QBiz: Rupee Hits New Low; RBI Keeps Policy Rates Unchanged & More
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1. Rupee Breaches 74-Mark Against Dollar, RBI Keeps Policy Rates Unchanged
The rupee on Friday breached the 74-mark against the US dollar for the first time as the Reserve Bank of India announced its key policy rate would remain unchanged.
The rupee was quoted 55 paise lower at 74.13 against the dollar soon after the RBI announced its monetary policy, reported PTI. The central bank retained the repo rate unchanged at 6.50 percent, while the reverse repo rate also stayed at 6.25 percent.
At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the rupee opened higher at 73.56 a dollar against its previous record low closing of 73.58 on Thursday, but failed to sustain the initial strength and fell back to breach the 74-mark.
Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex too plunged by 584.53 points, or 1.66 percent, to 34,584.63 in late afternoon trade.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
2. Private Investment In Infrastructure Hit By Delays, Stressed Assets
Private investments in infrastructure hit a 10-year low due to stalled projects and stressed assets, according to a report published by rating agency CRISIL.
The share of private investments in infrastructure spending stood at around 25 percent in the previous financial year, the research report said, adding that the share had averaged about 37 percent between in the five years through March 2013 and fell around 600 basis points between in the four years through March 2017.
CRISIL noted that the decline dampened investor’s interest and risk appetite.
Private investment in infrastructure accounted for an estimated Rs 20 lakh crore – or nearly a third of the estimated Rs 60 lakh crore invested in India’s infrastructure –between April 2008 and March 2017, according to the report.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
3. Govt Appoints Rakesh Sharma as IDBI Chief
The government on Friday, 5 October appointed senior banker Rakesh Sharma as managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of IDBI Bank.
Sharma was appointed for six months or until further orders and will have the task of ensuring a smooth transfer of majority ownership from the government to Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).
Sharma is a former MD and CEO of Canara Bank and was among the few bankers hired in 2015 from the private sector to lead big state-run banks.
He takes over from B Sriram, former MD of the State Bank of India (SBI), whose short three-month term at the helm of IDBI Bank ended last month.
LIC is in the process of taking over majority ownership of IDBI Bank as it looks to start its banking foray at the lender.
(Source: Livemint)
4. Zomato Claims Numero Uno Slot with 21 mn Monthly Order Run Rate in Sept
India’s food delivery space is at its hottest right now. Restaurant discovery and food delivery firm Zomato claimed to have hit the 21 million monthly order run rate in India in September implying that the firm saw its highest weekly order volume during the month touch 700,000 orders each day of the week.
With this, Zomato claims it is the market leader in the food delivery space in India.
“At the beginning of 2018, we were at 3.5 million orders a month. With 21 million orders per month, as far as we know, we are now the market leader in the food ordering space in India,” wrote Zomato CEO, Deepinder Goyal in a blog post on Friday.
Zomato ended FY18 with a 40% growth in revenues at Rs 466 crore even as losses shrunk by almost 73% at Rs 106 crore.
(Source: The Economic Times)
5. Yes Bank Names Experts to Look for New Managing Director
Private lender YES Bank, which recently formed a committee to search for a successor to its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Rana Kapoor, will have two external members in the panel — T S Vijayan, former chairman of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India and O P Bhatt, former chairman and managing director of State Bank of India.
The private bank disclosed this to the stock exchanges in a filing on Friday, 5 October.
The committee also comprises three existing board members of the Nomination & Remuneration Committee — Brahm Dutt, chairman and independent director, Mukesh Sabharwal, independent director and Subhash Kalia, non-executive non-independent director, along with the two external experts.
The bank said it has invited proposals from global leadership advisory firms and will finalise the company in the committee’s first meeting, which is scheduled to be held on 11 October.
(Source: Business Standard)
6. Indian Hotels Sells Gateway Hotel to Varun Group
Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), which runs the Taj chain, has sold The Gateway Hotel on Beach Road in Visakhapatnam to Varun Group for Rs 120 crore.
The sale forms part of the company’s portfolio restructuring and debt reduction strategy. The property was owned by Oriental Hotels, an associate company of IHCL, and had a turnover of Rs 2,123 lakh in fiscal 2018.
Though IHCL has divested The Gateway, it will, however, continue to manage the property.
Varun group, which started as a dealer of Maruti cars, now has diverse business interests including hospitality. With The Gateway in its fold, the group now has four properties in Andhra Pradesh, including a hotel which is under construction.
(Source: The Times of India)
7. India's Foreign Exchange Down $1.3 Bn
India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves declined $1.26 billion during the week ended 28 September, official data showed on Friday, 5 October.
According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) weekly statistical supplement, the overall forex reserves decreased to $400.52 billion from $401.79 billion reported for the week ended 21 September.
India's forex reserves comprise foreign currency assets (FCAs), gold reserves, special drawing rights (SDRs) and the RBI's position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Segment-wise, FCAs, the largest component of the forex reserves – plunged by $1.16 billion to $376.24 billion during the week under review.
Besides the US dollar, FCAs consist of nearly 20-30 percent of major global currencies.
(Source: IANS)
8. Govt Looks to Reduce Excise Duty on Aviation Fuel
After petrol and diesel, the government is likely to reduce excise duty on aviation fuel, which will help keep air fares under check and reduce financial pressure on airlines.
While the civil aviation ministry was seeking a reduction for a while, the finance ministry, which had refused to play ball but is seen amenable to the proposal now. As a result, the aviation ministry has sent a fresh request for a reduction from the current level of 14%.
An excise cut will help offset a part of the impact of the customs duty increase, which pushed up jet fuel prices by over 7% at the start of October. A kilolitre (kl, 1,000 litres) ATF (Aviation Turbile Fuel) now costs Rs 74,567 and Rs 74,177 in Delhi and Mumbai this month respectively, up from Rs 69,461 and 69,161 in September.
(Source: The Times of India)
9. BMW Group India's January-September Sales up 11%
German luxury carmaker BMW Friday said it sold 7,915 units, including MINI brand of cars, during January-September this year in India, registering a growth of 11 percent.
“BMW Group India has successfully posted double-digit growth in the first nine months of 2018 despite adverse market conditions,” BMW Group India Chairman Vikram Pawah said in a statement.
All three brands – BMW, MINI and Motorrad – have posted strong growth and are demonstrating an affirmative outlook for the coming months, he added.
The company sold 7,424 cars, clocking a growth of 9 percent as compared to 2017. Similarly, the company sold 491 MINI branded cars, clocking a growth of 58 percent as compared to last year.
Sales during the period were mainly driven by models like BMW 6 Series Gran Turismo, the BMW 5 Series and BMW Sports Activity Vehicle (SAVs) range.
(Source: PTI)
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