In this edition, we talk about India’s rising tax collections, how the government plans to shore up its divestment numbers and what Yes Bank is doing to get rid of bad debt. We also talk about robust auto sales numbers and whether the rising COVID cases in China could again pose a threat to us in India.
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Christmas and the New Year are upon us, and everyone is getting ready to party. So is the Indian government, apparently.
It looks like the government’s cash registers are beginning to ring, and loudly at that. Earlier in the week, the finance ministry said the central direct tax collections till December 17 for the fiscal year 2022-23 rose 20% from a year earlier to Rs 11.35 trillion. Moreover, collections during the year as a percentage of budget estimates are higher than past year averages.
On top of this, Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections, too, have seen a nearly 26% increase over the previous year’s figure. Between April and the end of November 2022, the government collected Rs 11.9 trillion in GST as against Rs 9.4 trillion in the same period last year. Higher GST collections have been corroborated by rising number of e-way bills generated as well, indicating improvement in general trade conditions, brokerages and analysts said.
For the government, the rising tax collections will help it contain its fiscal deficit and limit borrowings, especially at a time when it has started preparatory work for next year’s budget.
More importantly, what these numbers indicate is that not only the number of taxpayers itself could be rising but also that companies are recording or expecting higher profits and individual taxpayers are seeing an increasing in their incomes. So, if you are one of those individuals, make sure you keep your eyes on the goal and increase your savings and investments in line with the rise in your income.
Divestment Drags
On the disinvestment front though, the government has not been as lucky, at least thus far. Till the end of November, it has collected just under half the Rs 65,000 crore it had budgeted for the fiscal year. News reports now say the government is looking to meet its disinvestment target via some offers for sale (OFS) of listed stocks it owns. Two such offers for sale have already been completed.
The OFS of ONGC Ltd and IRCTC Ltd have earned the exchequer Rs 3,026.23 crore and Rs 2,723.73 crore, respectively, taking the total proceeds so far from disinvestment to Rs 31,106 crore. Most of the money though came via the initial public offering of Life Insurance Corp. of India, which generated Rs 20,516.12 crore.
Apart from the OFS route, the government has also put IDBI Bank on the block. The bank is controlled by LIC, but the government also owns a 45.48% stake in the lender and now wants to offload its stake to a strategic buyer.
If this deal does come through during the financial year, the government may well be on its way of meeting its disinvestment target.
Revving Up
The government is not the only one whose cash registers are ringing loudly. Indian auto companies, too, seem to be raking in the moolah.
Industry numbers show that auto sales grew 28% year on year in November, as demand remained robust even after the festive season amid an improvement in supplies.
According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) data, 276,231 passenger vehicles were sold last month, up from 215,626 units a year ago. The growth would be 32% if 46,425 units of Tata Motors vehicles were to be added. Tata Motors does not report sales on a monthly basis to SIAM.
While sales of passenger cars went up 29% to 130,142 units in November, those of utility vehicles rose nearly a third to 138,780 units.
So, are you buying a car or a two-wheeler? Hurry up, as prices are set to rise by 1-3% from January and could again go up in April when stricter norms kick in and vehicles must be equipped to monitor emissions in real time.
Auto companies from Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, and Tata Motors to even luxury brands like Audi and Mercedes-Benz are set to increase prices across the board starting next month to partially offset the impact of rising costs. They had said earlier that costs would increase through 2022 amid a shortage of semiconductors, among other factors.
Dishing Out
Meanwhile, in what is being seen as a fresh twist to the Yes Bank-Dish TV case, the lender, which was rescued by the government from imminent collapse, has now transferred its 24.19% stake in the cable TV company to JC Flowers Asset Reconstruction Co, along with the underlying loan to Subhash Chandra’s Essel group companies.
After Essel Group founder Chandra failed to service loans of over Rs 5,000 crore from Yes Bank, the lender invoked Dish TV’s shares that were pledged with it. As of 30 September, Yes Bank’s shareholding stands at 24.78%, while the promoters’ holding was at 4.04% in Dish TV.
This is also tied to the legal tussle between Dish and Subhash Chandra family for controlling Dish, which has seen many twists and turns over the last year and a half.
Why is this move important, you may ask? This move is significant as the lender is trying to transfer bad loans worth Rs 48,000 crore from its books to the asset reconstruction company. With the transfer of Dish’s shares, it will have more flexibility to proceed with the recovery process.
Yes Bank, you see, is 26% owned by the State Bank of India (SBI). Although there is no clarity yet on when the state- run lender plans to exit Yes Bank, the sovereign would certainly hope that whenever that happens, it has a clean bill
of health.
Mask Up, Again
While Yes Bank tries to get its fiscal health in order, we strongly urge you to take care of yours, and remain vigilant.
The dreaded coronavirus, you see, seems to be back with a vengeance in China. This comes just as the world at large had more or less opened up again and is looking forward to new year festivities.
While India has so far detected only a handful of cases of the variant that has been causing havoc in China, the government has swung into action and has advised people to mask up in public places. It is also beginning random testing of international passengers.
So, should you panic? Experts say don’t panic but remain cautious. Unlike most people in China, most Indians have already been vaccinated and also have some form of immunity to the virus.
Having said that, restrictions of some form, and perhaps even localised lockdowns, may not be off the table if the infection were to spread in India, as indeed did happen during the first and the second waves in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
We’ll hope such a thing never comes to pass again. But please be alert.
Market Wrap
The markets ended the week in the red, especially after the drop of 1.6% on Friday, amid fears that interest rates in the US could rise further as the country reported robust economic data. Markets were spooked also by China’s worsening COVID situation, which could potentially lead to the infection spreading to the rest of the world, including to India.
The benchmark 30-share Sensex lost about 2.4% to close below the psychologically important level of 60,000 while the 50-share Nifty slipped by a similar percentage to end firmly below 18,000.
As COVID begins to threaten again, pharma and healthcare companies were the week’s favorite. Divi’s Laboratories, Apollo Hospitals, Cipla and Sun Pharma were among the top Nifty gainers for the week.
The list of losers though was much longer, with Yes Bank being the worst-performing Nifty counter, having shed more than 19% during the last five trading sessions.
Other counters that left their investors poorer this week included Indiabulls Housing, Tata Motors, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Bharat Petroleum, Zee Entertainment and UPL.
Yet others that made up the sea of red included Tata Steel, Vedanta, GAIL India Ltd, SBI, Indian Oil Corporation, Bajaj Finserv, Mahindra & Mahindra, Eicher Motors, Coal India, Larsen & Toubro, Hindalco and Maruti Suzuki.
Other headlines
- Reliance Industries acquires Metro’s India wholesale business
- Reliance Jio arm deposits Rs 3,720 crore to acquire Reliance Infratel assets
- Reliance Industries buys 23.3% stake in Exyn Tech for $25 mn
- SEBI to phase out share buyback through stock exchange route
- SEBI suspends derivatives trading in agri-commodities for another year
- Dabur’s Burman family sells 1% stake via block deal, to fund private ventures
- Aloke Singh to head Air India’s low-cost airline business from January
- Centre clears defense purchase plan worth Rs 84,328 crore
- Twitter’s top global policy official departs as layoffs continue
Until next week, happy investing!
Interested in how we think about the markets? Read more: Zen And The Art Of Investing
Watch here: ELSS: Saving tax through mutual funds
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