Business Standard Podcast

The fourth quarter corporate earnings announcement by Reliance Industries and the beginning of the second phase of voting for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls are among the top factors likely to affect investor sentiment on Thursday, the final day of this truncated week. Oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries (RIL) is expected to report weak refining earnings though its retail and petrochemical businesses are expected to partially offset the weakness in its March quarter results. RBL Bank and ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company will also announce their FY19Q4 results on Thursday. The second phase of voting for Lok Sabha 2019 polls is scheduled for Thursday in 95 constituencies across 12 states and union territories. Moreover, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will also release minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting held earlier this month which led to a policy rate cut. Apart from these factors, investors will also track closely stock-specific action, movement of rupee against the US dollar, oil prices and FII inflows. GLOBAL CUES Asian shares were subdued on Thursday after a negative performance on Wall Street, with caution ahead of business surveys in Europe and Japan, and the Good Friday and Easter holidays keeping investors on the sidelines. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan inched up 0.08 per cent, trading just below its highest since late July 2018 brushed on Wednesday. Australian shares advanced a quarter of a per cent while Japan’s Nikkei was a shade lower. STOCKS TO WATCH FY19Q4 results: Reliance Industries, RBL Bank, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company, DCB Bank, Andhra Pradesh Tanneries, Jay Bharat Maruti, among others Jet Airways has suspended operations after lenders turned down the airline’s demand for emergency funding.  Mindtree reported a 3.8 per cent growth in Q4 profit to Rs 198.4 crore while revenue rose 2.9 per cent to Rs 1,839.4 crore. Moreover, the company has recommended a final dividend of Rs 4 per share for FY19 and a special dividend of Rs 20 per share CRISIL announced FY19Q4 results on Wednesday where it reported a dip in profit. The company also fixed the interim dividend of Rs 6 per share. Reliance Industries has signed a deal with Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) for a strategic stake sale in six very large ethane carriers (VLECs) ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company: ICRA has reaffirmed the iAAA rating to the company's claims-paying ability. Cadila Healthcare: Zydus has received final US FDA approval for Acetazolamide for injection.

The government recently appointed nine private sector specialists as joint secretaries in various departments through lateral hiring. Lateral entry means the appointment of specialists from the private sector in government organisations. The Personnel Ministry had in June last year invited applications for the joint secretary-rank posts through lateral entry mode in revenue, financial services, economic affairs, agriculture and farmers welfare, road transport and highways, shipping, environment, forest and climate change, new and renewable energy, civil aviation and commerce departments. The government received over 6,000 applications in response to its advertisement. The task to select candidates was given to the UPSC which announced the result on Friday. Those selected are Amber Dubey (for civil aviation), Arun Goel (commerce), Rajeev Saksena (Economic Affairs), Sujit Kumar Bajpayee (environment, forest and climate change), Saurabh Mishra (financial services) and Dinesh Dayanand Jagdale (new and renewable energy), it said. Suman Prasad Singh has been selected for appointment as joint secretary in road transport and highways ministry, Bhushan Kumar in Shipping and Kokoli Ghosh for agriculture, cooperation and farmers welfare, the UPSC said.

Benchmark indices ended on a strong note on Tuesday after hitting fresh record highs in the intra-day trade on Tuesday. The S&P BSE Sensex hit a new lifetime high of 39,364.34 in the trade while the broader Nifty50 index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) surpassed 11,800 level to hit a record of 11,810.95. At close, the 30-share index Sensex of BSE ended at 39,276, up 370 points or 0.95 per cent while Nifty closed at 11,787, up 97 points or 0.83 per cent. In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended 19 points or 0.12 per cent higher at 15,521, while the S&P BSE SmallCap index closed at 15,172, up 57 points, or 0.37 per cent. Among sectoral indices, private bank stocks gained the most, followed by financial services and auto stocks.  Jet Airways ended around 8 per cent lower at Rs 241.50 apiece on the NSE after reports suggested the airline may shut down its opeartions temporarily. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) hit a six-month high, extending its Monday’s 5 per cent rally on the BSE, after the company reported better than expected 2.4 per cent growth in constant currency (CC) revenue in the March 2018 quarter of financial year 2018 - 19 (Q4FY19). The stock settled at Rs 2,132 apiece on BSE, up over 1 per cent.  Polycab India shares made a strong stock market debut by listing at Rs 633, an 18 per cent hike against its issue price of Rs 538 per share on the BSE. The stock ended at Rs 655.00, up 3.48 per cent.

