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The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked Baba Ramdev to be personally present before it for not filing reply to show cause contempt notice issued against him over misleading advertisements of Patanjali Ayurved. Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna are prima facie in violation of Sections 3 and 4 of the Drugs and Remedies Act.ALSO READ: SC issues Patanjali's Ramdev notice, says govt is sitting with its eyes closedThe apex court previously came down heavily on Patanjali Ayurved, saying that the entire country has been "taken for a ride". It restrained Patanjali Ayurved from advertising or branding products meant for treating diseases till further orders.A bench of justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah also cautioned the company and its officers against making any media statements, both in print and electronic, against any system of medicine in any form as stated in their undertaking on November 21 last year."The entire country has been taken for a ride," the bench observed, while questioning the Centre as to what action it has taken against Patanjali Ayurved for the alleged incorrect assertions and misrepresentation in advertisements about its medicines as cure of several diseases.

Brokerage Nomura maintained a neutral rating on HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank has a buy rating on InterGlobe Aviation, Jefferies recommended a buy on Piramal Pharma and UBS maintained a buy on Infosys.We have collated a list of recommendations from top brokerage firms from ETNow and other sources:Nomura on HDFC Bank: Neutral| Target Rs 1625Nomura maintained a neutral rating on HDFC Bank with a target price of Rs 1625. HDFC Bank has a significant depth in senior management, which it has demonstrated in the past as well.The global investment bank does not expect any material impact on the business owing to this change in senior management.“Any similar churn at the senior management level over the near-to-medium term will be a key monitorable,” said the note.Kotak Mahindra Bank on InterGlobe Aviation: Buy| Target Rs 4200Kotak Mahindra Bank maintained a buy rating on InterGlobe Aviation but raised the target price to Rs 4200 from Rs 3700 earlier.Boeing could meaningfully limit the capacity addition of peers over time. The real demand is not served fully by supply and will grow at a healthy pace.IndiGo to benefit from timely orders of past and healthy pricing ahead. Pricing would likely remain healthy over time and less prone to irrationality by airlines.UBS on Infosys: Buy| Target Rs 1800UBS maintained a buy rating on Infosys with a target price of Rs 1800. Q4 earnings may have a modest impact on its stock price, given the narrow range of expectations.The global investment bank expects conservative guidance for FY25. The guidance range of 4-7% could still excite the market. A probable buyback could support the market price.Jefferies on Piramal Pharma: Buy| Target Rs 170Jefferies maintained a buy rating on Piramal Pharma with a target price of Rs 170. The debate over FY25 guidance given macro uncertainty around outsourcing.The global investment bank models 12.5% revenue growth for FY25, but believe Piramal can do better.A 15% revenue growth could drive 45% EBITDA growth in FY25. The stock is trading at an attractive risk-to-reward ratio.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by experts are their own. These do not represent the views of the Economic Times)

The US Federal Reserve’s two-day monetary policy meeting is slated to begin later today, and the central bank is widely expected to stay put on interest rates after the recent data on inflation.Inflation data released last week showed that consumer prices in the US rose again in February. Consumer prices rose 0.4% for the month and 3.2% from a year ago, and this was higher than market expectations.This may keep the central bank on its course to wait for some more time before starting to lower interest rates. The Fed has not adjusted interest rates since July 2023,According to the CME FedWatch tool, there is a 99% probability of the federal funds target range being retained at 5.25-5.50%. A month back, around 10% probability was given for a cut in rates by 25 basis points in the upcoming meeting.Meanwhile, the employment data looked encouraging, as non-farm payrolls in the US rose by 275,000 in February, which surpassed market expectations. This further dampened expectations of a rate cut coming as soon as this month.Minutes of the last meeting of the Fed also indicated that the central bank’s policy moves had succeeded in lowering the rate of inflation from 4-decade high. However, the pace of easing of inflation has slowed down.With inflation not cooling off at the expected pace and job market conditions remaining strong, the Fed would rather wait and keep assessing the incoming data before deciding to slash rates.The focus, however, won’t be on the rate action of the Fed, but on what may happen months from now.The question is whether it will lower rates in June as the bond market currently expects, and how many cuts one can expect in 2024.Hints about the timing and scope of rate cuts could come from the Fed’s so-called dot plots, a quarterly visual depiction of individual officials’ economic and interest rate forecasts.In December, the central bank had guided for three rate cuts in 2024, totalling 75 basis points.“However, we believe that the Fed could dial down from the current 3 rate cut and could provide a 2-rate cut scenario on the back of sticky inflation despite the economy staying strong,” said Reliance Securities.“The market has still yet to factor in a 2-rate cut situation, and this could be bullish for the dollar index,” the brokerage firm said.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

As investors continue to pour money into stocks and equity funds, asset managers are raising more cash in their portfolios. February month data shows that the total cash pile at equity mutual funds rose for the second consecutive month to 4.82% of total assets under management (AUM) at Rs 1.33 lakh crore.SBI Mutual Fund was sitting at a war chest of Rs 25,100 crore and ICICI Prudential AMC Rs 21,700 crore. HDFC Mutual Fund's cash pile of nearly Rs 19,000 crore is about 6.8% of its AUM, shows data pulled from ACE Equity.Among major fund houses, PPFAS and Quant are among the most conservative ones when it comes to hoarding cash. PPFAS' Rs 7,700 crore cash pile is worth about 12% of its AUM while Quant's sack of Rs 7,100 crore is about 12.7% of AUM.Dalal Street's newer fund houses - Bajaj Finserv MF, Old Bridge MF and Samco MF - had the highest cash pile in AUM percentage terms. <iframe title="Mutual funds cash pile grows to Rs 1.33 lakh crore" aria-label="Table" id="datawrapper-chart-AVBbz" src="https://et-infographics.indiatimes.com/graphs/AVBbz/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="905" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();</script>Earlier in November, MFs were sitting on a cash pile worth 5% of their AUM which went down to 4.2% in December, only to rise to 4.36% in January and 4.82% in February.Not just Indian mutual fund managers, even the legendary Warren Buffett is struggling to find value in a booming market. Berkshire Hathaway's treasure trove has grown to all-time high of $168 billion with Buffett admitting that the cash holding is far in excess of what conventional wisdom deems necessary.Also read | Warren Buffett's $168 billion piggy bank outsizes market value of any Indian bank, LICBack on Dalal Street, the portfolios of mutual funds, especially in smallcap and midcap segments, are in the spotlight following Sebi’s order to release reports of stress tests to see if they can manage huge redemptions in the event of a market downturn.The results show that large schemes like those of SBI Mutual Fund can take up to 60 days to liquidate portfolios while the smaller ones can do it as soon as in one day.DSP said its smallcap fund has about 7% cash while the midcap one had 5.5% cash."We may increase cash in the scheme to further help improve our liquidity profile and will continue to be true to the label. Our mid-month cash position is better than the February 2024 end position and will further increase by March 2024," it said.Also read | Little stocks in big trouble! 374 smallcaps fall at least 30% from peak. Worst ahead?For those sitting on cash, expensive valuations in a booming market is the biggest headache.Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund's Prashant Joshi says smallcaps are in the process of settling in a premium band just like midcaps already have settled into. Sebi's nudge, he said, has already brought the premium of smallcaps and midcaps to acceptable levels in a short span."Largecaps in any case are available at reasonable valuations of 22.70 on TTMPE and have only recently begun to strengthen and lead markets after a lacklustre 2023. High earnings growth estimates, participation in market favoured themes and dedicated investment flows makes a continued case for investment into mid & smallcap funds," he said.(Data: Surbhi Khanna)(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)