FE.

Moving ahead – The RBI bought 8.7 tonne of gold in January, making it the largest purchase by the central bank since July 2022. The RBI’s gold holding has climbed to 812.3 tonne in January, from 803.58 tonne in December 2023, according to the World Gold Council data. The central bank is adding gold to diversify its forex reserves and hedge against foreign currency risks, experts say. “The RBI is strategically increasing gold reserves as part of its forex diversification efforts,” Madan Sabnavis, chief economist, Bank of Baroda, told FE. The RBI started buying gold from the calendar year 2018. Before that, it had purchased 200 tonne in 2009 during the global financial crisis

Meanwhile – India’s oil products demand witnessed an increase of 132,000 barrels per day or 2.4% in February compared with the same period last year, S&P Global Commodity Insights reported. Month-on-month analysis, too, showed robust growth, with consumption up by 256,000 b/d, underlining the economic recovery and increased industrial activities.The report highlighted that the increase in demand spanned across most oil products, with the exception of fuel oil and a few other minor products. Liquefied Petroleum Gas and gasoil/diesel were the front-runners in this growth, primarily driven by heightened household consumption due to the cooler weather conditions in the northern regions and an uptick in diesel usage attributed to improved mobility and industrial activities post-winter.

Lastly – GIFT Nifty indicated that Indian equity indices BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 may see a negative opening. GIFT Nifty traded lower as the index was down 134 points or 0.60% at 22,129.00 indicating a negative start for domestic indices NSE Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex on Friday. Previously, on Thursday, the NSE Nifty 50 gained 148.95 points or 0.68% to settle at 22,146.65, while the BSE Sensex closed 335.39 points or 0.46% higher at 73,097.28. The key stocks to watch in trade are GAIL (India), Oil Marketing Company, One97 Communications, Hindustan Zinc, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro, IndiGrid, Zee, Vedanta, Adani Green Energy and Bharat Electronics among others.