Friday, April 16, 2021

The Bharatiya 1:48 AM

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Thursday, February 25, 2021

The Bharatiya 11:21 AM

Flipkart readies gamma shield against future changes in India's FDI policy for e-commerce

Flipkart declined to answer questions on the gamma sellers but said it is fully compliant with all applicable laws and the regulatory framework in the country.

Flipkart plans to introduce a third layer of sellers—codenamed gamma sellers—on its platform to scale down the dominance of preferred retailers that account for a substantial percentage of sales on the e-commerce marketplace. It intends to limit the share of each large seller’s sales on its platform to 5%, three people aware of the matter said.

The Walmart Inc.-owned online retailer is enrolling more than a dozen independent gamma sellers so that it is ready if India changes foreign direct investment (FDI) laws in the future and further restricts the share of sales of any online seller, two people said.

The presence of a small group of preferred sellers may have to be flagged as a potential risk when the firm goes for a public listing, the people said.

Flipkart declined to answer questions on the gamma sellers but said it is fully compliant with all applicable laws and the regulatory framework in the country.

“We have always been fully committed to fair marketplace practices,” a company spokesperson said in an emailed response. “As a marketplace, our endeavour has always been to facilitate buying and selling between lakhs of local sellers/distributors and a customer base of more than 300 million, in a transparent and efficient manner.”

Flipkart, at present, has a two-tiered seller structure: a handful of preferred vendors called alpha sellers and a beta layer of wholesale sellers that was put in place when the rules changed in 2018 to curtail the dominance of large sellers.

Alpha sellers, including RetailNet and OmniTechRetail, each account for a high-single digit or double-digit percentage of total sales on the country’s largest online marketplace.

As part of its gamma initiative, companies have been approached to become sellers on the platform without any equity held by Flipkart. “They are asking how much we can invest in the business,” said one potential business partner approached to become a gamma seller.

India has changed rules to ensure that online retail platform operators conform to their role as marketplace facilitators and have no control over sellers and inventory supplies.

Many distributors would earlier route their supplies to Flipkart India Pvt. Ltd., the company’s wholesale unit, which sold products to the preferred sellers.

‘No Purchase Orders From Flipkart India’

Flipkart is said to have already told some distributors that they won’t receive any further orders from Flipkart wholesale and has asked them to route their supplies to the newly enrolled gamma sellers.

"We have been told that now onwards we will not get any purchase orders from Flipkart India," said the head of an FMCG distributor asking not to be identified. "We have been asked to sign contracts with these new vendors."

India amended its FDI policy in e-commerce marketplaces in 2018 to classify any vendor accounting for more than 25% of the platform’s total sales as "controlled" by the marketplace operator. The 2018 legislation also capped the proportion of goods that an affiliate of a marketplace—such as Flipkart’s wholesale unit—could supply to any independent seller on the platform.

That resulted in Flipkart significantly curtailing purchases from companies and instead the alpha sellers purchased products directly from manufacturing companies. At that time, Flipkart asked suppliers to route their products directly to the alpha sellers and to the wholesale beta sellers, a layer of intermediaries created to comply with the new legislation.

Sunday, January 3, 2021

The Bharatiya 2:34 PM

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Thursday, December 31, 2020

The Bharatiya 1:11 AM

Penalty of Rs 7 lakh on Asit C Mehta Investment Intermediaries Ltd for misusing clients’ funds and other violations.

Sebi slaps Rs 7 lakh fine on entity for misusing clients’ fund

The amount of misuse ranged from 43 per cent to 70 per cent of the funds of credit balance clients, Sebi said in an order.

Stock market regulator Sebi on Wednesday slapped a penalty of Rs 7 lakh on Asit C Mehta Investment Intermediaries Ltd for misusing clients’ funds and other violations.

Sebi had conducted an inspection of the books of accounts, documents and other records of the entity during April 1, 2012 to September 30, 2015 period.

Further, a multi-theme inspection was also conducted on September 30, 2015, October 13-15 and October 28, 2015 and December 27, 2016.

During the inspections, the regulator observed that the noticee (Asit C Mehta Investment Intermediaries), as a stockbroker, had misused clients’ funds wherein funds of credit balance clients was used for debit balance clients and for its own purposes.

The amount of misuse ranged from 43 per cent to 70 per cent of the funds of credit balance clients, Sebi said in an order.

According to the regulator, the misutilisation of clients’ funds is serious in nature as the misuse ranged from Rs 12.15 crore to Rs 31.01 crore.

