India Financial News

NEW DELHI : The ministry of corporate affairs will look into making changes to rules and regulations issued under the Companies Act and other laws, said a person informed about discussions in the government, in a post-election push on ease of business. The changes will be based on suggestions from the public and self-regulators of accountants and company secretaries, which arre expected by the middle of March. Regulators like the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) and the National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) will make the changes in regulations that are needed, the person said.

₹1.8 lakh for a 40-minute circling time to ₹2.6 lakh for 60 minutes. This not only raised airfares but also affected airport operations, resulting in delays.

Also Read: Wipro shares trading at expensive valuation, offer little margin of safety, says Kotak Equities; downgrades to ‘Sell’ The Bank Nifty has closed in the green on all the four occasions (the index was not trading during the year 1999) with an average up-move of around 21%, data compiled by JM Financial showed. It had closed flat in 2004, while the highest return of approximately 46% was observed in 2014. Further, the Bank Nifty has outperformed the Nifty 50 on all the four occasions with an average outperformance of around 11%.

Also Read: Why an ESG-conscious investing ecosystem is very important for India High ESG score of a company typically indicates a business which is conducted with utmost consideration for environmental protection, nurturing societal values and protecting stakeholders’ interest. Such businesses follow high governance standards and transparency. Going forward, the importance of ESG-focused investing will receive further fillip.

small cap stocks have run up too much, thus entering the dangerous territory, mutual fund houses and market regulators have started to get circumspect. While some fund houses such as Kotak Mutual Fund have imposed restrictions on lump sum investment in their small cap fund; markets regulator Sebi — at the same time — has introduced stress tests for the fund houses to undertake amid growing concerns about valuations of small cap stocks. The Securities and Exchange Board of India has reportedly asked the mutual fund houses that operate smallcap funds with a large corpus to share data on their holdings in the total free float of smallcap stocks, reported Reuters.

Euro India Fresh Foods Ltd.(up 4.87%), Umang Dairies Ltd.(up 4.60%), Gillette India Ltd.(up 1.00%), Hindustan Unilever Ltd.(up 0.68%), Jyothy Labs Ltd.(up 0.41%), Dabur India Ltd.(up 0.13%) and Marico Ltd.(up 0.02%) stood among the top gainers.

Lilly expects to launch Mounjaro, its blockbuster diabetes drug and a wildly popular obesity treatment, in India as early as next year, CEO David Ricks told Reuters on Wednesday. The market opportunity is huge in the world's most populous country, which has high obesity rates, especially among women, and the second-highest number of people with type-2 diabetes globally. Indian drugmakers are making their own versions of such drugs, while illegal versions are also sold online. «We're open to any way to reach more patients as long as it makes sense for the company and we can supply the market,» Ricks said when asked if Lilly was open to authorised generic versions of drugs containing tirzepatide, the active ingredient in popular diabetes and weight-loss drugs.

Private equity firm Lighthouse Funds, which has backed consumer brands such as Bikaji Foods, Wow Momos and Nykaa, has invested Rs 284 crore (around $34 million) in fashion and silver jewellery brand Kushal’s. The investment round also includes a secondary buyout, allowing a partial exit for Kushal’s first institutional investor, India SME Investments.

The NSE Nifty index ended the session 247.2 points down at 21951.15, while BSE Sensex fell 790.34 points to 72304.88.

Zvolv, a hyper-automation company with operations across India, US, MEA and ANZ, raised about $2 million from Silverneedle Ventures, along with participation from existing investors, JSW Ventures. Launched in 2018 by former employees of Apple and Texas Instruments Hardik Gandhi and Sujoy Chakravarty, Zvolv is a player in the LCNC (low-code/no-code) hyperautomation space in India.

India's latest batting sensation Yashasvi Jaiswal advanced towards a top-10 spot in the ICC rankings for Test batters by climbing three spots to 12th while his compatriot Dhruv Jurel leapfrogged 31 places to 69th on Wednesday. Jaiswal, who started the series in 69th position, continues his ascent to the top after scores of 73 and 37 in the fourth match of India's ICC World Test Championship series against England in Ranchi. Player of the Match Jurel's scores of 90 and 39 has jumped a whopping 31 places while former England captain Joe Root is back in the top three. Root, a formerly top-ranked batter, struck an unbeaten 122 in the first innings in Ranchi to move up two places to third position. He also moved up three spots to fourth among all-rounders.

