Business News

Shares of PG Electroplast today rallied 15% to their new 52-week high of Rs 718.35 on the BSE after the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary PG Technoplast has signed an agreement with Spiro Mobility for an exclusive partnership for manufacturing Spiro’s EV in India.“PG Electroplast Ltd. (PGEL), one of the pioneers and leaders in Electronic Manufacturing Services and Plastic Molding, through its wholly owned subsidiary, PG Technoplast Pvt. Ltd., has signed a Definitive Agreement with Spiro Mobility to become an Exclusive Manufacturing partner for manufacturing of the EVs of Spiro Mobility (Spiro) in India,” said the company in a filing to the exchanges.The company informed that its primary responsibility includes setting up and managing the manufacturing facilities for Electric vehicles, Lithium-Ion batteries and related components and for procurement of parts and raw materials for the same as specified by Spiro. Spiro, meanwhile, will be responsible for the research and development, marketing, sale, and distribution of the EV products manufactured by PG Technoplast.“The company’s entry into EV and Lithium-Ion batteries manufacturing opens up a new horizon of growth for the company and with Partner like Spiro, the company is confident that this association will go a long way and become a sizeable player in the EV market in India,” said Vishal Gupta, Managing Director (Finance) of PG Electroplast.Also read: Zee Entertainment shares surge over 6% as MD Punit Goenka resigns“Spiro is Africa’s largest EV player and we are excited to partner with PG Technoplast Pvt. Ltd. for manufacturing the EVs and Lithium-Ion Batteries. The great execution track record, coupled with management's professionalism and execution focus, inspires confidence that the association of PG and Spiro will bring mutual success to each other and expand the EV space in emerging markets further,” added Kaushik Burman, CEO of Spiro Mobility.PG Electroplast is a solution provider for Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS) and contract manufacturing to the most leading consumer durable and electronics brands in India. The company has one of the biggest capacities in plastic injection molding and has capabilities across the value chain in Original Equipment Manufacturing (OEM) and Original Design Manufacturing (ODM).(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)

Mumbai: A correction in the secondary market and a sharp decline in grey market premiums have driven wealthy investors away from the primary market, leaving institutional investors to ensure the success of initial public offerings. Of the last 10 IPOs, eight saw limited to little participation from high-net-worth individuals (HNIs). While the HNI portions were undersubscribed for Swiggy, Hyundai India, Niva Bupa Health and Godavari Biorefineries, another four barely managed single-digit subscriptions. This is a stark contrast to an average of 116 times HNI subscriptions in the preceding 10 IPOs. In Niva Bupa Health Insurance's public issue, just 71% of the shares reserved for HNIs were subscribed, though the overall subscription was 1.9 times. Swiggy's ₹11,327-crore IPO saw subscriptions for the HNI portion at 41%, even as the share sale got bids for 3.59 times the offer size. HNIs bid for the entire quota (1.02 times) earmarked for them in the ₹2,900-crore ACME Solar Holdings offer, where the subscriptions were 3.25 times for the retail portion and 3.72 times from institutional buyers. 115431806Cooling markets, collapsing grey market premiums, and rising funding costs have significantly dampened HNI interest in IPOs, bankers said."If you look at the Sebi study on IPOs, the clear revelation was that most HNIs that subscribed to IPO flipped on the listing. Essentially, the subscription level in an IPO is a function of the grey market premium," said Nikhil Ranka, chief investment officer-equities at Nuvama Asset Management. "As markets cooled off and grey market premiums collapsed, the interest in IPO has waned to a large extent."The Sensex has declined more than 11% since September 27 after hitting a record high. In India's largest public issue - Hyundai India's ₹27,870-crore IPO - only 60% of the HNI portion got bids, while in case of Sagility India, it was a modest 1.93 times.“An overall correction in the Indian equity market on the back of local and global concerns has led to softness in non-institutional demand in recent IPOs,” said Ranvir Davda, cohead of investment banking at HSBC India. “This shift in sentiment can be mainly attributed to Indian corporate earnings being under pressure in Q2, a sharp spike in the inflation print in October coupled with geopolitical issues, volatility in the run-up to US elections and uncertainty around the timing of a Fed rate cut.” The 13 IPOs launched in September recorded an average HNI subscription of 180 times, while the 10 IPOs in August saw an average HNI subscription of 128 times. Manba Finance led with an HNI subscription of 512 times, followed by KRN Heat Exchanger and Gala Precision, both exceeding 400 times. Even the Rs 6,560 crore IPO of Bajaj Housing Finance saw robust HNI interest, with the category subscribed 44 times.According to investment banker Ravi Sardana, recent IPOs were aggressively priced amid a buoyant market. However, with the secondary market correction and rising funding costs, HNIs found little value left on the table. Bankers remain optimistic that HNIs will return to the primary markets once volatility in the secondary market subsides. “Once there is more visibility and predictability around these issues and markets witness a few IPOs with a strong after-market, one can then expect non-institutional demand to come back healthily,” said Davda of HSBC India

