With this, all regulatory approvals for the proposed acquisition are in place. Bandhan received the Reserve Bank of India's go-ahead four weeks ago.

The FY26 budget is expected to be even tighter, with a lower fiscal deficit target. The government surprised everyone by not announcing any new social schemes or expanding existing ones. Allocation for popular social schemes like MNREGA and Jal Jeevan Mission remains unchanged. The budget focuses on boosting the investment cycle, with a significant increase in government capex, particularly on infrastructure projects. The tight fiscal situation may lead to lower interest rates and the possibility of policy rate cuts.

In a rare move, the interim budget for FY25 clubbed the government's disinvestment and asset monetisation targets, instead of declaring them separately. The combined realisation is budgeted at Rs 50,000 crore for FY25, against Rs 30,000 crore (revised estimate) in FY24 and Rs 61,000 crore in the BE for this fiscal. Of course, the combined target is still less than 2% of the government's expected non-debt receipts for FY25.

Paytm is in talks with three banks - HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and Yes Bank - that can take on the payments and settlements load from Paytm Payments Bank. However, the process is yet to start since the Reserve Bank of India has not said anything yet.

The NSE Nifty rose 156.3 points, or 0.72%, to close at 21,853, off its all-time high of 22,126. BSE's Sensex rose 440.3 points, or 0.61%, to end at 72,085. The index's Friday high of 73,089 was a few points below its record high of 73,427.

Holding that India will surely become the third largest economy in the world in his third term, the Prime Minister, said there are immense opportunities for stakeholders to grow business. “India is on the move and is moving fast”, the Prime Minister said, adding it is the beginning of the golden period for the mobility sector.

Sources told ET that issues at Paytm Payments Bank were brewing for the past seven years and included complaints such as Violation of banking compliance norms on money laundering, conflict of interest, maintaining an arm’s length from the parent, lax processes allowing fraud, licensing agreement breaches.

U.S. job growth accelerated in January and wages increased by the most in nearly two years, signs of persistent strength in the labor market that could make it difficult for the Federal Reserve to start cutting interest rates in May as currently envisaged by financial markets.

The company joined Microsoft and other tech firms in starting to see results benefiting from their heavy AI investments, while also outlining more spending in 2024 to develop the much-hyped tech.

Brokerage house Jefferies has downgraded its rating on Vijay Shekhar Sharma-owned Paytm to 'Underperform' from its earlier rating of 'Buy' after RBI barred Paytm Payments Bank from offering all kinds of banking services for non-compliance. The global brokerage has also slashed its price target on the stock to Rs 500 from Rs 1,050 earlier. Jefferies is not alone. A host of brokerage houses have slashed their target prices for the fintech major. Take a look (LTP: Rs 609 | Source: Bloomberg)

The company joined Microsoft and other tech firms in starting to see results benefiting from their heavy AI investments, while also outlining more spending in 2024 to develop the much-hyped tech.

The Reserve Bank of India has imposed new restrictions on Paytm Payments Bank, causing concerns among users and investors. The stock value has decreased, and users are uncertain about their funds. Learn about why the RBI took action, what will happen to your bank wallet, and how the stock market is reacting.

Days ahead of Facebook's 20th anniversary, Meta authorized an additional $50 billion in share repurchases and said its quarterly dividend would be 50 cents per share.

According to an exchange filing, I-Pru MF has sold 2.06 crore shares or 2.15% stake between January 20 and January 30 in a series of secondary market transactions. At the end of the December quarter, the fund house held a 7.25% stake in the company and post the stake sale, it has about 5.09%.

An expert committee formed by Sebi on Friday suggested to abolish the requirement of a mandatory security deposit with the exchanges before a public issue, a move that could make it easier for companies to access the primary market.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 71.74 points, or 0.19%, at the open to 38,448.10.

Capital markets regulator Sebi on Friday proposed revamping the nominations framework in a bid to reduce unclaimed assets in the securities market as well as smoothen the process for claiming the assets by surviving successors of the deceased investors.

Over the past 10 years, December has proved to be one of the best months for selected F&O stocks, as they have delivered a positive monthly return 8 out of 10 times, with the average positive return being more than 5%, according to JM Financial data. These stocks include Polycab India, Jindal Steel Power, LTIMIndtree, and Dixon Technologies

Long-unwinding refers to selling of positions or stocks owned for a longer period either to book profit or to exit it in anticipation of impending bearishness. In Friday's trading session, five stocks witnessed a top long-unwinding. Here's the list:

Morgan Stanley Asia Singapore Pte (ODI) acquired 50,00,000 shares of the company at Rs 487.2 each, according to bulk deals data on the National Stock Exchange. The company expects RBI’s action to have a worst-case impact of Rs 300-500 crore on its annual EBITDA, going forward. However, it expects to continue on its trajectory to improve its profitability.

