1. Paytm to Launch Messaging Service To
Rival WhatsApp
Alibaba-backed Paytm is set to launch a messaging service to take on its rival WhatsApp, as it looks to create a one-stop platform for its users to transact and interact, two people familiar with the development told BloombergQuint.
Apart from buying flight tickets, book movie shows and paying utilities, users will soon be able to chat with each other using this service, one of the people said on condition of anonymity. The development was first reported by Wall Street Journal.
Paytm did not respond to an email seeking comment.
This comes at a time when Facebook’s WhatsApp is looking to foray into the digital payments space through a United Payments Interface-enabled payments system. The Facebook-owned chat application is only a few months away from completing necessary testing with the NPCI, BloombergQuint had reported earlier.
Source: BloombergQuint
2. Govt May Let a Privatised Air India Retain National Carrier Status: Arun Jaitley
The government is contemplating to retain the national carrier status of Air India while privatising the debt-burdened airline, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in Lok Sabha on Tuesday. This is expected to significantly increase the valuation of the airline as national carriers get preference while signing bilateral flying contracts with other countries.
Replying on a discussion on supplementary demands for grants for 2017-18, Jaitley said it is no longer feasible to keep collecting tax from public to fund a public sector airline in a competitive environment where it has just 15-16 percent of domestic market share.
Today, the debt of Air India is up to Rs 50,000-55,000 crore. This is not a small amount. So in what way the national carrier status of Air India could be preserved so that it remains a major competitor with change in management and shareholding pattern. The government will take an appropriate decision what to do with Air India in a competitive environment.Arun Jaitley
Source: Livemint
3. GST Roll-Out Puts July Car Sales in Top Gear
Domestic sales of passenger vehicles (cars, vans and utility vehicles) expanded at more than 15 percent in July — the highest pace in the first seven months of this calendar year.
This growth, however, comes after a double-digit decline of 11 per cent in June, when companies regulated sales to reduce dealers’ loss on pre-goods and services tax (GST) inventory.
Six leading companies, including Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), Honda and Toyota, recorded high double-digit growth, as they replenished the inventory at dealerships.
The country’s biggest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki, has sold a record monthly volume of 1,53,298 vehicles in the domestic market during July, growing 22 percent over last year. Maruti, the country’s most valued automobile company, made a new record at the bourses, with its stock hitting a fresh high of Rs 7,920 in Tuesday’s trade. It closed at Rs 7,859, up almost 2 percent from the previous day. All vehicle segments, except vans, recorded double-digit growth for the company.
Source: Business Standard
4. Bharti Airtel May Sell 3% Stake In Infratel
India’s largest wireless carrier Bharti Airtel Ltd is considering selling a 3 percent stake in its telecom tower company Bharti Infratel to institutional investors, Bloomberg reported citing people with knowledge of the matter.
The stake sale is aimed at reducing net debt, one of the people said. The paring of stake may happen as early as this month, the sources added.
The Sunil Mittal-led operator had a consolidated net debt of around Rs 87,840 crore at the end of June. The 3 percent stake that Bharti Airtel is considering to dilute is valued at around Rs 2,236 crore as per the current market price. Bharti Airtel holds 61.6 percent in the telecom tower company.
If the Bharti Infratel stake sale goes through, it will be the second one by the operator this year. In March this year, Bharti Airtel sold 10.3 percent stake in Infratel for Rs 6,194 crore to pare debt.
Source: BloombergQuint
5. Snapdeal Calling off Sale May Benefit Flipkart the Most
Online marketplace Flipkart Ltd may benefit from the decision by smaller rival Snapdeal to cancel its proposed sale, saving itself the distraction of owning a complicated asset that would have added little to its business at a time when the company is already straining to hold off arch-rival Amazon India.
On Monday, Snapdeal (Jasper Infotech Pvt Ltd) walked away from a potential sale to Flipkart, which had offered to buy the online marketplace for $850 million in stock.