North India was smothered in smog on Monday, as pollution levels flared up to the ‘severe’ zone, with the air quality index (AQI) hitting 500 in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR), which includes the key business hubs of Gurgaon, Noida and Faridabad. People were rushed to hospitals with heart failure and asthmatic attacks. Schools went online and companies told employees to work from home. Restaurateurs were faced with near-empty dining halls, malls saw lower footfall and consumer companies reckoned with a further slump in fortunes. The air was little better elsewhere in the north — the index was above 300 in Patna, Lucknow and Chandigarh. The National Capital has imposed stage 4 restrictions under the Graded Response Action Plan, which keeps out trucks. Poor visibility has also disrupted flights in New Delhi. According to Flightradar, 406 departures were delayed and 15 cancelled. Additionally, 150 incoming flights were delayed and eight cancelled.Health Risks:As residents gasped for air, there was a surge in demand for items such as face masks, air purifiers and even indoor plants. Delhi chief minister Atishi said the region is faced with a health crisis. “All of north India has been plunged into a medical emergency as stubble burning continues unchecked. All cities– Delhi and in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh–are reeling under severe levels of pollution,” she said. Hospital queues are elongating in what has now become an annual three-month purgatory for NCR and the northern states. In the first line of defence, doctors are sounding the alarm. “We are seeing an increased number of patients admitted with heart attacks, heart failure and increased risk of asthmatic attacks,” said Dr Nishith Chandra, director for interventional cardiology at Fortis Escorts Heart Institute. “The level of AQI is 50 times the permissible limits, exposing our lungs and heart to these toxic levels of pollution.” Deloitte, Coca-Cola, KPMG, Acer and others have asked employees to work from home. Companies says the high AQI will force people to stay indoors, worsening the consumption story further this quarter. “Certainly, people are scared to even come out, with unusually bad air quality now in the north,” said Devarajan Iyer, chief executive of Lifestyle International chain. “We expect an impact on sales, which was anyway affected in urban areas. The situation has worsened. We really hope the government will take some action.” The declining air quality took a toll on shopping and eating out over the weekend. “The food services industry is anyway hit by steep food inflation,” said Anjan Chatterjee, chairman of Speciality Restaurants, which operates the Mainland China and Oh! Calcutta chains. “The pollutionlinked decline in demand is a double whammy. October-December is generally the biggest quarter for the sector. But now, those who can afford to, are going away to the hills. Others are staying indoors.” While usually, pollution increases this time of the year, this year is particularly severe, said Anshu Tandon, president of the Khan Market Welfare Association, citing a footfall decline of 20-25% on weekends. “Our weekend business is impacted by 30-40% in what is usually party season and a very important quarter for the food services industry,” said Saurabh Khanijo, managing director of Asian cuisine chain Kylin, which also operates outdoor dining and bar Kylin Skybar. “A lot of our weekend bookings are being cancelled, specially for our outdoor events. Seeing the AQI levels, people are naturally being very hesitant to step out.” Large dine-out chains in India had been pinning their hopes for a pickup in footfalls on the October-December festive season after two back-to-back quarters of sluggish sales. Malls are feeling the pollution pangs as well. “There's a dip in footfall, as people are preferring to stay indoors in deteriorating air quality,” said Harsh Vardhan Bansal, cofounder of Unity Group, which operates half a dozen malls in Delhi and Punjab. He pointed to a silver lining. “Serious shoppers, though, have moved to malls from the high street, as they know malls maintain a certain level of air quality and it’s safer indoors than outdoors,” he said.