Today’s Latest Business News Transcript at 5:30 PM on 4 August 2023
 

Let’s begin with the latest from share market – Zomato’s share price soared 13.7% to Rs 98.4 apiece today after the company reported a Rs 2 crore profit after tax for the first time ever. The company reported strong revenues amounting to Rs 2,410 crore, which was up 17.5% quarter-on-quarter. Despite muted growth of Blinkit due to disruptions in April-May, the food delivery GOV jumped sharply by 11.4% sequentially owing to demand recovery, strong execution and seasonality. Zomato’s share price has surged over 26% in the last one month, and over 97% in the last six months. Nuvama, Motilal Oswal and Emkay have recommended a ‘Buy’ rating on the Zomato stock, after the delivery of a strong Q1 performance.

Up next – Public sector bank State Bank of India on Friday posted its fiscal first quarter profit at Rs 18,735.95 crore, up 148.9 per cent as against Rs 7528.25 crore during the corresponding quarter of FY23, surpassing estimates. It posted total interest earned during the quarter at Rs 1,01,460.01 crore, up 32.1 per cent in comparison to Rs 76,780.86 crore during Q1FY23. According to CNBC TV18 estimates, SBI was expected to post a profit of Rs 15,838.2 crore during the quarter. On a standalone basis, the bank posted net profit of Rs 16,884 crores, up 178.25 per cent on-year. Operating Profit for Q1FY24 grew by 98.37 per cent YoY to Rs 25,297 crores.

Moving on – Punjab National Bank, Bank of Maharashtra and Union Bank of India have emerged as the leading public sector banks with the maximum number of collateral-free MSME loans up to Rs 10 lakh and Rs 10 lakh to Rs 25 lakh as of March 2023. According to the Centre, PNB led the tally of 12 PSBs with 18 lakh loans amounting to Rs 27,124 crore followed by 15.20 lakh loans involving Rs 22,783 crore by Bank of Maharashtra and 14.64 lakh loans involving Rs 20,351 crore by Union Bank of India as of March 2023 under the up to Rs 10 lakh collateral-free loan category. Within the Rs 10 lakh loan vertical, loans from State Bank of India stood at 9.92 lakh involving Rs 17,406 crore.

In a latest Industry result – Amazon.com Inc on Thursday reported sales growth and profit that beat Wall Street’s expectations as the company delivered goods faster and more cheaply to shoppers while recent cloud-computing headwinds began to subside. Amazon’s shares surged 9% on the news, extending its stock market value more than $120 billion in after-hours trading. Facing an array of challenges, the company has aimed to keep its mantle as the world’s biggest cloud provider and online retailer. Amazon recently answered AI front-runners Google and Microsoft with rival services of its own, drawing thousands of customers and touting the breadth of technology it has on offer, similar to what is powering the human-like chatbot ChatGPT.

Meanwhile – Apple on Thursday forecast that a sales slump would continue into the current quarter, sending shares down despite beating Wall Street sales and profit targets in the fiscal third quarter. Apple shares dropped about 2% after the company prediction. For the just-ended period, strength in services drove the profit beat, but weaker than expected sales of Apple’s most famous device, the iPhone, underwhelmed investors. Executives said iPhone sales would improve in the fourth quarter, but did not say how much. Apple is in a delicate position, with its entrenched iPhone battling for share against Android rivals in a mature market, while its next big product – the Vision Pro – is not yet in the hands of consumers.

In other developments – The Gujarat Gas board has approved an equity investment of Rs 100 crores in equity shares of GSPC LNG. The investment is aimed to have better synergy and integration in the Gas Value chain. GGL’s shareholding in GSPC LNG would be 7.87 % post-acquisition of equity shares. The acquisition follows the significant uptick seen in Gujarat Gas‘ sales volume. In Q1FY24, its sales volumes increased to 9.22 mmscmd compared to 8.86 mmscmd in Q4FY23. The industrial sales volumes increased 10% QoQ to 5.88 mmscmd from 5.36 mmscmd in the preceding quarter. This was due to softer spot LNG prices, the benefit of which was passed to industrial customers to make natural gas more competitive to alternate fuels.

Lastly – Dommaraju Gukesh, the 17-year-old chess prodigy, has achieved a remarkable feat by becoming India’s top chess player, breaking a live ratings record held by legendary chess Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand for an astonishing 36 years. Gukesh’s achievement comes after he secured his place in the third round of the prestigious FIDE Chess World Cup, a major single-elimination tournament held in Baku, Azerbaijan. In a thrilling match, Gukesh defeated Misratdin Iskandaro, resulting in a live ranking of 2755.9, narrowly surpassing Anand’s 2754.0.
 

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