Expresso Business and Finance News Highlights of the Week on 11 August 2024

Let's begin - The Reserve Bank of India has decided to maintain the repo rate at 6.5% for the ninth consecutive meeting, citing persistent food inflation as a key concern. In the third bi-monthly monetary policy review for the current financial year, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said, quote, “The Monetary Policy Committee met on 6th, 7th and 8th August 2024. After a detailed assessment of the evolving macroeconomic and financial conditions and the outlook, it decided by a 4 to 2 majority to keep the policy repo rate unchanged at 6.50 per cent. Consequently, the standing deposit facility rate remains at 6.25 per cent and the marginal standing facility rate and the Bank Rate at 6.75 per cent,” unquote.

Up next - Airtel Payments Bank on Thursday said its net profit for the June quarter rose 41 per cent year-on-year to Rs 7.2 crore, amid uptick in digital savings bank accounts alongside other digital offerings. Announcing its consolidated report card for the first quarter ended on June 30, 2024, Airtel Payments Bank said it has hit a significant milestone and that, in a first, the bank's quarterly revenue grew to Rs 610 crore, up by 52 per cent on-year. The net profits stood at Rs 7.2 crore, up by 41 per cent year on year.

In another development - Markets regulator Sebi has amended alternative investment funds norms specifying maximum permissible limit for extension of tenure by 'Large Value Funds'. In a notification, Sebi said a large value fund for accredited investors may be permitted to extend its tenure up to five years. This is subject to the approval of two-thirds of the unit holders by value of their investment in the large value fund for accredited investors. The extension in tenure of any existing scheme of a large value fund for accredited investors will be subject to such conditions as specified by the regulator. The move is aimed at providing clarity to investors in Large Value Funds for Accredited Investors about their investment horizon.

Moving on - The Indian government is not considering any relaxation in the tax demand it sent to Infosys last month, according to a government source. The tax demand is in accordance to the good and services tax rules and the country’s second-largest IT services firm has sought ten days to submit its response after meeting tax officials, the source said. Shares of Infosys, which were up 1.6% before the news amid a broader market rebound, briefly trimmed gains to about 0.3% after the news. They were last up 1.2%. India sent a tax demand of over 320 billion rupees to Infosys, related to services received by the company from its overseas branches between July 2017 to 2021-22.

Meanwhile - Raymond Limited released its fiscal first quarter earnings with Q1 profit recorded at Rs 57.04 crore, up 26.7 per cent in comparison to Rs 45.02 crore reported during the corresponding quarter of FY24. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 937.65 crore, posting a growth of 98.1 per cent as against Rs 473.37 crore during the same quarter of previous financial year. The company EBITDA stood at Rs 101.3 crore. The company said that its Real Estate and Engineering business recorded consolidated quarterly revenue at Rs 998 crore, posting a growth of 93 per cent as compared to the same quarter of previous financial year and an EBITDA of Rs 162 crore. In Q1FY25, the company achieved a strong booking value of Rs 611 crore.

In other news - India’s export of petroleum products in the first four months of the current fiscal year 2024-25 increased marginally by 1% to 4.9 million barrels per day against 4.8 million barrels per day in April to July period of 2023-24, as per data from energy cargo tracking firm Vortexa. In July, however, the total export of petroleum products increased by 4% to 1.27 million barrels per day against 1.22 million barrels per day registered in June. The country’s top destinations for the exports in July were Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. While exports to Europe surged by 26% last month to 266,000 barrels per day, supplies to Southeast Asia slumped 9% to 254,000 barrels per day compared to the previous month.

Lastly - The demand for luxury homes in India is rising rapidly. According to the most recent data from ANAROCK, approximately 32,200 housing units were sold in the NCR during the first half of 2024. Of these sales, over 45% were in the luxury segment, while 24% were in the affordable segment. In contrast, back in 2019, luxury home sales accounted for only 3% of the total, with affordable housing sales making up 49%. The total sales figures show that around 14,630 luxury units were purchased in NCR during the first half of 2024, compared to approximately 1,580 units in the entirety of 2019. Additionally, about 7,730 units were sold in the affordable segment in H1 2024, in contrast to around 23,180 units sold in 2019.