Business News at 05:30 pm on 17th April, 2024

Let’s begin – The International Monetary Fund has raised its forecast for India’s GDP growth in FY24 by a steep 110 basis points to 7.8%, even higher than the expansion rate of 7.6% seen by the National Statistical Office in its second advance estimate. It also upped the GDP growth projection for the country for FY25 by 30 bps to 6.8% and retained the forecast for FY26 at 6.5%. To justify the upward revisions, the IMF cited “the robustness reflecting continuing strength in domestic demand and a rising working-age population.” The IMF forecast for FY25 is, however, still 20 bps lower than the Reserve Bank of India’s projection of 7% for the year. FM Nirmala Sitharaman last month had said GDP may have grown above 8% in FY24.

Up next – The government has no plans to monetise its stake in Vodafone Idea, Tuhin Kanta Pandey, secretary, department of investment and public asset management told Fe, ahead of the mega follow-on public offer by the telecom operator.The telco is hitting the market with an Rs 18,000 crore equity offering on Thursday — the share sale will open on April 18 (for anchor investors on April 16) and close on April 22 — to mobilise funds, which will help it in increasing its capex, launch 5G services and pare spectrum and adjusted gross revenue debt. The company needs funds to catch up with peers Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio.
Moving on – The rupee plunged to an all-time closing low of 83.54 against the dollar on Tuesday, weighed down by the simmering geopolitical tensions in West Asia and the hardening of US Treasury yields. The local currency hit a lifetime low of 83.56 during intraday trade, but likely intervention from the Reserve Bank of India prevented any further fall. It ended the day with a decline of 9 paise or 0.10%, surpassing its previous closing low of 83.45 recorded on Monday. “RBI’s presence was felt in the market. Reduced volatility in the market suggested that RBI might have intervened in the market,” Kunal Sodhani, vice-president – treasury, Shinhan Bank, told FE.

Meanwhile – Temasek-backed logistics startup Shiprocket is expecting to return to profit in FY25, after a slew of acquisitions in the last two years had pushed its bottomline in the red. However, the company plans to continue with its acquisition spree in the new fiscal to add new services on its platform that serves 100,000 active merchants every quarter. In an interaction with Fe, its chief executive officer Saahil Goel noted that Shiprocket’s aim is to acquire companies that offer certain products and services that sellers require for end-to-end logistics. For example, it acquired Rocketbox in 2022 to offer B2B bulk shipment, and Glaucus, a warehousing company that same year, to offer warehousing services to mid-to-large-sized sellers.

In other news – Fintech major BharatPe on Tuesday appointed Nalin Negi as the new CEO of the company. He had joined the firm as CFO in August 2022 and was appointed as interim CEO in January 2023, following the exit of former CEO Suhail Sameer. With over 28 years of experience in the fintech and banking sector under his belt, Negi vast experience with SBI Cards where his worked as the CFO has come quite handy in his latest assignment. Rajnish Kumar, Chairman of BharatPe Board said, “…His extensive experience in the fintech industry and the growth witnessed for BharatPe under his leadership makes him a natural choice to lead the company.

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“Moving ahead – Telecom equipment maker Ericsson on Tuesday reported a 11% quarter-on-quarter decline in revenue from its India operations to 5.3 billion Swedish crowns which is around Rs 4,046 crore for the January-March quarter, according to the company’s earnings. This marks a drop in revenues for Ericsson sequentially for the second straight quarter in India. Until the July-September quarter of 2023, the company had been experiencing record sales from its India operations. The decline in sales during the quarter was attributed to a return to normalised investment levels by telecom operators, following the rapid rollout pace of 5G networks.

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Lastly – For the third consecutive session, benchmark indices took a beating on Tuesday, registering their longest losing streak in three months. Investors stayed cautious as the possibility that the Federal Reserve may not cut interest rates in June amid stronger-than-expected US retail sales data and geopolitical tensions in West Asia made the market mood gloomy. Sensex fell 0.6% or 456.1 points to close the session at 72,943.68 points, and the Nifty also ended 0.6% or 124.6 points lower at 22,147.90 points. In the last three trading sessions, investor wealth has declined by nearly Rs 8 trillion. The conflict between Iran and Israel, which has erupted fresh geopolitical tensions in West Asia amid the ongoing Israel-Gaza war, has raised concerns that the crude oil prices could spike.