Services Financial News

India's economy in April to June likely grew at the fastest pace in a year, bolstered by central and state governments opening up their wallets for capex, stronger consumption demand and higher activities in the services sector, according to some economists. A median forecast of an ET poll of 20 economists pegged the growth rate at 7.8 per cent for the first quarter of this financial year that started Apr. 1.

Geojit Financial Services said, "Positive sentiment initially propelled domestic equities, buoyed by softer US labour market data that caused a retreat in US bond yields, alleviating concerns about rate hikes. This positive outlook was reinforced by Chinese banks' move to reduce existing mortgage rates, favourably impacting Indian metal stocks.'' ‘’However, gains were tempered as the day progressed, primarily due to weakness in global markets attributed to lacklustre economic data from Europe.

₹232.70 apiece on the BSE. On NSE, JFSL shares were also at 5% upper circuit limit at ₹231.25 apiece, becoming the top Nifty gainer. According to ET Now report, promoter entity Jamnagar Utilities and Power, a step-down unit of Reliance Industries (RIL), likely bought about 5 crore Jio Financial Services shares at ₹208-211 apiece.

Jio Financial Services hit the 5% upper circuit on Wednesday following a likely block deal in pre-market trade wherein 12.7 lakh shares of the company changed hands. The development invited a strong investor response with over 1.58 crore shares trading on the NSE in the opening trade. The block deal reported by ET NOW is the second in a row and follows a deal on Tuesday which saw 0.8% equity changing hands.

Zomato, CLSA maintained an underperform rating on UltraTech Cements, Motilal Oswal has a buy on M&M Financial Services and Prabhudas Lilladher recommends a buy on Navneet Education.We have collated a list of recommendations from top brokerage firms from ETNow and other sources: HSBC on Zomato: Buy| Target Rs 120 HSBC maintained a buy rating on Zomato but raised the target price to Rs 120 from Rs 102 earlier. A deep dive into hyperlocal further raises our conviction on the long-term value of Blinkit, said the HSBC note. The value for Blinkit is now at $5 billion. In the next 3-4 years, HSBC believes that Blinkit can achieve 6-7% contribution margin (CM) and 3-4% EBITDA margin. Hyperlocal could be a much bigger business for Zomato in the long term.CLSA on UltraTech Cements: Underperform| Target Rs 8400 CLSA maintained an underperform rating on UltraTech Cements but raised the target price to Rs 8400 from Rs 7900 earlier. The global investment bank expects the company to report industry-leading growth and profitability.

Crypto-friendly Swiss-based SEBA Bank has successfully obtained an approval-in-principle (AIP) from the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in Hong Kong, bringing it one step closer to offering crypto services in the region.

The Hong Kong arm of crypto-friendly Swiss bank SEBA Bank has received in-principle approval from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) allowing it to deal in virtual assets.

Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi on Tuesday announced that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will start door-step delivery of 23 services from October onwards, an official release said. During a conference held at MCD Headquarter, she was accompanied by Deputy Mayor Mohd. Aaley Iqbal, Leader of House Mukesh Goel, and senior MCD officials. Mayor Oberoi informed that for the convenience of old and non-tech savvy citizens, MCD is planning to introduce door-step delivery of its 23 services.

PMRTS and CMRTS), which are used to operate walkie-talkies. In the discussion paper titled ‘Review of Terms and Conditions of PMRTS and CMRTS Licenses’, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) asked whether there is a need to review the terms and conditions of PMRTS License and PMRTS Authorization under Unified License and if PMRTS providers should be permitted internet connectivity on static internet protocol (IP) addresses. The authority also sought comments on whether it is possible to deliver the PMRTS/ CMRTS, which are mission critical in nature, using 4G/5G network slicing or any other technology. “If yes, in what manner should the delivery of PMRTS/ CMRTS using 4G/ 5G network slicing be enabled in the license? What should be safeguards to ensure that the quality-of-service for cellular networks is not adversely impacted?” Trai sought to know in the paper released Tuesday. The paper follows a June 2022 letter by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) requesting recommendations on the terms and conditions for issue of fresh licenses for CMRTS and PMRTS Services especially with respect to technical conditions and financial aspects, the sector regulator said in a notification Tuesday. The deadline for written comments on the discussion paper is September 26, and for counter comments, it’s October 10. The sector regulator observed that telecom technology has grown significantly over the past few years and asked if PMRTS providers should be made to keep pace. “Whether there is a need to mandate PMRTS providers to migrate to spectrally efficient digital technologies in a time-bound manner,” Trai asked industry stakeholders to comment. It asked for comments on Trai’s existing recommendations on the method

Axis Bank on Tuesday launched a paid savings account where the customer will not be charged for many services and will not be required to maintain a minimum balance.Customers will be charged Rs 150 per month or the discounted Rs 1,650 per year for what has been christened as 'Infinity Savings Account' by the third largest private sector lender. At present, a majority of the banks insist on a minimum balance for having a savings account, and charge holders a fee whenever the balance drops below the threshold. They also charge for extending services like SMS alerts, printing passbooks etc. A few players like Fino Payments Bank, do charge an annual account maintenance fee of the kind which Axis Bank is introducing with the new account.