The short-term uptrend status of Nifty remains intact. But, the overall chart pattern suggests a possibility of high volatility at the new highs. Any attempt of upmove from here could encounter strong resistance around 22,100 -22,200 levels and that could possibly result in short-term weakness from the highs.

Bharti Airtel on Friday said it will allot 38.6 lakh equity shares to certain FCCB holders at a conversion price of Rs 518 per equity share. This follows receipt of notice for conversion of FCCBs (Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds) of principal value of USD 27,795,000 from the FCCBs holders.

PMS analyzed 335 PMS investment approaches and 388 regular mutual funds across 1, 3, 5, and 10-year periods and found that PMS investment approaches outperformed their benchmarks by an impressive 70% on average across all timeframes and categories, while MFs managed a respectable 48%.

Short-covering refers to the buying of shares to close an existing short position or a position that has been sold. It signals a shift in view on security from extreme bearishness to bullishness. In Friday's trading session, five stocks saw top short-covering. Here's the list:

Benchmark indices have performed well in election years going by four decades of history and despite spikes in volatility, the median returns in election years have been 17%. As per ICICI Direct, the outperformance of PSU banks will only amplify and investors should also raise their exposure to IT stocks ignoring the noise.

"The market probably looked at global clues and fell yesterday. The Interim Budget was way beyond expectations of the market on fiscal consolidation. It still delivered inclusive growth and infrastructure investment. Net-net this is citizen's pride and peer's envy vote-on-account," said Dalal Street veteran Nilesh Shah of Kotak Mutual Fund.

Indian benchmark equity indices advanced on Friday, buoyed by the government's adherence to fiscal prudence in its interim Budget. In Friday's trade, five power stocks from the BSE PSU index hit new 52-week highs. Here's the list:

Shares of hotel companies and travel solutions providers surged after the government announced measures in the Interim Budget for FY25 to boost leisure and spiritual tourism. The tourism industry received an allocation of Rs 2,449 crore to develop India as a hub for business and conference tourism. The government also proposed interest-free loans to states for the development of iconic tourist destinations.

Mercedes-Benz shares advanced 2.3% after the German automaker reported its preliminary annual free cash flow (FCF) of the industrial business above market expectations.

Investors relieved there are no negative surprises; a closer reading to set up the next session of play

"The market probably looked at global clues and fell yesterday. The Interim Budget was way beyond expectations of the market on fiscal consolidation. It still delivered inclusive growth and infrastructure investment. Net-net this is citizen's pride and peer's envy vote-on-account," said Dalal Street veteran Nilesh Shah of Kotak Mutual Fund.

Renewable energy stocks were also in action since a slew of announcements by Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman in her last budget of the Modi 2.0 government. Shares of Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA), Waaree Renewable, Gensol Engineering, KPI Green Energy and Inox Wind were up 5% each.

Everyone who was thinking that EV space belongs to startups and old companies that dominate the internal combustion engine (ICE) segment would not make it to EV space, probably would have to go and again read the story of the tortoise and rabbit. A large part of the out-performance that stocks like TVS Motors & Tata Motors have seen in the last 2 years can be attributed to their moving early into the EV space. Let’s go back a couple of years. What dominated the headlines was the XYZ startup focused on EV space has become a unicorn because it has raised $20 million at such and such valuations. Here we need to make a distinction between the total amount raised which will go into the company operation and the valuations. The total amount which is real business is just Rs 150 crore, though the valuation has crossed more than $1 billion. Valuations don't run business, they only get headlines.

India Tourism Development Corporation shares rallied the most, as they were locked in the upper circuit of 10% at Rs 839.90. Shares of Indian Hotels, Lemon Tree Hotels, Chalet Hotels, EIH, and Mahindra Holidays and Resorts rose more than 2-4%.

The stock of delaPlex was listed at a premium of 61% at Rs 309 on the NSE on Friday against the issue price of Rs 192. The uptick in stock continued as it hit the day's high of Rs 324.45.

