Siemens announced robust financial results for the second quarter of the fiscal year (Q2SY24) on Tuesday, May 14. The global electronics and electrical engineering firm follows the October–September financial year.
Siemens reported a net profit of ?802.5 crore in the January to March quarter, marking a significant increase of over 70% from ?471.4 crore in the same quarter last year. A CNBC-TV18 poll estimated net profit at ?571 crore.
Siemens revenue surged 18.4% to ?5,749.9 crore in Q2SY24 compared to ?4,857.8 crore in the previous year's first quarter. The CNBC-TV18 poll estimated profit at ?5,544 crore.

The Siemens board has also approved the demerger of its energy business into a separate entity.

The energy business will operate under the name Siemens Energy India, which will be established as a listed legal entity.

Shareholders will receive one share in Siemens Energy for every share held in Siemens.

Siemens Energy unveiled sweeping changes at its struggling wind division on May 8, including job cuts and a new CEO, tightening its grip on a loss-making business as the provider of power equipment emerges from its biggest crisis to date, according to a Reuters report.

As part of the changes, which will include unspecified job and capacity cuts, board member Vinod Philip will become the new CEO of wind turbine unit Siemens Gamesa from August, the group said, adding it was time for a generational change, the report added.
Shares of Siemens settled 1% higher at ?6,690 on the National Stock Exchange.

NEW DELHI, May 16 (Reuters) - Indian software firm Zoho is planning a foray into chipmaking and seeking incentives from the federal government, two sources with direct knowledge of the proposal said, with one of them pegging the investment plan at $700 million.

Zoho, established in 1996 and now headquartered in India's Tamil Nadu, offers software and related services on subscription to businesses in 150 countries, competing with the likes of Microsoft and Salesforce.

It is the latest company to seek financial sweeteners from the government to set up a chip fabrication plant.

Semiconductors are a key plank of India's business agenda, with a $10 billion package in place to boost the industry as it hopes to compete with countries such as Taiwan in a few years.

Zoho is proposing to manufacture compound semiconductors, which have specialized commercial applications and are made from alternatives to the more-commonly used silicon in chipmaking, the two sources said.

The proposal is being reviewed by the panel that drives India's chip initiatives at the IT ministry, they added. The ministry has sought more clarity from Zoho on the customers it intends to do business with, the second source said.

Zoho declined to comment, while the IT ministry did not immediately respond to a request.

The first source, who said the company had estimated an investment outlay of $700 million, said Zoho had also identified a tech partner to help set up the operation from scratch, without naming the firm.

In March, founder and CEO Sridhar Vembu said Zoho was planning a chip design project in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, without providing further details. Its plans to diversify into chip manufacturing have not previously been reported.
 

Zoho made annual revenue of over $1 billion in the financial year ended March 2023, according to media reports.

In February, India gave the go-ahead to construction of three semiconductor plants worth over $15 billion by firms including Tata Group and CG Power, with plans to manufacture and package chips for sectors including defence, automobiles and telecommunication.

India has estimated its semiconductor market will be worth $63 billion by 2026.

Sundar Pichai said, "With each technology shift you have a better opportunity to drive that penetration. This is genuinely true with AI.”

Sundar Pichai asserted that artificial intelligence (AI) has been a key focus of Google parent Alphabet since 2016. In a conversation with The Circuit, he said, “We weren’t the first company to do search. We weren’t the first company to do email. We weren’t the first company to build a browser. So I view this AI as we are in the earliest possible stages.”

Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Alphabet Inc., during an interview on "The Circuit with Emily Chang" at Google's Bay View campus in Mountain View, California, US.(Bloomberg)

Acknowledging recent hiccups like the controversy over images generated by Google's Gemini, Sundar Pichai said, “We got it wrong. From the ground up we are retraining these models, just to make sure we are also making the product better. As soon as it’s ready, we will get it out to people.”

Talking about Google's future, he said that getting search right is essential to the company since ads placed among search results push $300 billion in annual revenue. He explained, “We’ve always found people want choices, including in commercial areas, and that’s a fundamental need. We’ve been experimenting with ads and the data we see show that those fundamental principles will hold true.”

