Bullets

Tata's super app, Tata Neu, is now piloting food & beverage ordering on ONDC in parts of Delhi-NCR & Bengaluru. This is the first time Tata has entered ONDC as a buyer.

Other Tata enterprises, such as BigBasket and StarQuik, are also participating in the pilot and have been available on ONDC as sellers.

Out of the 7.68 million monthly orders in ONDC, 9.55% are from the food and beverage sector. It appears that Tata Neu has great potential on ONDC.

2024 is going to witness many major Mergers & Acquisitions on the horizon. As per a report, business M&A saw a jump in 2024’s first quarter, reaching a near two-year high. 

This was driven by the massive Reliance-Disney deal, even though the overall number of deals only increased slightly to 427 from 422.

The values of these deals surged by 4% to $20.416 billion (around ₹1.69 lakh crore).

Ola & Uber are testing subscription plans for auto rickshaw drivers in some Indian cities. This follows similar plans by competitors like Namma Yatri and Swiggy-backed Rapido.

Drivers pay a fixed fee (weekly or monthly) for unlimited rides, potentially saving on commission fees, which is a part of the 5% GST applicable by the companies.

A smart subscription model that reduces costs for the company. Competitors should take note!

Indian stock markets boomed on Monday. For the first time, the total value of all listed companies on the BSE stock exchange reached a record ₹400 lakh crore. 

In just nine months, the market cap grew ₹100 lakh crore from its last peak of ₹300 lakh crore on 5 July 2023.

This surge is partly due to retail investors moving their money from traditional savings to the stock market.

Byju Raveendran, the founder of ed-tech firm Byju's, lost his position on the Forbes Billionaire Index 2024. His net worth dropped from $2.1 billion (₹17,545 crore) to 0.

Raveendran’s Byju’s has been suffering from multiple crises, including issues with shareholders, declining finances, and downgrading valuation (now $1 billion).

The rising unpopularity of Byju’s and regular criticisms from all directions played a major role in this outcome.  

Well-known startups like Lenskart, Purplle, and Healtkart are looking for funds to boost their valuations. Lenskart is eyeing a $6 million valuation, and Purplle is to raise a $100 million investment.

In the same context, Swiggy-backed Rapido and Temasek-backed Healthkart are discussing fresh funding rounds.

Most deals will happen through a secondary route as existing investors sell stakes to new investors to generate returns.

India’s new unicorn, Zepto, is planning a fundraising of $300 million, which is over ₹24,000 crore from global investors. The fresh funding would contribute to Zepto’s plan to shift from quick commerce to e-commerce.

This investment would take Zepto’s valuation from $1.4 billion to somewhere near $2.5-3 billion. Zepto also aims to accomplish a positive EBITDA for the September quarter.

Looks like Zomato & Swiggy are going to have a major competitor in the new unicorn Zepto.

Infosys got a surprise tax refund of ₹6,329 crore for the past 11 years, but the taxman isn't done yet. The refunds are from the assessment years 2007-08 to 2018-19 (excluding 2016-17).

They also owe a tax demand of ₹2,763 crore for 2022-23 and ₹4 crore for the year 2011-12.

Regardless, Infosys paid ₹7,474 crore in taxes for the first 9 months of 2023, so this refund is a big boost.

The securities broking and merchant banking subsidiary of ICICI Bank, ICICI Securities, is all set to bid adieu to the stock market.

The company announced its delistment from the indices in June 2023, and now shareholders have waved the green flag for the move.

The approval brought a 4% slip in the early hours of the company’s stock price on 28 March intraday.

Read about when and why ICICI Securities is delisting and how it could affect you from this article.

The beta version of the T+0 settlement system will launch from 28 March onwards for 25 selective stocks. This initiative of the Indian stock market is a unique step to reduce a shorter trade settlement cycle.

Here, the funds and shares would be sent to the seller and buyers’ accounts on the same day (T = Trade Day and 0 = no. of days). 

SBI, Ambuja Cements, Ashok Leyland, Bajaj Auto, Tata Communications, Bank of Baroda, BPCL, etc. are the few selective stocks for the beta version.

With the profound success of the Tata Technologies IPO, which was oversubscribed 69 times, Tata Group has multiple similar plans for the near future.

Tata Capital, Tata Autocomp Systems, Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, BigBasket, Tata Digital, Tata Electronics, Tata Housing and Tata Batteries are included for to-be publicly listed companies.

