Sterling & Wilson up 5% on partial loan repayment by SP Group, pares later

In December 2019, the company said the unforeseeable and lesser-than-expected realisation from the IPO led to significant and rapid deterioration in the credit markets, resulting in a liquidity crisis

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Have a wonderful 2020: Vice President Naidu, PM Modi extend new year wishes

Prime Minister Modi hoped that 2020 is filled with joy and prosperity

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Drugmakers from Pfizer to GSK to hike US prices up to 10% on over 200 drugs

More price increases are expected to be announced later this week, which could affect the median and range.

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Stocks to watch: Infra firms, YES Bank, CARE Ratings, Bajaj Electricals

Here's a look at the top stocks that may remain in focus today

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After attack on its embassy in Iraq, US to send more troops to Middle East

Trump blamed Tehran for the embassy attack and warned that it would face punishment if Americans are killed

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Delhi air quality improves from 'severe' to 'very poor' today morning

On Tuesday also the pollution level of the national capital remained in the 'severe' category

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Walmart India names Sameer Aggarwal as its Deputy CEO

This is the second promotion for Agarwal during his less than two year stint at Walmart India. A retail veteran with stints at Yum Brands in Thailand and U.K. retailer Sainsbury’s in London, Aggarwal was hired in April 2018 as chief strategy and administrative officer at Walmart India.

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Walmart India names Sameer Aggarwal as its Deputy CEO

This is the second promotion for Agarwal during his less than two year stint at Walmart India. A retail veteran with stints at Yum Brands in Thailand and U.K. retailer Sainsbury’s in London, Aggarwal was hired in April 2018 as chief strategy and administrative officer at Walmart India.

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Bankers’ 3Cs phobia: More persons should be brought on board loan panels to make lending a responsible task

A surgeon who constantly worries about mortality on the operation table is usually hamstrung in his efficient discharge of duties. Similarly, a banker who constantly worries about being hauled over coals by the investigative agencies is likely to play it safe — do not lend at all. Lending means responsibility and responsibility means enquiry should the loans sour sooner or later.

Our public sector banks (PSBs) reeling under the impact of heavy non-performing assets (NPAs) have been playing it safe, seeking the security of government gilts rather than the rough and tumble of industrial and infrastructure loans.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, therefore, did well to exhort the bankers to overcome the 3Cs phobia—the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). She forgot to add the 4th C—Caesar’s wife. Yes, bankers are like Caesar’s wife who must be above suspicion. That they are deemed to be public servants for the purposes of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) makes their jobs onerous. Yet lend they must because otherwise, a bank would be failing in its basic role.

The PSB must do the following in the New Year:

1) As far as possible, involve at least two persons in the loan approval process. It is not enough to restrict a branch manager’s powers to sanction loans. Even when a loan proposal moves up to the regional office, it should be a committee of officials that should sanction the loan. It is not as if a committee is not susceptible to overtures by the borrower to bend the rules. After collusive corruption is not something unheard of. Yet larger the number of persons in the decision-making loop, the lesser the chances of bending the rules.

2) Syndicated loans should be the preferred mode as there is always safety in numbers. Appraisal of the loan application is better and PSBs function with greater cohesion and cooperation.

3) Takeout financing for long gestation infrastructure projects must be implemented. At present, the specialised infrastructure financing agencies step into the scene after commercial banks are fairly in the advanced stage of nursing a loan. It should be the other way round. The specialists should be the ones who process the loan application and hand over the baton, as it were, to the banks once the project has gone on stream. For PSBs apart from NPA, the other festering problem has been Asset Liability Mismatch (ALM) which often arises due to heavy exposures to infrastructure projects with long gestation periods. Banks typically accept deposits for medium-term apart from short term deposits usually for 3 to 5 years. In the event lending for infrastructure projects with repayments spread over seven to ten years proves to be suicidal. Ideally, three or four banks should be involved, with each picking up the loan portfolio for a period of three years after which it is passed onto another bank for three years and so on.

4) Banks must involve the officials involved in the loan sanctioning process in the recovery or collection process as well. A person who is going to recover is bound to be more careful while sanctioning. In short, there should be a dedicated team that should have an interface with a borrower right through the loan process.

5) A part of the remuneration of such loan cells in banks must be in the form of a very small sliver of collections or recoveries. If tax officials could be incentivised thus, there is no reason why banks' officials cannot be similarly incentivised.

These are some of the measures that can be taken by banks. Of course, it is the responsibility of the government to improve the climate of compliance. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) has started showing results, with company promoters shaking in their boots at the imminent prospect of losing control of their companies. But that does not mean a corresponding strengthening of hands of banks because IBC resolution process thus far has exacted a heavy price from the banks—haircuts ranging from 50 percent to 60 percent. In the long run, such heavy haircuts would render the business of lending unviable.

Therefore, gradually bank finance must be made unavailable to big-ticket borrowers like listed companies. They must meet their fund requirements through bonds which is a ruthless place and tames defaulters more effectively and faster. A laggard and defaulter is recognised fast and his bonds attain the junk status thus jeopardizing his chances of mobilizing funds from the same market in the future.

(The author is a senior columnist and tweets @smurlidharan)

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Consumption slump just a phase; neighbourhood shops hit hard: Mariwala

There is a need for the government to unleash both short-term and long-term reforms to reverse the slowdown, he said adding that there is no quick fix or set formula to fight the same.

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Market Ahead, January 1: Top factors that could guide markets today

Investors' concern over fiscal slippage and contraction in core sector is likely to dominate today's session while the progress in the US-China trade deal might offer some relief

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Weekly stock picks by Religare Broking: Buy Ashok Leyland, Bata India

Ashok Leyland has been rebounding for the past five months and is now trading on the verge of fresh breakout from the consolidation range

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Stock picks from HDFC Securities: Buy Gujarat Gas, Phoenix Mills

Technical calls from Vinay Rajani, Technical & Derivatives Analyst, HDFC securities.

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Top events today: Gen Rawat to take over as CDS, Railway fare hike, & more

Business Standard brings you top events that are lined up for Wednesday

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Top 10 biz headlines: FM's infra plan, SBI's distressed asset fund, & more

From a CEO poll indicating that slowdown will worsen to hiring in IT sector, here are the top 10 business news headlines for the day

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MARKET LIVE: SGX Nifty suggests a negative start for the domestic indices

Catch all the live market action here.

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Iran will pay 'very BIG PRICE' if it attacks US facilities, warns Trump

Trump spoke with Abdel Mahdi earlier by telephone, stressing the need to protect Americans and US facilities in Iraq, the White House said.

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Liquor makers seek govt's support to increase exports

In a letter to Commerce Minister, Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies Director General Vinod Giri said in 2018-19, exports of alcoholic beverages stood at Rs 2,200 crore, while imports were Rs 5,400 crore. "The data clearly indicates how the trade is balanced against India," he said adding the ministry should not give major duty concessions to regions like the EU.

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Food processing industry seeks 20% export sop

The high taxes on branded food products has led to an increase sale of food in loose form which is unsafe and unhealthy. This has also reduced consumption of packaged food, said Jindal. The association has also recommended that new units be provided with a five-year tax holiday irrespective of the location of the unit.

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Liquor makers seek govt's support to increase exports

In a letter to Commerce Minister, Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies Director General Vinod Giri said in 2018-19, exports of alcoholic beverages stood at Rs 2,200 crore, while imports were Rs 5,400 crore. "The data clearly indicates how the trade is balanced against India," he said adding the ministry should not give major duty concessions to regions like the EU.

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Food processing industry seeks 20% export sop

The high taxes on branded food products has led to an increase sale of food in loose form which is unsafe and unhealthy. This has also reduced consumption of packaged food, said Jindal. The association has also recommended that new units be provided with a five-year tax holiday irrespective of the location of the unit.

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Best of BS Opinion: Can govt expenditure be the only way to induce growth?

From Rahul Bajaj and Amit Shah exchange, Delhi govt's fiscal management to Navy's plans to build submarines, here's a selection of Business Standard Opinion pieces for the day.

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SMS returns to mobile phones, internet returns to govt hospitals in Kashmir

However, Internet and pre-paid mobile services in Kashmir are yet to be restored

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These stocks never crossed below 200 DMA in 2019; do you own any?

The investor community, however, favours stocks which are trade above the 200-day moving average (DMA)

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PMC Bank scam: HDIL MD Sarang Wadhawan's wife received Rs 70 lakh salary for working as retainer, finds ED probe

HDIL promoter and Managing Director and PMC scam accused Sarang Wadhawan's wife Anu received Rs 70 lakh for working as a retainer in HDIL group firm Privilege Industries since 2016, according to media reports.

In her statement to the ED, Anu Wadhawan said that she was not a director on any of the HDIL group companies, and could not explain the source of funds for procuring assets like bungalows in Bandra, Vasai and Alibaug, besides flats in Bandra, Moneycontrol said.

Privilege Industries, an HDIL firm that Anu joined as marketing retainer in 2016, manufactures a major international beer brand in the country.

