Tale of the Tape 

Hola Amigos.

Markets were volatile as investors digested Trump’s latest tantrum, with the Nifty and Sensex ending in the red. Midcaps (+1.6%) and Smallcaps (+2.4%) popped off though. A cool 383 stocks in the NSE 500 ended higher.

Most sectors ended in the green. Real Estate (+1.7%), PSU Banks (+1.3%) and Metals (+1.3%) saw the most buying. Meanwhile, IT (-1.3%) was the top loser, followed by Pharma (-0.7%).

Another urban co-operative bank is on the verge of failure. Read our top story on the never-ending regulatory failure in India.

Pharma stocks got scorched today after Trump threatened 25% tariffs. More details below on the top losers and how this will play out for the sector. 

Defence stocks shined today. Are they finally a value buy? Check out their charts below.

Order wins. RVNL soared +12% after bagging a Rs 554 cr Bengaluru suburban rail project. Transformers and Rectifiers was locked in a +5% upper circuit after winning a Rs 166 cr order from a South Korean firm.

ABB India was in focus after Nomura downgraded the stock. PS - the brokerage has a new target price of Rs 4,970 p/sh; 3% downside from current levels.

Arkade Developers (+3%) gained after bagging a Mumbai redevelopment project with Rs 740-cr revenue potential.

Muted listing. Hexaware Technologies ended the day at Rs 762.55 p/sh; +8% from its IPO price.

Here are the closing prints:

Banking
Vault Heist

Another day, another scam! The RBI recently stopped New India Co-operative Bank customers from withdrawing their money. Reason: the lender had been hit by a big scandal and any panic would’ve caused a bank run. Here are all the gory deets.

• So WTF happened? As it turns out, the bank’s general manager simply walked into the vaults --  that’s right -- and walked away with over Rs 100 cr in cash. During a routine RBI inspection, officials discovered “discrepancies” in the lender’s cash records. They found Rs 112 cr missing from one branch’s safe and another Rs 10 cr from another. To put this figure in context: the bank had posted a loss of Rs 23 cr in FY24. 

• What did the accused want to do with this money? According to reports, the manager siphoned off the money and routed it through a real estate developer for a slum rehabilitation project in Kandivali. This happened slowly over the course of 5-6 years and nobody noticed until now!

Fraud can happen anywhere and it’s not something new for India. But every new scam exposes the holes in India’s regulatory system. Consider this: the lender’s FY23 audited financials say it had Rs 122 cr cash in hand, which increased to Rs 135 cr in FY24. Now it appears that it may have had no cash at all. How does this escape the attention of auditors, management and even the bank’s other staff? Insane.

FYI - this may just be the tip of the iceberg. Reports say the RBI has flagged other issues including an alarmingly low capital adequacy ratio, rising NPAs and cases of extreme conflict of interests while lending. Just another day in Indian banking!

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