Reliance Industries Tops CSR Contributions Beyond 2% Mandate in FY24
The EdelGive-Hurun India Philanthropy List 2024 spotlights companies that went above and beyond the mandatory 2% CSR requirement, demonstrating an exceptional commitment to societal development and philanthropy.
Leading the way, Reliance Industries, under the leadership of Mukesh Ambani & family, contributed a staggering INR 900 crore to CSR initiatives in FY24, exceeding its prescribed obligation of INR 840 crore by INR 60 crore. Jindal Steel and Power, led by Naveen Jindal & family, followed suit with a contribution of INR 228 crore—INR 50 crore more than the mandated amount.
Japan's factory activity softens for 6th straight month, PMI shows
TOKYO, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Japan's factory activity shrank for the sixth straight month on lacklustre demand while the service sector extended gains in December, business surveys showed on Monday, highlighting the economy's increasing reliance on services.
The au Jibun Bank flash Japan manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) dropped at a slower pace to 49.5 in December from 49.0 in November. The index has remained below the 50.0 threshold separating expansion from contraction since June.
"Diverging trends continued to be seen in demand, with services firms seeing the strongest rise in new business in four months, while goods producers saw a stronger reduction in orders," said Usamah Bhatti, economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Business confidence in the factory sector softened to the lowest level since May 2022. Highlighting persistent cost pressure, input inflation climbed at the fastest pace in four months while output price surged to the highest level since July.
Meanwhile, the au Jibun Bank flash services PMI rose to 51.4 in December from 50.5 in November.
While growth reached a four-month high, its business sentiment dipped over concerns of labour shortage and rising costs. The higher input costs pushed the average selling price up at its fastest pace in eight months.
The au Jibun Bank flash Japan composite PMI, which combines both manufacturing and service sector activity, stood at 50.8 in December, rising from 50.1 in November.
A quarterly Bank of Japan "tankan" survey from Friday showed Japanese big manufacturers' sentiment improved slightly and non-manufacturers remained upbeat on business conditions in the three months to December.
However, companies expect business conditions to worsen over the next three months as soft global demand and threats of higher tariffs from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump cloud the outlook.
China sees slowest home price decline in 17 months amid signs of stabilisation
China's home prices fell at the slowest pace in 17 months in November, with the crisis-hit property market showing signs of stabilising in some major cities amid government efforts to revive the real estate sector.
New home prices were down 0.1% in November from a month earlier, the slowest decline since June last year, according to Reuters calculations based on National Bureau of Statistics data on Monday.
Prices dropped 0.5% in October from a month earlier.
In annual terms, new home prices fell 5.7% after a 5.9% drop the previous month.
"A second consecutive month of improving price data is a positive signal for the property market bottoming out, and we expect a trough to be established in 2025 and the start of an L-shaped recovery to take effect," Lynn Song, chief economist, Greater China at ING, said in a research note.
China's policymakers have stepped up efforts to revive the country's property sector by introducing new measures to encourage homebuying after a government-led campaign to rein in highly leveraged developers triggered a crisis in 2021.
Since September, measures aimed at encouraging homebuying have included cutting mortgage rates and minimum down-payments, as well as tax incentives to lower the cost of housing transactions.
Among 70 cities surveyed，month-on-month home prices rose in 17 cities, an increase of 10 from the previous month, the data showed.
"The inflection point for home prices in first-tier cities has been reached, but prices in many small cities are still falling," said Zhang Dawei, an analyst at property agency Centaline.
The biggest cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, have implemented the tax breaks to spur demand for homes.
Last month, home prices rose 0.6% and 0.3% on month in Shanghai and Shenzhen, separately, although they fell 0.5% in Beijing.
"Home buying is affected by income stability, demographics, and the backlog of real estate inventory, and more policies and time are needed to stabilise the broad property market," said Zhang.
Property investment and sales fell in double-digit figures in January-November from a year earlier, official data also showed on Monday.
China's economy has struggled this year, and since September policymakers have cut interest rates and made numerous promises to stabilise financial and property markets, boost economic growth and revive consumption.
The country's top leadership promised during the Central Economic Work Conference, a closely watched agenda-setting meeting on Dec. 11-12, to stabilise the property market by announcing measures including the control of land supply and pushing ahead with a plan for local governments to buy newly built unsold properties for affordable housing.
India's economy ends 2024 with solid momentum as business growth hits four-month high
India's private sector output grew at the fastest pace in four months, preliminary readings from a survey showed, helping the economy end 2024 on a positive note underpinned by sturdier demand in services and manufacturing and record jobs growth.
Asia's third-largest economy grew a softer 5.4% last quarter, but easing inflation is expected to spur demand among private sector firms, improving the outlook for next year.
Monday's HSBC's December flash India Composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) (INPMCF=ECI), opens new tab, compiled by S&P Global, rose to 60.7 this month - matching August's reading - after dropping to 58.6 in November.
The 50-level separates growth from contraction and the business activity index has been above 60 in all but three months this year. Such strength hasn't been seen since 2008 when the global financial crisis hit, suggesting strong private sector expansion.
"The small rise in the headline manufacturing PMI in December was mainly driven by gains in current production, new orders and employment," said Ines Lam, economist at HSBC.
"The expansion in new domestic orders quickened, suggesting a pick-up in growth momentum in the economy."
A stronger rise in demand was mainly reflected in the PMI for the dominant services sector, which rose to a four-month high of 60.8 from 58.4 in November, while the index for manufacturing was 57.4, up from 56.5 last month.
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Service providers led the rise in sales with the new business sub-index touching the highest since January. Improving international demand for goods and services also boosted sales with the former recording a faster increase than the latter.