The Enforcement Directorate is probing suspected money laundering in the Rs 6,300-crore loan fraud case.

Malti, wife of another co-accused in the case, Rakesh Wadhawan-promoter of HDIL Malti, said she was a housewife. However, she could not explain the source of the funds through which properties were purchased in her name in Pune, Bandra, Vasai and Palghar, according to a report in India Today.

The ED also questioned Meena Rohira, a close friend of the Wadhawans, and a director of an HDIL group company named M Estate Developers. Rohira claimed to have no idea about the business of the company, according to the Moneycontrol report.

Rohira owns Basera, a posh bungalow overseeing the coastline at Bandstand, Bandra (in Mumbai), which was previously owned by the Wadhawans. She claimed that she had purchased the bungalow from Wadhawans by selling them her ancestral land.

PMC Bank fraud

The fraud at PMC Bank came to light in September this year after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) discovered that the bank had allegedly created fictitious accounts to hide over Rs 6,700 crore in loans extended to the almost-bankrupt HDIL.

According to the RBI, PMC bank masked 44 problematic loan accounts, including HDIL loan accounts, by tampering with its core banking system, and the accounts were accessible only to limited staff members, according to a PTI report.

The city police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and Enforcement Directorate has registered offenses in the case.

After a liquidity crisis at the bank came to light in September, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed restrictions on withdrawal of funds, leaving depositors high and dry.

On 23 September 2019, the RBI had imposed regulatory restrictions on the bank. The withdrawal limit for account holders was initially kept at Rs 1,000 per day, which was increased gradually to Rs 50,000.

In the first week of December, nearly 78 percent depositors of the scam-hit PMC Bank were allowed to withdraw their entire deposits even though the ceiling of Rs 50,000 on withdrawal continues.

Lawyer Sarosh DamaniaA filed a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed this month (18 December) seeking quick disposal of HDIL group's assets which have been attached by Mumbai Police's Economic Offences Wing and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), and speedy return of the depositors' money. He said ordinary court proceedings will take years before depositors get their money back. He said the HC should direct speedy disposal of the attached assets.

--With PTI inputs

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Year in Review: 12 policy decisions that affected Indian economy in 2019

In a challenging year, the central government announced a slew of measures to help revive a sagging economy - from corporation tax cut to bank recapitalisation. Here are the most important ones

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Assam TET result 2019 out on ssa.assam.gov.in: Get direct download link

Assam TET result 2019: Assam TET examination 2019 was conducted on November 10 last across the different designated examination centres

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Reliance sets up Jiomart to sell grocery online soon

The app will connect both lastmile neighbourhood stores and consumers, leveraging data and technology capabilities of Reliance’s telecom business Jio and the cash-and-carry infrastructure of its retailing arm.

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Metro AG India sales rise 10% to Rs 6,755 crore

Düsseldorf-based Metro doesn’t sell products directly to consumers in India and is an organised wholesaler or cash-andcarry operator that sells close to 7,000 products across a range of categories to local stores, hotels and catering companies.

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Fast-moving consumer goods, durables players keen on hiring apprentices: Report

The report is based on a survey of 502 employers across 12 sectors and four regions, on the current levels of hiring of apprentices and employer sentiment.

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Reliance sets up Jiomart to sell grocery online soon

The app will connect both lastmile neighbourhood stores and consumers, leveraging data and technology capabilities of Reliance’s telecom business Jio and the cash-and-carry infrastructure of its retailing arm.

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Metro AG India sales rise 10% to Rs 6,755 crore

Düsseldorf-based Metro doesn’t sell products directly to consumers in India and is an organised wholesaler or cash-andcarry operator that sells close to 7,000 products across a range of categories to local stores, hotels and catering companies.

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Flipkart to sell products made by women self-help groups; govt to rope in Amazon too in January

New Delhi: Products made by women self-help groups formed under the DAY-NULM will now be available on e-commerce platforms as the government on 30 December signed an MoU with Flipkart in this regard. Union Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra said the government would also rope in Amazon to provide a platform for the online sale of SHGs' products, a PTI report said.

E-commerce marketplace Flipkart on Monday said it has partnered with the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to empower skilled but underserved sections of society by inducting them into e-commerce.

"Under the memorandum of understanding exchanged between Flipkart and the ministry today (Monday), Flipkart will collaborate with state missions under the DAY-NULM to establish the Flipkart Samarth program in 22 states in India to begin with," the company said in a statement.

Under the DAY-NULM, self-help groups consisting 44 lakh women have been working across the country, a move aimed at making women financially independent.

"Today, we have signed an MoU with Flipkart. It aims to directly sell products made by self-help groups through e-commerce portals. We are also likely to ink an MoU with Amazon on 7 January for the same purpose," Mishra told reporters on the sidelines of an event.

According to the secretary, 12 lakh people have so far been trained in different skills in the last five years under the mission while around 5.06 lakh people were given funds by the government and they are currently self-employed.

Shelters have been set up for nearly one lakh people and about 12 lakh street vendors have been identified under the DAY-NULM, Mishra said.

In every city, the government will also set up a 'City Livelihood Centre' through which people will be able to avail the service of plumbers, electricians and mechanics, among others, he said.

Mishra said an MoU has also been signed with the Plumbing Council of India to train more people in view of the Jal Jeevan Mission and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) as a large number of plumbers would be required across the country.

Flipkart and the state missions will work with self-help groups, including local artisans, weavers and crafts producers, and producers of raw and organic food items to provide them market access, training and support, it added.

--With PTI inputs

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Karnataka DTE results 2019 out on dte.kar.nic.in: Get direct download link

DTE Karnataka Diploma results 2019: Candidates who are not satisfied with their Karnataka DTE results can apply for re-evaluation.

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Year in Review: Top 10 corporate events and crises India Inc faced in 2019

From DHFL, PMC and Karvy crises to the suicide of CCD promoter V G Siddhartha and arrest of the Singh brothers, these corporate events and scandals made strong headlines in 2019

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Stocks to watch: Jet Airways, RIL, USL, Chalet Hotels, DHFL, dye stocks

Here's a look at the top stocks that may trade actively in today's session.

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Bankruptcies, jail and even death: The year was bad for some Indian tycoons

Some of the country's biggest and most-storied businessmen saw their fortunes fade in 2019.

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Market Ahead, December 31: All you need to know before the Opening Bell

Infosys is likely to be on investors' radar today as the company has said it will release the financial results of the December quarter on January 10

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Facebook fined $1.65 million by Brazil in Cambridge Analytica case

Brazil's Ministry of Justice maintains that Facebook did not adequately inform its users 'about the consequences of the default privacy settings'

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Microsoft takes down 50 web domains used by North Korean hacking groups

The hackers also used malicious software which can access other data on a victim's computer

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MARKET LIVE: SGX Nifty suggests a subdued start for domestic indices

Catch all the live market updates here

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A 2020 shopping list Masayoshi Son: K-pop band, Aramco for investor?

A list of investments Masayoshi Son ought to consider after after an awry year for SoftBank Vision Fund.

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Top 10 biz headlines: DHFL dues, rise in Jio users, Huawei 5G trial, & more

From DHFL's dues claim to Bharat Forge increasing stake in Aeron Systems, here are the top 10 business stories that made headlines on Monday

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Former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn, facing Japan trial, arrives in Beirut

Former Nissan Chief Carlos Ghosn arrives in Beirut

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Tata group stronger, more resilient and future ready; moving 'decisively' on financial fitness: Chandrasekaran to employees

Mumbai: Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran on Monday said uncertainties will persist in the new year but exuded confidence that the diversified conglomerate is better placed to take on challenges.

He said the salt-to-software $110-billion group is "stronger, more resilient and future ready" now and is moving "decisively" on financial fitness and operational efficiencies.

The comments from the group chairman come at a time when growth has slowed to a six-year low domestically and there are clouds of uncertainties globally as well. Recently, his appointment was termed illegal by the NCLAT based on predecessor Cyrus Mistry's petition. The group is challenging the same.

In an email to employees, Chandrasekaran said there is a steady improvement at the group level performance but also pointed out that there is more work to be done in case of some companies, which are facing headwinds due to the economic conditions.

N Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons. Reuters

"Macro uncertainties will persist in 2020, but they will also be accompanied by new opportunities across different businesses and markets," he said, adding that despite the high level "noise", the world will be more interconnected.

Chandra, as he is called in the industry circles, said this is the time for "relentless focus" on execution to realise the future bets, including digital thrust and existing business transformation for artificial intelligence and data-led future.

Terming 2019 as a "busy" year, he stated that the acquisition of Bhushan Steel is underway, group's profits mainstay TCS is delivering market-leading performance, Tata Motors is facing "unprecedented headwinds" domestically and the Tata Global Beverages-Tata Chemicals' consumer business consolidation is near completion.

The group's financial services business continues to grow with a focus on risk management, both Vistara and Air Asia are expanding their fleet and reach, and other companies including Indian Hotels and Titan are delivering robust performance.

