The government has filed updated IPO draft papers with SEBI incorporating financials of LIC for Dec-21 quarter also. While SEBI approval for the LIC IPO has already come in, LIC had put off plans due to the war in Ukraine. It had time till 12th May to go ahead with existing data filings but LIC has decided to file with revised Dec-21 financials. This will make the approval valid till Aug-22, giving them enough time for the IPO. LIC reported Q3 net profits of Rs.235 crore. LIC will be the biggest Indian IPO in history at 3.5X Paytm.
For the month of Feb-22, a total of 76.96 lakh domestic passengers travelled by air, representing a MOM growth of 20%, according to DGCA. This is a sign that flying is recovering after the Omicron scare. The PLF or passenger load factor stood at 89.1% for SpiceJet, 85.2% for Indigo, 87.1% for Vistara, 87% for Go First and 84.1% for Air India; all higher than Jan-22. Indigo dominated the skies in Feb-22 with 51.3% market share followed by Air India at 11.1% and Spice Jet at 10.6%. Tata group had a combined share of 26.7%.
The board of state-run REC (Rural Electrification Corporation) approved raising Rs.85,000 crore via the debt route in FY23. This includes Rs.75,000 crore via long-term debt instruments like bonds, term loans, ECBs etc. In addition, REC will also raise Rs.5,000 crore through short-term loans from banks and NBFCs while another Rs.5,000 crore would be raised through the issue of short-term commercial paper. REC is one of the biggest lenders to power sector in India and needs to continuously raise funds for on-lending.
Zomato hinted at plans to deliver food to its customers in 10 minutes, on the same lines as some of the quick-commerce (Q-Commerce) models followed by grocery companies. For this, Zomato will leverage its recent purchase of a controlling stake in Blinkit (formerly Grofers). Zomato has been working on the premise that 30-minute delivery could soon become outdated and 10-minute could be the new norm. For that, Zomato will look at dense finishing stations network in close proximity to high-demand customers.
Brent Crude jumped $2 on Monday after Ukrainian forces dug in against Russian attacks and oil producers struggled to produce allotted quotas. Brent had touched a low of $100/bbl last week, but has bounced to $110/bbl. A similar trend was also seen in WTI crude, which trades about $2 lower than Brent. Oil rallied after Ukraine refused to surrender the besieged port city of Mariupol. For the month of Feb-22, OPEC missed production target by over 1 million bpd. This offsets the Russian crude exiting global oil markets.
Wockhardt and Serum Life Sciences entered into a partnership to make 150 million doses of SII vaccines at Wockhardt UK plant. This would be a profit sharing arrangement between the two pharma players. It would be a fill-and-finish facility for vaccines, although it could take up to 2 years for the facility to be up and running. This will help them build long-term capacity in the UK. For Serum, this also gives them the proximity to the UK and EU markets. This enhances India’s pivotal role in the global pharma supply chain.
Kotak Securities, one of the most prominent full service brokerages in India, launched a “No Brokerage Plan” for specific customers. This plan would be targeted at customers under the age of 30 years. Those qualifying for this plan will pay zero brokerage charges on transactions including delivery trades and intraday trades across equity, currency, commodity and F&O segments. However, statutory charges will still be applicable. This plan will focus on self-directed investors and traders, using online/app interface.
Adani Green Energy extended its construction financing framework to $1.64 billion. It recently raised $288 million facility for its under-construction renewable asset portfolio through leading international lenders. The facility will initially finance the 450-MW hybrid portfolio of solar and wind renewable projects coming up in Rajasthan. This facility will be funded by a consortium of 7 global banks and it will be a certified green hybrid project loan. Adani Green has a target to achieve 45 GW renewable energy capacity by 2030.