Weekly News Roundup at 10:00 am on 13th January 2024

Let’s begin – Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani, while addressing the Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2024 on Wednesday, announced that the company will invest over Rs 55,000 crore by 2025 and over Rs 2 lakh crore over the next five years in Gujarat. This, he added, has the potential to create around 100,000 direct and indirect jobs in the state. Of the investment promise of Rs 55,000 crore by 2025 during the previous summit, Gautam Adani said, quote, “We have already surpassed Rs 50,000 crore across the various sectors I had promised and have vastly exceeded our target of 25,000 direct and indirect jobs,” unquote. Further, Gautam Adani also lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for India’s economic progress amidst geopolitical conflicts and pandemic challenges.

Next up – In a recent circular, Securities and Exchange Board of India has introduced new regulations pertaining to short selling by institutional and retail investors. While most market observers explained that this is more of a clarification, these measures are however seen as steps to enhance transparency and provide timely information to both institutional and retail investors. According to current guidelines, institutional investors have to disclose if transaction is a short sale while placing the order and retail investors have the option to make this disclosure by the end of the trading day. SEBI mandates brokers to collect details on scrip-wise short sell positions, collate this data, and upload it to stock exchanges before the next trading day begins.

In another development – Tamil Nadu witnessed investments of Rs 58,000 crore on the first day of its flagship Global Investors meet with big ticket fund inflows from JSW group, Tata Electronics, Hyundai and Pegatron, among others, across various sectors in the state. Major memorandum of understanding for investments include Vietnam-based VinFast’s Rs 16,000 crore, JSW’s Rs 12,000 crore, over Rs 12,082 crore by Tata Electronics, Rs 7,360 crore by Hyundai, and Rs 6,180 crore by TVS Group. iPhone-maker Pegatron will invest Rs 1,000 crore while First Solar committed Rs 2,500 crore, Godrej Consumer Rs 515 crore, Mitsubishi Electric Rs 200 crore and Qualcomm Rs 177 crore. Ola Electric and AP Moller-Maersk expressed their intent for additional investment in state.

Meanwhile – Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently said that India will become the third largest economy by 2027-28, with a GDP of over USD 5 trillion. Even going by conservative estimates, the size of the Indian economy will be USD 30 trillion by 2047, she noted. Sitharaman at the Vibrant Gujarat summit said, quote, “It is possible that we will be the third largest economy by 2027-28, and our GDP will cross USD 5 trillion by that time. By 2047, it is a conservative estimate that we will reach at least USD 30 trillion in terms of economy,” unquote. India, with a GDP of roughly USD 3.4 trillion, is currently the fifth-largest economy in the world.

Moving on – Hyundai has now taken the covers off from the new Creta ahead of its launch on January 16. This is the first major update to the compact SUV ever since the second-gen model was introduced back in February 2020. Earlier, the Korean carmaker released a set of official sketches which revealed the SUVs updated exterior design. Now, the Korean carmaker has revealed the design of the new Creta in its final production form. Aligned with Hyundai’s latest iteration of ‘Sensuous Sportiness’ design philosophy, the facelifted Creta takes inspiration from more premium international models. The most prominent design update is its new parametric grille embellished with black chrome flanked by new vertically-stacked twin-LED projector headlamps on either side.

In other news – Bengaluru-based fintech platform Slice’s revenue grew threefold to Rs 847 crore during FY23 from Rs 283 crore in FY22, its consolidated financial statements sourced from the Registrar of Companies show. However, its losses grew by over 50% to Rs 406 crore in FY23, up from Rs 254 crore it had incurred in FY22. The platform, which provides physical and virtual credit cards focused on students and salaried professionals, makes most of its revenue from interest income received on portfolio loans. This accounted for 56% of the company’s total revenue, which surged over three-and-a-half times to Rs 472 crore in FY23, up from Rs 134 crore in FY22.

Lastly – The GMR Group-owned Delhi International Airports has won an arbitration against the state-owned Airports Authority of India over revenue sharing during the pandemic period of March 19, 2020, to February 28, 2022. Sources said the tribunal’s directive entails a refund of Rs 500 crore from AAI and a waiver of Rs 1,800-crore payment to the authority. According to a regulatory filing by the GMR Group, the tribunal has also ruled that the concession agreement, which gives it the right to operate the airport till 2036, and shall be extended by one year and eleven months. AAI is likely to challenge the award.