“People are trying to solve problems in their day-to-day lives. A lot of our products integrate in a way that provides value for our users. The way Google is approaching AI drives innovation, adds choice in the market. That’s how I think about it,” he said, adding, “The challenge for everyone and the opportunity is: How do you have a notion of what’s objective and real in a world where there’s going to be a lot of synthetic content? I think it’s part of what will define search in the next decade ahead.”

On making tough decisions at Google, Sundar Pichai said, “The reality I think is quite different. I think the larger the company is, you are making fewer consequential decisions, but they need to be clear and you have to point the whole company to that.”

Google has been recently laid off dozens of engineers who protested the company’s cloud contract with the Israeli government and Sundar Pichai described this as an unacceptable disruption of daily business. He said, “It has nothing to do with the matter or the topic they’re discussing. It’s about the conduct of how they went about it. I view, particularly in this moment with AI, the opportunity we have ahead of us is immense, but it needs a real focus on our mission.”

Observing that airline industry is "very very competitive" and the players are running "huge losses", the Delhi High Court on Wednesday said it would not Pg_appropriate to pass any directions for the capping of airfares across the country. "Market forces will decide the pricing of tickets. The industry is doing very well today. You look at any airline flying today, it is a highly competitive industry. An auto rickshaw fare is more than the airline fare today," a bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet PS Arora said.

The court disposed of two petitions seeking regulation ofpricing of flight tickets and said it would pass a detailed order.
"Today the industry is very very competitive. You will find those who are running airlines are into huge losses," the bench said, adding huge investment is coming in this sector and "let's not make it more regulated". "It is a well-controlled sector.
Every industry which is doing well need not be tampered with," the bench said. It said stray incidents will not require the court to entertain public interest litigations (PIL) on the issue and bring the entire sector under any new regulation.

It said stray incidents will not require the court to entertain public interest litigations (PIL) on the issue and bring the entire sector under any new regulation. The two PILS were filed by advocate Amit Sahni and consumer rights activist Bejon Misra, through lawyer Shashank Deo Sudhi. The petitioners urged the court to pass directions to cap airfares across the country so that customers are not "fleeced arbitrarily" by airlines. The counsel for the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) opposed the plea and submitted that the airfares depend on the routes as well as the availability of planes and sometimes there are very few passengers in the aircraft and yet they fly.

NEW YORK, May 16 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks closed lower on Thursday after the Dow (.DJI), opens new tab reached an intra-day high of 40,000 for the first time, as investors continued to recalibrate their rate-cut expectations following data showing a slowdown in inflation, as well as strong corporate earnings results.
 

NEW YORK, May 16 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks closed lower on Thursday after the Dow (.DJI), opens new tab reached an intra-day high of 40,000 for the first time, as investors continued to recalibrate their rate-cut expectations following data showing a slowdown in inflation, as well as strong corporate earnings results.

Early gains in equities dissipated throughout the day, however, with the three major indexes closing slightly lower.

The blue-chip index has recovered from its October 2022 lows, powered by resilient U.S. economic growth despite steep rate hikes by the Fed.

Ten out of 11 S&P 500 sectors closed lower, with stocks in consumer staples (.SPLRCS), opens new tab the only top gainer.

"We've had a big rally and people are looking at multiples, saying 'we've got great earnings growth this year and next year but it's still priced in at 21 or 22 times forward earnings,'" said Thomas Hayes, chairman of Great Hill Capital in New York.

"We have a lot of good news and a lot of that is priced in and that's what the market is grappling with right now," Hayes added.

Investors are betting on two quarter-point interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve this year, and estimate a 70% chance of the first reduction in September, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

All three Wall Street indexes had reached record closes on Wednesday after data showed a smaller-than-expected rise in consumer prices in April, indicating that inflation had resumed its downward trend.

Data on Thursday also showed the number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits fell last week, though labor market conditions remain fairly tight even as job growth is cooling.
 

"The current environment seems to focused on what the Fed may or may not do, given that we had started the year with the expectation that the Fed will cut rates up to six times but that moved down more recently to one or two times," said Silas Myers, chief executive and portfolio manager at Mar Vista Investment Partners in Los Angeles.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), opens new tab fell 38.62 points, or 0.10%, to 39,869.38, the S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab lost 11.05 points, or 0.21%, to 5,297.10 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), opens new tab lost 44.07 points, or 0.26%, to 16,698.32.

