TCS board to consider buyback of equity shares along with Q2 results on October 11

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

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Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS), India’s largest technology services company will be considering a proposal for a buyback of equity shares on October 11, it said in an exchange filing.

The proposal will be considered alongside its September quarter earnings on Wednesday, October 11.

Alongside the earnings, the company will also consider proposal for an interim dividend if any.

TCS had carried out a share buyback worth Rs 18,000 crore in 2022, when it repurchased 4 crore shares at Rs 4,500 apiece. However, the stock has not touched or crossed that buyback price yet. The stock’s all-time high remains Rs 4,123, which it hit on October 31, 2021.

Prior to 2022, TCS had carried out buybacks worth Rs 16,000 crore each in 2020, 2018 and 2017. In those three instances, it repurchased shares at a price of Rs 3,000, Rs 2,100 and Rs 2,850 respectively. All these buybacks were carried out through the tender offer route.

Recently, TCS paid an interim dividend of Rs 9 per share, which was after a final dividend of Rs 24 per share that it paid in June. It also paid a special dividend of Rs 67 in January this year.

Brokerage firm Citi believes that Indian IT companies like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS Ltd.), Infosys Ltd., and their peers, will find it tough to meet consensus estimates for the financial year 2024. It said that in a note earlier in the day.

Shares of TCS ended 0.9 percent higher on Friday at Rs 3,621.25. The stock ended at a 52-week high and is up 11 percent so far in 2023.

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100% jump on debut! Vinyas Innovative Tech makes a blockbuster debut on NSE. Details here

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

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Vinyas Innovative Technologies made a stellar debut on the NSE on Friday, October 6, after its shares listed at a premium of 100 percent at Rs 330 apiece against an issue price of Rs 165. The scrip scaled an intraday high and low of Rs 346.50 and Rs 313.50, respectively.

The SME IPO, which opened for subscription on September 27 and closed on October 3, raised around Rs 54.66 crore via its public offer.

The IPO of the engineering and electronics manufacturing services company consisted of a fresh issue of 3,312,800 equity share; there is no offer for sale (OFS) component. Narendra Narayanan, Meera Narendra, and Narendra Sumukh are the company’s promoters.

The capital raised from the issue will be utilised for meeting working capital requirements.

Sarthi Capital Advisors Private Limited acted as the book-running lead manager to the issue, while Skyline Financial Services Private Ltd was the registrar.

For fiscal 2022-23, the company’s revenue stood at Rs 234.53 crore, compared to Rs 207.74 crore in the previous year. Its net profit came in at Rs 7.34 crore, up from Rs 1 crore in FY22.

Established in 2001, Vinyas Innovative Tech offers design, engineering, and electronics manufacturing services to global OEMs and ODMs in the electronic industry. Its electronic manufacturing services are provided as Build to Print (B2P) and Build to Specification (B2S).

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Macquarie says market ‘overcrowded’; private banks, ferrous metals safer bets

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

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Sandeep Bhatia, Head of Equity and Country Head for India at Macquarie Group believes the market is currently overcrowded and expensive.

“The whole market is an overcrowded trade. So, either you step off this market, or continue to be in the safer parts of this entire market, which is the private sector banks,” he said in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

“In 3-6 months, you could see some of the ferrous metals perform. So, we like Tata Steel. So, these are parts, in which you can generate alpha. But the reality is that this is an expensive market and there could be bouts of corrections and price correction, therefore, would be a safer point to enter the market,” Bhatia said.

Bhatia also touched upon the pressing need for India to scale up its capacities and technologies in the railways and defence sectors. He noted that the size of Indian firms operating in these industries is still subpar, indicating that there is significant room for growth and development.

On FMCG, he said, “This is a slowdown which has been there for this year. The market is trying to wish it away, but it continues to come every quarter in terms of the commentary that comes from companies. I would think that at least till June-July next year, the consumer sector will be an underperform.”

For more details, watch the accompanying video

Also, catch all the live updates on markets with CNBC-TV18.com’s blog

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

Cricket World Cup boost: Nuvama’s Abneesh Roy prefers this pizza player

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

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As cricket fever grips the nation, the demand for quick and convenient food options is expected to rise.

In an interview, Abneesh Roy, Executive Director of Nuvama Institutional Equities told CNBC-TV18 his preferred picks in the fast food space.

