Hello and welcome to N. D. TV and B Q Prime Special segment. Let's talk business. We get to the top news stories from the world of finance, business and economy. Let's start with how the markets perform today. Equity benchmarks shared gains to a marginally higher. Private banks dragged and Adani stocks led the gains, while metal and media sectors advanced. It and realty shares declined. My colleague Hi daa! Joining us with more from the VQ prime newsroom and heal take us through the highlights of the market action today. A pretty interesting day of trade is what we've witnessed throughout the day. We were pretty stable, but it's the last hour of trade which actually created volatility, and we had the indices which almost ended flat near the day's lowest levels since, did top 62 62,000 levels in day trade. But we ended near the 9 61,050 mark, and if you see in terms of bank as well ended below the 43,900 levels, it was mainly I t as well as the cap codes, which were a drag on the markets. But clearly the metals and energy stocks advanced and boosted the sentiment. And it was the Adani group of stocks as well, which aided the sentiment overall. Broader markets If you see we trading with marginal gains in today's session, and the breath in the first half of the trading session was pretty much cute in favour of the Bulls. But slowly, steadily, the tide was turning towards the Bears as well. So clearly there was this last hour of profit booking that did come at play because of which, if you see in terms of characters like Titan Tech, madra grass at C. L Tech, as well as a polo hospitals, these were the top losers. Whereas on the gaining end you had a enterprises deepest laboratories but motors as well as a U. P l. A lot of counters that also hit a 52 week high in trade today. So you had the likes of an A B B, Exide Industries, IC IC, a bank as well as a good rich consumer products. Uh, looking at the news makers of the day, a Dani group of companies were up and about in trade today, and this was mainly because GQ G Partners has raised the stake in the Dani group by 10% moving from there on spice. It was for the sixth consecutive session. However, they've said that they are planning to bring back four of the 25 grounded planes into service by the 15th of June. As Scots Kibo, they're looking to hide prices of tractors from June onwards, So that's going to be an encounter we should be watching out for H D. A. MC was under pressure as JP. Morgan has flagged uncertainty with regards to their future profitability. So that was putting pressure on H D F C I. CS A shares also gained after securing an order from BS N L. Bangalore. Glan Farmer was an interesting one because that stock rebounded by almost 10% in trade and this was following significant declines in the previous sessions. And this is after the company announced its boats plan to hold an exclusive face to face meeting with invest as well moving on in terms of earnings reaction A G industries. Both these counters actually see did see a downtick on the back of earnings. Industries posted a profit versus a loss on the back of which that counter was up in trade as well as on the back of higher profits. You had a dream, folks, also, which was up in trade. But overall, uh, an interesting day of trade, where throughout the day we've seen good gains. But last hour did bring in some profit booking back to you and moving on to the other big story of the day that concerns all of us. The process to exchange ₹2000 notes has begun from today Now there was no rush at banks to exchange the currency notes on Day One, but the question is what happens after September 30th if you're not able to exchange your currency. Till then, we have learned from sources that users may have to approach the R B to exchange the ₹2000 notes After September 30th, my colleague Vivan Na gets us these exclusive details. If you're holding a ₹2000 note after September 30 you may have to go to the R B I to get this sorted out. Now this information is coming from sources who are telling us that after the September 30 deadline, customers who are currently holding the ₹2000 notes may not be able to access the bank channel, nor will they be able to use the ₹2000 note for any transactions. And they will have to go to the offices to get an exchange of other denomination notes, which they can then use for regular transactions. This comes in after Friday, when the Reserve Bank of India announced that it was withdrawing Rupees 2000 notes from circulation and that these notes may not be able to be used for regular transactions. The RBA has said that the customers can approach bank branches as well as a regional still September 30. To either exchange these notes or deposit them well, there's a limit to how much you can exchange at a time. It's at 20,000 at a time. You can continue to deposit as many notes as you want to into your bank accounts. Of course, after the 50,000 limit, uh, you may have to submit your plan details, but that was a requirement even before the ₹2000 note was withdrawn from circulation. At this point in time, as things stand, ₹2000 notes constitute about 10.8% of the entire currency in circulation in India, and they are expected to affect only a small portion of the population and the economy. Uh, the R B A governor, in fact, gave out a statement that currently the system has adequate number of, uh, other denomination notes available, uh, for exchanges and that people should not be worried or panic at this announcement by the Reserve Bank of India. They still have time till the 30th of September to freely go to any bank branch and exchange these notes or deposit them into their bank accounts. And as the counters to exchange notes opened at banks today, we visited some of the branches to take stock of the situation and were on the ground, and they get us a sense of how the day one exchange experience was take a look. We continue to bring you more updates from customers who exited the bank. We have Mr Cha, who we spoke to a while ago, who had told us he was required to fill up a form. He had visited another bank premises and he was analysing what other banks are asking for I or OK, as you can see award of 200 denominations