Business news highlights (November 11): Zetwerk plans raising $1 billion in IPO

Zetwerk Pvt Ltd., an Indian supply chain startup, is considering fundraising options including an initial public offering that may help it raise as much as $1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Bangalore-based firm, backed by investors such as Peak XV Partners and Lightspeed India Partners, has held talks with investment banks to help prepare for a potential IPO in Mumbai next year, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. A potential listing could value the company at several billion dollars, the people said.

The race to acquire a controlling stake in Avendus Capital is likely to have reached its closing stages. Read more

The Centre is likely to ease cash management guidelines for several ministries and departments in the last quarter of the current fiscal in a bid to arrest the slowdown in its expenditure and speed up capital spending, according to a senior government official. Read more

Amul will enter the European market by the end of this month after launching its products in the US, GCMMF Managing Director Jayen S Mehta said on November 11.

The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) sells its dairy products under the popular Amul brand. Read more

Niva Bupa Health Insurance's IPO garnered a 1.8 times subscription on November 11, its third day of bidding, with investors bidding for 31.13 crore shares against the 17.3 crore available.

The retail individual investor (RII) category was subscribed 2.73 times, while the qualified institutional buyer (QIB) segment saw a subscription of 2.06 times its allocation. Meanwhile, demand in the non-institutional investor (NII) category was comparatively lower, with a subscription rate of 68 percent. Read more

Information technology firm L&T Technology Services (LTTS) announced the acquisition of California-based software and artificial intelligence (AI) firm Intelliswift on November 11 for $110 million, to deepen its offerings across software product development, platform engineering, digital integration, data, and AI.

Bitcoin rallied past $82,000 for the first time, boosted by President-elect Donald Trump’s embrace of digital assets and the prospect of a Congress featuring pro-crypto lawmakers.

Trump was declared the winner in Arizona, marking a clean sweep of the seven US battleground states. His decisive victory in the presidential election has prompted celebratory chest-thumping from the digital-asset industry, which spent over $100 million backing a range of crypto-friendly candidates.

The largest token climbed as much as 6.1% on Sunday and extended gains to hit an unprecedented $82,300 on Monday as of 10:21 a.m. in London. Bullish sentiment lifted smaller coins too, including Dogecoin, a meme-crowd favorite promoted by Trump supporter Elon Musk, the world’s richest man.

Declining for the fourth straight session, the rupee dropped 2 paise to hit a new lifetime low of 84.39 (provisional) against the US dollar on Monday, weighed down by persistent foreign fund outflows and a muted trend in domestic equities.

Forex traders said the rupee is likely to remain under pressure unless there is a softening in the dollar index or a slowdown in foreign fund outflows.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 84.38 against the US dollar. During the session, the local currency touched a high of 84.37 and a low of 84.39. It finally settled at 84.39 (provisional), registering a loss of 2 paise against its previous close.

On Friday, the rupee dropped 5 paise to hit the lowest level of 84.37 against the US dollar, registering a decline for the third straight session.

Proceeds from the fresh issue, amounting to Rs 7,500 crore, will be allocated for investment in NTPC Green Energy's wholly-owned subsidiary, NTPC Renewable Energy Limited (NREL). This investment will be used for the repayment or prepayment, in full or in part, of certain outstanding borrowings by NREL, as well as for general corporate purposes.

The race to acquire a controlling stake in Avendus Capital is likely to have reached its closing stages. Binding bids to acquire US private equity major KKR’s 63 percent stake in Avendus may come in by end of November or early December, according to sources aware of the matter. (Read More)

Investments into mutual funds via monthly systematic investment plans (SIPs) topped the Rs 25,000-crore mark for the first time in October 2024 as investors increased their bets amid the bearish market trend during the month. (Read More)

While the official date has yet to be announced, the IPO is anticipated to launch this month. Media reports suggest that bidding may begin on Monday, November 18.

• Global investors are likely to find relative safety in India's financial markets from the spillover of Donald Trump's economic policies, including from any protectionist trade policies that could spark emerging market volatility.
• Trump's decisive election victory last week and his impending return to the White House next month has raised significant uncertainty for investors.
• However, India's strong economic growth, limited exposure to Chinese and the U.S. consumer market, robust local appetite for equities and a central bank devoted to ensuring currency stability will bolster the country's appeal amid global unease, investors and analysts say. (Reuters)

Open-ended equity mutual fund inflows surged 21.69 percent on a month-on-month (MoM) basis to Rs 41,887 crore in October across the equity fund segment, data released by the Association of Mutual Funds of India (AMFI), the industry trade body for mutual funds, showed on November 11. (Read More)

• NTPC Green Energy, a subsidiary of power producer NTPC Ltd, is expected to file its red herring prospectus (RHP) on Monday, November 11. Investors who held NTPC shares as of Friday are anticipated to qualify for the shareholder quota in the NTPC Green Energy IPO, according to sources familiar with the development.
• The company recently received final approval from the market regulator SEBI for its Rs 10,000-crore initial public offering, following the submission of its draft IPO papers on September 18, 2024.

