Business Today

The Indian banking sector has staged a dramatic turnaround of late. From a loss of about ₹23,400 crore in FY19, the banking sector turned in a record combined profit of ₹1.82 lakh crore in FY22. This smart somersault has been accompanied by a cleaning up of its books—gross non-performing assets have almost halved to 5 per cent or so from 2018, and the provisioning coverage ratio has moved up to more than 70 per cent. Under the watchful eye of the Reserve Bank of India, banks are now raring to grow, and grow fast. This clean-up could not have come a day too soon. India is on a growth path despite global headwinds, the government has loosened its purse strings to boost capital expenditure in the hope that private investment…

$562.85 billion FOREX RESERVES IN DECEMBER 2022—12.3 PER CENT LESS THAN THE PEAK OF $642 BILLION IN OCTOBER 2021; IN THE PAST FIVE YEARS, THE KITTY HAS INCREASED BY 37.5 PER CENT $610.5 billion EXTERNAL DEBT AS OF SEPTEMBER 30, 2022, COMPARED TO $613 BILLION IN DECEMBER 2021 AND $513 BILLION IN DECEMBER 2017 $12.9 billion FOREIGN INVESTMENTS FOR THE QUARTER ENDED SEPTEMBER 30, 2022, COMPARED TO $38.60 BILLION—A FIVE-YEAR-HIGH—IN THE DECEMBER 2020 QUARTER 157.26 lakh crore EXPECTED SIZE OF INDIA’S GDP BY FY23 AND ₹166.23 LAKH CRORE BY FY24, ACCORDING TO CMIE ECONOMIC OUTLOOK Source: CMIE Economic Outlook, RBI THE ROAD TO RECOVERY STEPS TAKEN BY THE GOVERNMENT AND THE RESERVE BANK OF INDIA HAVE HELPED THE GDP RECOVER FROM THE COVID-19 LOWS Quarterly GDP figures at constant prices Source: CMIE Economic Outlook PRICING PAINS IN 2022, RETAIL INFLATION REMAINED MOSTLY ABOVE RBI’S…

Tomorrow’s nation building needs attention today, on three fundamentals areas - sustainability or green technology (GX), transformation through technology or digital transformation (DX) and key innovation. The relevance is palpable if we see currently what is driving the world order. For example, globally the Climate Change debate that is on - at COP27 in Egypt. India has driven home a point through its pavilion themed 1LIFE - Lifestyle for Environment - echoing the vision of India’s Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi, that of a simple solution to the complex climate change problem. Reminding the delegates of COP summit in November 2022 that simple lifestyle and individual practices are sustainable in nature and helps in protecting the mother earth - which the Prime Minister propagates - India’s Union Minister for Environment said…

▶ A FEW MONTHS into the Covid-19 pandemic, the world was in disarray. And it wasn’t just about fighting the virus. Lockdowns in China and disruptions to the supply chain hit economic activity; especially affected was the electronics industry, which was at the core of keeping people connected in those tough times. Cut to more than two years later. There has been a rise in infections in China, and that is spreading to different parts of the world. While a majority of people are vaccinated in India and enterprises have their business continuity plans in place, what about manufacturers, more specifically the electronics industry? Industry players say that most companies should be able to hold out for a couple of months or so, owing to learnings from past experiences. Accounting for the…

The shortage of chips that impacted industries across sectors from automobiles to medtech to consumer durables in the past is unlikely to happen soon, say experts. This is primarily because the supply chain has strengthened in the past six months, and there is sufficient inventory built by most major OEMs and contract manufacturers. But the present situation in China could impact some of the electronics products where India gets sub-assemblies and completely knocked down/semi-knocked down (CKD/SKD) units. “More than chips, it is the CKD/SKD kits that go into many phones being assembled in many factories in India [that] may be impacted in the short term. Then there could be potential delays in adjacent ecosystems like lithium batteries,” says K. Krishna Moorthy, CEO & President of India Electronics & Semiconductor Association.…

▶ WHILE THE BROADER Nifty 50 Index gave a return of just 2.5 per cent in April-December, 2022, the Nifty Bank Index gave a return of 16 per cent during the same period. If you think this is a lot, then you need to consider the return of 52 per cent given by the Nifty PSU Bank Index. The banking sector has outshone the broader market as well as other industry sectors, led by impressive growth in credit, rising interest rates, and improving asset quality. Riding on these, banks alone have given a total profit of nearly ₹59,000 crore in Q2FY23; a jump of 59 per cent. So, will these factors continue to drive the banking industry’s growth in Q3FY23? A report from brokerage firm Sharekhan by BNP Paribas states that banks…