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Southern India is outpacing the rest of the country in monthly per capita consumption expenditure (MPCE), according to the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2023-24 released Friday. Five southern states—Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka—reported MPCE levels significantly above the national average.

In Kerala, rural households spend Rs 6,611 per month, while urban households spend Rs 7,834—compared to the national averages of Rs 4,122 and Rs 6,996, respectively. Tamil Nadu follows with Rs 5,872 in rural areas and Rs 8,325 in urban areas. Telangana’s figures are Rs 5,675 and Rs 9,131, respectively.

Andhra Pradesh reported the highest MPCE in the South, with rural households spending Rs 6,107 and urban households at Rs 9,877. Karnataka, with Rs 5,068 in rural areas and Rs 8,169 in urban zones, rounds out the top five.

Interestingly, industrialized states like Gujarat and Maharashtra hover around the national average, while populous northern states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan lag behind. West Bengal also falls below the average in both rural and urban spending.

The survey identified stark contrasts nationwide. The highest MPCE was recorded in Sikkim—rural households spend Rs 9,377, and urban households spend Rs 13,927. At the other end, Chhattisgarh reported the lowest MPCE at Rs 2,739 in rural areas and Rs 4,927 in urban regions.

The survey also revealed significant rural-urban disparities. Meghalaya leads with a 104% rural-urban gap, followed by Jharkhand at 83% and Chhattisgarh at 80%. Across all 28 states, nine reported MPCE levels above the national average in both rural and urban categories.

Conducted from August 2023 to July 2024, the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey provides critical insights into spending trends, helping measure poverty, inequality, and economic well-being.

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Shares of Sanathan Textiles Ltd. listed on the stock exchanges at ₹422 per share, a 31% premium compared to its IPO price of ₹319 on Friday, December 27.

The Sanathan Textiles IPO saw healthy subscription of 36.9 times the total shares on offer. The three-day issue received bids worth over ₹14,000 crore, compared to the initial plan of raising ₹550 crore.

Sanathan Textiles’ IPO was a combination of a fresh issue of shares worth ₹400 crore and an Offer for Sale (OFS) component of ₹150 crore.

Sanathan Textiles intends to use ₹160 crore out of the ₹400 crore proceeds to repay its existing dues in part or full, while ₹140 crore will be used to invest in its subsidiary, Sanathan Polycot Pvt. Ltd. The other ₹100 crore will be used for general corporate purposes.

The Sanathan Textiles IPO was open between December 19 and 24. The allotment for the IPO was finalised on December 24 after the three-day issue received healthy subscription.

The Sanathan Textiles IPO was subscribed 35.05 times, led by qualified institutional buyers (QIBs). Overall, investors placed bets for 44.26 crore shares, compared to the 1.26 crore shares that were on offer for them.

The portion for institutional investors was subscribed 75.62 times, while that for non-institutional investors was subscribed 42.18 times.

Retail investors too placed bids that were 8.84 times higher than the shares reserved for them in the IPO.

The manufacturing company has three business verticals — polyester yarn products, cotton yarn products and yarns for technical textiles and industrial uses. It sells its products to a diverse customer base, including both multinational and local companies.

For the first quarter of this fiscal, the company reported a revenue of ₹781 crore, with a profit after tax of ₹50 crore. Its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) came in at 76.4 crore, with a margin of 9.7%.

In FY24, the company reported a revenue of 2,957 crore, with a PAT of ₹134 crore, EBITDA of 226.5 crore and margin of 7.6%. Whereas, in FY23, it reported a revenue of ₹3,329 crore, PAT of 152.7 crore, EBITDA of 259.5 crore and margin of 7.8%.

The polyester yarn product contributed 76.8% to its first quarter in FY25 revenue, while the cotton yarn products and industrial and technical textiles yarns contributed 18.7% and 4.4%, respectively.

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The profitability of banks improved for the sixth consecutive year in 2023-24 and their gross bad debts or non-performing assets (NPAs) declined to a 13-year low of 2.7 per cent. According to a report released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday, December 26, the financial position of Indian banks has stayed robust, marked by the sustained expansion in loans and deposits.