China’s dominance in electronics exports in some key markets as manufacturers diversify supply chains away from the world’s factory to other parts of Asia, a new study shows. The impact is most pronounced in the UK and US, where geopolitical tensions with China have increased in recent years. India’s electronics exports to the US as a ratio of China’s increased to 7.65% in November last year from 2.51% in November 2021, according to London-based Fathom Financial Consulting. In the UK, the share rose to 10% from 4.79%.

National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Wednesday told Byju’s to respond to two separate insolvency petitions filed against the troubled edtech firm by US lenders and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). In the first matter, the Bengaluru bench of NCLT provided Byju’s parent Think & Learn three weeks from now to file its objections to a petition filed by Glas Trust Company LLC, the administrative agent appointed by a group of lenders that had extended a $1.2-billion term loan B to its US subsidiary Alpha Inc to collect the debt under the guarantee agreement.

CPI declaring Annie Raja its candidate from Kerala's Wayanad, the Congress Wednesday said it is in alliance with the Left in different states but they have always and will continue to oppose each other electorally in Kerala. The Congress's assertion came after Annie Raja, wife of CPI general secretary D Raja, was nominated to contest from the pivotal Wayanad constituency, a seat presently held by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Asked about Annie Raja's candidature, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh told reporters, «The Left parties are very much part of the INDIA group. It has always been understood that this does not preclude group partners from contesting against each other in different states especially Kerala.» «The Congress and the Left are allies in different states but in Kerala we have always and will continue to oppose each other electorally,» he asserted.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited the tech giant's India Development Center (IDC) in Hyderabad, the company said. Gates addressed some of India's brightest engineering minds at the IDC, Rajiv Kumar, managing director, Microsoft IDC, and CVP, experiences + devices India said as he shared Gates' «optimism over the opportunity for an AI-powered India». «History comes full circle as philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates paid a visit to the Microsoft India Development Center (IDC)...a center of innovation he envisioned in 1998,» the company said in a note capturing Gates' Tuesday visit.

KKR & Co. is exploring options including selling its controlling stake in India’s JB Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd. amid interest from potential buyers, according to people familiar with the matter. The US private equity firm is looking to hire financial advisers to help evaluate a sale of its 53.8% stake in the Mumbai-based company, the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is private. Other buyout firms and industry players have shown preliminary interest in buying KKR’s stake, the people said. Shares of the company, which is known as JB Pharma, have climbed 68% in the past 12 months, valuing the firm at just over $3 billion.

Sebi has told mutual funds (MFs) to frame a policy to protect the interest of investors of small and midcap schemes. In a letter to the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), Sebi said in the context of froth building up in small and midcap segments of the market and the continuing flows in the small and midcap schemes of mutual funds, trustees, in consultation with Unitholder Protection Committees of AMCs, shall ensure that a policy is put in place to protect the interest of all investors.

Himachal Pradesh Minister of the Public Works Department (PWD) Vikramaditya Singh stepped down from his position, a day after the Rajya Sabha election result in the state. In Assam, Goswami was the former MLA of Jorhat, he is headed to New Delhi where he is likely to join BJP. Earlier on Tuesday, when asked about the speculations of Goswami switching sides, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma had said he had no information about it, but "he is a powerful leader of the Congress and if he joins the BJP, I will welcome it".

₹429 crore initial public offering (IPO) of Exicom Tele-Systems was opened for subscription on Tuesday, February 27 and remains open till Thursday, February 29. The IPO received a stellar response as it was subscribed 10.02 times on the first day of issue after being fully subscribed within hours of opening, led by solid demand from retail investors. The IPO comprises a fresh issue of equity shares totaling up to ₹329 crore and an Offer for Sale (OFS) component of up to 70.42 lakh equity shares by promoter NextWave Communications.

Jesper Brodin, Global CEO of Ikea's franchisee holding company Ingka Group. Acknowledging that India is a "challenging market", Brodin in an interview with The Economic Times said it is tough "keeping up with the rapid development of digital and physical infrastructure in the country". “It has been interesting to see the speed of development over the last five to ten years.

₹250 Crore) dispute, avoiding a prolonged legal battle, on February 29, as per an official release. The settlement was reached through mutual negotiations and approved by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) last week. The formal withdrawal of the case is scheduled for March 1, 2024.