Tag: nse

ESAF Small Finance Bank files Rs 998 crore IPO papers with Sebi, BFSI News, ET BFSI

Banking & Finance

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NEW DELHI: ESAF Small Finance Bank has filed preliminary papers with capital markets regulator Sebi to raise Rs 998 crore through an initial public offer (IPO).

The Rs 997.78-crore public issue comprises fresh issue of equity shares worth Rs 800 crore and an offer for sale of Rs 197.78 crore by existing selling shareholders, the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) filed with Sebi showed.

Under the offer for sale, promoter will be selling shares worth Rs 150 crore, PNB MetLife would be offloading shares to the tune of Rs 21.33 crore, Bajaj Allianz Life will offer shares of Rs 17.46 crore, PI Ventures will sell Rs 8.73 crore worth shares and John Chakola will offer shares worth Rs 26 lakh.

The bank may consider a pre-IPO placement of equity shares for an aggregate amount up to Rs 300 crore. If the pre-IPO placement is undertaken, the amount raised from such placement will be reduced from the fresh issue.

Proceeds from the fresh issue will be used to augment the bank’s Tier – I capital base to meet future capital requirements.

ESAF Small Finance Bank is one of the leading small finance banks in India in terms of client base size, yield on advances, net interest margin, assets under management compound annual growth rate (CAGR), total deposit CAGR, loan portfolio concentration in rural and semi-urban areas and ratio of micro loan advances to gross advances.

As at May 31, 2021, the small finance bank had over 4.68 million customers in 21 states and two union territories.

Axis Capital, Edelweiss Financial Services, ICICI Securities and IIFL Securities have been appointed as merchant bankers to advise the bank on the IPO.

The equity shares of the bank will be listed on BSE and NSE.



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MCX data breach: No charges against former MD

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Mrugank Paranjape, the former MD and CEO of Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), will not face any further charges for the alleged data breach scandal that rocked the exchange during his tenure in 2016. The MCX board, which met last Saturday, has decided to hold back Paranjape’s variable pay for the year.. There will be no further inquiry or charges levelled against Paranjape or anybody else into the matter, sources told BusinessLine.

The alleged theft of market data at MCX and its use by unauthorised persons was the second major incident of breach at any exchange in India after the National Stock Exchange (NSE) algo trading scandal came to light.

Also read: MCX holds back former MD’s salary in data breach case

In both the cases, the involvement of key people and a Mumbai-based research institution Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR) had come to light. A forensic audit report by New Delhi-based firm TR Chaddha and Co had mentioned in its report that data shared by the MCX with Susan Thomas, a professor with IGIDR, could have gone into algorithmic trading and even accessed by unauthorised persons.

Professor Thomas is the wife of Ajay Shah, one of the accused in the NSE Co-location scam. However, MCX board is of the view that it could not find enough evidence to take the matter forward, the sources said.

‘Censure order’

“It is likely that MCX could pass a censure order in the data breach matter,” the source said. Censure is a formal and public act intended to convey that the persons concerned have been guilty of some blameworthy act or omission.

Also read: MCX probing ‘abuse’of pact with IGIDR

BusinessLine first broke the story in 2018 about the forensic audit that revealed how the MCX shared data via ‘private undertaking’ with Thomas and Chirag Anand, a Delhi-based algo software designer. The case was in a limbo since the forensic audit was submitted. The exchange had also sought explanation from some of the other employees in the exchange.

MCX has also conducted an internal inquiry regarding the purchase of land by it at the Gujarat International Finance-Tech (GIFT) City in Gandhinagar when Paranjape was at the helm. Sources told BusinessLine that more land was purchased than was formally approved by MCX board or its committee.

Another incident where the role of Paranjape and a senior board member was under the scanner was the award of a multi-crore software development contract to a London-based firm for a spot exchange platform. “In all these matters, MCX has decided not to hold anybody responsible for the lack of evidence,” the sources said.

