Category Archives: Business Insides HalaCoin News – India

The High Commission of Canada in India said on Thursday that it has decided to “temporarily adjust staff presence” in the country after claiming its diplomats received threats on social media.

The High Commission of Canada in India said: “Our High Commission and all consulates in India are open and operational and continue to serve clients. In light of the current environment where tensions have heightened, we are taking action to ensure the safety of our diplomats. With some diplomats having received threats on various social media platforms, Global Affairs Canada is assessing its staff complement in India. 

“As a result, and out of an abundance of caution, we have decided to temporarily adjust staff presence in India. In the context of respect for obligations under the Vienna conventions, we expect India to provide for the security of our accredited diplomats and consular officers in India, just as we are for theirs here.”

Canada and India have been in a diplomatic row over the killing of a Khalistani separatist leader in the North American country.

Meanwhile, the Indian Mission in Canada on Thursday suspended visa services till further notice citing operational reasons, according to BLS International. BLS International Services Limited is an Indian outsourcing service provider for government and diplomatic missions worldwide. The company manages visa, passport, consular, attestation and citizen services.

As per BLS International , interested visa applicants have been advised to keep checking the BLS website for further updates on the issue. “Important notice from Indian Mission: Due to operational reasons, with effect from 21 September 2023, Indian visa services have been suspended till further notice. Please keep checking BLS website for further updates,” the BLS website said.

Interestingly, the ticket had reappered on the BLS International website  after briefly disappearing.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations of ”potential” involvement of Indian government agents in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June unleashed a diplomatic row with India rejecting the charges as ”absurd” and ”motivated” and kicking out a senior Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move to Ottawa’s expulsion of an Indian official.

India on Wednesday advised all its citizens living in Canada and those contemplating travelling there to exercise ”utmost caution” in view of growing anti-India activities and ”politically-condoned” hate crimes in the North American country, as the diplomatic row over the killing of a Khalistani separatist leader threatened to snowball into a major confrontation.

In a strongly-worded advisory, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi referred to ”threats” targeting Indian diplomats and sections of the Indian community that oppose the ”anti-India agenda”, and asked Indian nationals to avoid travelling to regions and potential venues in Canada which have seen such incidents.

The SME segment is flooded with new public offers as companies look to take advantage of massive interest among investors. As many as three IPOs in the SME space opened for subscription today. Here’s a look at some of the key details

Marco Cables & Conductors IPO

Marco Cables and Conductors has come up with a public offer in order to raise about Rs 19 crore. The IPO comprises a fresh equity issue of 26.01 lakh shares and an offer for sale of 26.01 lakh shares.

The IPO closes on September 25.

The company is engaged in the business of manufacturing and selling of wires, cables and conductors in India, with an operating history of over 34 years in the power cable industry in India.

The price band for the issue is fixed at Rs 36 per share and investors can bid for a minimum of 3,000 shares in one lot.

Shreni Shares is the book-running lead manager to the issue and Bigshare Services is the registrar.

The company’s shares are proposed to be listed on the NSE SME platform.

Mangalam Alloys IPO
The SME IPO of Mangalam Alloys comprises a fresh issue of Rs 49.01 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of 7.37 lakh shares. Through the issue, the company aims to raise about Rs 55 crore.

The company is offering its shares at Rs 80 apiece, where investors can bid for Rs 1,600 shares in one lot.

Mangalam Alloys manufactures stainless steel, special steel, alloys steel melting and further processing unit i.e. up to bright bar fasteners engineering products.

For the year ended March 2023, revenue from operations fell marginally to Rs 303 crore from Rs 309 crore a year ago. However, net profit doubled to Rs 10.1 crore from Rs 5.05 crore in the preceding year.

Net proceeds from the offer will be used for working capital requirements, capital expenditure and general corporate purposes.

Expert Global Consultants is the book-running lead manager to the issue and Skyline Financial Services is the registrar.

The equity shares of the company are proposed to be listed on the NSE SME platform.

Hi Green Carbon
Hi Green Carbon’s Rs 53 crore SME IPO opened for subscription today and will close on September 25.

The company’s IPO, which comprises fresh equity issue of Rs 44.9 crore and an offer for sale of 10.5 lakh shares, is priced in the range of Rs 71-75.

Hi Green Carbon is engaged in the business of waste tyres recycling. Its manufacturing plant operates on a continuous pyrolysis process.

For the year ended March 2023, the company’s revenue from operations grew to Rs 78.52 crore from Rs 51.1 crore a year ago. Net profit meanwhile, nearly tripled to Rs 10.8 crore from just Rs 3.67 crore in the previous year period.

The company proposes to utilise the proceeds from the issue for setting up a new manufacturing plant in Maharashtra, meet working capital requirements and general corporate purposes.

Beeline Capital Advisors is the book-running lead manager to the issue, while Link Intime India is the registrar.

The company’s shares will be listed on the NSE SME platform.

Digital visa platform Atlys has raised $12 million in a Series A round led by Elevation Capital and Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India).

The round also saw participation from existing investors Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), musical duo Chainsmokers, South Park Commons, Pinterest founders, and other investors.

