Prime Minister Narendra Modi's thumping election victory is dividing analysts on India’s rupee.

Citigroup Inc. is positioning for a weaker rupee using options after the currency’s recent outperformance, while Nomura Holdings Inc. expects the sweep of Modi’s win to attract robust overseas flows to the nation’s assets, giving another leg to the rally.

The next meeting of the GST (goods and services tax) Council could take place as early as next week after approval from the new finance minister. The focus will be on tackling the unfinished agenda requiring immediate attention like tax structure for solar projects, uniform tax rate on state-organised and state-authorised lotteries, taxing non-potable alcohol besides certain changes in the law, extension for the National Anti-profiteering Authority (NAA) and rate rationalisation.

The rupee on Monday opened 12 paise higher at 69.41 against the US dollar. The domestic currency on Friday rallied 49 paise to close at 69.53 following a decisive mandate for Narendra Modi-led BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) in the general elections.

On weekly basis, the Indian currency gained 70 paise helped by a host of domestic and global factors like stable political outlook with NDA government's return, sustained fund inflows, lower crude oil prices and strengthening Asian currencies.

New Delhi: State-run power giant NTPC on Saturday posted a 48.7 per cent jump in its standalone net profit at Rs 4,350.32 crore for the March quarter compared to the year-ago period mainly on the back of lower expenses.

The company's standalone net profit in January-March 2018 was Rs 2,925.59 crore, an NTPC statement said.

The Indian debt market could attract higher interest from foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday easing investment norms through the voluntary retention route (VRR), rolled out since March 2019.

The RBI waived off the requirement for FPIs to invest a minimum 25% of the committed portfolio size (CPS) within one month of allotment. It introduced an additional category, VRR combined, which allows investors to invest in both corporate and sovereign bonds.

New Delhi: NIIT Ltd on Saturday said its consolidated net profit rose 18 per cent to Rs 23.2 crore in the March quarter, helped by increased productivity and turnaround in its skills and careers (SNC) business.

The skill development and talent development firm had posted a net profit of Rs 19.7 crore in the year-ago period.

DLF’s net sales bookings stood at `650 crore in Q4 – ahead of expectation for `600 crore. The mManagement guided for conservative 10% growth in pre-sales in FY20 mainly due to subdued NCR market and very low inventory in Crest project which contributed significantly to sales in FY19. Management guided for exit rentals of `37.5-40 bn at DCCDL (`27 bn currently), driven by addition of `4.5 bn of rentals from commencement of Cyberpark and Rs 4.25 bn of rentals from transfer of assets from DLF.

Q4 was broadly an in-line quarter led by modest performance in core cigarette business (8% volume growth/2-year CAGR at 2.5% and 10% Ebit growth), sustained profitability enhancement in FMCG and broad-based robust growth in other businesses. Punitive taxation notwithstanding, we believe, improving volume trajectory and pricing action in core cigarette business remain key catalysts. Inexpensive valuations (our reverse math suggests core cigarette business adjusted for other parts in our SoTP valuation trades at 21x Mar-21e earnings) and undemanding expectations lend additional comfort.

Bajaj auto’s Q4FY19 Ebitda at Rs 11.6 bn was in line with estimates (Nomura: `11.6 bn, Consensus: Rs 11.8 bn). While revenues were 2% higher than our estimate, Ebitda margin at 15.7% was a bit below our estimate of 16%. Management refrained from giving any volume guidance for FY20 given tough market conditions in India. It said 3W demand is likely to remain tepid in the near term due to a slowdown in India and Egypt. 2W exports are doing well in Africa but stagnant in LatAm and declining in the Middle East.

Nepal police on Friday arrested underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's associate Yunus Miya Ansari along with three Pakistani and two Nepalese citizens possessing counterfeit Indian currency amounting to over Rs 7.5 crores, from the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu.

As per the police, Ansari along with others was arrested at 9:30 AM on Friday from the airport when they came to receive the counterfeit Indian Bank Notes.

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