When contacted, Paranjape said, “I have not received any communication from MCX and hence I’m not aware of anything. I’m not saying anything more.” MCX did not respond to an email query from BusinessLine

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Bond yields and equities – it takes two to tango

Personal Finance

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In recent months inflation expectations have been on the rise both in India and the developed markets and its impact has been felt on bond yields globally, central bank QE (quantitative easing) notwithstanding. Since then a new narrative has been taking hold amongst some market bulls. This new narrative is that the long-term correlation between bond yields and equities is positive, and hence is not a cause for alarm among equity investors. If expectations of better growth is driving inflation upwards and results in a rise in yields, then it reflects optimism on the economy and equities are likely to do well in such a scenario, is their argument. Is there data to support these claims? Is increase in bond yield actually good or bad for equities?

Inconsistent narratives

When movement of bond yields in any direction is used as a justification for equities to go up, then you must become circumspect. Since the launch of monetary stimulus last year globally by central banks and the crash in bond yields and deposit rates, the narrative that was used to justify a bull case for equities (which played out since the lows of March 2020) was that there is no alternative to equities. Hence, when bond yields actually start moving up as they have since early part of this year, an alternative for equities is actually emerging. So, market bulls have now shifted the narrative to why increase in bond yields this time is positive for equities as in their view bond yields are rising in anticipation of better economic growth. Well actually by this logic, last year bond yields fell in anticipation of a recession, so ideally it should have been negative for equities, right? Logic is the casualty when goal posts are changed.

Economic theory vs reality

Theoretically, increase in bond yields is negative for equities. This is for four reasons.

One, increase in yields will make borrowing costs more expensive and will negatively impact the profits of corporates and the savings of individuals who have taken debt.

Two, increase in bond yields is on expectations of inflation and inflation erodes the value of savings. Lower value of savings, implies lower purchasing power, which will affect demand for companies.

Three, increase in bond yields makes them relatively more attractive as an investment option; and four, higher yields reduce the value of the net present value of future expected earnings of companies. The NPV is used to discount estimates of future corporate profits to determine the fundamental value of a stock. The discounting rate increases when bond yields increase, and this lowers the NPV and the fundamental value of the stock.

What does reality and data indicate to us? Well, it depends on the period to which you restrict or expand the analysis (see table). For example if you restrict the analysis to the time when India had its best bull market and rising bond yields (2004-07), the correlation between the 10-year G-Sec yield and Nifty 50 (based on quarterly data from Bloomberg) was 0.78. However if you extend your horizon and compare for the 20 year period from beginning of 2001 till now, the correlation is negative 0.15. The correlation for the last 10 years is also negative 0.75.

In the table, we have taken 4 year periods since 2000 and analysed the correlation, on the assumption that investors have a 3-5 year horizon. The correlation is not strong across any time period except 2004-07 . It appears unlikely we will see the kind of economic boom of that period right now. That was one of the best periods in global economy since World War 2, driven by Chinese spending and US housing boom as compared to current growth driven by monetary and fiscal stimulus, the sustainability of which is in doubt in the absence of stimuli. This apart, Nifty 50 was trading at the lower end of its historical valuation range then versus at around its highest levels ever now. Inflationary pressures too are higher now. In this backdrop, the case for a strong positive correlation between equities and bond yields is weak.

What it means to you

What this implies is that the data is not conclusive and claims that bond yields and equities are positively correlated cannot be used as basis for investment decisions. At best, one can analyse sectors and stocks and invest in those that may have a clear path to better profitability when interest rates increase for specific reasons. For example, a company having a stronger balance sheet can gain market share versus debt-laden competitors; market leaders with good pricing power can gain even when inflation is on the rise.

A final point to ponder upon is whether a market rally that has been built on the premise that there is no alternative to equities in ultra-low interest rate environment, can make a transition without tantrums to a new paradigm of higher interest rates even if that is driven by optimism around growth. An increase in Fed expectations for the first interest rate increase a full two years from now, caused temporary sell-offs across equites, bonds and emerging market currencies, till comments from Fed Governor calmed the markets. These may be indications of how fragile markets are to US interest rates and yields.

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Why betting on stocks based on big-picture themes doesn’t work

Personal Finance

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No one can resist the onward march of an idea whose time has come, Victor Hugo said. In bull markets, there are many who apply this to stock investing as well. While conventional investors run screeners, scan company filings and analyse quarterly numbers to identify buys, idea investors believe that to find multi-baggers, all they need to do is latch on to a powerful idea.

