Morning Alert..
*Q3 earnings season kicks off: TCS revenue rises 19%, net profit up 11%*
For a traditionally weak Q3 quarter, India’s largest IT services and technology firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) managed to report a strong performance, even as the impact of a challenging global macroeconomic environment was evident on deal flows. For Q3FY23, TCS reported 11 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in net profit, which stood at Rs 10,846 crore. Revenue for the quarter came in at Rs 58,229 crore, up 19.1 per cent YoY in reported terms and 13.5 per cent YoY in constant currency terms. Sequentially, revenue was up 5.2 per cent. Though TCS beat the Bloomberg estimate on revenue (Rs 57,207 crore), the company could not meet the net profit expectation (Rs 11,064 crore).
*India's fuel demand hits 9-month high in Dec due to uptick in PV sales*
India's fuel demand reached a nine-month high in December, helped by strong industrial activity and a rise in gasoline consumption due to an uptick in passenger vehicle sales. Consumption of fuel, a proxy for oil demand, was about 4% higher than the previous month, and rose 3.1% year-on-year to 19.60 million tonnes in December, data from Indian oil ministry's Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) showed on Monday. "Demand in India, the third largest consumer, was growing the fastest among major economies in 2022," said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo, and that "solid economic growth should see Indian demand expanding also at a solid pace this year."
*India overtakes Japan to take third spot among largest vehicle markets*
India has overtaken Japan to become the third largest vehicle market in 2022 after China and the US, selling more than 4.25 million vehicles riding on pent- up demand and enhanced production by carmakers. According to the Society of Indian Automotive Manufacturers (SIAM), 4.13 million vehicles — including passenger and commercial — were sold in the country between January and November 2022. SIAM releases quarterly data on commercial vehicles, and thus numbers for the October-December quarter are awaited for the segment. Also, original equipment makers (OEMs) like Tata Motors (TML) have shifted to quarterly reporting of both wholesale and retail sales numbers. So Tata Motors data is awaited. However, as the country’s largest passenger car player, Maruti Suzuki India, has reported its December domestic sales figures (113,535 units, excluding sales to other OEMs), the overall sales in India have crossed the 4.25-million mark.
*Commodity play*
Gold – Rs 56053/10gm, Silver – Rs 68575/kg, Brcrude – Rs 6044/barrel, Degumsyoil – Rs 1296/10kg, Copper – Rs 749/kg.
*Corporate News*
HDFC Capital achieves $376-mn initial close for scheme 2 of H-CARE 3.
NCLT rejects Torrent's plea to halt RCap's CoC voting for second auction.
PVR aims to operate 1,000 screens by FY24-end, invest Rs 300 cr: JMD.
SGX Nifty indicates negative start to Indian markets trading at 18120 levels down by 0.29% or 52.5 points. Dow Jones also ended yesterday`s session in red down by 0.34% at close.
Sector in focus – Banks, IT, Chemicals & Automobiles.
