This stock rose 78,000% in eight years, but lost 60% market value in two years — Here’s why

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

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Avanti Feeds, India’s biggest shrimp feed maker, has given returns of nearly 29,000 percent to the investors in the last 10 years. The stock which traded around Rs 1.2 per share in June 2009, is currently trading around Rs 350 per share. So, a Rs 1 lakh investment in the company in 2009 would have become Rs 2.9 crore today.

However, the aquaculture company lost over 60 percent of its market value in the last two years as the rising cost of shrimp and softening output prices squeezed margins. The stock, which hit its all-time high of Rs 940.48 on October 1, 2017, had declined 62.4 percent to currently trade at Rs 353.

So in eight years, from 2009 to 2017, the stock rose a whopping 78,233 percent. To put this in perspective, an investment of Rs 1 lakh in 2009 would have given a return of Rs 7.8 crore. However, an investment of Rs 1 lakh in 2017 would have been reduced to below Rs 40,000 in the current day. In the last one year, the stock has fallen over 34 percent.

However, analysts believe that this may be the end of bad days for the stock as India’s shrimp exports continue to gain momentum which could benefit the company. Farm-gate price started witnessing improvement from April which will encourage farmers and provide a better outlook for the industry, they added.

“Despite lowering volume assumption in feed segment to factor decline in the quarter, revenue and PAT is expected to grow at 14 percent and 20 percent CAGR over FY19-21. We roll forward to FY21, continue to value at 15 times considering healthy growth and return on equity and no debt, maintain a target of Rs 427 with a Buy rating,” Geogit Securities said in a report.

For Q4, Avanti Feeds reported a revenue of Rs 858 crore, up 2.8 percent. Profit reported was Rs 76 crore down 11.4 percent Y-O-Y with the margin at 20.7 percent (contracting by 255 basis points Y-O-Y) due to a 6.2 percent increase in raw materials.

According to Edelweiss Securities, Avanti has reported weak numbers in FY19 mainly due to the fact that after the crash in global shrimp prices as well as the farm gate prices, farmers moved away from aquaculture which impacted the demand for feed. However, the processing business has done well and is seeing healthy growth as the company is ramping up its utilisation.

Avanti Feeds has marked its presence in the field of aquaculture by engaging in manufacturing high-quality feed for shrimps. The company has a strong technical and marketing tie-up with the Thai Union group of Thailand to strengthen its capabilities in the field of aquaculture.

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Disclaimer: CNBCTV18.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions

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

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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

Reliance Securities’ Naveen Kulkarni expects no surprises from Budget 2019; L&T, Hero MotoCorp, ITC top picks

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

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Naveen Kulkarni, head of research, Reliance Securities believes the Union Budget for the fiscal year 2019-20 will present measures to boost the slowing economy but it is unlikely to provide any surprises, given the limited resources with the government. He added that construction, consumer, cement, building material sectors are likely to emerge as major gainers in the budget. Here are the edited excerpts of Kulkarni’s interview to CNBC-TV18.

What are your expectations from the upcoming budget? Do you expect any big bang reforms?

Union Budget 2019-20 is unlikely to provide any surprise given the limited resources with the government. We believe Budget 2019 may try to showcase the government’s next five years plan to boost the slowing economic growth with fiscal discipline. A revival of the NBFC sector as to arrest falling GDP growth is the prime need of the hour and that mainly falls under the RBI’s purview. The government may try to target several segments with various sops to boost the ailing economy and job creation.

In addition to a strong focus on infrastructure development and higher income for the rural population, we believe reviving real estate can have a cascading impact on several sectors including cement, metals, building materials, paints, etc. By providing various sops to the housing sector, the government can essentially target to boost many sectors along with job creations and thus supporting economic growth.

What are your top sector and stock picks ahead of the budget?

We believe construction, consumer, cement, building material sectors are likely to emerge as major gainers in the budget. NCC, L&T, HUL, ITC, JK Cement, UltraTech Cement, Escorts and Hero Motocorp are among our top budget picks.

What is your view not just on banks but also on NBFCs, HFCs and insurance and your top picks in the BFSI space?

