Stocks on Focus: ABFRL, Infosys, RIL, Airtel, Vi, Sanofi, HAL, Aurobindo Pharma

The domestic stock market rally that began last week may slow down on Tuesday, April 2. As of 7:50 AM, Gift Nifty had declined 52 points to 22,551. Key market factors today include the manufacturing PMI data for March, foreign investment flows, and rising crude oil prices.

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail: ABFRL, the Indian fashion conglomerate, has announced that it is considering a vertical split of its Madura Fashion & Lifestyle division into a separate publicly traded entity. This move is expected to create two distinct companies, each operating independently with a unique capital structure and growth opportunities. The ABFRL board recently approved the assessment of the feasibility of this split, which would result in the Madura Fashion & Lifestyle division becoming a separate publicly traded company.

Infosys: On Monday, the IT company Infosys announced that it has received a tax demand of Rs 341 crore for the assessment year 2020-21 from the Income Tax department. The demand was received on March 31, 2024. Infosys is currently examining the impact of this order on its financial statements for the quarter and fiscal year ending on March 31, 2024. The company is also considering the possibility of filing an appeal against this order.

Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea: In January 2024, Reliance Jio, the biggest telecommunication company in India and a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, experienced an increase of 41.78 lakh mobile subscribers, bringing its total mobile user base to 46.39 crore. During the same period, Bharti Airtel, led by Sunil Mittal, also saw growth, adding 7.52 lakh wireless subscribers and raising its total mobile count to 38.24 crore. However, Vodafone Idea suffered a loss of 15.2 lakh wireless users, resulting in a mobile subscriber base of 22.15 crore, based on TRAI data.

Sanofi India: Rodolfo Hrosz, Managing Director of Sanofi India, stated in an interview with Mint that the company is prioritizing India and has ambitious plans to further strengthen its presence in the region. As part of its strategy, Sanofi intends to introduce new products, including Soliqua, a pre-mixed insulin medication, and Xenpozyme, a treatment for late-onset Pompe disease. The company's pipeline also includes other novel medications such as Dupixent for adult eczema, the respiratory virus drug Beyfortus, and Mexiviazyme, as per a company statement. Additionally, Sanofi aims to improve access to its existing portfolio in India, which includes drugs like Lantus, Clexane, Targocid, Allegra, Enterogermina, Combiflam Cardace, Cerezyme, and more.

Hindustan Aeronautics: HAL, the defence PSU headquartered in Bengaluru, announced on Monday that it had achieved a provisional and unaudited revenue from operations exceeding Rs 29,810 crore for the fiscal year 2023-24. This marks an approximate growth of 11 percent, which is higher than the 9 percent growth in the previous fiscal year. The revenue for the preceding year was Rs 26,928 crore. As of March 31, 2024, the company's order book is valued at over Rs 94,000 crore, and they expect to receive additional significant orders in the fiscal year 2024-25. During the fiscal year 2023-24, HAL secured new manufacturing contracts worth over Rs 19,000 crore and Repair and Overhaul (ROH) contracts exceeding Rs 16,000 crore. C B Ananthakrishnan, the chairman and managing director (Additional Charge) of HAL, made the announcement.

Aurobindo Pharma: The company has recently announced the opening of four state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities for Penicillin-G, 6-Amino Penicillanic Acid (6-APA), Injectable products, and Granulation. All these facilities are managed by the company's fully-owned subsidiaries. The Penicillin-G (Pen-G) facility, which is worth Rs 2,400 crore and located in a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, has an annual production capacity of 15,000 tonnes and an additional 1.8 lakh tonnes of glucose. The 6-Amino Penicillanic Acid plant, on the other hand, has the capacity to produce 3,600 tonnes per year, according to the company's press release. The Pen-G plant is expected to start trial production in April, with commercial production to follow in a few months. The production ramp-up is anticipated to occur during the second quarter of the current fiscal year.

NTPC: The state-owned power company announced on Monday that it has increased its power generation capacity by 3,924 MW in the fiscal year 2023-24, bringing the total installed capacity to approximately 76GW. This increase includes the inauguration of the second unit in Bangladesh and the first-ever capacity addition by its subsidiaries, NTPC Green Energy Ltd (NGEL) and NTPC Renewable Energy Ltd (NREL), during the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2024, according to a company statement.

Alembic Pharmaceuticals: The company received tentative approval from the US Food & Drug Administration for its Ribociclib tablets in March. Ribociclib tablets are used in treating a specific type of advanced or metastatic breast cancer in adult patients, usually in combination with other drug therapies. The tablets have a potency of 200mg and are the generic equivalent of Novartis' Kisqali tablets. Alembic, the company that filed this, announced on Monday that they have received the provisional approval.

South Indian Bank: The South Indian Bank has released its business update for the fourth quarter on Monday, April 1. According to the report, the bank's gross advances have risen to Rs 80,337 crore from Rs 77,786 crore in the previous quarter. Additionally, the bank has seen a growth in total deposits, which have reached Rs 1.02 lakh crore in comparison to Rs 99,155 crore in the previous quarter. The bank's Current Account Savings Account (CASA) also showed a positive trend with an 8 percent increase to Rs 32,654 crore from Rs 31,529 crore in the previous quarter. However, the bank has mentioned that the above data is provisional and subject to an audit by the bank's statutory auditors.

AU Small Finance Bank: AU Small Finance Bank (AU SFB) has successfully merged with Fincare Small Finance Bank (Fincare SFB), making it the first consolidation of its kind in the sector. The merger, which was announced on October 29, 2023, was an all-stock transaction, with Fincare SFB shareholders receiving 579 AU SFB equity shares for every 2,000 shares they held in Fincare SFB. On March 4, 2024, the Reserve Bank of India gave its final approval, and the merger officially took effect on April 1, 2024. The merger is expected to significantly expand AU SFB's distribution network and strengthen its presence in South India, as stated in a press release by the Jaipur-based bank.