New Delhi, May 15 (KNN) The Indian steel industry is grappling with the potential resurgence of cheap steel imports from Vietnam, reigniting long-standing concerns over the impact on domestic producers.

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) recently issued a license to Formosa Ha Tinh, a prominent Vietnamese steel manufacturer and exporter, granting them permission to resume steel exports to India, according to sources familiar with the matter.

This development follows the steel ministry's mandate late last year that required all imported steel products to obtain BIS licenses and certification, effectively stalling imports temporarily.

Industry experts and domestic steel giants have expressed apprehensions about the potential ramifications of this move. Ranjan Dhar, a senior executive at ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel (AM/NS) India, warned that the Vietnamese firm's license could potentially exacerbate steel dumping in the Indian market.

"The apprehension is that other mills from FTA countries and China may also get a renewal of their licenses for exporting to India," analysts at BigMint, a market intelligence firm, stated, highlighting the worrisome factor for Indian mills.

Vietnam's steel industry heavily relies on exports, with nearly half of its production being shipped abroad, according to Dhar. This is partly due to the influx of cheap Chinese steel flooding the local Vietnamese market, compelling domestic players to seek alternative global markets.

Government data reveals that India's domestic crude steel production stood at 143.6 million tonnes in the fiscal year 2023-24, while consumption reached 136 million tonnes. However, finished steel imports during the same period grew by 34 per cent to 8.3 million tonnes compared to the previous year, making India a net importer of steel.

Vietnam ranks as the fourth-largest source of steel imports into India, behind South Korea, China, and Japan, accounting for approximately 10 per cent of the country's total steel imports in the fiscal year 2023-24.

As the industry advocates for safeguard measures, including the imposition of import tariffs, particularly from countries like China, the government maintains its current stance on the issue. Officials have previously stated that, based on their analysis, import volumes remain within tolerable thresholds, and the government continues to closely monitor the situation.

This comes at a time when the industry is also adapting to the European Union's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which is expected to impact the country's steel exports to key European destinations further. Additionally, the industry is exploring various green steel production methods, aligning with the government's target of achieving net-zero emissions by 2070.

Four PSUs are actively engaged in scouting for critical mineral assets abroad, said Mines Secretary VL Kantha Rao.
Summary

• Coal India, ONGC Videsh, NMDC and KABIL actively engaged in scouting for critical mineral assets abroad, said Mines Secretary

• Coal India actively pursuing Lithium blocks in Chile

• KABIL has been studying Bolivia

• NMDC is looking for Lithium mines in Australia

• India is exploring a joint collaboration with Zambia on exploration of critical minerals

New Delhi: Four Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) — Coal India Limited, ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), NMDC Limited and KABIL (Khanij Bidesh India Ltd) — are actively engaged in scouting for critical mineral assets abroad, said VL Kantha Rao, Secretary, Ministry of Mines, on Wednesday. Speaking to the media on the sidelines of a workshop on offshore mining in New Delhi, Rao said that all of these PSUs have some kind of a presence abroad already.

“A group of secretaries (on resources) has decided that these companies (Coal India, NMDC, ONGC Videsh Ltd) move forward and look at critical mineral assets abroad also. It is an easy method. All these companies which already have some kind of presence abroad will now actively start looking at critical mineral assets abroad,” Rao told reporters. KABIL, a joint venture of three PSUs — National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO), Hindustan Copper Ltd (HCL) and Mineral Exploration and Consultancy Ltd (MECL) — which comes under the Ministry of Mines has been formed to scout for mineral assets overseas.

PFC Limited has posted a rise of 18.41 percent in standalone Profit after Tax (PAT) year-on-year in Q4 of FY2023-24 at Rs 4,135.45 crore.
 

New Delhi: State-run non-banking financial company PFC Limited has posted a rise of 18.41 percent in standalone Profit after Tax (PAT) year-on-year in Q4 of FY2023-24 at Rs 4,135.45 crore. In the corresponding quarter of financial year 2022-23, PFC had recorded PAT of Rs 3,492.27 crore. On quarter-on-quarter basis, PFC’s standalone net profit has risen 22.45 percent. For the entire financial year 2023-24, PFC’s standalone net profit was up 23.8 percent year-on-year at Rs 14,367.02 crore.

