Axis Bank reported 62% higher standalone net profits for Q3FY23 at Rs5,853 crore on the back of 32% growth in net interest income (NII) at Rs11,459 crore in the quarter. Like the other banks, the net interest margins (NIM) expanded by 70 bps to 4.26%. For most banks, the repricing of deposits has lagged the repricing of loans, leading to a surge in profits. Total deposits were up 9.9% yoy at Rs8.48 trillion. For the quarter, credit grew 14.9% while deposits grew 9.2% yoy. Gross NPAs tapered by 12 basis points to 2.38%.
The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) set aside SEBI’s disgorgement order against the NSE as well as its former brass, Chitra Ramkrishna and Ravi Narain, in the colocation case. SAT’s argument was that NSE had not indulged in any unethical act or unjustly enriched itself. In April 2019, SEBI had directed NSE to disgorge Rs625 crore along with annual interest of 12%. Instead, SAT asked NSE to deposit Rs100 crore for poor due diligence. SAT also noted there was no evidence of Narain and Chitra enriching themselves.
Canara Bank reported a 92% higher net profits for Q3FY23 at Rs2,881 crore yoy. Like most of the banks in the quarter, Canara Bank also benefited from the spike in deposit rates lagging the spike in lending rates. Gross NPAs fell 48 bps to 5.89% while net NPAs were lower by 23 bps at 1.96%. Total income was up 23% yoy at Rs26,218 crore. Total interest income of Canara Bank for the quarter surged by 25.6% to Rs22,231 crore. Capital adequacy ratio of Canara Bank was relatively comfortable at 16.72% as of December 2022.
Sebi has asked B2B payments provider, PayMate India, to refile IPO documents for its Rs1,500 crore IPO. PayMate had filed its documents in May 2022 for the IPO comprising of fresh issue worth Rs1,125 crore and an Offer for sale (OFS) of Rs375 crore. Currently, promoter group holds 66.7% in PayMate. SEBI wants PayMate to refile with appropriate updates and revisions. Specific details were not made available to the public. Visa has a partnership with PayMate and owns 2.94% in PayMate. PayMate response is awaited.
Tata Motors confirmed that it had completed the voluntary delisting of its American Depositary Shares (ADS), from the NYSE as of the close of trading on January 23rd, 2023. Effective from the next day, there will be no over-the-counter (OTC) market trading of the ADS of Tata Motors. ADS holders can surrender their ADS to the Depositary in exchange for underlying shares of Tata Motors. Tata Motors did not see much value addition in continuing with ADS program. This will not impact trading on the NSE and the BSE.
Reliance Industries is unlikely to launch the IPO of Reliance Jio and Reliance Retail this year, according to a note by JPMorgan Chase. In the 2019 AGM, Mukesh Ambani had committed to listing Reliance Jio and Reliance Retail within 5 years. According to JPM, RIL was currently in the midst of a mini-capex cycle across petchem, telecom (Jio) and new energy. The focus is back on capex and debt. With markets unlikely to give proper valuations to the stock and with the spike in debt levels, the IPO may get delayed for now.
RBI has instructed SBM Bank (India), the Indian subsidiary of State Bank of Mauritius, to immediately stop transactions under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS). This ban was based on material supervisory concerns observed in the bank. LRS facilitates external remittances by resident Indians abroad up to $250,000 per year. SBM Bank has physical presence in 8 locations, backed by advanced digital solutions. SBM Bank India had reported 76.4% higher deposits at Rs6,799 crore. The loan book was up 49.2% yoy.
Microsoft announced a multi-billion dollar investment in OpenAI, the brain behind ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence (AI) based solution provider. Microsoft had infused $1 billion into OpenAI in 2019 and plans to go up to $10 billion in total investment in OpenAI. Microsoft may look to democratize their AI solution and make it available as a package to all customers. Microsoft will bankroll the development of specialised supercomputing systems to accelerate independent AI research. The Azure will heavily leverage Chat GPT.