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-Download of PhonePe and NPCI's BHIM app surge
-NCLT set to hear the Zee-Sony merger plea today


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00:31 Benchmark indices close in the green as broader markets outperform.
00:36 Most sectoral indices close higher with IT becoming the top gaining sector.
00:42 Paytm recovers after hitting lower circuit in the last three sessions.
00:50 Sources tell NDTV Profit that promoter Vijay Shekhar Sharma met RBI officials yesterday.
00:56 Downloads of PhonePe and NPCI's Bheem surge since January 31st as merchants remain wary of Paytm's future after the RBI's strict action on Paytm Payments Bank.
01:12 PhonePe clocks downloads of 42 lakh while over 24 lakh users have installed Bheem as per data from AppTweak.
01:27 Finance Minister says inflation affects farmers and consumers differently and items within the basket and their weightages are being discussed in the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
01:43 The rural-urban consumption gap is finally beginning to narrow.
01:47 That's according to a report by Nielsen IQ. The rural markets grew 5.8% in the third quarter, catching up with the urban region which rose by a moderate 6.8%.
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02:09 Hello and welcome. You're watching the Reporter on NDTV Profit. I'm your host Pallavi Nihata and as always we'll bring to you market headlines along with national and international news makers.
02:22 Let's go straight to the markets first. The Nifty and the Sensex rebounded as IT stocks and L&T rallied.
02:30 Let's go across to Neeraj Shah for a wrap up of the day's markets action. Neeraj.
02:36 Well, interesting day for the markets. Trending day actually. And to think of the fact that we started off the day with a telecom stock being the best performer and it being relegated to the 12th best performing stock just shows the breadth of activity on the Nifty and at the broader end of the spectrum.
02:54 The market breadth extremely constructive for a better part of the trading day today ending if not at the day's high then virtually at the highest range, highest point of the range that we've had today.
03:06 Now, what participated? Banks did not, but IT did, metals did and actually if you look at the top 10 gainers on the Nifty then almost every other stock did from life insurance companies like HDFC Life and SBI Life to IT names like TCS and HCL Technologies to Larsen and Toubro being up 2.5% a clutch of names participating out there.
03:30 At the broader end of the spectrum too, if you just zoomed out, yes, there were PSUs which are sulking in trade and getting beaten down, but there were PSU stocks which are doing very well too in the session today.
03:41 There were some clear earnings, how do I say, reactions that we saw, so from a responsive industries to an Ashok Leyland, all of them started off reasonably well at least and did reasonably okay for themselves to stocks which had a weak quarter and definitely corrected in the session today starting with Tata Chemicals, had a big, big knock at open.
04:06 So, in some sense, the market respecting what the quarterly performance has happened and in some sense a bit of a broad based participation on the Nifty at least while the banks sulked, kept the index in fine fettle, ending at the high point of the day on a day when not necessarily the world markets did well.
04:24 So, it's a good move ahead of the RBI policy two days later. Let's see how we do for the next two days.
04:34 Absolutely. Thanks a lot for that, Neeraj. Paytm shares have jumped 8% after their worst three-day rout since listing. Sources have told NDTV Profit that promoter Vijay Shekhar Sharma met RBI officials yesterday.
04:49 Now, we also understand that Paytm has approached three private banks but they were not too keen on any transactions at this stage. Banks want to stay clear as of now while the RBI's case is still on.
05:03 But after the RBI's crackdown on Paytm, trouble for the company has been piling up. On the other end, PhonePe and NPCIS BIMAP have seen a surge in downloads in the past week.
05:17 Merchants and users continue to be wary of Paytm's future after the RBI's strict action on Paytm Payments Bank. My colleague Rishabh Bhatnagar joins us with more details about what's happening for some of these other apps which are benefiting.
05:33 Rishabh, what do you have in terms of download figures for other apps? What's it looking like? How are they benefiting and who all are these players?
05:43 That's right. We have our hands on some app download data that we've sourced from AppTweak. Now, this is combined data across Google's Play Store as well as Apple's App Store.
05:56 And what we're seeing is that PhonePe and BIMAP have emerged as the two winners as the RBI continues its crackdown on Paytm's Payments Bank.
06:06 What we're seeing is that since Jan 31st, which is when the RBI imposed the directions, Paytm saw about 12.4 lakh new downloads, which was lower than the 17.7 lakh downloads it received in the week ago period.