PFC’s consolidated net profit for Q4 was Rs 7,556.43 crore, which was 23.29 percent higher than the figure recorded in the corresponding quarter of FY23. PFC Group registered its highest annual PAT with an increase of 25 percent — from Rs 21,179 crore in FY23 to Rs 26,461 crore in FY24.

PFC’s consolidated balance sheet size crossed more than Rs 10 lakh crore in FY24. The PSU registered a 16 percent growth in consolidated loan asset book from Rs 8,57,500 crore as on March 31, 2023 to Rs 9,90,824 crore as on March 31, 2024. The consolidated net worth of the PSU (including non-controlling interest) increased by 20 percent.

PFC’s consolidated net NPA reaches its lowest at 0.85%

The consolidated gross NPA nearly touched 3 percent and is at 3.02 percent in FY24 vs. 3.66 percent in FY23, said PFC. Owing to active resolution efforts, the consolidated net NPA has reached its lowest level at 0.85 percent in FY24 from 1.03 percent in FY23. The company has declared a final dividend of Rs 2.50 per share in Q4 of FY24. With this, PFC has given a total dividend of Rs 13.50 per share for FY24.

Commenting on PFC’s performance, Chairperson and Managing Director (CMD) Parminder Chopra said that PFC Group continues to be the largest NBFC Group in India and is also India’s highest profit-making NBFC both on a consolidated and on a stand-alone basis.

IIFCL on Wednesday reported a 44 percent jump in standalone net profit to Rs 1,552 crore for the fiscal ended March 2024 aided by an increase in lending and moderation in bad loans.
 

New Delhi: India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL) on Wednesday reported a 44 percent jump in standalone net profit to Rs 1,552 crore for the fiscal ended March 2024 aided by an increase in lending and moderation in bad loans.

The state-owned infrastructure finance company had earned a net profit of Rs 1,076 crore in the previous fiscal.

The company recorded the highest-ever profit, recovery, sanction and disbursement furthering turnaround performance that began three years ago, IIFCL managing director PR Jaishankar said while announcing annual financial numbers.

He said, for the first time, the profit before tax has crossed Rs 2,000 crore. During the year, profit before tax has increased to Rs 2,029 crore as against Rs 1,076 crore in the previous year.

The company continued to add value as its net worth increased 11 percent to Rs 14,266 crore in 2023-24 from Rs 12,878 crore in the preceding fiscal.

During the year, he said, the company posted record performance with the highest-ever sanctions and disbursements at Rs 42,309 crore and Rs 22,356 crore, respectively.

The cumulative sanctions and disbursements stood at Rs 2.5 lakh crore and Rs 1.28 lakh crore, respectively, as of March 31, 2024.

Going forward, he said, the company has significant scope to further improve loan growth and expects to grow at 16-18 percent.

To fund business growth, he said the company plans to raise over Rs 30,000 crore during the current financial year.

With regard to asset quality, IIFCL has brought down gross Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) to 1.61 percent from 4.76 percent a year ago.

The net NPA of the company too declined to 0.46 percent from 1.41 percent in the year-ago period.

During the current year, he said, the net NPA would be either zero or nearly zero.

The Provision Coverage Ratio (PCR) in the last fiscal increased to 71.51 percent from 70.48 percent, Jaishankar said.

IIFCL has funded close to 760 infra projects worth Rs 14 lakh crore till March 2024.

Haldiram, the iconic 87-year-old snack brand, is in talks for a monumental acquisition. Valued between Rs 66,400-70,500 crore, the offer from the Blackstone-led consortium.
 

The country’s 87-year-old snack brand Haldiram has been offered a purchase offer.

It’s worth around Rs 66,400-70,500 crore.

But the deal offered is in Rs 49,136 crore - Rs 53,580 crore range.

It’s made by the world’s biggest private equity fund, Blackstone, with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and GIC of Singapore.

This could be the biggest buyout by a private equity firm in India. 

The deal's not final yet, but it's a big move for Haldiram, which recently merged its branches in Delhi and Nagpur. 

This could change things for the company, which sells snacks and foods worldwide.

When asked for comment, Haldiram CEO KK Chutani told ET, "The company has no comments to offer." 

