Author: Finance Khabar

Mumbai: Benchmark indices closed the day sharply lower on the first trading day of the week, as banking and financial stocks saw sharp falls. The drop in the indices was despite strong markets across Asia and Europe. In fact, most Asian markets closed the day higher, after a private survey released Monday showed China’s manufacturing activity expanded in July. The Nifty ended the day below the 11,000 points mark at 10,891 points, while the Sensex fell below the 37,000 points mark. Banking stocks were the big losers in trade with Kotak Mahindra Bank and IndusInd Bank among the early big…

HSBC on Monday reported a 65% year-over-year plunge in pre-tax profits for the first six months of 2020 as it set aside more funds for potential loan losses that could come as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The bank, Europe’s largest by assets, reported profit before tax of $4.32 billion in the first half of this year — down from $12.41 billion that was reported a year ago and missing the estimated $5.69 billion that HSBC had compiled from analysts. The bank’s reported revenue fell by 9% to $26.7 billion during the same period. That’s slightly above analysts’ expectations…

Manufacturing PMI for the month of July tumbled to 46 highlighting the impact of localized lockdowns being imposed to curb the spread of the virus. For the June month, the figure came in at 47.2. Though levels below 50 indicate contraction in the economic activity. The data shed light on the state of economic conditions in one of the countries worst affected by the pandemic, said Elliot Kerr, economist at IHS Markit, in a media release. The survey results showed a re-acceleration of declines in the key indices of output and new orders, undermining the trend towards stabilisaton over the…

New Delhi: Renault of France is focusing on launching new models and increasing sales, especially in rural areas, to strengthen its position in the Indian market. A top company official says that India is among the top ten markets in the world for Reno. The company recently introduced the Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) trim for the entry-level Kwid and the new model Tiber. Apart from this, there are manual transmission versions of these vehicles. The company is now set to further strengthen its product portfolio. “We will soon introduce a completely new turbo engine (petrol) duster,” said Venkataram Mamilapalle, chief…

New Delhi: Royal Enfield sales have fallen drastically in the month of July amid Corona crisis. The company has sold a total of 40334 bikes in July 2020, compared to 54185 in July 2019. It has declined 26 per cent year-on-year. Talking about July 2020, the domestic sale was 37925 units while the 2409 unit bike was exported. In 2019, the domestic sale was 49182 units. It has declined by 23 percent. 5003 units were exported in 2019 July. It has recorded a decline of 52 percent.

New Delhi: Integrated net profit of small lending company CreditAccess Grameen Ltd fell by more than 22 percent to Rs 75 crore in the first quarter of the current financial year. In the April-June quarter of the previous financial year 2019-20, the company made a profit of Rs 96 crore. The company said in a release that its net income from interest increased by 55.2 percent to Rs 383.20 crore during this period. Whereas the income from interest of the company was Rs 246.90 crore in the same period last year. The company’s gross loan portfolio grew by 53.9 percent…

New Delhi: Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were net buyers for the second consecutive month in July. He invested a total of Rs 3,301 crore in Indian markets in July amid hopes of a corona virus disease vaccine. According to depositories data, FPIs invested Rs 7,563 crore in the stock markets in July, while they withdrew Rs 4,262 crore. Thus he made a net investment of Rs 3,301 crore. In the previous month, FPI made a net investment of Rs 24,053 crore in the Indian market. Himanshu Srivastava, associate managing research director of consulting company Morningstar India, said expectations have risen…

New Delhi: With tepid collections proving to be a challenge in meeting tax revenue goals, CBDT Chairman P.C. Mody has set monthly targets for field formations for disposing of appeals and asked them to compute taxes for all assesses by August-end. In a letter to Principal Chief Commissioners of Income Tax, Mr. Mody said that many taxpayers are waiting to file applications under ‘Vivad Se Vishwas’ scheme, but they are also waiting for correct demand to be intimated to them. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chief also set a monthly target of disposing of pending appeals by sending…

New Delhi: There is no respite from Covid-19 pandemic across the country, with the total number of both, infections and casualties rising with each day. Add to it the prohibitive costs of treatment in the private healthcare sector, and the problems only seem to multiply for the victims and loved ones alike. Keeping the situation in mind, Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (IRDAI) recently unveiled two Corona-specific insurance policies viz. Corona Kavach and Corona Rakshak, and made it mandatory for general and health insurers to offer both these products. Corona Kavach is basically an indemnity policy, which reimburses a…

New Delhi: Power producers’ total outstanding dues owed by distribution firms rose over 47% year-on-year to ₹ 1.33 lakh crore in June 2020, reflecting stress in the sector. Distribution companies (discoms) owed a total of ₹ 90,655 crore to power generation firms in June 2019, according to portal PRAAPTI (Payment Ratification And Analysis in Power procurement for bringing Transparency in Invoicing of generators). The portal was launched in May 2018 to bring in transparency in power purchase transactions between the generators and discoms. In June 2020, the total overdue amount, which was not cleared even after 60 days of grace…

