Indian Businesses

At 1.28 p.m. on Monday, the shares of PVR traded at Rs 1,875, up 3 per cent, whereas INOX Leisure at Rs 519, up over 10 per cent. As per reports, the shares of the two companies surged as much as 10 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively, in the opening session on Monday. Film exhibition majors, PVR and INOX Leisure on Sunday announced merger and their Boards approved an all stock amalgamation of INOX with PVR.

The banks will observe a nationwide strike on Monday (March 28) and Tuesday (March 29) to protest against the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, and oppose the privatisation of public sector banks. The decision to go on a strike was taken by a joint forum of central trade unions. The All India Bank Employees Association had on Saturday announced that it would observe two day's strike to oppose the move of the Central government.

The regulator has proposed changes to various procedural activities involved in the 'buy back' tender offers which would help reduce the overall time required in the 'open offer' process from 43 working days to 36 working days. Besides, other proposed amendments would help reduce the overall time required in the 'open offer' process from the existing timeline of 62 working days to proposed timeline of 42 working days.

Replying to the debate on the Finance Bill, the minister told the Lok Sabha that corporate tax collections stood at Rs 7.3 lakh crore so far this fiscal. Besides, Sitharaman pointed out that the Central government did not increase taxes last year or this year. She cited that 32 countries like Germany, France, Canada, UK among others increased taxes.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in its latest report titled “Tapering in a Time of Conflict”, downgraded India’s projected growth from 6.7 percent to 4.6 percent for the year 2022 saying the Indian economy will suffer due to shocks from the Ukraine war and changes in macroeconomic policies.

"We have been working very closely with the government for last two years to identify opportunities in MRO," said Ashmita Sethi, President and country head, Pratt & Whitney. She hoped that the government will provide incentives and tax holidays to players who are willing to invest in India. To a query at a news conference on the sidelines of Wings India 2022, the civil aviation show that began at Begumpet Airport here on Thursday

Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd is a publicly listed real estate company with shares traded on the BSE and NSE. It has completed more than 100 million square feet of construction in all verticals of real estate. On Wednesday, its shares settled at Rs 8.50, up 4.9 per cent. At the start of March, the share prices were at little over Rs 4. As per reports, Adani Properties is a frontrunner among eight resolution applicants.

According to HDFC Securities, funding activities have created 42 unicorns in 2021. In financial parlance, a startup is considered to have become a unicorn once it achieves a value of over $1 billion. Last year, India added 42 unicorns in 2021 alone, taking the total tally to 79. The country is ranked third in the world in terms of the total number of unicorns. The optimism of investing in Indian internet ecosystem can be linked to the immense growth potential and problem solving or disruptive nature of startups."

On Friday, the rupee closed at 75.80 to a greenback. Lately, high commodity prices, as well as outflow of foreign funds from equity markets have weakened the Indian rupee against the US dollar. The rising prices of crude oil, along with other commodities triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war has kept pressure on the rupee.

Notably, the consumer price index (CPI) inflation print has remained at elevated level due to higher-than-expected vegetable prices in February. Moreover, inflation is expected to remain at elevated levels due to higher crude oil price in subsequent months owing to the Russia-Ukraine crisis. "Nevertheless, we still expect the RBI to prioritise growth in its April 2022 monetary policy meet as we believe growth is still a bigger concern currently rather than inflation," said Motilal Oswal Financial Services.