PremiumEvery Monday, Mint’s Plain Facts section features key data releases and events to track in the coming week. The monthly inflation numbers are due for release this week. Quarterly results of Coal India and Nestle India will be announced. A statistics-rich season of Ranji Trophy, the biggest local cricket tournament, kicks off later this week. Here’s more:
Inflation
In its meeting last week, the monetary policy committee reiterated its accommodative stance and left both key policy rates unchanged to prioritize economic recovery over curbing inflation. In this context, the retail inflation data for January, due on Monday, is hardly likely to offer comfort. To be sure, potato and tomato prices did fall markedly since December and pulses, edible oils and onions also became marginally cheaper. But on a year-on-year basis, retail inflation could stay high, with the low base likely pushing the figure up to 6%, the central bank’s upper tolerance level, economists estimated.
Some relief may come from a freeze in fuel prices ahead of the assembly elections in five states. But a faster rise can be expected once the elections end. In addition, one of the key risks to inflation would be the rising prices of crude oil, which is currently above $90 per barrel—all in all, brace for high inflation rates.
Coal India Results
Coal India, the country’s largest coal producer, will release its financial results for the December-ended quarter on Monday. The miner is expected to continue gaining from the surge in demand for electricity with improving economic activity as pandemic-related curbs get lifted. The state-owned miner managed to supply a record volume of coal to the power sector this fiscal even amid the coal crisis around October, and its non-power sector dispatches during April-December were on a par with the same period a year ago.
Analysts at ICICI Direct expect the state-run company to report 174 million tonnes of coal offtake in the December quarter and a 17% growth in profit from a year earlier. Coal India is likely to benefit from the need for domestic supply, as high seaborne coal prices have prompted the government to reduce imports, Bloomberg reported last month.
Ranji Trophy
The Ranji Trophy, India’s domestic first-class cricket championship, is finally set to begin on Thursday after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.
Due to time constraints, the league will see a changed format. Instead of the usual six “Elite" groups of six teams each, this season will have eight groups of four teams each. The Plate group, which has some of the other teams, will also be smaller.
The round-robin league stage will end in mid-March, and the knockouts will take place between 30 May and 26 June, allowing space for the cash-magnet Indian Premier League in between.
Mumbai, formerly Bombay, has won the Ranji Trophy 41 times, making it the most successful team in the championship’s history. Karnataka (earlier Mysore) and Delhi are next, with eight and seven wins, respectively.
Nestlé Earnings
Fast-moving consumer goods companies are still not out of the woods despite the unlocking of the economy and improving mobility. An unfavourable base and rising raw material cost pressures have dented margins over the last year. However, price hikes undertaken by some companies have given toplines some respectability. The results of FMCG major Nestlé India are due on Thursday. Like its peers, the company felt the pinch and has seen a 130 basis points (bps) squeeze in the gross margins since the March 2021 quarter. Margins are expected to have remained under pressure in the December quarter, too, on higher input costs, which currently hover at 40% of net sales. Analysts at Phillip Capital pegged a gross margin contraction of at least 300 bps in the December quarter. But, volumes are likely to have grown. The company outperformed its benchmark sectoral index by a wide margin, with a 1.3% gain against a 7.3% contraction in the BSE FMCG index during the quarter.
Amazon-Future Case
The unending legal tussle between Future group and e-commerce giant Amazon over an alleged breach of shareholder contract is getting messier. The fight began over a proposed sale of Future’s retail assets to Reliance Industries, which Amazon took offence to.
Last month, debt-laden Future group had turned down Amazon’s bailout offer, saying its valuation of ₹7,000 crore is lower than that what Reliance offered and not enough to clear dues. The apex court has given the group time to sort out debt repayments. Cases are also going on in the Delhi high court, National Company Law Tribunal, National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) and the Singapore International Arbitration Centre. Some of these hearings are due this week. On Thursday, the NCLAT will hear Amazon’s plea seeking a stay on a ruling by the Competition Commission of India that had slapped a penalty on the global firm. The Delhi high court is also expected to take up separate pleas filed by both sides.
niti.k@livemint.com
