Business News at 05:30 pm on 2nd July, 2024

Let’s begin…. Allied Blenders and Distillers lists at Rs 320, on the National Stock Exchange, a premium of 14.8% to the issue price. The company raised a total of Rs 1,500 crore by offering investors 53.4 million shares. The maker of Officer’s Choice whisky’s shares were attracting a premium of 21% in the grey market. The grey market is an unofficial place where shares are traded illegally ahead of listing. Allied Blenders IPO had a combination of a fresh issue and an offer for sale. In it, the company sold 35.6 million fresh shares for a sum of Rs 1,000 and the remaining 17.8 million shares through an offer for sale for a value of Rs 500 crores.

Moving on, Urban India is seeing a new phenomenon of Aerocities, which are fully functional business districts anchored around the airport. As per the latest report by 360 Realtors prepared in partnership with Axon Developers, the country has 9 Aerocity projects spread over 14,000 acres of land parcels. Close to 22% or 3050 acres of Aerocity land is operational in India, which includes Aerocities in Delhi, Hyderabad, Mohali, and Durgapur. Around 18% or 2585 acres of Aerocity land is under development and is expected to soon the enter the market supply. Some of the under-construction projects include 150 acres of project near the newly-inaugurated Valmiki International airport in Ayodhya, 463-acre mixed-use project near Devanahalli airport, and 172-acre Aerocity project near the Jewar Airport, which is slated to open soon.

Furthermore, ICICI Bank on Tuesday launched its ‘Student Sapphiro Forex Card’, a premium forex prepaid card crafted specifically for students who are going abroad for higher education. The card, powered by Visa, provides exclusive benefits and convenience to students as well as their parents to manage education related expenses abroad such as admission fees, course-related fees and other day-to-day expenses including travel, dining and groceries, among others, ICICI Bank said in a release. The card offers the freedom of loading and transacting in 15 currencies, without any cross-currency mark-up charge being levied by the bank, allowing students to conveniently travel across the globe even if they load only one currency on the card.

Next up, With the launch of ‘Sunfeast Dark Fantasy Choco Fills’ in Nepal, ITC’s FMCG business has now expanded its export footprint and has reached to over 70 countries. Earlier in August 2023, the subsidiary of ITC in Nepal, Surya Nepal Private Limited commissioned a biscuit manufacturing line facility near Biratnagar in eastern Nepal. Additionally, the company is also exploring its strategic opportunities in proximal markets as a potential vector for growth. In its annual report, ITC said that the PLI scheme continues to be leveraged to scale-up exports across biscuits and cakes, snacks, dairy and ready-to-eat categories. Not only ITC’s FMCG business but the export of the company’s agri business has also expanded to over 85 countries.

Moving on, US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research, whose report in January 2023 on Gautam Adani-led Adani Group triggered a $150 billion rout in Adani stocks, attacked Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for not naming Kotak Bank in the matter. The US short-seller said that brokerage firms founded by Uday Kotak created and oversaw the offshore fund structure, which was used by its investor partner to bet against Adani group shares. Hindenburg alleged that SEBI instead “named the K-India Opportunities fund and masked the ‘Kotak’ name with the acronym ‘KMIL’.” Hindenburg also said that SEBI’s lack of mention of Kotak or any other Kotak board member may be meant to “protect yet another powerful Indian businessman from the prospect of scrutiny”, which it called “a role SEBI seems to embrace”.

Elsewhere, The Reserve Bank of India has announced the interest rates for its Floating Rate Savings Bonds for the July-December 2024 period. These bonds are a popular choice for fixed-income investors. The new rates are effective from July 1, 2024. Floating Rate Savings Bonds give investors interest payments semi-annually, with the next payout on January 1, 2025. Its interest rate is linked to that of National Savings Certificate (NSC), a small savings scheme backed by the Indian government. The RBI Floating Rate Savings Bonds interest rate is 0.35% higher than that of the NSC. The RBI has notified the interest rate for the Floating Rate Savings Bonds. RBI Floating Rate Savings Bond features a variable coupon payment, which means the interest rate of this bond keeps fluctuating during its term.

Lastly, The benchmark equity indices ended Tuesday’s trading session in the negative territory. The NSE Nifty 50 dropped 18.10 points or 0.07% to settle at 24,123.85, while the BSE Sensex falls 34.73 points or 0.04% to 79,441.46. The broader indices ended in negative territory, with fall led by Small-cap and Mid-cap stocks. Bank Nifty index ended lower by 406.65 points or 0.77% to settle at 52,168.10. Media and IT stocks outperformed among the other sectoral indices while PSU Banks and Auto stocks shed.