"We are on course and executing our 'One Tata' strategy around the pillars of simplification, synergy and scale. Within our ten business clusters, individual companies have made notable progress across these dimensions," he said.

Chandra said he is optimistic about the new decade because of the steadfastness, hard work and values shown by the employees in both triumphant and testing times.

"With all of the heavy lifting we have done over the past few years, I am confident that we are now well-positioned to build on the Tata Group's unique legacy to steer the 21st century towards a more sustainable, connected, inclusive and efficient future," he signed off.

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Best of BS Opinion: Restore data credibility, Indo-US ties, and more

From Indo-China economic gap, Trump's game plan for Indo-Pacific to unemployment in India, here's a selection of Business Standard Opinion pieces for the day.

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India's economic slowdown is a potential threat to national security: Govt can't afford to take eye off the ball

The creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff towards the end of the calendar year fulfils the third of the trinity of long-standing issues of the armed forces. Other long-pending demands dear to the services like the One Rank One Pension (OROP) and the establishment of a National War Memorial have already been implemented. These together signal the Narendra Modi government's keenness to project an unwavering focus on defence.

Right from the time it was first elected in 2014, this government has been at pains to be perceived as being strong on national security and defence. As a result, there is a popular sense of a more muscular foreign policy, greater attention to defence issues, and constant efforts to boost the morale of the armed forces. Aggressive posturing and action, eg the surgical strikes and air attacks, on perceived acts of hostility by neighbouring countries has also helped build this perception, and this perception has been much supported by the electorate.

In the larger world, no longer does the country have to seek the attention of the big powers. Strategic partnerships are being stitched together at the highest levels with like-minded countries, notably the US and Japan. At the same time, high-level dialogue with major powers like China and Russia has also stepped up. More significantly, all these global powers are as willing to engage with India as India is to engage with them. It is a heady time indeed in the strategic space for India.

There was a similar determined focus on the economy in the first term of the government. There was a game plan. Piloted by the redoubtable Arun Jaitley, major structural financial reforms were pursued and implemented. The path breaking Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code regime brought about a sea-change in the banking and corporate landscape. Consensus was finally brought about on the Goods and Services Tax, which came into being and unified the indirect tax regime across the country. Inflation targeting through the Monetary Policy Committee of the Reserve Bank of India led to a stable price environment. Public and investor confidence remained high, despite the blip of demonetisation.

As the GDP growth rates starting dipping, and there were signs of faltering consumption and employment, one would have expected a renewed focus on the economy and push for reform. Surprisingly, the opposite seemed to happen.

Initially the decision-makers remained in denial, questioning the statistics rather than accepting the situation and doing something about it. The later part of the year saw acceptance bordering on panic, with knee-jerk reactions passing for policy. A regular Budget was passed by Parliament in July, in which it was business as usual. Significant financial decisions majorly affecting budgeting like the corporate tax cut were taken barely two months later. With the attention of the government more on pushing its internal political agenda, it still seems that the economy is not in prime focus.

Things are hopefully not as bad as they seem. The first-term reforms will sooner or later begin to pay off. Many more reforms have been fleshed out and are on the anvil. If implemented, the purported current GDP growth rate of four to five percent may pick up. But on the whole, there's definitely a lukewarm perception on the economy right now — just as there is a favourable perception right now of the government being strong on defence.

Defence and the state of the economy are more closely interlinked than is appreciated. It's worth remembering that the foundation on which the higher global profile and strong national security approach rests is the quarter century of rapid growth of the Indian economy. Recall that in the 1990s, India had to physically transport gold abroad before lenders were ready to advance a foreign exchange loan to the country. In international fora, representatives of the country went as supplicants. Defence budgets were forever stressed, even with a higher proportion of GDP going to them.

Rapid and sustained growth over the years has had the effect of creating income and opportunities for the people, easing foreign exchange constraints, and strengthening the fiscal capacity of the State. It has also enabled governments to devote higher outlays to defence and security without straining budgetary or forex resources. In the past few years, the issue has been more of fully utilising the budgetary allocations for defence, rather than facing a shortfall in budgeting. The more aggressive strategic approach of today is made possible not just due to "strong" leadership, but largely because of the economic strength built up over the years. Perceptions abroad have improved, and yes, the stronger foundation has been fully leveraged by the prime minister in national image building.

The best example of the importance of this linkage is the case of China. From an economy comparable to India’s in the 1980s, four decades of extraordinarily rapid growth has seen it grow to almost five times that of India. No longer a comparable country, it's in another league now — a major world power. China has the wherewithal to build military assets and launch expensive projects like the Belt and Road Initiative to expand its strategic influence even in our neighbourhood. Even if we wanted to, such initiatives just cannot be matched at our present level of development.

In the single-minded attention to public plaudits and decisive actions on defence, let's not lose track of the reality of this linkage.

Economic growth is indeed the best defence for the country. All governments need to take the economy seriously, or risk not being taken seriously. This government can't afford to take its eyes off the ball. It needs to get its act together, and be seen doing so, with a clear-cut agenda of growth oriented reform. A prolonged economic slowdown is the real threat, not demons from across the border.

If growth fizzles out, we may find it tough to finance our defence and security aspirations. We may also find it tough to retain the enthusiasm of the rest of the world to support and do business with India. To continue to strengthen and expand our strategic space, government needs to be lot more worried about fixing the economy than it seems to be — even if for nothing else.

The writer is former secretary in the Department of Heavy Industry (DHI)

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Sensex jumps over 100 points, Nifty above 12,200-mark; banking, FMCG, IT stocks among early gainers

BSE Sensex jumped over 100 points in the opening session on Monday tracking gains in banking, FMCG and IT stocks.

The 30-share BSE index was trading 109.18 points or 0.26 percent higher at 41,684.32, and the broader NSE Nifty rose 27.60 points or 0.23 percent to 12,273.40.

#CNBCTV18Market | Market approaches record high, #Nifty nearing 12,300, #Sensex close to 41,700 pic.twitter.com/F25nYDRLeM

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) December 30, 2019

ITC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising up to 1.50 percent, followed by Mahindra and Mahindra, HDFC Bank, Kotak Bank, TCS, Maruti and Sun Pharma.

#CNBCTV18Market | Adani Ports amongst top Nifty gainers after acquiring Snowman Logistics from Gateway Distriparks pic.twitter.com/51LVpUEKVn

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) December 30, 2019

On the other hand, RIL was the top loser, shedding up to 0.76 percent. SBI, HUL, Tata Steel and Infosys were also trading in the red.

#CNBCTV18Market | YES BANK top Nifty loser in the first hour of Monday trading session pic.twitter.com/0hnaSxVY1q

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) December 30, 2019

In the previous session, the 30-share gauge ended 411.38 points, or 1 percent, higher at 41,575.14. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty closed 119.25 points, or 0.98 percent, up at 12,245.80, according to PTI.

Meanwhile, on a net basis, foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 81.37 crore, while domestic institutional investors purchased shares worth Rs 125.77 crore on Friday, data available with the stock exchange showed.

According to experts, traders appeared keen on creating fresh positions post expiry of December series derivatives contracts.

The domestic market is awaiting cues from the budget after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said that honest commercial decisions taken by bankers will be protected.

In a meeting with heads of the public sector banks (PSBs), also attended by the CBI Director, she assured the bankers that a distinction would be made between genuine commercial failures and culpability.

Rupee rises 4 paise to 71.31

Meanwhile, the rupee appreciated 2 paise to 71.32 against the US dollar in morning session.

#Rupee opens flat at 71.36 against the US Dollar pic.twitter.com/1wvaqGRZAS

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) December 30, 2019

Asian shares jump

A broad gauge of Asian share markets rose to the highest in 18 months on Monday as Chinese equities gained, while oil hovered near three-month highs on a combination of US crude inventory drawdowns, trade optimism and unrest in the Middle East.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was last up 0.2 percent, turning around from an earlier loss. The index rose to its highest since 19 June, according to Reuters.

Chinese blue chips, which had started the day lower, were up 1.24 percent at the midday break, bolstered by a report that 2019 retail sales are forecast to rise 8 percent and expectations that a new benchmark for floating-rate loans could lower borrowing costs and boost flagging economic growth.

But Australian shares remained down 0.44 percent as investors continued to consolidate recent gains. Japan’s Nikkei stock index slid 0.58 percent. Easing trade war worries and reduced uncertainty over the United Kingdom’s plans to leave the European Union after British elections returned a strong Conservative majority have offered a lift to global equities this month, helping the broad MSCI Asia index rise more than 6 percent and putting it on track for its strongest month since January.

Kay Van-Petersen, the global macro strategist at Saxo Capital Markets, said that limited liquidity near the year-end and the easing of US-China trade and Brexit uncertainties has “just left us drifting up higher. So even if there is a pullback... I don’t think it’s going to be significant by any means.”

Global equity markets gained late last week, with the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing at records on Friday.

The Dow ended 0.08 percent higher at 28,645.26 and the S&P edged up just 0.11 points to 3,240.02. The Nasdaq Composite lost steam at the close, falling 0.17 percent to 9,006.62.

