Business News at 09:30 am on 29th November 2023

Let’s begin. Proxy advisory firm Institutional Investor Advisory Services India has urged the independent directors of Raymond Limited to probe into the allegations against chairman and managing director Gautam Singhania made by his estranged wife Nawaz Modi. IiAS also wants them to appoint an interim CEO till the investigations are completed and warned that their silence could be misconstrued. In an open letter on Tuesday, the advisory firm has also asked them to engage the services of an independent legal counsel, apart from dispassionately separating ownership from management. Quoting media reports, IiAS said that Nawaz Modi Singhania, a board member, had alleged that Singhania physically assaulted her and her daughter in September 2023.
On to industry news. Adani Group shares rallied on Tuesday, as all 10 group firms ended with gains following Friday’s Supreme Court observation that the Hindenburg report cannot be considered statement of truth. The group recorded its biggest single-day jump in combined market capitalisation, jumping $12.5 billion on Tuesday. Markets were closed on Monday on account of a public holiday. The ports-to-power conglomerate’s combined m-cap stood at $135.7 billion as of Tuesday. It had jumped by as much as $15.8 billion to $139 billion in intra-day trade. In fact, this was the conglomerate’s biggest single-day gain in in 19 months, with the previous instance being $15.82 billion on April 11, 2022.
Meanwhile, The capital expenditure outlay for the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is likely to increase 25% on year in the next financial year to Rs 3.2 trillion, according to an official source. This implies the key infrastructure sector that has long witnessed a famine of private risk capital and lately been solely funded out of Budget rather than borrowings, will continue with the same model to keep capex pace in the next fiscal year. The outlay is being finalised after taking into account the higher funding requirements for ongoing programmes like Bharatmala, and newer schemes being launched. The pre-budget meeting of MoRTH with the Ministry of Finance on revised estimates for 2022-23 and budgetary estimates for 2024-25 has already been held.
Moving on, nine months after converting the dues worth Rs 16,133 crore of Vodafone Idea payable to the government on account of spectrum fee, into equity, the department of telecommunications has asked the department of investment and public asset management whether some portion can be offloaded in the market. As part of the dues conversion process in February this year, Vodafone Idea issued 16.13 billion equity shares at Rs 10 each to the DoT. Sources said that since the conversion was done at a price of Rs 10, the DoT wanted to confirm from DIPAM whether a portion can be sold in the market as it will yield revenue to the government.
In some more industry news, Tata Power is looking to double its profit and revenue in the next three years with the major focus on renewable energy, chief executive and managing director Praveer Sinha said on Tuesday. Sinha said the company is expecting a profit of over Rupees 4,000 crore and expects revenues to cross Rupees 60,000 crore in FY24. The company posted a PAT of Rupees 2,158 crore on revenue of Rupees 30,446 crore in H1FY24. It had posted a PAT of Rupees 3,810 crore on revenue of Rupees 56,033 crore in FY23. He further said by 2030, 70% of the company’s capacities will be clean energy and by 2045, 100% will be clean energy. Currently, 40% of its capacities are in clean energy.
In other news, IT spending in the country is estimated to reach a total of $124.6 billion in 2024, up by 10.7% from 2023, said a report from Gartner. This follows a year of muted growth that was dragged down by lower investments in devices and communications services. Gartner predicts that in 2024 the spend will be led by investment in software and IT services that may see a growth of 18.5% and 14.6%, respectively. Naveen Mishra, VP, Team Manager at Gartner, said, quote, “While investments in artificial intelligence and Generative AI will contribute to IT spending growth in India, their impacts on IT spending levels will not be evident until 2025. GenAI will account for a small portion of IT spending through 2024,” unquote.
Lastly, let’s talk about the stocks in focus. These include BHEL, Zomato, Tata Power, Siemen, IREDA, and JSW Steel among others. Chinese payments group Alipay plans to sell its 3.4% stake in Indian food delivery giant Zomato for nearly $400 million through block deals on Indian stock exchanges. On the other hand, Tata Power Renewable Energy bagged a 200 MW firm and dispatchable renewable energy project from SJVN. Also, Siemen posted a 36% rise in net profit at Rs 534 crore in the September quarter compared to the year ago, mainly on the back of higher revenues.