Episode 1225

Weekly News Roundup at 10:00 am on 12th May, 2024

In this weekly round-up, we talk about Corporate bond issuances, Google Wallet app launch in India, and how TCS is enhancing GenAI focus among other news.

Here’s the Weekly Business Roundup at 10:00 am on 12th May, 2024.

[Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated]
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Let’s begin. Domestic rating agency Icra on Tuesday said corporate bond issuances are likely to rise to Rs 10.6 trillion in FY25 from Rs 10.2 trillion in FY24. Accordingly, the overall corporate bond outstanding is likely to increase to Rs 50.3 trillion by March 2025, a year-on-year growth of 9.5%. Higher competitive funding conditions in domestic markets compared to developed markets has led to big corporates tapping more domestic funding sources over the last two years, Icra said. While corporate bond issuances will likely rise in FY25, the incremental total credit, including from bonds, non-food bank credit and commercial papers is expected to moderate to Rs 24.5 trillion in FY25 from an all-time high of Rs 25.4 trillion in FY24.

Meanwhile, The Madhya Pradesh State Cooperative Dairy Federation, which sells milk and products under the hugely popular ‘Sanchi’ brand, is seeking collaboration with the country’s biggest cooperative Amul to expand its operations and boost procurement from the farmers, a senior state government official told FE. The official said that currently out of the total milk production in the state, Sanchi procures only in 20-25% of milk-producing region. The collaboration with Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation will help the state cooperative to expand operations to other parts of the state. MP is the third-biggest milk-producing state in the country. Sanchi purchases one million litres of milk from farmers mostly in the western region of the state such as Indore, Ujjain and Bhopal.

Moving on. Tata Consultancy Services is making significant strides in the field of Artificial Intelligence, particularly in generative AI, as outlined by CEO and managing director K Krithivasan and chairman N Chandrasekaran in their recent communications to shareholders. Further, the company sees a relatively better economic outlook for the financial year 2025. K Krithivasan, in his letter to shareholders, detailed how TCS is pioneering in the use of generative AI to enhance productivity and create unprecedented impacts across different sectors. The company has notably consolidated its AI and cloud teams into the AI Cloud unit in FY24. This strategic move has led to the upskilling of 300,000 TCS employees in generative AI technologies during in the fiscal year gone by.

In some more industry news, the government intends to operationalise all the benches of GST Appellate Tribunal by January 2025, as it aims to alleviate the significant backlog of pending GST-related disputes at the appellate level, according to a source. The principal bench of GSTAT, in New Delhi, is expected to start functioning from July. On May 6, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman administered the oath to Sanjaya Kumar Mishra, former chief justice of Jharkhand High Court, as the President of the GSTAT. A press release issued by the finance ministry said that Mishra’s appointment marks the beginning of the operationalisation of the GSTAT, a crucial body for resolving GST-related disputes.

The gap between Foreign Institutional Investors and Domestic Institutional Investors about their holdings in Indian companies has narrowed further to hit an all-time low this quarter, according to a report by PrimeInfobase, an initiative of PRIME Database Group. The DIIs’ holding is now just 9.23% lower than Foreign Institutional Investors holding in the Indian companies. The share of Foreign Institutional Investors has declined to an 11-year low of 17.68% as of March 31, 2024, down by 51 bps from 18.19% as of December 31, 2023, resulting in the gap between Foreign Institutional Investors and Domestic Institutional Investors holding narrowing further.

Next up, is technology. Google has announced the launch of its Wallet app in India, enabling users to save their digital travel tickets, gift cards, and event passes in one place. Google Wallet will allow users fast and secure access to everyday essentials. The service will allow them to conveniently store and retrieve important digital documents like boarding passes, loyalty cards, movie tickets, and more. The new Google Wallet goes hand in hand with Google Pay, which will continue to serve the payment needs of users across India. With Google Wallet, you will be able to use your phone as your corporate badge, digitalise physical documents, and get tickets automatically transferred to your wallet directly from downloads.

Lastly, the auto sector. Kia has multiple new models in development currently, some of which are likely to come to India too. The Korean carmaker’s next big launch will be a new-gen model of Carnival. Kia is working on a subcompact electric SUV specifically for the Indian market. Last year, Kia filed a new trademark for the name ‘Clavis’ in India. It was reported to be the new subcompact SUV from Kia in line with its Korean cousin– Hyundai Exter— taking on Tata Punch. This SUV will be slotted below Sonet in Kia’s lineup. Now, Kia has filed another trademark in India for the name ‘Syros’. Kia could use the ‘Syros’ in either the combustion engine subcompact SUV or the all-electric SUV.

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