Oil also gained on Friday, with prices posting their fourth consecutive weekly gain to steady around their highest in three months.

On Monday, global benchmark Brent crude was up 0.18 percent to $68.28 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude added 0.05 percent to $61.75, reversing an earlier decline.

Oil’s gains followed news of US air strikes in Iraq and Syria against Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia group. US officials said Sunday that the attacks were successful, but warned that “additional actions” may be taken to defend US interests.

But Stephen Innes, strategist at AxiTrader, said that the rise of shale oil production in the United States would offset any geopolitical risks.

“Shale can really ramp up more volumes to accommodate any shortfall that could possibly be triggered by escalation in Syria,” he said, adding that an upsurge in populism in Iraq posed a larger risk to markets.

Iraq’s oil ministry said on Sunday that the halting of oil production at Iraq’s southern Nassiriya oilfield by protestors would not affect the country’s exports and operations.

Oil prices were also supported by a bigger-than-expected decline in crude inventories in the United States, the world’s biggest fuel consumer. Stockpiles fell by 5.5 million barrels in the week to 20 December, far exceeding a 1.7-million-barrel drop forecast in a Reuters poll, the government data showed on Friday.

Gold also continued its run-up, after posting its best week in more than four months on Friday amid thin trading volumes, in a sign that some investors continue to see risks to global growth and US-China trade. The precious metal on Monday rose 0.33 percent to $1,515.40 per ounce on the spot market.

In the currency market, the dollar was 0.30 percent lower against the yen at 109.08 and the euro was up 0.27 percent on the day at $1.1194.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was down 0.2 percent to 96.736.

The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes was at 1.8752 percent compared with its US close of 1.873 percent on Friday, while the two-year yield edged down to 1.5832 percent compared with a US close of 1.589 percent.

--With inputs from agencies

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Stocks to watch: Adani Ports, Snowman Logistics, Prince Pipes, RCap, banks

Here's a list of top stocks that may remain in focus in today's session

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Office space leasing in Delhi-NCR jumps two-fold to record 10.82 mn sq ft in 2019: Report

New Delhi: Net leasing of office space jumped over two-fold to record 10.82 million sq ft this year in the national capital region, driven by new supply and rising demand for quality workspace from corporates, according to property consultant JLL India.

Delhi-NCR had recorded a net office space leasing of 5.31 million sq ft during 2018.

The new supply of office space also surged more than two times this year in the Delhi-NCR to 13.39 million sq ft against 5.43 million sq ft in 2018.

Delhi-NCR's share in total net office space leasing and new supply across seven major cities stood at 23 percent and 26 percent, respectively.

Office rentals remained stable in the Delhi-NCR at nearly Rs 78 per sq ft per month.

"Delhi, which contributes to 20 percent of office stocks, witnessed a two-fold increase in net absorption with some prominent large office projects added to the stock.

"The net absorption, which touched 10.82 million sq ft, was at an all-time high. The momentum was driven by IT/ITeS, healthcare, research and consulting, manufacturing and flex spaces," JLL India said in a report.

Co-working operators continued to expand their operations in the Delhi-NCR.

The consultant said that the supply of office space increased 2.5 times on the back of some large projects getting completed such as DLF Cyber Park.

"Gurugram garnered a 67 percent share of the completion, while Noida accounted for 33 percent of the new supply," JLL said.

Across seven major cities, the net office space leasing rose by 40 percent this year to an all-time high of 46.5 million square feet as against 33.2 million sq ft in 2018. New supply rose 45 percent to 51.6 million sq ft from 35.7 million sq ft.

Apart from the Delhi-NCR, JLL tracks office leasing of Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkata.

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Indian economy likely to rebound in 2020 on measures taken by govt, RBI: CII

New Delhi: India's economy is expected to rebound in 2020 on the back of measures taken by the government and the RBI coupled with easing of global trade tensions, industry body CII said on Sunday.

The chamber also suggested a flexible fiscal policy that will set a central government's target for the deficit in the range of around 0.5 to 0.75 percent, and said it is likely to have a significant multiplier effect on the economy.

It said that as we are set to enter the new year, there are nascent signs that the economy is on a better footing than what it was in the year gone by. "With the proactive measures taken by the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), industry believes that the slowdown will be overcome, and a gradual recovery will soon be in place."

"Nascent signs of recovery are noted in the form of improved PMIs (Purchasing Managers' Index) of manufacturing and services, jump in passenger air traffic, sharp moderation in the decline in sales of passenger cars, among others," said CII President Vikram Kirloskar.

He added that though the economy may continue to see a subdued GDP print in the third quarter as well, the quarters thereafter are likely to see a rebound.

According to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), with the initial difficulties associated with the goods and services tax (GST) and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) getting gradually ironed out, the industry is hopeful of substantial benefits for the economy.

It said that while 2019 will be remembered as one where the systemic clean-up of the financial sector picked up pace, which might have resulted in "short-term pain", this tidying up will have extensive positive ramifications for the economy in the short-to-medium term.

"On balance, all these factors will have a significant bearing on growth in the next fiscal. Add to this, the easing of global trade tensions along with lagged impact of monetary easing coupled with improved transmission, and we are in for a gradual recovery getting firmly entrenched by the next fiscal," Kirloskar said.

CII believes that with the sharp moderation in growth, the time has come to adopt an expansionary fiscal policy.

"Just like our medium-term inflation target range, we can have a flexible fiscal policy target which will set a central target for the fiscal deficit with a range of around 0.5 to 0.75 percent. The additional availability of funds may be spent on key infrastructure projects which can be implemented quickly. This is likely to have a significant multiplier effect on the economy," said CII President-Designate Uday Kotak.

In the subsequent years, there can be a glide path to converge to the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management trajectory over a 2-3-year time frame, he added.

Besides, the chamber suggested that in order to increase the tax base and ensure higher compliance, it is necessary to simplify and reduce the number of GST rates and increase its coverage.

Once it is converged, the practice of reviewing rates at every meeting of the GST Council must be discontinued. Similarly, a rational structure of customs duty needs to be in place. The principle of higher customs duty on final products with lower duty on intermediate goods and the lowest on raw materials needs to be followed, without exception, said CII.

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Two stocks that Vaishali Parekh of Prabhudas Lilladher is bullish on

The support for the week is seen at 40,840/12,000 for Sensex and Nifty,respectively, while resistance is seen at 42,200/12,450.

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Nifty outlook and top trading ideas by CapitalVia Global Research Limited

Technical Calls by Gaurav Garg, Head of Research at CapitalVia Global Research Limited- Investment Advisor

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Market Ahead, December 30: Top factors that could guide markets this week

Public sector banks will be in focus today as the Reserve Bank of India will purchase 10-year bonds worth Rs 10,000 crore

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China's own Bitcoin: A roller-coaster ride for money, politics is beginning

The digital yuan can disrupt both traditional banking and the post-Bretton Woods system of floating exchange rates.

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MARKET LIVE: SGX Nifty suggests a flat start for domestic indices

Catch all the live market updates here

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Social, political agenda more important for Modi than economy: Chris Wood

Earlier this month, Wood had suggested that the Indian economy was a victim of Narendra Modi government's shock therapy since he assumed power in 2014

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Mid, smallcap indices register negative return for 2nd consecutive year

In CY18, the midcap and smallcap indices had tanked 13 per cent and 24 per cent

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2 minors among 6 dead as car plunges into canal in Greater Noida due to fog

According to the police, there was one more car accompanying the Ertiga and all the occupants were residents of Sambhal district who were on their way to Delhi.

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US carries out air strikes against pro-Iran militant group in Iraq, Syria

Fifteen fighters were killed by the US strikes in western Iraq, while several were wounded, according to an official from the Tehran-backed Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force.

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Prashant Kishor pokes BJP again, says JD(U) should fight more seats in 2020

"The JD(U) is a bigger party, has close to 70 MLAs while the BJP has just over 50. Moreover, the assembly elections are to be fought with Nitish Kumar as the NDA face," he said.

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US carries out air strikes against pro-Iran militant group in Iraq, Syria

Fifteen fighters were killed by the US strikes in western Iraq, while several were wounded, according to an official from the Tehran-backed Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force.

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India expected to overtake Germany to become fourth-largest economy in 2026: Report

New Delhi: India is expected to overtake Germany to become fourth-largest economy in 2026 and Japan to become third-largest in 2034, according a recent report by the UK-based Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR).

It further said India is also set to reach a gross domestic product (GDP) of $5 trillion by 2026, 2 years later than the government's target.

"India has decisively overtaken both France and the UK to become the world's fifth-largest economy in 2019. It is expected to overtake Germany to become fourth-largest in 2026 and Japan to become the third-largest in 2034," the report, titled 'World Economic League Table 2020', said.

Japan, Germany and India will battle for the third position over the next 15 years, according to the CEBR.

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government's target of taking the economy to $5 trillion by 2024, it said, "India is also set to reach a GDP of $5 trillion by 2026—2 years later than the current government target." But, dark clouds gathering all over the economy are leading many to question the maintainability of the target.

