Month: January 2021

Should be able to maintain margin at Q2 levels: Galaxy Surfactants

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Galaxy Surfactants stock has had a good start to 2021, with a 10 percent gain so far. U Shekhar, Founder Promoter and Managing Director of the company tell CNBC-TV18 how business is doing for them. He expects margins to remain stable.

On raw material price increase, Shekhar said, “The raw material prices have surged significantly in the last about month, month and a half and also the freight rates have gone up by more than 5-6 times across the world and we have been able to pass it on to the customers.”

On-demand, for products he said, “With the disruption in the supply chain across the world daily supplies seems to be the priority as of today for customers. At this level certainly, the price increase have been absorbed by the customers. FMCG products, particularly for cleaning and sanitisations have maintained the tempo. In market, demand has been quite strong and quite buoyant.”

He also added that the company as of today are not opting for a PLI scheme but they would be happy to expand in its own existing premises.

Watch this video for more.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Jack Ma not missing but keeping a low profile, says report

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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After various reports claimed that Chinese billionaire Jack Ma may have gone missing, CNBC, citing a person familiar with the matter, reported on Wednesday that the Alibaba founder has been lying low for the time being.

Several reports this week said that Ma has not made any public appearance since he spoke at a forum in late October.  Ma was critical of China’s financial regulators at the October forum, shortly after which, his Ant Group’s record-setting initial public offering was suspended by stock exchanges in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

“They spanked him. He’s learned his lesson, and that’s why he’s been quiet for the past two months…Some of his friends told me they can’t believe how stupid he was,” Rein, founder of China Market Research Group, was quoted as saying in an AP report published on Tuesday.

The former English teacher founded Alibaba Group in 1999, when China had few internet users. Online payments service Alipay launched five years later, before regulators said such businesses would be allowed. Both long shots grew to dominate their industries.

Jack Ma, who is China’s best-known entrepreneur, saw his fortunes take a downturn after he called Chinese regulators too conservative in an October 24 speech and urged them to be more innovative. The authorities responded to this by halting the impending stock market debut of Ant Group, an online finance platform that grew out of Alipay. Alibaba’s share price sank, costing Ma his status as China’s richest tycoon.

Since then, the normally voluble Ma has stayed out of the public eye, cancelled a TV appearance and avoided social media. That has prompted a flurry of speculation about what might happen to Ma, China’s biggest global business celebrity and a symbol of its tech boom.

-with agency inputs

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Withdrawing PF money? Here are key things you should know

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Employees’ Provident Fund Organization, or EPFO, the nodal agency that monitors employees’ provident fund (EPF) contributions, allows the subscriber to make a partial withdrawal or ‘advance’ withdrawal, from the PF corpus.

In EPF accounts, the employees contribute 12 percent of their salaries, and an equal amount is contributed by the employers.

Here are the key things to know before going for partial withdrawal from PF corpus:

1. Partial withdrawal, or ‘advance withdrawal’ is allowed from a PF corpus under a number of conditions such as purchase or construction of the house, repayment of a loan, non-receipt of the wage for two months, the marriage of self/daughter/son/brother, for medical treatment of family members, among others.
2. In order to apply for EPF withdrawal online, the subscriber must have an active Universal Account Number (UAN) and the mobile number used for activating the UAN number should be in working condition.
3. The UAN should be Know Your Customer (KYC)-verified by furnishing information such as Aadhaar, Permanent Account Number (PAN) and bank details.
4. The subscribers can put a claim for ‘advance’ withdrawal via EPFO’s unified portal—unifiedportal-mem.epfindia.gov.in. The claim is then forwarded to the employer for approval. Once approved, the amount is credited to the subscriber’s account.
5. Financial experts, however, say that it is not a good idea to withdraw the PF amount until retirement. EPF works on compounding and the corpus, if allowed to build up, can reap huge benefits.
6. These withdrawals are taxable in some instances and exempt under other instances. If a person withdraws EPF post completion of five-year service, then it’s tax-free. But, if the person withdraws it without completing the five-year tenure, in that case, it’s taxable with a few exceptions such as employment termination and medical emergencies.
7. The EPF amount is also taxable if there is a break in the contribution to the account for five continuous years. In that case, the entire EPF amount is considered as taxable income for that financial year.
8. TDS (Tax Deducted at Source) is deducted at 10 percent on EPF balance if it is withdrawn before five years of service.
9. While it takes up to 10 days for the money to be credited to the bank accounts of subscribers, there may be instances such as non-updation of bank details, incomplete KYC, among others when claims are rejected.
10. EPFO also allows subscribers to view their balance online through its website. EPFO also provides the balance information via missed call facility and SMS service.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Undeterred by cold weather, rains, protesting farmers threaten to intensify stir further

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Camping at protest venues near Delhi borders for around 40 days, braving severe cold and sporadic rains, farmers have asserted that their stir against the farm laws will intensify in the coming days, even as they deferred Wednesday’s proposed tractor march over a bad weather forecast. The deadlock continues as the seventh round of talks with the Centre remained inconclusive, with the farmer groups sticking to their demand for the repeal of the three new laws, and the government listing out various benefits of the new Acts.