The funds will be channeled towards expanding its product offerings for travelers, enhancing customer acquisition efforts, and bolstering the team through strategic talent acquisitions. Prior to this, the company had raised $5 million in a seed round in 2021.

The platform’s primary objective is to streamline the visa application process by eliminating uncertainty, reducing lengthy documentation requirements, and lowering visa fees. To date, it has processed over 2,50,000 visas.

Their traveller-centric approach ensures a visa guarantee within a specified timeframe through their user-friendly app and website, it said in a release. Moreover, it claims a 99.2 per cent on-time visa delivery rate and has also established partnerships with governments to facilitate visas and reduce overstays.

“By leveraging over a million data points, we’re able to predict when you’re going to get a visa and reduce visa rejection rates, and we have built the tech to make that happen,” said Mohak Nahta, Founder of Atlys. It claims to help Indians get visas on time to over 100 countries and has reduced the time for applying for a visa to under three minutes.

According to the company, more than 60 per cent of countries have already adopted e-visa systems, and many more are planning to do so in the near future. Atlys positions itself at the forefront of this transition, by offering travelers to apply for visas digitally from anywhere in the world and receive them promptly.

“We’re excited to join the company on its mission to transform the visa application process and solve larger travel-related pain points in India. Their strategy to offer a new-age visa service that’s economical, risk-free, and data-driven will encourage quicker adoption of newer, more efficient procedures,” said Mayank Khanduja, Partner, Elevation Capital.

Travel is a fast-growing category in India that is seeing strong tailwinds post-Covid. Over 10 million new passports are being issued in India every year, adding materially to the base of travel aspirants from India, said Shraeyansh Thakur, Principal, Peak XV. “We’re very excited to join Mohak and his team on their mission to enable travellers across the globe to travel with more freedom.”

In addition to visas, Atlys’ goal is to solve numerous other pain points that people face with international travel. This includes areas such as credit for travel, remittance, and travel insurance.

Stock market today: The domestic equity market opened lower on Thursday, September 21, taking cues from its Asian peers and after the US Federal Reserve indicated it expected interest rates to remain higher for longer. 

Last seen, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.42 per cent or 280.03 points at 65,520.81, and the NSE Nifty was down 66.8 points, or 0.34 per cent, at 19,834.6.

In the broader market, the Nifty Mid Cap 100 and Small Cap 100 indices also traded in negative territory.

Nifty Bank was down over half a per cent at 45,135.55.

BUZZING STOCKS

Apollo Tyres shares were down over 2 per cent after the company said that Bias and OTR tyres production at its manufacturing facility in Limda, Gujarat, has been stopped due to certain concerns.

Sheela Foam shares were down over 1 per cent a day after the company’s QIP opened.

Fino Payments Bank stock was down over 5 per cent after the bank received complaints from clients and some merchants and distributors in Gujarat regarding the misappropriation of funds, cheating, and forgery.

SJVN shares were down over 8 per cent after reports that the government may sell up to a 2.46 per cent stake in the company.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks followed Wall Street’s lead on Thursday, dipping across the board as investors interpreted the U.S. Federal Reserve’s latest policy statements as signalling higher-for-longer interest rates.

(With agency inputs)

Catch latest stock market updates here. For all other news related to business, politics, tech, sports and auto, visit Zeebiz.com. 

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor took to social media to lambast the Western media over the coverage of the India-Canada row. He said that the Western media put blinkers on and asked whether there are “any mirrors available” in the West. Tharoor’s comments came after the escalating diplomatic row between India and Canada following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s accusations that the Indian government had links to the killing of Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar. 

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Tharoor criticised a BBC story that stated that if the information that Canadian intelligence has gathered is made accessible to its allies then the Western powers would have to make a choice between “supporting the principle of the rule of law or the hard necessity of realpolitik”. The report stated that in the past Western nations have condemned alleged “extraterritorial assassinations carried out by countries such as Russia or Iran or Saudi Arabia”. “They will not want India to join that list,” it said.

“I never cease to be amazed by the blinkers regularly put on by Western media. They are so quick to judge other countries, so blind to their own! This @BBC analysis says, “Western nations have condemned alleged extraterritorial assassinations carried out by countries such as Russia or Iran or Saudi Arabia. They will not want India to join that list.” Hello? The two foremost practitioners of extra-territorial assassinations in the last 25 years have been Israel and the US! Any mirrors available in the West?” he said. 

Earlier in the day too, Tharoor had criticised Canada for it “unfortunate” statement. He said that by accusing India, Canada has “jeopardised the state of a very good relationship”. “We are seeing a tit for tat on both sides. First, on the expulsion of a diplomat and then on this advisory…I think it is unfortunate that Canada chose such a public route. If at all they have any issue, these matters should be discussed privately with a friendly govt like India and the matter should be discussed behind closed doors. Going public, making a statement in the Parliament was very unfortunate by the Prime Minister and having gone that far they have really jeopardised the state of a very good relationship,” said Tharoor, adding that it is most unfortunate that Canada has behaved this way. 

Meanwhile, the US has said that it is “deeply concerned” about the allegations and urged India to cooperate in the investigation. 