The watchdog also noted that the broker had not settled the account of its active clients within the stipulated time period.

Accordingly, it slapped a fine of Rs 7 lakh on Asit C Mehta Investment Intermediaries for the violations.

In a separate order passed on Tuesday, Sebi imposed a fine of Rs 3 lakh on Embassy Property Development Pvt Ltd for disclosure lapses.

Embassy Property Development failed to make timely disclosures regarding the financial results of the company for the half year ended March 31, 2019 to the exchange. This was in violation of the provisions of LODR (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations.

Wednesday, December 30, 2020

The Bharatiya 12:55 AM

Risk investors pour $9.3 billion into Indian startups despite Covid-19 woes

2020 year in review: Risk investors pour $9.3 billion into Indian startups despite Covid-19 woes

Synopsis

The overall funding amount raised is higher than in 2016 and 2017; more than $1.5 billion invested in December alone.

Investors have poured in about $9.3 billion into Indian startups so far in 2020 despite the Covid-19 pandemic upending many sectors of the economy, data from industry tracker Tracxn showed.

In December alone, more than $1.5 billion was invested across companies including food delivery app Zomato, logistics player Delhivery, and InMobi’s Glance, even at a time when deal closures usually slow as things wind down for the year. The investments have been spread across 1,088 financing rounds, according to the Tracxn data shared with ET.

In 2019, domestic startups had raised a total of $14.2 billion across 1,482 rounds from January 1 to December 23.

Although the number of funding rounds fell to its lowest in five years in 2020, the amount raised was higher than 2016 and 2017 -- when investors chipped in $3.51 billion and $6.43 billion, respectively -- signalling continued investor interest this year from both global as well as domestic investors.

Some of the largest venture capital firms doubled down on seed and Series A deals. There were fewer $100-million funding rounds this year (24 rounds totalling $4.71 billion), but these accounted for the bulk of deal value, Tracxn data showed. There were 28 rounds of over $100 million amounting to $7.86 billion in 2019, according to Tracxn.

Graphic: Rahul Awasthi

The year also saw heightened mergers and acquisitions, with several corporates and strategic investors scooping up high-growth targets.

Leading the pack was the acquisition of WhiteHat Jr ($300 million) by Byju’s, and Reliance Industries’ acquisition of online furniture retailer Urban Ladder ($24 million) and online pharmacy Netmeds ($83 million), clocking more than 20% growth in M&A transactions over the previous year.

Consumer healthcare, SMB SaaS (Software-as-a-Service), fintech, e-grocery, ed-tech and med-tech were clear winners this year, as companies realigned business models, pivoted or even shut down after the outbreak.

Big spike in seed & series A deals

“Compared to last year, 2020 has been a year of higher deal velocity. Overall, we committed to deploy 50% more capital this year than we did in the previous year,” said Hemant Mohapatra, partner at early-stage venture capital firm Lightspeed India, which has backed companies such as Oyo and Byju’s.

Over 80% of these deals have been in seed and series A stages, Mohapatra said. “Several of our portfolio companies accelerated their paths to series B+ rounds with interest coming in from global tier I funds before they even went out to raise formally. We saw more momentum, and higher check sizes at early stages across most sectors,” he added.

The lockdowns imposed during the early part of the year impacted business activity across sectors. Deal activity was slow in April ($461 million raised through 85 rounds), May ($318.5 million through 72 rounds) and June ($553 million through 68 rounds).

Graphic: Rahul Awasthi

However, investors were back to the table in the second half of the year as the lockdowns eased across states by the end of June.

“For VCs, it has been a year of two halves. The first half was spent in supporting portfolio companies as much as possible. The second half saw businesses adapt to the new normal - and that’s why there was an increase in investing activity towards the end of the year,” said Prasun Agarwal, partner at Mumbai-based A91 Partners.

Big funding deals were seen for startups such as Byju’s, Unacademy, Zomato, Cred, Delhivery, Razorpay, Vedantu and Cars24.

Frothy valuations

The ed-tech and SaaS sectors saw company valuations ballooning, raising concerns about frothiness, both in public as well as private markets.

In contrast, deals in sectors such as offline retail, restaurant SaaS, consumer lending, consumer mobility and construction/real-estate declined sharply.

Offline services marketplaces like wedding services, agent-led feet-on-street commerce, industrial robotics, travel and hospitality also took a severe beating.

The pandemic also forced investors to pump in funds into existing portfolio companies to help them stay afloat.

