According to a FICCI Economic Outlook Survey, India’s GDP was likely to grow at 7.4% in FY23 due to the negative impact of higher oil prices and the effect of the Russia-Ukraine war. FICCI expects the RBI to start rate hikes from Jun-22 with up to 75 bps rate hike likely before end of 2022. However, the RBI is expected to continue supporting the economic review with economic policies that are broadly accommodative. Growth has been pegged at 3.3% for agriculture, 5.9% for industry and 8.5% for the Indian services sector.
HDFC Bank, as is the norm these days, reported its top line numbers for the Mar-22 quarter. HDFC Bank saw loan book grow 21% to Rs.13.69 trillion. During the period, the deposits were up 17% yoy at Rs.15.59 trillion. While retail loans did grow by 15% yoy, significant contributions also came from rural bank loans growing by 30.5% and wholesale loans growing by 17.5%. The CASA deposits grew 22% yoy in absolute terms to Rs.7.51 trillion. CASA (current and savings accounts) deposits account for 48% of total deposits.
India’s merchandise exports recorded an all-time high of $418 billion for FY22. This was on the back of higher shipments of petroleum products, engineering goods, gem and jewellery and chemicals. This is 43% higher than the export figure last year. For Mar-22, merchandise exports stood at $34 billion. For FY22, the top 5 export destinations were the United States, United Arab Emirates, China, Bangladesh and the Netherlands. During the year, India also crossed $1 trillion of total trade for the first time in history.
The 10 most valuable companies on the Nifty based on market capitalization added Rs.261,768 crore to market value last week. HDFC Bank and Reliance were among the big gainers, even as indices gained over 3.3%. Among top gainers, HDFC Bank added Rs.41,469 crore and Reliance Rs.39,074 crore. Among other key gainers, Hindustan Unilever added Rs.29,687 crore, Bharti Airtel Rs.27,103 crore, HDFC Rs.26,852 crore, Bajaj Finance Rs.26,672 crore, ICICI Bank Rs.25,975 crore, TCS Rs.18,088 crore, SBI Rs.15,931 crore.
Maruti Suzuki reported record overseas car shipments for FY22. It exported a total of 238,376 units in FY22, of which 26,496 units were exported in Mar-22. Currently Maruti vehicles are exported to over 100 countries. The top 5 models in terms of export attractiveness are the Baleno, Dzire, Swift, S-Presso and Brezza. In terms of top export destinations for Maruti; they include Latin America, ASEAN, Africa, and the Middle East. Since year 1986, Maruti Suzuki has achieved cumulative exports of over 22,50,000 vehicles.
FPI continued with their persistent selling in Mar-22 with net selling in excess of Rs.41,123 crore in the equity segment. The selling was on the back of risk-off sentiments caused by aggressive rate hikes by the Fed, shaky geopolitical environment, rising oil prices, rampant inflation etc. This is in addition to the net FPI withdrawals of Rs.35,592 crore in Feb-22 and Rs.33,303 crore in Jan-22. FPIs ended the year with record net selling of Rs.140,010 crore in equities, with the entire selling pressure coming in second half.
GHCL (Gujarat Heavy Chemicals Ltd) completed the divestment of its Home Textile business to Indo Count Industries for Rs.608 crore. Indo Count is a leading Indian manufacturer and exporter of Home Textiles. This deal makes Indo Count the largest global home textile player. For GHCL, this move is expected to unlock value for shareholders. This deal will add Rs.1,500 crore to the annual top line of Indo Count. What GHCL always lacked was a customer-centric approach; which will now happen with Indo Count coming in.
Brookfield of Canada will buy 51% stake in 4 commercial properties of Bharti Enterprises for an enterprise value of Rs.5,000 crore. The 4 commercial properties will include Worldmark Aerocity (Delhi), Worldmark 65, Airtel Centre (Gurugram) and Pavilion Mall (Ludhiana). Bharti Enterprises will retain 49% stake in the properties. These properties are spread across an area of 3.3 million SFT. Brookfield owns and operates 47 million SFT of commercial properties across Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune and Kolkata.