Thursday, November 28
Luxury home sales in India's top seven cities, priced over Rs 4 crore, saw a 97% increase from January to September 2023. Hyderabad ranked among the top three markets, following Delhi-NCR and Mumbai. The three leading cities accounted for 90% of luxury home sales during this period, with Delhi-NCR at 37%, Mumbai at 35%, and Hyderabad at 18%. CBRE predicts that the 2023 festive season will see the highest sales in residential real estate in the past three years.
Cooperation minister Amit Shah launched the 'Bharat Organics' brand of newly created National Cooperative Organics Ltd (NCOL) and asserted that it will emerge as the most "trusted" brand in India and abroad in the coming years. To establish itself as the most trusted brand, the minister said the government will expand the number of labs approved by the National Plant Protection Organization (NPPO) across the country from the existing 34. Shah also launched the NCOL's logo, website, brochure and NDDB's organic manure. He gave away NCOL membership certificates to five cooperative societies.
The US will provide $553 million in financing for a port terminal in Sri Lanka's capital, developed by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, to counter China's influence in the region. The funding from the International Development Finance Corp comes as both the US and India aim to reduce Beijing's sway over Sri Lanka. The deepwater West Container Terminal in Colombo is the DFC's largest infrastructure investment in Asia. The US funding is seen as an endorsement for Adani Group, which faced allegations of fraud earlier this year.
Investment management firm Lingotto has acquired an additional 16.5% stake in TVS Industrial and Logistics Parks, bringing its total stake to 21%. TVS ILP, a part of TVS Mobility Group, has entered into a strategic partnership with Lingotto, which is owned by Exor NV. British International Investor, a UK's DFI, has sold part of its stake to Lingotto. The transaction took place at an enterprise value of Rs 2,800 crore. Lingotto is an independent investment management company based in London.
The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 216.73 points to 64,741.96. The Nifty slipped 63.05 points to 19,348.70. Among the Sensex firms, ICICI Bank, Power Grid, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints and Larsen & Toubro were the major laggards. Bajaj Finserv, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance and Sun Pharma were the major gainers. The US markets ended with marginal gains on Monday. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 549.37 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.
India is working towards expediting the necessary approvals for Tesla's investment proposal by January 2024. The government is making concerted efforts to attract Tesla to the country, with various departments prioritizing the fast-tracking of approvals. Talks have been ongoing between Tesla executives and the Indian government regarding the establishment of car and battery manufacturing facilities in India.
Engine-maker Pratt & Whitney (PW) has informed IndiGo the latest powder metal contamination issue could see "aircraft on ground (AoG) in the range of mid-thirties in the fourth quarter (Jan-Mar 2024) due to accelerated engine removals." Already almost 50 IndiGo Airbus A320neo (new engine option) have been grounded for several months awaiting replacement GTF engines from PW, which means over 80 IndiGo planes could be grounded early next year. Any more engines going bust, a common thing with PW GTF engines that power the A320 neos, will add to this number.
Bigbloc Construction Ltd, a Gujarat-based company, is set to complete the expansion of its Kapadvanj unit in the next 6-7 months. The company, in a joint venture with Thailand's SCG Group, is constructing a plant for ALC Panels and AAC Blocks. The expansion is estimated to cost Rs 65 crore. In another expansion, company’s wholly owned subsidiary – Bigbloc Building Elements Pvt Ltd is expected to start work on the second phase of Wada project in Palghar, Maharashtra.
The Sensex rose by 595 points on Monday, marking its third consecutive session of gains. This was mainly driven by a drop in US gilt yields and a decrease in crude oil prices. Additionally, an upgrade for the Indian economy by Fitch Ratings boosted investor sentiment. In the last three sessions alone, the Sensex has gained 1,367 points or 2.2%, and market capitalization has increased by Rupees 8 lakh crore.
Baidu ordered artificial intelligence chips from Huawei this year, two people familiar with the matter said, adding to signs that US pressure is prompting Chinese acceptance of the firm's products as an alternative to Nvidia's. One of the people said Baidu, one of China's leading AI firms, which operates the Ernie large language model (LLM), placed the order in August, ahead of widely anticipated new rules by the US government that in October tightened restrictions on exports of chips and chip tools to China, including those of US chip giant Nvidia.
