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The settlement, finalised on Wednesday, involves SEFE Marketing paying $285 million to GAIL (India), marking a resolution to the dispute. The agreement also includes the withdrawal of the arbitration proceedings before the London Court of International Arbitration.

Swiggy may remain in focus on Thursday, January 16, after the company informed that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs approved the incorporation of its new subsidiary Swiggy Sports Private Limited. “In compliance with Regulation 30 read with Schedule III of SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, we would like to inform you that Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Central Processing Centre has approved incorporation of Swiggy Sports Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, today, January 15, 2025,” said Swiggy in its filing to the exchanges.

buy call on Biocon with a target price of Rs 430. The current market price of Biocon is Rs 382.8. Biocon, incorporated in 1978, is a Large Cap company with a market cap of Rs 45970.97 crore, operating in the pharmaceuticals sector. Biocon's key products/revenue segments include Bio Pharmaceuticals, Other Operating Revenue, Waste and Sale of services for the year ending 31-Mar-2024.

India VIX, the market's barometer for volatility, dipped by 1.1% to 15.30, indicating easing investor apprehension. Experts suggest that historically, VIX levels above 15 imply heightened market turbulence.

CEAT shares will remain in focus on Thursday, January 16, after the company reported a 46.48% decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 97.03 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, impacted by high raw material costs. The company had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 181.28 crore in the same quarter last fiscal. Meanwhile, its consolidated revenue from operations stood at Rs 3,299.9 crore, compared to Rs 2,963.14 crore in the year-ago period.

Sugar stocks such as Praj Industries, Balrampur Chini, Bajaj Hindustan Sugar, and Dalmia Bharat will be in focus after Union Minister Nitin Gadkari announced that India is set to achieve its 20% ethanol blending target within the next two months. The practice of blending ethanol with petrol began as a pilot project in 2001. «We will achieve this target of 20% ethanol blending in the next two months. The use of E20 (petrol with 20% ethanol) will help in reducing pollution,» Gadkari said while speaking at an event.

Abheek Barua, Independent Economist, says the issue lies with mass consumption, which doesn't just involve the very poor but mainly affects the lower middle class. Particularly, when income rises from Rs 15 lakh to over Rs 15 lakh, there is a significant increase in the tax rate. This is a point that could catch the finance minister's eye. Whether it's a small adjustment or a direct tax cut, it serves as a crucial fiscal measure to counter economic downturns. Barua anticipates some action in this area. Consumption has taken a hit over the last few years. What are your expectations with respect to income tax tweaks that could come in in the Budget? Do you expect some relief? Sources, in fact, are telling us that perhaps some tweaks for lower income class could come in. Do you expect that, especially with the objective of boosting mass consumption? Abheek Barua: I think you are spot on. The problem is with mass consumption and mass consumption does not refer to the absolute bottom of the pyramid, but really to the lower tiers of the middle class and especially when you move from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 15 lakh plus, there is a very large jump in the tax rate. That is one area that could get the finance minister's attention.

Dipan Mehta, Director, Elixir Equities, says from a market viewpoint, he is not very hopeful or positive. Right now, he prefers to save cash. We are in the midst of a crucial earnings season and a significant event. On January 20, President Trump will take over. If there is more market volatility, especially with specific stocks, he would hold onto cash to invest in stocks that have dropped significantly and are strong businesses or have appealing business models. What would you do with a stock like Kalyan Jewellers? It is down almost 11%. Is there any buying at dips which would emerge or is there just a case of falling knife and one should stay away till the time they do not figure out what is happening within the company? Dipan Mehta: Kalyan Jewellers, the pre-quarter release was interesting. Amongst the entire peer group, they reported the highest sales growth and this particular wedding season has been good for the jewellery industry. Titan also came and all the other companies also came with very good releases pre-quarter where they gave the sales numbers.

inflation data and solid earnings from major U.S. banks fueled a rally. The Labor Department said the consumer price index (CPI) increased the most in nine months as energy costs rose, although a measure of underlying inflation pressures subsided.