The national capital, meanwhile, reels under a spell of harsh winter. The city woke up on Wednesday to the rumble of thunder and the sound of hailstones hitting rooftops and windows as it received rainfall for the fourth consecutive day. The rains, caused by a strong western disturbance, come on the back of a ”severe” cold wave that gripped Delhi in the run-up to New Year. On Friday, the mercury had plummeted to 1.1 degrees Celsius, the lowest in 15 years for January.

On Tuesday, the protesting farmers said they were deferring their proposed tractor march from January 6 to January 7 due to a bad weather forecast. Thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and some other parts of the country have been camping at several Delhi border points since November 28, demanding repeal of the farm laws, a legal guarantee on minimum support price for their crops and other two issues.

Last week, the government agreed to exclude farmers from penal provisions of the Air Quality Management ordinance and to not pursue the draft Electricity Bill. Since the farmers arrived at the national capital’s borders, the Delhi Traffic Police has been posting alerts on its official Twitter handle to inform commuters about road closures across the city.

In a series of tweets on Wednesday, it said Singhu, Auchandi, Piau Maniyari, Saboli and Mangesh borders were closed for traffic movement. ”Please take alternate route via Lampur Safiabad, Palla & Singhu school toll tax borders. Traffic has been diverted from Mukarba & GTK road. Please avoid Outer Ring Road, GTK Road & NH-44.

”The Chilla and Ghazipur borders are closed for traffic coming from Noida & Ghaziabad to Delhi because of farmer protests. Please take alternate route for coming to Delhi via Anand Vihar, DND, Bhopra & Loni Borders,” the traffic police said. It said Tikri and Dhansa borders are also closed for traffic movement.

Also Read: SC to hear pleas against farm laws, issues related to farmers protest on Jan 11

”Jhatikara Border is open only for LMV (Cars/Light Motor Vehicles), two-wheelers and pedestrian movement,” another tweet read. According to the traffic police, people travelling to Haryana can take the routes via Jharoda (only single carriageway), Daurala, Kapashera, Badusarai, Rajokri NH-8, Bijwasan/Bajghera, Palam Vihar and Dundahera borders.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Witnessing growth across segments; demand for high ticket sized loans improving: HDFC

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd (HDFC), the country’s largest mortgage lender, has witnessed a 26 percent rise in disbursements in the individual loan category during the third quarter ended December 2020.

The loan growth was seen across the segment while the demand for affordable housing segment was the highest, said Keki Mistry, Vice Chairman and CEO of HDFC Ltd.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Mistry said, “We have seen growth in every segment, so we have seen demand in every segment. Demand in the affordable segment is highest but it is also true that in the properties in the Central Mumbai, properties in Delhi, Gurugram which are expensive properties even there – there has been a pick-up in a demand.”

According to Mistry, December 2020 was much better than December of 2019 as the company witnessed demand across every category and not only in the affordable housing segment. The demand for higher ticket sized loans was improving, he said.

On moratorium, Mistry said, “When the moratorium was announced we had something like 16.6 percent of the individual loan in value terms who has opted for a moratorium. Also what is in the public domain is that the collection efficiency for the month of October was as much as 96.3 percent.”

Mistry expects spreads to remain stable and will be in the band 2.2 percent to 2.35 percent.

To know more, watch this video.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

SpiceJet to operate 21 new flights from next week

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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SpiceJet said on Wednesday it would operate 21 new domestic and international flights from January 12. The airline will introduce two weekly flights on the route from Mumbai to Ras Al-Khaimah in the UAE and increase frequency on the Delhi-Ras Al-Khaimah route to four weekly flights, according to a statement.

It will connect Jharsuguda in Odisha with Mumbai and Bengaluru with new flights, and operate bigger B737 aircraft on the Delhi-Jharsuguda route instead of the Q400 aircraft, ”thereby offering additional capacity”, the release said.

In its bid to enhance connectivity between the metros and key non-metro cities, the airline has also launched new daily non-stop flights connecting Hyderabad with Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and Vijayawada.

Also Read: Flights suspended, highway closed as snowfall continues in Kashmir valley

Scheduled domestic passenger flights resumed in India from May 25 after a two-month gap due to the COVID-19 lockdown. Currently, the Indian carriers are permitted to operate 80 percent of their pre-COVID flights.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow