Business News at 05:30 pm on 25th July, 2024

Let’s begin – The benchmark equity indices closed the trading session on a flat note on July 25 recovering morning losses. The BSE Sensex fell 109 points or 0.14% to finish the day’s trading at 80,040, holding the psychological level of 80,000, for the second consecutive day. The NSE Nifty 50 closed 7.40 points or 0.03% lower settling the session at 24,406.10. Bank Nifty closed in the red, shedding more than 400 points for the second straight session, settling at 50,888.75. Bucking the trend, Nifty Midcap 100 closed 131 points or 0.23% lower at 56,741.75.

Up next – The Supreme Court on Thursday held that royalty payable on minerals is not a tax, overturning its 1989 decision. The court said states have the legislative competence to impose taxes on mines and minerals-bearing lands. The SC ruled by a majority 8:1 verdict, that the Constitution’s provisions prohibit Parliament from taxing mineral rights. Leading the Bench, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said that Justice B V Nagarathna had delivered the dissenting verdict. The highly controversial questions of whether the royalty paid on minerals is a tax under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, and whether the states or only the Centre is authorised to levy such an exaction on mineral-bearing land in their jurisdiction were being heard by the Bench.

In another development – Shares of Larsen & Toubro rose 2.4% to an intraday high of Rs 3,606.10. The surge in the stock price came on the back of higher order inflow. The company’s order pipeline grew 8% on year to Rs 70,900 crore in Q1 of FY25. Also, the company has kept the order inflow growth estimates at 10% for the fiscal year 2025. The stock is contributing over 23 points to the Nifty 50 and trying to pull it up. The company’s stock has a 52-week high of Rs 3,919.90, which it touched on June 3, 2024.

Moving on – The income tax department has said that over 4 crore ITRs have been filed up to July 22, which is less than 45% of all income taxpayers in the country who have filed for assessment year 2024-25. According to the IT department, this is 8% more compared to returns filed in the same period last year. The IT department announced a few key milestones crossed. As of 16 July 2024, the number of ITRs filed per day had crossed 15 lakh filings per day. It is expected to increase significantly over the next few days as nearly 50% of taxpayers are yet to file returns by 31 July, which is the last date for filing returns.

Meanwhile – Canara Bank on Thursday recorded fiscal first quarter earnings with standalone profit at Rs 3,905.28 crore, up 10.5 per cent in comparison to Rs 3,534.84 crore recorded during the corresponding quarter of previous financial year, missing estimates. The net interest earned was at Rs 28,701.35 crore, up 14.8 per cent as against Rs 25,004.07 crore during Q1FY24. The Bank recorded Net Interest Income at Rs 9,166 crore. On a consolidated basis, Q1 profit was at Rs 3,977.22 crore, up 11.3 per cent as against Rs 3,573.50 crore during the same period last year. Canara Bank posted global business at Rs 23,10,350 crore, up 11.07 per cent YoY and global deposits came in at Rs 13,35,167 crore, up 11.97 per cent YoY.

In other news – The Union Public Service Commission has announced the introduction of several advanced security measures, including Aadhaar-based fingerprint authentication, facial recognition, and live Artificial Intelligence-based CCTV surveillance in a move to bolster the integrity of its examinations. These steps aim to prevent cheating, fraud, unfair means, and impersonation during UPSC-conducted exams. To enhance exam security, UPSC has invited bids from PSUs to provide technological services during these exams. According to the tender documents, UPSC will provide the exam schedule, list of venues, and number of candidates per venue to the service provider two to three weeks before the examination. Candidate details, including names, roll numbers, and photos, will be shared seven days before the exam for use in fingerprint authentication and facial recognition.

Lastly – As per a global study titled ‘Pivotal: How treasury and finance enable a new era of globalisation’ conducted by DBS Bank, the top three priorities for the next two years for Indian businesses include securing new skills and talent, improving productivity and operational performance, business diversification through innovation, financing and exploring new market channel. Notedly, the study reveals the strategic priorities along with the potential challenges for businesses in the era of globalisation. It is conducted through a survey of over 570 senior executives from 15 countries including India. The study reveals that 78% of businesses in the upcoming couple of years will give precedence to securing new skills and talent while 76% will focus on improving productivity and operational performance.