In a significant move, Tata Steel has confirmed that it will stop doing business with Russia. This adds to the list of major global companies that have cut business links with Russia for invading Ukraine and for the human rights violations committed in Ukraine. While Tata does not have any operations or employees in Russia, its steel facilities in the UK and the Netherlands source raw materials for steel from Russia. With pressure mounting from European nations, Tata Steel has decided to look for alternate sources of inputs.
In the current fiscal year FY23, cement prices are likely to be hiked by 6% to 13% in the Indian markets. This is largely on account of the spike in the prices of imported coal, pet coke and crude oil on account of the worsening conflict situation in Ukraine. Already, the prices of coal and petcoke have increased sharply by 30-50% in last 6 months. Cement companies will look to pass on, at least, part of the price spikes to the end users. The spike in Brent Crude has made fuel, power, transport and freight costs sharply higher.
HDFC Ltd will sell 10% in HDFC Capital Advisors to a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) for Rs.184 crore. HDFC Capital manages $3 billion of private equity funds focused on Indian realty. It has invested in the affordable housing space, one of the thrust areas of the government of India. Apart from flexible funding across lifecycle of affordable and mid-income housing, HDFC Capital invests in Fintech, construction technology and clean-tech. Now HDFC Capital can also leverage ADIA’s global fund expertise.
On 20th April, shares of MRPL rallied to a 3-year high of Rs.65.45. The stock gained 13% on Wednesday and has surged 58% in last 12 sessions. MRPL is into refining crude oil, and is a subsidiary of ONGC. In Q3, MRPL had turned around to net profits of Rs.589 crore on higher GRMs and improved inventory gains. While GRM more than doubled to $5.8/bbl, MRPL also reported capacity utilization of 95%. Its proximity to the Mangalore port gives it an edge on the Western Coast. Its desalination plant is also commissioned.
Amidst rising crude import bill, India has seen its crude oil output fall 2.67% in FY22. While ONGC produced less crude than targeted, its natural gas output rose on KG Basin output. For FY22, crude oil output stood at 29.69 million tonnes compared to 30.5 MT in FY21. The output was 11.7% below the target of 33.61 MT. Crude output had touched 35.7 MT in FY18, but has been falling since then. The main reason is aging fields where natural production decline has set in. Recovery rate was boosted by technology investments.
For Mar-22 quarter, Tata Elxsi reported 39% higher net profits at Rs.160 crore while revenues for the quarter were up 31.5% yoy at Rs.682 crore. However, the highlight of the results announcement was the generous final dividend of Rs.42.50 per share. This is subject to approval at the forthcoming AGM. Tata Elxsi reported robust operating margins of 32.5%. In terms of verticals, its Embedded Product Design (EPD) division grew 7.5% sequentially while Industrial Design and Visualization (IDV) segment grew 8% QOQ.
This is the second time this year that Netflix stock fell sharply after disappointing on subscriber numbers. The stock was down nearly 25% in early trades after it reported that it lost 200,000 subscribers during the March quarter. Netflix also admitted it could lose 20 million subscribers globally. The drop erased nearly $40 billion from its market cap. Earlier, in Jan-22 also, the stock had fallen more than 20% after warning it would add lower subscribers than anticipated. Netflix had shown frenetic growth during the pandemic.
Kinara Capital, a specialized MSME fintech, closed fresh equity funding of Rs.380 crore. The funding round was led by Nuveen, which globally manages assets of over $1.3 trillion. Kinara caters to the unsecured borrowing needs of MSMEs and plans to grow 6-fold by 2025. Over the next 3 years, Kinara plans to disburse MSME loans worth Rs.10,000 crore to entrepreneurs. Kinara offers full digital process as well as doorstep customer service with a network of 110 branches. Its loans range from Rs.1 lakh to Rs.30 lakhs.