India’s macro fundamentals have boosted the performance and soundness of the banking and non-banking financial sectors. “Banks’ profitability rose for the sixth consecutive year in 2023-24 and continued to rise in H1:2024-25 with the return on assets (RoA) at 1.4 per cent and return on equity (RoE) at 14.6 per cent,” said RBI in its Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India 2023-24.

RBI outlines performance of banks, NBFCs

Asset quality improved, with the gross non-performing assets (GNPA) ratio falling to its lowest in 13 years at 2.7 per cent at end-March 2024 and 2.5 per cent at end-September 2024. RBI said the capital position of banks remained satisfactory, as reflected in key parameters like leverage ratio and capital to risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR).

The net bad loans of banks fell to 0.57 per cent of total loans at September-end, from 0.62 per cent at end-March, driven by stronger loan-loss buffers. The asset quality of non-bank finance companies (NBFCs) also improved further in 2023-24 amid a sustained double-digit balance sheet growth, said the central bank.

Further, strong credit expansion by NBFCs was accompanied by further strengthening of their balance sheets, improvement in credit quality and profitability, and satisfactory capital buffers. The net profit of the scheduled commercial banks increased by 32.8 per cent to ₹3,49,603 crore during the last fiscal.

At end-March 2024, India’s commercial banking sector consisted of 12 public sector banks (PSBs), 21 private sector banks (PVBs), 45 foreign banks (FBs), 12 SFBs, six PBs, 43 RRBs, and two LABs. Out of these 141 commercial banks, 137 were classified as scheduled banks, while four were non-scheduled.

The RBI report said the consolidated balance sheet of the scheduled commercial banks, excluding RRBs, increased by 15.5 per cent during 2023-24, as compared with 12.2 per cent during 2022-23. The non-banking financial companies (NBFC) sector exhibited double digit credit growth, while its unsecured lending contracted and asset quality improved further. The GNPA ratio of NBFCs dropped to 3.4 per cent at end-September 2024; strong capital buffers kept the CRAR well above the stipulated norm at end-September 2024.

Outlook for banks, NBFCs

Over the past year, the RBI has warned the financial sector against “all forms of exuberance”, tightened rules for credit card and personal loans, made it more expensive for NBFCs to borrow from banks and imposed regulatory restrictions on the non-compliant lenders and financial institutions that serve customers.

Banks have also cleaned up their balance sheets in recent years by selling bad loans to asset reconstruction companies or by writing them off. Their capital and liquidity buffers stayed well above the regulatory needs while profitability improved for the sixth consecutive year in fiscal year 2023-24, said the RBI report.

Going forward, banks need to strengthen risk management and IT governance standards, and focus on checking unscrupulous activities, including suspicious and unusual transactions, said RBI. For NBFCs, an imprudent ‘growth at any cost’ approach would be counterproductive, the RBI said, highlighting the need for robust risk management frameworks. Non-bank lenders need to strengthen customer grievance practices and avoid recourse to usurious interest rates, it said.

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 India’s economy is expected to grow at around 6.5% in fiscal year 2024/25, closer to the lower end of its 6.5%-7% projection, as global uncertainties pose a dampening threat, the government said on Thursday.

The growth outlook for October to December appears bright, with rural demand remaining resilient and urban demand picking up in the first two months of the quarter, according to the finance ministry’s monthly economic report for November.

Growth slowed more than expected in July to September, hampered by weaker expansion in manufacturing and consumption. India has maintained that its economy will grow at a world-beating pace of 6.5%-7% despite a challenging environment.

The outlook is expected to be better in October-to-March than in the first six months of the financial year, it said.

“The combination of monetary policy stance and macroprudential measures by the central bank may have contributed to the demand slowdown,” the report said.

India’s central bank has kept interest rates unchanged for 11 straight policy meetings, despite calls for rate cuts to support growth amid high inflation.

