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

Let’s begin, India’s retail inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index, will likely fall to 4.3-4.4% in FY25 from an estimated 5.4% in the current fiscal year, the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy said in an article. The RBI has projected CPI inflation to average 4.5% in FY25. “Our forecast for fiscal year FY25 has been made under the assumption of a normal supply of major vegetables, namely potatoes, onions, and tomatoes. Thus, we have assumed that the prices of these commodities will not display too much volatility during the year,” according to the article written by Sameeksha Kumar. The author expects core CPI inflation to average 5% in FY25, about 50 basis points more than the current fiscal.

Moving on – The 13th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Abu Dhabi saw no forward movement on most fronts. India had gone into the meeting seeking a permanent solution to the issue of public stockholding of foodgrains for food security, a deal on keeping subsidies to small fishermen intact. It also wanted an end to the moratorium on taxation of electronic transmissions and a functional two-tier dispute settlement mechanism. A review of the fine print and information gathered from people in the know suggest India did manage to move the needle to its side in some of the contentious issues that were on the table.

Up next, Media company Zee Entertainment on Monday organised an investor call for mutual funds to address concerns over the collapse of its merger with Sony Pictures Networks India in January. The move came after mutual funds such as ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund pared their holding in the company in January following the merger failure. At the end of the December quarter, MFs held 32.5% in the company. ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund is said to have offloaded around 2.15% stake. Zee chairman R Gopalan reiterated that the decision to call off the merger was a unilateral one by Sony and that Zee had remained committed to the deal all along.

Moving ahead – To enable farmers to access pledge finance against the harvested commodities, the government on Monday launched an online digital gateway e-Upaja Kisaan Nidhu which would allow storage of agricultural produce with the Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA) and obtain post-harvest loans from the banks. Food minister Piyush Goyal said that the online gateway developed jointly by the department of food and public distribution, department of financial services and Nabard with its simplified digital process can ease the procedure of farmers’ storage at any WDRA registered warehouse for a period of six months at 7% interest per annum. The warehouses charge Rs 7/quintal per month for storing the commodities.

In other news, Adani Group’s Ebitda for this financial year is expected to cross $9.5 billion, its highest-ever, driven mainly by the infrastructure segment including cement, green energy, power and airports. The group’s Ebitda for calendar year 2023 was at $9.5 billion, a 63.6% year-on-year rise, a 37.8% growth compared with that in FY23, and 2.5 times that of FY21 Ebitda. “This is perhaps the best fiscal in the history of the group, with every business firing on all cylinders. The power sector has exceeded guidance, while airports, green energy and all other businesses are doing well. Green energy is also doing well, with a 60-70% growth expected from the hydrogen segment,” a source close to the development said.

Meanwhile, Over 5,000-6,000 mobile phone retailers, largely in Maharashtra, on Monday asked Samsung to settle their claims worth over Rs 50 crore, which have been pending since last year. The pending claims raised to Samsung by the retailers include payments of margins as well as certain schemes offered by the smartphone company for which it has asked retailers to give discounts to consumers. The company offers 8-10% margins to retailers for selling its smartphones. The pending payment by Samsung pertains to the January-March quarter of last year. The retailers are planning a demonstration in front of the company office if the company fails to settle the claims, according to the AIMRA executives.

Lastly, GIFT Nifty indicated that Indian equity indices BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 may see a positive opening on Tuesday. Stocks in Focus: GIFT Nifty traded up by 24.50 points or 0.11% at 22,514.50 indicating a positive opening for domestic indices NSE Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex on Tuesday. Previously, on Monday, the NSE Nifty 50 ended up by 27.20 points or 0.12% to settle at 22,405.60, while the BSE Sensex gained 66.14 points or 0.09% to 73,872.29. The key stocks to watch in trade are Tata Motors, IIFL Finance, State Bank of India, Jio Financial Services, AU Small Finance Bank, Macrotech Developers, Brigade Enterprises, Easy Trip Planners, NTPC, Jindal Stainless, ONGC, and Exicom Tele-Systems among others.