PSBs bad loans on decline

The bad loans of PSBs declined by over Rs 23,000 crore from a peak of Rs 9.62 lakh crore in March 2018, according to finance ministry.

Public sector banks have also made a record in recovery of Rs 60,726 crore in the first half of the current financial year, which is more than double the amount recovered in the corresponding period last year. Gross NPAs of PSBs have started falling after peaking in March 2018, logging a fall of Rs 23,860 crore in the first half of the current financial year.

India gets more FDI

For the first time in two decades, India has got more foreign investment than its neighbor China. In 2018, India saw more than $38 billion of inbound deals compared with China’s $32 billions.

From Walmart to Schneider Electric and Unilever on the one side and TPG Capital or KKR on the other,a tide of global capital is flooding into India from strategic investors to financial sponsors and consequently changing the pecking order of mega M&A sweepstakes in the prized market of Asia.

LemonTree forms JV with Warburg Pincus

 Lemon Tree Hotels has formed a joint venture (JV) with an affiliate of Warburg Pincus, a leading global private equity firm, to create a co-living platform.

The stock rallied 10% to Rs 75.10 in Friday's trading. 

The JV marks Lemon Tree Hotel, lndia's largest hotel chain in the mid-priced sector, entry into an adjacent but new business segment focusing on the development of institutional-grade rental housing accommodation serving both students and young working professionals across major educational clusters and key office markets in India

Forthcoming IPO: Antony Waste Handling Cell Limited

Antony Waste Handling Cell Limited  has filed draft papers with  Sebi for an IPO.

The initial public offering comprises fresh issue of equity shares aggregating up to Rs 43.5 Cr and an offer-for-sale of up to 94,42,164 stocks by the existing shareholders.

The shares will be listed on Bse and Nse.

Equirus Capital  are the BRLM to the offer.

Fiis net buy for Rs 80 Cr

Fiis have net bought for Rs 80 Cr in cash market yesterday. Diis have net sold for Rs 138 Cr in the same segment.

Sensex gained  180 and Nifty 66 points in yesterday's trade.

Bimal Jalan to head Expert committee

RBI has  constituted an expert committee headed by former governor Bimal Jalan to review its economic capital framework, and whether the central bank needs to hold as much reserves as it currently does.

Former deputy governor Rakesh Mohan will be vice-chairman of the six-member committee, which also includes RBI central board directors Bharat Doshi and Sudhir Mankad, Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg and RBI deputy governor N S Vishwanathan.

The committee will submit its report with in 90 days from its first sitting.

E commerce: Govt in reverse gear

Amazon and Flipkart will suffer a big blow as the government has barred them from selling their own goods while also putting an end to deep discounts and cashback schemes offered by them.The government’s move comes after local traders complained that they were being put out of business because of steep discounts these e-commerce companies offered.

The government also banned the online retailers from entering into exclusive deals to promote brands. This means, Xiaomi will not be able to sell its Mi phones exclusively on Flipkart, a practice typically adopted at the time of a product launch.

This is retrograde step will the consumers, who were getting value for the money.

IT sector to recruit 5 lac people in 2019

Information technology services sector and startups in India, are expected to hire up to 500,000 people in 2019 as demand for freshers is on the upswing.

Former Chief Financial Officer of IT major Infosys, T V Mohandas Pai said entry-level packages in the industry went up by as much as 20 per cent in 2018, after stagnation in salaries for the past seven years.

Growth is coming back to the Indian IT services industry, he said about industry highlights in 2018 and prospects in the coming calendar year.

DJIA creates history, surges 1000 plus points

Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 4.98% with a gain of 1,086.25 points at 22,878. The S&P 500 SPX gained 4.96% / 116.60 points,  to end at 2,468. The Nasdaq Composite COMP, jumped 361.44 points, or 5.8%, to close at 6,554 points.

This is the first time in the history that Dow has surged 1000 + points.

Amazon was the top gainer at 9.45%. The stock closed at $ 1470.90, up $ 126.94. Apple gained 7% and Nvidia 5 percent.

TCS appoints two new directors

According to filing with the exchanges, Tata Consultancy Services has appointed Hanne Birgitte Breinbjerg Sorensen and Keki M Mistry as additional and independent directors of the company for five years. They have been appointed with effect from Tuesday.

CLSA cautious on Indian equities

Brokerage firm CLSA says that there is no compelling reason to turn bullish on Indian equities just yet, even as possible easing of trade tensions between the US and China is probably taking the Indian markets higher. 

CLSA added that the loss for the Bharatiya Janata Party in all three states where it was the incumbent has impacted sentiment among overseas investors, evident in the outflow of $549 million in the subsequent three days. 

Biocon gets bio-similar approval

Biocon's plans of tapping the bio-similar got a fillip following the European Commission's approval and marketing authorization to its bio-similar Ogivri.

Ogivri, jointly developed by Biocon and Mylan, is the bio-similar version of Swiss drug maker Roche's Herceptin, a blockbuster breast cancer drug with sales of $ 7 billion a year worldwide.

Brahm Dutt as Yes Bank chairman?

Yes Bank has recommended the name of its board member Brahm Dutt for the post of Chairman according to sources. The Chairman post fell vacant after resignation of Ashok Chawla in November following issues related to probity. 

Fed hikes rate, U S markets tanks

The Federal Reserve raised borrowing costs for the fourth time this year, ignoring a stock-market selloff and defying pressure from President Donald Trump.

The unanimous 10-0 decision lifted the target range for the federal funds rate from 2.25 per cent to 2.5 per cent. 

DJIA  tanked 352 points and closed at 23323.

Kotak Mahindra Bank gets a shocker from Bombay HC

Bombay High Court did not provide relief to Kotak Mahindra Bank from regulatory fiat to bring down promoter holding to 20 per cent by the end of this month. The court denied a stay on the deadline as sought by the bank, and ordered the Reserve Bank of India to file its affidavit by January 17.

Kotak Bank had filed a writ petition on December 10 against the RBI direction in August this year. RBI directed the bank that it should dilute its promoter shareholding to 20 per cent of its paid-up equity capital with voting rights by December 31, 2018, and to 15 per cent by March 31, 2020.