| News Announcement |
Impact Analysis |
| Infosys reports 23% growth in profits for December quarter on YOY basis |
- Apart from the profit growth, the company has also guided for higher revenue growth at closer to 10.5%
- Additionally, Infosys has also guided the operating margins to stabilize in the range of 21-22% in the next one year
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| Internal audit investigation gives clean chit to Infosys in whistleblower case |
- The whistleblower allegation pertained to inappropriate reporting by the company to jack up valuations
- While the internal audit team led by Shardul Amerchand Mangaldas has given clean chit, SEC decision is awaited
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| Steel Ministry exploring $70 billion investments in Eastern region |
- Most of these regions have been ideal for steel production due to proximity to raw material sources
- Government plans to focus on states like West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh
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| IL&FS proposes to limit the leeway for lenders in resolution |
- The role of the Committee of Creditors (constituting of banks) will be limited to voting on the highest bidder only
- Specifics of the distribution of the proceeds of the asset sales shall be decided independent of the COC
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| Government promulgates ordinance to ease coal mine auctions |
- Currently, coal output is short of demand due to a very rigid coal mining auction policy being followed
- The ordinance seeks to open up new areas of growth in the coal and the mining sector to make it more attractive
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| RBI allows SIP payments through Unified Payment Interface (UPI) |
- This will put the UPI platform at par with other payment platforms like NEFT and electronic wallets
- Now it will be possible to give mandates like SIP and regular debit mandates based on UPI interface itself
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| HSBC raises its gold price forecast $1613/oz for the year |
- This is a smart upgrade from their old gold target of $1560/oz and is driven by rising geopolitical uncertainty
- Gold has seen a smart rally in the last one year with domestic gold prices touching a record high of Rs.41,000/10 grams
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| Lupin gets two observations from the US FDA on its Nagpur facility |
- These Form 483 observations pertain to violations on production and sanitation standards prescribed
- Over the last 4 years, most of the large Indian pharma companies have had serious problems with the US FDA
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| ED attaches Rs.78 crore worth of personal assets of Kochhar family |
- This pertains to the conflict of interest in Chanda Kochhar giving loans to the Videocon group
- The attached assets have a market value of Rs.400 crore and includes the apartment owned in CCI, Mumbai
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| India’s forex reserves touch a record level of $461 billion |
- The record forex levels were driven by strong forex flows and limited need for RBI intervention
- With imports falling sharply, the forex import coverage has crossed 12 months and is at a globally competitive level
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| Yes Bank audit committee chief, Uttam Agarwal, quits his post |
- Uttam Agarwal has pointed to serious lapses to governance at Yes Bank and has specifically named Ravneet Gill
- Agarwal’s contention is that the CEO had been promising capital raising without any concrete plans in place
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| FPIs have pulled out Rs.2415 crore from Indian equities in January |
- While the selling has not been too aggressive, FPIs have turned cautious due to the weakening rupee
- The global geopolitical risk is also forcing many global investors to become increasingly risk-off
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| Donald Trump has warned Iran not to escalate the geopolitical situation |
- The problems started after the US killed an Iranian general and Iran retaliated by bombing US facilities in Iraq
- In the latest development, Iran has arrested the British ambassador to Iran and that could lead to more UN sanctions
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| Jeff Bezos likely to face trader protests during his India visit |
- Many traders have lost their livelihoods due to the deep pocket expansion of Amazon in online retail
- The trader community has also been lobbying with the Indian government for a level playing field for local traders
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| IIP turned into positive territory after a gap of almost 3 months |
- A total of 13 out of the 23 industry groups in the IIP showed positive growth for the month of November
- However, economists caution that this could be more due to the base effect and have less to do with green shoots
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| UBS bets on re-rating of OMCs in the year 2020 |
- According to UBS, the re-rating could be due to better refining margins under the new maritime rules
- However, if crude oil was to spike then the OMCs run a major subsidy risk in the Indian context
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| Supreme Court rules in favour of Tata Sons in the NCLAT order |
- As per the Supreme Court order striking down NCLAT order, there was no need to reinstate Mistry as chairman
- However, the issue is less about the chairmanship of Tata Sons and more about a seat on the board of the holding company
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| India has restricted the import of refined palm oil from Malaysia |
- Malaysia and Turkey have sided with Pakistan on the subject of CAA and also on the topic of Kashmir
- The restriction is more in the nature of calls to traders to reduce their dependence on Malaysian palm oil
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| Seven out of top 10 companies add Rs.32,000 crore to market cap |
- Despite the geopolitical risk, the Nifty and Sensex managed to stay close to their all time high levels
- Among the heavyweights, it was Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank that contributed most to the rally
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| Over 85% of mutual fund investors come from top 30 cities |
- This goes to underscore that the spread of mutual funds still remains an urban phenomenon
- The non-urban segment has largely picked up due to incentives of higher commission on non-urban sales
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| Budget expectations to drive the market direction in Jan 2020 |
- The markets are expecting big shifts on the LTCG tax and the STT front to encourage equities
- The small investors are also expecting major tax cuts in line with relief given to corporates in September last year
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