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budget allocation on health to 2.5 per cent of GDP while also calling for a restructuring of the healthcare GST framework. In its pre-Budget recommendations, NATHEALTH underlined the need for the government to embark on transformative measures that prioritise bolstering healthcare infrastructure and making strategic investments to overcome supply side constraints. «India's public healthcare spending remains low, at only around 1.6-1.8 per cent of GDP. These allocations are insufficient to tackle the magnitude of healthcare challenges,» NATHEALTH said in a statement. It recommended «increasing budget allocation to 2.5 per cent of GDP to augment the social insurance schemes, boosting healthcare reforms and infrastructure and fast-tracking digital health services across India.» On the need for rationalisation of GST for the healthcare sector, it said, «Although increased budget allocation has been a longstanding request from the sector, there remains another persistent issue concerning the healthcare credit chain through GST.» Indirect taxation and lack of input credit for providers poses a significant challenge for the healthcare industry, NATHEALTH said, adding that it «strongly recommends outlining a reform agenda in the Finance Bill aimed at restructuring the healthcare GST framework». NATHEALTH President Ashutosh Raghuvanshi said, «India's healthcare demands urgent and strategic reforms.

rising intеrеst ratеs will shape the 2024 landscapе. Most of them expect the interest rates in 2024 to either stay at current levels or rise marginally, but they don't anticipate a significant impact on residential demand. Affordability and income outlook will be more critical factors in determining residential sales.

Apparel and fast-fashion brands such as Perry Ellis and H&M are turning to a new weapon in the fight against costly online returns: artificial intelligence. They are using AI to sharpen product descriptions and recommendations, steer certain ads away from shoppers most likely to return those products, and aim advertising toward consumers they believe will hold on to their purchases. “What we can’t do is stop Amazon letting somebody purchase.

General Elections 2024. This reinforces the likelihood of policy continuity and a favourable trajectory. The critical decision now lies in determining where to place one's bets—whether on large caps, mid caps, or small caps.

IT stocks HCL Technologies and Persistent Systems have received a downgrade by Kotak Institutional Equities as the brokerage sees limited upside in the two stocks going ahead. Kotak cut the rating on HCL Technologies to an 'Add' from an earlier 'Buy' and also downgraded Persistent to 'Reduce' from an 'Add'. On Persistent, Kotak said that the stock is currently trading at 33X FY2026E EPS and is expensive after a 22% rally in the past three months. «Rollover to December quarter and 2X increase in multiple factoring in lower macro uncertainty following rate cut path laid out by US Fed lead to 9-16% increase in FVs for IT stocks,» Kotak said in a note Following the downgrade, HCL Tech shares fell 1.7% intraday while Persistent was down by 2% around 12 pm.

BNB and Solana. The global cryptocurrency market cap also rallied nearly 3.6% to around $1.61 trillion in the last 24 hours. At 12.19 p.m., BTC was trading 4.2% higher at $42,912, while Ethereum was up 3.02% at $2,241. Other popular altcoin, such as Solana and Cardano, surged 8.2% and 6.4%, respectively. BNB, Avalanche, Polkadot, Chainlink, and Shiba Inu also gained 2-4%. After trading in the red for the first time in 9 weeks, BTC started the 10th week hitting early $40k support levels but bounced soon to test $43.5k. At the same time, BTC has been able to maintain its dominance at 53.5% for the past few days, which is a positive sign for its price action, said CoinSwitch Markets Desk.

Credo Brands IPO subscription status: Credo Brands IPO saw a healthy response from retail investors as the IPO's retail portion was subscribed 1.07 times by 12:10 pm on Tuesday, December 19, the first day of the IPO. According to data available with BSE, Credo Brands IPO's non-institutional investors (NIIs) portion was subscribed 0.41 times. Overall, the IPO was subscribed 0.62 times by that time.

Home loan buyers have borne the burden of expensive home loans either in the form of higher interest rates or extensions. For the last two years, home loans have become more expensive for new entrants and also for existing borrowers.

India Shelter IPO allotment: After closure of subscription on Friday last week, India Shelter IPO allotment has been made public today. Those who applied for the public issue need not to move from pillar to post as they can check their India Shelter IPO allotment status online by logging in at the BSE website or at the website of its official registrar KFintech. Meanwhile, after closure of bidding, India Shelter shares have gone from strong to stronger in last two days.

SBI, Bank of Baroda, Indian Bank, Union Bank, Canara Bank, and PNB. «A reflection on PSBs valuation history may cause trading multiples to look constrained, however the quality of earnings, growth outlook and broader re-rating in PSU entities will nevertheless enable steady performance of the sector,» Motilal analysts including Nitin Aggarwal said. Stating that PSBs are likely to report a 10% CAGR in deposits over FY23-26, Motilal said most PSU banks are well positioned in terms of liquidity, with their LCR well above the regulatory requirement of 100% (135-160%), indicating their resiliency and the competitive advantage they have over their private peers, especially in the current rate environment. The analysts noted that overall, PSBs have been able to maintain better margins as a significant proportion of their loans are linked to MCLR (6-12 months’ tenure), which has led to lagged re-pricing of advances portfolio. Stock ideas Motilal's top picks among the PSU bank basket are SBI, BoB, and Canara Bank. For SBI, it has raised the target price from Rs 700 to Rs 800, BoB from Rs 240 to Rs 280, Indian Bank from Rs 460 to Rs 525, Union Bank from Rs 130 to Rs 150, and Canara Bank from Rs 440 to Rs 550. While the brokerage has buy ratings on the above 5 stocks, it has a neutral rating on PNB but the price target has been increased from Rs 75 to Rs 90. In the last 5 months, the Nifty PSU Bank index is up over 40% with Central Bank, IOB, PNB, and Union Bank rallying between 7-90%. (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel) (Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)

