Looming US sanctions: India may not cut oil imports from Iran-The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

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10 May 2018

Crude oil (The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions)

US President Donald Trump’s move to reimpose sanctions on Iran after more than two years of reprieve given to the Persian Gulf country could keep global crude prices elevated in the short to medium term, analysts reckon. Imminent production cuts by Iran come at a time when global supplies are already hit by falling crude production in Venezuela, increasingly a key supplier to India. Even though only 10% of India’s oil imports was from Iran in FY18, a cut in oil exports by Opec’s third-largest oil producer could manifest in India’s twin deficits — current account and fiscal. Sweet-grade Brent crude has around 28% representation in the Indian import basket. “As far as quantity of import from Iran is considered, there are alternatives. Also, comparable grade of oil is also available. However, there were discounts given by Iran (which others may not offer),” said MK Surana, chairman and managing director, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL). The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

Tehran provides Indian importers a credit of 90 days compared with around 30 days by other suppliers. Iran is the third-largest supplier for the country after Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Analysts feel that India could even keep the current level of purchases from Iran despite the US move. “While nations such as China, India and Turkey may oppose the US move and keep current levels of Iranian crude purchases, American allies including Japan and South Korea may comply because of concerns they could lose a security umbrella against North Korea,” Bloomberg quoted MUFG Bank as saying. According to Dilip Khanna, partner with EY, though there could be a negative impact on India, the fine print of the sanctions have to be seen. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

“Since Europe is not part of the sanctions as was the case last time, it will not reset the clock to that extent,” added Khanna. Unlike the last sanction era when more than 1 million barrels per day became out of reach for the global market due to sanctions on Iran, at present, 300,000-500,000 barrels per day will be the impact given the country has not been able to ramp up its production since the sanctions. HPCL’s Surana added that India during the past sanction era India found out a way to trade with Iran (paying in rupees) and people have lessons from the past, adding that it is too early to take a call. Currently, India pays Iran in euros through European banking channels and if European nations are not part of the sanctions, it can continue to pay through the same channel. There is still time before sanctions are actually imposed. According to a Nomura report, “The Treasury Department noted that ‘Departments and Agencies will begin the process of implementing 90-day and 180-day wind-down periods for activities involving Iran that were consistent with the US sanctions relief specified in the JCPOA’.” The renewal date of sanctions is May 12, 2018.

Experts believe that the US move would bring uncertainty to prices. “The US calling off the nuclear deal with Iran and proposing sanctions on it is unsettling from a geopolitical viewpoint and will subject oil prices to huge volatility. This is, obviously, of grave concern to India, that imports more than 83% of its oil consumption,” said Debasish Mishra, partner at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India. Brent crude oil jumped 3% on Wednesday and touched its peak since November 2014 at $77.20 per barrel. The Indian basket of crude on May 8, 2018, was at $73 per barrel. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

Surana believes that the increase in price of Brent is speculative in nature rather than reflecting physical activities at the production sites. “Fundamentals suggest that (up to) $70 per barrel is normal crude oil price,” he added.

Trump has decided to withdraw JCPOA, also called the Iran Nuclear Agreement, which was agreed upon in 2015 with the UK, France, Germany, Russia, China wherein the Persian Gulf country was to curb its nuclear programmes in return of lifting financial sanctions.The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

Oil Rises Further On Mideast Tensions, World Stock Markets Steady-The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

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10 May 2018

Hong kong financial markets (The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions)

The price of oil continued to rise Thursday and stocks edged up cautiously amid concerns about the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and the potential for more instability in the energy-rich Middle East.

KEEPING SCORE: France's CAC 40 added nearly 0.1 percent to 5,535. Germany's DAX rose 0.4 percent to 12,993. Britain's FTSE 100 was flat at 7,662. U.S. shares were set to drift higher with Dow futures rising 0.1 percent and S&P 500 futures up 0.2 percent. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

ENERGY: Oil rose on the news that Israel launched military strikes against Iranian targets in Syria, raising tensions further in the region. Benchmark U.S. crude oil added 45 cents to $71.59 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It climbed $2.08, or 3 percent, to $71.14 per barrel on Wednesday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, gained 26 cents to $77.47 per barrel.

