For fiscal FY24 till date, the net direct tax collections are up 20.25% yoy at Rs15.60 trillion. In short, the tax flows have already achieved 80% of the revised budget estimates (BE) for FY24. Gross direct tax flows stood at Rs18.38 trillion, which is 17.3% higher on a yoy basis. The CBDT has issued total refunds to the tune of Rs2.77 trillion Between April 2023 and February 2024. The growth was robust across personal and corporate income taxes. The government has counted on tax collections to offset lower nominal growth.
For the week ended February 09, 2024, a total of 4 out of the top 10 most valuable companies by market cap added Rs2,18,598 crore in market cap. LIC and SBI were the big gainers. LIC led the way with market cap accretion of Rs86,147 crore in the week; followed by SBI Rs65,908 crore, and TCS Rs61,436 crore. In terms of market cap erosion, HDFC Bank saw value erosion in the week of Rs32,964 crore, ITC Ltd saw a fall of Rs30,699 crore, Bharti Airtel Rs16,132 crore, Infosys Rs10,044 crore, and ICICI Bank Rs9,779 crore.
ONGC reported 13.7% lower net profits for Q3FY24 quarter at Rs9,536 crore on a standalone basis. The lower profits were due to lower prices realised for crude oil, which averaged 6.4% lower at $81.59/bbl. Gas prices were also lower in Q3FY24 by 24.2% at $6.5 per MMBTU. During the quarter ONGC crude oil production also dropped by 3.3% to 5.22 million tonnes, while the gas output fell 4.3% at 5.12 billion cubic meters. Hence, gross revenues were lower by 10% at Rs34,789 crore. Cylone Biparjoy also had an impact.
In India’s endeavour to encourage the manufacture of semiconductors in India, Tower Semiconductor of Israel is planning to build a $8 billion chipmaking facility. As of now, the company has applied to the Indian government for the necessary approvals and it will also be participating in the production linked incentives (PLI) scheme in India. Domestic chip manufacturing has been a key plank of Modi’s business agenda, but initial bids to offer $10 billion in incentives to the chip industry has met with a lot of teething problems.
Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) may have been sellers in the month of February in equities, but they are decisive buyers in debt. In fact, the debt market inflows from FPIs have outpaced the equity outflows in February, leaving the FPIs net buyers on an overall basis. February 2024 has so far seen Rs15,000 crore of net infusion into equities. This comes on top of net debt inflows from FPIs to the tune of Rs19,836 crore in January 2024. The debt market flows are driven by hopes of rate cuts and inclusion in JPM bond index.
India’s leading manufacturer of active pharma ingredients (APIs), Divi’s Laboratories reported 17% growth in net profits yoy at Rs358 crore for Q3FY24. At the same time, the net revenues were up 8.6% at Rs1,855 crore in the December quarter. EBITDA was 19.6% higher at Rs479 crore while EBITDA margins expanded by 240 bps at 26.4%. The global market for APIs had been through a cyclical downturn in the previous two years, but in the last couple of quarters, the API business is looking up, giving a boost to Divi Q3 numbers.
The first issue of sovereign gold bond (SGB) 2016-I, which matured on February 08, 2024, delivered XIRR of an impressive 13.6% during the period, In absolute terms, the gold bonds were up 163%. The issue was made at a price of Rs2,600 per unit and the redemption was done at a price of Rs6,271 per unit. The first tranche of SGB had paid interest at 2.75% per annum, which was subsequently reduced to 2.50%. The XIRR of 13.6% mentioned here is inclusive of the interest earned on SGB. That is surely above moderate. RBI has refused prior permission to the Burman family (of Dabur group) for its open offer proposal for Religare Enterprises (REL). RBI has asked for the application to be submitted by the NBFC and not by the Burman family office. This could complicate the road ahead for the Burmans as they are currently in the midst of a bitter feud with the management of Religare. Burmans have updated RBI on non-cooperation by the Religare management. NBFCs need prior permission of RBI for the transfer of more than 10% stake.