UltraTech To Buy Srinivasan Stake In India Cements.

In a strategic move to bolster his position as India’s largest building materials maker, billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla has struck a deal with N Srinivasan and his family to acquire their cement business for Rs 3,954 crore.

UltraTech Cement, a part of the $65-billion Aditya Birla conglomerate, will acquire about 33% stake in India Cements, valuing the Chennai-based company at Rs 390 a share.

This adds to the 23% stake UltraTech purchased in June.

Additionally, UltraTech will make an open offer to India Cements’ public shareholders to acquire an extra 26% stake at the same price in line with India’s takeover norms, raising the total cost for UltraTech to Rs 7,100 crore.

If approved by regulators, this deal will extend UltraTech’s footprint in the highly fragmented and fast-growing southern market, particularly in Tamil Nadu, where it has had limited presence. The scarcity of limestone in Tamil Nadu has restricted UltraTech from setting up new integrated units in the state since acquiring its last unit in Aug 1998.

UltraTech will add India Cements’ 14.5 million tonnes capacity spread across Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Rajasthan to its existing 153 million tonnes capacity and take on the company’s 1,855 employees. UltraTech’s only integrated unit in Tamil Nadu has a capacity of 1.4 million tonnes, whereas India Cements has a capacity of 6 million tonnes in the state.

UltraTech is up against Ambuja Cements, a part of Gautam Adani’s enterprise, which is gunning for the leading position in the industry. Ambuja has a capacity of 89 million tonnes.

India Cements was founded in 1946 by entrepreneur SNN Sankaralinga Iyer and banker T S Narayanaswami, a year before India became an independent country.

Shri Iyer discovered limestone reserves in Tirunelveli, leading to the launch of a factory under the Sankar cement brand. The business relationship turned into a family relation after Narayanaswami’s son, Srinivasan, married Iyer’s granddaughter, Chitra.

Post-acquisition, sources indicate that Srinivasan, the former president of India’s cricketing body BCCI, and his family will focus on cricket. They own the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket team Chennai Super Kings (CSK), which was established as a division of India Cements in 2008. CSK, one of the most successful franchises, has won five IPL titles so far.

Britain’s government has declared the country “broke and broken” ahead of an evaluation of public finances on Monday, which the newly-elected Labour Party will use to blame a 20 billion pound ($26 billion) shortfall to their predecessors.

The critique comes a day before Treasury chief Rachel Reeves is expected to outline a 20-billion-pound ($26 billion) shortfall in public finances during a speech to the House of Commons.

It argued that the military had been “hollowed out’’ at a time of increasing global threats. The National Health Service was “broken,’’ with some 7.6 million people waiting for care.

And despite billions spent to house migrants and combat the criminal gangs ferrying migrants across the English Channel on dangerous inflatable boats, the number of people making the crossing is still rising, Starmer’s office said. Some 15,832 people have crossed the Channel on small boats already this year, 9% more than during the same period in 2023.

The assessment will show that Britain is broke and broken — revealing the mess that populist politics has made of the economy and public services.

Any tax changes will be announced in the budget this autumn. Finance Minister will confirm the date of the autumn fiscal event on Monday.

Currently, the top rate of capital gains tax is 28 per cent, while the top rate of income tax is 45 per cent.

Labour ruled out raising Income Tax, VAT and national insurance during the general election but it did not take changes to capital gains off the table

New solar power schemes launched by PM Modi recently would lead to saving of INR15,000-18,000 per households annually who install roof top solar panels. 1cr households will be enabled to get 300units per month fully free.
PM Awas Yojana Grameen: Close to achieving target of 3 cr homes; 2 cr more homes planned due to growing need.
Ayushmaan Bharat to cover all worker under ASHA and Anganwadi scheme.
Government to launch a scheme to help deserving sections of the middle class living in rented houses or slums or chawls and unathorised colonies to buy or build their own houses – Likely positive for Steel, Cement and Building material.
Corpus of 1 lakh crore to be established with 50 year interest free loans for sunrise domains.
Railway corridor-port connectivity under DFC – More than 2 corridors to be set up. Also, 3 more rail corridors for Energy, cement and mineral to be added, apart from DFC.
40,000 rail bogies to be converted to Vande bharat standards.
The capex target of FY25 has been set at Rs 11.1 lakh crore, up by 11.1%. FY25 capex outlay at 3.4% of GDP.
Govt plans to set up more medical colleges by using existing hospital infrastructure and a committee for this will be set up to examine and make necessary recommendation.
Tourist centre developement – states to be encouraged to take up development of tourist centres- long term interest free loans to provided for states
More metro trains & namo bharat trains to be expanded to more cities.
Revised estimate of fiscal deficit is 5.8% of GDP. FY25 BUDGET-DEFICIT TARGET AT 5.1% OF GDP

Gross domestic product data released on Thursday shows that the U.S. has pulled further ahead of China in the race for world’s biggest economy, thanks in part to vibrant American consumers.

U.S. GDP rose 6.3% in nominal terms — that is, unadjusted for inflation — last year, outpacing China’s 4.6% gain. While some of the outperformance reflected America’s elevated price increases, the 2023 outturn underscores a broader point: The U.S. economy is emerging from the pandemic period in a better place than China’s

The strong performance of the U.S. economy, in tandem with all the short-term and long-term headwinds the Chinese economy is facing, renders it a less obvious proposition that China’s GDP will someday overtake that of the U.S..

But it also reflects a more vibrant state of economic activity. Consumer spending continues to contribute the bulk of growth, while private-sector investment and trade also contributed, along with government spending. In China, a property bust has not subtracted from output but also hurt broader consumer confidence.

In the economic front, The US surprised to the upside and China surprised to the downside.

The economic outperformance is reflected in the respective countries’ stock markets. US shares have hit all-time highs this week, while Chinese equities are mired in a US$6 trillion-plus (S$8 trillion-plus) bear-market rout.

All the talk of China becoming the world’s largest economy by GDP has been put on the back burner and delayed, if not indefinitely postponed.