Snapdeal’s largest investor SoftBank Group Corp, however, is continuing talks to buy shares worth $1.5 billion in Flipkart, Mint reported on Monday.
The price that Flipkart had offered for Snapdeal was considered too high by investors and analysts given that Snapdeal’s monthly gross sales have dropped to less than Rs 350 crore — lower than that of Flipkart’s fashion unit Myntra.
Additionally, India’s e-commerce market has cooled significantly since the start of 2016, indicating that there’s hardly any room for more than two so-called horizontal retailers.
Source: Livemint
6. RBI to Announce Monetary Policy Today
The six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) headed by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel on Tuesday started two-day deliberations for its monetary policy review.
The RBI will announce the bi-monthly monetary policy on Wednesday. Experts expect a reduction of 25 basis points in key lending rate this time, as inflation has cooled to record low levels.
The meeting’s outcome on Wednesday is being keenly awaited by all stakeholders, including industry and stock markets.
Encouraged by significant price improvement, bankers expect RBI to change its monetary stance and cut benchmark lending rate by at least 0.25 per cent.
Some expect that the central bank may go for an even more aggressive rate cut as the retail inflation touched a historic low of 1.54 per cent in June.
The panel, in its previous bi-monthly review in June, had retained the repo rate at 6.25 percent for the fourth straight time citing risk to inflation.
Source: PTI
7. Sensex Ends at Record High of 32,575; Auto
Stocks Vroom
The Sensex and Nifty closed at their highest ever level for a second session in a row as automakers such as Eicher Motors Ltd advanced on upbeat monthly sales a day ahead of a key central bank policy meeting.
The broader NSE index ended up 37.55 points or 0.37 per cent at 10,114.65, while the benchmark BSE index closed higher by 60.23 points or 0.19 per cent at 32,575.17.
However, both indexes fell briefly during the day after data showed that manufacturing PMI plunged in July to its lowest since February 2009, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new tax policy severely hurt output and demand.
Among BSE sectoral indices, auto index was the star-performer and was up 1.57 per cent, followed by metal 1.02 per cent, infrastructure 0.48 per cent and oil & gas 0.36 per cent. On the other hand, consumer durables index fell 0.75 per cent, capital goods 0.37 per cent, power 0.08 per cent and PSU 0.07 per cent.
Source: Hindu BusinessLine
8. SEBI Forms Panel to Review Norms on Insider Trading, Unfair Trade Practices
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has formed a committee to review norms pertaining to Prevention of Insider Trading (PIT) 2015, and Prevention of Fraud and Unfair Trade Practices (PFUTP) 2003.
The committee on fair market conduct, headed by TK Viswanathan, former secretary general of the Lok Sabha and former law secretary, will suggest norms to align insider trading with the recently amended Companies Act and will also for the first time address the manipulation and surveillance issues arising out of high-frequency or algorithmic trades.
The committee will suggest short-term and medium-term measures for improved surveillance of the markets as well as issues of high-frequency trades, harnessing of technology and analytics in surveillance.SEBI press release
Interestingly, the review of insider trading regulations comes within two years of a similar exercise in 2015 which replaced the 1992 norms.
Source: Livemint
9. Government To Sell 4% Stake In Hindustan Copper
The government will sell a 4 percent stake in Hindustan Copper Ltd through an offer for sale as it looks to achieve the steep divestment target set in the Union Budget 2017-18.
The Centre has offered to sell 3.7 crore shares in the copper miner through the offer, it said in a stock exchange filing on Tuesday. The floor price has been set at Rs 64.75 per share, at an 8 percent discount to Tuesday's closing price of Rs 70.6.
Following the sale, the government's holding in Hindustan Copper will decline to 78.8 percent.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech had said that the government aims to raise as much as Rs 72,500 crore in the current fiscal through various stake sales. So far it has raised about Rs 7,500 crore through share sale in five companies, the most recent being National Fertilizers Ltd in July, through which the government raised Rs 535 crore.
Source: BloombergQuint
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