2021 August Fourth Week - Stock Market News Highlights

2021 August 4th Week - Stocks in News:

Indian Markets benchmark Indices outperformed as NIFTY ends at 16,705 while SENSEX closed beyond 56,124. All sectorial indices closed in green.

Capital Goods, Power, Metals and Healthcare sectors gained the most. Nifty midcap and small cap rose 2%, each.  

1) Central Government announces asset Monetization plan to raise Rs 6 lakh Cr. by 2025:

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the launch of asset monetization plan under the National Monetization Pipeline (NMP) on Monday.

Government eyes to garner ₹88,000 crore in FY22 through monetization of existing infrastructure projects in sectors such as road, railways, power, gas pipelines under the ₹6 trillion National Monetization Pipeline spread over the next four years.

2) Vodafone Idea Vi loses 4.3 million users as Jio & Airtel gain

As per the latest monthly report published by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Vodafone Idea lost 4.3 million users in the month of June.

The numbers show that while Vi lost subscribers, Reliance Jio added 5.5 million subscribers to its network during the month, followed by Bharti Airtel with 3.8 million users.

Overall, while urban telephone subscriptions during the month grew by 0.74%, rural subscriptions fell by 0.16%.

Private access service providers held 89.95% market share of the wireless subscribers whereas BSNL and MTNL had a market share of 10.05%

3) IPO Corner:

a) Nuvoco Vistas Stock debuted on NSE today at Rs 485 - recording a discount of 14.91% to its issue price of Rs 570. On BSE, the stock was listed at Rs 471.

The Nuvoco Vistas IPO was subscribed 1.71 times. Retail Investors had subscribed to the issue 0.73 times the reserved portion.

b) Chemplast Sanmar stock debuted on NSE today at Rs 550 - recording a gain of 1.66% to its issue price. On BSE, the stock was listed at Rs 525.

The Chemplast Sanmar IPO was subscribed 2.17 times. Retail Investors had subscribed to the issue 2.29 times the reserved portion.

c) Aptus Value Housing debuted on NSE today at Rs 333 - recording a loss of 5.67% to its issue price. On BSE, the stock was listed at Rs 329.95.

The Aptus Value Housing Finance IPO was subscribed 17.20 times. Retail Investors had subscribed to the issue 1.35 times the reserved portion.

4) HDFC Bank is planning to issue 3 lakh credit cards per month, a senior official mentioned nearly a week after RBI allowed the bank to start issuing new credit cards to its customers.

HDFC Bank has divested more than 2 per cent stake in Central Depository Services (India) Ltd (CDSL) in tranches during June - August this year, garnering nearly Rs 223 crore from the sale, according to a regulatory filing. 

HDFC Bank has listed its $ 1 billion AT-1 bonds on the International Financial Services Centre exchanges at GIFT-City.

5) Tata Motors announced that it will launch its mini SUV Punch around Diwali this year.

NCLT approved Tata Motors' plans of creating a new subsidiary for its passenger vehicle (PV) business.

6) Cadila has received final approval from the US drug regulator to market tofacitinib extended-release tablets in the USA.

7) Yes Bank has partnered with Wheels EMI Pvt. Ltd to offer two-wheeler loans at competitive interest rates.

SEBI has ordered de-freezing of bank accounts as well as share and mutual fund holdings of Rana Kapoor, former MD and CEO of Yes Bank.

8) TVS Motor has launched the TVS NTORQ 125 Race Edition in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

9) Maruti Suzuki: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has fined Maruti Suzuki Rs 200 crore for anti-competitive practices.

The largest automaker in India also employed mystery shopping agencies to ensure no additional discount was offered to customers by its dealerships, the watchdog found in its investigation.

10) HCL Technologies (HCL) has signed a contract with Munich Re, one of the world’s leading reinsurers, to create a next generation digital workplace for its workforce. HCL Tech is building on its strategic digital transformation partnership with Munich Re, HCL will modernize and standardize workplace services for more than 16,000 employees in 40 countries.

11) Reliance Industries: Reliance Retail Ventures, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, is planning to convert its MyJio mobile application into a super app by including the offerings of Just Dial, according to a media report.

12) Infosys Ltd has signed a new minimum three-year contract with The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) to provide a wide range of digital services to the company.

13) Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd., a subsidiary of Tata Power, has announced the commissioning of its 150 MW solar power project in Loharki, Rajasthan.

14) Tata Consumer Products announced the launch of its Himalayan brand of bottled water in the United Kingdom.

15) Bajaj Finserv gets SEBI nod to set up Mutual Fund business:

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has released a new policy called EASE 4.0.

EASE 4.0 is the government's agenda for public sector banks. Its main focus is at institutionalising clean and smart banking.

A few of the changes planned are: Bank employees' pension payout hiked to 30% of last-drawn salary and employer contribution to pension corpus now up to 14% from 10%.

In a press conference after the launch, the finance minister also said that public sector banks broke a five-year streak of losses and recorded Rs 31,817 crore profit.

16) Bharti Airtel mentioned that the company’s board will meet on August 29 to discuss various capital raising options.

17) ICICI Bank has reportedly registered a case against Karvy Stock Broking Ltd promoter C. Parthasarathy and others for allegedly cheating the bank to the tune of Rs 563 crore.

18) Cipla has entered into a joint venture agreement with Kemwell Biopharma, a company based in Bangalore, to develop, manufacture and commercialize biosimilars for global markets.

19) Punjab National Bank (PNB) has extended the term of its Managing Director and CEO. Ch. S. S Mallikarjuna Rao till January 31, 2022.

20) SEBI bars Kotak AMC from launching new FMP schemes

SEBI has restrained Kotak Asset Management Company (AMC) from launching any Fixed Maturity Plan (FMP) schemes for six months. SEBI mentioned that Kotak AMC failed to pay the full proceeds on time to investors of certain FMPs.

Taking action, the regulator also imposed a penalty of Rs 50 lakh on the AMC.

Six of Kotak AMC's FMPs were due for maturity around April-May 2019. Kotak failed to pay the full amount to its investors at the time the scheme matured. The full payment was done by September 2019 only. This is a violation of a SEBI norm. The reason for the delay in payment was that the said schemes had invested in Essel group companies which defaulted on their payments.

[Fixed Maturity Plans, as the name suggests, are mutual fund schemes with a fixed tenure. FMPs invest primarily in debt instruments. The debt instruments are chosen so that they mature at the same time as the tenure of the mutual fund scheme.]

21) IOC: Indian Oil is planning to build India’s first green hydrogen plant at Mathura refinery.

22) Aurobindo Pharma’s subsidiary Eugia Pharma Specialties has received USFDA approval for its Cyclophosphamide Injection. It is used to treat cancer.

23) Bank of Baroda has announced the reduction of its credit card benefits for customers who hold the Easy, Swavlamban, and select credit cards, starting September 15.