ASIA'S DAY: Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.4 percent to close at 22,497.18. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.2 percent to 6,118.70 while South Korea's Kospi added 0.8 percent to 2,464.16. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up nearly 1.0 percent to 30,809.22 and the Shanghai Composite gained 0.5 percent to 3,174.41. Shares were higher in most other markets apart from Singapore.

UK ECONOMY: The pound fell after the Bank of England held off raising interest rates due to weaker economic growth so far this year. The currency lost its daily gains and was down 0.1 percent at $1.3529. Bank of England Governor Mark Carney blamed one-off factors like bad weather for the weaker growth and said underlying health of the British economy was good. But investors are reining in their expectations for another hike, with analysts predicting there could be one only later this year. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

CURRENCIES: The dollar was flat at 109.64 yen from 109.65 on Wednesday. The euro edged up to $1.1880 from $1.1877.The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

Nifty, Sensex Exhibiting Strength – Wednesday closing report-The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

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9 May 2018

I had mentioned in Tuesday’s closing report that Nifty, Sensex were in no man’s land. The major indices of the Indian stock markets were range-bound on Wednesday and closed with small gains over Tuesday’s close. On the NSE, there were 701 advances, 1,006 declines and 335 unchanged. The trends of the major indices in the course of Wednesday’s trading are given in the table below: The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

The key Indian equity indices traded in a flat-to-positive note on Wednesday, even though rupee turned weaker and oil prices rallied. According to market analysts, the decline in major Asian equity markets and US President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the 2015 Iran nuclear did not deter the bulls. Buying in capital goods, consumer durables and IT (information technology) stocks supported the indices. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reaffirmed on Wednesday that India will be the fastest growing major economy in 2018, with a growth rate of 7.4% that rises to 7.8% in 2019 with medium-term prospects remaining positive. The IMF's Asia and Pacific Regional Economic Outlook report said that India was recovering from the effects of demonetisation and the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax and "the recovery is expected to be underpinned by a rebound from transitory shocks as well as robust private consumption." Medium-term consumer price index inflation "is forecast to remain within but closer to the upper bound of the Reserve Bank of India's inflation-targeting band of 4% with a plus or minus 2% change, the report said. However, it added a note of caution: "In India, given increased inflation pressure, monetary policy should maintain a tightening bias." It said the consumer price increase in 2017 was 3.6% and projected it to be 5% in 2018 and 2019. "The current account deficit in fiscal year 2017-18 is expected to widen somewhat but should remain modest, financed by robust foreign direct investment inflows," the report said. This is likely to reflect in the long term bullish trend of the Indian stock markets.

State-run Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has kept prices of transport fuel unchanged since April 24, temporarily suspending the dynamic pricing regime and despite a rise in international rates, to avoid panic among consumers, IOC Chairman Sanjiv Singh said. Speaking to reporters here on the sidelines of the launch of bids for City Gas Distribution (CGD) licenses, Singh said the decision is based on the belief that current global prices "are not supported by fundamentals." "We have decided to temporarily moderate retail prices by not passing on the required increase as we believe the current international oil product prices are not supported by fundamentals. So we have decided to wait for a while," Singh said. "Passing them on to consumers will unnecessarily create panic," he said. The price of petrol per litre, on Tuesday, was Rs74.63 and diesel was at Rs65.93 -- rates of both have remained unchanged since April 24. IOC shares closed at Rs167.00, up 0.24% on the BSE. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

As India’s iconic Hero Cycles makes inroads into the UK and European markets with the launch of 75 bikes under its new "Insync" brand, the world’s biggest bicycle manufacturer aims to grow by over 60% over the next four years, says Sreeram Venkateswaran, head of the company’s UK operations. He said that from a $800-850 million company (across all its businesses, including automotive), it is poised to become $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion company by 2022, with Europe and bicycles being an "extremely important component" of that growth story. Sreeram told IANS in an interview that with the launch of the Insync brand, the company not only aims to penetrate the mid-premium segment of the European market but also transform the way it caters to the Indian market. Hero MotoCorp shares closed at Rs3,657.35, up 0.02% on the BSE.

