Trouble appears to be brewing at Byju’s with their statutory auditors, Deloitte Haskins & Sells, resigning over the delay in filing financial results. Byju’s is yet to publish financial results for FY22. In addition, 3 of the additional professional directors of the company, other than the family members of Byju Ravindran, have also put in their papers citing differences over company management. Byju’s appointed BDO (MSKA & Associates) as its statutory auditors for five years starting from but troubles appear to be just piling on.
The minutes of the RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) were published on June 22, 2023. While there was consensus on the vote, members of the MPC are increasingly divided over the future trajectory of interest rates. External members of the MPC have been cautioning that further tightening could hamper the economic recovery. While all the six members of the MPC were unanimous about holding the rates at 6.5%, Jayanth Varma dissented on the monetary stance stressing on the withdrawal of accommodation.
SEBI has barred the Vice Chairman and the CEO of Eros International Media from accessing capital markets for alleged diversion of funds and financial misreporting. Two group companies, Eros Worldwide and Eros Digital Private, were also banned. According to SEBI, Rs1,247 crore was untraceable, of which 94% was written off by Eros. SEBI alleged that Rs687 crore was siphoned to Eros group companies using shell companies. Just last week, the ZEEL promoters were barred from holding KMPs for the similar reasons.
Micron Inc, the US based computer storage chip maker, plans to set up a semiconductor assembly and testing plant in Gujarat. The project will entail total investment of $2.75 billion. Micron will invest up to $825 million in setting up the plant in two phases under the government’s Modified Assembly, Testing, Marking and Packaging (ATMP) Scheme. Under the PLI scheme, Micron will get 50% fiscal support for the total project cost from the Indian government plus incentives representing 20% of the total project cost.
In a rather surprising move, the Bank of England raised benchmark rates by 50 basis points to counter the highest levels of inflation seen since the 1980s. The BOE Monetary Policy Committee voted 7-2 for a 50 bps hike to 5%. This is the highest level of interest rates in 15 years. Markets were expecting the rates to peak around 6%, but policymakers have ruled out any such assurance. Ironically, the Bank of England stays hawkish even after the Fed had moved to pause mode in June. BREXIT has also impaired supply chains.
NTPC Board will consider raising funds via NCDs worth Rs12,000 crore. The fundraising will be subject to approval by the shareholders at the upcoming AGM. For Q4FY23, NTPC had posted a net profit of Rs5,672 crore and 20% higher revenue sat Rs41,318 crore. It also reported record power generation in FY23 with its coal stations achieving record plant load factors (PLF) of 75.9. Meanwhile, NTPC is also looking at value unlocking of its subsidiary, NTPC Renewable Energy Ltd. It represents the new energy initiatives of NTPC.
US based GE Aerospace signed an MOU with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to manufacture fighter jet engines for the Indian Air Force. Under the MOU, F414 engines of GE Aerospace will be co-produced in India to power the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft MK2. This was one of the many deals signed during Mr Modi’s state visit to the US. The necessary export authorizations are pending. The deal assumes added importance as China has been indulging in sabre rattling in Asia. It would be a major Indo-US initiative.
Fitch Ratings raised its forecast Indian GDP growth for FY24 by 30 bps to 6.3%. Fitch revised FY24 forecast after the better than expected 7.2% GDP growth in FY23. According to Fitch, Indian economy manifested broad-based strength with GDP up 6.1% in the March 2023 quarter. High frequency data points like PMI, freight data, GST collections and e-way bills have also been very robust. Earlier, Fitch had lowered India’s FY24 growth citing rising interest rates and weak global demand. However, credit ratings remain static.
