Fuel-price cut: Goldman, Citigroup downgrade oil retailers IOC, BPCL, HPCL

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. downgraded the stocks of India’s state-run fuel retailers after the government on Thursday asked them to subsidize retail fuel prices.

Citigroup downgraded Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd., Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd. and Indian Oil Corp Ltd. to sell, while Goldman Sachs lowered the first two companies to sell, after the government cut the excise tax on gasoline and diesel by 1.5 rupees (2 cents) a liter and asked state-run oil marketing companies to absorb another 1 rupee/liter on the sale of these fuels.

The announcement came just before the market closed on Thursday, driving refiners’ stocks down. The S&P BSE Energy Index tumbled 6.7 percent, the most since August 2015, while each of the three state-run refiners closed more than 10 percent lower.

The imposition of price controls is an “unequivocal negative” that underscores “high political risk” associated with state-owned enterprises, Citigroup’s analyst Saurabh Handa wrote in a note.

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Telecom wars: Bharti Airtel ramps up 4G data with Rs 1,600-cr Tikona deal

In the midst of an aggressive war in the telecom sector, leading operator Bharti Airtel on Thursday made public its plan to go big on data. The telco announced the acquisition of Tikona Digital Networks’s 4G business, including broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum and 350 sites across five circles. With the deal, which values Tikona at Rs 1,600 crore, Sunil Mittal-led Airtel is gearing up to face Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio with a stronger data offering and faster customer addition. The deal is subject to requisite regulatory approvals.

The company’s total mobile data customers are around 54. 9 million, of whom 37.6 million are only 3G and 4G users. Jio crossed the 50-million mark for data customers in November 2016.

Bharti gets 22.8 per cent of its total mobile revenue from data. Tikona currently has 20 MHz spectrum in the 2,300 MHz band in the Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh (East), UP (West), Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh circles.  

Airtel plans to roll out high-speed 4G services on the newly acquired spectrum in those five circles, immediately after the closure of the transaction. (READ MORE)