For March 2024, India reported 3.11% lower merchandise exports at $41.68 billion, with FY24 exports at $437 billion. For March 2024, merchandise imports were lower by 5.98% at $57.28 billion, resulting in a merchandise trade deficit of $15.6 billion for March. For FY24, merchandise imports were lower 5.97% at $677.24 billion. The full year trade deficit stood at $240.17 billion. On the exports front, electronic goods gave a major thrust to the export story in FY24, rising by 23.64% to $29.12 billion. CAD is likely to be lower.
Headline WPI inflation for March 24 rose further to 0.53%, marking the fifth month in succession when the WPI inflation has been in the positive. Prior to that, WPI inflation was in the negative for 7 months from April 2203 to October 2023. As a result, the average WPI inflation for FY24 stood at -0.70%. The March spike in WPI inflation was led by food articles, electricity, crude petroleum, and natural gas. Fuel and manufacturing inflation continued to be in negative on yoy basis, but hardened over February 2024.
The 2nd round stress tests on small cap funds showed marginal improvement. SEBI had prescribed stress tests to verify how long small cap funds would take to liquidate 50% and 100% of their portfolios. The number of days to offload 50% of the portfolio for top 12 schemes in the latest stress test fell from 27.2 days in February to 26.7 days in March. Among small cap funds, it was SBI and Axis small cap funds that improved on liquidity metrics, while small cap funds of HDFC, Nippon and Kotak saw an increase in stress.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) will start hearing on Zee-Sony merger case from May 17, 2024. Axis Finance and IDBI had challenged the merger in NCLAT and had urged the NCLAT to wait for the outcome of Zee’s plea to enforce the merger, which was called off by Sony. Incidentally, the plea asking Sony to enforce the merger will be heard at NCLT Mumbai on April 25, 2024. Sony had sought $90 million as termination fees from Zee, while cancelling the deal, which has also been disputed by Zee.
The JV between Jio Financial and Blackrock will venture into stockbroking and wealth management, which includes the AMC business. The AMC approval is awaiting clearance from the regulator. The Indian mutual fund segment has an AUM of Rs55 trillion and the JV wants to focus largely on passive funds, which is the specialization of Blackrock globally. Both Jio Financial and Blackrock have infused $150 million each as capital into the JV. Jio Financial represents the financial business demerged from Reliance Industries Ltd.
Adani Green Energy increased operational capacity by 35% to 10,934 MW. This is after greenfield projects to generate 2,418 MW solar and 430 MW wind power. This includes operationalization of 2,000 MW of renewable energy (RE) projects in Khavda, Gujarat and greenfield addition of 418 MW in Rajasthan. For FY24, Adani Green reported 47% higher energy sales at 21,806 million units. In FY24, AGEL reported record solar portfolio CUF at 24.5% with 99.7% plant availability. The Q4FY24 reported 32% higher sale of energy.
Ambuja Cements, part of the Adani group, signed a definitive agreement to acquire the 1.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) cement grinding unit of My Home Group in Tuticorin. The acquisition has total value of Rs413.75 crore and will be funded via internal accruals. Currently, total cement capacity of Adani Group stands at 78.9 MTPA. The unit is located near Tuticorin Port with long-term fly ash agreement and is likely to be value accretive at the outset. The buyout will give Ambuja Cements access to the southern market.
Vedanta Ltd mandated JPMorgan Chase to raise $300 million (Rs2,500 crore) via rupee bonds. JP Morgan is already reaching out to potential investors; including global private credit funds. The tenor of the paper will be 3 years to 5 years, which syncs with the timelines for the company. This will also allow the group to improve its cash flow position and its credit profile in the interim. Vedanta has been struggling to raise funds on priority basis after its group demerger plans ran into a roadblock with institutional shareholders.