Episode 1238

Business News at 10:00 am on 21st May, 2024

[Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated]
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Let’s begin, the balance sheets of some of India’s leading companies have improved sharply, with leverage coming down significantly in FY24. For a universe of 275 companies belonging to the BSE500, the debt to ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) fell to just 2.7 x, the lowest level in about a decade. The improvement since the recent high of 4.3 x seen in FY20 is significant. reflecting the smart recovery since the pandemic. Of course, the total borrowings of these companies went up to Rs 26.23 trillion last year, a rise of just 2.1% — the smallest increase in eight years. Moreover, in an elevated interest rate environment, the interest bill has risen sharply in the last couple of years. Moving to the Economy section news, As the general election are reaching the final phases, the ministries and departments of the Union government have begun the internal exercise to firm up the proposals and expenditure plans for the full Budget 2024-25, which is likely to be presented around July 10-12, sources told FE. In 2019, the budget was presented on July 5, a month and five days after Narendra Modi was sworn in on May 30. This time election results will be announced on June 4 and the swearing-in of the new government will likely happen before June 10. Given the paucity of time, only around a month will be available for the budget consultation with industry and other stakeholders. Over to banking. The bond market will be closely watching the RBI’s buyback of securities worth Rs. 60,000 crore on behalf of the government on Tuesday, as the two previous buybacks this month did not achieve the desired results. With banks offering to sell bonds at higher prices — or lower yields — the RBI rejected most of the bids in the previous two auctions, accepting bids worth only Rs12,583 crore out of a total notified amount of Rs. 1 trillion. The RBI is looking to inject funds into the banking system, which is experiencing tight liquidity due to low spending by the government. Low spending has led to a build-up in the government’s cash balances. Heading over Industry section news, Coal stocks at pithead and on transit to thermal power plants stood at 147 million tonnes as on May 15, up 25% from 117 million tonnes during the corresponding period of last year, according to recent data from the coal ministry. Additionally, the end stock of coal at the country’s thermal power plants stood at 45 million tonnes as against 34.83 million tonnes as on corresponding date of last year, registering an increase of 29% . State-owned major coal producing company, Coal India reported a pithead stock of 85 million tonnes, up 30% from last year, the ministry data showed. Coal production during this year is growing at 7.26% over last year, according to the government. More form the market. The India volatility index crossed the 21-mark on May 14 amidst the Lok Sabha polls. Anvitii Rai looks at what the VIX is, what its utility is in the stock market, and whether retail investors should be concerned about it. THE INDIA VOLATILITY index, in simple terms, is the rate and magnitude of change in prices of the Nifty 50 stocks over the short term and is expressed in percentage terms. It measures the short-term market volatility expectations of market participants. The India VIX was introduced in 2008 by the National Stock Exchange. An easy way to make sense of the VIX is to remember that volatility and the VIX value move parallelly. State-owned Oil India on Monday reported a surge of 17.8 per cent in its consolidated net profit for the last quarter of FY24 at Rs 2,332.94 crore against Rs 1,979.74 crore in Q4FY23. On a sequential basis, however, the net profit declined by almost 11 per cent from Rs 2,607.66. The company’s revenue from operations during the quarter under review rose by 16 per cent and came to be at Rs 10,165.78 crore from Rs 8,764.27 in the corresponding period a year ago. The board of directors of the company has recommended issuance of one bonus share for every two shares held, subject to the approval of shareholders. Moreover, the board has also recommended a final dividend of Rs 3.75 per equity share. Lastly, let’s look at the stock in focus today. These include Oil India, Lupin, Apollo Pipes, RVNL, IRFC. Apollo Pipes released its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings with profit during the period at Rs 6.90 crore. The company recorded revenue from operations at Rs 255.60 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2024 and the income stood at Rs 255.92 crore. On the other hand, RVNL has received an order worth Rs 148 crore from South Eastern Railway for an electric traction system.

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Business News at 10:00 am on 21st May, 2024 In today's podcast, we talk about Debt-to-ebitda at a decadal low and the 2024 Budget among other news. Also know about the stocks in focus today. Today's Latest Business News at 10:00 am on 21st May, 2024.
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