In this edition, we talk about the RBI’s fourth rate hike on the trot and what that means for you. We also talk about the latest big moves by two flagship Tata companies and by the market regulator SEBI.
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Do you remember our newsletter from the last week? After the US Federal Reserve and at least half a dozen central banks across the world raised interest rates to unprecedented levels, we had promised that we’d be watching what the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) does, a week hence.
Well, we’ve kept our promise and we can now faithfully report that the Indian central bank has followed suit and has jacked up the prime lending repo rate by another 50 basis points (that’s half a percentage point, for those of you not well versed with hoity-toity economy jargon).
The RBI’s repo rate is now 5.9%, and has been raised for the fourth straight time in the current interest rate cycle that began in May.
While the RBI’s monetary policy committee, headed by governor Shaktikanta Das, wants to target inflation and bring it under control, for you as a homebuyer or a car buyer or pretty much a buyer of anything on credit, the loans just got costlier. Those of you who have taken loans on a floating rate basis will see your EMIs spike as soon as the banks and non-banking finance companies pass this hike on to their customers (‘transmission’ is what that is technically called, but we promise no more jargon from here on).
On the other hand, if you are that typical fixed-deposit or bond-loving depositor, you may want to park still more of your money into such boring but stable instruments as they will fetch you better returns, again, as and when the banks choose to ‘transmit’ the hike on the deposit side.
There’s another reason why parking at least some money into debt instruments might make some sense, for the average investor, although only for the short term. The markets, you see, are literally going nowhere for now.
Both the Sensex and the Nifty rose almost 1.8% following the rate hike, as the markets had already factored it in. The markets also took comfort from the RBI’s decision to keep its inflation outlook unchanged and raising its GDP estimates for Q2, Q3 and Q4 although it trimmed full-year growth projections to 7.0% from 7.2% due to a lower-than-expected number in Q1.
Still, the markets remain choppy. Since the beginning of this year, the Sensex and Nifty have lost 2.6% each. Having said that, the markets test an investor’s patience, so only those who are ready to play the long-haul game, will eventually make money. So, stay invested to the extent that you can, and keep topping, nibbling away each time there is a correction.
TaMo disrupts the EV market…
Talking of a long-haul game, Tata Motors certainly appears to be playing one. This week, the automaker launched its latest car in the electric vehicle segment at a price point that could potentially prove to be a disruptor in the nascent yet growing Indian four-wheeler EV market.
With a starting price of Rs 8.49 lakh, Tata’s latest EV offering, a hatchback named Tiago EV has become the cheapest fully electric car in India yet. The company has two other EV models in the market—the Tigor sedan and the Nexon and Nexon Max sub-compact SUVs—and is already India’s top EV maker.
Whether the new car will appeal to the Indian customer is yet to be seen, but it will certainly give Chinese, European, American and Indian rivals a run for their money as the EV market begins to take off.
Indeed, several more carmakers are likely to launch EVs over the next few months. Mahindra & Mahindra recently unveiled its XUV400 EV. European carmaker Citreon is set to roll out the EV version of its C3 model while US-based Fisker also plans to sell its EVs in India. And then there are Chinese automakers MG Motor, a unit of SAIC Motor, and BYD, which are launching new EVs in India and opening more dealerships.
…as TCS looks to disrupt the 5G market
While one Tata Group company is trying to consolidate its hold on India’s EV market, another one seems to have its eyes set on the 5G equipment segment, which is currently dominated by foreign players like Sweden’s Ericsson, Finland’s Nokia and China’s Huawei.
Tejas Networks, an arm of IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), is reportedly set to ink a deal to set up a 4G network (yes, you read that right) for the state-owned telecom company Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL).
You see, even as the likes of Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio get ready to launch 5G services in the country over the next few weeks and months, BSNL is still only able to offer its 111 million customers 3G services and has not graduated into 4G. The proposed deal with TCS will enable it to do that.
But this deal is more significant than that. TCS has its eyes on the lucrative 5G equipment market, and once it can successfully help BSNL roll out 4G services, the company will look to graduate to setting up a 5G network.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, could be the proverbial game changer, or so we think. Only a handful of countries—Sweden, Finland, China, South Korea and the US—actually have companies that have developed 5G telecom network technology.
This looks like the beginning of something significant in the Indian telecom space, and as we always promise, we’ll keep watching!
New IPO norms in offing
With everyone trying to, well, disrupt everything, why should India’s market regulator be left behind.
If news reports are to be believed, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) could soon make it easier for companies to file for initial public offerings (IPOs) by letting them pre-file their offer documents confidentially and by giving them myriad other relaxations.
Apart from confidential pre-filing, SEBI may also allow companies relaxed open offer pricing for divesting government-owned entities. On the other hand, the market regulator may ask startups who want to list their shares on India’s stock exchanges to make enhanced disclosures in their offer documents on the IPO issue price.
How will all this help, you may ask? SEBI thinks that a few months of data confidentiality will be helpful for high-growth companies as compared to established ones.
Moreover, at present companies are required to disclose accounting ratios such as earnings per share, price to earnings, return on net worth and net asset value. While these parameters are important, they may not help investors in taking investment decisions on investing in, say, tech companies that generally tend to be loss-making.
Indian debt going green
Meanwhile, India will soon issue $2 billion (Rs. 16,000 crore) worth of sovereign green bonds for the first time, in the current financial year. This, as it looks for cheap money to meet its lofty renewable energy targets.
The finance ministry said it will provide details on the bond issue at a later date, as it seeks to build a domestic green debt market in the country. With the rupee in a virtual free fall against the US dollar, foreign investors now increasingly face an exchange-rate risk, forcing the government to look at raising domestic debt.
Corporate renewable bond sales, meanwhile, have already picked up with companies raising more than $26 billion in debt to fund renewable energy projects.
Infosys share buyback
If you are an investor in TCS competitor Infosys, the coming weeks could bring you some cheer. The IT major may announce a share buyback along with its earnings for the second quarter ended September 2022. The company is set to announce its earnings on October 13 and could reward its shareholders with an attractive buyback.
How much stock will Infosys mop up, and at what price? We don’t know yet, but you will know, when we do!
Market Wrap
A 1.8% spike on Friday saw both the Sensex and Nifty reverse the losses of the four previous sessions, as both the benchmark indices ended the week in the green. While the Sensex was up 0.6% since Monday, the Nifty ended flat.
The top Nifty gainers were Dr. Reddy’s Labs, Power Grid Corp of India, Cipla, HCL Technologies and Bharti Airtel. These counters were followed by Infosys, Sun Pharma, Ultratech Cement, Gail India Ltd and Larsen & Toubro.
Among the Nifty stocks most in the red were Adani Ports, Hero MotoCorp, JSW Steel, Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj Auto. Other companies that lost some market cap included UPL, Tata Steel, Axis Bank, ITC and Coal India.
Other headlines:
- Torrent Pharma acquires Curatio Healthcare for Rs 2,000 crore
- Govt increases rates on some small savings schemes by up to 30 basis points
- India’s current account deficit widens to 2.8% of GDP in April-June
- Govt cuts market borrowing target for FY23 by Rs 10,000 crore
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Govt extends deadline for mandatory six airbags in cars by one year to Oct 1, 2023
- Hero MotoCorp to invest $60 million in US-based Zero Motorcycles to develop e-bikes
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Gold Plus Glass Industry, Uniparts India get SEBI approval for IPOs
- Harsha Engineers jumps 47% on stock market debut
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IPO fundraising in India falls 32% to Rs 35,456 crore in April-September
- German luxury carmaker Porsche goes public in $72-billion listing
Until next week, happy investing!
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