With most auto companies facing a sharp spike in input costs, Maruti Suzuki will increase prices of vehicles in April 2021. In the last 1 year, Maruti has been negatively impacted due to a spike in various input costs. However, Maruti has confirmed that the price increase would mostly vary for different models although the granular details of the price hike was not made available. Maruti is India’s largest passenger vehicle manufacturer with over 4000 outlets across 1989 towns and cities. Even as auto demand has picked up post the October festival season last year, rising input costs of metals remains a major concern for autos.
In a temporary relief for Biyani brothers, Delhi High Court stayed the single-judge bench order directing attachment of the assets of Future Group entities and Kishore Biyani. This was in response to Amazon’s plea for enforcement of the Emergency Arbitral Award that Amazon had obtained from SIAC, Singapore against the Future/RRVL merger. Future group counsel Harish Salve made the plea for a stay on the single-bench interim order. Amazon’s Counsel, Gopal Subramanium contended that Amazon would not do anything inconsistent with the Supreme Court order. The court stayed the Order by the single-judge bench and matter will be now heard on 30-April. Iqbal Chagla argued that the Single-Judge bench did not refer to the orders of the Division Bench and the Supreme Court when passing such a drastic order in the case.
Piramal Capital, a subsidiary of Piramal Enterprises, has raised Rs.4,050 crore as debt through the issue of non-convertible debentures or NCDs. These 5-year NCDs will be used to partially fund the buyout of Dewan Housing and also to transform the liabilities profile towards stable and long-term funds. Since April 2019, Piramal has raised Rs.50,000 crore including Rs.18,000 crore via equity transactions like preferential allotment to CDPQ, rights issue of Rs.3,650 crore and the sale of healthcare analytics subsidiary DRG for Rs.6,950 crore. There was also the Shriram Transport Finance stake sale and the Carlyle PE infusion.
It is IPO time and the digital plays are not going to be left behind this time around. MobiKwik, the Indian digital wallet and payments start-up, is targeting an IPO by Sep-21. It plans to raise up to $250 million. The company proposes to file its draft IPO prospectus by May, which is likely to value the company at an enterprise valuation of around $1 billion. MobiKwik also plans to hold a pre-IPO funding round. It surely has the numbers in the sense that it logs over 1 million transactions daily. It boasts of a network including 3 million merchants and serves over 107 million users. MobiKwik is backed by Sequoia and Bajaj Finance.
On 22 March, the Parliament passed the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill. This bill will help create a plethora of jobs and also allow private sector into mining activities, so that the industry can benefit from their enhanced technology offerings. However, the Union Minister for Coal and Mines has assured that the bill will not in any way curb the powers of the states. The bill was passed by voice vote in the Rajya Sabha, even as the opposition demanded scrutiny. The bill will allow private participation in the mining sector in India and has already been passed in the Lok Sabha on 19-March.
A recent report by BOFA Securities has highlighted that India could emerge as the world’s third largest economy by 2031. In that year, India is expected to overtake Japan’s GDP in nominal terms. BOFA assumed 6% real GDP growth, 5% inflation and 2% rupee depreciation; assumptions that appear to be reasonable. Currently, India is the sixth-largest economy in the world by nominal GDP. It may be recollected that BOFA had originally projected that India would achieve this position by 2028, which has now been pushed back by 3 years due to the lag effects of the pandemic. Apart from the 3 original drivers identified in 2017 viz demographic dividends, financial maturity and mass markets; there are 2 more triggers that BOFA has now identified. A solid forex buffer and softer real lending rates are also seen as major positives for India.