Last May, Chutani took over as Haldiram's CEO, a first for the company. 

Merger Deals:

The completion of any deal relies on merging the Nagpur and Delhi branches, expected within the next few months. 

This restructuring forms Haldiram Snacks Food Pvt Ltd (HSFPL), with the Delhi side holding 55% and Nagpur 45%. 

Haldiram sells snacks, sweets, beverages, and more, globally. Its restaurant business valued at Rs 1,800 crore, remains separate from the deal.

Established in 1937, Haldiram faces competition from big brands like PepsiCo and Balaji Snacks.

"The expectation of rising supply from the Shanxi province pushed coking coal prices down," said Cheng Peng, a Beijing-based analyst at Sinosteel Futures.

BEIJING: Prices of coking coal futures tumbled by more than 3 per cent on Tuesday to their lowest in more than one month, dragged by the anticipation of growing supply from the top production hub in China.
The most-traded September coking coal contract on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) recouped some earlier losses and slipped 3.23 per cent to 1,676 yuan a metric ton, as of 0244 GMT, after touching its intraday low at 1,657 yuan a ton, the lowest since April 12. The coke contract fell 1.56 per cent. "The expectation of rising supply from the Shanxi province pushed coking coal prices down," said Cheng Peng, a Beijing-based analyst at Sinosteel Futures.

North China's Shanxi province, one of China's top coal producers, aims to churn out around 1.3 billion tons of coal in 2024, down 4 per cent from 2023, with the output in the first quarter declining by 19 per cent on the year to 271 million tons. "Whether the market talk is true or not, we believe the output in the province will pick up in the coming quarters to achieve its annual target, as the first quarter is too low," said a Shanghai-based coal analyst, requesting anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to media. A lack of cost support due to falling coal prices sent prices of finished steel lower, which in turn pressured iron ore prices, Sinosteel Cheng added.

The most-traded September iron ore contract on the DCE traded 0.29 per cent lower at 869.5 yuan a ton. The benchmark June iron ore on the Singapore Exchange was 1.41 per cent lower at $115.25 a ton. Prices in both benchmarks posted gains on Monday suppoltecl by the stimulus of bond issuance and a temporary supply disruption after a train derailed in West Australia. Lower raw materials prices dragged down most steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange. Lower raw materials prices dragged down most steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange. Rebar lost 0.3 per cent, hot-rolled coil fell 0.39 per cent, and stainless steel shed 0.53 per cent. Wire rod added 0.49 per cent

Experts say that even as vendor consolidation deals are being lapped up by the larger companies, their mid-tier rivals have borne the brunt.
Mid-tier information technology (IT) companies lost more ground than their larger peers in financial year 2023-24 as vendor consolidation deals by clients have led to a decline in revenue growth, and that too on a smaller base. Although mid-tier companies continued to outperform their Tier-1 peers, the year-on-year (YoY) growth rate halved in FY24.

Lower tech spending by clients due to uncertain macroeconomic situations in key markets has been troubling IT companies in the past few quarters, leading to the tepid performance in FY24.

Experts say that even as vendor consolidation deals are being lapped up by larger companies, mid-tier rivals have borne the brunt. Simultaneously, mid-tier companies are doling out discounts to clients, which, in turn, has put pressure on margins.

Vendor consolidation deals in the IT industry involve clients reducing the number of suppliers in order to improve efficiency. This often results in deals going to the larger IT companies as they have the muscle power to negotiate better pricing due to their sheer size.

Additionally, spending on new-age technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI has also led to extra spending by these companies to stay relevant, experts say. This is because larger IT companies are in a better position to absorb these shocks as they can draw from their better cash reserves.
 

Large IT companies are often defined as the top five IT companies in terms of revenue: Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, HCLTech, Wipro, and Tech Mahindra. Mid-tier IT companies are the ones that follow, and include LTIMindtree, Persistent Systems, L&T Technology Services, Coforge, and KPIT Technologies.

Yugal Joshi, Partner, Everest Group, said mid-tier companies are reliant on key clients as they form a large part of their business. “And if anything happens to those clients, it impacts these smaller firms.”

