Pre Market Analysis: Dalal Street may open lower; RIL, Future Retail, Airtel, VIL and Hindalco in news today

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Future Retail: RIL has taken over the operations of at least 200 stores of Future Retail and has offered jobs to its employees after the Future Retail failed to make lease payments to landlords, sources said. Reliance Industries is in the process of transferring over 30,000 Future Retail and Future Lifestyle employees.

Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea: Airtel will acquire an additional 4.7 per cent stake in Indus Towers from Vodafone Group, the company announced. Both the companies have signed an agreement on the condition that Vodafone will use the proceeds to invest in Vodafone Idea (Vi) and the latter will clear its pending dues with Indus Towers.

Hindalco Industries: The aluminium major has entered into a share-purchase agreement with Brazilian firm Terrabel Empreedimentos Ltda to divest its entire equity shareholding in Hindalco Do Brazil Industria Comercia de Alumina LTDA (HDB), the wholly-owned step down subsidiary.

Indian Oil Corp (IOC): PSU major is planning three new plants in the Northeast to increase its LPG bottling capacity by nearly 53 per cent to eight crore cylinders annually by 2030 to meet the growing demand in the region. The proposed new LPG bottling plants will come up in Mizoram, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh at a total investment of Rs 325-350 crore in a combination of wholly-owned and public-private-partnership (PPP) models.

Vodafone Idea: The telecom operator is re-aligning and streamlining its consumer digital resources to sharpen focus on driving operational scale and pace of delivery. The realigned digital set up will comprise three verticals of Consumer Digital Products and Partnerships, Consumer Digital Marketing and Digital Delivery.

Hero MotoCorp: The company expects the two-wheeler segment to make a strong comeback next financial year with Omicron wave subsiding and a broader economic recovery in sight, according to a senior company official. It also expects the various announcements made in the Union Budget this year to trigger a cycle not only of employment and income but also capex in the private sector.

Sun Pharma: The drug maker is recalling 59,232 bottles of Chlorthalidone tablets, used for reducing excess fluid levels in the body due to “foreign matter identified as stainless-steel microscopic wear particles mixed with punch lubricant oil and silicone particles from the dust cup”, according to the US health regulator.

Aurobindo Pharma: The US-based arm of Aurobindo Pharma is recalling 1,15,776 bottles of Moxifloxacin Ophthalmic Solution, an antibiotic used in the treatment of bacterial infections due to “failed impurities/degradation specifications, according to the US health regulator FDA.

Union Bank of India: The lender and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) have jointly launched a credit card for the borrowers, offering interest-free credit for up to 50 days. The credit card will provide a simplified payment mechanism to MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) to meet their business-related operational expenses, it said.

In other news, Union Bank of India plans to raise up to Rs 1,500 crore in capital through tier-I bonds and another Rs 1,100 crore via Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) via medium-term bonds in the coming week.

Shriram Transport Finance Company (STFC): The company said it has raised Rs 900 crore by issuing bonds on a private placement basis and the proceeds from the issue will be used for further lending and other business purposes. The bonds, bearing coupon at 8.56 per cent per annum, are set to mature on February 25, 2032.

Vedanta Group: A team from Indian conglomerate has visited Pune to survey the feasibility of setting up its electronic chip plant in the district, a government official said on Friday. Vedanta Group firms have applied for setting up semiconductor and display manufacturing units in the country under the government’s incentive scheme.

SJVN: The State-owned company said Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has approved development of 400 MW solar park by the company at Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh. According to a company statement, an in-principle approval has been accorded by the ministry for development of this project under Ultra Mega Renewable Energy Power Parks of its solar park scheme.

Kalyan Jewellers: The company is planning to enter the franchise model in the first half of the next financial year to accelerate expansion mainly in the non-southern India market, according to a top company executive. “In the franchise model, the cost per store will be around Rs 20 crore, a majority of which will be inventory and the capex (capital expenditure) will be minimal. A majority of our expansion for the next 2-3 years will be on non-south (India) markets,” the company added.

HMT Limited: HMT Machine Tools Ajmer, a wholly-owned subsidiary of state-run HMT Limited, has developed a highly-productive grinding machine for railway axles which would cost less than half of similar imported equipment, the company said. The machine will be used for grinding of both end-diameters of railway axles in single set up to double the productivity.

Indian Overseas Bank (IOB): The public-sector lender said the government has appointed Vivek Aggarwal on its board as an RBI nominee director with immediate effect. With this, Deepak Kumar, nominated by the government as the RBI nominee director, ceases to be a director on the board with effect from Friday.