The government has proposed a self-regulatory body to certify permitted “online game” in India. The IT minister, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, confirmed that the draft would be finalized after public consultations. The final rules are expected around February 2023. The stakeholders will include gaming start-ups, investors and players. This will include grievance redressal mechanism and a mandatory verification of players. There is as yet no clarity on whether the rules will separate games of skill from games of chance.
According to a filing by Zee Entertainment to the stock exchanges, one of the operational creditors has filed a Rs211-crore insolvency case against the company. The petition was filed against Zee under Section 9 of the IBC to initiate bankruptcy proceedings against Zee Entertainment. However, Zee has called for striking down the request since there was an ongoing dispute over the issue. IDBI Bank has already moved the NCLT against Zee to recover Rs150 crore. It pertains to financial assistance availed by the Siti Networks.
Swiggy losses more than doubled to Rs3,629 crore for the financial year FY22. This was driven by a 227% spike in expenses. For the same period, the revenues more than doubled to Rs5,705 crore for FY22. The costs escalated on the back of a 300% spike in advertisement and promotional expenses at Rs1,849 crore. Even outsourcing costs more than doubled to Rs2,250 crore in FY22. Swiggy currently has a presence across 550 cities and is a tough competitor to Zomato. Swiggy is aggressively investing in Q-commerce.
RBI announced no change in its list of Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs). SBI, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank are currently classified as TBTF (too big to fail) banks in India. D-SIBs are systemically important banks whose failure can impact the entire financial system and create instability. D-SIBs have to maintain additional 0.60% CET1. HDFC Bank was added to the list only in 2017. Such systematically important banks are also subjected to closer scrutiny and regulation by the RBI to ensure smooth functioning of the system.
Transaction on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) scaled record high of Rs12.82 trillion in December 2022. A total of 782 crore transactions were done on the UPI platform in December 2022. The UPI platform was launched in India only in 2016, but has taken off in a big way. The number of transactions and UPI value is much higher in December compared to November 2022. One of the big attractions of UPI is that there are no charges levied. UPI is convenient since funds can be transferred using just an @ separated code.
India’s top automakers in December 2022 reported double-digit growth in sales of SUVs, but entry-level cars saw muted demand despite hefty discounts offered. Auto sales numbers are announced each month and are considered to be a good barometer of private consumption. In December 2022, the utility vehicle numbers have almost matched the volumes of entry level cars and sedans. Demand has been weak in the entry level space, despite hefty discounts. It looks like sustained price hikes impacted entry level demand.
The parliament Budget Session will commence on 31st January and the Union Budget will be presented on 01st February. The budget session will extend till 06th April, to give enough time to debate and pass the budget in both houses of parliament. The Economic Survey will be tabled in both houses on 31-Jan. There are big reformist expectations in the Union Budget. With just a year to go for the next round of Union elections, this will be the last full budget and is likely to have a generous dose of populist measures.
The PMI manufacturing, an important high frequency indicator, for December 2022 scaled 57.8 levels; the best in the last 26 months. PMI above 50 is considered to be expansionary but the MOM trend shows whether the momentum is favourable or not. The thrust was driven by the best expansion in production since November 2021. Additional materials were purchased and extra workers hired as companies looked to maintain healthy levels of inventories. Demand buoyancy is likely to drive growth prospects in India.