“We had to support some of our portfolio firms (low single-digits) where the funding rounds fell through, with top-ups,” said Sajith Pai, director, Blume Ventures, which invests in early-stage startups.

“Many of our portfolio companies are having the best months of their life and are either closing or have closed new rounds,” Pai added.

Falcon Edge, Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Accel and Steadview Capital were some of the most active venture capital investors this year, the Tracxn data showed, as these funds invested across funding stages.

“VC investors continue to be positive for India over the long term. When the investment horizons are for 5-10 years, there are always blips along the journey. Investing activity in 2020 shows that Covid-19 has not changed the long-term view on the country. In fact, technology adoption in both, enterprises and consumers have leapfrogged years, which has opened up wonderful opportunities for young businesses,” Agarwal of A91 said.

The Bharatiya 12:33 AM

Mukesh Ambani is under pressure to turn his old-economy conglomerate into a technology titan

Mukesh Ambani spent much of 2020 convincing Facebook Inc., Google and a clutch of Wall Street heavyweights to buy into his vision for one of the world’s most ambitious corporate transformations.

Now flush with $27 billion in fresh capital, Asia’s richest man is under pressure to deliver.

The 63-year-old Indian tycoon is focused on a handful of priorities as he tries to turn Reliance Industries Ltd. from an old-economy conglomerate into a technology and e-commerce titan, according to recent public statements and people familiar with the company’s plans.

These include developing products for the anticipated roll-out next year of a local 5G network; incorporating Facebook’s WhatsApp payments service into Reliance’s digital platform; and integrating the company’s e-commerce offerings with a network of physical mom-and-pop shops across the country. Ambani is also pushing forward with plans to sell a stake in Reliance’s oil and petrochemical units, a deal he had originally hoped would reduce debt and finance his high-tech pivot earlier this year.

Every Move

Investors are watching Ambani’s every move as he overhauls his empire -- with a market value of $179 billion -- in the middle of a pandemic, wading into highly competitive industries and taking on rivals from Amazon.com Inc. to Walmart Inc. Reliance shares rose as much as 55% this year to an all-time high in September, but they’ve since pared gains as stakeholders look for more evidence that Ambani can execute.

“The jury is out,” said Nandan Nilekani, who co-founded Infosys Ltd. in 1981 and now serves as chairman of the Bangalore-based software services provider valued at about $72 billion. “There’s a lot of work to be done.”

A spokesman for Mumbai-based Reliance Industries declined to comment for this story.

While Ambani has publicly embraced his new partnerships with investors including Facebook (he and Mark Zuckerberg traded compliments during a livestreamed conversation on Dec. 15), the Indian tycoon’s fundraising spree was initially meant to be more of a Plan B. His original goal was to sell a 20% stake in Reliance’s oil and petrochemicals division to Saudi Arabian Oil Co., at an enterprise value of $75 billion, implying a $15 billion valuation for the stake.

The Aramco deal, first announced in August 2019, was supposed to help Ambani deliver on a pledge to get rid of his company’s $22 billion in net debt in 18 months. But as talks with the Saudis stalled, Reliance investors grew more anxious. The stock tumbled more than 40% in the three months through March 23.

Hit A Wall

Ambani, who had begun exploring stake sales in his digital services and retail units months earlier, decided to accelerate those talks after the Aramco deal hit a wall, people familiar with the matter said.

The response from investors exceeded the company’s expectations, one of the people said, with big-name backers including KKR & Co., Silver Lake and Mubadala Investment Co. committing more than $20 billion to the digital business and $6.4 billion to retail. Reliance declared itself free of net debt in June, nine months before its self-imposed deadline and Reliance’s shares surged.

At Reliance’s annual shareholder meeting in July, Ambani and his eldest children Isha and Akash sketched out the broad thrust of their high-tech ambitions. Among the new services they touted was a 5G wireless network as early as next year and a video-streaming platform that will bring Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, Amazon Prime Video and dozens of TV channels under one umbrella.

Reliance’s digital unit, Jio Platforms Ltd., will also develop a portfolio of technology solutions and apps for India’s millions of micro, small and medium businesses, Ambani said, adding that he plans to eventually expand the platform overseas.

“The time has come for a truly global digital product and services company to emerge from India,” Ambani told shareholders.

The company’s biggest priority for 2021 is 5G, people familiar with the matter said. While regulators have yet to auction rights to India’s next-generation airwaves, Ambani said this month that his company “will pioneer the 5G revolution in India in the second half of 2021.”

