Top Business News: February 8, 2023

The Aditya Birla Group announced its foray into the premium casual dining space, a fast-growing segment in the organised food services market, in collaboration with Chef Restaurateur Rahul Akerkar. The Group’s hospitality arm housed under Aditya Birla New Age (ABNA) will build premium casual dining restaurant chains across India. ABNA, promoted by Aryaman Vikram Birla, aspires to create the most preferred house of F&B brands in India under its umbrella.

One97 Communications, which owns Paytm brand, on Wednesday said that its loan disbursements grew 327 percent in January 2023 to ₹3928 crore against ₹921 crore during the same period last year. The number of loans disbursed for the month under review grew 103 percent to 3.9 million (1.9 million).

“Our loan distribution business (in partnership with top lenders) continues to witness an accelerated growth with disbursements through our platform growing 327 per cent y-o-y to ₹3,928 crore ($480 million),” Paytm said in its operating performance update filed with the stock exchanges on Wednesday.

Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday said the strength, size and resilience of the Indian banking system now are much stronger and larger “to be affected by a case like this” in reference to the developments at Adani Group.

Concerns have been raised in various quarters about Adani Group companies, including about the exposure of lenders to the conglomerate, in the wake of an adverse report by US-based short seller Hindenburg Research that also triggered a massive sell-off in the shares of the companies.

Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das, on Wednesday, said Current Account Deficit (CAD) is expected to moderate in H2 FY23 from 3.3 per cent of GDP in April-September mainly due to moderation in imports.

Equities and the rupee were trading with gains in the late morning session on Wednesday after the Reserve Bank hiked the key interest rate by 25 basis points and projected better growth.

The Reserve Bank of India, on Wednesday, projected retail inflation to ease to 5.3 per cent in the next fiscal from 6.5 per cent this year on assumptions of lower imported inflation, even though core inflation remains sticky.

Net inflows under non-resident deposits increased to $3.6 billion during April-November 2022 from $2.6 billion a year ago, boosted by the Reserve Bank’s July 6 measures, according to RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das.

RBI announced that it will issue draft guidelines on penal charges on advances. Reading the Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the move is aimed at transparency in the system.

In 2023-24, the growth in the June and September quarter is projected at 7.8 per cent and 6.2 per cent, respectively. In the December and March quarter, the GDP growth is estimated at 6 per cent and 5.8 per cent, respectively.

“We propose to permit lending and borrowing of g-secs (government securities). This will provide investors with an avenue to deploy their idle securities, enhance portfolio returns and facilitate wider participation,” RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said in his monetary policy address.

Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee voted by a majority of four out of six members to increase the policy repo rate by a smaller quantum—25 basis points—from 6.25 per cent to 6.50 per cent to keep inflation expectations anchored and break the core inflation persistence

Amid volatile global developments, Indian economy remains resilient, he said

For FY24, real GDP growth and retail inflation have been projected at 6.4 per cent and 5.3 per cent, respectively

Monetary policy to remain agile, alert to inflation, he said.

Indian benchmark indices – Nifty 50 (17,840) and Sensex (60,685) – have begun the day on a positive note. Currently, both the indices are up by 0.7 per cent each.

Crude oil futures traded marginally higher on Wednesday morning as industry data showed a decrease in the crude oil inventories in the US. February crude oil futures were trading at ₹6,401 on the MCX in the initial trading hour of Wednesday morning against the previous close of ₹6,363, up by 0.60 per cent.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday increased the repo rate by 25 bps to 6.50 per cent. The decision of the RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) was announced by the Governor Shaktikanta Das.

After 50 basis points hike three times in a row, the central bank softened in December policy and increased the repo rate by 35 basis points to 6.25 per cent.

Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd. is mulling total loan repayment and prepayment of that amount in the year starting in April, which would improve net debt to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation ratio to about 2.5 times, it said in an earnings statement Tuesday. The ratio stands at just over 3 times currently.

Buzzing stocks include BSE, CDSL, RVNL, PC Jeweller, Muthoot Finance, broking stocks, Aurobindo Pharma, NTPC, Adani Power, Adani Wilmar, and 3M India