Business News at 10:00 am on 6th February, 2024

Lets begin, Asset management company Vanguard has marked down the fair value of Ola’s parent ANI Technologies by 29% to $1.88 billion. Regulatory filings reveal the markdown comes nearly two months after Vanguard pruned the fair value of the ride-hailing platform to approximately $2.65 billion. Vanguard holds 166,185 shares of ANI Technologies, translating into a stake of around 0.7 %, according to Tracxn. Vanguard had lowered the fair value of its stake in ANI Technologies by 35% to $4.8 billion in February last year, followed by another 52% reduction to $3.5 billion in July. The Bhavish Agarwal-promoted firm was valued at $7.3 billion when it raised $139 million from IIFL, Edelweiss PE, and other investors in 2021.

Up next, the Department of Telecommunications is examining methodologies to directly allocate spectrum to enterprises like Infosys, Tejas Networks, Tata Communications, Tata Power, Larsen & Toubro, GMR, Capgemini, etc. It has set up an internal study group to suggest ways to achieve the objective. Officials said that direct allocation of spectrum to these enterprises would enhance the adoption of 5G private networks. Currently, enterprises are dependent on telecom operators like Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea for building their private networks. However, many large enterprises want to deploy private network solutions for their campuses or to run specific infrastructure projects without going through the telcos due to security and cost factors.

Moving on, Paytm may have to face hurdles when it comes to forming partnerships for its Paytm Payments Bank accounts as banks are unsure about taking them over, senior bankers told FE. For most banks, it is a question of reputational risk besides being unsure about the quality of accounts. They would rather wait for a green signal from the RBI or some other regulatory comfort before going forward. After the RBI last week barred it from undertaking any banking activities after February 29, One97 Communication is looking to transfer all its PPB accounts to other banks. The fintech firm is also trying to ensure that while the back-end banker changes, merchants and customers continue to stay with Paytm app.

Meanwhile, Sony Group Corporation’s Indian unit on Monday said it was disappointed with the Singapore arbitrator’s rejection of its emergency plea to stay proceedings at the National Company Law Tribunal for enforcement of now-junked merger with Zee. Terming the decision as a procedural ruling, the company said, “We will continue to vigorously arbitrate the matter in Singapore in front of a full SIAC tribunal and pursue Sony Pictures Networks India’s right to terminate the merger agreement and seek a termination fee and other remedies.” On Sunday, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre denied interim relief to Culver Max Entertainment and Bangla Entertainment, both Indian entities of Sony, saying it had no jurisdiction or authority to injunct Zee from approaching the Tribunal.

Moving ahead, Moderation in growth of agriculture and allied sectors along with services sector slowdown have lowered the overall private consumption growth in the current financial year, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary informed the Lok Sabha while responding to a question on Monday. “Private Final Consumption Expenditure growth had been estimated to 3.1% in Q2 FY24 significant growth or contraction in components of PFCE having reasonable shares, particularly food articles, has resulted in overall growth of 3.1% in PFCE,” Chaudhary said. This is the lowest growth recorded in the second quarter of any financial year, in at least the past 12 years – barring Q2 FY21, the pandemic quarter. In Q1 FY24, PFCE had grown 6.0%.

In other news, Tata Motors is not looking to sell a bigger stake in its recently created subsidiary, Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, a senior has officially indicated, as the environment is not conducive to raising funds. The subsidiary will soon become a self-sustaining entity that meets its funding requirements, the company said. Responding to FE, PB Balaji, CFO of Tata Motors said, “One of the biggest sources of funds is likely to be PLI. This should fund the remaining portion of the investments earmarked. The business is already Ebitda breakeven and we intend to turn Ebitda positive in the coming quarters.” After securing initial funding of $1 billion in October 2021, the Mumbai-headquartered company has not sold any more equity.

Lastly, GIFT Nifty indicated that Indian equity indices BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 may see a positive opening on Tuesday. GIFT Nifty ended up by 22 points or 0.10% at 21,821.50 indicating a positive opening for domestic indices NSE Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex on Tuesday. Previously, on Monday, the NSE Nifty 50 dropped 82.10 points or 0.38% to settle at 21,771.70, while the BSE Sensex plunged by 354.22 points or 0.49% to 71,731.42. Key stocks to watch in trade are One 97 Communication, Pidilite Industries, Zee Entertainment Enterprise, Bharti Airtel, Adani Total Gas, Action Construction Equipment, Agi Greenpac, Akzo Nobel India, Anant Raj, and Birla Corporation.