ABB India reported a 14% rise in its net profit to Rs102 crore in the quarter ended March 31, 2018, as compared to Rs90 crore in the year-ago period. Its revenue, during the quarter under review, increased 17% compared to the prior year period to Rs2,525 crore. All divisions reported growth in revenues and the increase in revenue is also supported by the large HVDC project of Raigarh-Pugalur (RP) 800, which is starting to mature in its execution cycle, the company said. "Cost savings, positive volume growth and higher absorption contributed to the robust growth in operational EBITA for the quarter," it said in a statement. Total orders during the first quarter of 2018 rose 10% year-on-year to Rs2,582 crore. The quarter posted the highest growth in orders for the first quarter period in the last five years," it said. ABB Managing Director Sanjeev Sharma said: "Significant uptrend in revenue, increased orders and profits reflect customers' preference for our digital and innovative offerings and deep domain knowhow, supported by our expansive manufacturing and service footprint."  Ongoing growth in service and export orders played a significant role in bolstering the order book. The company’s shares closed at Rs1,272.00, down 0.78% on the BSE.

Food service company, Jubilant FoodWorks (JFL) reported a rise in its net profit for the fourth quarter of 2017-18. According to Jubilant FoodWorks, its profit after tax in the quarter under review increased to Rs68.06 crore from Rs6.71 crore reported for the like period of the previous fiscal. "The strong performance in Q4 FY 18 was driven by the continued success of All New Domino's product upgrade rolled out in August and the traction of the Every Day Value pricing that provides customers attractive value for money," the company said in a statement.  "In addition, strong growth in online sales also contributed to overall growth, with online sales now contributing to 63% of delivery sales." Besides, the company's net profit for 2017-18 rose by 206.91% to Rs206.4 crore from Rs67.25 crore over FY17. Commenting on the result, the company's CEO and Whole time Director Pratik Pota said: "Our key strategic initiatives undertaken in the past one year such as the launch of All New Domino's, Every Day Value and sharp focus on Digital sales drove strong growth for us..." The company's Board recommended a dividend of Rs5 per equity share of Rs10 each fully paid up for the financial year ended March 31, 2018 on existing share capital of the company subject to approval of the shareholders in annual general meeting. JFL shares closed at Rs2,556.05, down 0.17% on the BSE. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

The top gainers and top losers of the major indices are given in the table below:

The closing values of the major Asian indices are given in the table below: The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

 

Major Indices (The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions)

IMF expects India to grow at 7.4 per cent in FY19-The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

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9 May 2018

 

Indian Economy (The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions)

The Indian economy is expected to grow at 7.4 per cent in the current fiscal and accelerate further to 7.8 per cent as it recovers from the impact of demonetisation and GST roll out, IMF said today. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

Asia continues to be the main engine of the world's economy, accounting for more than 60 per cent of global growth three-quarters of which comes from China and India alone, as per IMF's Regional Economic Outlook: Asia and Pacific (REO).

"But there are risks and challenges ahead, including from a tightening of global financial conditions, a shift toward inward-looking policies, and over the longer run population aging, slowing productivity growth, and the rise of the digital economy," it said.Asia is expected to grow at 5.6 per cent this year and next, it said, adding that the outlook is supported by strong global demand, as well as still accommodative policies and financial conditions.

"In India, growth is forecast to rebound to 7.4 percent in FY 2018/19 as the economy recovers from disruptions related to the currency exchange initiative and the rollout of the new Goods and Services Tax," it said.

China, it said, is projected to grow at 6.6 per cent in the current year which will moderate to 6.4 per cent next year. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

Noting that present rates of inflation in Asia are some of the lowest in decades, it said, it has seen some upward movement since September 2017 on the back of rising oil prices. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

"But core inflation which excludes food and energy remains low and below target in many economies. In 2017, headline inflation on average was 0.6 percent lower than target in Asian advanced economies, and 0.8 percent under target in Asian emerging market economies," it said.

