Business News Live: Indian services sector sees 7.2% growth in Q1 FY25, led by real estate

State-owned SJVN on Thursday inked 2 initial pacts with Maharashtra government for developing pumped storage and floating solar projects in the state with an investment of Rs 48,000 crore.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed with Department of Water Resources of the Maharashtra government for development of five pumped storage projects (PSPs) of total capacity of 8100 MW. The 8100 MW PSPs include 800 MW Kolmondapada, 1500 MW Sidgarh, 2000 MW Chornai, 1800 MW Baitarni and 2000 MW Jalvara, a company statement said.
 

The Centre has retained its borrowing target for the current financial year and plans to raise Rs 6.61 lakh crore through auction of dated securities during October-March period of 2024-25 to fund the revenue gap to boost economic growth. "Out of Gross Market borrowing of Rs 14.01 lakh crore budgeted for 2024-25, Rs 6.61 lakh crore (47.2 per cent) is planned to be borrowed in H2 through issuance of dated securities, including Rs 20,000 crore of Sovereign Green Bonds (SGrBs)," the finance ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
 

Amazon India has signed a pact with the Labour and Employment Ministry to post available work opportunities at Amazon and its staffing agencies on the National Career Service (NCS) portal.

The MoU (memorandum of understanding) is initially set for two years. It will allow job seekers registered on the portal to view and apply for opportunities at Amazon. "Amazon is the first e-commerce company to collaborate with the Ministry of Labour and Employment for the NCS portal. This partnership aims to connect aspiring individuals with career prospects that match their skills and qualifications," Amazon said in a statement. The NCS portal currently has over 60 lakh active job seekers and 33.50 lakh active employers. By bridging the gap between supply and demand, NCS has the potential to connect job providers and job seekers across levels and roles, particularly in the fast-growing e-commerce sector, and contribute to the overall economic development of the country, the statement said.
 

The Indian rupee closed weaker on Thursday as importer and interbank dollar bids outweighed cues from a rise in most Asian currencies, ahead of closely watched remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

The rupee closed at 83.6425 against the U.S. dollar, down from its close at 83.5925 in the previous session.

Importers' dollar-buying, related to month-end payments, along with the unwinding of some interbank long positions kept the rupee on the backfoot despite gains in its Asian peers, traders said.

The dollar index was little changed at 100.9. Most Asian currencies rose, with the offshore Chinese yuan up 0.3% at 7.

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Ola Electric on Thursday said it will establish 10,000 sales and service outlets by the end of 2025 to expand its reach across smaller cities and towns.

The electric two-wheeler maker said it has initiated a network partner programme aimed at taking the EV revolution further into tier-2 and tier-3 cities, including urban pockets where EV penetration still remains low.

Under the initiative, the company has on-boarded 625 partners to expand its sales footprint across India, it said in a statement.

It further plans to have 1,000 partners ahead of the festive season this year, it added.

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Benchmark indices opened Thursday on a higher note despite an overnight fall in the US markets. Both the 30-share S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 touched their respective lifetime highs during early trade, marking the sixth consecutive session where markets saw a record high.

At close, S&P BSE Sensex rose 666.25 points or 0.78 per cent to 85,836.12, while the broader NSE Nifty 50 gained 211.9 points or 0.81 per cent to 26,216.05.

“Nifty has given a breakout above the psychological level of 26000 and is also walking on the Upper Bollinger band, a strong sign of bullishness. Today's upside move can also be due to the short covering in the sold calls of today's expiry. The Options writer's data for October's expiry shows increased put writing at 26000 levels, indicating a further rally from the current levels. Immediate support for Nifty is now at 26000 levels, while Nifty can test 26500 levels soon,” said Praveen Dwarakanath, Vice President of Hedged.in.

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The safe-haven dollar edged down on Thursday on increasing risk appetite with traders looking ahead to speeches from key Federal Reserve policymakers and economic data later in the day for clues on the pace of interest rate cuts. Meanwhile, the Swiss franc rose after the Swiss National Bank cut interest rates by 25 basis points. Future markets and some analysts expected a bigger cut of 50 bps after the Federal Reserve made such a move last week.

Chinese leaders pledged on Thursday to deploy "necessary fiscal spending" to meet this year's economic growth target of roughly 5 per cent, acknowledging new problems and raising market expectations for fresh stimulus on top of measures announced this week.

The remarks, which included guidance to the government to support household consumption and stabilise the troubled real estate market, came in an official readout of a monthly meeting of top Communist Party officials, the Politburo. The September meeting is not usually a forum for macroeconomic discussions, which suggests growing anxiety over slowing growth momentum.

The world's second-largest economy faces strong deflationary pressures due to a sharp property market downturn and frail consumer confidence, which has exposed its over-reliance on exports in an increasingly tense global trade environment.

The much-anticipated allotment of shares for the Manba Finance Ltd Initial Public Offering ( IPO ) is expected to be finalised today, September 26, following an overwhelming subscription. The IPO, which specialises in automobile loans, witnessed a massive demand, being oversubscribed 224.1 times on its final day. This surge in interest reflects the confidence investors have in the company’s growth potential.

