Buzzing Stocks: Reliance, Jio Financial, Adani Ports, Zomato, LIC, Tech M, Maruti, others in news

Reliance Industries: Subsidiary Reliance Jio, with a 39.3 percent market share in the wireless subscriber base, added 31.59 lakh users in October 2023 as against 34.75 lakh users added a month back.

Jio Financial Services: Jio Financial and BlackRock Financial Management have filed papers with the capital market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), to launch mutual fund businesses in India. The in-principle approval is under consideration with SEBI, as the companies, as joint ventures, filed their applications on October 19 and showed the updated list of mutual fund applications as of December 31.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone: The Adani Group company said the board members have approved the raising of funds up to Rs 5,000 crore through non-convertible debentures (NCDs) in one or more tranches. Further, due to internal restructuring, the board has also given its approval for the re-designation of Gautam S Adani, chairman and managing director of the company, as executive chairman, and Karan Adani, whole-time director and CEO of the company, as managing director, with effect from January 4. The board also approved the appointment of Ashwani Gupta as the chief executive officer of the company with effect from January 4 and as whole-time director for three years.

Maruti Suzuki India: Suzuki Motor Gujarat (SMG), a wholly owned subsidiary of Maruti Suzuki, has received an adjudication order for the period July 2017 to August 2022, from the Gujarat GST Department. The Gujarat GST Authority has upheld the tax demand of Rs 173.9 crore, levying interest and imposing a penalty of Rs 17.4 crore in the matter of tax liability under a reverse charge basis on certain services. SMG had already paid the tax amount of Rs 173.9 crore before the issuance of the show-cause notice. SMG will be filing an appeal against the order with the first appellate authority. The order will have no major impact on the financial, operational, or other activities of the company.

Tech Mahindra: The company has appointed Richard Lobo as the chief people officer of the company with effect from January 3 and is designated as a senior management personnel. Outgoing CPO Harshvardhan Soin takes over as the president for Asia Pacific and Japan with effect from January 3 and will continue to be designated as senior management personnel.

Zomato: Gastronauci SP ZOO, a step-down subsidiary of the food delivery giant in Poland, initiated the process of liquidation on January 2. Gastronauci does not have any active business operations and is not a material subsidiary of the company. Further, the dissolution of Gastronauci will not affect the revenue of the company.

Larsen & Toubro: The infrastructure major has completed the sale of its entire stake in L&T Infrastructure Engineering to STUP Consultants consequent to the completion of customary conditions precedent, as agreed under the Share Purchase Agreement. Consequently, L&T Infrastructure Engineering has ceased to be a subsidiary of the company.

Life Insurance Corporation of India: LIC says that the GST authorities in Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, and Gujarat states raised a demand for GST, interest, and penalties amounting to Rs 667.5 crore. The corporation will file an appeal before the Commissioner (Appeals), Chennai, Dehradun, and Ahmedabad, respectively, against the said orders within the prescribed timelines. There is no material impact on the financials, operations, or other activities of the corporation due to these orders.

Bharti Airtel: The telecom operator has 32.85 percent market share in the wireless subscriber base, adding 3.52 lakh users in the month of October 2023 against 13.2 lakh users added in the previous month. As of October 2023, the private access service providers held a 91.75 percent market share of the wireless subscribers, whereas BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU access service providers, had a market share of only 8.25 percent.

Vodafone Idea: The telecom operator with a 19.59 percent market share recorded a loss of 20.4 lakh users in October 2023, against a loss of 7.5 lakh users in September 2023. As of October 2023, the private access service providers held a 91.75 percent market share of the wireless subscribers, whereas BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU access service providers, had a market share of only 8.25 percent.

Indian Energy Exchange: The energy exchange has recorded a 14.9 percent on-year growth in total volumes at 9,707 MU (million units), while total electricity volumes grew by 8.7 percent YoY to 8,655 MU during the month. The market clearing price in the day ahead market for the month was Rs 4.54 per unit, marking a 13 percent YoY decrease, while the real-time electricity market (RTM) volume increased to 2,405 MU in December 2023 from 1,763 MU in December 2022, registering an increase of 36.4 percent YoY.