06:21 In comparison, PhonePe received about 42.5 lakh downloads versus the 31.3 lakh downloads it received in the week ago period. Similarly, the government-backed BIMAP also saw about 24.4 lakh downloads compared to the 13.8 lakh downloads it received in the week ago period.
06:40 On the B2B side, we're also seeing that merchants and small traders that use the QR codes and sound boxes for payments, they're also shunning Paytm.
06:49 PhonePe's business app saw about 7.4 lakh downloads since Jan 31st compared to only about 1.9 lakh that it usually receives over the past few weeks.
07:01 In comparison, Paytm for business downloads came down to about 1.6 lakh from the 2.2 lakh it received earlier.
07:09 We also spoke to a PhonePe spokesperson. They also confirmed that inbound requests from merchants for QR codes as well as super speakers are increasing and they're doing whatever they can to actually make sure that they reach this demand.
07:26 What we're also seeing is that over the weekend, we also saw the Confederation of All India Traders advise their traders to move from Paytm to other platforms. So, this could also be an impact of that.
07:39 We'll continue to bring all of the markets action on the Paytm front over the next few days as the action unfolds. But moving on, HDFC Bank has received the RBI nod to acquire up to 9.5% stake in Yes Bank, In Dozen Bank and four others. Harsh joins us with more on this. Harsh?
08:00 HDFC Bank Group has taken RBI approval for investment of 9.5% stake in 5-6 banks. I'm going to list the banks down first. You have the likes of Axis, ICICI and In Dozen. Then you have Suryodhai and you also have Yes Bank.
08:20 None of these counters really moved in trade except for two counters. I'll mention those in specific. One was Yes Bank which moved and there was also Suryodhai which really moved in trade today 2% high. Yes Bank was up over 11% for most of the day in trade.
08:39 So, some positivity coming on the back of this announcement by HDFC Bank Group. What does this mean? Well, it just is an enabling provision which means that it allows or gives a right to HDFC Bank Group to purchase 9.5% stake in any or all of these banks.
08:56 What kind of companies within HDFC Bank would be interested in it? Well, two major ones. One is of course HDFC Mutual Fund which is HDFC AMC owned and that will probably make some investments in some of these banks.
09:11 The other one is obviously HDFC Life which is the life insurance business as well as HDFC Ergo which is general insurance business of HDFC which may also invest some component of that 9.5%.
09:22 But those are some of the stocks to watch out for with regard to this announcement and of course two of the stocks were buzzing on the back of this announcement.
09:29 Thanks a lot for that Harsh. Now moving on, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman spoke about how the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation is discussing the process of monitoring and rebasing inflation items within the basket and their weightages.
09:47 Listen in to a slice of that conversation.
09:52 The process of monitoring inflation, the discussion pertains to inflation and the brunt being borne by the consumers and the brunt being borne by the farmers particularly in the case of onions as we spoke about because the price affects one the one way, the other the other way.
10:11 But certainly the process of monitoring inflation and the basket and within the basket the items and their weightages are issues which are being discussed not just for the e-commerce or the technology digital driven prices but the components which go into items which constitute the CPI basket or which constitute the WPI basket.
10:36 And each item's weightage within that basket are things which have to be discussed in the Ministry of Programme and Statistics and Programme Implementation, MOSPI as it is briefly referred to.
10:49 It's a very critical question sir but I'm sure the MOSPI will be seized of it.
10:55 The Finance Minister also shed light on the fluctuating prices of pulses as the country continues to import them.
11:04 The FM also announced import restrictions have been put for onions to reduce any chances of price surge.
11:12 Listen in to a slice of the FM's speech on that as well in the Rajya Sabha.
11:17 We don't grow enough of pulses in this country so pulses prices are normally because of the shortfall in supply for which in anticipation depending on the crop estimates we start tying up for imports.
11:33 We have imported 8.79 lakh metric tons of tuar in the calendar year 2023.
11:42 So the moment these come we literally release them in the market and of course the traders are the ones with permits who import them and also market them.
11:52 Similarly for Masoor, 15.14 lakh metric tons of Masoor have also been imported and this is again calendar year 2023.
12:03 So similarly for Urad, I'll come to talking about onions sir.