US core inflation kept alive the prospect of Federal Reserve rate cuts this year. Benchmarks in Australia, Japan and South Korea all notched gains. The S&P 500 closed Wednesday 1.8% higher, the benchmark’s best day since the November election, which erased its 2025 decline. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 climbed 2.3%.

State Bank of India (SBI) and its closest private sector rival HDFC Bank are set to report divergent profit growth for the quarter ending December 2024, estimates by analysts show. State-run SBI could report profit after tax (PAT) growth upwards of 80% on the back of comparatively better deposit growth and lower wage costs, while HDFC Bank may report less than 7% rise in PAT amid muted loan and deposit growth across the banking sector.

RIL, Infosys, GAIL, Axis Bank, HDFC Life among others will be in focus due to various news developments and third quarter results. RIL, Infosys, Axis Bank, LTIMindtree Shares of RIL, Infosys, Axis Bank and LTIMindtree will be in focus as the companies will announce their third quarter earnings today.

Here's breaking down the pre-market actions:

HDFC Life reported a 14% year-on-year rise in net profit for the third quarter, driven by higher premium income and strong growth in non-par savings products. During the quarter, net profit rose to ₹414 crore, up from ₹365 crore in the same period a year ago. Net premium income rose 10% to ₹16,771 crore in the quarter, up from ₹15,235 crore.

Motilal Oswal Private Wealth expects large-cap stocks to do better this year, citing valuation comfort. The wealth manager recommends investors increase allocation to equities by investing a lump sum in an equity-oriented hybrid fund in the wake of the recent stock market decline. It also suggests a staggered investment approach in equity schemes over the next six months and accelerate the investments in the event of a sharper drop in the market.

What is ailing the stock market these days? One of the biggest reasons for the drop in Sensex and Nifty is the selling by foreign institutions, which have pulled a significant ₹1.8 lakh crore out of equities since early October. The reasons for this are a deadly mix of the dollar rising, surging US bond yields, concerns over domestic slowdown and rich share valuations.

Executive director Ramesh Kalyanaraman dismissed this as «very absurd» in the call on Tuesday. The stock dropped 7% on Wednesday to close at ₹554.90, extending its losing streak to the ninth straight day. The 32% drop in the share price in this period has eroded the market cap of Kalyan Jewellers by ₹24,000 crore to ₹57,234 crore at the Wednesday close.

banking system by announcing daily variable rate repo (VRR) operations, which would accompany the up to $3-billion worth of dollar-rupee buy-sell swaps conducted since Friday, as Mint Road seeks to restrain short-term interest rates that otherwise threaten to dislocate India’s money markets. The first such VRR auction, starting Thursday, will be for Rs 50,000 crore, and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will decide on a further auction amount based on the liquidity conditions for that day, the central bank said in a statement Wednesday evening. A reversal of the auction will take place the next day.

Proxy advisory firms are calling on regulators to implement a majority-of-minority voting mechanism for approving promoter remuneration, citing a steady and significant rise in compensation paid to promoters and their families. Voting data reveals how controlling shareholders have used their ownership to approve their own compensation.

Wells Fargo's profit beat expectations in the fourth quarter powered by a rebound in dealmaking activity and forecast it would earn more from interest payments this year. The bank's shares rose 3.5% to $73.68 in premarket trading on Wednesday.

Inox Wind Ltd.(up 5.42%), Ravindra Energy Ltd.(up 5.00%), Energy Development Company Ltd.(up 5.00%), Inox Wind Energy Ltd.(up 3.94%), NTPC Ltd.(up 3.53%), Torrent Power Ltd.(up 3.13%), Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd.(up 2.90%), Adani Green Energy Ltd.(up 2.81%), JSW Energy Ltd.(up 2.50%) and KPI Green Energy Ltd.(up 2.41%) stood among the top gainers.