Experts Financial News

RBI) has expressed concern about the brisk growth in personal loans, even as most of the industry seems not-too-worried, except on the specific segment of small loans (under ₹50,000). Mint takes a closer look at the increasing demand for personal loans and why banks seem unfazed by the regulator’s words of caution. While RBI classifies all retail loans as personal loans, there is a specific category of bank loans that it classifies as ‘other personal loans’.

Fees associated with health savings accounts are falling but only a fraction of account holders use their HSAs as investment vehicles — and financial advisors can help turn around the latter trend, experts said.

Billionaire Singapore developer Philip Ng has emerged as a last-minute impediment to TPG Capital’s $1.8 billion purchase of InvoCare, and has voted against the sale of the ASX-listed funeral provider to the private equity firm.

Reliance Industries (RIL) revenue streams — from energy to retailing and telecom — demonstrated robust growth in the second quarter. Operating profit at India's biggest company advanced 30% year-on-year to ₹44,867 crore. At the aggregate level, margins climbed nearly 4 percentage points due to more than 30% revenue growth in oil-to-chemicals (O2C), exploration and retail segments that together account for 81% of the revenue and two-thirds of operating profit at the conglomerate.

Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei Technologies has reported its profit inched higher in the first three quarters of this year despite persisting U.S. sanctions that have hindered both its sales and its purchases of advanced technology

solar projects are set to get a fillip with the introduction of the 'distributed renewable energy' segment in the latest renewable purchase obligations (RPO). This means that power distribution companies will have to mandatorily purchase renewable energy from rooftop solar projects among others included in the segment. The government recently changed the mix of renewable energy sources for mandatory purchase by distribution companies and open-access consumers, while keeping the total obligation unchanged at 2022 levels.

Bitcoin price prediction has become the talk of the crypto community as BTC recently retraced to a crucial $34,000 support level. Amidst an array of fundamental changes in the cryptocurrency landscape, from the U.S. SEC’s ongoing review of Bitcoin ETP proposals to the U.K.’s stringent crypto regulations, the leading digital currency showcases its resilience.

Blockstream, a leading player in the blockchain arena, has officially rolled out Greenlight, its innovative Lightning-as-a-Service (LaaS) solution to the global market on October 12, 2023, following an initial reveal in June. This marks a significant stride towards simplifying the operational intricacies associated with Lightning network node management, while not compromising on user security.

Regen Powertech Pvt Ltd (RPPL) has sought the Supreme Court’s view on whether the bankruptcy courts can direct consolidation of the insolvency proceedings of two companies, whose businesses are allegedly inter-twined and inter related, for speedy recovery of dues. A Bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna sought response from the resolution professional and others on an appeal by the SBI-led Committee of Creditors questioning the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal’s (NCLAT) decision directing consolidation of CIRPs of RPPL and its wholly-owned subsidiary Regen Infrastructure and Services Pvt Ltd (RISPL) and also setting aside of the approved resolution plan of RPPL. The CoC argued that the appellate tribunal’s jurisdiction cannot extend into entering upon merits of the business decision made by the CoC in its commercial wisdom, the appeal said, citing the insolvency law committee’s March 26, 2018 report that specifically decided not to address the issue of group companies. The RPPL lenders in April 2021 approved the resolution plan of RPPL by 94.08 voting percentage and its total claim is for Rs 1306.40 crore. The CoC of RPPL had opposed the consolidation while the CoC of RISPL had given a conditional consent for consolidation. Legal experts also say that the issue “requires an authoritative determination” by the SC as this plea of consolidation of insolvency proceedings applying group company doctrine is arising in several cases before the bankruptcy courts. “The IBC is silent on this aspect but the facts in some cases are very compelling where there is siphoning of funds.

Middle East which could disrupt oil supplies, after reports that the U.S military had struck Iranian targets in Syria. Brent crude futures for December rose 93 cents or roughly 1.1%, to $88.86 a barrel by 1254 GMT.

Reliance Industries' (RIL) second -quarter numbers were largely in line with expectations with 27% growth in net profit and a marginal increase in revenues. The company saw 29.7% YoY rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 19,878 crore for the September 2023 quarter. Revenue from operations rose 1.1% to Rs 2.34 lakh crore. Profit growth was led by operational and financial contributions from all business segments.

₹68,937 crore in Q2FY24, a growth of 19.5% over Q2FY23 revenue of ₹57,694 crore. During the quarter, the company achieved an EBITDA of ₹5,820 crore, marking a 32.2% improvement over the previous year's EBITDA of ₹4,404 crore and a 13.25% surge compared to the Q1 FY24 figure of ₹5,139 crore. The EBITDA margin also expanded to 8.4%, showing an 80-basis point increase from the EBITDA margin of 7.6% in Q2 FY23.

