Business News at 05:30 pm on 19th January, 2024

Let’s begin. With the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman al set to present the interim Budget for the year 2024-25 on February 1, 2024, India Inc is expecting announcement of series of measures for growth of consumption, reform policies that gives level playing field for manufacturers, strategic allocations towards infrastructure development, focus on agriculture, among others. This will be the last Budget passed by the central government before the general elections and all eyes will be on the finance minister to hopefully announce a slew of populist measures. The full budget for the fiscal year 2024-25 will be presented after the formation of the new government following the general elections.

Meanwhile, Central Bank of India on Friday reported its third quarter earnings for the financial year 2023-24 with profit at Rs 734.47 crore, up 55.1 per cent in comparison to Rs 473.47 crore during the same period last year. The Bank’s Net Interest Income marginally declined by 4.04 per cent on Year on Year basis to Rs 3152 crore in Q3FY24 as against Rs 3285 crore for Q3FY23. However, excluding one off exceptional item, NII was up 3.73 per cent from Rs 3042 crore in Q3FY23 to Rs 3125 crore in Q3FY24. Total income during the quarter in review stood at Rs 9171.16 crore, up 19.6 per cent in comparison to Rs 7665.59 crore during the same period last year.

Moving on. Hindustan Zinc on Friday posted its third quarter profit at Rs 2028 crore, down 5.9 per cent in comparison to Rs 2156 crore during the corresponding quarter of FY23, surpassing estimates. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 7067 crore, down 7.4 per cent as against Rs 7628 crore during the third quarter of FY23. According to a CNBC TV18 poll, Hindustan Zinc was expected to record Q3 profit at Rs 1895 crore and revenue was estimated to be at Rs 7495 crore. EBITDA for the quarter was Rs 3,559 crore, down 4 per cent yoy in line with the revenue from operations and cost improvement. The total expenses for the quarter stood at Rs 4937 crore.

In some more industry news, Tata Consumer Products announced that its board of directors have approved fundraising of up to Rs 6,500 crore. In a regulatory filing, the company said that it has approved the raising of funds through the issuance and allotment of Commercial Papers, for an amount not exceeding Rs 3,500 crore, and also raising of funds by way of the issue of equity shares of the company of face value Re 1 each through rights issue for an amount not exceeding Rs 3,000 crore. It added that funds amounting to Rs 3,500 crore are to be utilized for bridge funding to facilitate the payment of consideration for proposed acquisition of stakes in Capital Foods Private Limited and Organic India Private Limited.

Over to market. The broking firm Jefferies has a target price of Rs 2,070 on the stock of IndusInd Bank, an upside of 26% from the current market price. It has kept the rating unchanged to “Buy”. According to the brokerage house, the bank’s new non-performing loans were disappointing as they came higher. Mostly, they rose in the commercial vehicle loans segment after the Chennai floods but it believes they can be recouped. Jefferies expects a 20% profit on a compounded annual growth rate basis over FY24 – FY26, which will be led by revenue growth and credit cost moderation, also benefitting from easing rates. These can help in improving return on equity to 16% in FY25.

Next up, the auto sector. Hyundai launched the much-anticipated facelifted Creta a couple of days back. Apart from the several cosmetic and feature upgrades, Hyundai also reintroduced the manual transmission with the diesel engine. Now, Hyundai’s sister brand Kia has done the same with the Seltos. Kia introduced the Seltos facelift in July last year which received substantial updates over its predecessor. However, it lacked the option of a conventional manual gearbox with the diesel engine. The Korean carmaker has rectified this by bringing back the traditional stick shifter for the oil burner. The diesel-powered Seltos with a 6-speed manual gearbox will be available in five Tech line variants with prices starting from Rs 12.00 lakh and going up to Rs 18.28 lakh.

Lastly, let’s see how the share market performed today. Benchmark indices ended higher on January 19 with Nifty above 21,600. ONGC, Bharti Airtel, NTPC, Tech Mahindra and SBI Life Insurance were among the top gainers on the Nifty, while losers were IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and State Bank of India. All the sectoral indices ended in the green with auto, capital goods, Information Technology, FMCG, metal, oil & gas and power up 1-2 per cent each. BSE Midcap and smallcap indices added 1% each.