Vedanta: More than 97 percent of bondholders of Vedanta Resources (VRL) approved the restructuring of $3.2 billion worth of bonds due to mature in the next three years. With this, the mining conglomerate has secured the required approval from at least two-thirds of the bondholders to proceed with the restructuring plan. Meanwhile, the alumina production at Lanjigarh refinery grew by 6 percent YoY and 1 percent QoQ to 4,70,000 metric tons in Q3 FY24, while saleable ore production from Karnataka increased 13 percent QoQ driven by improved operational efficiency (but down 3 percent YoY), and pig iron production grew 1 percent YoY and down 7 percent QoQ on account of the capital shutdown of one smaller furnace.

LTIMindtree: The IT services company has received a tax demand order under the Maharashtra Goods & Services Tax Act from the Department of Goods and Service Tax, Office of the Deputy Commissioner of State Tax, Mumbai. The authority raised a tax demand amounting to Rs 205.9 crore (including a penalty of Rs 9.1 crore and interest).

Satin Creditcare Network: The microfinance institution said the meeting of the Working Committee of the Board of Directors is scheduled to be held on January 8 to consider the fund-raising proposal through the issuance of non-convertible debentures on a private placement basis.

NHPC: The state-owned power company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Gujarat Power Corporation (GPCL) for a proposed investment of Rs 4,000 crore in the Kuppa Pumped Storage Project (750 MW), Chhota Udaipur, Gujarat, with the proposed year for the commencement of the investment being 2024–25.

Induslnd Bank: The private sector lender has registered a 13 percent on-year growth in deposits (up 3 percent QoQ) at Rs 3.69 lakh crore for the quarter ended December FY24, while advances grew by 4 percent sequentially and 20 percent year-on-year to Rs 3.27 lakh crore during the said quarter. The CASA ratio dropped to 38.5 percent in Q3 FY24, compared to 42 percent in the year-ago period and 39.4 percent in the previous quarter. Retail deposits and deposits from small business customers amounted to Rs 1,65,353 crore as of December 2023, compared to Rs 1,57,187 crore as of September 2023.

Ujjivan Small Finance Bank: The small finance bank has recorded a strong 29 percent on-year growth in total deposits at Rs 29,869 crore for the quarter ended December FY24, while gross loan book grew by 27 percent YoY to Rs 27,791 crore during the quarter. Deposits and gross loan book growth on a sequential basis stood at 3 percent and 5 percent, respectively. CASA grew by 24 percent YoY (up 8 percent QoQ) to Rs 7,549 crore, while the CASA ratio dropped to 25.3 percent in Q3 FY24 against 26.2 percent in Q3 FY23 but improved from 24.1 percent in Q2 FY24. Disbursements during the quarter increased by 17 percent YoY to Rs 5,675 crore during the December FY24 quarter, but fell 1 percent QoQ.

Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals: The fertilizer company said the Board of Directors will be meeting on January 8 to consider a proposal to buyback equity shares of the company. Hence, the trading window for dealing in securities of the company will continue to remain closed for all the designated persons of the company (including their immediate relatives) until further information.

Mphasis: The information technology solutions provider announced a strategic reallocation of leadership responsibilities to accelerate growth across multiple vectors. Ashish Devalekar has joined the company as Head of Europe with effect from January 3, while Anurag Bhatia, the current Head of Europe, will lead Mphasis’ Global Business Process Services business (BPS).

Torrent Power: The power utility of the diversified Torrent Group has signed four non-binding Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with the Government of Gujarat. Through the said four MoUs, Torrent Power has proposed total investments of Rs 47,350 crore in renewable energy, green hydrogen, and power distribution.

GM Breweries: GM Breweries and IND Renewable Energy will release their quarterly earnings for the period of October–December FY24 on January 4.

BGR Energy Systems: The State Bank of India has classified the credit exposure of the company with them as substandard with effect from February 2, 2023, and the Central Bank of India downgraded the asset classification of the company’s accounts with them to non-performing asset on December 26, 2023, due to divergence observed by the RBI. As of November 30, 2023, the company has an overall credit exposure of Rs 2,060 crore with SBI, while the company has an overall credit exposure of Rs 74 crore with the Central Bank of India. The company is regular in servicing the interest and other charges due to both banks as of date.

Gujarat Hotels: Nakul Anand, consequent to his retirement from ITC, has stepped down from the position of Chairman and Non-Executive Director of Gujarat Hotels with effect from January 2.

Surya Roshni: The company has received an order worth Rs 72 crore from the Odisha Urban Infrastructure Development Fund (OUIDF), Government of Odisha, for the project and maintenance of LED street lighting projects in 16 urban local bodies (ULBs) in Cluster C in Odisha.