Morgan Stanley Advantage Services has renewed its lease for commercial office space in Bengaluru for about 136,000 square feet. The property, in Ecoworld on Outer Ring Road, was leased from RMZ Corp for 120 months with 15% escalation every three years. The company will pay a rent of Rs 116 per sq ft during the lease tenure, as per the lease renewal document shared by Propstack. Morgan Stanley is also preparing to relocate its existing India headquarters, operational for 13 years, to a larger office space in Mumbai, said people aware of the matter. The move reaffirms the American investment bank and financial services company’s growing headcount and footprint in the country. The company, which has operated in the country for about three decades, will relocate to a new office spread over about 86,000 sq ft in Altimus Worli.

Nifty settled higher on Tuesday, August 29, for the second consecutive session supported by gains in the shares of select heavyweights, including HDFC Bank, Larsen and Toubro and Tata Steel amid positive global cues. Sensex ended with a gain of 79 points, or 0.12 per cent, at 65,075.82.

New Zealand said on Tuesday it would introduce legislation for a digital services tax on large multinational companies from 2025 after talks for a global rollout did not reach consensus at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). More than 140 countries were supposed to start implementing next year a 2021 deal overhauling decades-old rules on how governments tax multinationals that are widely considered to be outdated as digital giants like Apple or Amazon can book profits in low-tax countries. But the proposal was pushed back last month after countries with digital services taxes, with the exception of Canada, agreed to hold off applying them for at least another year. «While we will keep working to support a multilateral agreement, we are not prepared to simply wait around until then to find out,» Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in a statement. «We don't think it's fair that everyday Kiwis pay their fair share of taxes but there's no tax liability for large multinationals.» The proposed digital services tax will target multinational businesses that earn income from New Zealand users of social media platforms, search engines, and online marketplaces. The tax would be payable by businesses that make over 750 million euros ($812 million) a year from global digital services and over NZ$3.5 million a year from digital services provided to New Zealand users.

IT services sector's revenue growth will slow down to 3 per cent in the current fiscal from 9.2 per cent in the previous financial year, a domestic ratings company said on Tuesday.

₹218.50 apiece on the BSE. According to an Economic Times report, around 0.8% equity of Jio Financial Services changed hands in the block deal. Jio Financial Services shares were also among the top gains on the Nifty index.

Jio Financial Services (JFS) gained over 2% to day's high of Rs 216 on the NSE on Tuesday following a likely block deal that saw 0.8% equity changing hands. The price uptick was accompanied by strong volume action with over 4.21 crore shares on the block. The stock opened in the red and fell to the day's low of Rs 207 before making a U-turn. JFS shares were also the top Nifty gainers around 9:50 am and shot up after the news about the likely block deal was reported by ETNow. Since its addition to key indices on July 20 for a temporary period at a constant price of Rs 261.8, the stock has been on a losing spree and fallen in six out of seven trading sessions, excluding today's session.

Glance, a smart lock screen platform from InMobi, is launching in Japan. It will partner with leading telecom carriers and Android smartphone brands in the country, Piyush Shah, president of Glance, told ET. Singapore-headquartered Glance has already expanded in Indonesia and is now eyeing the US market.

The Federal Reserve is seemingly running interference with congressional efforts to regulate stablecoins, according to a letter recently sent to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. The letter came from Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee Patrick McHenry and subcommittee chairs French Hill and Bill Huizenga.

OKX and Bybit are the latest digital asset exchanges to delist sanctioned Russian banks from their peer-to-peer (P2P) services. 

Reliance Industries. “Jio Financial Services will enter the insurance segment to offer simple, yet smart, Life, General, and Health insurance products through a seamless digital interface, potentially partnering with global players," Ambani said in his address to shareholders at Reliance Industries’ Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Monday. JFS will use predictive data analytics to co-create contextual products with partners and cater to customer requirements in a truly unique way, Ambani added.

Reliance Industries Ltd, has been capitalised with a net worth of Rs 1.2 lakh crore to create one of the world's highest capitalised financial services platforms at inception, chairman Mukesh Ambani said on Monday. Speaking at company's annual general meeting, he said JFS will consolidate its payments infrastructure with a ubiquitous offering for both consumers and merchants, further driving digital payment adoption for India. «JFS products will not just compete with current industry benchmarks but also explore path-breaking features such as blockchain-based platforms and CBDC,» he said. «JFS will enter the insurance segment to offer simple, yet smart, life, general, and health insurance products.» Just like Jio and Retail, JFS too will prove to be an invaluable addition to the Reliance ecosystem of customer-facing businesses, he said. «This is a highly capital-intensive business,» he said.