This is a roundup of the day’s top stories in brief.
1. GST Collections At Six-Month High
The government’s goods and services tax collection rose to the highest in six months as the nation continued to ease lockdown restrictions to revive an economy that’s headed for the first full-year contraction in four decades.
GST collections for August, collected in September, stood at Rs 95,480 crore, according to a statement from the Ministry of Finance.
That was 10% higher than July and 4% more than the year-ago period.
August’s collections include the tax paid by small businesses with turnover of up to Rs 5 crore for May, June and July as the due date was extended till Sept. 15, Sept. 25 and Sept. 29, respectively.
2. Manufacturing PMI At Highest In Over Eight Years
A gauge of activity across India’s manufacturing sector jumped to highest level in over eight years in September as manufacturers saw a sharp pick-up in new orders.
The IHS Markit India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 56.8 in September 2020, from 52 in August.
This is second straight month of expansion and the highest reading since January 2012.
It is also the third quickest surge in the survey’s history. A reading over 50 indicates economic expansion.
Despite strong growth of order book volumes, Indian goods producers signaled another reduction in payroll numbers.
3. Ambani Gets Another Investment From Mubadala
After a fundraising spree for its telecom arm, Reliance Industries Ltd. has added to the roster of marquee backers piling into its retail venture with a Rs 6,247.5 crore investment by Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Co.
Mubadala's investment will translate to about 1.4% stake in Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd. on a fully diluted basis.
The investment s Mukesh Ambani's retail venture at a pre-money equity of Rs 4.28 lakh crore.
Mubadala, had earlier this year, also invested $1.2 billion in Jio Platforms Ltd.
4. Sensex Surges; Oil Drops Below $40
Indian equity markets ended the truncated week on a strong note.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended 1.65%, or 629 points, higher at 38,697
The NSE Nifty 50 index ended above the mark of 11,400 mark.
Broader markets underperformed the benchmarks.
Follow the day’s trading action here.
U.S. equities edged higher amid signs of tentative progress in Washington toward a fresh fiscal-stimulus package but came off their highs of the day amid concern there won’t be a deal.
The S&P 500 Index pared its advance by more than half following a report that House leader Nancy Pelosi was skeptical about reaching a deal as talks continued.
Economic data was mixed, with initial jobless claims coming in lower than forecast while U.S. manufacturing expanded less than estimated.
Oil fell below $40 a barrel on concern about oversupply.
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5. Stellar Listings, A Record Shattered, And An IPO Extended
The two new entrants on the stock markets delivered strong listing day performances.
Shares of Chemcon Specialty Chemicals Ltd. ended 72% higher at Rs 584.8, after initially doubling from its issue price.
Shares of Computer Age Management Services Ltd. listed at Rs 1,522 per share, a 24% premium over the issue price, before closing 14% higher.
Meanwhile, it was the third day of bidding for three initial public offerings.
Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders' IPO became the most subscribed issue from a government-run firm. The offer was subscribed 157.4 times with strong interest from non-institutional investors.
UTI Asset Management's issue was subscribed 2.3 times as of 5 p.m.
Likhitha Infrastructure's IPO was subscribed 8.43 times. But the issue has been extended till Oct. 7, with a revised price band, to fulfill the institutional buyers quota.
Find out the details here.
6. Auto Sales Show Signs Of Resurgence
Auto sales continued to rise in September as companies stocked up dealerships to cater to festive-season demand and on low base.
Sales of Hero Motocorp Ltd. rose 16.9% to 7.15 lakh units—it's highest monthly sales in 2020.
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. saw sales surge 31% to 1.6 lakh units with growth both domestically and in exports.
Bajaj Auto Ltd. sales increased 10% year-on-year to 4.41 lakh units.
Here’s a look at how automakers fared in the month gone by.
7. Dhanlaxmi Bank Directors’ Panel To Exercise Powers Of CEO
Dhanlaxmi Bank Ltd. said that the Reserve Bank of India has approved an interim arrangement for forming a committee of directors to exercise the powers of the chief executive officer until a new CEO takes charge.
The committee of directors will be constituted with G. Subramonia Iyer as chairman and G. Rajagopalan Nair and P.K Vijayakumar as members, according to an exchange filing.
RBI has directed that the interim arrangement will not continue beyond four months.
Earlier, the bank’s proposal to appoint Sunil Gurbaxani as managing director and CEO was rejected by shareholders.
8. Telecom’s Brief Sunny Season Over, Back To Price Wars?
Currently, in the Indian telecom space, there is one player playing a kahaani and the others are moving to that tune, writes Niraj Shah.
What happened to the higher ARPU and higher Ebitda argument on which the entire bull-case was based on?
The recently-announced postpaid tariffs by Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. are just the latest version of its long-run price war.
Bharti Airtel Ltd. enjoys the backing of a strong shareholder in SingTel, but it needs to whip up a story.
9. India Seeing More Downgrades Than Upgrades
The ratio of the number of companies being upgraded to those downgraded is at a decade-low amid the sharpest economic contraction that India has seen in the last 40 years.
The credit ratio—which measures the ratio of the number of upgrades to downgrades—fell to 0.54 in the first half of the current financial year, the lowest in more than a decade, said rating agency Crisil in an update on Thursday.
The first six months of the year saw 296 downgrades and 161 upgrades.
The pressure may continue in the second half of the year, Crisil cautioned.
10. Protests Erupt In India Over Rapes
A series of rapes committed on women from India’s lowest castes are making headlines across India, fuelling street protests and outrage that’s put Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration under the spotlight.
A 19-year-old woman from the Dalit caste died in a New Delhi hospital on Tuesday, two weeks after she was allegedly gang raped by upper caste men from her Uttar Pradesh village.
Anger was already simmering in the country over her death but it spilled onto the streets Wednesday and Thursday following news reports that local police cremated the woman’s body in the middle of the night without her family present.
Police in Uttar Pradesh also arrested Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the main opposition Congress party, as he tried to travel to the village where the attack took place.
The protests are drawing comparisons to the wave of anger that spread across the country in 2012.
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