Business News: Jio, Airtel Tariff Hikes; Market Updates, Sebi Rules, Hitachi RBI Approval, Budget 2024

From July 3, 2024, Jio will hike tariffs for all plans, new unlimited options, raise prices for the existing plans like 2GB for Rs 189 and 1GB/d for Rs 249. The rates in the postpaid segment also increase with the basic Rs 299 now becoming Rs 349. It is bringing JioSafe—a secure communication app—and JioTranslate—an AI-driven translation app. Both these apps would come free for one year to Jio users. Akash M. Ambani said that Sistema Asia Fund will support Jio in pushing low-cost internet and 5G and AI spends for Digital India.

Bharti Airtel has increased its mobile tariffs, which will be applicable from July 3, 2024. Only a few days ago, Reliance Jio also raised its tariffs. Bharti Airtel had undertaken some corrections in the rates of its unlimited voice plans, which lie in the range from Rs 199 to Rs 1,999. It has maintained a very moderate increase in entry-level plans so customers don't get burdened, out of interest in retaining a model of sustainable business with a higher mobile average revenue per user above Rs 300. Bharti Airtel's stock rose by 1.24% to Rs 1,490.05 apiece in early trading.

Benchmark Nifty scaled a fresh record, crossing the 24,000-mark for the first time; its 24th record peak in 2024—top stocks to watch out for are HCL Tech, Polycab, SAMHI Hotels, Archean Chemical, and Ambuja Cement. Watch out for telecom majors Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea after Reliance Jio announced an increase in its tariffs. Apart from that, some of the new listings like Stanley Lifestyles, corporate developments, the big order for BHEL, RBL Bank's plan to raise funds, strategic moves of India Cements, and Raymond command market attention.

Sebi has changed its rules for FPIs with regard to NRIs, OCIs, and resident Indians. Under the new norms, not more than 25 per cent of the corpus of the FPI can be owned by any single NRI, OCI, or resident Indian, and their total ownership cannot exceed 50 per cent. Moreover, these entities cannot control the FPI. Revised norms, effective June 25, are aimed at bringing registration of FPIs in tandem with RBI's Liberalised Remittance Scheme and limit exposure of Indian markets to funds abroad.

Hitachi Payment Services has received the final licence from RBI to operate as an online payment aggregator, thus completing its offerings in digital: UPI, net banking, cards, wallets, and valued-added options, including EMI and loyalty solutions. As per CEO Anuj Khosla, this license, viewed as a recognition of competence, has innovation at the forefront of its agenda, and is committed to the cause of increasing merchant adoption and, at the same time, making digital payments more accessible across the country. It processes over 2.5 billion transactions yearly across major banks and fintech firms for seamless payment experiences that would not require separate integration systems by the merchant.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari remarked at an international workshop, "Tolls should not be levied on substandard roads." He underlined that tolls must be charged only when the quality of the road satisfied certain guidelines or parameters set for peri-urban and rural areas. The system being worked upon for GNSS-based electronic tolling by NHAI targets scalability and privacy in toll collection. He emphasized the Hybrid Annuity Model, which makes highway construction flexible and urged market-driven infrastructure growth. GNSS-based toll collection is expected to bring in a massive boost to toll revenues for India, and this rise could be by as much as 35 percent at Rs 64,809.86 crore in 2023-24.

President Droupadi Murmu termed the budget of key importance to the economic and social landscape of India, with major reforms and historic decisions. Now, she focuses on competitive-cooperative federalism and emphasizes that India has grown despite the challenges to the global economy, aspiring to be the world's third-largest economy. The all-union budget slated for July 23 or 24 is a high-stakes affair for Modi 3.0, entirely coinciding with the Monsoon Session of Parliament. Murmu also applauded efforts toward women empowerment, Northeast development, and rural connectivity through PM Gramin Sadak Yojana.

Much of the expectations from Budget 2024 has been hinged on increasing the Section 80C deduction limit that has remained unchanged since 2014 at Rs 1.5 lakh. Before hyperinflation and rising personal costs, palpitations in the taxpayer and expert fraternity start to overtake these adjustments, facilitating education and retirement planning, leading to greater elasticity in household finances. Other proposals included changes in standard deductions and revision of slabs of income tax to spur consumption and reduce heavy taxation on middle-income groups.