That improved the business outlook for 2025, and overall optimism rose to its highest since September last year and prompted companies to ramp up hiring additional staff at the fastest pace since the survey began in late 2005.
Rupee dips; implied INR yield on overnight FX swap climbs above 10%
The Indian rupee weakened slightly on Monday, tracking weakness in regional peers, while the dollar-rupee overnight swap rate jumped on the back of cash dollar inflows and tight rupee liquidity, pushing up the implied rupee yield on overnight swaps above 10%.
The rupee was at 84.8250 as of 10:00 a.m. IST, down 0.04% from its close at 84.7875 on Friday.
Asian currencies were mostly weaker on the day, with the offshore Chinese yuan down 0.1% after data showed that retail sales in the country were weaker than expected in November. The dollar index was little changed at 106.8.
Meanwhile, the dollar-rupee overnight swap rate extended its ongoing climb and rose to 1.20 paisa, pushing up the implied rupee yield on overnight FX swaps above 10%.
Cash dollar inflows, alongside tight INR and flush USD liquidity in the banking system, on the back of recent spot dollar sales by the central bank, prompted the rise in the overnight swap rate, traders said.
Dollar-rupee far forward premiums slipped, with the one-year implied yield down 2 basis points at 2.16%, pressured by a rise in U.S. bond yields ahead of the closely watched Federal Reserve policy decision later this week.
The one-year U.S. Treasury yield was up 4 basis points at 4.28%.
The U.S. central bank is widely expected to cut rates, with investors watching out for any hawkish revisions to policymakers' future interest rate projections.
The odds of a 25-basis point rate cut by the Fed are currently at 95%, according to CME's FedWatch tool.
"The dollar is currently defying seasonal trends for December weakness and we doubt that the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) needs to prove itself a negative event risk," ING Bank said in a note.
Meet the Newest Artificial Intelligence (AI) Chip Stock to Join Nvidia in the $1 Trillion Club
No chipmaker has benefited more from the rapid rise in artificial intelligence (AI) spending than Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA). The company's graphics processing units (GPUs) are essential for any company looking to develop and train large language models and build generative AI applications.
Nvidia flew past the $1 trillion milestone in May 2023. It's more than tripled since that point, becoming one of just three companies with a market capitalization above $3 trillion. But Nvidia isn't the only company that's seen its market capitalization soar as AI spending booms. In fact, AI advancements are virtually inseparable from the success of nearly every company valued at over a trillion dollars. The newest member, which both complements and competes with Nvidia, is no different.
The newest artificial intelligence chip stock in the $1 trillion club is Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO). The stock passed the milestone after a stellar fourth-quarter earnings report on Dec. 12. Here's how the company became a leading AI chipmaker worth 13 figures.
The company making the next generation of AI chips
Broadcom is a well-diversified business. It has an enterprise software segment, led by VMWare and Symantec. It also makes semiconductors for applications, including wireless phones, WiFi, and Bluetooth. But what's really driving the business are two specialized semiconductor applications: Its networking chips, and its AI accelerators.
Broadcom's networking chips are essential infrastructure for AI data centers. While hyperscalers are paying billions for Nvidia's GPUs, they need Broadcom's chips to get the most out of their processing power. Broadcom's Tomahawk and Jericho switches ensure that data moves quickly and efficiently from one server to another. That means there's less redundancy and downtime in processing. And when you're trying to make the most out of billions of dollars' worth of chips, every second counts.
There's no company that's even close to Broadcom's technology when it comes to developing these chips. Moreover, there's nobody in charge of a hyperscale data center who's going to risk their job by switching to a competitor's offering, no matter how much money it could save the business. So, as data centers grow the number of expensive GPUs and other chips in their server racks, Broadcom's business has grown exponentially.
Even more promising is its custom AI accelerator business. These are the next generation of AI chips.
Rebel Foods raises $210 million in funding round led by Temasek; early investors exit
Rebel Foods, the cloud kitchen startup that runs brands such as Faasos, Oven Story, Behrouz Biryani and others, has secured $210 million in its Series G funding round, a mix of secondary share sales and primary capital.
While the company did not provide the break up, Moneycontrol has learnt that the round was largely a secondary transaction, almost 75%, where early backers like Lightbox, Coatue and others sold shares. The primary capital portion was led by Singapore’s Temasek, with participation from existing investor Evolvence.
Moneycontrol was the first and exclusively reported on this development in August, detailing Rebel Foods’ funding round led by Temasek.
"The round witnessed certain investors receiving exits, underscoring Rebel Foods' commitment to delivering value to its stakeholders," the company said in a statement, without divulging further details on the deal specifics or valuation.
In a primary round, the money goes directly into the firm’s bank accounts and in a secondary transaction, company shares are just transferred from one investor to another. Nothing goes into the company’s coffers.
Commenting on the development, Jaydeep Barman, Co-founder and CEO of Rebel Foods, said: "This funding reinforces our vision to keep strengthening our platform thereby enhancing our portfolio of brands, scale our omnichannel presence, and drive operational excellence globally. As we enter this next phase of growth, we remain steadfast in our commitment to innovation, sustainability, and creating lasting value for our customers and stakeholders.”
Avendus Capital acted as the financial advisor to the firm on this transaction.
The latest funding round comes on the back of the company’s improved financial performance. The firm generated a revenue of Rs 1,420 crore in FY24, a 19 percent increase from Rs 1,195 crore in FY23, regulatory filings showed.
The company reduced its losses by 42 percent, from Rs 657 crore in FY23 to Rs 378 crore in FY24.
“Rebel’s round has been in the works for about a year now and the company has reached a deal because it has managed to bring down its monthly cash burn thanks to belt tightening measures like reducing workforce, reducing overall spends etc undertaken over the past year,” people close of the development told Moneycontrol previously.