1. Reliance Jio Raises Rates
Reliance Jio Infocomm increased the effective rates of its services in a new set of tariffs unveiled on Tuesday, but prices which are still low and concerns among analysts that normalcy is several quarters away weighed on investor sentiment, pulling down the shares of India's top listed telecom companies.
In a new tariff card published on its website, Jio shrank the period of validity and data allowance offered under its existing plans.
Its popular Rs 309 plan will now provide 56 GB of data for about two months as part of its prepaid offering, instead of the previous offer of 84 GB and three months. To avail of the original benefits under this Dhan Dhana Dhan offer, a subscriber will have to now pay Rs 399.
(Source: Economic Times)
2. Tata Steel Completes UK Restructuring With Sale of Pipe Mills
Tata Steel Ltd. has completed restructuring its British operations with the sale of two steel pipe mills in the U.K. that were put on the block last year.
The Mumbai-based company has entered into a definitive pact with Liberty House Group to sell its 42-inch and 84-inch pipe mills at Hartlepool, employing about 140 people, it said in an exchange filing on Tuesday, without disclosing the financial value.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the next few months.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
3. IT Shares Extend Gain; Nifty IT Index up 5% in Two Days
Shares of information technology (IT) companies were trading higher for the second straight day, with the Nifty IT index gaining 5 percent in past two days on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).
At 10:04 am; the Nifty IT index was trading at 10,592, up 2.2 percent, extending its Monday’s 2.7 percent surge on the NSE. On comparison, the Nifty 50 index, which trading at 9,812, was up 1.5 percent during the period.
So far in 2017, the Nifty IT index had under-performed the market by falling 3 percent against 18 percent rise in the benchmark index till Friday, 7 July.
(Source: Business Standard)
4. India's Consumer Inflation May Cool to Record-Low in June, Prompt Rate Cut
India's consumer inflation is expected to have slowed to a record-low in June, pressured by a sharp drop in food and oil prices, a Reuters poll showed, a result that could intensify calls for an interest rate cut.
Consumer price inflation is predicted to cool to 1.70 percent in June, easing further from May's 2.18 percent, according to the poll of more than 30 economists taken over the past week.
(Source: Business Standard)
5. IndusInd Bank's Net Profit Grows 27%
IndusInd Bank Ltd.’s profit grew in the June-ended quarter largely due to a rise in its core income even as bad loans rose slightly.
The Mumbai-based bank reported a 26.5 percent jump in profit to Rs 836.5 crore over the year-ago period, according to its stock exchange filing. The number is in line with forecasts of analysts tracked by Bloomberg.
The growth was fueled by an increase in net interest income, Romesh Sobti, chief executive officer of IndusInd, said in a media conference. Net interest income went up 30.8 percent over last year to Rs 1,774 crore.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
6. Govt to Keep an Eye on Price Rise & GST Glitches
Keep an eye on price rise and shortage of any commodity, report immediately in case of software glitches and complaints from traders, and file weekly reports by Sunday – this is a fresh directive to all central ministries from cabinet secretary PK Sinha, who has initiated a mechanism to keep ground level checks on the implementation of the goods and services tax regime.
Sinha has written to secretaries of all ministries to put in place a grassroots mechanism to report price rise post-GST, software glitches, trader complaints, shortage of commodities and stakeholders who still have not switched to the new taxation regime.
(Source: Economic Times)
7. GST: Eateries Should Cut Rates of Food Items, Says Hasmukh Adhia
Restaurants, hotels and eateries should cut rates on food items in their menu to reflect the benefit of being able to set off tax paid on inputs under goods and services tax (GST), revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia said on Tuesday.
He also said that GST will be levied on entire sum of food bill, including service charge, in a restaurant, while the value of alcohol or alcohol products consumed will attract value added tax (VAT). Previously, a service tax was levied on the bill.
But the tax the hotel or restaurant operators paid on inputs could not be set off against the tax on final bill. This facility, called input tax credit (ITC), is available in the GST regime.
(Source: Livemint)
8. NSE Asks TCS to Explain Monday's Software Glitch
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has asked IT services major TCS, the principal technology service provider for the exchange’s main trading engines, to investigate Monday’s software glitch.
The NSE had suspended trading on its platform for nearly three hours on Monday due to an alleged technical fault. The exchange’s cash equity segment had collapsed in the pre-opening session itself, possibly on the back of heavy order flows.
It was found that there was a communication issue between NSE’s order matching engine and data system layer, which could have caused the glitch.Source close to the exchange
(Source: The Hindu Businessline)
9. Wipro Lighting Shuts Plant in Mysore; Set to Affect 84 Employees
Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, part of Azim Premji owned Wipro Enterprises has shut down its manufacturing plant in Mysore affecting 84 employees. The unit which was manufacturing CFL lighting products had become unviable as the market has increasingly shifted to LED products.
A statement from Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting said,
The changing market and technology landscape in the lighting business marked by a sharp decline in the demand for CFL products and increasing preference for LED products over the past two years has rendered continued operations of the Mysore manufacturing unit commercially unviable.
(Source: Financial Express)
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