Voda-Idea merger, Union Budget 2017, BSE listing- Weekly Digest #33

Vodafone Group and Idea Cellular confirmed that they are in initial talks to merge the two entities, which will biggest consolidation in Indian Telecom History in a cashless deal. Both entities to hold equal rights in the new entity. Idea shot up 26% to ₹97.95 after the announcement.
Jaguar Land Rover has suspended its plans to manufacture SUVs in India as feasibility study didn’t favour the project.
District Court in Delhi has turned down an appeal by Sweden’s IKEA against Bengaluru-based consulting company Aikya Global for using a phonetically similar name.
HDFC reported a 12% rise in its Q3 results, with its profit increasing from ₹1,521 crores to ₹1,701 crores on YoY basis. This has been attributed to growth from non-individual loans.
Tech Mahindra posted a 14% increase in net profit to ₹856 crores for Q3 at ₹856 crores owing to “the strong deal wins”.

The government said that it had identified 18 lakh accounts where substantial cash deposits took place post demonetization and they will be required to divulge the source. This comes as a part of the tax department’s Operation Clean Money Swachh Dhan Abhiyan initiative.
Honda announced that it is recalling around 41.580 cars over the issues of the faulty airbag inflators. This has been Hinda’s fourth recall during the period of last 2 years.
The possible merger of Idea and Vodafone along with the strong impact of Jio in the market caused Bharti Infratel’s Share to dip to its52 week low of ₹283.10.
ICICI Bank posted a 19% drop in net profit for the Q3 at ₹2,442 crores owing to slow loan growth rate.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget 2017, highlights of which can be found here.
The market responded positively to the presentation of the Union Budget, as the Sensex surged nearly 486 points to close at 28,141 and the Nifty gained 155 points to 8,716.40. Both indices closed at their highest levels since October 25. Bank Nifty rose 2.6%.
Due to incentives to affordable housing in the budget, shares of housing companies such as Ashiana Housing, Puravankara surged up to 19%, while companies like Gruh Finance and DHFL, which provide loans to affordable housing, rose up to 8%.

The world’s largest e-commerce company, Alibaba is leading an investment round between ₹1,350crores and 1,700 crores in the online retail marketplace of PayTm. This will ensure formal entry of Alibaba in the Indian market to compete with Amazon and Flipkart.
Amazon has applied to the government of India to invest $500 million in a wholly owned venture in India to stock locally produced food items and sell them online.
Vodafone Group’s CEO Vittorio Colao said in a statement that the proposed merger between Vodafone India and Idea Cellular should not be looked upon as Vodafone’s exit from the market but a move against the competitive threat posed by Reliance Jio Infocomm.
A special CBI court has acquitted Dayanidhi Maran and Sun TV promoter Kalanithi Maran in a case involving bribery allegations.
TRAI said Reliance Jio’s second promotional offer. Happy New Year offer is not an extension of its previous welcome offer and has passed the same opinion to Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT). Airtel and Idea had alleged that it was an extension of free offer hence not allowable.

BSE made a record-setting debut in the market at 32.8% premium over the issue price of ₹806 at ₹1085 and reached the day’s high of ₹1,200. It closed at ₹1,070.55
The Supreme Court has refused to let Aircel go off the hook regarding corruption allegations as T Ananda Krishnan failed to appear for the hearing. This further casts doubt on proposed merger of Reliance Communications with Aircel.
Reliance Jio Infocomm and PayTm received notices from the Government over the use of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s photographs on their advertisements and they have been asked if they had obtained prior approval regarding the same.
Managing Director and CEO of IFDC, Vikram Limaye is set to become the new MD & CEO of the National Stock Exchange.
After a clean chit was issued to the company’s founder, Sun TV network soared 25% to ₹699, its 52-week high.

Source: The Economic Times
Image