So, the moment the Centre announces an Atmanirbhar Bharat push, they’re buying chemical or pharma intermediate companies. In a Digital India push, they’re buying fibre-optic cable makers. When it announces higher FDI in insurance or defense, they’re buying up listed insurers or PSU defense equipment makers. If e-commerce is taking off, they buy logistics stocks and if States are ramping up Covid testing, they bet on diagnostic labs.

But exciting as it may seem, selecting stocks based on such big-picture themes seldom adds durable wealth to one’s portfolio. If you’re itching to try it out, watch out for these pitfalls.

Skipped homework

Most long-term winners in one’s stock portfolio come from understanding a company’s business better than others in the market, spotting a sector trend early or buying a business when the market is under-estimating its potential. But when you’re chasing hot new ideas, there’s often no room for deep study of a company or a sector. Being in a hurry to ride a wave before it fizzles out, can force you to skip necessary homework, leading you to buy lemons.

A recent and somewhat extreme example of an idea stock that proved to be full of hot air is Bombay Oxygen Investments. As the media filled with reports of oxygen shortages during the second wave of Covid, thematic investors scrambled for companies that would gain from this theme. Bombay Oxygen Investments, thanks to the keyword in its name, shot up by 140 per cent between end-March and mid-April from ₹10,000 to over ₹24,000. But after little digging revealed that the ‘oxygen’ in the company’s name was a legacy of the past, the stock crashed 40 per cent.

The company, earlier in the business of manufacturing industrial gases, had discontinued this activity in August 2019 to secure a NBFC license from RBI. Since December 2019, it has been engaged in investment operations that have nothing to do with oxygen.

Shifting focus

While Bombay Oxygen may not have set out to deliberately mislead investors, there are many companies in the Indian market that are ever willing to oblige fickle markets by entering any business that seems to be the current flavour of the season. Scores of obscure firms attached ‘cyber’ to their names during the dotcom boom, construction companies transformed into ‘infra’ firms in the 2007-08 bull market and several new ‘logistics’ companies cropped up in the e-commerce boom. Owning such companies can be quite a roller-coaster, because you may find that instead of sticking to and scaling up in the business you bet on, they are constantly shifting shape to cater to market preferences.

Investors in Vakrangee Software have seen it morph from a company focussed on last-mile financial inclusion, to a play on e-governance and Digital India, to a retailer for Bharat in a short five-year span. Originally a franchisee for the Aadhar UID project in 2010, Vakrangee pivoted to being an e-governance firm that helped folks in tier-3 towns and villages perform internet-related tasks through an extensive network of over 40,000 Vakrangee Kendras in 2016-17. It then made unrelated forays, through subsidiaries into providing logistics for e-commerce giants and retailing gold. Even as the company’s revenues have taken a sharp tumble, it is readying yet another pivot, from e-governance to setting up a pan-India ATM network. While the stock has crashed over 90 per cent from its peak of ₹500, the company has run into governance issues as well after scotching a ₹1000 crore buyback plan, abrupt resignation of its auditor and penalties from SEBI for fraudulent trading in the stock.

To avoid betting on such wrong horses, run a check on the company’s annual reports and management commentary over the years. Frequent business pivots are a sign that the management is more focused on managing its stock price than on building a scalable business.

Execution woes

Idea investors focus a lot on big-picture trends that will play out in future. In the process, they may forget to check if the company they’re betting on has the execution capability to translate its larger-than-life vision into reality.

A good example of a great-sounding idea turning out to be a pipe dream is Educomp Solutions, a favourite stock with idea investors between 2008 and 2010. Listed in 2006, the company’s management successfully marketed the idea that Indian schools mostly using old-world methods of chalk-and-board teaching, were ripe for digital transformation pan-India. The hardware company, engaged in the computerization of schools pan-India, showcased itself as a high-growth play on ed-tech solutions for K-12 education. Within three years of listing, it was reporting 100 per cent revenue growth with operating profit margins of 48 per cent. Having installed its Smartclass solutions in about 2500 schools, it set itself a target of expanding to 15,000 schools and a ₹1000 crore revenue. It later transpired that in its aggressive bid to sign on more schools, Educomp didn’t pay attention to whether these school tie-ups actually translated into revenues. After many delayed or skipped payments, the company faced mounting receivables and debt, defaulted on bank loans and turned an NPA in 2016. It was later subject to CBI raids. The stock which hit dizzying heights of over ₹1000 in its heydays is currently at ₹3.