Manba Finance's IPO , valued at Rs 150.84 crore, received bids for a staggering 197.18 crore shares against the available 87.99 lakh shares. Non-Institutional Investors (NIIs) led the subscription frenzy, with their portion oversubscribed by 511.65 times, while Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) subscribed 148.55 times and retail investors followed closely with 144.03 times.

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Shares of Power Grid were trading marginally lower in trade on Thursday amid low trading volumes. Power Grid shares opened for trading at Rs 364.85 and rose as much as 0.54 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 365.80. However, later in the session, Power Grid shares saw a slight profit booking and Power Grid shares slipped as much as 2.35 per cent from day's highest level to fall to an intraday low of Rs 357.20 on the BSE.

At the day’s highest level, Power Grid shares fell a few paise short of its 52-week high of Rs 366.20.

On the National Stock Exchange, Power Grid shares declined 0.5 per cent to Rs 361.95. Power Grid shares touched an intraday high of Rs 365.80 and low of Rs 357.20

As of 12:01 pm, Power Grid shares traded 0.65 per cent lower at Rs 361.45, underperforming the Sensex which was 0.34 per cent.

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Trent share price: Shares of Tata Group company Trent Ltd. rose as much as 4.32 per cent on the BSE to hit record high of Rs 7,939 after international brokerage firm Citi initiated coverage on the stock with a buy rating. Citi has initiated coverage on the Trent for target price of Rs 9,250 indicating an upside of nearly 22 per cent from its previous closing price of Rs 7,609.60.

In a report Citi said that Trent's transformation from a single-format to a multi-format and multi-category player led to a higher revenue CAGR versus India’s leading consumer discretionary and retail peers.

"Trent has a higher revenue CAGR than India’s leading listed consumer discretionary and retail companies, led by store expansion under Zudio along with rising rev per sq ft at Westside and Zudio," Citi said in a report.

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Maharashtra Rains: Prime Minister Narendra Modi ’s plans for launching mega projects worth Rs 22,600 in Pune have been cancelled. The visit has been called off for heavy rains, a report by ANI said. The mega announcement of projects in Pune includes the launch of the Pune Metro section from District Court to Swargate. This is expected to complete the Pune metro rail Project (Phase one). The cost for this stretch of the underground railway system has been estimated at Rs 1,810 crore.

The heavy rain alert in Pune has led to the closure of schools, colleges, and offices. The Pune district administration has ordered the closure of schools and colleges in Pune City and Pimpri Chichwadi areas for Thursday. The Met department has issued colour-coded alerts for various regions in Mumbai as well as Pune and some other parts of Maharashtra.

An orange alert has been set for Thane, Raigad, Mumbai, and Pune for September 26. Similarly, an orange alert has also been set for Nashik and Dhule district in North Maharashtra.

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Alphabet unit Google filed a complaint to the European Commission on Wednesday against what it said were Microsoft's anti-competitive practices to lock customers into Microsoft's cloud platform Azure.

Google, whose biggest cloud computing rivals are Microsoft and Amazon Web Services, said Microsoft was exploiting its dominant Windows Server operating system to prevent competition. 

Google Cloud Vice President Amit Zavery told a briefing that Microsoft made customers pay a 400% mark-up to keep running Windows Server on rival cloud computing operators. This did not apply if they used Azure. Users of rival cloud systems would also get later and more limited security updates, Zavery said. 

Google pointed to a 2023 study by cloud services organisation CISPE which found that European businesses and public sector bodies were paying up to 1 billion euros ($1.12 billion) per year on Microsoft licensing penalties.

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Three top technical leaders at Microsoft-backed OpenAI quit on Wednesday, the latest in a string of executive departures this year coming at a time of flux for the ChatGPT maker.

Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, VP Research Barret Zoph and Chief Research Officer Bob McGrew all announced their departures via X on Wednesday afternoon.

The San Francisco-based artificial intelligence startup is negotiating a new $6.5 billion financing round valuing the company at $150 billion, contingent on the company upending its corporate structure.

The company plans to restructure to a for-profit benefit corporation and will give CEO Sam Altman an equity stake, Reuters reported on Wednesday. Currently, a non-profit board controls the for-profit entity, an unusual structure which led to members of the non-profit board ousting Altman in November 2023 over a breakdown in communication and loss of trust. He was reinstated after five days.

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Reliance Power's stock surged 5 per cent today, reaching a 52-week high of Rs 44.15 on the BSE, marking its 10th consecutive day of gains. The stock’s stellar performance has been driven by the company's recent efforts to reduce its debt, including a significant prepayment made by its subsidiary, Rosa Power.

Rosa Power, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Power, prepaid Rs 850 crore of its outstanding debt to Singapore-based Varde Partners. This move marks an important step in the company's path toward becoming debt-free. As the sole lender to Rosa Power, Varde Partners' loan repayment bolstered investor confidence, driving Reliance Power's stock upward. The company is targeting full debt repayment by the end of the current financial year.

