Fitch Ratings on Tuesday affirmed India’s sovereign credit rating at ‘BBB-‘ with a stable outlook, saying the rating derives strengths from the country’s robust growth outlook and still-resilient external finances. It said India’s robust medium-term growth outlook is a key supporting factor for the rating. A clear improvement in corporate and bank balance sheets, which were under strain prior to the pandemic, is likely to facilitate a steady acceleration in investment in the coming years.
Posts tagged Rediff
Buyback through exchanges to be phased out: Sebi (20-12-2022)
Capital markets regulator Sebi on Tuesday decided to gradually phase out buyback of shares by companies through the stock exchange route to address the drawbacks associated with the existing mechanism. Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch said the regulator has chosen the tender offer route for share buyback as the present mode is vulnerable to favouritism. “This is a glide path and will lead to the phasing out of the present buyback mode (through stock exchange route),” she told reporters after its board meeting in Mumbai.
YouTube’s ecosystem contributes Rs 10k cr to GDP (20-12-2022)
Online video platform YouTube’s ecosystem has contributed over Rs 10,000 crore to India’s GDP and supported more than 7.5 lakh full-time equivalent jobs in the country, according to a report. In India, over 4,500 channels had over 10 lakh subscribers and the number of YouTube channels in India making Rs 1 lakh or more in their annual revenue increased by over 60 per cent year-over-year in 2021, the YouTube Impact Report based on analysis by Oxford Economics said. “YouTube’s creative ecosystem contributed over Rs 10,000 crore and supported more than 7,50,000 full-time equivalent jobs in the Indian economy in 2021. “That economic impact shows up in four ways, through direct, indirect, induced, and catalytic impacts,” the report said.
Sensex pares most losses; ends down 104 points (20-12-2022)
Equity benchmarks recovered most of their intra-day losses and ended marginally lower on Tuesday amid buying in index majors Reliance Industries and Tata Consultancy Services. Helped by last minute buying activity in some of the index heavyweights, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex managed to trim most of its early declines and ended lower by 103.90 points or 0.17 per cent at 61,702.29. During the day, it had tumbled 703.51 points or 1.13 per cent to 61,102.68.
Toy story: India is fast closing the gap with China (20-12-2022)
Although India’s share in the world toy trade has marginally improved, it still lags behind China’s. Toys are not China’s main item of export, but about two-thirds of the toys sold globally are from China. The world exported toys worth $73.2 billion in 2021: China accounted for 66.2 per cent, or $48.5 billion of that, out of which mainland China made up $46.1 billion and Hong Kong $2.4 billion.
GST compensation of Rs 17,176 crore pending to states (20-12-2022)
The government on Tuesday informed Rajya Sabha that GST compensation of Rs 17,176 crore is pending to states as on June 2022. Replying to supplementaries during the Question Hour, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said the Centre is giving GST compensation to states for five years. He said even during Covid times when no GST was collected, the Government of India had given compensation to states after taking loans of Rs 1.1 lakh crore and 1.59 lakh crore during 2020-21 and 2021-22.
NBFCs’ share in India’s lending pie fall to 5-year low (20-12-2022)
Banks are gaining market share at the expense of non-bank lenders such as housing finance companies, retail lenders, and those giving gold loans. There has been a steady decline in the market share of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) in the credit market as banks have stepped up lending. NBFCs’ share declined to a five-year low of 19.8 per cent in the first half of FY23, down from 20.3 per cent in H1FY22, and an all-time high of 23.1 per cent in H1FY19.
VC funds cut number of deals with start-ups by a 5th (20-12-2022)
At least 14 of the top 20 venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) funds in India reduced new deals with start-ups by a fifth in 2022. The number fell from 572 in 2021 to 456 this year, according to data from Venture Intelligence. Sequoia Capital, a leader in investments, retained its top slot but its number of deals fell from 110 in 2021 to 70 this year.
India exported goods worth $280 mn to Russia in Oct (20-12-2022)
As sanctions-hit Russia increasingly relies on consumer products from India, outbound shipments to Russia have started picking up for the second consecutive month in October. This comes after it witnessed contraction for six consecutive months starting March, commerce and industry ministry data showed. During October, India exported goods worth $280 million, up 3.7 per cent as compared to a year ago. It was led by demand for items such as vegetables, tea, coffee, chemicals as well as iron and steel products.
Liquidity slips; RBI cash supply at over 1-mth high (20-12-2022)
Liquidity in the banking system has slipped into a deficit for the first time in three weeks, prompting banks to borrow the largest quantum of funds from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in around a month and a half. The key catalyst for the sudden tightening in liquidity was due to outflows on account of advance tax payments, which occur towards the end of a quarter. Analysts also cited other factors such as a currency leakage and possible interventions by the RBI in the foreign exchange market, which contributed to the tighter liquidity conditions.