Recently, former Reserve Bank governor C Rangarajan, said that at the current growth rate, reaching the $5-trillion GDP target by 2024-25 is "simply out of question".

Noting that Indian data revisions mean that 2019 was the year when the country's economy finally overtook the UK and France, the report said, "But, slow growth during the year has increased pressure for more radical economic reforms."

Despite the rapid ascent of countries such as India and Indonesia, it is striking how little an impact this will have on the US and China's dominant roles in the global economy, said Pablo Shah, senior economist at CEBR.

India, which till recently was hailed as the world's fastest-growing major economy, has seen growth rate decline to a six-year low of 4.5 percent in the September quarter of 2019-20.

This has largely been attributed to the slowdown in investment that has now broadened into consumption, driven by financial stress among rural households and weak job creation.

The World Economic League Table is an annual calculation by Cebr jointly published by Cebr and Global Construction Perspectives. The base data for 2019 is taken from the IMF World Economic Outlook. PTI BKS
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Govt begins process for next SAIL chairman; current chief A K Chaudhary's term ends in December 2020

New Delhi: The government has started the process to select the next chairman of Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), the country's largest steel maker.

A K Chaudhary, SAIL's current chairman who assumed the position in September 2018, is scheduled to retire in December 2020.

However, on the government's approval, the chairman of a public sector undertaking can get an extension.

The Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB), under the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, is responsible for the selection and placement of chairman, managing director or chairman-cum-managing director, and functional director in public sector enterprises (PSEs) as well as in posts at any other level as may be specified by the government.

While the minimum age of an applicant should 45, he or she must be a graduate with a good academic record from a recognized university or institution, according to a PESB notification.

In terms of experience, the applicant should have adequate experience at a senior level of management in an organisation of repute. Applicants with experience in finance, marketing and production will have added advantage.

The notification also said a person working with state PSEs or private sector companies can also apply for the post but he or she should be working at a board-level position.

While an applicant from the central government or all-India services should be holding a post of the level of additional secretary in the Government of India or carrying equivalent scale of pay, the applicants from the armed forces of the union should be holding a post of the level of Lt. General in the army or equivalent rank in navy or air force.

The appointment shall be for a period of five years from the date of joining or up to the date of superannuation or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

The last date to submit entries is 13 February 2020.

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Top 50 corporates reduce debt by over Rs 59,000 cr in first half of this fiscal; prefer to raise funds through ECBs

New Delhi: The top 50 corporates in the country have reduced debt by Rs 59,600 crore in the first half of this fiscal as part of their strategy to deleverage their balance sheet, according to government sources.

This has some bearing on the credit growth of the banks as corporates borrowing from domestic lenders have come down, the sources said.

In the last financial year 2018-19, sources said, these companies had reduced their debt burden by about Rs 43,000 crore.

The companies are preferring to raise funds through alternative instruments like external commercial borrowing (ECB), which is available at a lower rate comparatively, the sources said, adding evolving legal framework, including Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), is also prompting India Inc to reduce their dependence on debt.

India Inc's foreign borrowings grew over two-fold to $3.41 billion in October over the corresponding month a year ago, as per the latest Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data.

Indian companies had raised $1.41 billion in borrowings from overseas markets in October 2018.

Of the total money borrowed by the domestic companies, $2.87 billion was through the automatic route of ECB, and $538 million came in through the approval route of ECB.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das in the foreword to the latest Financial Stability Report said while consumer credit has been growing, wholesale credit growth has been nudging lower as companies and financial intermediaries are deleveraging to improve their business practices.

As per sectoral deployment data for October, non-food bank credit growth was at just 8.3 percent, with credit growth to industry segment down 3.4 percent, and retail loans rising to 17.2 percent.

For the current financial year so far, bank credit has grown by just 1.7 percent as opposed to a growth of 6.7 percent in the corresponding period last year, as per the central bank data.

According to ICRA Report, the year-on-year growth in bank credit is expected to decelerate sharply to 6.5-7 percent in FY20 from 13.3 percent in FY19, following limited incremental credit growth in the current fiscal to date.

"The incremental bank credit has increased by only Rs 0.80 trillion during FY2020 till 6 December 2019 to Rs 98.1 trillion, in contrast to the rise of Rs 5.4 trillion and Rs 1.7 trillion during previous corresponding periods of FY2019 and FY2018, respectively," the rating agency said.

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Bharti Airtel nearly doubles minimum recharge from Rs 23 to Rs 45 for prepaid customers

New Delhi: Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Sunday hiked its mandatory minimum recharge for prepaid customers to Rs 45 from Rs 23.

"...it will be mandatory to recharge with a voucher of Rs 45 or above, every 28 days to avail services," the company said in a public notice.

The new minimum recharge plan will come into effect from Sunday. The announcement pertained to prepaid subscribers of Bharti Airtel and Bharti Hexacom in all service areas, it added.

"In case of non-recharge with a voucher of Rs 45 or above at the end of the tariff validity period, Airtel reserves the right to provide the plan benefits in a curtailed manner at its own discretion during the grace period of up to 15 days.

"In case of non-recharge with a voucher of Rs 45 or above, all services will be suspended post-the grace period," the company said.

Amid turbulence in the debt-laden sector, Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal had recently said a combination of rock-bottom tariffs and high consumption is killing the telecom industry and sector regulator TRAI needs to urgently intervene to strike a balance between the needs for protecting investments and consumer interest. "We are unnecessarily killing this industry in a manner and way that is not conducive for our industry, and that's why we need Trai intervention," Mittal had said.

The comments of the Airtel chief had come just days after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) initiated talks to prescribe floor price for call and data, and also deferred by one year the scrapping of the charge paid by mobile phone users for calls made to rival networks.

The two moves came as a big boost to old operators like Airtel and Vodafone Idea that are staring at a liability of thousands of crores in unpaid past statutory dues following a Supreme Court ruling.

Through their association, the operators had been pitching to policymakers for fixing a floor rate for calls and data.

The telecom call and data rates are at present under forbearance or not regulated. But, TRAI has now released a consultation paper to fix minimum or floor rates for mobile phone calls and data—a move that will effectively end the regime of free calling and dirt cheap data.

The outcome is likely to lead to further hike in mobile call and data cost as the industry wants average revenue per user to reach Rs 300 per month from about Rs 125 at present over a period of two years—better revenue realisation per user will offer a much-needed breather to the stressed telecom industry where debt levels have soared to Rs 7.8 lakh crore.

Bharti Airtel had posted a staggering Rs 23,045 crore net loss for the second quarter ended 30 September, due to provisioning of Rs 28,450 crore in the aftermath of the SC ruling on statutory dues.

According to government data, statutory liabilities in the case of Bharti Airtel add up to nearly Rs 35,586 crore, of which Rs 21,682 crore is license fee and another Rs 13,904.01 crore is the SUC (spectrum usage charges) dues (excluding the dues of Telenor and Tata Teleservices).

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Corporate India garners Rs 8.7 lakh cr from domestic, overseas markets in 2019; debt preferred route

New Delhi: Marking a major upswing in fundraising activities, Indian companies garnered Rs 8.7 lakh crore from domestic and overseas markets in 2019 -- up 20 percent from the previous year -- with debt instruments remaining the most preferred route for financing business needs.

Fundraising scenario in 2020 will depend mainly on the state of the market, economic growth, US-China trade war, and the Union Budget, said V K Vijaykumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

There will be good appetite for debt markets in the new year too due to falling interest rates in the country and RBI making external commercial borrowings (ECBs) more attractive for several sectors, including non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), by tweaking several norms like maturity period and end-use stipulation, said Gaurav Sood, co-head of equity capital market at ICICI Securities.

Out of the cumulative Rs 8.68 lakh crore garnered this year, a large chunk of over Rs 6.2 lakh crore has been mopped up from the Indian debt market, Rs 1.2 lakh crore from overseas bonds, and the remaining Rs 1.25 lakh crore came from equity markets, data compiled by analytics major Prime Database showed.

In 2018, firms had raised Rs 7.25 lakh crore, including nearly Rs 6 lakh crore through debt markets, over Rs 79,300 crore from equities and close to Rs 46,500 crore from the overseas route.

The funds have been mopped-up mainly for business expansion plans, loan repayments and to support working capital, while a large amount raised from initial public offerings (IPOs) also went to the promoters for sale of their holdings.

Of the total Rs 6.2 lakh crore mopped up through Indian debt markets, over Rs 6 lakh crore came from the private placement and Rs 16,425 crore through public issuance.

Vijaykumar said fundraising through debt is preferred when interest rates are low. With 10-year bond yield hovering around 6.9 percent, raising debt is attractive and the excess liquidity in the system ensures raising funds through debt is easy for good companies.

"Overall if you see globally and in India, debt capital raised is always significantly higher than equity as eligible unlisted firms can also raise debt through various mechanisms like a public issue, private placement, overseas bonds, and ECB, thereby expanding the universe of companies," said Sood. "Also, we need to understand that the cost of equity in India has been higher than the cost of debt which makes issuers raise equity very conservatively."