The latest report explores why inflation has been so low. And it finds that first that temporary global factors, including commodity prices and imported inflation, have been key drivers of low inflation. But these factors could reverse, and inflation could rise. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

According to the report, inflation has become more backward-looking, meaning that past inflation drives current inflation more than future expectations. This suggests that if inflation rises, it may persist.

"Further, there is some evidence that the sensitivity of inflation to economic slack has decreased (i.e., the Phillips curve has flattened), suggesting that if inflation rises, there may be a large hit to output when reducing it," it said.

All of these mean that central banks should watch out closely for signs of inflation pressure now and stand ready to respond.The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

India’s public cloud revenue to grow 37.5% in 2018: Gartner-The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

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9 May 2018

Gartner (The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions)

The revenue from public cloud services in India is projected to grow 37.5 percent in 2018 to $2.5 billion, up from $1.8 billion in 2017, market research firm Gartner said on Wednesday. “While the public cloud revenue market in India exhibits solid growth in 2018, the growth rate is expected to flatten, which is indicative of a maturing market,” Sid Nag, Research Director at Gartner, said in a statement.

Gartner estimated that Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) would be the fastest-growing segment of the public cloud market. IaaS in India is forecast to total $1 billion – an increase of 46 percent from 2017. “While IaaS enables efficiencies and cost benefits, organisations need to be cautious about IaaS providers potentially gaining unchecked influence over customers and the market,” Nag pointed out. In regions such as India, pricing would be a major factor in the selection of public cloud providers by organisations. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

“In response to multi-cloud adoption trends, organisations in India are also increasingly demanding a simpler way to move workloads, applications and data, across cloud providers’ IaaS offerings without penalties,” Nag added. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) still remains the largest segment of the public Cloud market in India, with revenue expected to reach $932 million in 2018 — an increase of 34 percent year-on-year. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

According to Nag, SaaS users are increasingly demanding more purpose-built offerings engineered to deliver specific business outcomes. Under the Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) segment, database PaaS (dbPaaS) would be the fastest-growing segment over the next four years. The dbPaas segment would reach $32 million in 2018, which is an increase of 50 percent from 2017. Gartner expects the segment to reach almost $113 million by 2022..The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

Walmart buys controlling stake in Flipkart for $16 billion-The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

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9 May 2018

Flipkart (The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions)

World's largest retailer Walmart Inc on Wednesday officially announced that it will buy a majority stake in Flipkart , making it one of the largest M&A deals in India.

Walmart will pick up 77 percent stake of Flipkart for $16 billion, valuing the company at about USD 20 billion. The remainder of the business will be held by some of Flipkart`s existing shareholders, including Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal, China`s Tencent Holdings Ltd, Tiger Global Management LLC and Microsoft Corp. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

The deal will help the US retail giant -- which has seen consumers migrate to online platforms like those run by Amazon -- get a foothold in the world's fastest growing economy with a market of 1.3 billion people. The Flipkart model would help the bricks-and-mortar retail giant to take on its global rival Amazon.

Walmart said it expected the deal to knock about 25-30 cents off its earnings in fiscal 2019, assuming the deal closes at the end of the second quarter.

It also said that the deal included $2 billion of funding from new equity in Flipkart, which could be sold to additional investors in the future, diluting the U.S. company`s overall stake. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

Flipkart was valued at about USD 12 billion last year, according to researcher CB Insights. For Flipkart, the deal would give it additional capital and retail muscle to fight Amazon. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

Sachin Bansal, who had co-founded Flipkart with Binny Bansal 11 years ago, will make his exit from the company by selling his entire stake (over 5 percent) to Walmart. However, the Binny Bansal and CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy will stay in their respective official positions in the company.

Sachin and Binny, who are not related and formerly worked for Amazon.Com Inc, like their US rival began by selling books when they founded Flipkart.The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

Oil Jumps, Global Shares Mixed After US Leaves Iran Deal -The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

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9 May 2018

China financial markets (The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions)

Oil prices surged and global stock markets were subdued Wednesday after President Donald Trump said the United States will withdraw from a 2015 nuclear accord with Iran and re-impose sanctions.

