Results Are Out
It is that time of the year. Major Indian companies released their quarterly earnings. RIL reported a 5.4% Y0Y decline in net profit to reach Rs 15,138 crore. Net profit for IT major Infosys rose by 7% to Rs 6,368 crore for the quarter. At FMCG giant HUL, it increased by 3% to Rs 2,538 crore. HDFC Bank’s consolidated net profit grew 33.17% to Rs 16,475 crore. Asian Paints, in its quarter results, announced a decline of 24.6% to post Rs 1,186.79 crore net profit. LTIMindtree Q1 net profit dipped 1.5% to Rs 1,135 crore for the first quarter of the year.
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Blue Screen of Death
A global IT outage caused by an update from Microsoft’s cyber security partner CrowdStrike on July 18 disrupted nearly 8.5 million devices across the world which were using Microsoft Windows operating system. The outage lasted for hours and disrupted ground transport systems, banking operations, stock exchanges, brokerages and auto companies, globally. Normal services were resumed only the next day.
Meta Verified for Businesses
Meta has introduced its verified subscription plans for businesses on Facebook and Instagram in India. Plans start at Rs 639. Meta Verified for businesses offering includes the verified badge, enhanced account support, impersonation protection among other features.
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Realty Gets a Luxe Twist
Sales of luxe homes ( Rs 4-crore-plus) rose by 27% across seven cities till June, as per CBRE’s India Market Monitor Q2 2024 report. Sales stood at 8,500 units with Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Hyderabad accounting for 84%. Meanwhile, India’s real estate sector has surpassed China, boasting 36 homegrown companies valued at $1 billion or more said GROHE-Hurun India Real Estate 100 report.
Banks Eye Infra Bonds
SBI raised Rs 10,000 crore through infra bonds with a 15-year tenure at a coupon rate of 7.36%. Other public sector banks followed suit: Canara Bank raised Rs 10,000 crore at a coupon rate of 7.4% through 10-year infra bonds and Bank of India raised Rs 5,000 crore at a coupon rate of 7.54%. Bank of Maharashtra has said it is looking to raise Rs 10,000 crore. The interest in infra bonds among banks is spurred by the advantage that they get as these bonds are exempted from regulatory reserve requirements and can be fully used for lending activities.
Labour Productivity Shrinks: Reserve Bank of India
Labour productivity in nine industries out of 27 of them contracted in FY23 compared with the previous year, according to an analysis of KLEMS (Capital, Labour, Energy, Material and Service) data released recently by the Reserve Bank of India. The fact that eight of these industries belonged to manufacturing highlights India’s lack of competitiveness in industrial sectors.