All eyes will be on Wipro on Tuesday as the IT major reports its FY19 March quarter results. Analysts expect the company to report 1-1.5 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) growth in revenues in constant currency (CC) terms, in line with the company's 0-2 per cent guidance for the quarter.  Wipro's board will also consider a buyback proposal worth Rs 12,000 crore, for which it recently received approval from SEBI. Apart from these factors, investors will also track closely other stock-specific action, movement of rupee against the US dollar, oil prices and FII inflows. On the global front, reports said that America could stop insisting China ended industrial subsidies that gave weight to the optimism that Washington and Beijing could reach a trade truce. The domestic equity market ended in the positive territory on Monday. The S&P BSE Sensex gained 139 points or 0.36 per cent to settle at 38,906 while the broader Nifty50 index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended at 11,690, up 47 points or 0.40 per cent. GLOBAL CUES Asian stocks hovered below a nine-month peak on Tuesday after disappointing bank earnings dented Wall Street, though recent signs the global economy is likely to avoid a sharper downturn helped limit the losses. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan stood little changed. Japan’s Nikkei nudged up 0.25 per cent. STOCKS TO WATCH Jet Airways: A crucial meeting of the company's board of directors is scheduled for Tuesday after banks refused emergency interim funding to the airline. According to reports, Jet Airways is "left with no cash, a seven-plane fleet and fuel to run operations only till Tuesday afternoon". Wipro: The IT major will announce its Q4FY19 results Hathway Cable reported 9.1 per cent dip in revenue to Rs 132.4 crore YoY in its Q4 results on Monday Syndicate Bank cuts MCLR rate by 5 bps across all tenures. Deepak Fertilisers starts commercial production of nitric acid plant in Gujarat's Dahej Suven Life Sciences gets US court's approval to buy assets of Rising Pharmaceuticals.

In episode 3 of Business Standard’s political podcast, Ankur Bhardwaj and Aditi Phadnis discuss the SC’s notice to Rahul Gandhi, abusive poll campaign and phase two of polls We are now in the middle of an intense and rather heated election campaign all over India. Phase 1 of voting took place on 11 April and phase 2 takes place on Thursday, 18th April. 97 constituencies across 13 seats will go to polls on that day. This would include all 39 seats in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu. On Monday, the SC also heard a contempt petition filed by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi against Congress President Rahul Gandhi. The BJP MP alleged that Rahul Gandhi had made a statement and wrongly attributed it to the SC. This was related to the slogan the Congress party has used in these polls to attack the prime minister. The SC also questioned the Election Commission of India over the lack of action against leaders making communal appeals in campaigns. After the rap on the knuckles, the ECI acted and barred Adityanath from campaigning for 72 hours and Mayawati for 48 hours. Click on the link and tune in for more

