Foreign portfolio investors infused Rs.7,245 crore into Indian markets in the first 3 weeks of August. A total of Rs.5,001 crore was invested in equities while Rs.2,244 crore in the debt segment till August 20th. However, other major EMs continue to see consistent outflows. While South Korea saw outflows of $5.27 billion, Taiwan saw outflows of $855 million and Thailand saw outflows of $341 million. Other than India, Indonesia was the only EM to see net FPI inflows of $155 million. Fed taper could be the immediate risk.
Like many of the other major hydrocarbon players in India, now GAIL will foray into hydrogen generation and adopt the inorganic route to enhance its renewable energy footprint. GAIL wants to ensure that its future plans are in sync with the transition that is happening in the hydrocarbons segment globally. GAIL has been looking to expand its Renewable Energy portfolio from the current 130 GW via inorganic route. To add to renewable footprint, GAIL is foraying simultaneously into ethanol and hydrogen generation.
The good news is that in the Jun-21 quarter, Indian start-ups received $6.5 billion in funding with an additional 11 players entering the Unicorn Club of valuations over $1 billion. A total of 160 funding deals were closed in the June quarter. On a sequential basis, the fund raising by start-ups was up by 71%. The big deals included $800 million raised by Swiggy, $502 million by ShareChat, $340 million by Byju’s, $323 million raised by PharmEasy and $300 million by Meesho. India has a total of 53 Unicorns as of Jun-21.
A total of 7 out of 10 most valuable companies on Nifty added Rs.131,173 crore in market value last week. Hindustan Unilever and TCS were among the top gainers during the week. The big market cap accretion came from HUVR which added Rs.50,234 crore, TCS Rs.35,344 crore, Bajaj Finance Rs.30,442 crore and Infosys Rs.8,335 crore. HDFC, Wipro and RIL were other gainers. Banks were key losers with SBI losing Rs.21,776 crore, ICICI Rs.16,855 crore and HDFC Bank Rs.5,947 crore. TCS is fast catching up with RIL.
Tata Realty and Infrastructure will invest Rs.2,000 crore each into residential and commercial projects over the next 2 years. This is being undertaken on the back of steady pick-up in demand and significant sales growth in last quarter. During the pandemic, the housing arm of Tata Group has taken its headcount of construction workers to 5,000. Its revenues in FY21 grew 120% on yoy basis. Tata Realty admitted that they were seeing a sharp recovery in demand. Tata Realty nets nearly 70% sales from affordable housing.
Blackstone is in negotiations to acquire a majority stake in ASK Group wealth management. Currently, the ASK group is backed by another PE firm, Advent International. Blackstone proposes to buy around 74% in ASK Group. While the actual numbers are yet to be divulged, the ASK group is expected to be valued at $1 billion. ASK had been valued at $325 million when Advent had picked up a stake in 2016. The last big deal in wealth management space was PAG group buying 61.5% in Edelweiss Wealth for Rs.2,366 crore.
With the tax deadline fast approaching, the Ministry of Finance has summoned Salil Parekh of Infosys as the glitches in the tax portal have not been addressed over 2 months after the portal went live. Currently, the portal is under emergency maintenance and hence tax filers are not able to access the same. The total outlay for the job is around Rs.4,242 crore and Infosys has been working on the project for the last 2 years. IT department confirmed that 10 lakh income tax returns had been filed so far with 8 lakh daily logins.
Arvind Fashions, India’s leading casual and denim manufacturer, raised Rs.439 crore from investors, including promoters, by issuing equity shares. This allows Arvind to strengthen its balance sheet. The preferential allotment has been approved at a price of Rs.218.50 per share. Akash Bhansali was one of the investors to participate in the allotment, apart from ICICI Prudential MF, University of Notre Dame, GP Emerging Markets Fund and Ram Fund. In July, AFL sold its “Unlimited” Retail Chain to V-Mart Retail.