The Indian government has categorically rejected Trudeau’s allegations and called them “absurd” and “motivated”. Both the countries have expelled each other’s top diplomats and issued advisory for their nationals. 

Also read: ‘Canada is a safe country’: Ottawa rejects India’s warning that travel to Canada unsafe

Also read: ‘US embarrassed, will step in to mediate’: Chinese media on India-Canada tension

Also read: Now, India issues advisory for its citizens in Canada amid row over Khalistani’s killing

U.S. stocks slumped on Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve held key interest rates unchanged as widely expected, and revised economic projections higher with warnings that the battle against inflation was far from over.

All three major U.S. stock indexes retreated in the wake of announcement, with interest rate sensitive megacap stocks Microsoft Corp, Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp pulling the Nasdaq down most.

The Fed’s announcement was accompanied by its Summary Economic Projections (SEP) and dot plot, which sees an additional 25 basis point rate hike this year, peaking in the 5.50%-5.75% range.

The SEP projections also called for 50 basis points of rate cuts next year.

“It’s your standard Fed day volatility,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group in Omaha, Nebraska. “Yet it wasn’t really a curve-ball event, because markets took things in stride.”

“This day has had a bull’s eye on it all month and now we can move past it,” Detrick added.

The updated projections see the Fed funds target rate edging down to 5.1% by the end of next year, and to 3.9% by the end of 2025. Since the Fed began tightening in March, core inflation has cooled. But its slow descent toward the central bank’s 2% target has been slow and uneven.

The SEP forecasts inflation to drop to 3.3% by year-end, and to approach the central bank’s average annual 2% target.

At the subsequent press conference, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell tempered rosier economic projections with a warning that inflation has a long way to go before reaching that target.

“The Fed didn’t really rock the boat,” Detrick said. “They acknowledged the strength in the economy, which also lowered the number of cuts that were expected next year, implying higher for longer is likely the path they will continue to take.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 76.85 points, or 0.22%, to 34,440.88, the S&P 500 lost 41.75 points, or 0.94%, to 4,402.2 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 209.06 points, or 1.53%, to 13,469.13.

Among the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, interest rate sensitive communication services and technology suffered the largest percentage losses.

Marketing automation company Klaviyo advanced 9.2% in its debut on the New York Stock Exchange, the third recent initial public offering in recent days, following Arm Holdings and Maplebear Inc.

“It shows confidence is coming back to even have the large IPOS,” Detrick said. “It’s a sign that things are getting closer to normal which is something that is necessary at this stage of the business cycle.”

Maplebear lost 10.7%, while fellow recent debut Arm Holdings was down 4.1%.

Pinterest added 3.1% after the image-sharing firm announced a share buyback of up to $1 billion.

Coty gained 4.4% after the CoverGirl parent hiked its annual core sales forecast.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.46-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.90-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 14 new 52-week highs and 6 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 39 new highs and 246 new lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 9.73 billion shares, compared with the 10.07 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

ALL UPDATES

Wall Street oscillated after the US Federal Reserve held key interest rates unchanged as widely expected, and revised economic projections higher, even as Chairman Powell warned the battle against inflation was far from over.

All three major US stock indexes whipsawed in the wake of announcement and the accompanying Summary Economic Projections (SEP) and dot plot, which sees an additional 25 basis point rate hike this year, peaking in the 5.50 per cent-5.75 per cent range.

The projections also called for 50 basis points of rate cuts next year.

“There were no surprises,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York. “(The Fed) sees one more rate hike…and sees interest rates remaining elevated a bit longer than previously stated, and that’s cutting into the market.”

The updated projections see the Fed funds target rate edging down to 5.1 per cent by the end of next year, and to 3.9 per cent by the end of 2025.

At 2:48 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 148.43 points, or 0.43 per cent, to 34,666.16, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 49.03 points, or 0.36 per cent, to 13,629.15.

Since the Fed embarked on its current tightening cycle in March, core inflation has cooled. But the progress of its descent toward the central bank’s target has been slow and uneven.

The SEP forecasts inflation to drop to 3.3 per cent by year-end, and to approach the central bank’s average annual 2 per cent target.

At the subsequent press conference, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell tempered rosier economic projections with a warning that inflation has a long way to go before reaching that target.

Powell “doesn’t want the market to get complacent. He wants the markets to know he still needs to see inflation to reach the 2 per cent target,” Cardillo added.

Among the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, interest rate sensitive communication services and technology suffering the largest percentage losses.

Marketing automation company Klaviyo jumped 13.5 per cent in its debut on the New York Stock Exchange, the third recent initial public offering in recent days, following Arm Holdings and Maplebear Inc.

Maplebear was last down 5.7 per cent, on track to join other new entrants in failing to hold on to their strong gains on debut. Arm Holdings was down 3.9 per cent.

Pinterest added 5.0 per cent after the image-sharing firm announced a share buyback of up to $1 billion.

Coty gained 5.1 per cent after the CoverGirl parent hiked its annual core sales forecast.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 2.53-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.38-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 14 new 52-week highs and 6 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 38 new highs and 187 new lows.