Business News at 05:30 pm on 24th May 2023

Lets begin – Domestic indices ended Wednesday’s session in the red. The NSE Nifty 50 tumbled 62.60 points or 0.34% to 18,285.40 and BSE Sensex slipped 208.01 points or 0.34% to 61,773.78. In sectoral indices, Bank Nifty tanked 276.60 points or 0.63% to 43,677.85 while Nifty Pharma jumped 126.25 points or 1.03% to 12,440.45. The top gainers on Nifty 50 were Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy, ITC, IndusInd Bank and Titan while the losers were Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. Adani Transmission, Adani Total Gas, NDTV, Adani Green and Visesh Infotecnics were among 64 NSE stocks that hit the upper price band while Adani Wilmar, GE T&D India, Servotech Power Systems, Wanbury and Zim Laboratories were among 40 stocks that hit the lower price band.
In the other news – The economic impact on India by its entrepreneurs, which is part of the e-commerce platform Shopify, has put the country in the 26th spot on the Shopify Entrepreneurship Index involving 40 countries. The index, topped by the US, Lithuania and Romania, released last week was undertaken by Shopify along with Deloitte to calculate the GDP impact, business activity impact, jobs supported, and exports generated by millions of entrepreneurs on Shopify in 2022. To rank countries, the impact calculated was compared to “national values for each country and state” using public data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the International Labour Organization (ILO), and government statistical agencies.
Meanwhile – Hindalco Industries Limited on Wednesday posted fiscal fourth quarter earnings with profit at Rs 2,411 crore, down 37.4 per cent as against Rs 3,851 crore in the same quarter last year. However, the profit grew 77 per cent sequentially driven by a continued focus on cost control and a resilient operational performance by India business, the company said. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 55,857 core in the fourth quarter of FY23 in comparison to Rs 55,764 crore in the corresponding quarter last year, on account of better realisations and volumes in India operations. The company’s EBITDA stood at Rs 5,818 crore, down 23 per cent on-year. This was impacted by higher input costs and unfavourable macros, partially offset by better operational performance of Copper business. The Board also recommended a dividend of Rs 3 per equity share of Re 1 each for the year ended March 2023. Hindalco’s Novelis posted revenue for the fourth quarter at Rs 36,176 crore. Total shipments of flat rolled products were at 936 Kt in Q4FY23 vs 987 Kt in Q4FY22, down 5 per cent on-year, and up 3 per cent QoQ supported by higher aerospace and record automotive shipments in Q4.
Moving on – While the Reserve Bank of India has not put a cap on the number of Rs 2,000 notes that one can deposit in bank accounts, tax experts say one should be aware of the Statement of Financial Transaction (SFT) rules. High-value cash deposits are reported by banks to the income tax department as per the SFT rules. This is also reflected in the depositor’s 26AS and Annual Information Statement. The threshold for reporting of cash deposits by a bank or the Post Master General is Rs 10 lakh in accounts other than the current account in a financial year and Rs 50 lakh in one or more current accounts in a financial year.
Lastly – Snapchat, has announced a significant achievement in India, surpassing 200 million monthly active userbase. The company says that it continues to invest in India through a localised platform experience, local content initiatives and partnerships, and a dedicated focus on regional creators via Spotlight and Stories. The company has localised its platform experience, emphasising regional content initiatives, partnerships, and support for regional creators through features like Spotlight and Stories. Currently, more than 120 million Indian Snapchatters actively consume content on the app’s Stories and Spotlight tabs, indicating a strong user engagement. Spotlight, the company’s user-generated entertainment platform, has experienced substantial growth in India, with the time spent on the feature more than tripling. Ajit Mohan, President of APAC at Snapchat, expressed his enthusiasm on the same and highlighted the potential for partners, creators, and brands to build communities and businesses on Snapchat. Quote – “I am thrilled to have joined Snap at a time where the momentum among our Indian community has never been stronger. We see incredible potential for partners, creators, and brands to build communities and businesses on Snapchat, and we couldn’t be more excited about our future. Young India has particularly valued the healthy and private environment that has been at the heart of our experiences and this will continue to be our focus going forward,”- unquote, he said at the announcement.