Banks: While asset quality issues are largely behind for banks, but they continue to grapple with structural concerns on the liability piece, growth concerns with softness in consumption cycle and weak private capex, and slower than expected IBC recoveries (no large recoveries in Q4FY19 and Q1FY20). Nonetheless, credit growth will have some benefits from the continued diversion of credit from NBFCs. We, therefore, like large banks with strong liability franchise, where we expect minimal impact on margin. Moreover, a low impact on asset quality from concerns of slippages from leveraged exposures/NBFCs for large banks also supports our thesis. Our top picks are ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, and SBI.

NBFCs/HFCs: We continue to witness funding challenges for NBFCs/HFCs which had been aggressive on the borrowing side, resulting in high ALM risks. Developer portfolio will remain an area of watch for both NBFCs/HFCs. We expect HFCs/NBFCs with lower funding side issues to continue to gain market share.

Do you think the consumption stocks have been beaten down enough to start buying at these levels?

Most of the consumer stocks have underperformed its benchmark in the recent past however they have not corrected much on valuations terms as most of them have seen earnings downgrades mainly due to slower volume growth reported in Q4 FY19. Rural headwinds, monsoon outlook and higher base need to be monitored going ahead for volume growth to pick-up. Efforts by the companies on deeper penetration, new product launches, and premiumization trend are likely to help mitigate the recent consumption slowdown and any reversal thereon will be an opportunity to buy the consumer stocks.

HUL growth prospects look promising on a strong premium portfolio, inorganic initiatives, presence in under-penetrated categories, overall market leadership, and capability which is significantly ahead of its peers.

Meanwhile, ITC’s increasing focus on the other-FMCG segment is likely to bridge the valuation gap versus peers going ahead.

Titan’s revenue growth momentum is likely to be driven by market share gains from the unorganized players due to regulatory tailwinds and aggressive store expansion.

What about earnings growth? What kind of recovery are you expecting from companies in Q1 and Q2?

While we believe that earnings growth (ex-BFSI) should be in the range of 10-15 percent in FY20, 1QFY19 earnings do not appear to be healthy considering disruption in consumption amid NBFC crisis and election code of conducts. Our channel checks suggest that there have been volume declines across the consumption space in 1QFY19. However, we expect there should be some spillover impact in 2QFY20, which may result in decent growth in 2QFY20 earnings.

Amid oil price hikes, US-China tensions, US-Iran worries, and India posing tariffs on US products, how do you think the entire global entire scenario will pan out?

With trade wars (US-China) taking the center stage in the past few weeks and recently with IEA lowering global oil demand growth to 1.14mbpd which is below than last 5-year average growth of 1.46mbpd, we believe oil consumption may worsen if the trade war escalates. The rise in the US- Iran worries increase the risk of military conflict in the Middle East region, but it is important to note as well that global oil demand growth has been decelerating sharply in recent months. Based on this scenario, oil prices likely to in the range of $65 to $70/bbl for a period of next six months which does not pose any major threat to India’s oil subsidy bill. Based on our calculations, FY20 cooking fuel subsidy is budgeted at crude price of $68/bbl. It is unlikely that the crude prices will average more than $70/bbl in FY20.

What are some of the so-called contrarian bets that you are looking at?

Some of our contrarian bets are HUL, Jubilant Foodworks and MGL.

Do you see significant upside in the broader markets in the near future or investors will keep betting on safe large-cap stocks?

We believe Nifty50 index to trade sideways in near future after broader indices have already gained 10 percent in 1HCY19. Going forward, markets will take a strong watch on corporate earnings momentum. However, we believe that the valuations of many quality mid-caps seem to be attractive now, which may attract more interest hereon.

Do you think IT space is a good buying opportunity at current levels? If yes, which stocks are good and which ones should be avoided?

We believe one should be selective on IT stocks at the current levels in light of near-term headwinds in the form of trade wars, slower FY20 growth versus FY19, margin pressure points and skills shortage on digital. We prefer companies with greater revenue predictability along with healthy cash flow and cash return to shareholders. Among top-tier IT, we like TCS and HCL Technologies, while among mid-caps, we prefer Cyient and Sonata Software.

What is your view on midcap stocks? Which is your go-to stock right now?

While 1HCY19 was dominated by large caps or index stocks, quality midcap and small cap stocks are likely to be in flavour in 2HFY19. Notably, midcap and small-cap stocks have underperformed in 1HCY19 with Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Small indices declining by 1 percent and 3 percent, respectively.

