Here goes the top personal finance news of the day:
Mumbai-Goa Vande Bharat tkt to be costlier than even airfares
A senior railway official has said to Hindustan Times, that ticket price of soon to be flagged off Mumbai-Goa Vande Bharat Express will be in the range of 1,400 rupees to 2,900 rupees. In comparison, Airfares on Mumbai-Goa route start from 1,800 rupees. Ticket prices of Mumbai-Goa Vande Bharat Express will be even costlier than airfares and even the Shatabdi Express running on the same route. Apart from Mumbai-Goa, Vande Bharat Express, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag-off four more Vande Bharat trains on June 27, 2023.
NPS may offer 40-45% pension
The Central government may offer its staff 40-45% of last salary as pension, in a move to calm tempers on market linked pension, according to Reuters. The current National Pension Scheme requires 10% contribution from employees of their basic pay and 14% from the government. The pension payout depends on the market returns on that corpus, which is mostly invested in govt debt. Of the total corpus, 60% can be withdrawn wan and annuity has to be bought for the rest of 40%.
Amazon allows customers to make Rs 2K cash payments
E-commerce giant, Amazon, has come up with an unique way to help citizens get rid of 2,000 rupees banknotes. Amazon has allowed customers to make cash payments in 2,000 denomination notes on orders made on its platform. The customer can make cash payments in denominations of 2,000 rupee bank notes to delivery boys and the balance will show the customers Amazon Pay wallet. Amazon claims customers can even transfer the wallet balance to their bank accounts. This way the customer will be able to dispose of 2,000 rupee bank notes without having the need to visit bank branches for the same. Amazon’s latest initiative will help citizens avoid unnecessary rush at bank branches.
SBI’s Amrit Kalash FD scheme is back
SBI Bank has extended its Special FD Scheme the “ Amrit Kalash” fixed deposit scheme. The public sector bank will continue to pay 7.10% interest rate under this special fixed deposit scheme. The tenure is of 400 days. Senior citizens also will continue to get 7.60% interest rate on he 400 days fixed deposit scheme. Earlier, the last day for opening fixed depsoit under Amrit Kalash” Fd scheme was June 30, 2023. But the public lender has extended the deadline till August 15, 2023.
Sensex, Nifty end at life time high levels
Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty rallied to close at all-time highs on Wednesday. The rally was driven by buying in index majors HDFC twins and Reliance Industries. The 30-share BSE Sensex settled at a record closing high of above 63,500 points. The NSE Nifty ended at its lifetime closing peak of more than 18,850 points. From the Sensex pack, Power Grid, HDFC Bank, HDFC, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Reliance Industries and Larsen & Toubro were the major gainers. Global oil benchmark Brent crude on the other hand was hovering around 75 US dollars a barrel.
Chance for Wipro shareholders to sell shares at 12% premium
Wipro will kick-off its12,000 crore rupee buyback from June 22, 2023. It will be the largest buyback in company’s history. It will remain open for subscription till June 29. The record date was June 16, 2023. On that day Wipro’s share closed at price of 396 rupees. Since, buyback price is 445 rupees. So, eligible shareholders who participate in the buyback can book profit of probably 49 rupees per share. They would sell the scrip at 12% premium if they had earlier bought it on the record date. Participating shareholders stand to benefit in the buyback. It will be through tender route. On Wednesday, Wipro’s scrip closed at 385 rupee on the BSE.
InCred Capital bullish on HCL Tech
InCred Capital’s, Vice President, Gaurav Bissa has given buy call on three stocks. His first recommendation is BEML. He has given accumulated rating on BEML with target price of 1,900 rupees and 1,650 rupees stop loss. On Wednesday, BEML closed at 1,645 rupees per share. His second recommendation is HCL Tech. He has given it target price of 1,215 rupees keeping 1,135 rupees stop loss. He has given buy rating on HCL Tech at current market price of 1,170 rupees. He is also bullish on Parag Milk Foods Limited. Bissa said he has seen the stock giving a nice breakout above 115 levels on the chart. He has given it target price of 130 rupees at stop loss at 108 rupees.
Infosys backed drone maker sets IPO price band
Infosys backed, drone maker ideaForge Technology has fixed a price band of 638 to 672 rupees per share for its 567 crore rupees IPO. The initial share sale process also includes OFS meaning promoters will trim stake. Retail investors can bid for a minimum of 22 shares in one lot. Founded in 2007, the Mumbai-based company manufactures and sells drones to Indian Army and Police. During the 2015 earthquake, drones manufactured by ideaForge were used for site monitoring in Kathmandu, Nepal to aid the search and rescue activities. During a terrorist ambush in Pampore in 2016, ideaForge drones were used to deliver crucial intelligence by revealing precise locations of the terrorists.
Formal job creation in April’23 falls 26%
Formal job creation in April, 2023 has fallen by over 26% on year on year basis. 8.47 lakh new formal jobs were created in the month of April, 2023. This data has been taken from retirement fund body EPFO’s website. Fall in job creation indicates lower expenditure made by public and private companies. This could also mean consumption problem has not completely revived in the country. Although, when we look at the job scenario, more number of new formal jobs were created in April as compared to the preceding month. Plus, highest number of new formal jobs have been created in 2023 in the month of April only.
Cement prices to fall by up to Rs 6 per 50 kg bag
Crisil Ratings said in a report that cement bags containing 50 kg cement can become cheaper by up to six rupees. Reasons are fall in input prices like fall in prices of coal, and high competition in the market among different cement companies. Currently, 50 kg cement bag comes at an average price of 388 rupees. Cement saw unprecedented price rise due to COVID-19 led disruptions and Russia Ukraine war. But there have been some consolidation in cement prices since the beginning of this year. Crisil expects cement prices to further reduce in current fiscal. This would help builders in not raising property prices too much. This would also impact share price of cement companies.
PNB Metlife policyholders to get bumper bonus
Insurance company, PNB Metlife has said that policyholders will get bumper bonus for financial year 2023. The company will pay 768.6 crore rupees bonus to over 5 lakh participating policyholders. PNB Metlife will pay the bonus amount to those participating policyholders who had bought policies with the company before March 31, 2023. The bonus payout will be the highest ever that the company had paid to policyholders in any given financial year till date. The company has a good track record of paying bonuses to policyholders of participating products over the past 19 years.