$54 Smartphone

Reliance is planning to showcase its lineup of 5G products at next year’s shareholder meeting, which typically takes place sometime between July and September, one of the people said. The company is also working with Google on an Android-based $54 smartphone, part of the strategy to get more Indians to use mobile data for services including streaming video, online games and shopping.

Reliance views the integration with WhatsApp’s recently approved payments system as a crucial step in the development of its online shopping services, the people said. The companies are working together as Reliance’s e-commerce platforms look to tap hundreds of millions of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram users.

Ambani’s biggest challenge now is to earn a return on these investments, said James Crabtree, author of “The Billionaire Raj: A Journey Through India’s New Gilded Age.”

The industries Ambani is targeting are constantly evolving, much more so than the refining and petrochemicals businesses that still comprise the bulk of Reliance’s revenue. “He’s got to get it right over and over again,” Crabtree said.

‘Key Man’ Risk

There’s also the challenge of “key man” risk. Ambani -- the face of Reliance -- isn’t getting any younger. While the company hasn’t publicly disclosed a succession plan, India’s Mint newspaper reported in August that Ambani, whose net worth is about $77 billion, is setting up a family council and aims to complete succession planning by the end of next year.

“Any large, single-pillar edifice has major inherent risks,” said Kavil Ramachandran, executive director of the Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise at the Indian School of Business.

Ambani supporters point to his recent track record of disruption. He famously upended India’s telecommunications industry four years ago by offering free calls and cheap data, pushing some rivals into bankruptcy. His wireless carrier, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., now has more than 400 million subscribers.

“Mukesh has been a big part of this wave of innovation,” said Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Alphabet Inc., which owns Google. “His vision and focus of a future where every Indian can benefit from the opportunities technology creates is really exciting to us and we are glad to be a partner in that work.”

Countering China

Ambani has also positioned his empire as a potential asset for an Indian government that’s keen for ways to counter the growing technological might of China, especially after deadly border clashes between the long-time rivals this year. Ambani has repeatedly highlighted how Reliance’s goals align with those of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which has called for homegrown solutions to bridge the country’s yawning digital divide.

While Infosys’s Nilekani cautions that it’s too early to declare Reliance’s transformation a success, he’s optimistic that Ambani will pull it off.

“He has a terrific eye for execution,” Nilekani said. “He looks at the big picture while at the same time getting into every minor detail, much like Jeff Bezos. They are both unique. Neither man is known to give up.”

The Bharatiya 12:28 AM

Missing ITR filing deadline on Dec 31 will attract penalty twice that of last year

One important difference between missing the ITR filing deadline last year and missing it - December 31 - this year is that you will have to pay a penalty of Rs 10,000 this time, unlike last year when the penalty for belated ITR filing within a few months of missing the deadline was only Rs 5000. However, this penalty or late filing fee will only be applicable if your net total income (i.e. income after claiming eligible deductions and tax exemptions) exceeds Rs 5 lakh in the financial year for which the ITR is being filed. If your net total income does not exceed Rs 5 lakh in the financial year, then late filing fee will be Rs 1,000.

The normal deadline to file Income Tax Returns (ITRs) for an individual is July 31 every year. If you miss the deadline and file a belated return by December 31 of the same year, then the late filing fee is Rs 5000. If you file, the belated return after December 31 but before March 31 of the relevant assessment year then the late filing fee is Rs 10,000. As the time period between July to December 31 would already be over once the new deadline of December 31 is missed therefore the higher penalty of Rs 10,000 would automatically become applicable.

Chartered Accountant Naveen Wadhwa, DGM, Taxmann.com says, "As the due date (for ITR filing) has been extended to December 31, 2020, the late filing fees of Rs. 5,000 shall not be applicable because it is charged if return is furnished after the due date but before December 31 of the relevant assessment year. Thus, an ITR filed between January 2021 and March 2021 will be termed as belated ITR for FY 2019-20 and will attract a late fee of Rs 10,000, if applicable."

Corroborating the view, Abhishek Soni, CEO & founder, Tax2win.in, an ITR filing website says, "This is because no change has been made in section 234F of the Income-tax Act. Under this section, there is a two-tier structure of levying late filing fee on belated ITR filing."

A late filing fee under section 234F is usually levied as follows:
a) Rs 5,000 if the ITR is filed after the expiry of the deadline but on or before the December 31
b) Rs 10,000 if the ITR is filed between January 1 and March 31.
However, for small taxpayers whose total income does not exceed Rs 5 lakh, then late filing fee of Rs 1000 is levied.