KEEPING SCORE: Britain's FTSE 100 was up 0.4 percent to 7,598 and France's CAC 40 fell 0.1 percent to 5,515. Germany's DAX fell 0.1 percent to 12,897. Futures augured gains on Wall Street with Dow and S&P futures both rising 0.4 percent.

IRAN DEAL: The U.S. decision to leave the Iran nuclear deal, which required Iran to curb its nuclear enrichment program in exchange for relief from international sanctions, will be followed by a restoration of harsh sanctions aimed at limiting Iran's ability to sell oil or conduct other overseas business. Now Iran, the world's fifth-largest oil producer, will have to decide whether to follow the U.S. and withdraw or try to salvage what's left with the European countries. Supply constraints could push oil prices higher, as evident in an increase on Wednesday. That could hurt growth in net importing countries like Japan and Germany. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

ANALYST'S TAKE: "Geopolitical risks are heightened especially if Iran retaliates, but it could wait and see if the deal is completely undone or if there is scope for it to continue without the U.S.," Mizuho Bank said in a daily commentary. With Germany, France and Britain saying they are committed to the accord, the European countries will "continue importing oil from Iran, albeit having to side-step the U.S. banking system for trade purposes," it said.

OIL: Prices of oil fell sharply before Trump's announcement but rebounded, with benchmark U.S. crude oil jumping $1.94, or 2.8 percent, to $71.00 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.67, or 2.4 percent, to $69.06 per barrel on Tuesday. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, gained $2.01, or 2.7 percent, to $76.86 per barrel in London. It lost $1.32, or 1.7 percent, to close at $74.85 per barrel on Tuesday.

ASIA'S DAY: Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 0.4 percent to 22,408.88 and South Korea's Kospi retreated 0.2 percent to 2,443.98. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index added 0.4 percent to 30,536.14 while the Shanghai Composite Index dipped 0.1 percent to 3,159.15. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.3 percent to 6,108.00. Stocks rose in Taiwan, Singapore and Indonesia but fell in Thailand and the Philippines. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 109.65 yen from 109.13 yen while the euro fell to $1.1877 from $1.1864.The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

Nifty, Sensex in No Man’s Land – Tuesday closing report-The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

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8 May 2018

I had mentioned in Monday’s closing report that Nifty, Sensex might head higher. The major indices of the Indian stock markets were range-bound on Tuesday and ended flat over Monday’s close. On the NSE, there were 735 advances, 981 declines and 329 unchanged. The trends of the major indices in the course of Tuesday’s trading are given in the table below: The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

The key Indian equity indices traded marginally higher on Tuesday following broadly positive cues in the global markets. Selling pressure on the capital goods and consumer durables stocks restricted further gains, market analysts said. Finally, at the end of the day’s trading the marginal gains were not sustained and the major indices ended flat on Tuesday over Monday’s close.

Automobile major Maruti Suzuki on Tuesday said that it will carry out a "Service Campaign" for its new Swift and Baleno models to inspect for a possible fault in their "brake vacuum hose". According to the company, around 52,686 new Swift and Baleno vehicles manufactured between December 1, 2017 and March 16, 2018 will be covered in this campaign.  "Starting 14th May 2018 owners of the vehicles included in this service campaign will be contacted by dealers for inspection and replacement of the faulty part," the company said in a notice on its website.  "Service campaigns are undertaken globally by automobile companies to rectify faults that may potentially cause inconvenience to customers. The inspection and replacement will be done free of cost for the customer." Maruti Suzuki shares closed at Rs8,775.20, up 0.30% on the NSE.

Indian tea industry recorded the highest ever production of 1,325.05 million kg as well as export of 256.57 million kg during the financial year 2017-18, official figures released on Tuesday revealed. Tata Global Beverages shares closed at Rs289.70, down 1.60% on the NSE.

New tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on international imports of steel have led to a sharp rise in the supply of commodity on European markets, the Federation of the German Steel Industry warned on Monday. So far, there has been no impact on the steel industry in India in this regard. Tata Steel shares closed at Rs596.35, down 0.50% on the NSE.

