It was a tough week with the market value of 7 out of 10 most valuable companies in India by Market cap saw erosion of Rs216,093 crore. Reliance and SBI took deepest cuts as Sensex dropped 2.12% last week. Reliance Industries lost Rs71,003 crore, SBI Rs46,319 crore while ICICI Bank fell Rs36,836 crore last week. Other losers were HDFC Bank Rs24,900 crore, Bharti Airtel Rs23,748 crore and HDFC Rs10,257 crore. Among gainers, TCS added Rs17,838 crore, Hindustan Unilever Rs14,932 crore and ITC Ltd Rs13,592 crore.
In a detailed 413 page response, Adani group responded to the 88 allegations made by Hindenburg Research. Adani group accused Hindenburg of securities fraud, by creating panic in the market with very selective reporting after taking short positions. They termed Hindenburg the Madoffs of Manhattan. Adani group underlined that most points made are in public domain but selectively presented in a provocative manner. Adani group buttressed allegations with hard facts, something Hindenburg did not.
Mumbai based real estate developer, Kalpataru Ltd, plans to file draft papers for its Rs2,000 crore initial public offering (IPO) in the June 2023 quarter. The offer for sale component will only be Rs250 crore while a fresh issue will account for the balance Rs1,750 crore. Funds will be used to bankroll expansion plans. Axis Capital, Nomura, ICICI Securities, JM Financial and SBI Caps will be the BRLMs. Kalpataru currently has the real projects in Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Indore, Noida and Dubai. For now it is wait and watch.
NTPC Ltd reported 6.2% higher net profits at Rs4,777 crore for Q3FY23. However, sequential profits were up 43%. Net revenues for the Q2FY23 quarter were up 33.96% at Rs44,602 crore. In calendar year 2022, NTPC added 3,127 MW capacity to take its total capacity to 70,884 MW. During December 2022 quarter, NTPC produced coal from captive mines to the tune of 5.35 MMT. NTPC imported coal to the tune of 1.57 MMT in Q3FY23 due to coal shortages. Gas consumption in Q3FY23 was virtually flat at 1.13 MMSCMD.
Indian chemical industry faces pressure from a spike in raw material prices. Logistics issues and supply-side constraints are putting pressure; while the risk of tepid demand due to slowdown in Western markets is also a potent risk. The recovery in China may come as a positive news flow for the chemical companies as it could ease raw material prices and stabilize supplies. There are concerns that the rate hike cycle could also prolong in India, putting further pressure on the cost of funds for the Indian chemical companies.
With Indian equity markets having moved to T+1 settlement cycle for all stocks as of 27th January 2023, mutual fund AMCs are also shortening their cycle to T+2 for redemption. While equity funds will now be on T+2, debt funds are already on T+1. Birla MF CEO has underlined that with equities moving to T+1, it is only logical that the benefit is passed on to the equity mutual fund holders. Indian stock markets are going to be among the handful of markets to be on T+1 system with the US now contemplating shifting to T+1.
Vedanta Ltd posted 42% lower net profit for Q3FY23 at Rs3,092 crore in Q3FY23. The drop in profits can be attributed to soft metal prices as well as the windfall tax on crude. Even on sequential basis, the profits were lower by 15%. Total revenues for Q3FY23 stood flat at Rs33,691 crore. The company also approved Rs12.50 as the fourth interim dividend, paying out total dividends of Rs81 per share for the year. EBITDA margins fell sharply from 37% to 24% yoy. Free cash flows of the company stood at Rs6,504 crore in Q3.
DLF Ltd will launch a luxury housing project in Gurugram in February 2023 with estimated sales of around Rs7,500 crore. It plans to tap the growing demand for high-end apartments in that range. DLF plans to develop over 1,100 apartments in this residential project. In FY23 so far, DLF Ltd achieved 45% growth in sales bookings at Rs6,599 crore; and on track to touch Rs8,000 crore for fiscal 2022-23. According to DLF, the demand is robust across projects in Delhi, Gurugram, Panchkula and Chennai and trust has been key.