The qualified institutional placement (QIP) offering of pharmaceutical firm Wockhardt Limited has attracted bids worth almost Rs 1,500 crore for the Rs 1,000 crore share sale, a majority of them from mutual funds, people aware of the matter told Moneycontrol. (Read More)

Asian Paints reported weak Q2 earnings, with revenues declining 5.3 percent, slightly underperforming its peer Berger Paints, which managed a flat revenue growth. This contraction was primarily driven by a subdued consumer sentiment and persistent rains and floods in parts of India, resulting in a 0.5 percent decline in decorative paint volumes. (Read More)

As Vistara readies for its last flight by the end of November 11, Air India has reassured that there would be no compromise on the travel experience even after the two Tatas-run airlines merge into one. Rated high for foods, services, and cabin quality, Vistara has built a loyal customer base and the decision to roll back the Vistara brand had caused a lot of anguish among by passengers, branding experts, and aviation analysts. (Read More)

Cipla managing director and global CEO Umang Vohra is optimistic about the opportunities arising for Indian pharmaceutical companies, particularly in the face of expected changes in US trade policies when Donald Trump takes over as the president in January. Speaking to Moneycontrol, Vohra said the US biosecurity act, which restricts US pharma companies from trading with countries deemed adversaries, could benefit Indian firms that have built trusted relationships in the United States. (Read More)

India's financial crime agency will summon Flipkart and Amazon executives as it steps up an investigation into alleged foreign investment law violations, days after raiding some of the e-commerce firms' sellers, a senior government source said. The planned action signals growing regulatory scrutiny of Walmart-owned Flipkart and Amazon when their sales are rapidly growing in India's $70 billion e-commerce market. An Indian antitrust investigation also found the two companies breached laws by favouring select sellers, Reuters has reported.

New Maruti Suzuki Dzire launched India, price starts at Rs 6.79 lakh. AT the launch event, Maruti Suzuki India MD said, "Dzire is also one of top selling models in export markets and that includes markets in Latin America, South East Asia, Africa and Middle East." "Since its launch We have sold 27 lakh units of the Dzire," says Mariru Suzuki.  (Read More)

LG Electronics Inc. has added Axis Capital Ltd. to a roster of banks arranging a potential initial public offering of its Indian unit, according to people familiar with the matter. The South Korean company has selected the Indian bank as it moves forward with a share sale in Mumbai, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. (Read More)

The company’s position as a leader in the mapping and geospatial technology industry, and its growing adoption by the government and industry players are the key drivers (Read More)

Consumer price inflation in India climbed to a 14-month high of 5.81 per cent in October primarily due to a spike in vegetable and edible oil prices, a Reuters poll of economists predicted, a shade below the central bank's tolerance threshold of 6.0 per cent. Food prices, which make up nearly half of the inflation basket, likely increased at a faster pace last month. Tomatoes, a key ingredient in every Indian kitchen, are expected to have surged by double digits in price as uneven rains disrupted production. (Reuters)

"The aforementioned news article is misleading. We will continue to work closely with the Commission to explain why all our practices are in compliance with the Competition Act and that they do not have any adverse effect on competition in India," says Zomato in a statement.

• Starlink's India licence application is set to move forward after the Elon Musk-led satellite broadband company agreed to meet the government's data localisation and security requirements, a major point of contention, sources have told Moneycontrol.
• The development comes as US president-elect Donald Trump has talked about a big role for the tech billionaire in his administration. In the run-up to the polls, Musk not only endorsed the former president but also raised funds for his campaign. His expected White House influence could give the LEO satellite company more leverage for its planned satellite internet operations in India, sources said. (Read More)

• Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) - 1.50 times
• Non Institutional Investors(NIIS) - 0.46 times
• Retail Individual Investors (RIIs) - 1.86 times
• Employee Reserved - Nil
• Total - 1.28 times

Vistara, the full-service airline, will operate its final flights today before merging with the Air India Group, consolidating India's full-service carriers down to just one. This merger, involving Vistara—a joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines—will result in Singapore Airlines holding a 25.1% stake in the combined entity.

The bitcoin wave has taken over the world in its umpteenth comeback story, after pro-crypto Donald Trump won 2024 US presidential elections last week. Indian crypto exchanges too have been rejoicing in the victory, except one. And no, it’s not WazirX which has been dealing with its own mess of a $230-million cyber theft. Turns out, Bitbns -- one of the country's top crypto exchanges -- has been at the receiving end of many users’ wrath. (Read More)

• India’s top broking firm Groww extended its lead over competitors in October, even though it was the worst month for the equity market since the Covid shock in 2020.
• The new-age wealth management startup’s active traders went past the 1.25 crore mark after the Bengaluru-based stockbroker added around 3.5 lakh users during the month, data available with the National Stock Exchange (NSE) shows. (Read More)

Bitcoin surged to a new all-time high, surpassing $81,000, following US President-elect Donald Trump's victory and his apparent support for digital assets, Bloomberg reported. Additionally, the crypto market is energized by the potential for a pro-crypto US Congress under the Trump administration, the report added.

