Category: News

EQT Partners, a big private equity firm from Sweden, is on the lookout for more companies to buy in India in 2025. Jean Eric Salata, a top EQT executive, shared that over the past year and a half, they have invested $6 billion in India—way more than they expected. They believe India is a fantastic place for international investments.

In these 18 months, EQT made seven investments in areas like financial services, tech services, and healthcare, and they expect the market for buyouts in India to grow from $10 billion now to $50 billion by the end of the decade.

Recently, EQT merged with Baring PE Asia, making it their Asian branch. They currently manage assets worth over $250 billion and are keen on boosting investments in infrastructure, real estate, and industrial technology, like electric vehicle manufacturing.

In their healthcare space, EQT is learning to use new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI). Companies in their portfolio are adapting to AI, improving their services. For instance, Sagility, one of their healthcare companies, has acquired an AI firm to bring advanced solutions to the market.

Over the last 25 years, EQT has invested about $8 billion in more than 30 Indian companies, including names like Indira IVF and O2 Power.

Salata believes that India’s stock market is doing great compared to others globally, making it appealing for investors. However, he mentioned that finding the right price for assets can be a challenge. They also pay close attention to corporate governance, which means they carefully check how companies are run.

On Thursday, India’s markets regulator, Sebi, suggested a new way to decide the closing prices of stocks in the equity cash market. Currently, the closing price is figured out using the Volume Weighted Average Price (VWAP) over the last 30 minutes of trading. This method helps find a fair price but doesn’t let investors buy or sell stocks at that exact closing price.

The new idea, called the Close Auction Session (CAS), aims to make prices more stable during the busy closing moments of the market, especially on important days like index rebalancing and when derivatives expire. It will help big investors complete their trades at the closing price and make tracking indices easier for passive funds, which are investment funds that follow the performance of an index.

Sebi pointed out that as more Indian stocks join big international indices, investors face challenges in keeping track of these stocks. The current method of using the last half-hour’s average price can lead to differences that hurt investors.

To solve this, Sebi wants to replace VWAP with CAS as a call-auction system, similar to what many countries already use. The new method would be gradually introduced, starting with stocks that have derivatives available.

Sebi suggests that this auction session should take 15 minutes, from 3:30 PM to 3:45 PM, and split into different parts. These include figuring out a reference price, accepting orders, a no-cancellation period, and finally confirming and matching trades. Alternatively, Sebi could also hold it in three parts, without a no-cancellation phase, similar to how pre-open sessions work.

Sebi is looking for public feedback on these proposals until December 26.

New Delhi: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) announced that its special company, DME Development Ltd (DMEDL), will raise ₹1,000 crores through green bonds. This money will help make climate-friendly improvements on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway.

DMEDL plans to collect this money in two parts: an initial amount of ₹500 crores and a chance to raise another ₹500 crores if there is a lot of interest from investors. The bonds are set to launch in December 2024.

The money from these bonds will be used for several eco-friendly projects, including planting trees along the road, building safe passages for animals, creating natural drainage systems, installing solar-powered streetlights, recycling waste, and harvesting rainwater.

NHAI Chairman Santosh Kumar Yadav mentioned that these green bonds will encourage more investment in projects that help the environment, particularly in the roads and highways sector. They will also help save money in the long run by using less energy and reducing harmful vehicle emissions.

By issuing these bonds, DMEDL aims to improve its financial standing, lower borrowing costs, and attract investors who care about environmental and social issues. DMEDL has asked Care Edge Analytics to review and confirm its green projects.

Founded in August 2020, DMEDL is a company set up by NHAI to finance, build, and operate the new Delhi-Mumbai expressway. It has received an AAA rating from agencies like CRISIL, CARE, and India Rating. DMEDL has plans to raise around ₹48,000 crores through loans and bonds from banks and has already secured about ₹42,000 crores.

Indian 10-year bond yields dropped by 10 basis points after disappointing GDP growth data was released last week. This suggests that investors believe the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) might take steps to help the economy in its upcoming meeting on Friday. Recently, the GDP growth in India slowed down to just 5.4% for the July-September period, a level not seen in seven quarters.

