Weekly News Roundup at 10:00 am on 20th January 2024

Let’s begin with the news that made headlines this week. Life Insurance Corporation of India, a government-owned insurance giant, has regained its status as the most valued public sector undertaking, surpassing the market capitalization of State Bank of India. While SBI holds a market value of Rs 5.63 lakh crore, LIC has surpassed it with a market capitalization of Rs 5.64 lakh crore. As of 9:30 am, the SBI stock witnessed a 1.5 percent decline to Rs 624, whereas LIC traded at Rs 896 on the BSE, showing a 0.2 percent increase. Concurrently, the benchmark BSE Sensex experienced a 1.02 percent loss, settling at 72,386 points. LIC has consistently remained a top choice among analysts.

Meanwhile, US-based investment firm GQG Partners has increased its stake in seven Adani Group companies during the three-month period ended December, while that by Life Insurance Corporation of India remained mostly stable. GQG Partners hiked its stake in Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone to 3.76% as of December end from 3.53% as of September 30. Similarly, its stake in the flagship firm Adani Enterprises was hiked to 2.95% in the third quarter, from 2.74% recorded in the sequential second quarter, according to stock exchange data. It also hiked stake in Adani Energy Solutions, the group’s power distribution company, to 2.51%, while that in its renewable energy arm Adani Green Energy to 3.68% and Adani Power to 4.17%.

Moving on. The government of Karnataka has signed memorandums of understanding worth Rs 22,000 crore with seven companies such as Microsoft, data centre provider Web Werks and Japanese conglomerate Hitachi on the second day of the World Economic Forum 2024 in Davos, Switzerland. Among them, Webwerks is looking to set up a data centre park of 100 MW in Bengaluru worth Rs 20,000 Cr. It already has a 80,000 sq. ft facility in Whitefield of 7.5 MW. The state industries ministry said that Webwerks expressed its ambition to establish a cutting-edge connectivity hub, featuring state-of-the-art hyper-scaler data centers in Bengaluru. Besides this, four companies have entered into MOUs with the state government, which is collectively worth over Rs 2,000 crore.

In some more industry news, Agratas Energy Storage Solutions Pvt Ltd. is in talks with a group of banks to raise as much as $500 million via green loan, Bloomberg reported. The wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Sons Pvt Ltd develops battery cells, with factories in India and the U.K. Its facilities are designed to be powered by clean energy, according to the company’s website. Agratas would use the proceeds from the loan for its factories, said the people, who asked not to be identified when discussing a confidential matter. The tenor would probably be more than five years. The administration of Indian PM Modi is striving to build capacity in a range of technologies, including semiconductors, solar panels, and pharmaceuticals.

Now over to some budget 2024 related news. With the the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman all set to present the interim Budget for the fiscal year 2024-25 on February 1, 2024, an analysis by ICRA suggested that the government is likely to target fiscal deficit at 5.3 per cent of GDP for FY2025, entailing a reasonable degree of fiscal consolidation amid slower capex growth. The upcoming Budget will be an interim one and is said to have no major announcements as it is coinciding with the general elections year which is scheduled for this year. The full budget for the fiscal year 2024-25 will be presented after the formation of the new government following the general elections.

Over to technology. Samsung launched the Galaxy S24 series at Unpacked San Jose late last night and, per usual, it has announced the India prices of the devices this morning. The Galaxy S24 price in India will start at Rs 79,999 and the Galaxy S24 Plus at Rs 99,999. The Galaxy S24 Ultra has a starting price of Rs 1,29,999. Pre-bookings for the Galaxy S24 series trio starts today itself. The date of shipping has not been revealed by Samsung at the time of writing. The Galaxy S24 Ultra is getting three colours in India to choose from at launch. These are Titanium Gray, Titanium Violet, and Titanium Black. There are some online-exclusive colours as well.

Lastly, the auto sector. Tata Motors has launched the highly anticipated Punch EV at a starting price of Rs 10.99 lakh, going up to Rs 14.49 lakh (both ex–showroom). Pre-bookings for the Punch EV are already underway at the company’s website, authorised Tata Motor showrooms, and Tata.ev dealerships for a token amount of Rs 21,000. Deliveries of the micro electric SUV are slated to commence 22 January 2024 onwards. The homegrown carmaker is offering the Punch EV in five trims namely Smart, Smart+, Adventure, Empowered and Empowered+. These are further divided into standard and Long Range variants.