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Latest business, finance and stock market news today at 5:30 pm on June 17, 2024
Transcript of today’s latest business news at 5:30pm on June 17 2024
Let’s start with the main update: Although India’s wholesale price index inflation accelerated for the third consecutive month to 2.61 percent in May, mainly due to rising food prices, economists said the outlook for inflation appears better due to the anticipation of a normal monsoon. Sarbartho Mukherjee, senior associate economist at CareEdge Ratings, said the outlook for food inflation has improved due to anticipations of a normal monsoon, which is expected to bolster agricultural production. However, monitoring the temporal and spatial distribution of monsoons is essential. Early last week, data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry stated that WPI inflation rose to 2.61 percent in May, mainly due to rising prices of food items and food production.
Moving forward, Hyundai Motor’s Indian company filed preliminary documents for India’s biggest initial public offerings (IPOs) on Saturday. This IPO, which aims to reinforce the presence of the Hyundai brand and provide liquidity in the country, marks a crucial moment in the automotive industry. This will not only be the biggest IPO in the automotive sector, but it will also surpass the IPOs registered so far on Dalal Street, including the biggest so far – LIC’s $2.5 billion issuance in 2022. Hyundai Motor’s Indian unit has filed regulatory approval for a stock market listing in Mumbai, potentially marking the country’s biggest IPO. This movement involves the sale of up to a 17.5% stake to the South Korean controlling company.
In other news, India Inc’s sequential revenue growth is expected to decline in the first quarter of FY25, an ICRA report said. While there have been signs of a revival in rural demand, ICRA said headwinds such as the slowdown in Government of India (GoI) spending during the parliamentary elections and the onset of the monsoon period are likely to weigh on growth in the first half of the year. from fiscal 2025. However, the operating profit margin (OPM) will remain stable in the range of 15-18 percent despite the expected reduction in revenue growth as raw material costs are expected to remain stable. This is estimated to keep India Inc’s credit metrics in Q1FY25 largely stable, with the interest coverage ratio in the range of 4.7-5.0 times.
Meanwhile, the automatic signaling system between Ranipatra railway station and Chattar Hat Junction in West Bengal, where a goods train collided with the Sealdah Kanchanjunga express from the rear on Monday, was reported faulty since 5:50 am, sources said. railways. In such cases of signal failure, the station master issues a written authority known as TA 912, allowing the driver to pass all red signals in the section affected due to the defect. Initial statements from the Railway Board attributed the collision to the goods train’s driver disregarding the signal, with the reported death toll being five, although local authorities suggested it could be higher, possibly up to 15.
Next, state-owned insurance giant Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) reached a significant milestone, with its total assets under management (AUM) crossing the Rs 50 lakh crore mark, almost double the size of Pakistan’s GDP . Following a strong rally in Indian equities, LIC’s AUM rose 16.48% year-on-year to reach Rs 51,21,887 crore ($616 billion) at the end of March. This marks a substantial increase from Rs 43,97,205 crore at the end of FY23. According to the latest data, the PBR’s financial influence not only surpasses Pakistan’s GDP, which is approximately $338.24 billion, but also surpasses the economies of Denmark and Singapore. The impressive size of LIC’s insurance fund also eclipses the combined GDPs of India’s three neighboring countries.
Moving forward, the Congress may not have won enough votes to form the government following the election results, but Indian National Congress (INC) leader Rahul Gandhi’s stock market portfolio has been growing as markets reach new record highs after initial correction. The politician’s overall portfolio stood at Rs 4.56 crore on June 14 and has gained 7.5% since June 4 when it stood at Rs 4.25 crore. Although Rahul Gandhi called for a Joint Parliament to investigate the June 4 crash, which he called “the biggest fraud” in the history of the Indian stock market, his portfolio has produced encouraging returns. He also alleged that Modi, Shah and Sitharaman motivated people to “buy stocks before June 4 as the markets will go up a lot”.
Of late, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the first budget of the Modi 3.0 government in the second half of July. Industries, farmers and other stakeholders across sectors are eagerly awaiting potential reinforcement announcements from the Narendra Modi government in the upcoming budget. Among these hopeful groups are also taxpayers, who are particularly hoping for relief from the Minister of Finance in the form of tax incentives. The middle class in particular has not seen significant tax cuts in the last two budgets. In the Union Budget 2020, the Modi government introduced a new tax regime alongside the existing one, with the aim of providing an alternative to taxpayers. Initially, the government anticipated wider adoption of the new regime due to its lower tax rates, albeit without traditional deductions.