Even individual taxpayers whose income is above the exemption limit but have already paid their entire tax due will have to pay the penalty as applicable if they file a belated ITR i.e. after the December 31 deadline.

Levying of late filing fee on belated ITR was announced in Union Budget 2017 and became effective for the income tax returns filed for FY 2017-18 onwards.

What if income is below exemption limit
Effective from FY 2019-20, ITR filing is also mandatory if you meet certain conditions, even if your gross total income is below the basic exemption limit i.e. there is no tax liability. These conditions are:
a) If you have spent Rs 2 lakh or more on foreign travel on self or any other person in the relevant financial year;
b) If you have paid an electricity bill of Rs 1 lakh or more in the relevant FY; and
c) If you have deposited Rs 1 crore or more in one or more current accounts maintained with a bank or co-operative bank.

In such cases, if ITR is not filed before the expiry of deadline i.e. December 31, 2020, then late filing fee will be levied on filing a belated ITR. However, the fee amount will not exceed Rs 1,000 in such cases. On the other hand, if ITR filing is not mandatory under the income tax laws, then no penalty will be levied even if the ITR is filed after the due date.

The Bharatiya 12:23 AM

Mumbai: 34 years later, 800 flat-buyers get Rs 24 crore back

(This story originally appeared in on Dec 29, 2020)

MUMBAI: In a long-drawn legal battle with a builder, around 800 buyers, who booked flats in an affordable housing scheme in Virar in 1986, finally started receiving refund cheques totalling Rs 24 crore.

Over three decades ago, they had paid builder, Paranjape Construction, Rs 1 lakh to Rs 11 lakh for homes at the J P Nagar project at Kofrad village, Virar.

The developer completed some buildings but was unable to finish the project, forcing stranded purchasers to approach the consumer court from 1998. They were represented by the consumer rights group, Mumbai Grahak Panchayat (MGP).

Following a national consumer disputes redressal commission court order in favour of buyers in 2012, the builder’s land was auctioned for Rs 24 crore that year but he challenged the auction in Bombay high court. The HC did not stay the auction but directed that money not be disbursed to the buyers till the final order. In February 2019, the court ordered that the amount be paid to the buyers. But due to parliamentary and assembly elections, the local collector’s office was unable to start the process. Early this year, the pandemic lockdown further delayed the payment.

Recently, Vasai tehsildar Ujwala Bhagat transferred the amounts to Bandra Consumer Commission’s office for disbursal to the buyers. “We started returning the money two months back,’’ she said.

“It is a historic and landmark case where 800 home-buyers led by MGP fought against the builder. This case speaks volumes about the very poor functioning of consumer courts, which are expected to redress consumer grievances in three to five months. During this long period, few purchasers expired,’’ MGP chairman advocate Shirish Deshpande told TOI. “Most buyers had given up hope of getting their hard-earned money but MGP ultimately succeeded in getting it back,’’ he said.

The developer could not be reached for a comment.

In 1986-87, Paranjpae Construction announced an affordable housing scheme in Virar, offering homes at “very reasonable prices’’. Many middle-class families were tempted to book flats/row houses and paid substantial amounts. The developer completed around a dozen buildings and gave possession to buyers. But he was unable to finish the entire project, leaving 800 buyers in the lurch. MGP filed cases in consumer courts at the district forum and national commission level on behalf of the buyers in five batches between 1998-2002. The builder was ordered to refund the money along with compensation, but did not comply with orders.

MGP invoked Section 25 of Consumer Protection Act, 1986, and got Paranjape’s property at Virar auctioned through the collector. “The developer challenged the auction in HC in 2012, so money received through it could not be paid to the buyers. After seven years, the HC dismissed Paranjape’s challenge, observing that there was no irregularity in the auction and cleared the way for a refund,’’ said MGP secretary Anita Khanolkar.

The Bharatiya 12:06 AM

More market holidays & extended weekends for Dalal Street in 2021

Calendar 2021 will have 14 market holidays, including five extended weekends because of a holiday falling either on Friday or Monday, data compiled from BSE suggests. The list counts the special shortened one-hour ‘Muhurat trading’ session on Diwali as a market holiday.

Calendar 2020 had fewer market holidays at 12, but more extended weekends at nine.

The first holiday for the bourses in 2021 would be on January 26, a Thursday, when the market would be shut for Republic Day. Bourses would observe no holidays in February and June.

There are two market holidays in March – Mahashivratri on March 11 and Holi on March 29. Holi, in this case, would be an extended weekend, as the holiday falls on a Friday.