for ₹2000 notes that have been exchanged from this location. The rules have been slightly changed. All that is being asked is a phone number, a signature and just the name of the person who is trying to submit in notes. At this point of time, we are here at the Copa branch of Bank and have been going around to other banks in the area as well, and we came by to see whether people are actually going to show up and exchange their notes at bank branches today or deposit them. So far, as you can see behind me, it seems to be a quiet day. No crowds. All lines have formed so far. And while banks have limited amount of ₹1000 notes flow through them, shopkeepers in the area that we spoke to did say that ever since the decision was announced to withdraw these notes, people have been coming in and transacting with them. Here's what they had to say. Take a listen, not use now. While the activity seems to be subdued at banks themselves in terms of exchanges or deposits happening right now, some of the bank employees we spoke to also said that over the last couple of days that's over the weekend people have come in and deposited the money into ATM machines and using using the ATM machines into their bank accounts, and that we have deposited some of the ₹1000 notes that they were holding on to now. It is also important to remember that people have till September 30th to exchange these notes or deposit them at their respective banks. And b Q Prime has also learned that beyond September 30th, people may be required to approach R B offices if they wish to exchange their notes. And as we wrap up the earnings season, we spoke to the management of electronics and Bajaj Electricals. Listen in as they talked about the outlook for 2024 here for, uh, current year 23 24. We are looking for a revenue growth of around 17% that will be crossing 20,000 mark in our sales revenue. Other booking will be in the region of 20,000, plus the way things are going on in the margin, we maintain the guidance of 2020 to 23% Hm. So give us an idea of, uh what is the kind of visibility that you have on a book from a defence and nondefense? Uh, point of view. See, uh, we have been, uh, maintaining a, uh, ratio of around anywhere between 80 20 to 90 10 in, uh, defence and, uh, non-defense, uh, revenue. So it it will continue, uh, 20 to 23. We had a ratio of 87% in defence sector and, uh, around 10.6% in non-defense. 2.4% in exports. So this year, maybe 85. 15. Because we have a quite a good amount of e v MS this year, so probably 85. 15 will be the risk. And we are looking at a double digit early. I mean, uh, uh, double digit margins and which has been our guidance in, uh, earlier as well. But having said that, you know, uh, with this commodity rates, uh uh, up we could not sustain that momentum. And we are close to about 67%. Now. Our aim is to improve the margins about a percentile point from here on by the end of, uh uh, next two quarters. And hopefully, if things go well, you know, reach up to about 8% margin by the end of the year. All right, Uh, do you also, uh, you know, uh, plan to take price hikes or maybe price cuts? Uh, given that, uh, costs have come down a little bit and to pass on the benefits to the consumers. Uh uh. So honestly, uh, you know, we have not been able to take the entire price act, So whatever has the reason, we have not been able to pass on. And that is one of the reasons why we still have the margin pressures on us. Uh, so, uh, having said that, I mean, there is no scope of reduction in price at this stage because as I mentioned that, we still are feeling the heat of the the increased commodity. The commodity rates are still not back to the pre-covid level. Uh, overall, there has been an increase of, you know, to about 2025% in the in the cost. Whereas we are just passed on about 14 15% into the market over the last 23 years. So pretty difficult to reduce prices, Uh, at this stage and it's burgers versus pizzas. Yes, you heard that, right? So which one will end up on the plates of Indians? With Indians cutting back on discretionary spending, they are preferring burgers. This is reflected in the same store sales numbers of quick service restaurants, which is why McDonald's and Burger King have fared better better than Domino's and Pizza Hut. This time, my colleague C gives us more details. Yes, that's right. Indians are now preferring burgers over pizzas as they are increasingly cutting back on discretionary spending amid high inflation. In F Y 23 prices of cheese shot up 40% flour prices rose 28% and chicken prices went up by 20%. While flour and chicken prices are easing, cheese costs remain elevated. Now to protect margins, companies continue to pass on the higher costs of ingredients to consumers, and as a result, we have seen consumers are down trading to cheaper alternatives like fried chicken and burgers. The fourth quarter earnings of Q S R chains suggest that the operators of McDonald's and Burger King have fared better than Domino's and Pizza Hut franchisees on the same store sales growth. The quarterly numbers also reinforce the down trading witnessed for the past several quarters. The pizza makers have also launched a low priced variants, partly impacting their volume growth. The pizza chains have also fared the worst in terms of margins. Now, inflation and down trading are not the only reasons, though consumers preference is also changing. We had recently spoken to Twiggy management, and they have highlighted the shift towards products that don't taste mass produced. And like that, the demand for artisanal products have risen. Brick oven Pizza Bakery from Bangalore. 1441 Pizzeria from Bombay and toss and pizza from N. C. R are some that has seen significant growth within a month of being on boarded onto Twiggy Gourmet vertical. However, the pizza makers are now betting on IP l and school summer vacations to drive demand in the first quarter ending June. Even as the overall discretionary spending remains uncertain, analysts have flagged that the competition from food aggregators also remains a key risk. That's all we have for you in today's segment. Do tune in every weekday at 5 30 PM to catch your latest business news. Thanks for watching