He said, “Cricket and pizza have much higher relation to each other versus at pizza versus a burger. Pizza travels much more in terms of delivery format. So, yes, Domino’s should benefit more and that is why Domino’s has been a bit more proactive in terms of the promotions; we have seen the news flow, it is not a price cut throughout.”

Earlier this week, Domino’s slashed the prices of its large pizzas by up to 50% in preparation for bulk orders for the cricket World Cup.

Jubilant Foodworks, headquartered in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, is an Indian food service company that possesses the exclusive franchise rights for Domino’s Pizza in India.

Roy also expressed his preference for Sapphire Foods India over Jubilant Foodworks. While both companies operate in the fast-food industry, Roy’s choice reflects his assessment of Sapphire Foods as a more attractive investment option within this space.

“However, when I combine the valuation and expansion, Sapphire Foods stands out from a one-year perspective, but from cricket, Jubilant Foodworks should benefit,” he added.

Sapphire Foods is a prominent franchise operator for Yum! Brands Inc. in the subcontinent, boasts a proven history of effectively managing over 700 KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell establishments spread across India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives.

Talking about the FMCG space, Roy revealed that Nuvama is overweight on Nestle, Tata Consumer, and Colgate. However, it’s not all positive news, as he also cautioned about weak performance expectations for Britannia, Bajaj Consumer, and Emami in the second quarter.

Also, addressing the stock performance of Nykaa, Roy conveyed optimism by stating, “The worst is behind for Nykaa stock performance.” He further stated that he expects Nykaa to experience a re-rating from a near to medium-term perspective.

For more details, watch the accompanying video

Also, catch all the live updates on markets with CNBC-TV18.com’s blog

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

Nearly 20,000 children displaced every day in past six years due to extreme weather: Unicef Report

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

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Extreme weather conditions caused the displacement of nearly 20,000 children every day in the past six years across the world, according to a new report by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF). The study also found that weather-related disasters resulted in the internal displacement of 4.3 crore children across 44 countries in the world in the past six years.

The report titled ‘Children Displaced in a Changing Climate’ was released on Friday, October 6. This is the first global analysis of the number of children driven out of their homes between 2016 and 2021 due to floods, storms, droughts and wildfires, according to UNICEF.

As per the analysis, China and the Philippines are the countries that have recorded the highest number of child displacements due to extreme weather conditions. In addition to that, children living in small and isolated island states such as Dominica and Vanuatu were affected by the storms while children in Somalia and South Sudan were impacted heavily due to the floods.

Out of these recorded 4.3 crore displaced children, 4 crore or approximately 95 percent were affected due to floods and storms between 2016 to 2021. Apart from this, over 13 lakh children have been impacted due to the droughts while the wildfires have resulted in the displacement of 8.1 lakh children.

The Executive Director of UNICEF, Catherine Russell said, “It is terrifying for any child when a ferocious wildfire, storm or flood barrels into their community.”

“For those who are forced to flee, the fear and impact can be especially devastating, with worry of whether they will return home, resume school, or be forced to move again. Moving may have saved their lives, but it’s also very disruptive,” she added.

While asserting that the countries have the tools and knowledge to respond to the escalating challenge for children, the response has been slow.

UNICEF has used a disaster displacement risk model for this study, which has been developed by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. This model has reported that extreme-weather conditions have the potential to displace almost 9.6 crore children over the next 30 years as per the current climate data. However, the numbers may rise if the frequency or severity of such weather events increases.

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

Spotify could bring lossless audio to its users with a rumoured, more-expensive ‘Supremium’ plan

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

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Spotify could launch a subscription plan priced higher than its current Premium tier, which is likely to be called “Supremium”.

Hashtag inventor and product consultant Chris Messina discovered a new logo on the platform that hints at a launch soon.

Messina shared on Threads saying that the new “Supremium” plan will include 24-bit lossless audio, 20-30 hours of audiobook listening, “Your Sound Capsule”, AI playlist generation tools and more features.

His findings corroborate with the Redditor who spotted the “Supremium” features inside the Spotify app code. “The app’s code also mentions advanced mixing tools, allowing you to customise the order of playlists by beats per minute, enable smooth transitions between songs, and filter songs in a playlist by mood or genre,” according to a report from The Verge.

The new plan is likely to cost $19.99 per month. The current Premium plan costs $10.99 per month, which allows users to listen to music without ads, download music to their devices, turn off shuffle, high-quality audio, and more.

