Business News at 05:30 pm on 28th February, 2024

Lets begin – San Diego-based Qualcomm, the world’s leading innovator in wireless products, solutions and technologies, is working with Reliance Jio to develop a 5G smartphone priced below $99, which is around Rs 8,000. The phone is likely to be launched by the end of the current calendar year, Qualcomm’s senior vice president and general manager of handsets, Chris Patrick said at the ongoing World Mobile Congress in Barcelona. In 2020, Qualcomm Ventures, the investment arm of Qualcomm had invested Rs 730 crore in Jio Platforms, which translates into 0.15% equity stake.The duo developing a smartphone priced at Rs 8,000 is significant in the sense that it may accelerate the migration of 2G users to 4G and 5G services.
“Up next – Union minister for finance and corporate affairs Nirmala Sitharaman has been in charge of two key portfolios in the Narendra Modi-led government, and as India’s longest-serving full-time woman finance minister, she has presented six Budgets in a row — equalling the record of Morarji Desai. At a time when the global economy faces a slowdown, the economic growth and development of India is being closely watched for being an outlier among emerging economies. Sitharaman will be the guest at the Express Adda in Bengaluru on Wednesday and will be in conversation with Anant Goenka, Executive Director, The Indian Express Group, and P Vaidyanathan Iyer, National Executive Editor, The Indian Express.

Moving on, The lenders of Jaiprakash Associates are gearing up to taking the debt-laden company to National Company Law Tribunal. This move comes after they were unable to garner a satisfactory valuation for the stressed assets of JAL, the flagship company of the Jaypee Group, from the National Asset Reconstruction Company of India. “The initial offer made by NARCL has fallen short of lenders’ expectations so they have sought a better offer,” a senior bank official told FE. “If the revised offer once again falls short of expectations, the lenders will be left with no choice but to take this case to NCLT,” he added. JAL owes nearly Rs 29,000 crore, which includes principal and interest, to 32 banks.
“In other news – Notwithstanding the Reserve Bank of India’s action on Paytm’s payments bank unit, around 59% of merchants say they continue to use Paytm and see no immediate impact from the measures, a survey from Datum Intelligence showed on Tuesday. Gurugram-based business consulting and services company surveyed 2,000 merchants using payment applications for accepting payments across 12 cities. The duration of the survey is between February 7 and February 15. The survey showed that while 13% merchants are switching to other payment applications, 21% are waiting for more information. The survey showed that 76% of merchants use Paytm for accepting payments followed by 41% for PhonePe, 33% for GooglePay and 18% BharatPe.

Meanwhile – Aerospace major Boeing has enhanced its India-based sourcing of components and services to $1.25 billion per year, as part of its commitment to ‘Make in India’. “Despite currency depreciation, our annual sourcing from India has risen from $250 million to $1.25 billion over nearly a decade, with our supplier network expanding by 1.5X,” said Salil Gupte, president, Boeing India and South Asia. The company has a network of over 300 local supplier partners. The growth is propelled by advancements in quality and capability, he said, “transitioning from simple assemblies to more complex ones, including advanced materials like composites and full-size determinant assembly, which employs next-generation manufacturing technologies such as robotics, Gupte further added.

Moving ahead – State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender, is unlikely to utilise the enabling provision to raise nearly Rs 11,900 crore through additional tier-I bonds due to pricing issues in the current fiscal, sources told FE. “We had taken the approval to raise Rs 20,000 crore via AT-1 bonds but looking at the redemptions that were due this year, we have completed requirement,” a source said. “We will not raise more AT-1 bonds in the current fiscal until there is a change in valuation methodology, which we are pushing. If that comes through, may be we will look at raising funds but definitely not now,” the source further added.

Lastly – GIFT Nifty indicated that Indian equity indices BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 may see a subdued opening on Wednesday. GIFT Nifty traded higher as the index was up 37 points or 0.17% at 22,230.00 indicating a positive start for domestic indices NSE Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex on Wednesday. Previously, on Tuesday, the NSE Nifty 50 gained 76.30 points or 0.34% to settle at 22,198.35, while the BSE Sensex closed 305.09 points or 0.42% lower at 73,095.22. The key stocks to watch in trade are ICICI Bank, L&T, Vodafone Idea, DCM Shriram, Titan Company, GE T&D India, Hinduja, Torrent Power, Patanjali, Mahanagar Gas, and Tata Elxsi among others.