1. RBI Stops Printing Rs 2,000 Notes, Focus Turns to New Rs 200 Notes
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stopped printing Rs 2,000 notes about five months ago and is unlikely to print more in the current financial year, said people aware of the development. The central bank, however, has stepped up the printing of other denominations, including new Rs 200 notes, the people added on condition of anonymity.
About 3.7 billion Rs 2,000 notes amounting to Rs 7.4 trillion have been printed, said one of the people cited above. That more than compensates for the 6.3 billion Rs 1,000 notes that were withdrawn after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation move on 8 November 2016.
“Most of the printing that’s being done, about 90 percent is only Rs 500 notes. Nearly 14 billion pieces of new Rs 500 notes have been printed so far,” this person said.
That is also close to the 15.7 billion of old Rs 500 notes (amounting to Rs 7.85 trillion) withdrawn from circulation after 8 November.
Source: Livemint
2. Nifty Breaches 10,000-Mark; Ends Lower on Profit Booking
The benchmark Nifty on Tuesday breached the 10,000-mark for the first time, but a wave of profit booking dragged the gauge down to close at 9,964.55.
The 50-share index had first topped the 9,000-level in intra-day trade on 3 March, 2015. The index, however, only managed to close above the 9,000-mark two years later on 14 March 2017. This time around experts don’t expect that long for the index to achieve the five-figure mark at close as investor sentiment and institutional flows remain strong even as high valuations remain a concern.
Those in the bull camp expect corporate earnings to improve, economic growth to accelerate, and government reforms to feed a strong rally. Others say a correction is due following a sharp appreciation in domestic equities this year, which have stretched valuations.
Source: Business Standard
3. Reliance Industries Wants Digital Arm to Be a
Rs 40K-Cr Entity by 2020
Reliance Industries wants to make its consumer electronics and mobile phone retailing venture, Reliance Digital, a Rs 40,000 crore entity by 2020, three senior industry executives said. It is betting on demand for the newly launched Jio feature phones, service revenue, expansion into small markets and online sales to reach the target.
Reliance Digital last Friday organised a business meet in Mumbai where it invited senior executives from leading brands to celebrate 10 years of its operations. During the event, senior company officials ran through its business plans. The company’s business now accounts for 4 percent of the country’s consumer electronics and mobile phone retailing market. To achieve the target, it will need a 12 percent market share in three years, the executives said.
The electronics retailing business achieved around Rs 11,200 crore sales last fiscal year, making it the largest contributor to revenue at Reliance Retail.
Source: Economic Times
4. Bharti Airtel’s Q1 Profit Beats Estimates As Reliance Jio Ends Free Services
Bharti Airtel Ltd’s earnings beat estimates as Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd began charging its users after six months of free services, easing pressure on its rivals.
Net profit of India’s largest telecom operator fell 1.6 percent to Rs 367 crore in April-June over the previous three months, it said in an exchange filing. That’s the fourth straight quarterly decline but surpassed the Rs 317 crore consensus estimate of analysts tracked by Bloomberg.
Revenue remained largely unchanged at Rs 21,958 crore, after falling for three straight quarters. Analysts had expected Rs 21,927 crore.
Reliance Jio had triggered a tariff war by offering free services as part of an inaugural offer in September last year. The company began charging subscribers in April, offering some respite to its older rivals. The Mukesh Ambani-led operator still offers plans cheaper than rivals.
Source: BloombergQuint
5. Hero MotoCorp Profit Vrooms After Two Quarters
Country’s largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp on Tuesday reported 3.5 percent growth in net profit for the first quarter ended 30 June. The company earned a profit of Rs 914 crore in the quarter against Rs 883 crore in the corresponding period last year. This is the first growth in profit after two consecutive quarters (Q3 and Q4, FY17) of decline in profit.
Revenue from operations grew over seven percent to Rs 8,613 crore during the quarter ended 20 June. EBIDTA margin for the quarter stood at 16.3 percent against 16.6 percent in the corresponding quarter last year. The raw material cost per unit increased 2.26 percent to Rs 29,492 crore for the quarter. The firm did not disclose the impact arising out of compensation to dealers who incurred losses on inventory while migrating to goods and services tax from 1 July. The previous two quarters were impacted by demonetisation and the Supreme Court order on BS-III two-wheelers, leading to a dip in profit.
Source: Business Standard
6. Vodafone-Idea Merger Expected to Complete in 2018
The merger of Vodafone India Ltd and Idea Cellular Ltd is set to be completed ahead of time in 2018, the companies said on Tuesday.
The Vodafone-Idea merger will create India’s largest telecom firm, eclipsing Bharti Airtel Ltd and pose a formidable challenge to new entrant and disruptor Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.
“We welcome the decision of the Competition Commission of India approving the proposed merger of Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, following its comprehensive review of the transaction. It is expected that other statutory approvals will be forthcoming and we anticipate completing the transaction during 2018,” Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla and Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
Both firms had earlier anticipated to complete the merger within 24 months from the date of announcement. The Vodafone-Idea merger was announced on 20 March this year.
Source: PTI
7. Tata Sons to Hire Axis Bank’s Shikha Sharma to Head Financial Services Cluster
Axis Bank Ltd’s Shikha Sharma is likely to join the Tata Group to lead its financial services vertical, one person aware of the development told BloombergQuint.
Tata Sons Ltd’s Chairman N Chandrasekaran has selected the managing director and chief executive officer of India’s third largest private lender to head the vertical that will include companies like Tata-AIA Life Insurance and Tata Capital, the person said requesting anonymity as the information is not public.
Axis Bank appointed executive search firm Egon Zehnder to find a CEO after Sharma’s term ends next year, Bloomberg had reported citing people familiar with the matter. She is eligible to reapply.
Source: BloombergQuint
8. SC Tells Sahara To Deposit Rs 1,500 Crore By 7 Sept
The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Sahara Group to deposit Rs 1,500 crore by 7 September with the market regulator to keep its chief Subrata Roy out of jail and avoid the auction of its Aamby Valley property near Pune, Maharashtra.
The group informed the apex court that it has deposited Rs 247 crore, less than half of what the apex court had asked it to deposit by 20 July. The remaining amount has been included in the sum the company has to pay by 7 September.
The apex court also approved the draft sale notice for the auction of Aamby Valley assets. The court warned Sahara if the money is not deposited, it will auction the property. It fixed the next hearing on 11 September, extending Roy’s parole till then.
On 27 April, Sahara had given two post-dated cheques: One for Rs 1,500 crore dated 15 June and the other for Rs 500 crore dated 15 July.
Source: BloombergQuint
9. Alibaba, Paytm in Talks With Bigbasket to Buy 20% Stake
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and its Indian associate Paytm E-commerce Pvt Ltd are in talks to invest about $200 million for a stake of roughly 20 percent in India’s leading online grocer, Bigbasket, according to a person with direct knowledge of the negotiations.
Alibaba and Paytm are in a 60-day exclusive pact with Bigbasket and are conducting due diligence, said the person, who did not want to be quoted as the negotiations are private. The two could invest as a team or separately, the person said.
Several others are also said to be interested and in various stages of conversation with Bigbasket, including global retail titan Amazon.com Inc, said a different person familiar with the matter. Morgan Stanley is advising Supermarket Grocery Supplies Pvt, which owns the Bigbasket brand, on the fundraising, that person said.
Source: Livemint
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