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Indian Indices Open Flat
Wed, 10 Aug 09:30 am

Barring China, major Asian stock markets have opened the day on a positive note. The stock markets in Singapore and Japan are trading higher by 0.5% and 0.2% respectively. Benchmark indices in Europe and the US ended their previous session on a positive note with stock markets in Germany ending the day higher by 2.5%. The rupee is trading at 66.84 per US$.

Indian stock markets have opened the day on a flattish note. The BSE Sensex is trading marginally higher by 24 points (up 0.1%) and the NSE Nifty is trading marginally higher by 5 points (up 0.05%). While BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap are trading marginally higher by 0.1% and 0.2% respectively.

Major sectoral indices have opened the day on a mixed note with stocks from fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) witnessing maximum selling pressure. However, stocks from oil & gas sector are witnessing buying interest.

Lupin reported its results for the quarter ended June 2016. The consolidated net profits of the company grew by 55% YoY to Rs 8.8 billion during the quarter. Further, revenues grew by 41% YoY to Rs 44.3 billion during the quarter.

The sales grew on the back of strong performance from the generics business in North American geography, which contributes to more than half of the Lupin's revenues. The revenues from this geography grew by 83% YoY to Rs 21.8 billion during the quarter.

The strong performance was largely due to the significant contribution of two diabetic drugs Glumetza and Fortamet. The company had 180 days marketing exclusivity rights for Glumetza, which expired in the month of July. Further, Fortamet too attracts limited competition, with Lupin holding a 60% market share.

The business from India, which contributes to a fifth of its revenues, grew marginally by 5.2% YoY during the quarter. The subdued growth was due to increasing drugs, getting covered under the price control mechanism. While, the company's revenues from Japanese business grew by 30.9% YoY to Rs 4.2 billion during the quarter.

The company has completed a significant portion of work with regards to its Goa facility which was under the scanner of the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for non-compliance with certain manufacturing standards.

Lupin has built a lucrative pipeline, some key products like Azithromycin, Glumetza, Aripiprazole Wellbutrin, Nexium, Welchol and Sevelamer will offer decent opportunities to the company going forward. Over and above, Lupin also expects to ramp up the sales of products from the recently acquired business Gavis. The stock is trading down by 0.1%.

In another news update, the situation pertaining to bad loans of public sector banks is worsening. Recently, Indian Overseas Bank reported its results for the quarter ended June 2016.

Reportedly, a fifth of its gross loans have turned bad. Gross NPAs as a ratio of gross advances were 20.48% at the end of June, higher than the 17.4% reported for the March quarter. The bank's capital adequacy ratio- a measure of banks financial strength has fallen to 9.47%, below the limit of 9.62% set by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Further, UCO and United Bank of India too reported Gross NPAs of 17.19% and 14.29% during the June quarter. Vivek Kaul is of the opinion that despite the cleanup of the public sector banks, the basic problem will still remain. Here is his take on the same.

  • "The bigger problem is the fact that the public sector banks continue to remain government owned. As Ruchir Sharma writes in The Rise and Fall of Nations-Ten Rules of Change in the Post Crisis World: "Spend a lot of time in the field, and it is all too easy to find evidence that the state is not a competent banker."

    The Indian public sector banks have ended up in trouble more than a few times before. One of the reasons for this is the politicians forcing these banks to lend to crony capitalists. And as long as these banks continue to remain government owned, that risk remains, especially given that it is crony capitalists who ultimately finance the electoral ambitions of India's politicians."

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