1. UBS Red Flags Modi’s Decline In Popularity – BS
Declining popularity of the Narendra Modi government could lead to populist measures in the short term, weakening market optimism, worries foreign brokerage UBS.
In its ‘India strategy’ report, the brokerage firm quoted a recent media survey which pointed at a drop in popularity of the Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. The survey projected that if Lok Sabha elections were held this year, the BJP would win less seats than it did in April/May 2014.
The Modi government has already taken a number of positive steps for the economy in terms of ease of doing business, inflation moderation policies and even legislative reforms around coal, mining, labour and insurance...The govt has a majority mandate for four more years but will the above (the decline in popularity) lead to some short-term populist measures
– Gautam Chhaochharia, Head of Research (India), UBS.
2. 12 More PSUs Lined Up For Stake Sale
The government has short-listed about a dozen public sector undertakings (PSUs) for stake sale this fiscal and the department of disinvestment (DoD) has floated a cabinet note seeking approval for the same, reported the Financial Express.
The government has the potential to raise more than Rs 21,000 crore at the current market price. Names include National Thermal Power (NTPC), Neyveli Lignite, Bharat Electronics (BEL), National Aluminium (Nalco), Hindustan Copper, MMTC,Engineers India, Rashtriya Chemicals Fertilizers (RCF), ITDC, National Fertilisers and STC.
3. Two Dozen IPOs Worth Rs 12,000 cr In Pipeline
More than two-dozen companies are planning to launch their initial public offerings (IPOs) worth Rs 12,000 crore over the next 6-8 months amid anticipation of a bull run in the secondary markets, according to the Financial Express.
Investment bankers say there is a robust IPO pipeline building up. Work on most of these IPOs started only after June as very few had expected the election mandate.
The primary markets are definitely attracting a fair share of investor interest … There is a great faith in India’s macro-economic growth story and investors are convinced that sentiments in the secondary markets are strong and heading in the right direction.
– V Jayasankar, Senior ED & ECM-Head, Kotak Investment Banking
4. Indian Startups Among Asia’s Fastest Fundraisers – TOI
Indian startups are at it again. And this time, four startups, namely, Grofers, myNoticePeriod, SilverPush and News in Shorts are among the top 11 Asian ventures that went from seed funding to series A funding the fastest in recent times, according to an article in the Times of India.
In fact, these Asian startups outshone even their European peers, going from seed to series A in an average of 427 days compared to the 465 days that the European startups took, as per data put together by research firm CB Insights.
Indian startups are demonstrating traction early on for investors to engage with these companies. And that is happening because the Indian market has hit a critical mass of online users, because of the massive increase in mobile usage, and because of a huge mindset shift among consumers, who are now more willing to experiment with new services from startups.
– Ravi Gururaj, chairman of the Nasscom Product Council
5. Snapdeal CFO Quits, May Start Own Co – TOI
Snapdeal’s chief financial officer (CFO) Aakash Moondhra has stepped down and could be starting his own venture or going back to investing, said people familiar with the development at the Delhi-based e-commerce company, to Times of India. He was hired by Snapdeal in 2012 as CFO.
6. Essar Energy Plans to Step Up Exploration – ET
Even as energy companies across the world are reducing capital expenditure as crude oil prices have crashed 50% since June, Essar plans to go ahead with its exploratory drilling.
Essar Energy will start exploratory drilling at its blocks in Mumbai High field and Vietnam in September-October, hoping to discover reserves to increase its crude oil production, according to the Economic Times.
7. India Offers Best Opportunity Among EMs - ET
India is one of the few people with his finger on the pulse of foreign investors, said Sanjay Shah, MD and co-head, Morgan Stanley to Economic Times. He says that while the finance minister has taken an important first step in clarifying that from April 1, 2015 this (MAT) would not be applicable to FIIs. There are some issues with the wordings which, hopefully, once the Budget gets cleared in the parliament, will be sorted out. But the spirit is in the right place in that there is no intent to tax FIIs.
Over the last 8 to 10 months, particularly since the government has come into power, there has been a greater focus on improving governance and introducing efficiency in the system by resorting to e-business. So, that is the macro story.
Read the rest of the interview here.
8. HDFC Bank Leads In Mobile Banking Transactions, Grows Nine-Fold – BS
Private sector lender HDFC Bank has seen more than nine-fold growth in mobile banking transactions in January 2015 compared to January 2014. The bank maintained the lead in mobile transactions, with Rs 4,906.86 crore worth recorded in January. According to data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), it had 1.49 million transactions in January 2015 compared to 290,000 transactions in January 2014, as reported in the Business Standard. HDFC Bank is probably the fourth lender in the world to have such an app and the first Indian bank to have its app on the Apple Watch.
This is followed by ICICI Bank, State Bank of India and Axis Bank with respect to mobile banking transactions.
9. No Arbitration Over RIL Gas Price, Says Centre – BS
The government on Monday filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court, stating its differences with Reliance Industries over pricing of natural gas from the company’s KG-D6 block were not open to arbitration. Reliance Industries and its partners are pursuing four arbitration cases with the government, of which two are related to the KG-D6 block over cost recovery and market pricing.
Reliance Industries had sought arbitration in May 2012 after the government disallowed about $1 billion in costs, as the gas flow tapered. The company also sought arbitration over deferred gas pricing in May 2014.
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