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Mumbai: Promoters of more than 200 companies have cumulatively sold stock worth more than ₹33,000 crore in the past two months, suggesting that valuations have become attractive enough for owners to book returns on part of the equity they hold.As the question of stretched valuations continues to swirl through Dalal Street, promoters seem to be firmly on course toward breaking the hitherto all-time calendar-year stock dilution record - set in the 2020 Covid era. So far in 2024, both domestic and overseas promoters have sold shares worth nearly ₹65,000 crore - not far from the 2020 high watermark of ₹78,500 crore.The pace - and timing - of promoter dilution seemingly shortens the odds on an impending correction as valuation comfort shrinks across the market capitalisation spectrum, although large caps appear to have advanced more slowly than their smaller peers."Such large-scale selling can be interpreted as a signal of caution or profit-taking amid possibly high market valuations," said Amit Goel, chief global strategist, Pace 360. 111243979 ₹48kcr of Shares Sold in 2023 "Promoters typically know their companies well and may be leveraging market conditions to monetise their holdings, possibly anticipating a correction or wanting to realise gains in a buoyant market," Goel said. In 2023, promoters had sold shares worth ₹48,000 crore. The quantum of sales was mixed in the previous two calendar years - at ₹25,400 crore and ₹54,500 crore, respectively. These are shares sold by promoters via open market transactions.111244460Foreign & Local PromotersLast week, UK's Vodafone Group Plc sold an 18% stake in Indus Towers for ₹15,300 crore through the open market transaction. Earlier this month, global investment firm Blackstone, promoter of Mphasis, divested a 15.08% stake in the information technology and consulting company for ₹6,735 crore.ZF group last week sold a 7.5% stake in its listed Indian subsidiary, ZF Commercial Vehicle Control, for ₹2,193 crore. Fosun Pharma sold ₹1,754 crore of in Gland Pharma last week."Many promoters, especially in mid- and small-cap companies, seem to be capitalising on the current bull run, with stocks rallying for the fourth consecutive year," said G Chokkalingam, CEO, Equinomics Research.

Mumbai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) will consider a proposal to tighten rules on the inclusion of stocks in the derivatives segment at its board meeting on June 27. This will be one of the main points of discussion, said a person close to the development, as the capital market regulator looks to address concerns over excessive and risky bets on illiquid equity derivative contracts.In its June 8 consultation paper, Sebi had sought feedback from market participants for its plan to revise the eligibility criteria for stocks to be a part of the futures and options (F&O) segment. The regulator wants stocks that are part of the derivatives market to be more liquid and traded by a wide set of market participants to prevent manipulation and lower risks to the system."Sebi's intention is to have a stricter eligibility criteria for stocks to be included in the F&O segment," said Vijay Kanchan, a finance professor and derivatives specialist. "The whole objective is to have a derivative market of extremely liquid stocks."The regulator had changed the eligibility criteria for the introduction of stocks in the derivatives segment in 2018.111243896 Will Result in 'Better Filters' Since then, the Sensex and Nifty have more than doubled and India's market capitalisation has surged nearly threefold. The average daily notional turnover in equity derivatives has shot up - to Rs 381 lakh crore in June from Rs 8.79 lakh crore in May 2018.The stock market rally, particularly since April 2020, has encouraged hordes of newbie retail traders to test their fortunes in derivatives, especially in options, raising concerns over excessive speculation and risk-taking by individuals. Sebi's proposals in its discussion paper include raising the threshold for entry of stocks into F&O and introducing exit criteria for them, like the current framework in index derivatives.Currently, the product success framework is only applicable to index derivatives. Such derivatives should have sufficient turnover, outstanding positions and widespread participation, failing which exchanges will not be able to issue fresh contracts on them.The F&O segment currently has 181 stocks, against 207 in May 2018. Market players said that except some stocks that are part of the Nifty, most see erratic spurts in volumes, raising manipulation risks. "If Sebi goes ahead with its proposals, it will create better filters for F&O stock selection," said IIFL Securities senior vice president Sriram Velayudhan.As per IIFL's initial analysis based on the Sebi recommendations in its paper, 18-22 stocks could move out and 70-75 stocks will become eligible for the derivatives segment. Sebi is proposing to tighten F&O entry conditions such as Median Quarter Sigma Order Size, Market Wide Position Limit and Average Daily Delivery Value by raising threshold levels. Kanchan said, "The Mean Order Quarter Sigma will be revised to Rs 75 lakh from the current Rs 25 lakh, ensuring that only the most liquid stocks will be made part of F&O."