The domestic equity market ended in the positive territory on Monday following firm global cues and buying in blue-chip counters such as TCS, HDFC Bank and Tata Motors. The S&P BSE Sensex gained 139 points or 0.36 per cent to settle at 38,906 with Tata Motors being the top gainer and Infosys the biggest loser.  Market breadth remained in favour of bulls as out of 2,800 companies traded on BSE, 1,454 advanced and 1,129 scrips declined while 217 securities remained unchanged.  In the broader market, the S&P BSE Midcap index advanced 75 points or 0.49 per cent to close at 15,502, while the S&P BSE SmallCap index settled at 15,115.20, up 93 points or 0.62 per cent. The broader Nifty50 index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended at 11,690, up 47 points or 0.40 per cent. Metal stocks gained the most in the trade, followed by realty and auto counters. The Nifty Metal index ended at 3,141, up 70 points or 2.27 per cent. Out of 15 constituents, 14 ended in the green and 1 in the red. On the contrary, PSU banks fell the most with the Nifty PSU Bank index ending at 3,289 level, down 0.40 per cent.  Tata Motors ended over 7 per cent higher at Rs 231 apiece on the BSE on expectation of improved outlook. The stock has rallied 62 per cent from its February 8, 2019, low of Rs 142, after the company's promoter, Tata Sons bought shares worth over Rs 500 crore in the company through open market. TCS ended nearly 5 per cent higher at Rs 2,110 after posting robust numbers for March quarter of financial year 2019.  On the contrary, Infosys slipped 5 per cent in the intra-day trade after the company reported a lower-than-expected EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) margin for the March 2019 quarter (Q4FY19) at 21.5 per cent. The stock, eventually, ended at Rs 727 apiece on BSE, down nearly 3 per cent. 

The Supreme Court today said that it will not interfere in the Tik Tok matter as the Madras High Court is hearing it on Tuesday. Madras High Court on April 4  directed the Central Government to ban popular Chinese video app TikTok, saying it was "encouraging pornography". The order also directs the media from telecasting videos made using the app. TikTok, an app that allows users to create and share short videos with special effects, has over 54 million monthly active users in India. To know more about  Tik Tok and the ongoing controversy over it, do listen to this podcast

Delhi Chief Electoral office had approved the logo of NaMo TV, which the BJP said is a part of the NaMo app it owns However, the office did not "certify" the content since it contained old speeches of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.   Earlier, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting told the poll panel that NaMo TV was an advertising platform and did not require a license from the ministry. To know more about NaMo TV and the controversy over its legality and ownership, do listen to this podcast

The Supreme Court has directed all political parties to furnish receipts of electoral bonds and details of identity of donors in a sealer cover to the Election Commission. The order was passed on a plea of an NGO which challenged the validity of the scheme and sought that either the issuance of electoral bonds be stayed or names of donors be made public to ensure transparency in the poll process. As per provisions of the scheme, electoral bonds may be purchased by a person, who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India. To know more about electoral bonds and the controversy behind them, do listen to this podcast

There's finally some good news if you are looking to buy one of the latest iPhones. Starting today, Apple will start selling the iPhone XR at a price of Rs. 59,90 as compared to the earlier price of Rs 76,900. Not just this, under this limited time offer, HDFC debit and credit card holders will be eligible for 10 percent additional cash back which brings the  effective price in India down to an attractive Rs. 53,900.This is for the entry level iPhone XR (64GB variant) To know more about the discount offered on other variants and why apple has finally reduced the selling price of its phones, tune in to this podcast.

Organisations are making most out of the International Women’s Day, which is celebrated on March 8th. They are pitching interesting women's day marketing campaign to celebrate women's empowerment, honor their achievements or call for more progress on gender equality. From NASA to Air India to Britannia, among various organisations  which are running campaigns this year for International Women's Day, we have picked some interesting one, But is there more that brands can do for women?  listen to this podcast to know more

A new report by UK-based property consultant Knight Frank on Wednesday said India’s billionaire population is expected to grow 37 per cent in the next five years, beating the global and Asian averages. Those with net assets of $30 million or more are regarded as ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWIs). Growth among the ultra rich people in India is expected to see a rise of 39 per cent, the highest globally.  India is followed by The Philippines (38 per cent) and China (35 per cent).  India saw a rise of 116 per cent in billionaires from 2013-18 and Bengaluru is expected to lead the UHNWIs growth story, the report said. For more on this and to know some interesting facts about the Knight Frank's Wealth Report, listen to this podcast