Tata Group wishes to expand into new sectors such as digital, retail, semiconductors, and electric vehicle batteries.

Which of these would make the final list is yet to be seen.

Top IT stocks in India, including Infosys, HCL Tech, Wipro and TCS, suddenly dropped 3-5% Friday morning. The reason for the market's leaning downwards is another IT firm, Accenture.

Accenture announced a reduction in its FY24 revenue forecast from 2-5% to 1-3%, which led to the whole IT sector facing caution. As a result, the Nifty Index fell 3% within a few hours of the market opening.

Economic uncertainty became the reason for the IT companies' falling benchmark, as Accenture is considered a key peer.

Curious to know how the IT sector may fare? Read the article on the IT sector and investor insights.

With the Federal Reserve System (US Fed) announcing interest rate cuts in June, the Indian stock market bloomed.

Sensex hiked over 750 points, and Nifty showed a 1% upward movement, increasing the market capitalisation of listed companies by ₹5.71 lakh crore. Now, the total market cap is about ₹379.53 lakh crore.

Will this bull rally continue, or will other adverse effects befall the nation?

One of India’s top private banks, HDFC, has completed selling its stakes in HDFC Credila for ₹9,552.73 crore. These stakes were bought by private equity firms BPEA EQT and ChrysCapital.

Bank’s education finance arm, Credila’s share transfer, was a necessary regulatory requirement to finish the Housing Development Finance Corporation merger with HDFC Bank.

The stake sale came just a month before the fourth quarter results came out. Read about why the merger is happening from the article: HDFC Bank Merger. 

Tata Sons is planning a block deal to divest 0.065% of shares to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in the open market.

Around 23.4 million shares would be offloaded at a floor price of ₹4,001, raising the capital of about ₹9,362 crore.

Tata Sons' block deal would be handled by investment banks JP Morgan and Citi, and its base price is 3.7% lower than the TCS stock’s last close. 

SpiceJet lenders have approved increasing the initial bidding amount for Go First of ₹16 billion by ₹1-₹1.5 billion. Sources say SpiceJet’s CMD Ajay Singh led this increment plan for the bidding.

The now-bankrupt airline Go First has been looking for buyers, and it received two bidders, including Sharjah-based Sky One Airways and SpiceJet.

Know the complete story of how Go First became bankrupt and filed for insolvency from the article: Go First Airline Insolvency.

Infosys Co-Founder Narayana Murthy has again made news after the controversial 60-hour work statement. This time, the news surrounds his 4-month-old grandson Ekagrah Rohan Murty.

Murthy has transferred shares worth ₹240 crore to his grandson's name, making the little child the youngest millionaire in India. 

Child Ekagrah now owns 1,500,000 shares, amounting to a 0.04% stake in Infosys. This is an excellent example of being born with a silver spoon in your mouth. 🥄

SBI was compelled by the Supreme Court to disclose data on now-banned electoral bonds. A list of top electoral bond donors and political party-wise donation amounts was revealed.

Companies like Vedanta Ltd., Jindal Steel & Power Ltd., Birla Carbon India Pvt. Ltd., etc. donated from ₹100 crore to over ₹1200 crores individually.  

SC is demanding that SBI disclose the unique alphanumeric numbers for electoral bonds by 18 March. The upcoming revelations will expose the troubling connection between Indian politics and business.

India’s central bank, RBI, receives permission to import gold without paying additional import levies. Originally, importers had to pay 15% customs duty and 5% Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) to import gold.

RBI holds 800.79 metric tonnes of gold, of which 372.84 metric tonnes are held domestically, and 388.06 metric tonnes are overseas.

The Centre raised import duty on gold & silver findings and coins from 11% to 15% in January 2024. For the world’s 2nd largest gold consumer, this is a major step.

Taking the chip manufacturing industry to a notch high, PM Narendra Modi laid the foundation for India’s first chip fabrication unit in Dholera, Gujarat.

3 projects, namely the Tata-PSMC chip foundry worth ₹91,000 crore, the ₹27,000 crore Tata OSAT facility, and the CG Power-Renesas worth ₹7,600 crore, have been approved by the Cabinet.

This chip fabrication unit by Tata Group will help India boost its self-reliance and become a manufacturing power hub.

Analyse the semiconductor industry by learning about the top stocks in India.