We note that a number of quality names in midcap space, despite showing healthy numbers and holding strong growth potential, have not generated any meaningful return for the investors and hence current valuations are quite attractive and risk reward is quite favourable. Therefore, we believe a healthy return can be generated from mid-cap space in 2HCY19.

Disclaimer: CNBCTV18.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions

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

Five ways healthier food can save the world from climate change

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

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The world’s population must drastically change diets in order to prevent “potentially catastrophic” damage to the planet, scientists have warned.

Global food production is the largest strain on the earth caused by humans and unsustainable farming is already driving climate change, deforestation and biodiversity loss, found a major project commissioned by The Lancet health journal.

As researchers warned that people must sharply cut the amount of meat they eat to live sustainably, here is why managing food supply is key to controlling climate change:

AGRICULTURAL EMISSIONS

Food production creates about a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions, experts estimate. Livestock farming for meat and dairy represents more than half of that total at 14.5 percent of all emissions, with cattle the biggest offenders.

LAND USE

Agriculture is the biggest single driver of deforestation, stripping away forests that reduce climate change by absorbing and storing carbon. Livestock takes up the most space, with land used to grow animal feed and for grazing using nearly 80 percent of all agricultural land.

WATER USE

About 70 percent of the world’s freshwater is used for agriculture, with climate change expected to increase the number of people facing water scarcity. More efficient farming could reduce water use, helping to meet climate challenges.

WASTE

Up to a third of all food is wasted – totalling around 130 crore tonnes per year. It results in unnecessary emissions and means food does not reach those who need it. Experts predict the amount of food waste will rise further without action.

A GROWING POPULATION

The number of people on earth is expected to grow to 9.8 billion by 2050, adding pressure on the world’s resources. It is estimated that world food production may have to double to keep pace with demographic changes

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

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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

ICICI Bank lowers lending rates by 10 basis points

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

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The second largest private sector lender ICICI Bank has cut its lending rates by 0.10 percent which will make all the loans cheaper, sources said Monday.

The move comes weeks after it cut its deposit rates and amid calls for banks to quickly pass on the benefits of rate cuts by the RBI, which stands at a full 75 bps since February.

The bank has cut its marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR)across all tenors by 0.10 percent, they said adding the new rates areeffective immediately.

The one-year MCLR, to which a majority of loans like residential mortgages and auto loans are tied, now stands at 8.65 percent, they said.

Top private sector lenders, including ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank had initiated deposit cuts between 0.10 and 0.25 percent in the middle of June across select buckets.

It remains to be seen if other banks have also followed suit by announcing reductions in their rates.

At the June 6 review, the Reserve Bank had said banks have cut rates by a measly 0.21 percent as against the 0.50 percent cut in key rates, and had asked banks to do more.

The same day, it cut the key policy rate by another 0.25 percent and also hinted at further easing by shifting its stance to accommodatory from neutral, taking the total quantum of rate cut to 0.75 percent in 2019.

The RBI initiated the rate action with an eye to prop up the sagging growth amidst a sustained period of inflation trending below the 4 percent set for the central bank as part of the medium-term inflation targeting framework.

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

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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

Sensex up nearly 280 points, Nifty above 11,860 level; aviation stocks rally

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

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The Indian market was trading higher around noon on Monday, after trade sentiment improved ahead of the Union Budget 2019 as the US and China agreed to resume trade negotiations.

Stocks rallied and bonds retreated in Asia on Monday as the United States and China agreed to restart trade talks, leading investors to pare wagers on aggressive policy easing by the major central banks.

At 11:47 AM, the Sensex was at 39,658.12, up 263.93 points, or 0.67 percent while Nifty 50 was trading at 11,861.20, up 71.80 points, or 0.61 percent. The Nifty Midcap 100 rose 0.27 percent while Nifty Smallcap 100 index was trading higher by 0.51 percent.

The Nifty Realty index was the best performing index during the afternoon session while the Nifty IT was the worst performing sector.

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Tata Motors, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp were among the top gainers, whereas BPCL, IOCL, UltraTech Cement, HCL Technologies and Bharti Infratel led the losses.

Shares of Eveready Industries fell 5 percent on Monday after Price Waterhouse & Co Chartered Accountants LLP (PwC) resigned as the auditor of the company citing insufficient evidence of inter-company deposits.