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The Indian equity benchmarks edged higher on Thursday ahead of monthly expiry of September futures and option contracts. The Sensex rose as much as 149 points to hit record high of 85,318.99 and Nifty 50 index hit an all-time high of 26,049.85 led by gains in index heavyweights like Maruti Suzuki, Nestle, Tata Motors, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv and HCL Technologies.

As of 9:24 am, the Sensex was up 147 points at 85,317 and Nifty 50 index advanced 39 points to 26,043.

Most of the Asian markets were trading higher with Japan's Nikkei rising 2.4 per cent. China's Shanghai Composite advanced 0.87 per cent, South Korea's KOSPI jumped 2.05 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 1.68 per cent.
 

Japan's Nikkei share average rose more than 2 per cent on Thursday, as chip giants Tokyo Electron and Advantest tracked their US peers higher and a weaker yen boosted exporters.

The Nikkei had gained 2.49 per cent to 38,812.94 by the midday break, rising for a fifth session in six. The broader Topix was up 1.96 per cent at 2,702.38.

"Gains in US chip stocks, particularly those of Micron's, lifted Japanese chip shares," said Kentaro Hayashi, a senior strategist at Daiwa Securities.

Shares of Micron Technology surged roughly 14 per cent in after-hours trading on Wednesday after the company forecast higher-than-expected first-quarter revenue due to the thirst for its memory chips used in artificial intelligence computing.

The Indian equity benchmarks are set to open higher on Thursday ahead of monthly expiry of futures and option contracts amid strong cues from other Asian markets. The Nifty futures traded at Gift City in Gandhinagar rose 58 points or 0.23 per cent to 26,048.

Most of the Asian markets were trading higher with Japan's Nikkei rising 2.4 per cent. China's Shanghai Composite advanced 0.87 per cent, South Korea's KOSPI jumped 2.05 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 1.68 per cent.

Overnight, Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 closed lower on Wednesday, pulling back from recent record highs driven by China's sweeping stimulus package, as investors awaited economic indicators and signals on upcoming interest rate cuts.

The three main indexes were positioned for monthly gains after the Federal Reserve's rate cut on Sept. 18 bolstered hopes for a soft landing. However, a weak consumer sentiment report on Tuesday raised concerns about the health of the labour market.
 

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg is known for his passion, including for ancient Rome, and on Wednesday he wore a shirt that played on his own ambitions as his company launched what he described as the best glasses in the world.

At Meta's annual Connect event in Menlo Park, California, Zuckerberg wore a custom T-shirt with the Latin phrase "aut Zuck aut nihil," or "all Zuck or all nothing," as he revealed the first working prototype of Meta's augmented-reality glasses.

The phrase was a play on "aut Caesar aut nihil," which means "either a Caesar or nothing," or more simply "all or nothing."

The saying, indicative of grand ambition, was a personal motto of Italian Renaissance Prince Cesare Borgia and was possibly coined by Julius Caesar himself, according to some scholars.

Three top technical leaders at Microsoft-backed OpenAI quit on Wednesday, the latest in a string of executive departures this year coming at a time of flux for the ChatGPT maker.

Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, VP Research Barret Zoph and Chief Research Officer Bob McGrew all announced their departures via X on Wednesday afternoon.

The San Francisco-based artificial intelligence startup is negotiating a new $6.5 billion financing round valuing the company at $150 billion, contingent on the company upending its corporate structure.

The company plans to restructure to a for-profit benefit corporation and will give CEO Sam Altman an equity stake, Reuters reported on Wednesday. Currently, a non-profit board controls the for-profit entity, an unusual structure which led to members of the non-profit board ousting Altman in November 2023 over a breakdown in communication and loss of trust. He was reinstated after five days.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 closed lower on Wednesday, pulling back from recent record highs driven by China's sweeping stimulus package, as investors awaited economic indicators and signals on upcoming interest rate cuts.

The three main indexes were positioned for monthly gains after the Federal Reserve's rate cut on Sept. 18 bolstered hopes for a soft landing. However, a weak consumer sentiment report on Tuesday raised concerns about the health of the labour market.

"What happened in commodities and basic materials, etc., was quite a reaction to ... 'hey, what if China can get growing again?' And that kind of feeds into other areas, (and) it helps other economies," said Tom Martin, senior portfolio manager at Globalt in Atlanta.

The long-term Treasury bond yield rose on concerns that looser financial conditions could reignite inflation.

ChatGPT-maker OpenAI is working on a plan to restructure its core business into a for-profit benefit corporation that will no longer be controlled by its non-profit board, people familiar with the matter told Reuters, in a move that will make the company more attractive to investors.

The OpenAI non-profit will continue to exist and own a minority stake in the for-profit company, these sources said.

Chief executive Sam Altman will also receive equity for the first time in the for-profit company, which could be worth $150 billion after the restructuring as it also tries to remove the cap on returns for investors, sources added. The sources requested anonymity to discuss private matters.