Business News at 10:00 am on 12th April, 2024

Let’s begin. Adani Group is in talks with banks to raise nearly $750 million or Rs 6,200 crore to pay for the conversion of warrants allotted by Ambuja Cements. The deadline to make the payment ends on April 18. Ambuja Cements had allotted 477.4 million convertible warrants to Harmonia Trade and Investment, a part of the Adani family, in October 2022. The Adani family had made an upfront payment of Rs 5,000 crore while the remaining Rs 15,000 crore was to be paid within the next 18 months. Of this, the family has paid Rs 6,661 crore in March this year. After the conversion of warrants to shares, the promoters’ shareholding will rise from 66.7% as of March-end to 70.3%. Meanwhile, the government has expanded the scope of the year-long “market surveys” that began in January to re-identify the items that Indian people consume most frequently as it targets to re-constitute the consumer price index. According to official sources, the expansion is twofold – the ministry of statistics will hold the surveys in as many as 2,860 representative physical markets, up from under 2,000 in the last exercise conducted in 2011-12, and the new index could comprise over 320 items, compared with 299 in the extant one. While the survey will conclude in December 2024, the release of the new CPI will take another few months. The change in the CPI is crucial, the retail inflation is to be kept in the range of 4+/-2%. Moving on. Net cash accretion in no-frills Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana bank accounts rose to an all-time high of Rs 36,153 crore in 2023-24, which also showed that average cash deposits per account at a high of Rs 4,524. Despite reaching near saturation levels, as many as 33 million new PMJDY accounts were opened in FY24, taking the cumulative PMJDY accounts at 519.5 million. The total balance in these accounts stood at Rs 2,34,997 crore compared with Rs 1,98,844 crore a year ago. While the overall balance in Jan Dhan accounts rose by 18% in FY24 as against 19% in FY23 while the deposits per Jan Dhan account rose 22% on year in FY24. Over to industry. Imports of edible oils – palm, soybean and sunflower — declined by 17% on year to 5.76 MT in the November -March 2023-24, as elevated palm oil prices impacted shipments. November-October season is regarded as oil year, given seasonal nature of the crops. The high base of last year and an incipient spurt in global prices of oils are the reason for the drop in imports on an annual basis. The SEA said that as on April 1, total edible oils stock stood at 2.31 MT, a decline of 32% that of the year-ago period. Terming palm oil as the ‘current price leader’, BV Mehta, executive director, SEA, said lower production and stock of palm oil in Indonesia and Malaysia resulted in decline in supplies. In some more industry news, State-owned major coal mining and producing company, Coal India contributed Rs 60,140.31 crore to the exchequer in the financial year 2023-24, up 6.4% from the previous fiscal, according to the latest data available by the coal ministry. The amount paid to the central and state governments includes royalties, GST, cess on coal, and other levies. Coal production generates substantial revenue for both central and state governments, with royalty collections from CIL reaching Rs 16,066.69 crore in FY24, compared to Rs 15,401.30 crore in FY23. Additionally, contributions to the District Mineral Fund and National Mineral Exploration Trust – additional royalties under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act – further bolstered government finances in FY24. Next up, To ensure transparency in the procurement, the government will introduce direct benefit transfer for ensuring payments to the farmers within a week of purchase of onion at market rate by the designated agencies for the buffer. Sources told FE that farmers would be asked to register on the portal with bank details so that the payment is made to farmers within seven days of procurement of the staple vegetable. Currently the government is buying tur dal directly from the farmers through DBT mode. Earlier, the two agencies — farmers’ cooperative Nafed and National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India engaged in onion procurement for building the buffer used to pay to the federations or cooperatives in Maharashtra, subsequently released to farmers. Lastly, let’s have a look at the stocks in focus today. These include Maharashtra Seamless, Mahindra & Mahindra, TCS, Phoenix Mills, Wipro, Dr. Reddy’s Lab, CAMS, and Bharti Hexacom. The Phoenix Mills reported a 27% year-on-year jump in total consumption, reaching Rs 2,818 crore in the fourth quarter. Gross retail collections surged by 37% to Rs 791 crore. On the other hand, Larsen & Toubro announced the completion of the divestment of L&T Infrastructure Development Projects Limited.