Generally, whenever the vendor consolidation theme plays out, which is the case currently, mid-tier companies have more to lose. “Now, to ensure that their clients do not go to the renewal table, these companies are proactively going ahead and pitching renewals much ahead. And when you do that, you will normally give lots of discounts, which hits your margins,” Joshi explained.

Topline trouble

Revenue growth of the top five IT companies has reduced by almost half in FY24 compared to the last fiscal year. In some cases, the downfall is even steeper because of company-specific issues. For example, Pune-headquartered Tech Mahindra’s dollar revenue contracted by 5 percent against growth of over 10 percent in the previous year.
 

However, the fall is sharper in the case of mid-tier companies. Persistent Systems’ dollar revenue growth fell by over half to 14.5 percent in FY24 from 35.3 percent in FY23. LTIMindtree’s revenue growth fell over 3 times to 4.4 percent in the financial year just ended from 17.2 percent in the previous year.

KPIT Technologies is an outlier as its growth improved year-on-year to over 40 percent in FY24 from 27 percent. Coforge’s revenue growth declined to 11.7 percent from 15.6 percent, while Birlasoft’s constant currency revenue growth declined to 6.7 percent from 11.5 percent.

Experts say Tier-1 IT companies boast robust order books, with a notable focus on verticals such as healthcare. Amidst a moderation in IT services growth, engineering services emerged as a beacon of hope, registering double-digit growth rates.

Margin mess

Jain also points to a narrative emerging in the form of “anti-incumbency deals”, where mid-tier companies challenge established players for lucrative vendor consolidation contracts. This trend underscores the growing competitiveness within the sector and has led to a drop in margins.

For example, the margins of mid-tier companies such as LTIMindtree, Persistent Systems, Coforge, etc., have reduced. On the other hand, larger companies such as TCS, HCLTech, and even the struggling Wipro improved their margins in FY24.

The 12 Public Sector Banks (PSBs) together had earned a net profit of Rs Rs 1,04,649 crore in 2022-23.
 

Public sector banks' cumulative profit crossed Rs 1.4 lakh crore in the financial year ended March 2024, recording a growth of 35 per cent over the previous year on a high base of Rs 1 lakh crore.

The 12 Public Sector Banks (PSBs) together had earned a net profit of Rs Rs 1,04,649 crore in 2022-23.

Out of the total profit of Rs 141,203 crore earned during the FY24, market leader State Bank of India (SBI) alone contributed over 40 per cent of the total earnings, as per the published numbers on exchanges.

SBI earned a profit of Rs 61,077 crore 22 per cent higher than the previous financial year (Rs 50,232 crore).

In percentage terms Delhi-based Punjab National Bank had the highest net profit growth with 228 per cent to Rs 8,245 crore, followed by Union Bank of India with a 62 per cent rise to Rs 13,649 crore and Central Bank of India with a 61 per cent increase to Rs 2,549 crore.
 

Among the banks which recorded over 50 per cent jump in net profit included Bank of India with a 57 per cent growth to Rs 6,318 crore while Bank of Maharashtra with a 56 per cent rise to Rs 4,055 crore and Chennai-based India Bank recorded a 53 per cent improvement to Rs 8,063 crore.

During the year, the only public sector bank out of 12 reported drop in profit was Punjab & Sind Bank.

Punjab & Sind Bank, headquartered in Delhi, reported a 55 per cent decline in annual net profit, dropping from Rs 1,313 crore in 2022-23 to Rs 595 crore in the fiscal year ending March 2024. The PSBs which reported an annual profit in excess of Rs 10,000 crore are Bank of Baroda (Rs 17,788 crore) and Canara Bank (Rs 14,554 crore).

PSB is a turnaround story from record losses of Rs 85,390 FY18 to record profit in FY24.

The doom-to-bloom story of the public sector banking industry can be attributed to the initiatives and spate of reforms undertaken by the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with former finance minister Arun Jaitley, his successor Nirmala Sitharman and financial services secretary Rajiv Kumar and his successors.

The government has implemented a comprehensive 4R strategy: Recognising NPAs transparently, Resolution and recovery, Recapitalising PSBs, and Reforms in the financial ecosystem.

As part of the strategy, the government infused an unprecedented Rs 3,10,997 crore to recapitalise PSBs during the last five financial years -- from 2016-17 to 2020-21. The recapitalisation programme provided much-needed support to the PSBs and prevented the possibility of any default on their part.

