Consolidation with a bullish bias seen in market

New Delhi, Nov. 4: The government is mulling setting up around ten integrated mega parks with state-ofthe-art infrastructure near ports to attract foreign direct investment, a top official said on Monday.

Addressing a conference, Textile Secretary Ravi Capoor said there has been a “very good response” from state governments on the proposed mega parks.

He noted there are serious issues about India’s competitiveness in exports, cutting across all sectors, and the fear of all Free Trade Agreements essentially comes down to the fact that India is not so competitive.

“A country which is competitive need not fear about anybody, no country. Our fears stem from the fact that we know we cannot sustain the onslaught of the most competitive country or that particular product,” Capoor said. “The government is very seriously contemplating mega parks in this country...Limited, maybe ten and compete with the best of the world. Provide... Integrated parks close to the port,” he said.

Do you have a policy from Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India that was bought post January 1, 2014 and has lapsed? Public sector behemoth LIC on Monday has launched a special revival campaign for its policyholders under which policies that were bought post January 1, 2014 and have lapsed can now be revived and the insurance cover restored. Traditional or non-linked policies can be revived within 5 years while unit linked policies (Ulips) can be revived within three years of the first unpaid premium.

The new Insurance Product Regulations 2019 that were introduced in July, allow revival of policies upto 5 years for non-linked plans and revival upto three years for Ulips for plans that were introduced from

Mumbai, Nov. 4: The Reserve Bank on Monday issued compensation guidelines for whole-time directors and chief executives of foreign, private, small finance, payments banks and local area banks mandating the cash component of variable pay at 67 per cent.

Banks should continue to formulate and adopt a comprehensive compensation policy covering all their employees and conduct annual reviews, RBI said, adding the new guidelines will be effective next April.

The regulator said if the variable pay is up to 200 per cent of the fixed pay, at least 50 per cent of it should be in non-cash, and if the variable the date of implementation of revised regulations. “We had sought and got a special approval for extending this benefit to policies issued from January 1, 2014 also,” said LIC.

Vipin Anand, Managing Director of LIC said, “Buying life insurance is one of the most prudent decisions a person takes in life. Unfortunately, there are circumstances when one is unable to continue paying premiums and the policy lapses. It always makes a better sense to revive an old policy rather than discontinuing it and buying a new policy to restore insurance cover.”

“Now, even those LIC policyholders who bought their policies post January 1, 2014 can revive their nonlinked policies within five years and unit linked policies within three years of first unpaid premium,” added Anand. pay is above 200 per cent, 67 per cent of it should be paid via non-cash instruments. It also wants banks to claw-back the non-variable pay components if there is divergence in provisioning for NPAs or asset classification exceeds the prescribed threshold for public disclosure.

“The policy should cover all aspects of the compensation structure such as fixed pay, perquisites, performance bonuses, guaranteed bonuses, severance package, share-linked instruments like employee stock option plans, pension plans, and gratuity” RBI said in a notification.

The Indian arm of USbased Burger King filed for a local initial public offering (IPO) to raise up to Rs

400 crore ($56.6 million) on Monday, as it looks to open more restaurants in a country where international fast-food brands are gaining in popularity.

The Whopper Burger maker, which launched its first restaurant in India in

2014, competes directly with market leader McDonald’s Corp and other restaurant chains such as Domino’s Pizza.

Burger King India Ltd plans to have 325 stores by December 31, 2020, up from

202 as of June. McDonald’s had 470 at last count, according to data by consulting firm Technopak Advisors.

In the year ended March

2019, Burger King India’s revenue from operations had risen 67 per cent to Rs

633 crore ($89.4 million). Its loss narrowed to Rs

38.28 crore in the same period from Rs 82.23 crore a year earlier.

“Burger King is going with a national franchise instead of regional ones, and that gives them more control and potentially better growth,” Technopak Chairman Arvind Singhal said.

The company plans to use Rs 290 crore of the money raised to open new restaurants, according to the company’s IPO papers.

The issue includes an offer for sale of up to 60 million equity shares by QSR Asia PTE, which owns 99 per cent of the Indian entity. The company did not disclose pricing details.

The Sensex rose to a record high intra-day to

40,483.21 points, as betterthan-expected company earnings continued to attract investors. Gaining for the seventh straight session in its longest winning run since March 20, the Sensex finally settled at a fresh closing peak of

40,302 on Monday, up

136.93 points, or 0.34 per cent. The broader Nifty50 advanced 50.70 points, or 0.43 per cent, to close at 11,941.30.

Eighteen out of 28 Nifty companies that have reported quarterly earnings have beaten or matched the average analyst estimate.

Experts said better liquidity from foreign funds, de-escalation in geopolitical risks and focus on upcoming reforms to revive growth also boosted investor sentiment.

“Indian equities have seen a good rally recently, powered by improved global equity flows” amid better than expected results, Citigroup Inc strategists led by Surendra Goyal wrote in a note on Sunday. “We see limited upside given valuations post the rally and the continued uncertainty over growth outlook,” the note added.

“India is probably one of the few economies where growth will reaccelerate next calendar year, it stands very well among its peers,” said David Gaud, Chief Investment Officer for Asia at Pictet Wealth Management in Singapore.

Technical View

Chandan Taparia, Vice President, AnalystDerivatives at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said: “The Nifty failed to surpass psychological 12,000-mark and witnessed some consolidation with a bullish bias. It has been forming higher highs–higher lows on the weekly scale and supports are gradually shifting higher. Now, it has to continue to hold above 11,880 levels to witness an up-move towards 12,000 and then 12,103 zones while on the downside, major support is seen at 11,780 zones.”

Market View

Sunil Sharma, Chief Investment Officer, Sanctum Wealth Management, said: “Indian markets continued their upward rally as better than anticipated earnings attracted investors. Further, buoyant global markets have supported the Indian markets. For instance, passenger car sales grew last month for the first time since February 2019. On the flows front, FIIs have been net buyers for a second straight month.”