Month: February 2022

Mumbai logs less than 1,000 COVID-19 cases, first time in 1 month; positivity rate at 2.10%

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

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Mumbai reported 960 new COVID-19 cases on Monday as the daily count dropped below the 1,000-mark for the first time after December 27, 2021, while 11 more patients die due to the infection, the city civic body said. With this, the tally of coronavirus infections in the city rose to 10,46,590, while the death toll increased to 16,623, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said in a bulletin.

In January 2022, Mumbai has reported 2,61,480 COVID-19 cases and 247 deaths as against 22,229 infections and 38 fatalities in December 2021, BMC data showed. On the second day in a row, the daily COVID-19 cases have gone down in the financial capital. The city has reported 200 lesser cases than the count on Sunday when it had registered 1,160 infections and 10 fatalities.

The daily COVID-19 cases have dropped below the 1,000-mark for the first time after December 27, 2021, when Mumbai had logged 809 cases and three fatalities. The city’s positivity rate dipped to 2.10 percent from 2.25 percent a day ago.

The rate indicates the percentage of people who test positive for the virus of those overall who have been tested. In the last 24 hours, 45,618 COVID-19 tests were carried out in the city taking their cumulative tally to 1,52,89,441.

With 1,837 more patients discharged during the day, the number of recovered cases jumped to 10,17,288, as per the bulletin. Mumbai’s tally of active cases dropped below the 10,000 mark to stand at 9,990, it said.

Mumbai’s coronavirus recovery rate stands at 97 percent. The case doubling rate has improved to 421 days, while the growth rate of COVID-19 cases between January 24 and 30 stood at 0.16 percent, the BMC said.

The bulletin said 835 out of the 960 new patients, or around 87 percent, were asymptomatic. In the last 24 hours, only 106 patients were hospitalised and 30 put on oxygen support, it said. Also, only 2,216 of the total 37,576 hospital beds earmarked for coronavirus patients are currently occupied in the city, according to the bulletin.

According to municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal, the third COVID-19 wave in Mumbai started on December 21, 2021. On January 7, 2022, the city had reported the highest-ever 20,971 cases. Last year, Mumbai had recorded the highest 11,163 cases on April 4, 2021, during the second wave of the pandemic.

At present, the city has only six sealed buildings (where more than 5 residents have tested positive for coronavirus), but it doesn’t have any containment zone in slums and ‘chawls’ (old row tenements), the bulletin said.

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

Key bond market deals: NTPC, JK Cement, Godrej Industries

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

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Here’s a look at the key bond market deals on Tuesday.

Non-Convertible Debentures:

• L&T Finance accepts bids worth INR 565 crore on three-year and eight-month bonds at 6.45 percent coupon
• HDFC Credila Financial Services accepts bids worth INR 200 crore on 10-year bonds at 7.50 percent coupon
• Aseem Infrastructure Finance accepts bids worth INR 250 crore on near two-year bonds at 6.35 percent coupon
• Prayatna Developers to raise aggregate INR 206 crore via multiple tenor bonds, invites bids on February 2
• Motilal Oswal Home Finance raises INR 10 crore via three-year bonds at 6.75 percent coupon

Commercial Papers:

• Cholamandalam Investment to raise funds via intra-month CP at 3.97 percent coupon
• NTPC to raise funds via three-month CP at 3.95 percent coupon
• Godrej Industries to raise funds via three-month CP at 4.05 percent coupon
• Tata Power Renewable Energy to raise funds via three-month CP at 4.23 percent coupon
• JK Cement to raise funds via three-month CP at 4.25 percent coupon

Catch all stock market updates here

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

Budget 2022: Govt may spend Rs 2908 crore under FAME scheme in FY23

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

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The government is considering spending Rs 2942 crore on development of automotive industry in FY23, including Rs 2908 crore under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric vehicle (FAME) scheme, sources told CNBC-TV18.

The revised estimate of spending on the automotive sector for FY22 stands at Rs 800 crore .

The Union Budget could announce further support measures for electric vehicles, vehicle testing, research and development and the sector in general, sources added.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget in Parliament at 11 am.