Spotify first announced the more expensive tier in February 2021 and was called “HiFi” at the time. In June this year, a Bloomberg report suggested that the tier has been rebranded as “Supremium”.

If and when the tier will come to India, and at what pricing is still not clear yet. The current Premium plan for an individual costs Rs 119 per month. Spotify came to India in 2019, after over a decade of its launch.

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

Market At Close: Nifty ends near 19,650 as RBI MPC decision lifts indices

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

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The Indian equity benchmarks BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 ended with gains on Friday after the Reserve Bank of India kept the repo rates and stance unchanged. Sensex rose 364 points to 65,996 and Nifty gained 106 points to 19,651. Nifty Bank gained 159 points to 44,373 and Midcap index 239 points to 40,285.

The Nifty Bank index also performed well, gaining 159 points to reach 44,373, and the Midcap Index climbed 239 points to reach 40,285. Rate-sensitive sectors, particularly Real Estate and Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), witnessed significant surges following the RBI policy announcement.

Stock wise movements

Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, Titan Company, IndusInd Bank and Tata Consumer Products are among the top gainers on the Nifty, while losers included HUL, ONGC, Coal India, Bharti Airtel and Asian Paints.

All the sectoral indices ended in the green with realty index up 3 percent, while Information Technology, FMCG, Metal, Auto, Power, Healthcare up 0.4-1 percent.

Bajaj Finance stock surged, thanks to its Rs 8,800 crore Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP), closing at a 52-week high. Additionally, the issuance of warrants to Bajaj Finserv provided a boost, with the stock gaining over 6%.

Titan Industries neared a record high ahead of its quarterly updates, while IT stocks, including TCS and Infosys, gained momentum in anticipation of upcoming earnings reports, pushing TCS to a 52-week high.

Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) saw a 5% surge following reports that SEBI’s technical panel had approved a new platform transition.

IndiGo closed with a 2% gain as the company announced a fuel surcharge in response to rising ATF (Aviation Turbine Fuel) prices.

In contrast, Vodafone Idea faced a setback as the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) rejected the company’s plea regarding license fees, leading to a nearly 3% decline in its stock.

Godrej Consumer and Dabur experienced slips in their stock prices, despite largely in-line quarterly updates.

Market Performance for the Week

For the week, the overall market remained relatively flat, with the Sensex rising by 0.3% and the Nifty up by 0.1%. However, the Midcap Index erased gains from the previous week, seeing a nearly 1% decline, and the Nifty Bank also experienced a similar drop.

Among the Nifty stocks, Bajaj Finserv, Titan, and Bajaj Finance emerged as the top gainers for the week, while ONGC, NTPC, Hindalco, Axis Bank, and Maruti faced losses.

In the midcap segment, MGL, Godrej Properties, IndiGo, Birlasoft, and IRCTC were among the top gainers, while Dalmia Bharat, Glenmark, Indiabulls Housing Finance, and Vodafone Idea faced losses.

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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

Union Home Minister Amit Shah reviews security situation in Naxal-hit states

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

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Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday reviewed the security situation in Naxal-affected states where violent incidents have come down by 77 percent in 2022 in comparison to the high of 2010, officials said.

The review meeting was attended by the chief ministers of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also attended the meeting where Odisha, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh were represented by state ministers.

“Naxalism is a curse to humanity and we are resolved to uproot it in all its forms,” Home Minister Shah said. Officials said there has been significant improvement in the Left Wing Extremism security situation in the country over the last five years. The central government had approved the ‘National Policy and Action Plan to address LWE’ in 2015.

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The policy envisages a multi-pronged strategy involving security-related measures, development interventions, ensuring rights and entitlements of local communities, etc, officials said.

Steadfast implementation of this policy has resulted in a consistent decline in LWE violence across the nation, they said. The number of LWE-related violent incidents have come down by 77 percent in 2022 in comparison to the high of 2010, they said.

The number of resultant deaths of security forces and civilians has also reduced by 90 percent in 2022 as compared to the high of 2010.

According to the data prepared by the Ministry of Home Affairs, from 2004 to 2014, there were 17,679 LWE-related incidents and 6,984 deaths. In contrast, from 2014 to 2023 (till 15 June 23), there have been 7,649 LWE-related incidents and 2,020 deaths.