Reliance Industries (RIL), India's largest company by market capitalisation, on Friday (October 27) reported a 29.7 per cent year-on-year rise in its September quarter consolidated net profit at ₹19,878 crore. EBITDA, too, saw a healthy 30.2 per cent YoY rise to ₹44,867 crore while the EBITDA margin jumped 390 bps YoY to 17.5 per cent. Gross revenue, however, inched up marginally by 1.2 per cent YoY to ₹2,55,996 crore, supported by consumer businesses.

Nasdaq opened higher on Friday as robust forecasts from Amazon.com and Intel lifted beaten-down megacaps, while investors also drew comfort from data that showed inflation rose largely in line with expectations. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.90 points, or 0.01%, at the open to 32,782.40. The S&P 500 opened higher by 15.70 points, or 0.38%, at 4,152.93, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 123.08 points, or 0.98%, to 12,718.69 at the opening bell.

Satin Creditcare Network's net profit zoomed 89% at Rs 103 crore, on the back of lower credit costs and business expansion. The lender's net interest margin for the quarter was at 13.5%, above the annual guidance of 12.1-12.5%, chairman HP Singh said. Credit cost came down to 1.2% for the period from about 5% a year back. «We have observed a strong second quarter, surpassing the Rs 10,000 crore AUM and recording the highest ever profitability in the last five years,» Singh said. Satin's gross non-performing assets ratio stood at 2.38% at the end of September as compared with 3.96% a year back.

Himanta Biswa Sarma said that wives fight for the husband's pension after the death of the husband. Sarma said Assam government employee would need the state government's permission for a second marriage even if their religion allowed bigamy. «Even if a religion allows you to have a second marriage, then also you have to seek state government's permission,» the Chief Minister said. «We have seen cases where after the death of the employees, both wives fight for the husband's pension,» he added. Assam government has notified that no government servant will has contract second marriage who has wife living despite second marriage being applicable under personal law. The notification stated, «It is hereby reiterated that as per the provisions of Rule 26 of The Assam Civil Services (Conduct) Rules 1965, No Government servant who has a wife living shall contract another marriage without first obtaining the permission of the Government, notwithstanding that such subsequent marriage is permissible under the personal law for the time being applicable to him». The notification added, «No female Government servant shall marry any person who has a wife living without first obtaining the permission of the Government.» In the context of the above provisions, the Disciplinary Authority may initiate immediate Departmental Proceeding under the provision of the Assam Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules 1964, or imposition of major penalty including compulsory retirement against those Government Servants found to be violating Rule 26 of the Assam Civil Services (Conduct) Rules 1965, which itself is a gross misconduct on the part of a Government Servant having large bearings on the society. The notification added, «The

BSE on Friday announced that it will conduct a special Muhurat trading session on Diwali festival, on which many traders do token buying, on November 12 from 6 pm to 7:15 pm. Normal trading would be shut on November 12, which is a Sunday. As Diwali also marks the Day 1 of the Hindu accounting calendar, Samvat, it is believed that Muhurat trading on this day brings wealth and prosperity throughout the year. On this day traders retain the age-old tradition of executing trades in the special one-hour session, whose timings are decided based on planetary positions, as it is deemed auspicious to start new business activity in the light of diyas and amid colours of rangoli patterns. History suggests the day hardly disappointed investors, with the BSE Sensex closing higher in 7 of the last 10 such special sessions. Trading volumes have usually been low as many traders prefer to make token purchases rather than full-fledged trades.

Nifty on Friday ended 190 points higher to form a long bull candle on the daily chart. The short-term trend of Nifty seems to have reversed on the upside and the sustainability of this upside bounce could be crucial to call this an important bottom reversal. Nifty is likely to move up further towards the next overhead resistance of around 19,230 levels.

Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) on Friday reported a 25 per cent growth in net profit to Rs 625 crore during the September quarter. The state-owned lender had posted a net profit of Rs 501 crore in the year-ago period.

The Hyderabad-based drug maker reported a net profit of Rs 1113 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Revenues rose 9% YoY to Rs 6880 crore in Q2FY24. The earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 13% YoY to Rs 2181 crore. EBITDA margin improved 110 basis points YoY to 31.7%. The company said the EBITDA growth was enabled by geographic diversification and productivity improvement in operations. The North America business, which is primarily US that constitutes 46% of the company's business, grew 13% YoY to Rs 3170 crore.

Ujjivan Small Finance Bank on Friday reported a modest 11% rise in net profit at Rs 328 crore for the quarter to September 30, even as its interest income and earnings from non-core operations helped pre-provisioning operating profit rise 26%. The net interest margin for the quarter stood at 8.8%, down 102 basis points year-on-year, due to the rise in cost of funds. NIM was 9.2% three months back. «We are aiming to take the NIM back to over 9% to the first quarter level,» managing director Ittira Davis said. «We have not passed on the rise in cost of funds entirely to micro banking customers.