12:09 25 kgs at 25 rupees per kg onions have been ready to release. The total release will be available as of 3rd February 2024.
12:24 We have released 3.96 lakh metric tons of onions in the market at that price of 25 rupees per kg.
12:33 Now import restrictions have also been made so that India grown onions, well it does mean a certain kind of implication on the farmer because he gets better price selling outside but because we want onions to be available in India we have curtailed their exports so that the prices can be kept within a reasonable limit.
12:56 Well those were some snippets of the FM speaking in the parliament today but moving on.
13:03 FMCG industry has seen a sequential decline in volume growth at the end of the third quarter.
13:09 My colleague Sesha joins us with more details. Sesha what do you have for us?
13:13 Right, while the overall volume growth of FMCG companies declined in the October to December quarter, what we have seen is that rural which forms 40% of FMCG sales has bridged the gap with thriving urban markets.
13:31 Now this is for the first time this year we are seeing such a significant reduction in the rural versus urban gap.
13:38 Now Nielsen has pointed out that habit forming categories such as biscuits and noodles thrived as product prices fell 0.4% across the country now again marking the first decline in more than two years.
13:55 Companies like Hindustan Unilever, Marico, Adani, Wilmar etc that have so far announced the quarterly results have already talked about the decline in price cuts.
14:06 Dabur India in fact you know is the only company to highlight the that the growth in rural areas outpaced urban pockets.
14:14 Now another key takeaway from the Nielsen report is that the non-food categories have grown on the back of higher rural consumption which grew 9.8% in the December quarter versus 6.7% in the September quarter.
14:28 However the urban growth in terms of you know non-food category has slowed. So Nielsen expects the overall consumer goods category to grow between 4.5% to 6.5% in 2024 as the rural demand recovers.
14:44 However at 4.5% that is the lower end if we have to consider this would translate to less than half the 9.3% growth rate achieved in 2023.
14:55 Thanks a lot for that Sesha. With that it's time to slip into a short break but stay tuned we have a lot more lined up on the other side for you.
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17:20 Welcome back you're watching the reporter on NDTV Profit. Now industry sources have told NDTV Profit that the mutual funds are not keen on signing agreements with newly formed execution only platforms.
17:43 Let's go across to Saloni Kothari for more on this.
17:47 Right Pallavi, so as you mentioned now I just want to give the understanding to our viewers as to what execution only platforms is.
17:53 The framework came into effect in December where the platforms will be allowed to only execute the mutual fund products instead of advising or you know being a brokerage in that.
18:04 So after that framework was announced there were about eight players that have registered with AMFI such as small case, MF Utilities, ET Money.
18:14 So now what we've gotten to know from the industry sources that from the AMC side, the fund houses side, they are not very keen to signing the agreements with these newly formed EOPs.
18:24 Because these AMCs will need to pay a flat fee of about rupees 2 to 2.5 per transaction as per the AMFI guidelines that has come.
18:32 Now this flat fee will obviously lead to the AMCs incurring cost.
18:38 Now why pay for something that you've been getting done for free? Technically is the logic I assume behind this.
18:44 And they are saying that the fee payment will lead to adjusting the other payments that they do make to other distributors.
18:51 Why is that? Because the AMC targets that is there, that is the specified target that they have to use to make these payments is something that will be stretched if they have to start paying for these platforms as well.
19:01 And they are also going to evaluate how this is going to create value, value creation from this model as well.
19:08 So also when we reached out to the platforms as well, we spoke to ET Money, Small Case and MF Utilities as well.
19:16 They are very much prepared to bring these platforms and the feature in their platforms.
19:22 And they are actually awaiting the formal agreements to be signed by the asset managers.
19:27 So we have to see how it goes and how exactly do these AMCs come forward with this.
19:32 Thanks a lot for that Saloni. Now a new update on the Sony Z merger case today.
19:39 NCLT Mumbai agrees to hear Z's petition on the terminated merger.
19:44 My colleague Charu Singh joins us with more on the latest.
19:48 The Z Sony merger termination dispute is far from over to the NCLT bench of Mumbai today heard the petition filed by Z Entertainment Enterprises against the termination of merger by Sony.
20:02 And they have asked Sony to give a reply to the petition in two weeks and the matter has been adjourned to March 12.
20:10 We should also remember the fact that Madman Film Ventures, which is a subsidiary of Z Entertainment Enterprises, also came forward with a similar case asking to implement the merger that was approved by NCLT last year in August.