For the next financial year starting April 1, 2026, the report said, newer risks have emerged, such as uncertain global trade growth and a stronger U.S. dollar.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has threatened many nations, including India, with higher tariffs on imports, raising risks of a global trade war after he takes office on Jan. 20. Trump’s election victory has also fuelled a run-up in the dollar and U.S. yields.

However, India’s growth outlook in 2025/26 and coming years is bright in terms of domestic economic fundamentals, the finance ministry’s report said.

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Leading cement maker UltraTech has completed the acquisition of promoters a 32.72 per cent stake in India Cements Ltd, following which N Srinivasan and other promoters of the South-based cement maker have stepped down.

The Aditya Birla Group firm has completed the acquisition of 10.13 crore equity shares of India Cements Ltd (ICL), representing 32.72 per cent of the equity share capital of the company.

“This, together with the existing shareholding of 7.05 crore equity shares (22.77 per cent) of the equity share capital of ICL, has resulted in the Company’s shareholding increasing to 17.19 crore equity shares representing 55.49 per cent of ICL’s equity share capital,” UltraTech had informed in a late-night regulatory filing on Tuesday.

Consequently, ICL “has become a subsidiary of the Company” with effect from December 24, 2024, it added.

On Wednesday, ICL informed that pursuant to the completion of the transaction and due to the consequent cessation of control by the existing promoters over the company, N Srinivasan has stepped down as Vice Chairman and Managing Director.

Besides, his daughter Rupa Gurunath, wife Chitra Srinivasan and V M Mohan have also stepped down from the board of the company, according to a regulatory filing by ICL.

Moreover, “pursuant to the consummation of the Transaction on December 24 2024, UltraTech has acquired sole control of the company and has become the promoter of the company in accordance with the LODR Regulations”, informed ICL.

Further, the board also recorded the resignation of certain independent directors – S Balasubramanian Adityan, Krishna Srivastava, Lakshmi Aparna Sreekumar and Sandhya Rajan with effect from the end of business hours on December 25, 2024, it added.

The board has also appointed four new directors – K C Jhanwar, Vivek Agrawal, E R Raj Narayanan and Ashok Ramachandran. Besides, three independent directors – Alka Bharucha, Vikas Balia and Sukanya Kripalu – have come on board of ICL.

Last week, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) cleared over Rs 7,000-crore deal, wherein billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla promoted UltraTech Cement had proposed to acquire a majority stake in India Cements Ltd.

The fair trade regulator also granted its clearance to UltraTech Cement to acquire up to 26 per cent of the paid-up equity share capital of India Cements by way of an open offer, it added.

On July 28, UltraTech Cement announced the acquisition of a 32.72 per cent stake in India Cements Ltd (ICL) from promoters and their associates in a Rs 3,954-crore deal, which will expand its footprint in the highly competitive and fast-growing southern cement market.

Besides, Ultratech has also announced a Rs 3,142.35 crore open offer to acquire 26 per cent share of ICL from its shareholders.

Earlier, in June UltraTech acquired 23 per cent shares of ICL.

It had acquired Damani-group’s stake in India Cements Ltd (ICL) through two block deals in a deal which is estimated to be around Rs 1,900 crore.

The Indian cement industry is witnessing consolidation and heightened rivalry between two corporate houses — Kumar Mangalam Birla-led Aditya Birla Group and Gautam Adani-led Adani Group — snapping smaller players.

The Adani group has plans in the works to raise its production capacity to 140 MTPA by FY28, just a shade below market leader UltraTech’s current capacity of 156.66 MTPA of grey cement.

Adani Cement recently announced the acquisition of CK Birla group firm Orient Cement, through which it will achieve a capacity of 100 MT (million Tones) per annum by the end of FY25 and a gain of 2 per cent in the overall market share in the country.

It has completed the acquisition of Saurashtra-based Sanghi Industries, and Penna Industries and recently announced the acquisition of CK Birla group firm Orient Cement as part of its inorganic growth strategy.

Aditya Birla Group also plans to maintain its lead with 200 MTPA capacity by FY27. UltraTech is also in the process of acquiring Kesoram Industries’ cement business and is awaiting regulatory clearance.

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