Financial services major DSP Group on Monday announced that it will buy out BlackRock’s 40% stake in joint venture DSP BlackRock Investment Managers Pvt. Ltd, subject to regulatory approvals. 

Battery maker Exide Industries reported a 15.4% rise in its standalone net profit for the fourth quarter of 2017-18. The company reported a standalone net profit of Rs189.56 crore for the quarter-ended March 31, 2018 compared to Rs164.26 crore reported during the corresponding period of 2016-17. Further, its total standalone income during the period under review rose by 10.94% to Rs2,479.69 crore from Rs2,235.21 crore earned in the same period of the previous financial year. However, for the last financial year, the company reported a fall of 3.65% in its net profit to Rs668.35 crore from Rs693.64 crore reported in the previous fiscal.

Commenting on the results, Exide Industries' MD and CEO G.Chatterjee said: "Volumes in automotive, motorcycle, inverter, UPS, telecom and solar batteries as well as in other infrastructure segments were strong during the fourth quarter."  The company added that its Board has recommended payment of a final dividend of 80 per cent (Rs0.80 per share of face value of Re 1 each) for the financial year ended 31st March, 2018. "Consequently, the total dividend for the year ended 31st March, 2018 including the interim dividend of 160% (Re1.60 per share of face value of Re 1 each) paid during the year amounts to 240% (Rs2.40 per share of face value of Re1 each)," the company said in a statement. Exide Industries shares closed at Rs267.45, up 2.38% on the NSE.

After reporting a 50% decline in its standalone net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2018, private sector lending major ICICI Bank said that it plans to deploy a "preserve, change and grow" strategy to get back to the growth trajectory. The announcement about the new policy comes after the banking giant reported a massive decline in its net profit for the quarter and financial year ended March 31, 2018. According to bank's MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar the new policy entails growth of retail loan portfolio, reconciliation and resolution of the stressed assets. "Going forward, ICICI Bank's strategy will be anchored around three key anchors: The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

Preserve, Change, Grow," Kochhar said during a press conference after the announcement of the quarterly and fiscal earning results. She also informed that the company's board meeting on Tuesday is a 'normal' one, to deliberate upon budget and strategy for the financial year ahead. The bank reported a massive decline of 49.63% in its standalone net profit for the fourth quarter of 2017-18. The bank's net profit for the quarter under review decreased to Rs1,020 crore from Rs2,025 crore reported for the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. However, ICICI Bank's net interest income inched up to Rs6,022 crore in the quarter ended March 31, 2018 from Rs5,962 crore earned in the period ended March 31, 2017. On consolidated basis, the company's net profit for the fourth quarter declined by 45.17% to Rs1,142 crore from Rs2,083 crore reported for the corresponding period of previous fiscal. As per a BSE filing, the gross NPA (Non-Performing Asset) additions of Rs15,737 crore in Q4. This includes Rs9,968 crore of loans which were under RBI schemes and were classified as standard at December 31, 2017. "During Q4-2018, the gross additions to NPA were Rs15,737 crore in Q4-2018. This included Rs9,968 crore of loans which were under RBI schemes and classified as standard at December 31, 2017. The Revised Framework for Resolution of Stressed Assets issued in February 2018 discontinued these schemes," the company said in a statement.  "Recoveries and upgrades from non-performing loans were Rs 4,234 crore in Q4-2018." Besides, the company's standalone net profit for the fiscal ended March 31, 2018 dropped by 30.85% to Rs6,777 crore from Rs9,801 crore for the year ended March 31, 2017 (FY2017). In addition, the company's consolidated net profit for the fiscal under review declined by 24.30% to Rs7,712 crore from Rs10,188 crore in FY2017. The company's Board has recommended a dividend of Rs1.50 per share saying that the declaration of dividend is subject to requisite approvals. ICICI Bank shares closed at Rs309.30, up 6.45% on the NSE.

The top gainers and top losers of the major indices are given in the table below: The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

The closing values of the major Asian indices are given in the table below:The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

Major Indices (The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions)