Business News at 10:00 am on 5th January, 2024

Let’s begin. US-based asset management company Invesco has marked up Swiggy’s fair value for the second time in a row, taking the latest valuation of the food tech aggregator to $8.3 billion, according to a regulatory filing as of October 31, 2023. According to tracxn data, Invesco holds a 2 per cent stake in Swiggy, which was acquired at a cost of approximately $190.5 million. The total value of Invesco’s 28,844 shares in Swiggy stood at $147.6 million at the end of October 2023, reflecting a fair value of $8.3 billion. Invesco had marked up the valuation of Swiggy by around 42 percent to $7.85 billion at the end of July, 2023.

Meanwhile, India’s overall unemployment rate fell to a three-month low of 8.65% in December from 8.88% the previous month, due to a sharp drop in rural joblessness, data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy showed. During December, the rural unemployment rate fell to 7.97% from 8.68% in November, while the urban unemployment rate increased to a four-month high of 10.08% from 9.31%. The fall in rural joblessness is also reflected by a 5.8% decline in work demanded by households under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. The labour participation rate, an estimate of the active workforce in the economy, stood at a 45-month high of 41.88% in December from 40.92% in November.

Moving on. The Centre may aim for a modest disinvestment target of around Rs 30,000 crore in 2024-25, 40% lower than the target of Rs 51,000 crore for the current financial year, which is set to be missed by 60%, official sources said. This would represent a progressive lowering of the ambition on this front, although the sources said the target for next year is being kept at realistic levels, considering that elections and new government formation would make it difficult to conclude any big-ticket in the year even if the process is initiated. However, there will be last-ditch efforts to bridge the gap between the disinvestment receipts for the current fiscal year and the Budget estimate.

Next up, IPO-bound startups. More than half of the startups looking to launch IPOs this year are still struggling to post profits. Of the 12 startups that have either filed their draft red herring prospectus with the Sebi or are looking to list this year, eight have incurred losses, showed latest annual filings by the companies. This includes unicorns such as FirstCry, MobiKwik and Ola Electric. A back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that the combined loss of these eight startups stood at over Rupees 8,000 crore, largely led by Swiggy, Oyo and Ola Electric. Besides these, health tech startup Portea Medical, flexible workspace provider Awfis, babycare retailer FirstCry, and fintechs MobiKwik and PayMate have also reported losses in their latest annual filings.

In the economy segment, the government is examining ways to meet the demand from the broader industry for easing of visa norms for Chinese professionals and technicians, given the need to get their machinery installed and manufacturing processes running. This follows a similar dispensation put in place for companies under the PLI scheme to access expertise from China. Under the special mechanism for PLI companies, beneficiaries approach the ministry which is administering their sector with the request for visas for professionals they require. The ministry then forwards their names for approval to the Ministry of External Affairs and Indian embassy in China. PLI companies had flagged delays in visas to Chinese professionals as one of the reasons for delay in their plants coming on-stream.

On to some budget updates. Financial Express has reviewed the schemes and government programmes rolled out in FY24 budget, and found that while these did not entail huge additional burden on the exchequer, at least some have reached the implementation phase already. Health, agriculture, urban infrastructure received special attention in the last Budget, as the government strove to reach the unaddressed areas of those sectors to spark off a big impact. One scheme with a small outlay that could have a far-reaching impact on farm incomes which large parts of population depend on, is Atmanirbhar Clean Plant Programme to boost availability of disease-free, quality planting material for high value horticultural crops.

Lastly, let’s look at the stocks you need to watch out today. These include Grasim, Jupiter Wagons, SBI, Lupin, and REC among others. Grasim Industries has priced its Rs 4,000-crore rights issue at Rs 1,812 per share, presenting a 12.47% discount to the prevailing market price. State Bank of India concludes the placement of a BBB-rated Green Bond valued at $250 million, reflecting the bank’s commitment to sustainable financing practices. On the other hand, Power Finance Corp increases its market borrowing plan for FY24 to Rs 1.05 lakh crore from the earlier Rs 80,000 crore, signaling confidence in the financing landscape.