The Nifty and the Sensex have opened the day on a positive note and have hit a fresh all-time high.
Join us as we follow the top business news through the day.
India's central bank puts curbs on HDFC Bank's digital, credit card operations
RBI tightens the screws on HDFC Bank.
Reuters reports: "The central bank has forbidden India's largest private lender, HDFC Bank, from adding new credit card customers or launching digital businesses after its digital payment services were hit by a power failure last month.
The Reserve Bank of India has asked the bank's board to examine the lapses and fix accountability, the lender said in a stock exchange filing on Thursday.
“The above measures shall be considered for lifting upon satisfactory compliance with the major critical observations as identified by the RBI,” it added, referring to the central bank's curbs.
On Nov. 21, HDFC Bank's digital payments business was down for more than 12 hours, following a power outage in its primary data centre.
Shares of HDFC Bank turned negative after its statement, giving up earlier session gains of more than 1%, and were last trading down 0.3% by 0516 GMT.
“The bank believes that these measures will not materially impact its overall business,” the lender said."
China's Ant considers Paytm stake sale amid tensions with India: sources
Chinese fintech giant Ant Group is considering selling its 30% stake in Indian digital payment processor Paytm amid tensions between the two Asian neighbours and a toughening competitive landscape, people with direct knowledge of the matter said.
Financial details of the possible transaction have not been firmed up and Ant, the Alibaba-backed payments-to-consumer credit behemoth, has not launched a formal sale process yet, four people told Reuters.
Paytm, which is also backed by SoftBank Group Corp among others, was valued at about $16 billion during its latest private fundraising round a year ago. At that valuation, Ant's stake in the Indian firm is worth about $4.8 billion.
Both Ant and Paytm said that the information was incorrect. A Paytm spokesman said “there has been no discussion with any of our major shareholders ever, nor any plans, about selling their stake.”
Tata Chemicals records longest winning streak in 18 years
Conditions will improve for Indian corporates in 2021 as economic activity gathers pace: Moody’s
Conditions will improve for Indian corporates next year as economic activity picks up steam post-lockdown and earnings grow on the back of widespread demand revival across sectors, Moody’s Investors Service said on Wednesday. Most companies’ earnings will grow as demand starts to recover following a sharp slump, and financially strong companies will maintain good access to funding, but speculative-grade issuers will face challenges, it said.
“Broad-based demand revival and a low base in 2020 will support strong GDP growth of 10.8 per cent in India in fiscal 2022 ending March 2022, following a decline of around 10.6 per cent in fiscal 2021 — the country’s first contraction in four decades, Moody’s Analyst Sweta Patodia said.
In 2021, conditions will improve for Indian corporates as economic activity gathers pace post-lockdown and earnings grow on the back of widespread demand revival across sectors, underpinning Moody’s stable outlook for the corporates next year, Moody’s said.
“A combination of higher earnings and reduced capital spending will support deleveraging over the next 12-18 months,” Ms. Patodia added.
RIL tops Fortune 500 list of Indian companies, IOC at second spot
The richest Indian businesses as ranked by Fortune magazine.
PTI reports: "Oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd topped the Fortune 500 list of Indian companies, Fortune India announced on Wednesday.
Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC), the nation’s biggest oil firm, bagged the second spot, followed by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) at the third, it said.
The country’s largest lender State Bank of India was in the fourth position, while India’s second-biggest fuel retailer Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) took the fifth spot.
The list was published by Fortune India, which is part of the Kolkata-based RP Sanjiv Goenka Group.
Tata Motors was ranked sixth, followed by gold refiner Rajesh Exports at the seventh spot.
India’s largest IT services firm Tata Consultancy Services took the eighth spot, while ICICI Bank was at ninth, and Larsen and Toubro at tenth.
In the global rankings released in August, RIL broke into the world’s top 100 companies.
IOC had slipped 34 positions to rank 151st globally, while ONGC was ranked 190th, 30 notches lower than its last year’s ranking."
Indian shares hit record high as banks, Reliance gain
The bull run continues unabated.
Reuters reports: "Indian shares rose to a record high on Thursday, led by finance stocks and market heavyweight Reliance Industries, as upbeat coronavirus vaccine developments fuelled risk appetite globally.
The NSE Nifty 50 index climbed 0.45% to 13,173.15 by 0349 GMT and was on course for a third straight session of gains, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.39% at 44,792.01.
Boosting sentiment was news that Britain became the first Western country to approve a COVID-19 vaccine, with doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine available for those at high risk starting next week.
In Mumbai, the Nifty Bank Index climbed nearly 1% after sliding 1.2% in the previous session. Top private-sector lender HDFC Bank Ltd was the biggest boost to the indexes, rising as much as 1.6%.
India's largest company by market value, Reliance Industries Ltd, rose nearly 1% to its highest in more than a week.
Data released late Wednesday showed India's trade deficit in November narrowed 21.93% from a year earlier, as imports fell sharply compared to the drop in exports."
Government’s payback scheme on interest is arbitrary, Industry tells Supreme Court
Industry and business sectors complained to the Supreme Court on Wednesday that the government’s decision to restrict its payback scheme to “small” borrowers covering only eight categories of loans, worth up to ₹2 crore, was “arbitrary.”
A Bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan was hearing a host of pleas from various sectors for similar financial relief to help them overcome the stress caused by the pandemic and lockdown.
One of them even sought an extension of the moratorium till March 31, 2021.
So far, the payback scheme covers only MSME, education, housing, consumer durables, credit card, auto, personal and consumption loans. Under this scheme, lenders have already returned over ₹4,300 crore as the difference in the compound interest and simple interest charged between March 1 and August 31 (moratorium period). Ex-gratia payments had been made into 13.12 crore bank account as of November 13, the Supreme Court had noted from the government’s submission in a judgment on November 27.