1. Maruti Suzuki Profit Rises 5% to Rs 1,565 Crore in December Quarter; Misses Estimates
Maruti Suzuki, the country's largest car maker, on Tuesday reported that its net profit rose 5 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,565 crore in the quarter ended December 2019. The profit primarily came on account of cost reduction efforts, lower commodity prices and improved capacity utilization, Maruti Suzuki said in a press release. However, higher sales promotion expenses and lower fair value gain on invested surplus capped the profitability.
Analysts on average had expected the country's largest car maker to report a profit of Rs 1,647 crore, according to Refinitiv data, news agency Reuters reported.
The results come as the auto industry faces tighter credit, higher insurance costs and a pile-up of inventory.
(Source: NDTV)
2. Fears Rise That Global Economy Will Bear Brunt of Coronavirus
A glimmer of hope for recovery in global growth this year after the US and China reached a temporary truce in their trade war seems likely to be derailed as the deadly coronavirus quickly spread to 19 countries and now threatens to escalate further.
Investors around the world rushed to dump equities and flocked to safer havens, fearing that the coronavirus could slow down global growth.
The MSCI World index, which captures large and mid-cap representation across 23 developed markets, has fallen 1.3 percent in the past 10 days. The sell-off has been sharper in the MSCI Emerging Markets index, which shed 3.57 percent, while India’s benchmark Sensex lost nearly 2 percent during the period. On Tuesday, the Sensex fell 0.46 percent to 40,966.86 points.
(Source: Mint)
3. BOI Plans Mega QIP in a Return to Capital Markets for Govt Banks
Bank of India plans to raise Rs 1,000 crore by selling shares to institutional investors in February, the first time a state-run lender will do so in more than two years, two people close to the development said.
The last time public sector banks tapped the equity market for funds was in December 2017, when Punjab National Bank, Union Bank of India, Syndicate Bank and Bank of Maharashtra raised funds through their respective qualified institutional placement offerings (QIPs).
“Bank of India is gearing up to initiate the fundraise after the Union budget and their December quarter results," one of the two people cited above said on condition of anonymity. “They have had a few large recoveries in the last quarter, including recoveries from the Essar Steel account, and that should improve their numbers, thus boosting investor sentiment." Bank of India could also increase the deal size if investor appetite is strong, the person added.
(Source: Mint)
4. Infosys Exists Danish Startup UNSILO, 4 Years After Acquisition
Infosys on Tuesday said it has completed the sale of its stake in Denmark-based startup UNSILO for Rs 8,00,000 (approximately Rs 5.7 crore). The Bengaluru-based software giant had invested in UNSILO in 2016 about Rs 14.5 crore (a little over 14,920,000 Danish Krone) from its Rs 500 million innovation fund.
UNSILO is an artificial intelligence startup focused on advanced text analysis. UNSILO uses a combination of machine-learning and natural language processing to analyze large quantities of text and improve the speed and effectiveness of knowledge workers across many industries. Infosys spokespersons did not comment on queries regarding the decision.
(Source: Mint)
5. India's Online Food Delivery Industry to Touch $8 Bn Mark by 2022: Report
Rapid digitisation and growth in both online buyer base and spending will help India's online food industry to become a $8 billion market by 2022 – growing at a CAGR of 25-30 percent, a new report said on Tuesday.
The report by Google and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) revealed that variety in cuisines (35 percent) was one of the top reasons for recurrent use of online food ordering apps, followed by good discounts and convenience.
"Food tech has now made its presence in greater than 500 cities in India and with consumer confidence growing, there are new opportunities for the players to 'win with the consumer' in an evolving market,'" said Roma Datta Chobey, Director-Travel, BFSI, Classifieds, Gaming, Telco & Payments, Google.
(Source: Business Standard)
6. Restaurant Chain Burger King India Gets SEBI's Approval to Float IPO
Quick service restaurant chain Burger King India has received markets regulator Sebi's approval for an initial public offer.
The company, which filed its draft IPO papers with the watchdog in November, obtained its final observations on 24 January, as per the latest update with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).
The regulator's observations are necessary for any company to launch public issues such as initial public offer, follow-on public offer and rights issue.
Going by the draft papers, Burger King's offer comprises fresh issue of equity shares aggregating up to Rs 400 crore and an offer for sale of up to 6 crore equity shares by QSR Asia, the promoter.
(Source: Business Standard)
7. AGR Dues: $3 Bn Fundraising Reduced Business Flow Risk, Says Airtel Africa
Africa business arm of Bharti Airtel on Tuesday said recent $3 billion fund raised by the parent firm reduced uncertainty over business continuity after the Supreme Court ordered telcos to clear statutory dues as calculated by the government.
Airtel Africa in its quarterly report said the group's intermediate parent company has successfully raised approximately $3 billion of additional capital through a combination of qualified institutional equity placement and convertible bond offerings.
"In the Director's opinion the execution of these activities has reduced the level of uncertainty about the ability of the Group's intermediate parent company to comply with the judgement.
(Source: Business Standard)
8. Tata Steel, JSW, Adani Likely to Bid for Neelachal Ispat's Odisha Plant
Tata Steel, JSW Steel, and Adani Group are likely to bid for Neelachal Ispat Nigam’s (NINL’s) one-million tonne (mt) steel plant in Odisha’s Kalinganagar industrial complex.
Earlier this month, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs gave the go-ahead for strategic disinvestment of 100 percent equity shares in NINL, jointly owned by MMTC, two Odisha government-controlled public sector undertakings (PSUs), and a clutch of central public sector enterprises — NMDC, Bharat Heavy Electricals, Mecon (formerly known as Metallurgical & Engineering Consultants), among others.
(Source: Business Standard)
9. Irdai Issues Norms to Protect Group Policyholders of Merging State Banks
The insurance regulator has come up with guidelines to protect the interests of group insurance policyholders of merging state-run banks. The regulator said upon the merger of public sector banks (PSBs), group health insurance policies of customers of the merged banks shall continue to be serviced by the insurer till the end of the policy period.
"The insurance companies shall make suitable arrangements with the acquiring banks to this effect," said the the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai)
The regulator has also said the arrangements of the merged banks can be continued with the respective insurance companies for a period of twelve months from the date of merger, subject to willingness of the acquiring bank to function as the corporate agent for the respective insurance firms.
(Source: Business Standard)
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