SpiceJet jumped nearly 8% to hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 69.20 on Tuesday after the budget carrier expressed its interest to acquire Go First. The company plans to submit its offer after carrying out due diligence on the bankrupt carrier. Go First, which stopped flying on May 3 amid financial woes mainly triggered by Pratt & Whitney engine issues, is undergoing an insolvency resolution process, PTI reported. In a regulatory filing, SpiceJet said it «has expressed interest with the resolution professional of Go First and wish to submit an offer post diligence, with a view to creating a strong and viable airline in a possible combination with SpiceJet». The stock has been rallying on multiple triggers including the company's plans to consider fundraising options and also getting the stock listed on NSE. The no-frills airline, which is grappling with financial headwinds, last week announced raising around USD 270 million from various investors.

GAIL (India) Ltd. traded 0.96 per cent down at Rs 143.65 at 11:47AM (IST) on Tuesday, even as BSE benchmark Sensex gained 63.28 points to 71378.37. The scrip had settled at Rs 145.05 in the previous session.

The development triggered a strong investor interest in the stock with nearly 82 lakh shares changing hands on the NSE, while the stock witnessed a 5.20 times spurt in volumes on the BSE. The stock has been a market laggard with returns of just over 2% in the last 12 months while stock's returns in 2023 stand at a mere 7%. In contrast, the Nifty has given over 16% returns. Devyani International's Dubai subsidiary Devyani International DMCC on Monday announced its entry into the Thailand market by signing a share purchase agreement to acquire a controlling interest in Restaurants Development Co, Thailand.

Year-to-date, the NSE Nifty 50 has gained more than 18% and the BSE Sensex 17%, driven by robust inflows from both domestic and foreign investors. As we enter into 2024, the bulls are holding the strings tight and market experts remain optimistic about the performance continuing in the next year as well.

loans increasing from 15% to 25% in the past decade. The dynamic regulatory environment poses manageable challenges, and new product offerings are expected to shape the business mix. While the RBI's directives on unsecured consumer credit may impact capital, the sector remains resilient, with an anticipated 14% growth in the next two years. NBFC AUM is projected to grow by 16-18% in FY24 and 14-17% in FY25 and cross the INR32t mark by Mar’25. Unsecured loans are expected to constitute 12-14% of the NBFC AUM, with a growth rate ranging from 14-17%, reflecting a slight moderation due to recent regulatory interventions. The performance of NBFCs remains robust, characterized by a higher PCR for stage 2 and stage 3, low leverage, and a strategic readiness for broad-based growth. The NBFC sector is witnessing a notable diversification, with 55% of companies exploring new product segments. Co-lending partnerships are expected to grow, and NBFCs are actively seeking funding diversification through bonds and securitization. The retail consumption book is a significant contributor and retail demand in secured and unsecured segments has strengthened, with an increased market share. Asset quality appears robust and is anticipated to remain fundamentally strong as signs of stress are limited and there are declining trends in Stage 2 loans. Profitability is expected to remain steady, backed by stable credit costs and operating expense ratios, indicating a positive outlook for the financial performance of NBFCs. Spandana Sphoorty: LTP Rs 1052| Target Rs 1200 The new management has successfully navigated various disruptions and consequent asset quality stress. We estimate Spandana to deliver FY26 RoA/RoE of 4.4%/17%, aided

Delhi High Court has fixed January 4 for hearing on a plea moved by Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mahua Moitra seeking the quashing of notice issued by the Directorate of Estate cancelling her government allocated accommodation in Delhi. The Trinamool Congress leader had approached the court challenging cancellation of her govt accommodation. It may be noted here that she had been asked to vacate her official residence by January 7. Motra's petition had urged that the «Directorate of Estates' December 11 order be set aside or, in the alternative, Moitra be allowed to retain possession of the accommodation till the results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections are declared.» In her plea before the court, Moitra said the Directorate of Estates' order has been issued following her expulsion from the Lok Sabha. According to the petition, «The impugned order is premature as the validity of the petitioner's expulsion is pending adjudication before the Supreme Court of India.» «In such circumstances — where whether the petitioner is an 'unauthorised occupant' at all is under adjudication before the highest constitutional court of the land — the respondent no.

₹277 to ₹291 per equity share of the face value of ₹10. Muthoot Microfin Limited raised ₹284.99 crore from anchor investors on Friday, December 15. Muthoot IPO lot size is 51 equity shares and in multiples of 51 equity shares thereafter.

HCL Technologies and Persistent Systems considering the recent rally in these stocks. The brokerage firm believes the recent strong rally limits further upside in select stocks in the IT sector. HCL Tech share price has gained nearly 11 per cent while Persistent Systems share price has gained over 9 per cent in December so far.

Stock market today: Despite weak trends at Indian stock market, JTL Industries shares witnessed strong demand during early morning deals. JTL Industries share price today opened upside at ₹247.90 per share levels and went on to hit intraday high of ₹252 apiece on NSE, which is now its new life-time high as well. While climbing to a new peak, JTL Industries shares ascended to the tune of 60 per cent in year-to-date (YTD) time.

A member of Britain’s House of Lords has acknowledged that she repeatedly lied about her links to a company that was awarded lucrative contracts to supply protective equipment during the coronavirus pandemic

The holidays can be a challenging time if you're on a budget