Business News at 09:30 am on 14th November 2023

Tata Steel will reduce 800 positions at its Ijmuiden site in the Netherlands as part of measures to ensure “competitiveness and profitability”, at a time when the industry has been facing tough times. However, there will not be a complete hiring freeze as the company needs technically trained personnel at the facility. The job reduction will impact about 500 Tata Steel employees, primarily in management, staff and support positions. Forced redundancies “cannot be ruled out”, and the company will discuss a social plan with the unions, it said in a statement. The remaining 300 jobs cut would be of temporary workers and the firm will not fill vacancies that are not directly related to the production, Tata Steel added.

Meanwhile, large lenders including State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, among others are confident of growing their corporate loan book in double digits in the second half of the financial year, as working capital demand and scope of further cross sales from clients’ remains strong, senior bankers say. State Bank of India Chairman Dinesh Khara recently said the lender has about Rs 3.4 trillion of corporate loans in pipeline and the segment would grow “at least” in the lower double-digit number going ahead. SBI’s total corporate loans accounted for 34% of overall advances and stood at Rs 9.77 trillion as of September end, up 7% year-on-year.

Moving on, India’s import of edible oils – palm, soybean and sunflower – rose 17% on year to a record 16.47 million tonne in the 2022-23 oil year helped by lower import tariffs, according to the trade body Solvent Extractors Association of India. The volume of imports of these cooking oils had seen a peak of 15.1 MT in 2016-17. The SEA stated ‘the imports has transformed India into a prime destination for excess oil supplies.” However the value of edible oil imports in 2022-23 declined by 11% to Rs 1.38 trillion from a record Rs 1.56 trillion in 2021-22 because of a subdued global prices.

Next up Industry…Amidst the controversy over BSNL awarding a Rs 1,000 crore tender for supply of optical transport network equipment to Nokia, BSNL CMD PK Purwar on Monday told FE that the company has strictly followed the government guidelines in reference to the Make in India procurement policy for the tender process. “The company has not flouted any policy and is strictly in line with the Make in India vision,” Purwar said, adding that the tender is yet to be given. Purwar, however, refused to share more details on the tender as it is under consideration at present. Under the Make in India public procurement policy, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has notified that all public sector companies as well as government departments must give certain preference to local companies in terms of procuring the supplies.

Now in economy….Annual food inflation in retail markets came in at 6.61% in October, the same level as in the previous month and compared with 7% in the year-ago month. But the relevant consumer food price index recorded a sequential rise of 1.16% as prices of onion, pulses and spices firmed up. Sequential decline in inflation was, however, witnessed in edible oils. In July, 2023, the consumer food price index rose 11.5% on year because of higher tomato and cereals prices, but it had declined in August and September to 9.94% and 6.62% respectively with the softening of tomato prices. Retail onion inflation rose by 42.08% on year in October as retail prices in several cities touched Rs 90/kg last month because of delay in arrival of kharif crops and reports of decline in production in Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Moving to stock market…..Shares of Life Insurance Corporation of India declined marginally on Monday by around 0.30% at the exchanges. However, the decline wasn’t very high given the fact the 20% or 1265 million of the company’s outstanding equity became eligible for trading since the lock-in period ended. The shares of India’s largest insurer declined 0.26% on BSE and 0.30% on NSE, to close at Rs 606. The stock has already fallen nearly 31% from its listing price of Rs 875.25, and declined 36% from its issue price of Rs 949. It has declined about 8.82% in a year. The shares of LIC were subdued because its numbers declared recently did not enthuse many investors.

Lastly, …..in a bid to control the extra rush of passengers and better crowd management on the occasion of Diwali and Chhath festival, Northern Railway has temporarily discontinued the sale of platform tickets at New Delhi and Anand Vihar Terminal railway stations. The ban will remain in force till November 18. However, the zonal railway has exempted the persons coming to these two stations who are not in a position to fend for themselves.