With crude prices rising up to the $85/bbl mark in the Brent market, the government has raised windfall tax once again on petroleum crude to Rs4,250/tonne. This change will be effective from August 01, 2023. A windfall tax of Rs1/ litre on diesel has also been imposed. However, the windfall tax on petrol and on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) has been left unchanged. Till the start of this month, the windfall tax on crude was at zero levels. It was first raised to Rs1,600/tonne and now to Rs4,250/tonne in sync with crude prices.
The Adani group plans to raise close to $1.8 billion via bond sales. In the light of the hit that the group had to take on its global bond demand post Hindenburg, Adani group is trying to also spruce up its domestic fund raising. They would be sold in multiple tranches since the domestic market may not have appetite for a very large issue at one go. The issue of bonds is likely to made by Adani Ports, Adani Electricity, MIAL, and its flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd. It may be recollected that AEL had raised Rs12,500 crore in July-23.
Ahmedabad based Nirma Ltd has emerged as the front runner to buy the stake of the API (active pharma ingredients) arm of Glenmark Pharma Ltd. The bidding has already ended. The API business of Glenmark is already listed under the name of Glenmark Life Sciences. Currently, Glenmark Pharm owns 82.8% in GLS. The other bidder was Sekhmet Pharma Ventures, backed by PAG. However, Nirma was reportedly the only bidder to have submitted the bid before the cut-off. Nirma may pay Rs7,000 crore for the stake.
The NSE may be considering extending its trading timings, but it is likely to be executed in phases. The current timings are 9.15 to 15.30 for stocks, although commodity derivatives trade for longer hours. The move is subject to the approval of SEBI. Currently, NSE is conducting consultations with broker members on the feasibility and the back office implications of such a move. Many small brokers are concerned that such a move could lead to escalation in costs, which would push more of the small brokers out of business.
For the month of June 2023, the core sector growth came in sharply higher at 8.2%. The surge was led by steel growing at 21.9% yoy, while cement and coal output also showed growth in excess of 9% for June. The only sector, out of the 8 core sectors in the negative was oil extraction, which was marginally lower. The cumulative core sector growth for FY24 based on 3-months data came in higher at 5.8%. The high growth rate in June has come in despite a high base. High frequency MOM core growth was slightly down.
Bharti Airtel has prepaid another Rs8,000 crore of spectrum dues. These outstanding dues carried interest cost of 10%, so Bharti Airtel has leveraged much lower cost of funds available to the company to prepay the spectrum dues. This is part of the deferred liabilities for spectrum acquired in the 2015 auctions. This is in line with Bharti Airtel’s plans to optimizing its cost of financing. This puts the liquidity situation of the company in a more comfortable position since the cost of deferring the spectrum charges were fairly high.
A major block deal is expected in the market on Tuesday, wherein the promoters of DLF are likely to sell their stake in the company worth Rs1,086 crore. The deal is expected to happen at a 3% discount to the market price. DLF had recently announced plans to develop nearly 9 lakh SFT of space in Andheri West in Mumbai. The stock has rallied multi-fold in the last couple of years as the real estate market has picked up and DLF Ltd has been consistently cutting down on its debt. It had reported stellar numbers in Q1FY24.
Maruti Suzuki reported doubling of net profits for Q1FY24 to Rs2,485 crore on the back of 22% revenue growth in the quarter. The revenue growth was supported by 6.4% growth in volumes with the rest of the growth in top line coming from pricing. It reported 53% increase in EBITDA to Rs2,983 crore with EBITDA margins expanding by 200 bps to 9.2% in the quarter. The board of Maruti Suzuki has also approved plans to take over 100% of Suzuki Motors plant in Gujarat. MSIL will take over EV production at Gujarat plant.
