* India's foreign exchange reserves rose by nearly $3 billion to $648.6 billion in the week ended April 5. An increase in water reserves has been recorded for the last 7 consecutive weeks. The increase in reserves was mainly due to the increase in gold reserves. The price of gold reserves increased by a whopping 2.4 billion dollars. In the last two months, countries like China and India in the international market as well as countries in Europe have emphasized on increasing their gold reserves. Due to the tense war between Ukraine and Russia as well as the war situation of Israel in the Middle East, most of the countries emphasized on increasing the gold reserves with the view of hedging. Similarly, due to the increase in inflation in the world in the last two years, the central banks of all countries kept the interest rates high in their respective countries. Therefore, to protect against recession, most of the countries tried to stabilize their country's reserves by increasing their gold reserves. India also recently broke the record mark of $642 billion in foreign reserves for the first time since September 2021.
* In the last session of the last week i.e. Friday, Nifty and Sensex fell by a total of 234.40 points and 793.25 points respectively, both the indices closed at the level of 22519.4 points and 74244.9 points. Nifty ended the day down 1.03 percent, Sensex down 1.06 percent. For the week as a whole, Nifty gained 5.70 points, while Sensex lost 3.32 points. For the first time this week, the Sensex closed at an all-time high of 75038 points in Thursday's session. The Sensex touched a record high of 75124.28 points during the week. But, at the end of the week, investors preferred to exit with profit (profit booking). Top gainers for the week included Eicher Motors (6.7 percent), Hindolco (5 percent), Tata Consumer (3 percent), Bharti Airtel (2.9 percent), Mahindra & Mahindra (2.9 percent). Top decliners included Sun Pharma (-4.3 percent), Cipla (-3.6 percent), Titan (-3.6 percent), Wipro (-3.0 percent), Adani Motors (-2.3 percent).
* In the month of March, the retail inflation rate (CPI inflation rate) in India fell to a 10-month low of 4.85 percent. The Reserve Bank has planned to keep retail inflation under control at 4 to 6 percent. Also, foodgrain retail inflation (food retail inflation) came to 8.52 percent. Similarly, the IIP rate reached a four-month high of 5.7 percent in February. IIP stands for Index of Industrial Production. This index is indicative of India's growth in industrial progress. This time, the statistics department was delayed by about 40 minutes in releasing the data. Statistics are released on 12th of every month at 5.30 pm. However, the Code of Conduct made it mandatory for the Statistics Department to obtain prior approval from the Election Commission of India, hence the delay.
* Supreme Court strikes Anil Ambani group. The Supreme Court set aside the 1000 crore arbitral award. There was a dispute between Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and Reliance Infra's subsidiary Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited. In this, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, a subsidiary of Reliance Infra, denied any debt. The Supreme Court thereby reversed its three-year-old decision giving relief to the Delhi Metro. Shares of Reliance Infra plunged 20 percent on the BSE stock exchange after the Supreme Court's verdict last week. This also affected Reliance Power, another company owned by Anil Ambani. Shares of Reliance Power also fell by 5 percent.
* The number of demat accounts increased by 3.7 crore in the last financial year. This is a new record for opening so many demat accounts in a single year. Opening a demat account is mandatory for buying and selling shares. With an average of 30 lakh new demat accounts added every month, the total number of demat accounts rose from 11.45 crore to 15.14 crore. This resulted in increasing confidence of local investors in the Indian stock market.
* A company called Aegatron, which has an iPhone manufacturing plant in India, is trying to sell its project to the Tatas. The Taiwanese company wants to sell its Chennai project to Tata Electronics. The Apple company is also understood to have a special approval. The project has 10,000 employees and has the capacity to produce 5 million iPhones annually. Tata Company is likely to acquire around 65 percent stake in the project.
* Indian government started taking steps to provide tourist facilities in Lakshadweep due to strained relations with Maldives. As a part of this, HDFC Bank, the largest private sector bank, opened its first branch at Karavatti Island in Lakshadweep. HDFC Bank became the first private bank to open a bank from the private sector in these islands. This branch was inaugurated by the commanding officer of the Indian Navy Captain Lokesh Thakur and honorable Dr. K. P. Done by Muthukoya.
* In the financial year 2024, the total funds in the Jan Dhan Accounts increased by 18 percent and the total funds reached 2 lakh 35 thousand crores. 36153 crores increase in accumulated funds compared to last year. The average balance also increased by 22 percent to Rs 4524 crore. Equity inflows in mutual funds declined by 16 per cent to Rs 22,633 crore from Rs 26,866 crore in March 2024 as compared to February 2024. There has been an inflow of investment in large cap, mid cap and multi cap, while investors have preferred outflow from small cap. However, 42,87,117 new accounts were registered in SIP, taking the total number of SIP accounts to a record high of 8.39 crores. A record 19271 crores was invested through SIP.
* The European Central Bank (ECB), the central bank that determines Europe's interest rates, kept the deposit interest rate at 4 percent for the fifth time in a row. With inflation (inflation) in Europe remaining under control at 2 percent, experts expect interest rate cuts in the near term.
* Swiggy's wealth managers are holding meetings with HNIs ahead of the IPO. Swiggy is trying to sell the shares at 20 percent cheaper than the current market price. A total market valuation of 80 thousand crores (9.6 billion dollars) is being offered for sale with a price of Rs 350 per share. According to Invesco, a financial institution, the market value of Swiggy is currently 12.7 billion dollars, and an IPO of about 1 billion dollars (about 8.5 thousand crores) can come to the market.
* TCS, the largest company in the IT sector, reported a 12.4 percent increase in total profit for the fourth quarter of last financial year to Rs 12,434 crore. The company's revenue grew by 1.1 percent to Rs 61,237 crore. The company's operating margin rose to 26 percent from 23.4 percent in the previous quarter. The company also declared a dividend of Rs.28. For the first time in the last 2 decades, the company's workforce declined by 13,249 to 601,546.
* Vodafone-Idea Company has fixed a price band of Rs 10 to 11 for FPO of Rs 18 thousand crore. 5720 crore of this will be used to launch the company's 5G facility. 3370 crores will be used for purchasing equipment to start facilities at 26 thousand new places based on 4G technology and 2175 crores will be used for payment of outstanding government taxes.
