Markets feel the pinch of SC order on telecos, Moody’s downgrade

Feb 17, 2020
Mumbai: Indian markets closed lower as fresh growth worries emerged after global rating agency Moody’s revised down India’s growth forecast. Sensex lost over 200 points on Monday, led by fall in banking and telecom stocks over the SC order in the AGR case.

Investors have been worried after Moody’s slashed India’s growth forecast to 5.4 per cent for 2020 from 6.6 per cent on slower than expected economic recovery. Moody’s also cut 2021 growth projections to 5.8 per cent from 6.7 per cent earlier.

The market reacted adversely as the apex court had pulled up telcos for not paying the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) liability, leaving the telcos with limited options to get relief from legal or government sources.

According to Motilal Oswal, the recent SC order could have “far-reaching serious ramifications on the telecom and banking sectors with ripple effects on the overall economy”.

Bank of Baroda, SBI, PNB, Yes Bank and RBL Bank fell over 1 to 5 per cent while Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea also ended in the red.

Vinod Nair of Geojit Financial Services said: “Domestic growth concerns seem to be back in the market as indicated by a recent downgrade by Moody’s. Banks having significant exposure in Telecom players continue to be in the limelight as lack of funds could delay the payments and degrade the quality of banks balance sheet.”

“Continuous rise in Coronavirus cases has forced major Asian peers to downgrade their growth outlook which could cause a ripple effect in other nations in the first quarter while recovery is expected from the second,” he added.

Sensex closed 202.05 points or 0.49 per cent lower at 41,055.69 after falling as much as 41,030.58. All the sectors ended in red except IT with PSU banks being the biggest loser followed by Pharma, Realty, Metals, and Media.

The banking stocks came under pressure after the Supreme Court refused to accept Vodafone Idea’s proposal to pay adjusted gross revenue dues in a staggered manner.

Besides, investors globally continue to trade cautiously as Coronavirus related deaths climbed past 17,000 and total cases jumped to 70,500. However, Asian stock markets saw some recovery after China said it will announce measures to arrest economic slump owing to the virus outbreak. IANS

Uber faces heat over ‘advance tip’ feature, govt steps in

New Delhi: Uber’s new 'Advance tip' feature has sparked a massive backlash on social media, with users accusing the ride-hailing company of forcing them to pay extra money just to...

Indian economy shows resilience despite weak global growth: RBI

New Delhi: The global growth continues to face headwinds with persistent trade frictions, heightened policy uncertainty, and weak consumer sentiment weighing on the outlook. Despite this, the Indian economy is...

Britain suspends trade negotiations with Israel over Gaza aid blockade

London: British Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced on Tuesday that Britain has suspended trade negotiations with Israel over its Gaza blockade. Lammy also said the Israeli ambassador had been summoned....

100GB Google One storage arrives for Airtel users in India, free for 6 months

New Delhi: Bharti Airtel and Google on Tuesday announced a partnership that brings Google One cloud storage subscription service for Airtel customers, helping address the mounting challenge of limited device...

Indian stock markets soar over 4 pc in best weekly performance since Oct 2024

Mumbai: Indian stock markets witnessed a stellar rally in the week ended May 16, delivering over 4 per cent returns to investors and recording the best weekly performance since the...

India willing to remove 100 pc tariffs on US goods: Donald Trump

Washington: US President Donald Trump has claimed that India offered to remove all tariffs on American goods, but added that he was in no rush to finalise a trade deal...

Adani Airports ends partnership with Celebi for Mumbai, Ahmedabad airports

Ahmedabad: Adani Airport Holdings has terminated the ground handling concession agreement with Turkish firm Celebi at Mumbai and Ahmedabad airports with immediate effect. In a statement, Adani Airports said that...

India-UK FTA: Bilateral trade projected to surge by 15 pc annually until 2030

New Delhi: The bilateral trade between India and the United Kingdom (UK) is expected to increase by around 15 per cent annually until 2030, factoring in the aspect that the...

Adani Airports snaps ties with Turkish firm DragonPass

New Delhi: Adani Airport Holdings has scrapped its agreement with Turkish company DragonPass to provide the latter’s customers access to its airport lounges. The move comes in the wake of...

NSE becomes India’s largest unlisted firm with over 1 lakh shareholders

Mumbai: The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) has reached a significant milestone, becoming the largest unlisted company in India with over 100,000 shareholders, according to latest industry data. This...

Trump says India is offering US a zero tariff trade deal

New Delhi: US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that India has offered to enter a bilateral trade deal with the US that “basically” proposes that "no tariffs" would be...

China’s FDI proposals face stricter scrutiny in India amid tensions with Pakistan

New Delhi: The government plans to conduct more stringent reviews of some major investment proposals from Chinese companies to invest in India, which could delay the go-ahead for these ventures,...

Read Previous

Fiscal deficit may dip to 3.5% on AGR dues payment: SBI

Read Next

British MP critical of Modi’s Kashmir policy denied entry

WP2Social Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com