April will have three market off days: on April 2 on account of Good Friday, April 14 for Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Jayanti and April 21 for Ram Navami.

Eid-Ul-Fitr (Ramzan Id) on May 13 would be the sole market holiday for May, Bakri Id on July 21 for July and Muharram on August 19 for August.

Towards the latter part of the year, Ganesh Chaturthi falls on September 10 and Dussehra on October 15, which would be extended market holidays.

The biggest extended holiday would be during Diwali.

A special shortened trading would take place in an otherwise market holiday on November 4, Thursday, account of Diwali. The market would be shut on November 5, Friday, on account of Diwali Balipratipada, followed by regular trading holidays on Saturday and Sunday. Gurunanak Jayanti would also fall on a Friday, on November 19.

Christmas next year falls on a Saturday, which is a normal market holiday.

The Bharatiya 12:04 AM

Out of 10 biggest small investor bets, only one shone in 2020; 9 eroded wealth

The biggest bets of retail investors failed to deliver strong returns in Calendar 2020, even when the equity benchmarks are ending the year at record highs.

Investors holding shares worth up to Rs 2 lakh bought additional stakes of 9.5-23 percentage points in 10 of the BSE500 companies during the first three quarters of the year.

All but Laurus Labs delivered poor returns: seven of them ended up eroding up to 77 per cent of investor wealth; two delivered a tepid return of 3 per cent each. In comparison, BSE Sensex gained 15 per cent for the year.

Kishore Biyani’s Future Retail eroded 77 per cent of retail investors’ wealth during the year. Retail investors held 25.09 per cent stake in this company as of September 30 compared with 2.22 per cent held on December 31, 2019. Future Consumer, another Biyani stock, plunged 62 per cent during the year. Retail investors held 20.33 per cent stake in this stock as of September quarter, compared with 6.77 per cent held on December 31, 2019.

In August, Future Group said Reliance Industries, through its retail arm, would acquire the company’s retail & wholesale business as well as the logistics & warehousing businesses on a slump sale basis for Rs 24,713 crore. Amazon, a stakeholder in Future, is looking to block that deal, saying the Indian retailer violated a contract by agreeing to the sale to a rival controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani.

Shares of Raymond have slumped 49 per cent so far in 2020. Retail investors raised stake in this diversified firm by 7.63 percentage points to 25.31 per cent from 17.1 per cent. The Raymond group operates across segments such as FMCG, engineering and prophylactics besides in textile and apparel.

“This year was a total washout. I don't think we will meet FY20 levels, but going forward, a lot of companies have reshaped themselves. They have set new benchmarks and there is a lot of opportunities for the companies that survived this pandemic. They will come out much stronger," Raymond's Chairman and Managing Director Gautam Hari Singhania told PTI earlier this month.

Equitas Holdings declined 38 per cent year to date, as SME/MFI businesses faced various challenges at the operating levels in the wake of the Covid pandemic. The stock has recovered strongly in the last two months on faster-than-expected recovery in business.

Indiabulls Housing Finance (down 35 per cent), Chennai Petroleum Corporation (down 16 per cent) and The South Indian Bank (down 11 per cent) are three other biggest retail bets that failed to deliver for the year. Two stocks -- NCC and PTC India -- delivered 3 per cent each, while Laurus Labs delivered a solid 384 per cent return.

Analysts are mixed on Indiabulls Housing Finance. The company has lost mortgage market share in last one year. The housing finance company had a 2.2 per cent market share as of September 2020 compared with 3.7 per cent held in the year-ago quarter. The scrip had one 'buy', one 'underperform' and one 'hold' ratings on the publicly available Reuters Eikon database as of Friday.

South Indian Bank had four 'buy', one 'outperform', two 'hold', one 'underperform' and one 'sell' rating on the same database. CPCL had one 'buy' and one 'outperform' ratings.

NCC, meanwhile, has seen robust order flows so far in FY21, surpassing its annual guidance of Rs 10,000 crore. Its standalone order backlog stood at Rs 28,000 crore in September while the current unadjusted backlog stood at Rs 32,800 crore, 4.7 times the trailing 12-month revenues. Recovery of past dues is seen as a key trigger for the stock. PTC India has one 'buy' and one 'outperform' ratings, as per the Reuters database.

Analysts remain positive on Laurus Labs on superior execution in the antiretrovirals segment, strong chemistry skill set in the contract development and manufacturing business, the addition of new molecules in the API segment and cost efficiencies. Retail holding in this stock stood at 15.89 per cent at the end of September against 6.37 per cent as of December 31.

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