Educomp’s story is a lesson that captivating big-picture ideas need not translate into profits on the ground. It pays to be particularly wary of managements who set order-of-magnitude targets and sell you big dreams.

Not all idea-based stocks turn out to be lemons on the scale of a Bombay Oxygen or an Educomp or a Vakrangee. Investors in the stocks of diagnostic chains or pharma API companies have for instance, made significant gains in the last one year. But this is more because such companies already had established business models that had evolved over many years and had operating metrics, even before the Covid opportunity came by. Even in such cases, long-term investors may need to ask two questions – whether the big pop in earnings from the opportunity will sustain and whether stock valuations already factor in a best-case scenario.

Overall, even if idea-based investing excites you, it may be best allocate only a fixed portion of your portfolio to such opportunistic bets.

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How to build a resilient equity portfolio amid market volatility

Personal Finance

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The bull run since March 2020 has been unprecedented by historical standards – a bull run in the midst of the worst recession since World War 2. It resembles a rooftop party when the hotel lobby is on fire under full conviction that the fire men (central bankers and governments) have the tools (monetary and fiscal stimulus) to douse the fire and fix the mess.

It is often said that markets look to the future and this phrase has been oft-repeated to justify market movements contrary to current fundamentals. Same time last year (April/May 2020) many market observers were agog with opinions that Covid-19 would be under control in a year, setting the stage for economic recovery. Well, here we are one year later in May 2021, witnessing a deadlier second wave.

Given the uncertainties, markets have remained volatile in recent times. Have you assessed whether your portfolio is bear market proof? Bear market proofing does not mean building a portfolio will not decline in a bear market, but building one which is well positioned to withstand the phase and reap benefits, when the cycle turns favourably. Here’s what you can do.

No aggressive averaging

Painful investment stories include cases of investors buying stocks first while it is in triple digits in a bull market, averaging aggressively in double digits in a bear market and finally selling it in single digits! As correction in certain stocks increase, investors tend to increase allocation to that stock out of belief that is more attractive and overall portfolio positions may become concentrated.

When a bull market ends and bear market plays out, many stocks you thought were built to last, become history. Our own bellwether indices – Sensex and Nifty, had quite a few stocks that turned out this this way after three-digit or four-sigit share prices– JP Associates, Unitech, ADAG Group stocks, Suzlon. Yes Bank etc are examples. If that is the case with bellwether stocks, you can only expect a larger rout in mid- and small-cap stocks. Geodesic, Tulip Telecom, Educomp, Everonn, Karuturi Global, IVRCL etc. are just a few examples from a large universe of stocks that were touted as next big guns of the market in the earlier decade, but mis-fired.

A rule for each bucket

So, which stocks should you average and which ones you shouldn’t ?

Thematic/high risk bets (10-15 per cent of principal invested) – These can become potential multibaggers if the theme plays out successfully and the stock becomes a bellwether of the theme. If you had bet on electric cars as a theme in the early part of last decade and bought Tesla, it may have paid off. But this pay-off came after multiple near bankruptcy situations for Tesla. Similarly, in early stages it will not be clear who would be the ultimate winner of a theme. If you are looking to make 10-20x return on a stock, there is no reason for you to average if the stock goes to x/2 as the risks are higher when you average, given the theme/stock may not play out. Hence to manage the risk here, what investors can do is to make a one-time investment and resist the urge to average during corrections. Besides your research, if you are lucky your investment will pay off. If not, you would not have lost more.

Quality/value stocks (60-70 per cent) – Companies with best-in-class managements and corporate governance, strong balance sheets (very marginal debt or net cash in balance sheet) can be placed in this category. If any company is going to survive a bear market, it would be these companies. Companies in this category can be averaged periodically through the bear market phase like you would do in the case of a mutual fund SIP.