"Currently it’s at a preliminary stage and no final decision or order has been issued regarding Swiggy's practices since 2022. Swiggy is fully cooperating with the investigation and is committed to complying with the extant laws of the country," the statement added.

"Swiggy is yet to receive the confidential details of the findings from the CCI for filing a response to the DG's finding. Once Swiggy submits its response and CCI conducts a hearing on the matter, CCI will pass its decision on whether any competition law violations have occurred," the company further said in the statement.

"Media reports of the Competition Commission of India's (CCI) investigation into Swiggy confuse the investigative process with the final outcome and are misleading. Based on the order of the CCI dated April 5, 2022, the Director General investigated certain aspects of the conduct of our business and its inquiry and report of March 2024 is a preliminary step in an ongoing investigation by the CCI, and not a final decision as some reports suggest. We have disclosed all the details of the matter in the company’s Public filing of the DRHP filed on September 26, 2024," IPO-bound Swiggy said in a statement today.

While the allotment of the Swiggy IPO is likely to be finalised today, there is no good news for the investors from the grey market. As per the latest trends being reported, the grey market premium of Swiggy IPO stands at Re 1, which hints at a flat listing on November 13.

Over 200 companies, including Shree Cements, Jubilant Foodworks, Bank of India, NMDC, and Ramco Cements, among others, are set to announce their Q2 FY25 earnings today. (Check live updates)

• Apple could double iPhone production in India to more than $30 billion annually in two years if the US President-elect Donald Trump carries out his promise of imposing hefty tariffs on imports from China, the Economic Times reported. About $15-16 billion worth of the device is made in India now.
• During his Presidential campaign, Trump had threatened to levy 60-100 percent tariff on goods imported from China, which has been at odds with the US over trade barriers for the last few years. The Republican trounced his Democrat rival and vice-president Kamala Harris to return to the White House as the 47th President of the United States. (Read More)

More than half of Nifty50 companies reported lower-than-expected net profits for the September quarter, as per data from Bloomberg, clearly signaling a broad-based slowdown across the Indian economy, say analysts. Out of 41 firms of the Nifty Index that have announced September quarter earnings, 22 have fallen short of profit estimates. Further, among these 22, ten companies reported revenue below expectations as well. Meanwhile, of the 18 companies that exceeded profit estimates, six posted revenue figures below forecasts. (Read More)

Rupee declines to an all-time low of 84.38 against the US dollar. Traders indicate that the currency will depend on intervention from the Reserve Bank of India for support.

The Niva Bupa Health Insurance IPO offers a total of 29,72,97,298 shares. Of these, 8,91,89,190 shares (30%) are allocated to Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIB), 4,45,94,595 shares (15%) to Non-Institutional Investors (NII), 2,97,29,730 shares (10%) to Retail Individual Investors (RII), and 13,37,83,783 shares (45%) to Anchor Investors.

Investors can place bids for a minimum of 200 shares and in multiples of 200 thereafter. The table below shows the minimum and maximum investment requirements for retail investors and high net-worth individuals (HNI), including both shares and investment amounts.

Kfin Technologies Limited has been appointed as the registrar of Niva Bupa Health Insurance IPO.

Morgan Stanley India Company Pvt Ltd, Axis Capital Limited, ICICI Securities Limited, HDC Bank, Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors, Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Limited are the book running lead managers of the Niva Bupa Health Insurance IPO

The price band for the Niva Bupa Health Insurance IPO is set between Rs 70 and Rs 74 per share. The minimum lot size for applications is 200 shares, requiring a minimum investment of Rs 14,800 for retail investors. For small non-institutional investors (sNII), the minimum investment is 14 lots (2,800 shares), totaling Rs 207,200. For large non-institutional investors (bNII), the minimum is 68 lots (13,600 shares), amounting to Rs 1,006,400.

The Niva Bupa Health Insurance IPO opened for subscription on November 7, 2024, and closes today, November 11, 2024. The allotment is expected to be finalized on Tuesday, November 12, 2024, with a tentative listing date on the BSE and NSE set for Thursday, November 14, 2024.

The Niva Bupa Health Insurance IPO is a book-built issue worth Rs 2,200 crore, comprising a fresh issuance of 10.81 crore shares totaling Rs 800 crore, along with an offer for sale of 18.92 crore shares amounting to Rs 1,400 crore.

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Swiggy shares are expected to make a muted debut on Wednesday amid a weak trend in the grey market.

The food delivery platform’s shares have seen a consistent decline in the grey market premium amid broader market concerns and apprehensions over the company’s path to profitability.