Analysts think the RBI might lower the cash reserve ratio (CRR), which is currently set at 4.5%. This could potentially free up around Rs 1.1 trillion in the banking system. A reduction in CRR could encourage more investment in bonds and help stimulate economic activity. The gap between the 10-year bond yield and the RBI’s main interest rate has shrunk significantly, signaling that the bond market is expecting potential easing from the RBI.

Other indicators, like overnight index swaps (OIS) rates, have also decreased by 20 basis points since the weak GDP data came out. The RBI has maintained its policy rates at 6.5% since February 2023. While the central bank has previously been wary of inflation—particularly due to rising food prices—it has shown optimism about future growth thanks to good monsoon seasons and hopes for increased investments.

According to Suresh Darak, a financial expert, the latest economic data poses a dilemma for the RBI, balancing the need to support economic growth with the ongoing inflation challenges. He mentioned that it will be interesting to see how the RBI navigates this situation in its upcoming decision.

Interestingly, Nomura, a Japanese investment bank, expects the RBI to implement a full 1% rate cut starting this Friday. This contrasts with most predictions, which suggest the RBI will only cut rates by half of that amount. Nomura believes that even though food prices are rising, other price pressures remain calm, allowing the RBI to focus more on boosting growth.

The benchmark 10-year bond yield has dropped to a three-year low, and the gap with the repo rate has narrowed significantly, indicating that some form of easing might be on the horizon. Right now, the 10-year bond is priced at Rs 100.7350, with a yield of 6.6837%.

On Thursday, Australian bowler Megan Schutt had an incredible game, taking her first five-wicket haul as India Women were bowled out for just 100 runs in the first match of their three-game series. Schutt’s amazing bowling performance, with impressive figures of 5 wickets for just 19 runs, left the Indian batting lineup struggling.

India decided to bat first but found it tough going, losing their openers early in the match. Priya Punia, who came back into the team in place of Shafali Verma, scored only 3 runs off 17 balls before being dismissed by Schutt. Smriti Mandhana managed just 8 runs off 9 balls before edging a wide ball to the wicketkeeper.

Captain Harmanpreet Kaur tried to hold the team together with 23 runs off 42 balls but was out lbw thanks to Annabel Sutherland. Jemimah Rodrigues, who was the top scorer with 23 runs off 42 balls, showed some talent but got bowled by Kim Garth while trying to play the ball to the other side.

India fell apart quickly, going from 62 runs for 3 wickets to being all out for 100 runs in just over 34 overs, with their last three batters getting out in no time. Schutt finished her fantastic bowling by bowling Priya Mishra and completing her five wickets, leading Australia to a strong position.

Overall, India’s batting performance was weak, with no player able to stand up against the strong Australian team.

Brief Scores:
India Women: 100 all out in 34.2 overs (Top scorer: Jemimah Rodrigues 23 runs; Megan Schutt 5 wickets for 19 runs).

Teams:
India Women: Priya Punia, Smriti Mandhana, Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (w), Deepti Sharma, Titas Sadhu, Priya Mishra, Saima Thakor, Renuka Thakur Singh.

Australia Women: Phoebe Litchfield, Georgia Voll, Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney (w), Annabel Sutherland, Ashleigh Gardner, Tahlia McGrath (c), Georgia Wareham, Alana King, Kim Garth, Megan Schutt.

Mahindra & Mahindra recently announced that they are talking with InterGlobe Aviation, the company that owns IndiGo airlines. This conversation is about a trademark issue involving the name “6e” used for one of their new electric cars. Mahindra has launched two electric models: the BE 6e and XEV 9e. They believe that their trademark “BE 6e” is different from IndiGo’s “6E,” which is used as an airline code, and so there shouldn’t be any confusion.

In a statement, Mahindra said that they understand IndiGo’s concerns about their reputation and did not mean to create any problems. As Mahindra looks to resolve this issue amicably, they continue to defend their trademark application for “BE 6e,” which falls under vehicles.

IndiGo has filed a lawsuit against Mahindra, claiming that they are misusing their trademark. However, Mahindra insists that their mark is not the same as IndiGo’s and that the differences are clear. The design of the two names is also very different.

On November 26, Mahindra introduced its new models, the BE 6e and XEV 9e, with deliveries set to start in February or March of next year. The BE 6e can travel up to 682 km on a full charge, while the XEV 9e can go 656 km. IndiGo is currently challenging Mahindra’s trademark in court.