Business News at 05:30 pm on 3rd April, 2024

Let’s begin. Vodafone Idea CEO Akshaya Moondra on Tuesday said the promoter shareholding in the company will fall to about 40% from 50% now, post the equity fund raise of Rs 20,000 crore. The company expects to complete the fund-raise in the coming quarter. Currently, the promoters- Aditya Birla group and Vodafone Group –collectively hold 48.91% share in Vi. “The promoter shareholding is still at a very good level, there is no concern there,” Moondra said, adding the funds would be used for capital expenditure. He was addressing an extraordinary general meeting to seek shareholders’ approval to issue securities up to an aggregate of Rs 20,000 crore. Moondra attributed the subscriber loss to the lack of 4G coverage vis-a-vis competition.
Meanwhile, PeepalCo, the company that operates cryptocurrency trading platform CoinSwitch, on Tuesday launched a stock investing mobile app called Lemonn. The launch marks PeepalCo’s expansion into a regulated asset class segment. Lemonn’s broking services will be provided through Sebi-registered Nu Investors Technologies. The key features of the app include zero trading brokerage cost for the initial three months, zero fees for account opening, curated industry-based stock offering, and blogs deciphering equity market jargons. According to PeepalCo co-founder and group CEO Ashish Singhal, CoinSwitch’s internal team always had the “dream” of building a 360-degree investment app, that focuses not only on one asset class but multiple ones.
Moving on. The default rate in settlements of Indian equity markets have halved after the shift to the T+1 settlement cycle, Securities and Exchange Board of India chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch said on Tuesday. She was speaking at the Confederation of Indian Industry’s 17th Corporate Governance Summit. Buch added that prior to moving to the T+1 settlement cycle, the default rate in the Indian equity market was 0.7%-0.8%, while after the implementation of T+1, it has halved to 0.3%-0.4%.Default risk is a type of settlement risk where a party involved in the trade fails to live up to its obligation. The risk of default rarely impacts buyers or sellers as clearing corporations act as intermediaries, effectively negating the counterparty risk.
On to economy. India and the five-nation Eurasian Economic Union that comprises Russia will start formal negotiations for a free trade agreement soon. According to sources, officials from the two sides held a meeting late last month for detailed discussions where lead negotiators from both sides also participated. A senior official said, quote, “Senior officers of both sides have met on March 28 here and have discussed formally starting talks for the FTA,” unquote. EaEU is an economic union of five post-Soviet states in Eurasia, namely Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan. The EaEU was established on January 1, 2015, and has a single market, with 183 million people and combined GDP of over $2.4 trillion as of 2023.
In some more economy news, The year 2023-24 not only witnessed multi-year high tax buoyancy levels – mainly on the direct taxes front – but also higher level of compliance from taxpayers, and strict enforcement measures against tax evaders. Total tax receipts of the Centre in FY24 “slightly exceeded” the revised estimate of Rs 34.37 trillion in the year, an official source told FE on condition of anonymity, even as the figures are being computed. As per data on the Controller General of Accounts, in April-February FY24, the Centre’s gross tax revenue had stood at Rs 28.9 trillion, accounting for 84% of the RE of Rs 34.4 trillion. The March advance tax mo-up was robust on the direct tax front, and the GST receipts have surpassed expectations.
In other news, Amid the boom in residential property sales in the country , Tata Realty & Infrastructure is looking to take share of its commercial properties, branded as “Intellion”, to 70% in next three years from 50% now. The company hopes to be be a sizeable pan India commercial developer in three to four years. MD&CEO Sanjay Dutt, said this was a long term strategy because commercial properties is a strategic fit. Dutt said that ofice absorption will sustain at 35 million square feet per annum in the next 10 years in top 7 cities. He explained that this way they can earn annuity income every year. The company has maintained an average revenue annual growth of 20-24% and is hopeful of maintaining the same in FY25, he said .
Lastly, a look at the stocks you need to watch out today. These include Mahindra & Mahindra Finance, Vodafone Idea, Ultratech Cement, and Shree Cement among others. UltraTech Cement, India’s largest cement producer, has earmarked Rs 32,400 crore as capex for the next three years for expansion of its production capacity, which will include completing its acquisition of Kesoram Cement. The Aditya Birla Group’s cement flagship firm intends to expand the capacity of grey cement to 198.2 million tonnes per annum.