Sood further said that overseas bonds particularly have been popular with large corporates, given the low-interest rates in the US and Europe.

Equity market funds

In the equity market, funds mostly came from issuance of shares to institutional investors, rights issue and offer-for-sale route through stock exchange mechanism, primarily due to volatile markets as such routes for raising funds are less preferred in stable markets.

Within the equity segment, rights issue of shares to existing shareholders helped raise Rs 52,000 crore, QIP or Qualified Institutional Placement accounted for Rs 35,238 crore, Offer for Sale (OFS) through stock exchange mechanism got Rs 25,811 crore, and IPO added Rs 12,975 crore, including for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

A total of 16 main-board IPOs mopped-up Rs 12,365 crore and SME IPOs brought in Rs 610 crore. This was way below than Rs 30,959 crore raked in through main-board IPOs and Rs 2,287 crore via SME segment in 2018.

"The sharp plunge in fundraising through IPOs could be attributed to negative market sentiment, low valuation coupled with lack of liquidity with equity investors who are sitting with losses on their portfolio," Sridhar Ramachandran, CIO at IndiaNivesh Renaissance Fund said. In addition, PSU divestment took away the liquidity from the system, he added.

Apart from these factors, Sood said political uncertainty, the slowdown in the economy, US-China trade war and liquidity crises in NBFCs also impacted IPO activities.

"We also have to factor the various alternate sourcing of finance available to companies like private equity, who give superior valuation to companies over the public market investors and have a higher risk appetite," he added.

While in terms of quantum there were few IPOs, there was strong investor appetite for companies across sectors like technology, high-quality BFSI companies, renewables, consumer, hospitality and healthcare.

Companies that came out with IPOs in 2019 included Sterling & Wilson Solar (Rs 3,125 crore), Chalet Hotels (1,641 crore), Spandana Sphoorty Financial (Rs 1,200 crore), Ujjivan Small Finance Bank (Rs 750 crore) and Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (Rs 645 crore).

Sebi Chairman Ajay Tyagi said that IPOs should be priced rightly in order to attract retail investors. "We want retail participation to grow but investment banks have to ensure that IPOs are priced rightly," he added.

Vijaykumar said that the quality of IPOs was good and consequently most of the IPOs listed in 2019 are trading above their issue prices.

IPOs, on average, listed 20 percent above issue prices, although IRCTC was the exception with above 100 percent listing gains. Going head, Vijaykumar said the IPO market is likely to witness a continuation of the 2019 trend next year. We will not see large number of IPOs but quality is likely to be good. Also, 12 companies tapped the rights issue route to collectively raise Rs 52,000 crore in 2019, while 13 firms had opted the mode last year and garnered Rs 18,826 crore.

Two large issues in the telecom sector accounted for most of the fundraising through the mode in the year. Vodafone Idea raised Rs 25,000 crore through rights issue, while the same for Bharti Airtel stood at Rs 24,939 crore.

Besides, firms mobilised Rs 35,238 crore through QIPs in this year, which was significantly higher than Rs 16,587 crore raised in 2018.

The largest QIP of 2019 was from Axis Bank that raised Rs 12,500 crore.

In addition, funds mop-up via OFS route—used for dilution of promoters' holdings—climbed to Rs 25,811 crore in 2019 from Rs 10,672 crore in the preceding year. Of this, the government's divestment accounted for Rs 5,871 crore.

The largest OFS was that of Axis Bank (Specified Undertaking Of The Unit Trust of India) in February (Rs 5,358 crore), followed by SBI Life Insurance (Rs 3,524 crore) and HDFC Life Insurance (Rs 3,366 crore).

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Top 10 biz headlines: NBFC slowdown, RBI to flag bad loans, and more

From Airtel's prepaid recharge to Budget 2020, here are the top 10 business headlines for the day

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Top events today: Maharashtra cabinet expansion, DHFL creditors meet & more

The RBI will conduct one more simultaneous bond purchase and sale in the secondary markets, which has come to be known as India's version of operation twist

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Indo-US partnership registers rapid growth in 2019, new milestones achieved

As 40 security personnel were killed in a ghastly terrorist attack in Pulwama in February, United States was the first country which said that India has the right to self-defend itself

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Auto component industry may end FY 2019-20 on negative note: ACMA

The auto component industry's turnover witnessed its worst-ever decline in the first half of the current financial year, leading to a job loss of around 1 lakh temporary workers till July this year

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Retail industry sees demand reviving in 2020, expects growth in second half

Though the economic slowdown started in high-ticket segments like real estate, auto and consumer durables, it has now spread to other sectors such as retail as the consumption basket shrank

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Oil regulator ropes in ICF to carry out gas demand, infra assessment

India is targeting 15 per cent share of natural gas in the energy basket by 2030

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DHFL administrator calls creditors' meet on Monday to discuss resolution

The meeting on Monday will be attended by all creditors of the company including banks, bondholders, insurance and mutual fund companies

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Oil regulator ropes in ICF to carry out gas demand, infra assessment

India is targeting 15 per cent share of natural gas in the energy basket by 2030

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Youth hate instability, anarchy, dislike nepotism: PM on Mann Ki Baat

The prime minister also urged people to promote local products in their purchases

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IRDAI backs hospital ratings for standardisation of health insurance

Rating of hospitals would be an addition of this database, as will lead to more standardisation the health insurance segment

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FPIs remain net buyers in Dec; invest over Rs 2,600 cr in domestic mkts

A net amount of Rs 6,301.96 crore was invested by foreign portfolio investors (FPI) into equities, while Rs 3,688.94 was pulled out of the debt segment

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With their people at key posts, Tatas gain upper hand in AirAsia India

As AirAsia India struggles to find a firm foothold in the competitive domestic aviation space, Tatas are gaining upper hand in steering the no-frills carrier with executives from the conglomerate helming most senior positions, according to a source. A joint venture, majority-owned by Tatas, the airline's other shareholder is Malaysia's AirAsia group. The carrier, which commenced flights nearly six years ago, flew 8.78 lakh passengers garnering 6.8 per cent domestic market share in November. Over the years, there have been concerns raised in certain quarters about alleged role of the Malaysian partner having a bigger say in various matters related to AirAsia India. "Tata Sons has now an upper hand in the management of AirAsia India as against earlier when AirAsia group will call the shots in the matter of key appointments. At present, most of top positions at the carrier including the MD&CEO and CFO have people who have been closely associated with the Tata Group," a source told ...

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E-commerce, new industrial policies likely to be out in FY20: DPIIT Secy

Guruprasad Mohapatra said that the department has done several round of stakeholders' meetings on both the policies

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Indian luxury car market to be flat in 2020, growth to return in 2021: Audi

Indian luxury car market, comprising top five players -- Mercedes, BMW, Audi, JLR and Volvo, witnessed a total sales of 40,340 units in 2018 and is expected to see a decline in 2019

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IRDAI backs hospital ratings for standardisation of health insurance

Rating of hospitals would be an addition of this database, as will lead to more standardisation the health insurance segment

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E-commerce, new industrial policies likely to be out in FY20: DPIIT Secy

Guruprasad Mohapatra said that the department has done several round of stakeholders' meetings on both the policies

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Relief to non-telecom firms on AGR dues can only come from SC: Report

The Telecom Department is current 'examining' the replies given by the state-owned non-telecom corporations on the Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues, a senior official said

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Sales of green certificates down 10% to 504,000 units in December

Under the renewable purchase obligation, bulk purchasers like discoms, open access consumers and capacitive users are required to buy certain proportion of RECs

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India's coal imports rise 4% to 161.43 MT in April-November 2019

This comes amid the Centre exuding hope that imports of the fossil fuel would be contained to 235 MT this financial year

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India's coal imports rise 4% to 161.43 MT in April-November 2019

This comes amid the Centre exuding hope that imports of the fossil fuel would be contained to 235 MT this financial year

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Quantum Leap: Alternative meat market is expected to grow 10 times by 2029

The burger patties of Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, which use proteins from pea, mung bean, soy and potato, and which are said to approximate the taste of meat, are sold in US supermarkets and are served at the likes of Subway and Burger King. Tyson Foods and Nestlé are among the large companies that have joined Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods with their own offerings.

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Six of top-10 firms lose Rs 64,419 cr in m-cap last week; RIL takes big hit

While TCS, HDFC Bank were the other firms which witnessed a decline in their m-cap for the week ended Friday, HDFC, HUL, ICICI Bank and Infosys emerged as gainers

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North Korea's Kim holds top party meeting ahead of US' year-end deadline

Talks on denuclearising the Korean peninsula have been largely deadlocked since the second summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump collapsed in Hanoi at the start of this year

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How India's economy came back down to earth in just a year's time

India may yet reclaim its mantle as the next big thing, albeit a toned-down and more durable version

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How India's economy came back down to earth in just a year's time

India may yet reclaim its mantle as the next big thing, albeit a toned-down and more durable version

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Railways may cut freight and passenger rates to boost slumped economy

There is helping hand for companies, as the railways may cut freight rates in a bid to boost economic growth, besides "rationalising" passenger fares

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Nirmala Sitharaman press conference live: FM meets state-owned banks

India's economic growth fell to an over six-year low of 4.5 per cent in the September quarter

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Owaisi rejects govt statements on citizenship law, accuse it of lying

The government will make a register of citizens if it builds a population database, says Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi.