New Delhi: Baku, Tbilisi, Zurich, Denpasar, Tashkent and Mahe. Over the past two years, Indian and international carriers have added direct flights to several such destinations, boosting outbound tourist numbers from India.Rajesh Magow, group chief executive and cofounder of online travel portal MakeMyTrip, said the number of direct flight destinations from India had increased more than 20% in the past two years - from 55 in May 2022 to 67 in May 2024 - and was continuing to grow every month. "As a result, destinations such as Bali have seen 190% growth in bookings on our platform, while Baku and Tashkent have grown at least threefold on our platform since the launch of direct flights in 2023," he added.India's largest airline, IndiGo, has significantly expanded its international network over the last one year, adding destinations like Tashkent, Almaty, Baku, Tbilisi, Bali and Nairobi. IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers said the airline has seen high demand on all of these new routes."There's a whole generation of young Indians who would like to spend their money on exploring. They've been exploring the country, they have been to Dubai, Phuket and Singapore and now want to explore other destinations," Elbers said.111239812Karthick Prabu, head of strategy at online travel platform Cleartrip, said in February, IndiGo launched daily direct flights between Hyderabad and Bangkok, and in March, it commenced daily direct flights between Bengaluru and Bali. This month, Cambodia's Angkor Air launched its first ever direct flight to India, between Phnom Penh and New Delhi. Air India started Delhi-Zurich flights last week.But, constraints of flying rights have hampered plans of expansion of foreign airlines in India. Flying rights are allocated on a bilateral reciprocal basis between two countries. In 2016, India, in its National Civil Aviation Policy, framed the guidelines for providing flying rights, saying that unless the utilisation from the Indian side reaches 80%, additional flying rights would not be granted. This, the government said, was to protect Indian carriers which didn't have enough exposure on international routes.In the face of no scope of increasing flights to metros, Malaysian Airlines is now increasing its presence from non-metro cities. From August, the carrier is increasing flight frequency from Amritsar to seven times a week from the current four.Last year, it launched flights from three destinations: Thiruvananthapuram, Ahmedabad and Amritsar."India is an exceptional story. We want to be a part of India's success story, but there are issues regarding air traffic rights," said Izham Ismail, group managing director of the Malaysia Aviation Group.Last week, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways launched four weekly flights to Jaipur, its 11th destination in India. The airline has increased its capacity to India by a third over the past 12 months.Etihad is one of the few Middle East airlines that still have room to operate more flights under the available quota. Etihad is entitled to fly 50,000 weekly seats to Abu Dhabi from India per week."We aim to meet the increasing demand from travellers in and around the region, providing them with convenient access to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and seamless connectivity to our extensive global network," said Etihad CEO Antonoaldo Neves.Vietnam Airlines will upgrade its India-Vietnam routes and deploy Airbus A350 aircraft from May, as the Southeast Asian country has become one of the favourite holiday destinations for Indians.

Mumbai: Everstone Capital, the Pan Asia private equity fund, is merging two of its healthcare portfolios as part of an eventual big-ticket IPO plan, said multiple people aware of the development. Translumina Therapeutics, one of the largest cardiac stent makers in India, and Everlife Holdings pte, a Singapore-based distribution platform for medical devices, laboratory equipment and supplies, are being merged to form a large healthcare entity, said sources. The merged entity is likely to be valued at $1 billion, sources said.The proposed valuation of the merged entity could not be confirmed independently.111239765As part of the process, a pre-IPO fundraising process was launched and feelers were sent to domestic pre-IPO funds. Everstone holds 60% stake in Translumina and 70% stake in Everlife. Mails sent to Everstone Capital did not elicit any responses till press time.Incorporated in 2010 by Gurmit Singh Chugh and Punita Sharma Arora, Translumina is an interventional cardiovascular device company with manufacturing facilities in Germany and India - in Hechingen and Dehradun respectively. In 2019, Everstone Capital acquired the controlling stake in Translumina Therapeutics.Translumina is one the top three stent manufacturers in India, along with Sahajanand Medical Technologies (SMT) and Meril Life Sciences. It holds 18-20% share of the Indian cardiac stent market. With a current market size of $200 million, this market is slated to be one of the fastest growing in the world, growing at a staggering 14-15% CAGR over next decade, according to the 2023 Avendus Capital report. It sells a variety of products such as Drug Eluting Stents; Shockwave Intravascular Lithotripsy (IVL); Impella heart pump; Drug Eluting Balloons and vascular accessories. In 2023, it acquired Netherlands-based Blue Medical Devices, and strengthened its presence in balloon catheters including Drug Coated Balloons (DCB).The company distributes its products in over 50 countries across Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.Multiple M&AsEverlife was set up in 2017, and made an acquisition of Malaysia-based medical products and solutions distributor Chemopharm Sdn Bhd. Later, it expanded business via acquisitions. Everlife partners with major companies in clinical diagnostics to bring a range of diagnostic testing solutions including clinical laboratories, hospitals and clinics. Its portfolio includes analyzers, reagent kits and consumables covering a range of clinical applications and methodologies. Its major clients include Abbott, Edan, Bio-Rad, Nova Biomedical, Fuji Film, Siemens, Mindray, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Chrom Systems. Since 2022, Everstone had been in discussions with various PE funds to sell Everlife Holdings for over $500 million while the transaction did not materialise. In the same year, Everstone had sold its majority stake in Maharashtra's leading hospital chain Sahyadri Hospitals to Canadian fund Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board (OTPP).