Cyclical stocks (20-25 per cent) tend to be most volatile to changes in macro backdrop and hence can give outsized returns or losses as this backdrop changes. Naturally in a bear market, their performance will be far worse than the broader index. If you are a long-term investor, this category of stocks you can buy or average when they are trading at levels closer to historical trough valuation levels.

Keep powder dry

While definitely at every point in time, including times of euphoria, markets offer opportunities for long-term investors, there is no case to go all out into the markets when it is trading at levels significantly above historical mean.

At a broader level, markets keep giving slam dunk opportunities to enter from time to time as, what is known as the ‘Minsky Moment’ plays out in every market cycle. Excessively speculative periods in bull markets are usually followed by a collapse. Shares fall well below fair value as the speculation involving extreme levels of leverage gets unwound when the economic expectations shift to the negative. For example, if you had missed the 2004-2007 bull market rally, you would have again got an opportunity to enter the markets at 2005 levels in 2009. Similarly, if you had missed the 2013 to 2020 rally, you would have again got an opportunity to enter the market at 2014 levels in 2020.

As per recent data, FPIs own around $575 billion in Indian equities,of which 75 per cent is concentrated in just 40 stocks. Any threats to the dollar carry trade due to inflation concerns in the US, combined with leverage taken by Indian investors as well, may trigger Minsky Moments. So, in case you have missed the 2020 rally, keep calm. You are likely get an opportunity to enter at attractive levels in the future.

(This is a free article from the BusinessLine premium Portfolio segment. For more such content, please subscribe to The Hindu BusinessLine online.)

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What has led to Indian millennials storming the stock market

Personal Finance

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A surge is visible in the equity markets, both in pre- and post-Covid India. Besides, most of the newcomers are between the age of 20 and 30 years. This young generation, or the so-called millennials, are more adaptive to new technology, apart from being keen on finding new ways to achieve their goals. There are other catalysts to this influx of first time participants. For instance, the entire stock markets ecosystem has evolved over the last five years and is conducive to new young participants.

Also, the surge of learning platforms and more genuine resources to conduct research has further helped spur the participation. Unlike their previous generations, the term stock market doesn’t bring a sense of fear among millennials as they are well read and well informed. They take their own decisions and take calculated risks in the markets.

Reduced dependency on brokers

Previously, the brokerage firms were dominating the industry in terms of providing a platform to trade, stock suggestions and managing money on the client’s behalf. However, with the entry of new-age tech brokers the industry has seen a drastic change as now there are separate companies offering different specialised solutions to each of the above services — a trading platform, specific recommendations and holistic financial planning.

The new entrants have given special attention to ease of use and focus towards providing a hassle-free experience through the use of technological advancements. It’s a win-win for all. From KYC updation to new account opening, everything can be done digitally. Almost everything is just a click away.

Besides, the broking industry has also become highly competitive in terms of the charges, which have given a further fillip to millennial participation. Zerodha, which is a discount broker, for instance, saw higher influx of younger investors during the pandemic. Investors in the age group of 20-30 years now make up 69 per cent of the company’s investors compared to 50-55 per cent pre-Covid.

Growth in learning platforms

Millennials prefer to make their own decisions. They focus on learning about stock markets and stock market education platforms have provided a lot of support. There is a plethora of knowledge available on the internet, — including blogs, YouTube, and online courses –at optimal cost to help people start their own stock market journey.

Some popular stock market education portals cover topics from basics to expert level. Examples of such platforms include Udemy and Elearnmarkets. These platforms offer courses suiting all needs–offline, online, self-paced, or live.

This has helped young participants to first develop a proper knowledge base and then venture into the markets so that they are more apt to handle the volatile nature of the market.

Ease of doing research

Earlier, the brokers and media houses used to do all the research and give trading calls to their clients through news, calls and reports. The scenario has now changed with the millennials barely relying on such news and preferring to do their own research. In this regard, research sites have gained popularity, which has simplified the process of doing fundamental and technical analysis.

Offering a host of information such as market news, charts, financial data of companies, everything at a click, online tools and platforms have made stock research quite accessible. Stockedge is one such platform that hosts such information. These platforms have helped participants take well-informed decisions. Access to information and readymade analytics is no more a barrier for them. Other platforms such as TradingView, Chartink, have made intraday trading easy for active traders in the market by providing them solutions that help them make quick decisions during market hours.