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Arsenal's new coach Arteta aims to solve Ozil issue as Chelsea clash looms

Ozil has become a polarising figure at Arsenal after several seasons of lacklustre performances from the German playmaker

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From NRC exercise to violent protests over CAA, 2019 kept Assam on the edge

More than 1.9 million people, a sizeable number of them Hindus, were excluded from the final NRC list that was published on August 31

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Mars 2020 rover to seek ancient life, prepare for human missions: NASA

The rover has been constructed in a large, sterile room at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, near Los Angeles, where its driving equipment was given its first successful test last week

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135 years of unity, justice, ahimsa, says Congress on its foundation day

Sacrifice for the nation stands above all else for the Congress party, it tweeted

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Bill Gates to Kylie Jenner: World's richest gained $1.2 trillion in 2019

Jeff Bezos was down almost $9 billion, but that drop is because of his divorce settlement with MacKenzie Bezos.

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Indian Army rescues 1,500 tourists stranded in Sikkim after heavy snowfall

Approximately 1,500 travellers including women, children and elderly persons have been rescued and 570 of them accommodated at Army Camp at 17th Mile, the release said

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Bill Gates to Kylie Jenner: World's richest gained $1.2 trillion in 2019

Jeff Bezos was down almost $9 billion, but that drop is because of his divorce settlement with MacKenzie Bezos.

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Delhi reports coldest day of winter; air quality falls to 'unhealthy'

Gurgaon in Haryana and Noida in Uttar Pradesh-two cities that ring Delhi, reported 7 degrees Celsius and 'very unhealthy' air pollution

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UN backs Russia on internet convention, alarming online rights advocates

The General Assembly approved the resolution sponsored by Russia and backed by China, which would set up a committee of international experts in 2020.

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Sheikh Abdullah's birth anniversary dropped from J&K's list of holidays

Two public holidays -- Martyrs' Day observed on July 13 and the birth anniversary of Sheikh Abdullah on December 5 -- have been dropped

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Death of 940 infants in year, 77 in Dec at a govt hospital rocks Kota

State Health Secretary Galriya detected a slew of systematic and infrastructural deficiencies plaguing the hospital.

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BSE's small brokers are folding up as technology, regulations outpace them

India had slightly more than 2,400 brokerages as of December 24, down from more than 9,000 in March 2014.

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Easier said than done, but govt has to balance three sectors of economy

The most important policy issue today is how the government can stop spending taxpayers money on labour and financial markets so that the real or production sector can pick up.

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Hasten effort to eliminate discrimination against Rohingya: UN to Myanmar

Buddhist-majority Myanmar has long considered the Rohingya to be 'Bengalis' from Bangladesh even though their families have lived in the country for generations

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Sanjiv Mehta to keep post of managing director at HUL; Nitin Paranjpe may be named non-executive chairman

Insiders are betting that the maker of brands such as Dove and Sunsilk may appoint Unilever chief operating officer and former HUL CEO Nitin Paranjpe, 56, as non-executive chairman. While the CEO or managing director is directly responsible for operations, the chairman’s remit is governance.

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India ain’t sweet for global candy cos

Compared to more homogeneous foreign one-size-fits-all markets, candy makers in India have to cater to local tastes that vary from state to state.

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India ain’t sweet for global candy cos

Compared to more homogeneous foreign one-size-fits-all markets, candy makers in India have to cater to local tastes that vary from state to state.

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Year in Review: Pulwama to CAA stir, 10 defining events for India in 2019

Days before the year draws to a close, we look back at some of the key events in economy, politics, space and judiciary that defined 2019 for India

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Use Aadhaar database to build population register: Govindacharya tells govt

As Aadhaar is not proof of citizenship but identity, using it with NPR can be useful for population mapping, he says.

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Best of BS Opinion: Union Budget 2020, India's dark road, and more

Seldom has the economic situation been more challenging for the Union finance minister

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Allahabad Bank jumps 11% as govt approves capital infusion of Rs 2,153 cr

Infusion of the capital into the bank by the government comes ahead of the merger with Indian Bank, which is expected to help the bank meet the regulatory requirement to get amalgamated.

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Cyient, TCS slip over 0.5% amid report Boeing 737 Max crisis to hit IT cos

According to the report, firms such as TCS, HCL Tech, Infosys, Cyient, and L&T Technology Services have direct exposure to Boeing or its suppliers' ecosystem

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CAA, NRC protests LIVE: Many UP cities switch off internet to foil unrest

Thousands of police and paramilitary are on the streets in Uttar Pradesh to ensure peace for Friday prayers.

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Govt on track to enforce total prohibition in AP

But despite its good intentions, the new policy caused massive disruption in liquor trade in the last quarter of 2019. Private liquor shops were closed as government took over the running of liquor shops.

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Indians consumed less groceries but shelled out more

India’s economy expanded 4.5% in the September quarter, the slowest in more than six years, pulled down by manufacturing, which contracted 1% in gross value added against a 6.9% increase a year earlier. Consumer goods have been hit by stress in rural demand — which accounts for about a third of the market.

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Govt on track to enforce total prohibition in AP

But despite its good intentions, the new policy caused massive disruption in liquor trade in the last quarter of 2019. Private liquor shops were closed as government took over the running of liquor shops.

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Indians consumed less groceries but shelled out more

India’s economy expanded 4.5% in the September quarter, the slowest in more than six years, pulled down by manufacturing, which contracted 1% in gross value added against a 6.9% increase a year earlier. Consumer goods have been hit by stress in rural demand — which accounts for about a third of the market.

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Evolving food habits make India complex to operate in: Sodexo

The $24.2 billion French company, with presence in over 80 countries, operates through two business models in India—on-site services or facility management and the consumer-facing coupons business. India contributes about 7-8% to Sodexo's global revenue.

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Why Union Budget 2020 is an opportunity for govt to demonstrate its intent to rebuild economic policy credibility

The public discourse and expert discussion on India’s current economic slowdown is reminiscent of a central theme in the 1970 Kannada film Samskara (The Ritual). The Brahmin priests in a village are debating the appropriate manner to conduct funeral rites of a disreputable character, even as the corpse progressively rots and raises a stink.

Similarly, discussions in India cover cyclical versus structural slowdowns. A few economists—including those from the government—argue that it is cyclical, part of the business cycle and is the outcome of seasonal factors. However, it will soon be reversed. Others claim that it is structural, that the underlying nature of the Indian economy has changed, and requires deep-seated structural reforms.

Yes, the government has rolled back corporate tax increases (that shouldn’t have been increased in the first place) and announced a slew of other measures to incentivise exports. It has even encouraged state-owned banks to lend, though with little success; banks are carrying on with too many non-performing assets (NPAs) on their books resulting in heavy losses.

The government’s cause hasn’t been helped by its rather confusing communications on policy matters. Consider what the vice-chairman of NITI Aayog (the government think-tank) Rajiv Kumar said in July this year; he called for policy interventions in specific industries to check what he called the worst economic slowdown in 70 years.

The chief economic adviser (CEA) K Subramanian disagreed and argued for reforms to land and labour markets instead. Other people, like members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s economic advisory council, wrote op-eds with divergent views on what reforms were needed. All of which makes for great political spectacle, but is of not much help when it comes to making difficult economic choices for companies, investors and the public.

What is missing in the government’s narrative? Credibility. Think of it as ‘behavioural economics’ in action.

The corporate sector, investors and individuals will act if they believe that the government’s proposed structural reforms will deliver change and growth that is sustained; in other words, if momentum becomes visible over the next four quarters, for instance. To that end, here are three things that the government can do.

Stop talking about India’s ‘strong economic fundamentals’ and the ‘potential growth rate’ of the economy: Macroeconomic fundamentals—strong fiscal consolidation, a low current account deficit, low inflation, urban consumption—are all weak actually. Growth has been at its lowest in 25 quarters and has been declining for the last six quarters.

Inflation is beginning to rise, consumption (in rural India, too) is declining, and the current account deficit (CAD) is widening. Unemployment is at its highest-ever level in decades, and job creation has been negligible for the last three years.

Potential GDP is a concept (not an aspiration) that aims to show what output would be when all cylinders of the economy are firing. In other words, potential GDP is what we could achieve if the economy was using all available resources, at full capacity. It’s basically a theoretical construction, even an assumption.

The gap between potential and actual GDP—the output gap—is what the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) uses to determine if the economy needs a monetary stimulus (the RBI cut its policy rate by 135 basis points over the last year).

