COST Financial News

bond investors have been cutting down exposure to some of their most widely held long-term Indian government bonds amid a deepening rout in international fixed-income markets and the strengthening belief that interest rates would remain higher for longer. In the fully accessible route (FAR) for government securities, the aggregate holding of foreign investors in their most favoured long-term bond has fallen by ₹1,192.6 crore over the past couple of months even as investment in other securities has remained broadly steady. As on August 18, the aggregate holding of foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) in the 7.26%, 2032 government bond — an erstwhile 10-year benchmark security — accounts for 5.37% of the bond's outstanding stock of ₹1.48 lakh crore, down from 6.17% on June 19, Clearing Corporation of India data showed. The 7.26%, 2032 bond is one of the three most widely held bonds by FPIs in the FAR category, which does not have any limits on foreign investment. Longer-term securities pose a greater degree of risk on bond portfolios. Overall foreign portfolio investment in the general category for central government securities has also dwindled, having fallen by ₹5,790 crore so far in 2023. «On the FPI investments in fixed-income, given where the US interest rates are, any other fixed-income market is not looking that attractive right now.

Coles chief executive Leah Weckert says fresh produce prices are falling, even as baked goods, grocery items and dairy products remain expensive.

BHP’s annual underlying profit slumped 37 per cent to $US13.4 billion ($20.9 billion) as commodity prices came back to earth after 2022’s record result.

Just five years ago, a price-conscious auto shopper in the United States could choose from among a dozen new small cars selling for under $20,000

Telecom sector revenue won't grow beyond high-single digits in the coming quarters without a tariff hike, though the presence of 207 million 2G users will continue to drive upgrades and support average revenue per user (ARPU) growth for India's top two telcos in the medium term, say analysts. However, they expect 5G capex spends to decelerate from FY25 onwards, which would pave the way for free cash flow (FCF) generation for the country's private carriers after a 13-year gap, which would be a big catalyst for re-rating, going forward. «Revenue growth for the sector remains in high single-digits and needs a tariff hike for improvement, but lower network costs could offset margin impact of higher sales & marketing costs,» Jefferies said.

Anderson Economic Group (AEG) released a report late last week highlighting the potential economic impact of a 10-day auto union strike. According to the report, AEG estimates “a strike on all three automakers by 143,000 United Auto Workers (UAW) members could result in a total economic loss of more than $5 billion after 10 full days.”

Bruce Mathieson, the billionaire businessman who made his fortune in pubs, has formally asked the NSW casino regulator for permission to increase his stake in Star Entertainment, a clear signal of his long-term ambitions to gain a larger holding in the embattled wagering group.

ARC Association (IAA) shows that as much as 50% of the assets bought by bad loan aggregators in the quarter ended June 2023 is from retail and MSME and mid-corporate segments. This is a change from the cumulative numbers as of March which shows that as much as 78% of the loans bought by ARCs are from the corporate sector. Bankers and ARCs say the change in the nature of new bad loans will need them to tweak the recovery process. Data from IAA shows that ARCs issued a total of ₹3,073 crore of security receipts (SR) in the quarter ended June 2023 to buy retail, MSME and mid corporate loans, almost identical to the ₹3,075 crore they paid to buy corporate loans.

By David Morgan

MUMBAI : The onion crisis in India could intensify further as the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) constituents in Nashik, home to the largest onion market in Asia, have declared an indefinite strike, two days after the Centre imposed a 40% export tax to pre-empt a price spike, following skyrocketing tomato prices on low supply. Retail prices of onion have risen from ₹25-30 a kilogramme (kg) to ₹35-40 kg in parts of Mumbai over the past week and could rise further if the strike spreads to other onion-producing centres of Maharashtra as supply would be hit and due to hoarding by some large traders, according to a Mumbai-based exporter.