Aviation stocks were soaring today after oil marketing companies reduced jet fuel prices by 5-6 percent. Jet Airways was locked in an upper circuit of 5 percent. Indigo’s shares rose 1.6 percent and SpiceJet’s share price jumped 3 percent intraday.

Reliance Home Finance shares fell nearly 8 percent after the mortgage lender extended the maturity of non-convertible debentures worth Rs 4 billion till October 31 due to severe cash crunch.

Catch all the latest and live updates here on CNBC TV18 Market Live Blog.

Disclaimer: CNBCTV18.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

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

Doctor’s Day: India faces critical shortage of doctors; Bihar worst affected

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

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Every year, July 1 is observed as Doctor’s Day in the country to highlight the role of medical practitioners in the healthcare system. According to studies, India has less than one doctor for every 1,000 citizens, which is less than the World Health Organisation standard that prescribes a doctor population ratio of 1:1,000. The country also has a shortage medical professionals who are trained in administering antibiotics which is preventing patients from accessing live-saving medications.

Bihar ranks high on the list of states that face acute doctor shortage; there is only one doctor available for 28,391 patients in the state, while in the Delhi National Capital Region, there is one doctor available per 2,203 patients.

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

Maruti Suzuki reports 14% fall in June sales; passenger car sales drop 18.1%

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

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Automobile major Maruti Suzuki on Monday said its passenger car sales dropped by 18.1 percent to 83,952 units in June from 1.02 lakh units recorded in the same period last year.

In total, the car maker sold 1.24 lakh units in June, down by 14 percent as the firm had sold 1.44 lakh units in the same month last year. This is the third consecutive month the automaker has reported a double-digit drop in sales.

Shares of Maruti Suzuki rose by 1 percent and at 11:21 AM, the stock was trading with a 0.11 percent gain at a price of Rs 6541.45 a piece.

The company said the exports in the month of June increased by 5.7 percent to 9,847 units, compared to 9,319 units recorded in June 2018.

The domestic sale, however, slipped by 15.3 percent to 1.14 lakh units. The company sold 1.35 lakh units last year in June.

In the first quarter of this financial year, the company has sold a total of 4,02,594 units, which include 3,69,985 units in the domestic market, 4,496 units of domestic OEM sales and 28,113 units of exports.

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

Despite its international ambitions, IndiGo is still an Indian airline. Here’s why

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

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IndiGo, India’s largest airline by fleet and domestic market share, has made no secret of its international ambitions. From expressing interest in the widebody operations of Air India to launching flights to Istanbul and code sharing with Turkish Airlines, the airline has been aggressively trying to fill in the space that existed even when Jet Airways was in operation. Ronojoy Dutta, the airline’s CEO, made some interesting comments about international operations during an interview with CNBC-TV18.

With Jet Airways as good as gone after the suspension of services on April 17, there is a void which needs to be filled. IndiGo seems to be willing to do it, albeit conditionally. The conditions are internal and driven by focus on profitability, going by the interview of the CEO, which bode well for the shareholders of the company.

At its peak, Jet Airways had more than 50 percent of its revenues generated by international operations. However, Jet operated wide-body aircraft which deploy far higher capacity in Available Seat Kilometers (ASKs) than the narrow-body aircraft that IndiGo uses to operate in shorter sectors.

In the case of IndiGo, lack of widebody (just yet) means that its capacity by ASK per flight is far lesser than what Jet Airways had for its flights to London, Hong Kong and Amsterdam. ASK is a function of the number of seats available and the distance travelled, and on both counts, IndiGo isn’t comparable.

While the airline does not bifurcate the domestic and international revenue, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) does give out the split between domestic and international traffic. The data released by DGCA shows how IndiGo has been inching closer to deploying 20 percent of its total capacity on International routes, with March 2019 having seen the highest at 19.4 percent. Data for May have not yet been released by the aviation regulator.

While the capacity has risen — flight by flight literally — it hasn’t translated into a corresponding share of passengers. Just 8.5 percent of the total passengers carried by the airline was on international routes while a whopping 91.5 percent passengers which the airline carries are on its domestic routes where the airline holds close to 50 percent of the market share.

