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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Interim Budget 2024 on Thursday. The stock markets exhibited volatility and closer slightly lower in the day. However, on Friday, the markets seem to have welcomed the government’s policy revisions introduced in the Budget.
As of 10:02 AM, the two key equity benchmarks were trading higher and seemed to be on a strong rally. The BSE Sensex climbed over 750 points and was trading at 72,403.68, while the NSE Nifty50 stood higher by more than 200 points at 21,934.75.
Comparatively, in the previous trading day, on Thursday, Sensex and Nifty closed their lacklustre trade in the red following the Interim Budget announcement. The S&P BSE Sensex, which hit a high of 72,151, eventually ended the day at 71,645, down 107 points. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 topped 21,800 in intra-day deals, but closed at 21,697, down 28 points.
While the FM proposed no changes to the tax slabs in the Budget, there were few policy revisions announced. Among the major announcements included a capital outlay of over Rs 2.5 lakh crore for the Indian railways. The govt also hiked the gross budgetary allocation for railway infrastructure projects in the northeast for the FY25 to Rs 10,369 crore, which remained 388 per cent higher than the average budget allocation of Rs 2,122 crore during the 2009-14 period, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Thursday.
For the EV sector, while the FM did say that the govt will enhance widespread adoption of E-buses for public transport, the govt also slashed the FAME allocation for FY25 by over 44 per cent to Rs 2,671.33 crore, against the revised Budget Estimates for FY24.
Sitharaman also announced that the government will disburse Rs 75,000 crore as interest-free loan for 50 years to support reforms by states for realising the vision of ‘Viksit Bharat’.
Regarding the agriculture sector, the government said that it will be building on its Atmanirbhar Oilseeds Abhiyaan launched in 2022 and setting up a comprehensive program to help the dairy farmers.
The budget allocation for women’s welfare in the financial year 2024-25 has seen a substantial increase of 38.6 per cent. This boost is attributed to enhanced allocations by seven ministries and departments, according to the Women and Child Development Ministry.
“43 Ministries/Departments/UTs have reported a total of Rs. 3.09 lakh crore in the Gender Budget Statement 2024-25 (Budget Estimates), as compared to Rs. 2.23 lakh crore in 2023-24,” the ministry statement states.
State-owned Bank of India (BoI) reported a 62 per cent jump in net profit to Rs 1,870 crore in the third quarter of the current fiscal year in the financial results released on Friday. Comparatively, the bank logged a profit of Rs 1,151 crore in the October-December quarter in the 2022-23 fiscal year. The total income of the lender rose to Rs 16,411 crore in the quarter under review, from Rs 14,160 crore in Q3FY23.
Air India announced the appointment of Ravindra Kumar G P as the airline’s Chief Human Resources Officer on Friday, effective from April 1, 2024. Kumar is currently working with Tata Motors, and will replace Suresh Dutt Tripathi, who is retiring from the airline.
Tata Motors on Friday reported a 133.32 per cent climb in net profit to Rs 7,100 crore in the quarter ended December 2023 in the current fiscal year, against Rs 3,043 crore logged in the corresponding quarter in the preceding fiscal year. The revenue for the reviewing period stood at Rs 1,10,600 crore, up by 25 per cent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis.
The Indian Hotels Company (IHCL) on Friday reported an 18 per cent rise in consolidated Profit After Tax (PAT) to Rs 451.95 crore in the third quarter of the fiscal year 2023-24. The hospitality firm’s PAT stood at Rs 382.71 crore in the year-ago period, the company said in a statement. IHCL’s revenue from operations grew 16.49 per cent to Rs 1,963.84 crore in Q3FY24 compared to Rs 1,685.80 crore in Q3FY23.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Friday proposed to revamp the nominations framework aimed towards reducing unclaimed assets in the securities market. This new framework will also make the process of claiming the assets easier for the surviving successors of the deceased investors.
The rupee appreciated 7 paise to settle at 82.91 (provisional) against the US dollar on Friday, helped by a strong trend in domestic equities and a weak dollar against major currencies overseas amidst an increase in appetite for riskier assets. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the domestic unit opened at 82.91 against the American currency, hit an intraday high of 82.82 and a low of 82.93, before closing at 82.91 (provisional). In the previous trading session on Thursday, the Indian currency closed at 82.98 against the greenback.
IndiGo-parent InterGlobe Aviation reported on Friday that its profit after tax more than doubled to Rs 2,998.1 crore in the quarter ended December 2023 in the current fiscal year, against the profit of Rs 1,422.6 crore logged in the corresponding third quarter in the preceding 2022-23 fiscal year. The firm registered profits for the fifth consecutive quarter. The total income of the company increased to Rs 20,062.3 crore in Q3FY24, from Rs 15,410.2 crore on a year-on-year (YoY) basis.
The stock markets closed trading on a strong note, a day after the Budget 2024 was presented in the Parliament. The S&P BSE Sensex settled over 400 points higher above the 72,000 mark, at 72,085.63, while the NSE Nifty50 closed more than 150 points higher at 21,853.80.
IT training firm, NIIT, reported a marginal increase of 0.56 per cent in its consolidated net profit to Rs 14.36 crore in the quarter ended December 2023 in the current fiscal year. Comparatively, the profit remained at Rs 14.28 crore in the corresponding quarter a year earlier. The revenue from operations slipped by over 8 per cent to Rs 85.17 crore in Q3FY24, from Rs 93.18 crore in the same quarter last year. The company in its statement said that the results include the impact of the demerger of NLSL from NIIT Ltd from April 1, 2022.
Business News Highlights: Stock Markets Settle Higher, Sensex Crosses 72,000, Nifty Falls Short Of 21,900 – ABP Live
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