Bank of Baroda (BoB) on Monday said Sunny Deol has approached the bank to settle dues, a day after the state-owned lender advertised a proposal to sell his Juhu property, to recover ₹56 crore. The bank had set 25 September as the e-auction date, bids for which, it said in a notice on Sunday, were to be submitted by 5 pm on 22 September. As per the notice, the bank had fixed the reserve price for the auction at ₹51.43 crore and an earnest money deposit of ₹5.14 crore.

spotless giraffe has been born at Brights Zoo in Limestone, Tennessee, marking a unique addition to the animal kingdom. This extraordinary giraffe arrived on July 31, standing approximately six feet tall, a towering stature vital for newborn giraffes to engage in early-life activities.

'Netflex Your OTT Muscles', by V Sridhar, Rohit Prasad and Mansi Kedia. In the piece, the authors argued that OTTs that are large traffic generators (LTGs) should pay a fee to telecom companies for the capex investment they make to support the traffic generated by OTT video services. The arguments to justify this, unfortunately, included various alternative facts and some misplaced theories, and are flawed for several reasons. Customers are paying telcos data charges for watching OTT platforms. Isn't the value of the telecom service linked to the demand for OTT apps, and if these are taken off, would customers stick to a particular network? OTTs are being told that the fee is a fair share of the capex investment in the network.

By Safiyah Riddle

MUMBAI : Rating agency Care Ratings has downgraded the rating of Poonawalla Housing Finance by three notches, citing divestment by the promoter group. Care has downgraded ratings on long-term bank facilities, non-convertible debentures of Poonawalla Housing Finance from Care AAA to Care AA-. In a report issued on 18 August, Care Ratings said the rating downgrade has been due to “disassociation with Cyrus Poonawalla Group post the sale of 99% stake in the HFC (housing finance company) to private equity player TPG’s affiliate Perseus." On 27 July, TPG announced completing its acquisition of a 99.02% equity stake in Poonawalla Housing Finance Ltd, from Poonawalla Fincorp Ltd.

₹2-3 per unit, they said it was not expensive anymore. Then there was a problem of intermittency. Then, the projects now are doing wind, solar, battery storage, and hybrid altogether to do maybe a peak power project, or an RTC project, or what I would like to call a high CUF (capacity utilization factor) project.

Porsche is exploring opportunities to start assembly of its iconic model SUV Cayenne in India amid an “unprecedented surge” in demand, senior industry executives aware of the German luxury carmaker’s plans told ET. Porsche AG board members Detlev von Platen, executive board for sales and marketing, and Matthias Becker, vice president of region overseas and emerging markets, are in Delhi to meet senior government officials, the sources said. They are scheduled to meet officials at Invest India and Niti Aayog on Tuesday. “Porsche is examining possibilities to locally assemble the SUV (Cayenne) to avail of tax benefits and expand its footprint in this fast-growing space,” a senior executive in know said on condition of anonymity. The company’s sales in India grew 64% on year to 779 units in 2022 with Cayenne accounting for almost half of it, the person said. Porsche did not share any information on the development in response to a query from ET. India recently surpassed Japan to become the third largest automobile market in the world. The country imposes 100% import duty on cars with cost, insurance and freight value of more than $40,000 and 70% on cheaper vehicles.

insolvency law and formulating a scheme offering subsidised interest rates are among the several measures suggested by an expert panel to the Centre for reviving stalled real estate projects in the country. The 14-member panel led by former NITI Aayog chief Amitabh Kant presented the committee's report to Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Monday. The Report of the Committee to examine the issues related to Legacy Stalled Real Estate Projects said to encourage financial institutions to fund stalled projects, a scheme offering subsidised interest rates, similar to MSME, is recommended. «Such a scheme would reduce perceived risk, stimulate financial support and lead projects to completion. »Additionally, the Central Government may consider a guarantee fund similar to MSME for such finances.

By Brendan Pierson

Are you planning to move overseas soon? If so, you should complete certain financial tasks before you become a non-resident Indian (NRI). First, let’s understand the difference between a resident individual and NRI. An individual is deemed to be a resident if (a) the person has resided in India in that financial year for 182 days or more; or (b) has been in India within the four years preceding that year for 365 days or more and been in India for 60 days or more in that year.

Good morning,