A short buildup is when there is a rise in open interest and volumes along with a decrease in the price of the underlying stock in the Futures and Options segment. Short buildup means more people are expecting the prices to go down and creating short positions. In Friday’s trading session, five stocks witnessed a build of fresh short positions. Here's the list:

The stock of Fonebox Retail was listed at a premium of 186% at Rs 200 on the NSE on Friday against the issue price of Rs 70. The uptick in stock continued as it hit the day's high of Rs 210. At 12:15 pm, it was trading at Rs 207, up by Rs 7 or 3.50% over the listing price.

Yields on government bonds slumped after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman pegged the gross and net market borrowing for FY25 at Rs 14.13 lakh crore and Rs 11.75 lakh crore, respectively. Most experts pegged the gross market borrowing to be a little over Rs 15 lakh crore.

In Friday's trade, the stock rose over 6.5% to hit a 52-week high at Rs 55.5, backed by heavy volumes on the NSE. A total of 5.71 crore equity shares worth Rs 310.7 crore have changed hands so far. IOB is the fifth public lender after the State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank (PNB), and Union Bank of India to cross the market capitalization of Rs 1 lakh crore.

Indian headline indices, S&P BSE Sensex and Nifty Bank, traded in the green on Friday led by strong gains in bank and IT stocks. Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, BPCL, ICICI Bank, Coal India, and Hero MotoCorps were the top gainers, while Eicher Motors, Larsen & Toubro, Maruti Suzuki, Power Grid, and Britannia Industries were the top losers. Shares of fintech major One 97 Communications, which runs Paytm, crashed another 20% after RBI barred Paytm Payments Bank from offering all kinds of banking services for non-compliances.

India's largest ports operator, Adani Ports, reported a 68% growth in its consolidated net profit at Rs 2,208 crore for the quarter ended December. It was Rs 1,315 crore in the same period last year. Revenue from operations in the third quarter rose 44% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 6,920 crore.

LIC Housing Finance’s daily trend is bullish to sideways. The RSI for monthly, weekly and daily are showing bullish momentum. Based on option chain analysis, the range is between 600 and 650. Let’s plan a trade around this.

Indian headline indices, S&P BSE Sensex and Nifty Bank, traded in the green on Friday led by strong gains in bank and IT stocks. Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, BPCL, ICICI Bank, Coal India, and Hero MotoCorps were the top gainers, while Eicher Motors, Larsen & Toubro, Maruti Suzuki, Power Grid, and Britannia Industries were the top losers. Shares of fintech major One 97 Communications, which runs Paytm, crashed another 20% after RBI barred Paytm Payments Bank from offering all kinds of banking services for non-compliances.

Shares of fintech major One 97 Communications, which runs Paytm, crashed 20% on BSE following RBI's ban on Paytm Payments Bank. The queue of sellers grew longer as the stock opened in the lower circuit. Last year, Berkshire Hathway sold its stake in Paytm. Brokerages like Jefferies and Motilal Oswal have downgraded Paytm shares.

Tourism Finance Corporation is seen as a beneficiary of the government’s decision to provide long-term interest-free loans to states for financing the development of iconic tourist centres, branding and marketing them at the global scale.

SG Mart Ltd., a Gujarat-based solar and wind energy producer, has soared over 5,800% since November 2021 — when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India aimed to boost clean energy to more than two-thirds of overall capacity. Gensol Engineering Ltd. has rallied more than 3,200%, Zodiac Energy Ltd. 1,000% and Waaree Renewable Technologies Ltd. 1,800% in that same period.

On Thursday, Titan reported a 9% year-on-year (YoY) growth in its standalone net profit at Rs 1,040 crore in the third quarter. It was Rs 951 crore a year ago. The profit figure was lower than the ET NOW poll estimate of Rs 1,159 crore. Revenue from operations jumped 20% YoY to Rs 13,052 crore in the reporting quarter, compared with Rs 10,875 crore in the last year quarter.

With strong focus on capex and inclusive development, the real GDP growth is expected to be closer to 7.0% in FY25 according to ‘The Indian Economy: A Review’.

"Markets are not in a hurry for the next directional move and the recent price action reaffirms our view," Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research, Religare Broking said. Traders have no option but to align their positions accordingly and focus more on stock-specific trading approaches, Mishra said as he showed a silver lining in the clouds in the form of action in broader markets.

The bias was strongly skewed in favour of the bulls with 43 stocks trading in the green while 7 in the red. The top gainers were Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, BPCL, ICICI Bank, Coal India nd Hero MotoCorps while the top losers were Eicher Motors, Larsen & Toubro, Maruti Suzuki, Power Grid and Britannia Industries.