Federal Chairman, Jerome Powell, in his post policy testimony virtually reaffirmed the Fed’s intent to encourage broad and inclusive recovery in the job market. In other words, Powell was emphasizing that the Fed would not hike rates or even undertake taper purely based on rising inflation expectations. Apart from evidence of GDP growth sustaining, the Fed would also insist on evidence of improved labour market conditions as a pre-requisite. Inflation may touch 3.4% this year but 4.5% joblessness really hold the key.
A day ahead of the IPO opening, India Pesticides, raised Rs.240 crore from a total of 16 anchor investors on 22 June. The IPO will remain open from 23 June to 25 June. The anchor placement was for 81.08 lakh shares at a price of Rs.296, which is he upper end of the IPO price band. FPIs like ADIA, Tara Emerging Asia and BNP Paribas participated in the issue. Domestic funds that participated in the anchor placement were SBI MF, Nippon MF, Bajaj Allianz Life and Bharti AXA Life. It seeks to raise Rs.800 crore through the IPO.
India’s first indigenous vaccine against Covid-19, Covaxin by Bharat Biotech, showed 77.6% efficacy in the final analysis of phase-3 clinical trials. The vaccine candidate showed 93% efficacy rate against severe diseases and 60% efficacy against asymptomatic COVID-19.The final findings were presented before the Subject Expert Committee of DCGI. The SEC may insist on more safety data before giving a full marketing authorization to Covaxin. Post the DCGI inputs, Bharat Biotech will also present the data findings to WHO.
NMDC, India’s largest producer of minerals and ores, reported net profits of Rs.2,838 crore for the Mar-21 quarter, up nearly 708% on a yoy basis. This was on the back of higher volumes and better price realizations too. Revenues for Q4 more than doubled to Rs.6,848 in the fourth quarter thanks to robust demand for iron ore. Demand for ore is largely driven by robust demand from the iron and steel segment in India and abroad. NMDC produced 34.15 million tonnes or MT and sold 33.25 MT iron ore during FY21.
The government kickstarted the process of hiving of its stake in IDBI Bank. The RFP has clearly stated how much stake the government intends to sell. Of course, the final decision will be taken in consultation with RBI and LIC, the largest shareholder of IDBI Bank. The stake sale could range from minimum for transfer of management control at 26% and could also result in GOI’s full stake of 45.5% being hived off. Currently, IDBI Bank is 45.5% owned by GOI and 49.24% by LIC. This transaction is part of divestment plan of FY22.
Even as auto companies have been under pressure from rising inputs costs, Hero Moto has effected another round of price hikes. Hero Moto announced that it would be raising prices of its motorcycles starting from 01 July and the price hikes could go up to Rs.3,000 per model. Hero Moto has confirmed that the price hike was necessitated by the sharp spike in commodity prices with cost economies largely having been done. In the last few weeks, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Maruti hiked prices.
If the last few AGMs were about digital, retail and the zero-debt journey of Reliance Industries, the 2021 AGM could shift focus to the O2C business once again. It is expected that the announcement made in the 2019 AGM pertaining to the proposed sale of stake in the O2C business to Aramco, could finally fructify in the 2021 AGM. That deal had been put in the back burner post COVID and the sharp fall in crude. There were reports that a representative from Aramco could join the RIL Board, but we have to wait for now.
In an interesting development, PNB has apparently vetoed the controversial Rs.4,000 crore fundraising plan of PNB Housing from Carlyle and Salisbury Investments. PNB may propose a plan that ensures that the bank retains control of PNB Housing after the fund infusion. PNB has reportedly voted against the deal at the EGM, although there is no official confirmation yet. The fund raising resolution needs 75% approval at the EGM and that is only possible if PNB also votes favourably, since PNB has 32% stake in PNB Housing.