20:24 And this litigation by Madman Film Ventures was called a proxy litigation and the party was called a proxy on behalf of Z by Sony.
20:32 However, NCLT bench in that hearing had said that it is the right body to adjudicate on the matter and now both the matters have been listed for March 12.
20:40 And let's see how the litigation unfolds.
20:43 Thanks for that Charu. Now my colleague Pragati caught up with Parag Rao on how HDFC is monitoring the Paytm situation.
20:53 Here's a slice of that conversation.
20:55 As of now nothing happens to that, that continues. But we are watching the situation as it evolves.
21:03 Fair enough. Sir, has also there been any communication from the RBI about Paytm's nodal account with your bank?
21:10 Really would not like to comment on that at this point and say it would be inappropriate.
21:16 If in general if you have to look at the whole payments business and the cards business also, with the recent thing that has happened with Paytm and do you see this as an opportunity for other banks and fintechs to grow or would there be a surge in demand in certain products where banks and fintechs would start capitalizing on that move?
21:37 Generally speaking in any industry if you see that maybe one or two players either change their strategy or reduce their business, I mean customers are smart today, they move to other service providers.
21:54 I see some of that happening already, some of the newspaper reports also say that. But that's only natural.
22:00 Moving on, today Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the India Energy Week in Goa. He spoke about how the world is looking to invest in India in the oil, gas and energy sectors. Let's listen in.
22:14 The reforms that our government has made, are increasing the production of natural gas in India rapidly.
22:27 We are trying to increase the production of natural gas from 6% to 15% in the primary energy mix.
22:42 In the next 5-6 years, we are going to invest approximately $67 billion. We are already one of the world's largest refineries.
23:06 Today our refining capacity has exceeded 254 mm TPA.
23:15 We have set a goal of reaching India's refining capacity to 450 mm TPA by 2030.
23:27 India has also become a pioneer in the areas of petrochemicals and other finished products.
23:40 I can give you many more examples, but the essence of all this is that India is currently investing so much in energy that has never been done before.
24:02 That is why nearly every leader in the world wants to invest in India.
24:20 More from the India Energy Week. We spoke to the SR Power CEO and he said that the company is planning to set up an integrated green hydrogen and battery manufacturing plant.
24:32 Listen in.
24:34 With the government of India's initiative of making ourselves wholly dependent on indigenous reserves, we plan to set up two units of 800 MW each, ultra-supercritical design based on domestic coal.
24:48 This will add 1600 MW to the state of Gujarat and the nation.
24:53 This will pump power to the Gujarat grid only.
24:58 We are building an integrated green molecule complex in Salaya, which will constitute solar and wind power coming from the Rana of Kutch,
25:12 where we are setting up a 4000 MW solar plant and 1000 MW wind plant in Jankambalia.
25:20 My colleague Vikas also caught up with the ONGC MD and CEO about the company's negotiations for a 500 million dollar Venezuelan dividend.
25:33 Listen in to that conversation.
25:37 We are thankful to the government for upgrading us to the Navratna status.
25:42 As you are aware, we are the leading international oil and gas company of India.
25:47 With the Navratna status, it gives us more power to the board, it gives us more authority and autonomy.
25:54 With this renewed status of creation, with India importing about 87-88% of its crude, it is now on to us to do more for the country and get more equity oil and gas to India.
26:07 Now that you spoke about India's overall requirement, what kind of exploration activities are you looking at going ahead,
26:16 given the kind of demand or growth that India is looking at? India also wants to be secure as far as energy is concerned.
26:22 ONGC Videsh is in 18 countries. In 15 countries we have our projects and in 3 business centers like Houston, Amsterdam and Singapore we have our offices.
26:32 We have 32 projects all over the world. Out of these 32 projects, 14 are producing.
26:38 Our main production comes from Colombia, Brazil, Abu Dhabi, Myanmar, Vietnam, Russia, Azerbaijan to name a few and South Sudan.
26:49 What we are focusing on now is for further acquisitions with focus on Africa, Latin America, Middle East, all of them.
26:57 We would like to do big ticket acquisitions and get more equity oil to India.
27:02 Well, that was the ONGC Videsh MD and CEO. That's all we have on the show for you today but stay tuned, we have a lot more coming up.
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