ET NEWS

ET Intelligence Group: Canara HSBC Life Insurance plans to raise upto ₹2,518 crore through an offer for sale. The promoter stake will fall to 62% from 77% after the IPO. The company has the lowest Value of New Business (VNB) margin among peers due to high operating expenses. The issue is priced at a discount to its peers, making it suitable for long-term investors seeking exposure to the insurance sector.BusinessIncorporated in 2007, Canara HSBC Life Insurance is the third-largest life insurer led by public-sector banks with 43,639.5 crore assets under management (AUM) as of June, 2025. The insurer's share of bancassurance in new business premium (NBP) increased to 92% in June 2025 from 57% in March 2023. The share of ULIP products in NBP increased to 55% in FY25 from 37% in FY23 amid a bullish equity market. Its market share of individual weighted premium income (WPI) rose to 1.8% in FY25 from 1.6% in FY24. The number of individual policies issued rose to 1.9 lakh in FY25 from 1.9 lakh in FY23.124441768FinancialsNet profit grew by 13.3% annually to ₹117 crore in FY25 from ₹91.2 crore in FY23. It is well capitalised, with a solvency ratio of 200% as of June 30, 2025, well above the regulatory minimum of 150%. Its Embedded Value (EmV) rose to ₹6,110.7 crore at the end of March 2025 from ₹4,271.9 crore as of March 2023. The WPI increased to ₹2,178.6 crore in FY25 from ₹1,657.5 crore in FY23. The company's VNB margin was 19% in FY25, lower than HDFC Life's 25.6%, ICICI Prudential Life's 24% and SBI Life's 27.8%. Its operating expenses to gross written premium ratio was 12.4% in FY25, above the peer range of 5-9%. The total cost ratio was 18.7% in FY25, higher than ICICI Prudential and SBI Life but lower than HDFC Life.ValuationAt the upper price band, the issue is valued at a price-to-embedded value (P/EmV) multiple of 1.6. This compares with 2.9 times for HDFC Life, 2.5 times for SBI Life, 1.8 times for ICICI Prudential Life.

Mumbai: Brokerage Groww is looking to launch its ₹7,000-crore Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the first week of November, said banking sources in the know. The Bengaluru-based firm, backed by Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella, is expected to announce the price band for its issue by the end of October, they said.Billionbrains Garage Ventures, Groww's parent, is targeting a valuation of up to $8 billion (approximately ₹70,400 crore) in its IPO. Kotak Mahindra Capital, JP Morgan India, Citigroup Global Markets India, Axis Capital, and Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors are the book-running lead managers to the IPO.Emails sent to the company and the bankers remained unanswered.Of the ₹7,000 crore IPO size, the fresh issue component will be ₹1,060 crore, while the rest will be an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 57.42 crore equity shares by existing investors, including Nadella.October saw some of the biggest IPOs of the year, including Tata Capital's ₹15,500-crore issue, the largest so far, followed by LG Electronics' ₹11,600-crore IPO. Earlier in June, HDB Financial Services had launched a ₹12,500-crore issue.The fintech startup's proposed IPO comes when the stock broking industry is facing pressure on profitability in the wake of a regulatory clampdown on futures and options (F&O) trades.Groww's operating revenue in the June quarter dropped 9.6% to ₹904 crore from ₹1,000 crore a year ago. Profit after tax for the quarter was at ₹378 crore, up 12% from the same period last year.The broking firm had 12.6 million active clients on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) as of June 2025, accounting for a 26.27% market share among retail investors, according to the updated DRHP.Founded in 2016 by former Flipkart executives Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, Neeraj Singh, and Ishan Bansal.

