Business News at 10:00 am on 31st January, 2024

Let’s begin…The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has raised India’s GDP growth projection for FY24 by 40 basis points (bps) to 6.7%, and for FY25 by 20 bps to 6.5%, in its latest ‘World Economic Outlook’ report, citing resilient domestic demand. At 6.7% India would remain fastest growing major economy in the world. However, forecast for FY24 is still 60 bps lower than National Statistical Office’s (NSO) projection. Earlier this month, the NSO projected India’s economy to grow at 7.3% in the current fiscal, based on data extrapolated for the first seven to eight months. The IMF’s estimate is also 30 bps lower than the RBI’s estimate of 7.0% for FY24. In Q2 FY24, India’s GDP growth came in at 7.6%. Additionally…After setting up their manufacturing operations in the country, big global electronics firms are now preparing to set up mega campuses in the country, which will have a cluster of factories producing a range of their products, communications and IT minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw told Fe. Vaishnaw said, quote, “Electronics manufacturing has gathered pace in the country. Going ahead we will see many global players set up mega manufacturing campuses in the country. These will be 100-plus acre campuses which will house several units.” Stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ has gathered pace, the minister said that during his recent visit to Davos, several global firms met him and evinced interest in setting up mega campuses in India. Let’s talk market, After the success of the listing of renewable energy financing firm Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (Ireda), state-run power major NTPC is likely bring out an initial public offer for its fully owned subsidiary NTPC Green Energy Limited (NGEL) to mobilise resources for green projects. The department of investment and public asset management (DIPAM) has approved an NTPC proposal in this regard to go ahead with the NGEL IPO, sources said. The IPO could hit the market in the next financial year. The proceeds of the stake sale in the IPO would be used by NGEL for its green and energy transition projects including in the areas of green hydrogen, energy storage technologies, etc. Next up…Zee founder Subhash Chandra’s recent comments that the promoters plan to raise their stake initially by an additional 5% and eventually to 26% seems to have attracted the market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi) scrutiny. Sebi is examining whether the statements breach the regulator’s disclosure norms that mandates that material events should be disclosed be shareholders first. On Monday, Chandra said in an interview that the promoters are working towards raising their stake from the current 4% by another 5% soon and eventually by 26%. However, he added that the company does not plan to take any more debt to increase promoter stake, and would prefer to tap family members for the same. Moreover…State-owned oil marketing companies – Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation – reported a healthy year-on-year growth in consolidated net profits for the quarter ended December owing to healthy marketing margins. The profit after tax (PAT), however, declined sequentially for all the three companies due to inventory losses which impacted gross refining margins. OMCs are likely to report a healthy YoY growth in their net profits for Q4FY24. On a QoQ basis as well, numbers are likely to rise. They are unlikely to face further inventory loss in Q4FY24. The three OMCs reported a combined consolidated net profit of Rs 13,119.11 crore for October-December quarter, compared with a cumulative profit of Rs 3,081.55 crore in the year-ago period. In other news…Vodafone Idea chief executive officer Akshaya Moondra on Tuesday said the company’s 5G rollout will become clear once there’s clarity on fund raising plans as well as monetisation of services. Quote, the challenge, which we see today is that there’s no monetisation happening. In fact, the way 5G is priced today it is actually resulting in discounting of 4G also because whatever is being used on 5G that is not counted at all, unquote, Moondra said during the October-December quarter earnings call with analysts. While Vodafone Idea has still not launched 5G services, its peers, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio, have started services across most parts of the country, which they are offering at 4G tariff plans. Lastly…Let’s take a look at the stocks to watch today. GIFT Nifty traded flat as the index was up 2 points or 0.01% at 21,631 indicating a muted opening for domestic indices NSE Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex on Wednesday. Previously, on Tuesday, the NSE Nifty 50 lost 215.50 points or 0.99% to settle at 21,522.10, while the BSE Sensex closed 801.67 points or 1.11% lower to 71,139.90. Here’s a look at the key stocks to watch in trade – Vodafone, ITC, L&T, Muthoot Microfin, ZEEL and BPCL. Meanwhile, L&T reported a 15.5% rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,948 crore for the quarter ended December, on strong order book inflows and execution momentum.