Business Today 12 June 2022

Axis Bank’s MD & CEO Amitabh Chaudhry has a spring in his stride these days. The 57-year-old banker has recently completed an important acquisition that has the potential to catapult Axis Bank—the third-largest private sector bank in India—to the next level in retail banking. Axis has just picked up the consumer banking business of Citi in India for $1.6 billion, edging out rivals like Kotak Mahindra Bank. The acquisition is part of Axis’s ambition of becoming No. 2 among private sector banks by balance sheet size, a spot currently occupied by ICICI Bank. HDFC Bank is at No. 1. To be sure, Axis has narrowed the gap with ICICI Bank in terms of assets to ₹2.36 lakh crore in FY22, down from ₹3.68 lakh crore in FY20. But as Chaudhry…

Source: Media reports 70 PER CENT of India’s power demand is met by mostly coal-powered thermal power plants 25 PER CENT is the fall of coal stocks below daily requirements at more than 100 thermal power plants 35 PER CENT The expected year-on-year rise in the cost of imported coal in India in FY23…

Welcome to the world of rising interest rates and soaring inflation. On May 4, the Reserve Bank of India increased the repo rate by 40 basis points, hinting at some trouble in the economy due to rising inflation. Let’s take a look at the rate trend and its impact on your finances BACK TO SCHOOL What is repo rate? How does a rate increase affect you? Repo rate is the rate of interest at which commercial banks borrow money from the RBI. An increase in repo rate raises their borrowing costs from the central bank, which in turn raises their lending rates. This has a cascading effect on the economy, visible in increased interest rates for other retail and commercial loans. How does increasing repo rate contain inflation? A rise…

A SMALLER SIP NET INFLOWS through systematic investment plans or SIPs registered a notable dip for the first time in over a year in April. According to data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), SIP contributions fell to ₹11,863 crore in April—₹465 crore lower t ₹ han the previous month’s ₹12,328 crore, which was an all-time high. The previous fiscal saw ₹1.25 lakh crore pour in through SIPs, with month-on-month growth every month except February. —ASHISH RUKHAIYAR ₹2 LAKH CRORE TOTAL ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT OF ALL EXCHANGETRADED FUNDS AND INDEX FUNDS TRACKING THE NIFTY 50 INDEX, AT THE END OF APRIL 2022 YES, IT’S SMBHAV In its efforts to capture India’s large offline kirana network, US retail giant Amazon has announced a new initiative, Smart Commerce, at its flagship…

BUSY LADY IT HAS BEEN a hectic first three months for Madhabi Puri Buch as the chairperson of Sebi. The capital markets watchdog is now reviewing the IPO allotment framework, which, as per the government, is letting institutional investors and HNIs exploit loopholes to artificially inflate subscription numbers. The signal came following the IPO of LIC, where some investors put in bids knowing well that they would get cancelled due to lack of funds in their bank accounts. —ASHISH RUKHAIYAR DEAL DONE. NOW WHAT? For Debashis Chatterjee, the mandate has got much larger. From being the big boss at Mindtree, he will now be in charge of the “LTI Mindtree” entity, India’s fifth-largest IT services company. The IT industry veteran will bank on all his experience to propel growth in…

IF THERE IS ONE word that can describe the strategic moves of India’s cement industry in recent times, it is this: consolidation. The latest instance of this strategy has seen Swiss cement major Holcim exit India, and the Adani Group, which had no presence in the space earlier, become the second-largest cement maker in the country overnight. The exit of Holcim has substantially altered the form and dynamics of the cement industry in India. After being around for close to two decades, the international major thought it wise to instead focus on markets where the opportunity in solutions and products was more attractive. In that scenario, India figured low in the pecking order, with Holcim already calling it quits in Brazil, Northern Ireland, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Russia. In a…