Mumbai: Domestic silver exchange-traded funds (ETFs) posted their strongest single-day gains in 2025 as the strong run-up in the metal prices sparked a buying frenzy among investors, causing distortions between fund values and spot prices.Most Silver ETFs - traded like shares - spiked as much as 6-14% during Thursday's trading. Silver prices rose as much as 5% to ₹1.59 lakh.Market participants said the jump in silver ETF values was not just due to the surge in metal prices but because there wasn't enough physical silver to meet the unprecedented demand for the ETF units. Silver ETFs in India are backed by physical silver.When demand for ETF units increases, market makers create new units by delivering physical silver to the fund house (AMC) in exchange for ETF units. On Thursday morning, these market makers could not supply enough silver, causing the shortage."To create units of Silver ETFs, market makers or bullion dealers, are required to deliver physical silver to the Asset Management Company (AMC) in exchange for ETF units," said Satish Dondapati, fund manager, Kotak Mahindra AMC. "Due to a temporary silver shortage this morning, the exchange prices of silver ETFs surged 8-10%, marking the highest single-day spike this year." As supply constraints eased during the day, prices stabilised by the end of the day, said Dondapati.Currently, India is facing a major shortage of physical silver, with bulk deliveries delayed by 7-12 days and premiums rising to ₹5,000-7,000 per kilogram, said Navneet Damani, head of research- commodities & currency at Motilal Oswal Financial Services ."The shortage is driven by higher industrial demand, central bank buying from countries like Saudi Arabia and Russia and growing investor interest," he said. 124441557Silver has many industrial uses, including those in making electric vehicles, semiconductors and green energy technologies like solar panels.Damani said some traders may also have booked profits early in the morning and re-entered later, adding to the price swings.Prices of domestic silver have moved up nearly 79% in the past year, whereas most ETFs have delivered returns between 77% and 90%.A Balasubramanian, CEO, Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund said the recent spike in silver ETFs is due to under ownership of the asset as investors are now rushing to own it in order to diversify their portfolio.Price OutlookTraders are watching whether silver is able to cross the crucial resistance zone of $50-51 per ounce. According to Bloomberg, silver's December Futures were at $49.14 on the Comex on Thursday evening.“We expect silver to move towards $50, where it may face resistance and stabilise. A break above $51 could push prices quickly towards $60,” said Damani. The white metal has historically faced strong resistance at $50-levels and sees multiple short positions created in this zone. Dondapati said unlike silver’s previous rallies in 1980 and 2011, today’s silver uptrend is underpinned by strong fundamentals. “While short-term corrections or profit-taking may follow the recent surge, our long-term outlook remains bullish on silver, more so than on gold at this stage,” he said. Dondapati said currently, demand for Silver ETFs is outpacing that of gold. With gold recently reaching its $4,000 target, investors are now hoping silver will catch up to its $50 target, he said. Balasubramanian advises investors to remain cautious on silver after the recent run-up and consider adding more equities to their portfolios.

Kolkata: Chinese smartphone maker Vivo Mobile India has said in a regulatory filing with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) that it expects to continue as a "going concern" and manage capital to be financially solvent. The development comes at a time when the company's auditors have flagged concerns in RoC filings over Vivo's ability to be a going concern due to multiple regulatory actions against the company.Vivo, which was the country's largest smartphone maker in the April-June quarter as per researcher IDC India's latest data, said it will maintain "optimal capital structure to reduce cost of capital"."The group manages its capital so as to safeguard its ability to continue as a going concern and to optimise returns to shareholders. The capital structure of the group is based on management's judgement of its strategic and day-to-day needs with a focus on total equity so as to maintain investor, customer, creditors and market confidence," Vivo Mobile India said in the RoC filing.The company's auditor said in its report posted in filing made with the RoC in August that owing to ongoing investigations, tax issues and legal proceedings involving significant amounts under litigation, a "material uncertainty exists that may cast significant doubt on the ability of the company to continue as a going concern".

Food and beverages major PepsiCo on Thursday said international sales of its convenient foods business (snacks) has delivered a 2.5 per cent organic revenue growth in the third quarter of 2025, helped by markets including India. However, its International Beverages Franchise (IBF) segment, which focuses on bottling and distribution of PepsiCo's beverage brands outside of North America, had a decline of one per cent in the September quarter. IBF includes PepsiCo's international franchise beverage businesses as well as its SodaStream business. About its snack business, PepsiCo said: "Our international convenient foods business delivered organic revenue growth of 2.5 per cent in the third quarter and 3 per cent year to date." In the third quarter, organic revenue growth was driven by markets including Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, India, Egypt, Germany, Turkiye, Australia, Pakistan and Vietnam. "Year-to-date (nine months), we held or gained savory snack share in Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Poland, France, India, Australia and Thailand," said Pepsico in its earnings statement. PepsiCo's net revenue in the third quarter was up 2.65 per cent to USD 23.93 billion. Its operating profit was down 7.8 per cent to USD 3.57 billion for the quarter which ended on September 6, 2025. About the 2025 outlook, PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Ramon Laguarta said: "We continue to expect to deliver low-single-digit organic revenue growth with core constant currency EPS to be approximately even with the prior year. Our full year core USD EPS outlook has improved due to a more favourable outlook on foreign exchange translation rates for the balance of this year." PTI KRH HVA