The reforms undertaken by the government over the last nine years addressed credit discipline, ensured responsible lending and improved governance. Besides, there was the adoption of technology, and amalgamation of banks, and the general confidence of bankers was maintained.

Powell said he felt it is unlikely that the Fed would raise interest rates again, restating the central bank will be patient and allow the current policy rate to have its full impact.

US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Tuesday, May 14, that he expects US inflation to resume declining through 2024 as it did last year, however, his confidence on lower inflation has lately dropped with the quick rise in prices during the first quarter. Powell says it will likely take more time than previously thought to attain confidence needed to lower the key interest rates.

During the event hosted by the Foreign Bankers’ Association in Amsterdam, Powell said, “I expect that inflation will move back down ... on a monthly basis to levels that were more like the lower readings that we were having last year." "I would say my confidence in that is not as high as it was,'' added the Fed chief.
 

 US Q1 GDP: At 1.6%, US economy grows at slowest pace in 2 years, misses estimates on sharp uptick in core inflation

Still, Powell said he felt it unlikely that the Fed would raise interest rates again, restating as he did after the Fed's last meeting that the central bank will be "patient" and allow the current policy rate to have its full impact. "I don't think that it is likely based on the data we have that the next move that we make will be a rate hike," Powell said. "It is more likely ... we hold the policy rate where it is."

"We did not expect this to be a smooth road," Powell said. The Fed chief also described the monetary current policy as restrictive by “many, many measures" but noted that only time will tell whether interest rates are sufficiently high to bring inflation back to the central bank’s two per cent goal. 

US central bankers, including Powell, have expressed disappointment at the lack of inflation progress in the first quarter. Earlier this month, Fed policymakers maintained their benchmark policy rate unchanged at the 23-year high-mark to 5.25 to 5.50 per cent for the sixth straight meeting, a level that Powell said he was prepared to maintain “for as long as appropriate."

Producer Prices

The producer price index (PPI), a measure of wholesale prices, topped all economists’ forecasts in April, a government report showed Tuesday. That said, several components from the report that feed into the calculation of the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge — the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index — were more mixed.

Also Read: US Fed to hold rates at 23-year high-mark until inflation cools, slows pace of balance sheet runoff: 5 key highlights

Powell described Tuesday’s report as mixed. The consumer price index (CPI) for April will be released Wednesday. Inflation, which peaked at 9.1 per cent in the summer of 2022, is forecast to slow to 3.4 per cent in tomorrow's report. The US economy continues to show resilience even with the Fed settling in with higher-for-longer rates. The non-farm payrolls have averaged 246,000 a month so far this year, and unemployment remains low. 

The April jobs report of US, however, did show some signs of moderation, with a slower pace of job growth and an unexpected tick up in unemployment. Powell described the labor market as very strong with signs of gradual cooling and re-balancing, in part driven by an increase in labor supply from immigration as well as an easing in demand. The US labor market is about as tight as it was before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, according to Powell.

The income tax department introduces a new functionality in the Annual Information Statement (AIS) allowing taxpayers to view and confirm financial data affecting taxes,Taxpayers can provide feedback on displayed transactions to ensure accu...

NEW DELHI: The income tax department on Monday said it has rolled out a new functionality in the Annual Information Statement (AIS) through which taxpayers will be able to view the status of information confirmation process. AIS is populated based on the financial data received from multiple information sources and provides details of a large number of financial transactions undertaken by the taxpayer that may have tax implications. In AIS, a taxpayer has been provided with a functionality to furnish feedback on every transaction that is displayed. This feedback helps the taxpayer to comment on the accuracy of the information provided by the source of such information. In case of wrong reporting, the same is taken up with the source for their confirmation, in an automated manner. In several cases, such as fixed deposits held jointly, taxpayers had faced problems in the past, which was earlier reported in the remarks column, prompting the tax authorities to put in place new tools.

"This will display whether the feedback of the taxpayer has been acted upon by the source, by either, partially or fully accepting or rejecting the same. In case of partial or full acceptance, the information is required to be corrected by filing a correction statement by the source," the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement. Information confirmation is currently functional for information furnished by tax deductors or collectors and reporting entities.