Address the massive debt overhang: As a nation—government, businesses and households— we have a debt problem. Government and RBI data show that public debt amounted to a little over 70 percent of GDP at the end of 2017; corporate debt amounted to about 55 percent. Household debt as a percentage of GDP is nearly 12 percent, bringing the total debt to GDP ratio for India at 137 percent.

For debt sustainability, two indicators matter. One is the ratio of interest payments to revenue receipts, which in FY18 went up to 35 percent. It is currently at that level. The second is average interest cost, which should be below nominal GDP growth. The average interest cost is about 7.2 percent. When nominal GDP growth is in the 12 percent range, that seems fine; recently, however, nominal GDP growth has been closer to 9 percent. That should be worrying.

In a December 2018 working paper by the Asian Development Bank, the authors found that in the 20-year period from 1996-2016, increases in private corporate debt after a financial peak—the highest point of GDP growth—had a negative impact on investment and output growth; corporations were simply replacing high-cost debt with lower-cost debt.

Much more importantly, the authors found that rapid corporate debt growth poses a greater risk of precipitating crisis. Corporate India’s debt problems are all too well-known; in sector after sector (the latest is telecom), news headlines raise regularly warnings about high debt levels that have, and will, impose huge costs on the financial system.

What we have seen so far is a blood-letting, analysts say; soon, a bloodbath will follow. Just look at what is happening with the banks and non-bank finance companies. Thus far, the government has refrained from monitoring corporate debt (though the RBI does). Perhaps it’s time that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) took an interest too.

Household debt has grown very rapidly; data from the RBI’s Handbook of Statistics on the Indian Economy, and a September 2019 State Bank of India (SBI) research note found that total household debt was Rs 7.64 lakh crore, an increase of 58 percent from FY14 to FY18. Household savings, by contrast, grew by just 18 percent in that same period. Household savings have declined; Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) data show that gross savings fell from 34.6 percent of GDP in FY12 to 30.5 per cent in FY18.

The RBI’s 2017 report on India Household Finance added some more insights from the 2013 All India Debt and Investment Survey (AIDIS). The average Indian household holds 77 percent of its assets in real estate, 11 percent in gold, 5 percent in financial assets and almost nothing in pensions or retirement savings.

The structure of the average household’s liabilities is made up of mortgages at 23 percent, gold loans account for roughly 7 percent and 15 percent in other forms of secured debt. Unsecured debt makes up about 55 percent of a household’s liabilities. This significant reliance on unsecured is particularly noticeable among younger age groups.

Household financial vulnerability is thus particularly acute: unsecured debt is usually high cost, and the very low stock of liquid financial assets can put households into financially untenable positions. The distance from financial comfort to financial crisis is a very short one, especially in an extended economic slowdown.

Address the quality of government expenditure. It is an accepted and widely held axiom that the higher the quality of expenditure, the better the economic growth outcomes. The most basic division of public expenditure is revenue and capital expenditure. The former creates productive assets, the latter pays bills: salaries, pensions, subsidies, and interest.

The Union Budget documents show that from FY17 to FY20, capital expenditure allocation went up by 18 percent over four years; revenue expenditure went up by 45 percent in that same period: nearly 2.5 times more.

In that same period, the Union Budget used ‘extra-budgetary resources’; essentially, the government borrowed on the strength of the balance sheets of public sector enterprises while keeping that debt out of the fiscal deficit calculations.

If you thought that extra-budgetary resources (EBR) was to finance capital expenditure—which would be appropriate—think again. EBR borrowing began exceeding capital expenditure outlays. Investment to GDP ratio cannot improve if the government does not invest, and takes the sales of equity in PSUs (a capital asset) but uses it as revenue expenditure. That is unsustainable.

The upcoming Union Budget for FY21 is an opportunity to do demonstrate its intent to rebuilding its economic policy credibility. Carpe Diem, in other words. Otherwise, we will go from being the fastest growing economy in the world back to the old ‘Hindu rate of growth’ in a very short time.

(The writer is a former journalist and communications consultant).

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Year in Review: Gaffes galore; Rishabh Pant's top 5 blunders in 2019

With Dhoni unavailable after the ICC World Cup, Pant had a good opportunity to prove his mettle, but he squandered too many good starts as a batsman, and did little to stand out as a wicketkeeper

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Stocks to watch: TCS, Infosys, OMCs, ICRA, CARE, Gujarat Gas, Can Fin Homes

Here's a list of the top stocks that may trade actively in today's trading session

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CAA, NRC 'may affect status' of Muslims in India: US Congressional report

The December 18 report also said that for the first time in independent India's history, a religious criterion has been added to the country's naturalization process.

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Typhoon Phanfone leaves 28 dead in Philippines; thousands flee their homes

One disaster response officer described the battered coastal town of Batad in Iloilo province as a "ghost town" on Christmas Day

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Market Ahead, December 27: All you need to know before the Opening Bell

The Reserve Bank of India will conduct one more simultaneous bond purchase and sale in the secondary markets, which has come to be known as India's version of operation twist

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Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu wins leadership race against party rival

Around 57,000 Likud members cast their ballots across the country throughout Thursday

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Floods in north India displaced over 3 mn, killed 1,900 in 2019: Report

The report also said that in north India, rainstorms have become 50 per cent more common and 80 per cent longer.

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Derivatives strategy on Muthoot Finance by Nandish Shah of HDFC Securities

The stock price has already given breakout on the daily chart by closing above the resistance level of Rs 737 on last Monday with higher volumes

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MARKET LIVE: SGX Nifty suggests a positive start for domestic indices

Catch all the live market updates here

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Top events: UP on high alert, MiG-27 last sortie, Shah in Shimla, and more

Business Standard brings you top events that are lined up for Friday

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'Cane is king', say sugar traders as India is set to roil the market again

Sugar output in the country is expected to bounce back in 2020-21

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Top 10 biz headlines: Boeing crisis, LIC's investment portfolio, and more

From Indian Railways rationalising fares to fall in bank credit growth, here are the top 10 business headlines for the day

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Best of BS Opinion: Year of gig workers, US-China trade deal, and more

Gig workers, National Register of Citizens and the conundrum with Muslims, US-China Trade War are some of the issues opinion writers tackle

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SBI to ITC: Sectors and stocks brokerages are bullish on for 2020

Receding global trade war fears, continuity of government policies, benefits of low-tax for corporates, good monsoon, and low-interest rate regime will turn sentiment around in 2020

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NTPC to invest Rs 50,000 cr to add 10GW solar energy capacity by 2022; company to rely on green bonds for funds

New Delhi: State-owned power giant NTPC is planning to add 10GW of solar energy generation capacity by 2022, which entails an investment of around Rs 50,000 crore, to be funded mainly by green bonds, a source has said.

At present, NTPC has installed renewable energy capacity of 920 MW, which includes mainly solar energy. It has formulated a long-term plan to become a 130GW company by 2032 with 30 percent non-fossil fuel or renewable energy capacity.

"The company will complete tendering of 2,300 MW of solar energy capacity by the end of this fiscal. Thereafter it has planned to add 4GW each in 2020-21 and 2021-22.

"The company is open to any borrowing option in the market, which is economical. However, the company would mainly rely on green bonds which are offered for pure clean energy projects. The company wants to raise money through domestic as well as overseas green bonds," the source said.

The NTPC's plans to add 10GW solar energy capacity assumes significance in view of India's ambitious target of having 175GW of clean energy by 2022.

The source said that the company would also set up some of its solar energy projects under scheme where it gets viability gap funding to keep the tariff below Rs 3 per unit level.

Besides, the company will also set up solar energy projects without any long-term (for 25 years) power purchase agreements (PPA) as it intends to sell the electricity to industrial as well as commercial consumers and also at energy exchanges, the source added.

The sector regulator Central Electricity Regulatory Authority (CERC) has already approved the real-time power market, which is expected to kick in by 1 April 2020.

In the real-time power market, there would be 48 sessions of half an hour each in a day. This will allow consumers to get the desired power supply within an hour of buying at the energy exchanges.

At present, power is traded for two hours a day from 10AM to 12AM, where the consumer can schedule the delivery in a day advance.

The source also said the company intends to capitalise on real-time power market, which is just three months away.

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Bombay Shaving company raises Rs 45 crore

The deal involves a partial exit by 25 angel investors in the company, who include likes of former TCS CEO S Ramadorai and partners at consulting major McKinsey.

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How a decade of drinking changed the future of booze

The 2020s will be no different. Indeed, six changes to alcohol culture may have a stronger impact on what, and how, we drink. Luckily, the Star Wars franchise isn’t one of them.

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Increase duty-free liquor quota: Airport operators

In its proposal for Budget 2020-21, Association of Private Airport Operators (APAO) has said that sizeable business at duty free operations in South East Asia/Middle East region is through tourists that originate in India. Indian passengers purchase duty free goods outside India depriving opportunity to Indian duty free business.

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How a decade of drinking changed the future of booze

The 2020s will be no different. Indeed, six changes to alcohol culture may have a stronger impact on what, and how, we drink. Luckily, the Star Wars franchise isn’t one of them.

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