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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

As travel rebounds, India targeting 100 million foreign tourist arrivals: Tourism Ministry

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

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Recovery in tourism in Asia-Pacific post the COVID-19 pandemic has been “strong and robust” and it has reached almost 80% of 2019 numbers, said Peter Semone, chief of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) on September 5. Semone was interacting with reporters at the 46th edition of PATA Travel Mart in New Delhi.

Rakesh Kumar Verma, additional secretary in the Union Ministry of Tourism, speaking on the occasion said that India’s tourism recovery this year is around 80% of pre-pandemic levels. According to PTI, he reiterated India’s 100 million international tourist arrivals target in the long run and said that India aims to achieve a $1 trillion tourism economy.

The physical edition of the PATA Travel Mart was held after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Speaking about the tourism sector’s recovery in the Asia-Pacific region, Semone said that travellers are showing a newfound commitment to vacationing and are preferring longer stays.

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Several factors have contributed to this resurgence, including pent-up demand for travel, availability of travel incentives and a desire to reunite with loved ones across borders.

Indian has been launching campaigns to attract foreign tourists. Union Tourism Secretary, V Vidyavathi highlighted the importance of promoting lesser-known destinations to alleviate pressure on overcrowded places.

Further, Verma discussed India’s tourism goals and highlighted the country’s diverse offerings and transformation on the supply side, which he believes will attract tourists from around the world.

In August, India’s tourism ministry had introduced an extensive campaign “India Says I Do” to put the spotlight on India as a premier wedding destination. This initiative aims to showcase India as a wedding venue and to tap into the immense potentials of its wedding industry.

The Ministry of Tourism revealed an “ambitious campaign designed to position India as a premier global wedding destination,” according to a statement issued by the ministry. The campaign envisions harnessing new avenues for elevating tourism in India to unprecedented levels, the statement highlighted.

With inputs from agencies

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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

XM Australia CEO expects oil to stabilise near $80-82/bbl, finds silver promising

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

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Peter McGuire, CEO of XM Australia believes oil could stabilise in the range of $80-82 per barrel. The exhaustion in the oil market is not uncommon, indicating that current price movements may be a result of such fatigue, he said in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

“I think there’s probably a little bit further downdraft at the moment. US Dollar index hitting 107.30, it’s given back a little bit of that heat as well and any market that was parabolic over 100 days as far has moved to the upside, it’s not unusual to see exhaustion. And that’s a technical term. So it gets exhausted to the upside. It takes a little bit of a breather, I think all the heat comes out of it and that’s what we’ve seen in that quick washout. And I think it’ll consolidate around that $80 to $82 per barrel level,” he said.

There is ongoing significant profit-taking in the crude oil market. On Wednesday, there was a 5% decline, followed by another 2% drop overnight. Consequently, crude oil prices have fallen by 12% this week. Just at the end of September, crude oil prices reached a peak of $96 per barrel, but they have since plummeted to $84 per barrel, marking a substantial $12 decrease. Currently, prices are at their lowest point in five weeks, largely due to fund managers taking profits.

Additionally, the market has seen an increase in gasoline stocks and a stronger US dollar index, both of which are contributing to the downward pressure.

Investors are keeping a close eye on today’s release of US non-farm payroll data for further market direction.

The market is also monitoring Saudi Arabia and Russia’s decisions on future output levels, as well as economic data from China and Europe, which will provide context for future price movements.

“Saudi Arabia and Russia control the flow as far as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). And they probably are looking at where their budgets are. We have a protracted war situation with Russia and Ukraine that hasn’t been put to bed as yet. And that’s costing obviously, big amounts of revenue. And then the Saudis naturally want higher oil prices. That’s my understanding as far as a budget issue goes as well,” McGuire said.

If this rolls into 2024, he thinks it will be interesting to see how central banks play moving forward.

He expects 2024 to be a year of slower growth.

“2024 is going to be a slower year from a growth perspective. I still think India is booming. You’ve only got to see it out here as far as construction and what’s happening. So there are different parts of the global economy that are under different headwinds. And I feel as though there are some parts of Asia that are really struggling,” he stated.

He shared his positive outlook on the silver market. He indicated that silver appears to be a promising commodity and suggested the possibility of an upward trend in its value.

“Silver is really a very hot commodity. So I think there’s plenty of time for an uptick for silver as well,” he stated.

For more details, watch the accompanying 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