This is a roundup of the day’s top stories in brief.
1. SBI’s Festive Season Discounts
The State Bank of India announced a discount on interest rates for homebuyers during the ongoing festive season in a bid to boost consumer demand.
Home loan customers will get an interest rate concession of up to 20 basis points based on their CIBIL score for properties costing Rs 75 lakh and above, India's largest lender said in a press release on Wednesday.
For loans between Rs 30 lakh and Rs 75 lakh, homebuyers will receive a concession of up to 10 basis points.
There are also other offers for retail customers on car, gold and personal loans.
2. How Bajaj Finance And UltraTech Cement Fared In Q2
Bajaj Finance Ltd. reported a drop in net profit as the consumer financier set aside a larger amount as provisions against stressed assets.
Net profit fell 36% year-on-year to Rs 965 crore for the September-quarter.
Net interest income rose 4% to Rs 4,105 crore.
Assets under management rose to Rs 1.37 lakh crore.
While Bajaj saw an increase in AUMs, it pursued a selective lending approach. Find out more.
UltraTech Cement Ltd.’s quarterly profit more than doubled, aided by cost saving measures and lower finance expenses.
Net profit jumped 113% to Rs 1,234.38 crore.
Net sales rose 8% to Rs 10,354 crore.
Volumes increased to 19.2 million tonne from 16.03 million tonne a year ago.
UltraTech Cement lowered net debt for the second straight quarter.
3. Trading, The Jhunjhunwala Way
Rakesh Jhunjhunwala doesn’t subscribe to a particular ‘style’ of investment, rather he likes to keeps it simple.
“I have nothing formalised. My risk management is what I have learnt and I do it personally” he said at CMT Association’s 2020 India Virtual Summit.
“My basic principle is that no creditor should ever ring me up and ask me for his money,” Jhunjhunwala said.
Jhunjhunwala has some advice for young investors and traders.
4. Sensex Volatile; U.S. Stocks Rise
Indian equity markets recovered from a volatile 45 minutes of trade to end higher for the fourth straight day.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended 0.4%, or 163 points, higher at 40,707. The index had fallen nearly 400 points around 2:30 p.m.
The NSE Nifty 50 closed 0.3% higher at 11,937.
Follow the day’s trading action here.
U.S. stocks rose, while Treasuries slid alongside the dollar amid speculation that Washington lawmakers will make progress on talks for stimulus legislation to be financed by trillion-dollar borrowing.
The S&P 500 rose for a second day, with social media firms leading after Snap Inc. reported strong earnings.
Netflix Inc. tumbled after missing subscriber estimates. Tesla Inc. rose ahead of financial results later on Wednesday.
West Texas Intermediate crude dipped 1.4% to $41.11 a barrel.
Get your daily fix of global markets.
5. 'Investor Protection Fund Insufficient'
India’s capital market regulator has examined the insufficiency of investor protection fund set up by the stock exchanges, and it’ll not be the reason for delaying declaration of broker defaults, according to Ajay Tyagi.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India has extensively deliberated on this and will soon be taking measures to address it, Tyagi, chairman at the regulator, said.
IPF is set up by the stock exchanges to ensure that investors are compensated in the event of defaulters' assets not being sufficient to meet admitted claims.
SEBI also emphasised on the need to reform the capital adequacy requirement for brokers.
6. India Inc. And Covid-19: RBI’s Review
The Covid-19 crisis threw the economy and corporate balance sheets into disarray. With sales falling sharply, firms cut back on raw material purchases and staff costs to limit the hit to profitability.
Reserve Bank of India's study of 2,531 listed non-government non-financial companies shows, not entirely surprisingly, that small firms fared worse than larger units.
The quarterly study also showed that workers across the non-IT services sector took the worst hit and that while sales across a number of sectors plummeted, profits and margins were impacted to a lesser degree.
Here are four charts that show how India Inc. is coping with the pandemic.
7. The Financial State Of India’s States
The adverse impact of Covid-19 on the Government of India’s fiscal dynamic is well tracked, but not enough focus is accorded to scrutinise states’ finances.
In order to do so, Deutsche Bank’s Kaushik Das draws up a fiscal league table of India’s key states, based on relative performance on three fiscal parameters:
Fiscal deficit
Own tax revenue
State debt
So, which Indian states are relatively more vulnerable to debt sustainability risks?
8. Unlocking Value In ITC
Although one in four of all adult Indians use tobacco, the country’s addiction runs far deeper. The government, too, has a toxic dependence. It’s called ITC Ltd., writes Andy Mukherjee.
About 28.5% of ITC is controlled by various Indian state-run insurance companies and a government-controlled bad bank.
And therein lies the problem. The large quasi-state ownership is acting as a trap.
It’s preventing the $25 billion enterprise from being carved up into a pure cigarette company.
It's a missed opportunity, not just for ITC’s minority shareholders, but for India.
9. Why Modi Is Still So Popular
India is battling one of the world’s highest coronavirus caseloads, its worst-ever economic slump, shuttered factories, farmer protests and the deadliest border fighting with China in decades.
Yet Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears to remain as popular as ever.
Opinion polls in Bihar, where from Oct. 28 to Nov. 7 he faces his first major electoral test since the pandemic, show his coalition comfortably retaining control of the state government.
Part of his success is an ability to control the narrative.
10. PayPal Embraces Bitcoin
Bitcoin approached a high for the year after PayPal Holdings Inc. announced it will allow customers to use cryptocurrencies.
The largest digital coin gained as much as 4.7% to $12,464 Wednesday, just below the high for the year of $12,473 set in August.
PayPal customers can use select cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ether, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin on the platform.
PayPal's move could be “the biggest news of the year in crypto”.
Also Read: A Coaching Playbook For The Pandemic
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