Like last year, Union Budget 2022-23 will also be presented by the Finance Minister in “paperless form”. The ministry said that the entire Budget document will be released on a mobile application for the public after it is presented in Parliament

For all the latest updates on Union Budget 2022, follow our LIVE blog here

For full coverage of Union Budget 2022, click here

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

Top stock tips by Sudarshan Sukhani, Mitessh Thakkar: SBI Life, Indian Hotels, L&T Infotech and more

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

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Indian equity benchmarks are likely to make a gap-up opening on Tuesday ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. At 8:30 am, Singapore Exchange (SGX) Nifty futures — an early indicator of the Nifty index — were up 142 points or 0.8 percent at 17,490.5.

Equities in other Asian markets tracked strength in Wall Street indices overnight. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was up 1.2 percent at the last count.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 1.4 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng 1.1 percent, and Singapore’s Straits Times 0.1 percent. China and South Korea markets were shut for the Lunar New Year holiday.

S&P 500 futures were down 0.2 percent. On Monday, the three main Wall Street indices surged at the end of a volatile month. The S&P 500 rose 1.9 percent, the Dow Jones 1.2 percent and the Nasdaq Composite 3.4 percent.

CNBC-TV18’s in-house panel of experts has picked a list of stocks for investors to buy/sell in trade today. Here are the top buy-sell calls by market experts:

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

Credit card spends, growth remain strong in Dec 2021

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

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Credit card business momentum remained strong in December 2021, both in terms of card issuance as well as spends.

Overall, the number of credit cards issued has increased by 2.02 percent in December 2021 versus 1.84 percent month-on-month (MoM) in November 2021.

Spends increased by 5.26 percent MoM in December 2021 versus a decline of 11.6 percent MoM in November 2021

Spends per card increased by 3.18 percent MoM in December 2021 versus decline of 13.2 percent MoM in November 2021.

Spends are still lower than the festive month of October 2021; but card issuance have been strong

The per card spend:

Strong momentum was seen for South Indian Bank (+33.9%MoM), Dhanlakshmi Bank (+16%MoM), AU Bank (+13.5%MoM), while also growing for Karur Vysya Bank, Federal Bank, SBM, IDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, etc.

Industry-level growth was at 3.18 percent MoM on spends per card.

Those who saw lower than industry average spend per card include the likes of HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, YES Bank, while decline in spends per card was seen for City Union Bank, Bank Of Baroda, Indusind Bank, Bank of India, Kotak Mah Bank, etc.

Credit card is the most profitable business for any bank or lender. The interest rates are very high over there, at & above 30 percent, which makes it one of the most profitable business for any lender.

Credit cards form 6.85 percent of total cards issued by lenders i.e. debit card and credit card versus 6.75 percent in November 2021

Between September to November, average ticket size movement:

Losers:

Gainers:

Market share movement: HDFC Bank continues to be the leader

HDFC Bank continued to be the leader in terms of market share in credit cards issued

SBI lost 10bps of mkt share MoM while ICICI Bank lost mkt share for 2nd month in a row

Upward momentum or lets say consistency in gaining market share continued for 6th month in a row for Axis Bank

Market share momentum

December 2021 vs November 2021 is as follows:
27 lenders lost mkt share MoM while 6 gained between 1-10bps
• Top mkt share gain was seen for Axis Bank, Kotak Bank, AU SFB, Yes Bank
• Top mkt share loss was seen for PNB, IDFC Bank, Union Bank, J&K Bank, SBI, Bank of India

Credit card market leader in India is HDFC Bank, while the highest rise in credit cards issued (From Sept’21 to Dec’2) was by HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank & SBI – the 4 of them had a share of 69.1 percent in the incremental cards issued in India.

Those who have lost credit card customers from Sptember 2021 to December 2021 include the likes of Standard Chartered Bank, American express, CITI Bank, J&K Bank, HSBC, etc

HDFC Bank continues to remain the dominant force in the market with market share of 22.97 percent followed by SBI at 19.09 and ICICI Bank at 17.92 percent. Top 4 players have a huge market share of 71.71 percent in the Indian credit card market. All others, i.e., 29 lenders/banks, have market share of greater than 5.1 percent each

Interestingly, the top 4, have been losing their mkt share for 3rd month in a row!

Outlook

Both card issuance and average ticket size have seen good growth in December 2021. However, with people not spending much due to third wave, January 2022 growth may see some hiccup. Can expect spends to bounce back from February 2022 as situation (on-ground) normalises and people return to their normal lives.

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