On Friday, private sector general insurer ICICI Lombard reported a 7.6 per cent drop in gross direct premium income (GDPI) at Rs 3,487 crore for June quarter. Whereas, the same quarter a year ago was reported Rs 3,774 crore. Therefore, the insurer said excluding the crop segment, the GDPI increased 17.7 per cent to Rs 3,488 crore in Q1 of FY2020 from Rs 2,964 crore in the year-ago period. This was higher than the industry growth (excluding crop) rate of 13.6 per cent. The company's profit before tax (PBT) grew 7.2 per cent to Rs 475 crore in Q1 of FY2020 from Rs 443 crore in the year-ago period on account of lower capital gains. Capital gains were 29.6 per cent lower at Rs 138 crore in Q1 of FY2020 compared with Rs 196 crore in Q1 of FY2019. Read EquityPandit's Nifty Bank Outlook for the Week

After the company said it expects some challenges on some of their exposures in the near term, shares of RBL Bank plunged over 12 per cent. Despite the bank reported a 41 per cent rise in Year-on-Year at profit of Rs 267.10 crore for the quarter ended June 30 next to Rs 190 crore in the period last year. During the quarter which is under review, Net Interest Income (NII), other income and operating profit of the bank jumped 48 per cent, 48 per cent and 43 per cent, respectively. Vishwavir Ahuja, MD & CEO, RBL Bank said: “The Bank has had a good quarter of strong performance and has continued to maintain its growth momentum and improvement in operating metrics. However, given the difficult environment, we do expect to face some challenges on some of our exposures in the near term. At the same time, given

A global telecommunications services company, Bharti Airtel could raise another $3.5 Bn (Rs 24,500 Cr) from the sale of a reported stake in the soon-to-be-merged Indus Towers-Bharti Infratel entity. On Friday, Moody said that this would be coupled with the rights issue and the IPO of its Africa business, combining would help bring its debt-to-Etibda, or leverage, a ratio below 3.5 times by March 2020. The Bharti Airtel after the inorganic fundraising steps, Bharti Airtel will “rely more heavily on organic cash flow from the Indian operations to ensure adequate financial flexibility going forward…” which will help sustain improvement in credit metrics, the rating agency said in a release. “Sale of a significant stake in its tower assets would aid further debt reduction. We expect Bharti to ultimately se

As India’s largest mobile carrier by users seeks to bolster its finances, Vodafone Idea has hired Bank of America Corp.  and Morgan Stanley to help sell its fiber assets. The banks will initiate discussions with potential buyers for the fiber assets. These are supposed to be valued at as much as Rs 130 Bn. However, the company could bring more banks for the sale and the final decision is made on the valuation and the stocks to be sold yet. Earlier, Vodafone Idea raised Rs 250 Bn from the rights issue in April, ready for the war chest for a 5G network. This deal, if successful, would help the phone-service provider add to the funds it’s been raising to cut debt and defend off rivals Bharti Airtel Ltd. and billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., an upstart that brought the Jio wave in Indi

Shares of Colgate-Palmolive Ltd (India) shares rose 3.1 per cent on the National Stock Exchange on Thursday. When the majority of the stocks seem to fall, Colgate was seen in the rise. However, it spread smiles among the investors of the Colgate. Domestic volumes had increased by 5 per cent in the March quarter. However, over the year-ago period, Colgate-Palmolive’s domestic sales of toothpaste and other oral care products rose 6 per cent in Q1, on the back of a 4 per cent increase in volume. Read EquityPandit's Colgate Palmolive Outlook for the Week However, it is not as if Colgate-Palmolive’s results were great. Rather, it is the lack of negative surprises that could have probably brought some respite to anxious investors. After the general consumption in the country has slowdown due to which, it h

On Thursday, shares of Housing Development Finance gained as much as 1.78 per cent to hit a record high of Rs 2,327.45. The stock broke above a struggle at Rs 2,309.02, the 76.4 per cent Fibonacci projection level of the uptrend from December 5, 2016 low to July 30, 2018 high (wave 2). The stock may test the next resistance at Rs 2,396, the 86.4 per cent projection level in the breakout suggests in the near term. The Trend Intensity (TI) indicator rose to 25, suggesting that the prices are trending upwards. MACD was positive and above its signal line. Read EquityPandit's Nifty Bank Outlook for the Week This year HDFC shares have gained 16.2 per cent as of the last close, outperforming the broader NSE Index's 7.6 per cent gains in the same period.

On Thursday, shares of Punjab and Sind Bank fell over 6 per cent after the kinder reported fraud of over Rs 238 crores by Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd (BPSL). On the BSE, the scrip sank 6.20 per cent to Rs 24.20. In a regulatory filing, Punjab and Sind Bank said, “On the basis of forensic audit investigation findings and CBI filing FIR, on suo moto basis, against the company and its directors, alleging diversion of funds from banking system, a fraud of Rs 238.30 crore is being reported by bank to Reserve Bank of India. In the accounts of the company (BPSL), the bank has already made provisions amounting to Rs 189.35 crore, as per prudential norms.” Read EquityPandit's Nifty Bank Outlook for the Week On the NSE, shares broke 6.39 per cent to Rs 24.15. Earlier, the state-owned bank reported over Rs 238 cr

After disclosures made by Punjab National Bank and Allahabad Bank recently, state-owned Punjab and Sind Bank reported over Rs 238 crores fraud by  Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd. This is the third instance standing against Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd. In a regulatory filing, Punjab and Sind Bank said, “Based on forensic audit investigation findings and CBI filing FIR, on suo moto basis, against the company and its directors, alleging diversion of funds from the banking system, a fraud of Rs 238.30 crore is being reported by the bank to RBI. In the accounts of the company, the bank has already made provisions amounting to Rs 189.35 crore, as per prudential norms.” Read EquityPandit's Nifty Bank Outlook for the Week “At present, the case is at NCLT which is in advance stage and the bank expects a good re