We see how the entire ecosystem has become very inclusive and supportive for anyone to join in, learn and grow.

The stock market has recently been in an upward trend and has raised optimism among newbies. But the market is unpredictable and may become volatile soon. Experienced participants manage through such volatile phases and only time will tell if the millennials shy away or continue with their journey.

The author is a co-founder and CEO of StockEdge & Elearnmarkets.com

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Fincare Small Finance Bank files Rs 1,330-cr IPO papers with Sebi, BFSI News, ET BFSI

Banking & Finance

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New Delhi, May 9 () Digital lender Fincare Small Finance Bank has filed preliminary papers with capital market regulator Sebi to raise Rs 1,330 crore through an initial share-sale. The initial public offer (IPO) comprises fresh issue of equity share of the bank worth Rs 330 crore and an offer for sale aggregating up to Rs 1,000 crore by promoter Fincare Business Services Limited, according to the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP).

This offer includes a reservation for subscription by employees.

The bank would utilise net proceeds from the fresh issue towards augmenting its Tier-1 capital base to meet future capital requirements. Further, a small portion of the proceeds will be used towards meeting the expenses in relation to the offer.

Under the terms of the RBI final approval and the small finance bank (SFB) licensing guidelines, the lender is required to list its equity shares on the stock exchanges within a period of three years from reaching a net worth of Rs 500 crore.

The Bengaluru-based MFI-turned small finance bank started operations in July 2017. Before converting into a small finance bank, Fincare Small Finance Bank largely conducted business from two entities – Disha Microfin focused on the western region and the south-focused Future Financial Services.

On May 3, Motilal Oswal Private Equity (PE) announced that it has picked up a minority stake in Fincare Small Finance Bank through a secondary acquisition worth around Rs 185 crore (USD 25 million).

The investment was through India Business Excellence Fund-III, a fund managed and advised by Motilal PE.

ICICI Securities, Axis Capital, IIFL Securities, SBI Capital Markets and Ambit Private Limited have been appointed as merchant bankers to advise the SFB on the IPO.

The equity shares of the lender will be listed on BSE and NSE.



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Net profit jumps 110% to Rs 175 cr; revenue declines to Rs 2,309 cr, BFSI News, ET BFSI

Personal Finance

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SBI Cards and Payment Services on Monday reported a 110 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 175 crore for the quarter ended March 2021.

The credit card company, promoted by the country’s largest lender SBI, had posted a net profit of Rs 84 crore in the corresponding January-March period of the preceding fiscal year 2019-20.

The company, which operates under the brand name SBI Card, reported decline in revenue to Rs 2,309 crore during the fourth quarter as against Rs 2,433 crore in same period a year ago, it said in a regulatory filing.

Total income too dropped to Rs 2,468 crore from Rs 2,510 crore in the same quarter a year ago.

The total expenses were lower at Rs 2,234 crore as compared to Rs 2,398 crore earlier.

For the full year 2020-21, net profit slipped by 21 per cent to Rs 985 crore from Rs 1,245 crore in preceding fiscal.

With regard to asset quality, the company registered a deterioration with gross non performing assets (NPAs) more than doubling to 4.99 per cent at the end of March 2021, as compared to 2.01 per cent at March 2020.

Similarly, net non-performing assets rose to 1.15 per cent as against 0.67 per cent earlier.

As of March 31, 2021, the company’s capital-to-risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR) was 24.8 per cent compared to 22.4 per cent last year.

During the quarter ended March 2020, the company had come up with its Initial Public Offering (IPO) and was listed on BSE and NSE.



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How to use online stock screeners

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Do you depend on your friends for suggestions or advice on picking stocks for your portfolio? Well, it’s good to have such friends but it is very important that you do the due diligence yourself to make sure you are selecting the right ones from the lot. Stock screeners help you narrow down on a few select stocks based on specific criteria. Platforms such as Screener.in, Tickertape, Yahoo Finance, StockEdge and Investing.com help you do this conveniently.

