According to Moody’s Investor Services, India’s GDP growth may taper to 5.6% in FY24, but it would still be among the best performing large economies. Moody’s has expressed hope that if inflation is under check, then India may get closer to 6% in FY24. This is meaningfully lower than the 6.5% GDP growth projection for FY24. Overall, G-20 is expected to grow 2.3% in calendar 2023. In fact Moody’s appreciated the efforts of the government to cut fiscal deficit aggressively and focus on the capex side of spending.
Maruti Suzuki, India’s largest carmaker, reported 129.7% higher net profits at Rs2,391 crore for Q3FY23. Profits more than doubled yoy on the back of price hikes, demand for top-end models, soft commodity prices as well as favourable foreign exchange variation. Revenues for Q3FY23 were up 26.9% at Rs29,918 crore in Q3FY23. Pending customer orders as of December stood at 363,000 vehicles out of which 119,000 orders are for newly launched models. Maruti announced the launch of 2 new models (Jimny and Fronx).
Lenders of Jet Airways filed an appeal in the NCLAT against implementing the resolution plan by Kalrock Jalan consortium. Now the lenders want the deal to be cycled back to the COC (committee of creditors). NCLT is its plan had insisted that the approved plan must be implemented in letter and spirit. Back in April 2019, the company underwent a resolution process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). The consortium wants to pay just Rs475 crore to creditors. Even the CPF and gratuity benefits are still pending.
TVS Motor Company posted 28% higher net profits for Q3FY24 a Rs303.60 crore. TVS reported 22% higher total revenues at Rs8,066 crore. During the quarter, TVS sold 836,000 two-wheelers in all during the reporting current quarter, almost the same as last year. Exports were lower at just 207,000 units in the quarter. Its electric vehicle (EV) sales stood at 29,000 units in Q3FY23. EBITDA grew 16% yoy at Rs659 crore while operating EBITDA margin came in at 10.1% for the quarter. Interim dividend is Rs5 per share.
The rupee weakened by 28 paise to Rs81.70/$ on Tuesday amidst a strong dollar inhibiting fresh flows into EMs like India. Rupee stood at weakened during the day on account of FII selling resulting in forex outflows. However, positive equity market conditions saved the rupee from a sharp cut in the quarter. The rupee has also been tepid on the expectation that the Indian economy would be facing a plethora of headwinds; both domestic and global. The Bloomberg dollar index (DXY) has now tapered to 102.22 levels.
The Supreme set aside the Allahabad High Court order on Yes Bank / Essel group case. Yes Bank challenged the FIR lodged by the Essel Group against Yes Bank in connection with the Dish TV episode. The SC held that the Allahabad HC was not justified in not dealing with the petition of Yes Bank. The SC has asked the High Court to restore proceedings back to the high court for disposal on merits. The bench did not express any opinion since the proceedings had been restored in HC. Yes Bank voting rights had been curtailed.
BPCL will set up 1 GW renewable energy capacity in Rajasthan. BPCL is targeting net zero emissions target by 2040. BPCL has signed MOU with government of Rajasthan for setting up the renewable energy power plant. Time frames for the project are yet to be defined. BPCL plans to touch 1GW of generating capacity by 2025 and 10 GW by 2040. BPCL operates 3 oil refineries in India at Mumbai, Kochi and Bina (MP). BPCL has combined refining capacity of 38 MTPA, 20,000 petrol pumps and 6,100 LPG distributorships in India.
Blackstone is in talks to sell half its stake in Embassy Office Parks REIT to Bain Capital for $480 million. This will mark Bain Capital’s first REIT investment in India. Embassy Office Parks was India’s first REIT to list in 2019, operating nearly 43.2 million SFT of office parks and office buildings across Bengaluru and Mumbai. It is also the largest office REIT in Asia. Currently, Blackstone owns 24% of Embassy REIT with a market cap of $4 billion. It will sell 12%. Clearly Blackstone is looking to cash in amid tough market conditions globally.