RBI rates unchanged, SBI Life’s Stake, Domestic players seek Government Support- Weekly Digest #25

Investment Giants such as Blackstone Group, KKR & Co and Bain Capital, Government of Singapore Investment Corp and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board are contenders for acquiring 10% stake in SBI Life. The sale is expected to raise an amount of ₹4,000 crores.
Former Chairman of Tata Sons, Cyrus Mistry has asked the government to intervene in the functioning of Tata Trust, alleging misgovernance and interference by trustees in the business decisions of group companies.
Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani acquired 2% stake in ethnic fashion wear FabIndia, joining Aziz Premji who holds 25% stake in the company.

Bank of India and Bank of Baroda have lowered the lending rates by 5-20 bps. State Bank of India, has said it will pass on the benefit of lower rates if RBI removes increased CRR imposed on banks.
The shares of Sun TV fell 4% to ₹474.50 after climbing 12.6% on Monday. The stock is anticipated to reach ₹520 by the end of the month.
Smartphones sale in November fell by 18% owing to the demonetization. E-commerce portals have reported similar trends, with an increase in online transaction and a drastic reduction in cash transactions.
Amazon India has invested an amount of ₹160 crores in Amazon India’s wholesale business, to enhance its B2B transactions.

In a shocking move, RBI kept the interest rates unchanged as investors were expecting an interest cut to support growth since demonetization aftereffects have continued to slow down the growth oh the nation.
Flipkart’s Sachin Bansal and Ola’s Bhavish Aggarwal have sought support from the government for combating their foreign origin rivals, Amazon and Uber by playing the nationalism card. They have asked government to formulate policies to help domestic companies compete against foreign companies.
State-owned Canara Bank has taken the lead in reducing lending rates, even though the RBI decided not to lower policy rates. The bank has cut its one-year MCLR by 15points to 9.15.
The stock market slumped after a disappointing announcement by RBI to keep the rates unchanged. However, the shocks were absorbed well as FPIs invested an amount of ₹193 crores in the equities.The Sensex fell 0.59%, to end at 26,236.87, while the Nifty declined 0.50%, to close at 8,102.05.

American fast-food chain Burger King, in the first year of its India operations, has posted sales of ₹141 crores and a net loss of ₹38 crores. This has been attributed to affordable pricing by the fast food chain.
JP Morgan Assets Management has invested an amount of ₹200 crores in Singapore-headquartered Assetz Property Group, which develops residential and commercial properties in southern India.
Private equity firm Samara Capital has acquired a stake in Gujarat-based stent-maker Sahajanand Medical Technologies (SMT) in a deal valued at close to ₹170 crores.

KKR & Co and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings will buy 3.9% of SBI Life Insurance for ` ₹1,800 crores. This effectively values the Insurance company at ₹ 46,000 cores, surpassing its ICICI Prudential.
Sheela Foam, the maker of Sleepwell brand of mattresses, made a strong debut on the stock market with the stock closing 41% above its issue price at ₹730 per share.
ICICI Banks has raised an amount of $88 million by issue of Japenese pro-bonds. It is the first Indian Company to issue such a bond.

Source- The Economic Times