New Delhi: In sync with the declining rates in the economy, NHAI and REC have cut the interest rate on their capital gains bonds from 5.75% to 5% from 1st August. The lower rate will only apply to fresh bonds where payment by the concerned institution has been received after 1st August 2020. The reduction will not apply on existing bonds. Investment in NHAI and REC up to ₹50 lakh offers a deduction from capital gains tax under Section 54 EC of the Income Tax Act. Such investment has to be made within six months of the transfer of the…

New Delhi:Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said that the government will soon come out with a policy on new public sector enterprises (PSEs) to define strategic sectors which will not have more than four PSUs. As part of the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’, the finance minister had earlier talked about a policy where a maximum of four public sector companies in strategic sectors, and state-owned firms in other segments will eventually be privatised. In other sectors, PSEs will be privatised for which timing to be based on feasibility. “We are working on it … it should go to Cabinet soon,”…

Washington: Apple rode the company’s strong earnings report to become the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, surpassing the state oil giant Saudi Aramco at Friday’s market close. Apple shares closed up 10.47% Friday, giving it a market valuation of $1.84 trillion. Saudi Aramco, which had been the most valuable publicly listed company since its market debut last year, now trails at $1.76 trillion as of its last close. Apple’s strong fiscal third quarter earnings, released Thursday, boosted its stock, as investors rallied behind the company’s 11% year-over-year growth. Apple also announced a 4-for-1 stock split. The company has recovered…

This industry-first Tax app was launched by aspiring CAsApp receives overwhelming response of 1500+ downloads within 2 months of launch Gurgaon JJ Tax, a chat-based app launched by aspiring chartered accountants Mehak Malik and Leesha Arya, has launched ‘Freedom Offer’ and lowered their membership prices from August 3, 2020. The lowering of these prices coincides with Rakshabandhan celebrations. Here’s a comparison of the revised membership prices, as against the old ones. Commenting on the lowering of prices, Co-Founder Leesha Arya said, “We wanted to offer a festive twist to our audience, especially with the tax season on the horizon. The app is…

MagTapp in far better than more than 10 Chinese apps including UC Browser With Indian Government’s recent banning of 59 chinese apps there has been a huge demand in country made apps. Tapping into that sentiment, some youth have developed an indigenous mobile application cum web browser to give people a substitute of the Chinese UC browser, U dictionary and WPS reader, all in one. MagTapp is a visual web browser with an inbuilt visual document reader, visual dictionary, and a translation feature. Anyone who faces difficulty while reading English content on their phone due to difficult words just needs…

New Delhi: GE on Friday said it will be providing its advanced gas turbine technology upgrade Advanced Gas Path (AGP) for Reliance Bangladesh LNG and Power’s upcoming 718-megawatt (MW) combined cycle power plant in Meghnaghat, Bangladesh. Reliance Bangladesh LNG and Power is a joint venture between India’s Reliance Power and Japan’s JERA, a GE statement said. Built by engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) group Samsung C&T, Meghnaghat power plant will be powered by two GE 9F gas turbines, one GE D11 steam turbine and three H53 generators. The power plant will utilise re-gasified liquified natural gas (LNG) fuel to generate…

New Delhi:Indian rupee shredded intraday gains settled 3 paise higher at 74.81 per dollar, amid volatile trade seen in the domestic equity market on Friday tracking weakness in the greenback. It opened 11 paise higher at 74.74 per dollar against Thursday’s close of 74.85 and traded in the range of 74.68-74.89. At the interbank forex market, it witnessed an intra-day high of 74.68 during the session and a low of 74.90 against the US dollar.Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.22 per cent to 92.81. Traders said the uptick in…

New Delhi: The Hotel & Restaurant Association has appealed to the RBI to extend the moratorium on repayment of loan till March 2021. In a letter to RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, the Chairman – Hotel & Restaurant Association of Odisha & IATO Eastern Region, Hony. Secretary, Hotel Association of India, Mr J K Mohanty said without such help from the RBI, the hotel industry in the country will collapse. The moratorium on interest and principal repayment for six months has helped the industry to survive on short term basis, but it needs to be extended further, stated Mohanty. It is…

New Delhi: As part of relief measures announced by the government under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat package for both employers and employees during the COVID pandemic, Employee’s Provident Fund (EPF) contribution was cut by 4% for the three months of May, June, and July. Since the reduced EPFcontribution amount was for three months (till July), from August onwards the EPF contribution will get deducted at 24 percent again (i.e., 12 percent each by the employee and the employer). Earlier in May, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had reduced EPF contribution by 4% for three months. As a result, employees of around…

New Delhi: On Friday, the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has announced the cancellation of international flights. According to DGCA, all international flights will remain suspended till August 31 in view of the corona virus. However, this order will not be applicable to those flights, which are flying with permission from DGCA. The order also states that during this entire time, foreign airlines have been allowed more than 2500 flights, under which Indians stranded abroad will be brought back to India and foreigners stranded in India will be taken abroad. Under the Vande Bharat Mission, Air India and Air…