On Day-1 of the OFS of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, the government has already garnered twice the demand of the entire 3.5% portion. While the base price was set at Rs2,450, most of the bids came in at Rs2,470 per share. The base issue size is 5.85 million shares with 100% Greenshoe option. At the close of Day-1, the non-institutional bidders had put in bids for 23.8 million shares, which is twice the amount with the Greenshoe option. Friday is the day reserved for retail investors and it will enhance the float of HAL.
For February 2023, India’s imports of crude oil were up 8% on a yoy basis, hitting a 20-year high. India is the world’s third-largest oil importer and consumer. On a monthly basis, the imports were down 6% at 22.57 million tonnes, largely due to fewer days in February. In the last few months, Russia has been the leading supplier of crude to India with more than 27% market share. The robust demand can also be due to the sharp fall in crude prices in February due to global slowdown concerns impacting crude oil demand.
The Tata group is planning to infuse another $2 billion into its Super App venture, Tata Neu. The Super App was to become the platform for marketing all the digitally enabled franchises of Tata group. However, it has not really taken off at the same pace it was expected to do. Tata Neu would be India’s first Super App and was modelled on China based Alipay. Now, others like RIL and Adani are also rolling out their super apps. Tata neu offers everything from groceries, gadgets, electronics, and airline tickets in one go.
ICRA upgraded the outlook for infrastructure finance companies from Stable to Positive, on the back of persistent improvement in asset quality. Infrastructure funding companies have focused on loan growth, asset quality and earnings profile in last few quarters. Government plans heavy outlays in infrastructure, so these companies are likely growth at around 12% in FY24. This segment includes big PSU names like PFC, REC, IIFCL IRFC etc. Gross NPAs of these companies has fallen from a peak of 6.8% in FY18 to 3.4%.
Indians are travelling abroad with a vengeance. In January 2023, Indians spent $1.49 billion in foreign travel, compared to $1.13 billion in December 2022. On yoy basis, this is up 50%. The current fiscal year has already seen $11.4 billion being spent by Indians on global travel. It looks like revenge travel is well and truly back in India. Interestingly, in FY15, Indians spent just $11 million on foreign travel and it is up nearly 14 times in the last 8 years. It is about rising incomes, affordable packages, and available flights.
L&T entered into an agreement with McPhy Energy of France to explore opportunities in the emerging green hydrogen market. Green hydrogen is nothing but hydrogen generated by renewable energy. McPhy will grant L&T the exclusive licence for commercializing its pressurised alkaline electrolyzer technology. L&T expects that the total order book, including green energy orders, would spike to Rs4.80 trillion in the next 3 years. L&T wants to stay on the cutting edge of the green hydrogen shift in global fuel markets.
Bill Ackman of Pershing Square, one of the world’s most reputed hedge fund managers, expects higher deposit outflows from the US banks. This is after Janet Yellen, US Treasury Secretary, did not commit on guaranteeing all deposits of the banking system. With the absence of a guarantee from the Fed, other than the deposit insurance, Ackman feels that it would impact deposit flows. Also, rates on deposits are much lower than the bond yields and that, according to Ackman, would also be a trigger for withdrawals.
Traders on the F&O segment need to be extra cautious on stock options as the “Do Not Exercise” (DNE) facility is being withdrawn from end of March. The DNE facility will only be withdrawn for stock options, but will continue for index options. This could impact option volumes, although it looks unlike as most of the options volumes come from institutions, having their own documented risk management policies in place. Since the DNE facility will be withdrawn, auto square off facility will not be there, making it riskier.