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

Let’s begin – Tata Motors has announced that its range of commercial vehicles will see a hike in price, effective July 1, 2024. Tata has said that its commercial vehicles will see an increase of up to 2 percent starting next month. In an official release, Tata stated, “The price increase is to offset the impact of rising commodity prices. It will be applicable across the entire range of commercial vehicles and will vary as per individual model and variant.” What is to note here is that the CVs are witnessing their third price hike for the year. The CV range saw a 3 percent increase at the beginning of the year, and followed by another 2 percent in April 2024.

Meanwhile – Aasaan Loans opened its IPO for public on June 19 to raise Rs 132 crore. It is collecting bids at a price range of Rs 114 to Rs 125 per equity share. The company will close subscription on June 21. It is an entirely fresh issue of 11 million shares. The company’s shares are expected to be finalised on June 24, while listing is tentatively scheduled for June 26 – will take place on NSE and BSE. A retail buyer needs to apply for a minimum of one lot, containing 125 shares amounting to Rs 15,000 shares. While lot size for NIIs and QIBs is different. Gretex Corporate Services is book-running lead manager, and Bigshare Services is handling the work of registrar for issue.

Now a news related to aviation – Air India is all set to launch premium economy class on selected domestic routes from July 2024. As of now, Vistara is only Indian airline to offer premium economy services on domestic flights. Air India’s Chief Executive Director and Managing Director Cambell Wilson said, “The launch of a three-class cabin in Air India’s narrow-body fleet and initiation of interior renovations are major steps taken for enhancing the travel experience.” The airline will offer premium economy seats on Delhi Chandigarh-Delhi and Delhi Bengaluru-Delhi for now. The Tata Group Airline has renovated two new A320 neo aircraft which will consist of 24 seats with extra legroom in premium economy section, 132 seats in economy section, and eight seats in business class.

In another development – The National Human Rights Commission on Wednesday issued a notice to Union Ministry of Labour and Employment over the alleged ‘anti-labour’ practices at Amazon’s warehouse located in Haryana’s Manesar. Taking a ‘suo motu cognizance,’ the NHRC has sought the reply from the Secretary, Labour Ministry, within next seven days. In its notice, commission took note of the media reports about how the workers employed at the warehouse were asked to take a pledge that they would not take any water or toilet breaks until they finish unloading of material from six trucks. The NHRC notice comes a day after the Indian Express published a report detailing the account of horrible working conditions at the Manesar warehouse.

Now a news related to mutual funds- The Assets under Management of children’s mutual funds has witnessed nearly 142 per cent surge in the last five years to touch Rs 20,081.35 crore in May 2024, up from Rs 8,285.59 crore in May 2019. On a year-on-year basis, the AUM increased by nearly 31 per cent from Rs 15,375.40 crore in May 2023, reveals a report by ICRA Analytics. Interestingly, the children’s mutual fund as on May 31, 2024 has witnessed a category average compound annual growth rate (CAGR) returns of 22.64 per cent, 14.68 per cent and 12.71 per cent over a 1-year, 3-years and 5-years period respectively.

In a separate development – A Delhi court on Wednesday extended Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s judicial custody till July 3 in connection with Delhi excise policy ‘scam’ case.Special Judge Niyay Bindu made this decision after Kejriwal appeared via video conference after his previous custody period ended. In the hearing, Kejriwal’s counsel objected to the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) request for extending his custody, arguing that there were insufficient grounds to justify such an extension. Earlier on June 5, a Delhi court had rejected Kejriwal’s plea for interim bail on medical grounds in the case. Kejriwal was arrested by the anti-money laundering probe agency on March 21. ED previously stated that Kejriwal was directly involved in creating the now-cancelled excise policy.

Last but not the least – The benchmark equity indices ended Wednesday’s trading session in the mixed territory. The NSE Nifty 50 dipped 41.90 points or 0.18% to settle at 23,516, while the BSE Sensex gains marginally higher 36.46 points or 0.05% to 77,337.60. The broader indices ended in negative territory, with fall led by Small-cap and Mid-cap stocks. Bank Nifty index ended higher by 957.15 points or 1.90% to settle at 51,398.05. Banking and Financial Services stocks outperformed among the other sectoral indices while Realty and Energy stocks shed.