India’s cement industry is increasingly becoming a battleground for firms with deep pockets. The Adani Group’s recent acquisition spree, including its purchase of Sanghi Cements for Rs 5,000 crore, has intensified competition, particularly in Western India.
Private insurers sold around 7.2 lakh policies in August 2023, while LIC sold 17.1 lakh schemes. The first-year premium of private insurers rose by 13.9% YoY to Rs 12,496 crore in the same period.
Meanwhile, LIC's premium fell MoM to Rs 14,292.5 crore, and its market share dropped by 390 bps.
The new issues space has been buzzing with activity over the past few months. This week, two new IPOs are set to go live, which are of JSW Infrastructure and Updater Services.
The hotel industry kicked off FY24 with a strong performance in the April-June quarter, riding on high demand that has continued into the new financial year. As supply trails demand, the market dynamics are allowing hotels to raise room rates.
August 2023 saw mixed macroeconomic changes. Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation contracted, and Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation fell. The unemployment rate rose marginally, while Foreign Institutional Investment (FII) inflows decreased. Crude oil prices and consumption increased.
In August, the benchmark indices Nifty 50 and Nifty 500 had dropped by 2.5% and 0.8% respectively due to weak global environment, which especially affected large-cap stocks. Investor sentiment took an additional hit with Fitch’s downgrade of US long term debt and weak economic data from Europe and China.
Resilience is the name of the game in the world of Indian banking, far more than red hot growth, especially in the face of economic shocks. Despite ups and downs both global and local, Indian banks have come through relatively unscathed.
Retail sales in the automobile industry rose by 8.6% YoY and 2.6% MoM in August 2023 to 18.2 lakh units. Two-wheeler retail sales also increased by 6.3% YoY to 12.5 lakh units, while car retail sales improved by 7% YoY to around 3.1 lakh units.
All segments of the industry, except for Tractor OEMs, observed a MoM rise during this period.