Common screeners

Most of these platforms already have a few templated screeners that you can use for stock selection. These are screeners based on various factors such as popular investment themes, formulas and valuations. A few common screeners that one can find on almost all platforms include growth and value-tap companies, debt-reducing entities, bluechips, high ROCE (return on capital employed) firms, high dividend yield and cash-rich companies.

Before selecting a particular templated screener, one should go through the criteria used for developing it. For example, Screener.in’s ‘value stocks’ screener filters stocks with the following criteria – last year’s EPS (earnings per share) greater than ₹20, debt to equity ratio of less than 0.1, average return on capital employed of greater than 35 per cent in the last five years, market capitalisation of more of ₹500 crore and operating profit margin of greater than 15 per cent in the last five years.

On most platforms, you can also alter the criteria to match your investment strategy. One can further narrow down the filtered stocks based on industry/sector and market cap.

The filtered stocks can be further analysed by clicking on any stock from the list. Almost all the platforms provide the company balance sheet, and profit and loss and cash flow statements, ratios and quarterly results with a historical perspective. In addition to the above details, StockEdge also provides instant details on mutual fund holdings for a particular stock as on a particular date.

Besides editing the existing templates, you can also create your own screener based on your requirements. Some platforms such as StockEdge allow creating a bundled screener with both fundamental and technical metrics.

You can also save the created screener for further use.

Premium plans

The good news is that most of the above mentioned facilities are provided for free by the platforms. However, there are some services which are behind a paywall. The free and premium services differ from one provider to another. For instance, narrowing down filters industry-wise and exporting data come as a free service by Investing.com while it is chargeable by Screener.in. Having said that, Screener.in provides more than 1000 templated screeners which is not the case with the former. Screener.in’s premium plan comes at Rs 4,999 per annum and provides options to add more colums to the screener, in addition to providing material such as detailed notes to accounts and credit rating reports that comes handy during fundamental analysis.

In the same way, while inserting a customised ratio comes under a free plan in Screener.in, it is chargeable under other platforms such as Tickertape. Tickertape’s Pro plan comes at Rs 1,133 per annum which includes offering earnings forecasts, brokerage reports, and metrics such as percentage of analysts recommending buy call on a stock. Meanwhile, StockEdge premium plan comes at Rs 2,999 per year for unlocking higher number of metrics for the screener. It provides inhouse stock reports for some of the stocks. While screeners from Investing.com and Yahoo Finance may come free, the screener options would be limited.

The cost and the services offered by these platforms cannot be compared as facilities provided by each one of them vary.

Points to note

Whether you go for the free service or the paid option, note that not all platforms work alike. For example, a value stocks screener from one platform may not result in the same stocks as that from another as the criteria used could be different across platforms. Thus, understanding the criteria used is essential before using the screener data.

Also, when using a screener across industries, make sure the criteria used is relevant for all sectors. Further, if you would like to save the screeners used for picking stocks, go for platforms that allow you to export the data. Screener.in and Investing.com are two such platforms.

Finally, make sure you opt for ‘latest data’ while selecting a screener. This will pull out data only for those stocks for which the latest data is available..

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HDFC Securities says it blocked NSE cash trading due to tech glitch

Banking & Finance

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There were rumours of yet another tech-glitch at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday morning. This is after HDFC Securities, one of the largest bank backed online brokers, announced on its Twitter handle that it had blocked trading in NSE cash segment due to tech glitch.

“We have blocked trading in NSE cash due to a technical glitch. We request our customers to place cash orders on BSE. All other segments are working fine. Apologies for the inconvenience caused,” HDFC Securities said on its Twitter handle.

Spokesperson for the NSE said that “operations on the NSE platforms are functioning smooth & normal.”

Meanwhile BSE clarified that markets were working fine at its end.

BSE’s MD and CEO Ashish Chauhan said in a Twitter statement, “The @bseindia all segments working fine statement was given in response to brokers and investors reporting the problem on twitter on a competing exchange today morning. No one has reported any problems in trading at @bseindia today or last week any day.”

 

Last week, the NSE was hit by a massive tech glitch, which started with index miscalculation and delayed price feeds. The NSE shut the markets at 11.4 am and suspended trading for four hours last Wednesday. The exchange did not even switch its trading to a disaster recovery site.

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