QBiz: Indigo Posts 5-Fold Profit Jump; HAL Logs Life High Turnover

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IndiGo recorded a five-fold year-on-year jump in its net profit to Rs 590 crore for the March quarter.

(Photo: The News Minute)

1. Indigo Posts 5-Fold Jump in Q4 Profit on Jet Airways’ Turbulence

Flying high on a spurt in airfare following grounding of rival Jet Airways’ aircraft, Interglobe Aviation, that runs IndiGo, recorded a five-fold year-on-year jump in its net profit to Rs 590 crore for the March quarter.

The airline’s shares, which have skyrocketed as much as 39 percent since January, closed up 2.5 percent on the BSE on Monday, outperforming a 0.6 percent rise in the Sensex.

IndiGo seems to have weathered the damaging impact of the cancellation of over 30 flights a day in February and March 2019 owing to a shortage of pilots and the repair work at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. In the third quarter of FY19, the airline had posted a profit of Rs 191 crore.

(Source: Financial Express)

2. Angel Tax: 541 Startups Exempted so Far by Govt, Says DPIIT Secretary

541 startups have been granted exemptions on investments under section 56(2)(viib) of the Income-tax act 1961 aka angel tax by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) so far, Ramesh Abhishek, Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade tweeted on Monday.

Abhishek said that there are 36 other applications that couldn’t get the exemption as they were “incomplete” while “Startup India team is working with concerned startups to address their deficiencies,” he added.

(Source: Financial Express)

3. Deposit Rates, Lending Rates Expect to Remain Stable Over the Near Term

As per Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) release on system-wide lending and deposit rates, fresh lending rates decreased 10 basis points (bps) month-on-month (m-o-m) in March 2019 to 9.7 percent led by 20 bps drop for PSU banks.

Term deposits have started to stabilise around 6.9 percent post increasing at a slow pace in the past few months. The gap between outstanding loan and fresh loan rates increased to 65 bps. With decrease in repo rate by 25 bps in April 2019 and drop in MCLR rates by some banks in May 2019, lending rates will stabilise.

Weighted average term deposit rates peak at 6.9 percent.

(Source: Financial Express)

4. Arcelor, Resurgent Said to Mull Joint Bid for Essar Power Plant

ArcelorMittal is exploring a joint offer with Resurgent Power Ventures Pte to buy an Essar Power generation plant in India, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The companies have held preliminary talks on a potential joint bid for the 1,200-megawatt power plant in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, said the people, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Arcelor had previously made a non-binding offer of 48 billion rupees (690 million dollars) for the asset, Bloomberg News reported in February.

(Source: BloombergQuint)

5. Anil Ambani To Sell Big FM Radio Unit For $151 Million

Indian tycoon Anil Ambani will sell his FM radio broadcasting business to a local media conglomerate for at least 10.5 billion rupees (151 million dollars), both companies said in separate statements to stock exchanges.

Ambani’s Reliance Capital Group plans to first sell a 24 percent stake in its entertainment company Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd. to Music Broadcast Ltd., a unit of Jagran Prakashan Ltd., for 2 billion rupees before a complete disposal at an enterprise value 10.5 billion rupees, subject to regulatory approvals, the statement said. The combined network will have 79 stations, making it the biggest in India. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of the financial year starting April 2020.

(Source: BloombergQuint)

6. SEBI Lays Down Stricter Disclosure Norms For Listed Debt Securities

The market regulator has issued guidelines directing disclosure of the status of interest and redemption payments on listed debt securities within one day of the due date.

The move is to “enhance transparency” to further secure the interests of the investors in debt securities, the Securities and Exchange Board of India said in a circular issued on Monday.

Debenture trustees—the holders of a debenture stock for another party—will now be required to update the status of interest and redemption payments not later than one day from the due date. In case the payment is made with a delay by the issuer, the trustee will have to specify it with the date and a “delayed payment” remark.

(Source: BloombergQuint)

7. HAL Logs Life High Turnover of Rs 19,705 Cr

Public sector aerospace major Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has achieved an all-time record turnover of Rs 19,705 crore, according to the company’s audited results that its Board of Directors approved on Monday.

HAL announced it registered a turnover growth of 7.8 percent for financial year 2018-19 from Rs 18,284 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The company logged a profit after tax of Rs 2,282 crore, a healthy 14.8 per cent rise over the preceding year’s profit of Rs 1,987 crore. HAL has already paid an interim dividend of Rs 662 crore for the year 2018-19.

(Source: Business Standard)

8. US H-1B Visa Rules to Affect Indian I-T Profit Margins in FY20: Report

Profitability of IT companies is set to be impacted by adverse policies like the one on H-1B visas in the key US market, with margins estimated to narrow by up to 0.80 percent in 2019-20, a report said Monday.

Revenues are set to rise by 7-8 percent in dollar terms for the over 180 billion dollar industry in this fiscal on the back of faster growth in digital services, ratings agency Crisil's research wing said in a note.

"The industry's operating margins will narrow by 0.30-0.80 percent largely on an increase in local hires which the industry has been forced into due to the policy framework in its markets," the note said.

(Source: Business Standard)

9. Lenders Set Two-Week Deadline to Revive Jet Airways

Lenders to Jet Airways (India) Ltd are expected to take a final decision on the fate of the grounded airline in the next two weeks as they hunt for a new domestic investor, before taking up the last option of a bankruptcy filing.

With Etihad Airways willing to invest just enough to maintain its shareholding of 24 percent and the National Infrastructure Investment Fund (NIIF) ready to commit only if a new investor enters, the lenders have initiated the search for a third investor, two people familiar with the matter said.

(Source: Livemint)