Percentages can hide more than what they reveal at times. The airline carried 187, 083 more passengers on international routes in April 2019 compared with the same month last year. The same comparison on the domestic side and you know the massive scale of IndiGo on domestic routes in India. The airline carried 901,172 additional passengers than April 2018 and carried a total of 5,481,088 domestic passengers in April 2019.

The airline has specified that its focus is international and will see a large percentage of its new routes and expansion being driven on international routes. International routes have benefits like cheaper fuel and earnings in dollars, which help offset some of the huge US currency-denominated costs of airlines like leasing costs. However, these benefits may not be enough since the longer flights also come with higher trip costs and distribution challenges.

The next few quarters will see a clearer plan from IndiGo and more codeshare agreements (an arrangement in which two or more airlines market and fly the same flight under their own airline designator and flight number). Jet Airways had codeshares to support its large international network and for IndiGo to grow from metros and Tier II cities, it will require a large and aspirational middle class in the country to make higher spends and fly abroad, in addition to the codeshares with more airlines on the west and a few on the east. Its current codeshare with Turkish airlines has so far given access to only 12 destinations, while the plan was for 20. The restricted bilateral means that there can only be two destinations from India which it can connect to Istanbul and the airline has chosen only one.

Codeshares give traffic, they may or may not give the revenue that is necessary to sustain a route and to avoid the mistakes of Jet Airways as the CEO rightly pointed out in the interview, it is important to look at how sustainable the flights are, by revenue – when everybody else has been focusing on traffic!

Ameya Joshi is the founder of aviation analysis blog NetworkThoughts.

Read Ameya Joshi’s columns 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

SpiceJet starts daily direct flight between Guwahati and Dhaka

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

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Budget carrier SpiceJet on Monday started the first daily direct flight between Guwahati and Dhaka. The first flight ‘SG 78’ was flagged off by Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal at Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport here.

The Bombardier Q400 aircraft will depart Guwahati at 1155 hours, while it will leave Dhaka at 1410 hours (local time) every day.

Hailing the new mode of connectivity as landmark, Sonowal said, “We are now looking to connect all the capitals of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal (BBIN) countries with Guwahati.”

For that, we have already requested the Civil Aviation Ministry to do the needful, he added.

SpiceJet Chief Marketing Officer Debojo Maharshi informed the daily flight has been launched under the International Air Connectivity Scheme (IACS).

“We believe the tremendous success of Regional Connectivity Scheme can be replicated in IACS as well; thereby making international air travel much more affordable and convenient for Indians,” he added.

Bangladesh Assistant High Commissioner in India, Shah Mohammad Tanvir Monsur, said this new flight will be a turning point in the history of connectivity between the two regions.

“Before 1947, Bangladesh and Assam were part of the same region. Every day, 4,000 patients come to India for treatment, but they go to Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi. Now, they can come to Guwahati too as it has many good hospitals,” he added.

With the launch of this new service, SpiceJet now operates two flights under IACS, besides running 43 flights connecting 24 cities under UDAN scheme.

The low-cost airline currently operates a fleet of 76 Boeing 737 aircraft, 31 Bombardier Q400 planes and two B737 freighters across India.

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

CNBC-TV18’s Archana Shukla wins RedInk Award for exposing irregularities in MNREGA

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

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Archana Shukla, assistant editor, Rural Affairs, CNBC-TV18  won the RedInk Award for the Best Business & Economy coverage for the television category at the Mumbai Press Club’s annual RedInk Awards on June 28, 2019.

Shukla won the award for the show Budget Caravan where her on-ground investigation in the rural jobs scheme MNREGA in Bikaner showed massive irregularities.

She is one of the 32 winners from over 1,000 entries across 15 categories.

Budget Caravan assesses government’s schemes and reports on expectations of rural India from the Union Budget.

In Budget Caravan 2018, Shukla focused on rural and agriculture related schemes of crop insurance, irrigation, MSP, and MNREGA in the state of Rajasthan. A ground level investigation into the rural job guarantee scheme MGNREGA in Bikaner district showed that job cards were up for sale and material supplies were only on paper. In just two blocks of Panchu and Nokha this corruption was affecting cattle shed projects worth Rs 90 crore.

Just a day after CNBC-TV18 aired the investigative report, the Ministry of Rural Development initiated an inquiry into the irregularities.

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