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The Election Commission of India and police have given permission for the I.N.D.I.A. bloc of parties to protest against the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on March 31 at Ramlila Maidan. Multiple leaders from various political parties including Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Trichy Shiva, Derek O'Brian, Tejaswi Yadav, Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Sitaram Yechury, D Raja, Farooq Abdullah, Dipankar Bhattarcharya, Champai Soren, G Devaraja and Kalpana Soren are expected to participate in the protests.India's Opposition leaders led by Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) have for long protested what they term misuse of investigative agencies like the Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation and the Income Tax Department by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to 'cripple' them and have termed it a threat to the democratic framework of the nation.— EconomicTimes (@EconomicTimes) Most recently, Aam Aadmi Party's National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the ED for his alleged involvement in the now-scrapped Excise Policy Scam. This was the first instance where a sitting CM was arrested. Earlier, Jharkhand's CM Hemant Soren too was arrested. However, he handed over the reins to Champai Soren prior to his arrest. Kharge and Rahul Gandhi-led Congress party recently accused the government of freezing its bank accounts in a tax dispute to cripple it. So far, the party has been issued notice for funds worth Rs 1,823 crore by the I-T Dept for assessment years tracing back to the 90s.The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, however, has refuted all allegations of political vendetta, saying that those who have been involved in corruption must face the wrath of law.

Shapoorji Pallonji Group’s flagship infrastructure engineering and Construction firm, Afcons Infrastructure Limited (AIL), has filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), to raise funds through an initial public offering (IPO).According to the draft papers, the IPO, with a face value of Rs 10 per equity share, is a mix of fresh issue of shares of Rs 1,250 crore and an offer for sale of up to Rs 5,750 crore by Goswami Infratech Private Limited. The offer includes a reservation for subscriptions by eligible employees. As per the market sources, it is the largest infra IPO in a decade.The company, in consultation with the book-running lead managers, may consider undertaking a further issue of equity shares through a preferential issue or any other method for a cash consideration aggregating up to Rs 250 crore as a "pre-IPO placement". If such placement is completed, the fresh issue size will be reduced.The offer is being made through the book-building process, wherein not more than 50% of the net offer shall be available for allocation on a proportionate basis to qualified institutional buyers, not less than 15% of the net offer shall be available for allocation to non-institutional bidders, and not less than 35% of the net offer shall be available for allocation to retail individual bidders.Afcons Infrastructure is an Indian conglomerate with a rich history spanning over six decades. The company has a proven track record of successfully delivering a wide range of complex and challenging engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) projects both domestically and internationally. The company has a strong international presence across various infrastructure sectors, as highlighted in the 2023 ENR rankings. Afcons ranks among the top international contractors globally in marine and port facilities, bridges, transportation, and transmission line segments based on international revenue for the financial year 2023, according to the Fitch Report.The company's global footprint extends across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, where it has undertaken groundbreaking infrastructure projects. Some notable completed projects include the Chenab Bridge in Jammu & Kashmir and the Atal Tunnel in Himachal Pradesh. Ongoing projects like the Kolkata Metro and the Male to Thilafushi Link Project in the Maldives demonstrate Afcons' continued commitment to innovation and excellence in the infrastructure sector.In terms of listed industry peers, Afcons compares itself with Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T), KEC International Limited (KEC), Kalpataru Project International Limited (KPIL), and Dilip Buildcon Limited (DBL).AIL's order book has increased at a CAGR of 7.6% from Rs 26,248.46 crore in the financial year 2021 to Rs 30,405.77 crore in the financial year 2023. As of September 30, 2023, it stood at Rs 34,888.39 crore.Afcons’ restated consolidated revenue from operations during the fiscal year 2023 increased 14.69% to Rs 12,637.38 crore from Rs 11,018.97 crore in the previous year, primarily due to an increase in construction contract revenue, driven by an increase in business in its Urban Infrastructure and Hydro and Underground business verticals, both in India and overseas. Profit after tax grew 14.89% from Rs 357.60 crore for the financial year 2022 to Rs 410.86 crore for the financial year 2023.For the six months ended September 30, 2023, revenue from operations stood at Rs 6,505.39 crore, and profit after tax stood at Rs 195.13 crore.According to the Fitch Report, the Indian infrastructure industry has grown at a compounded annual growth rate of 11.4%, from Rs 5.04 trillion in the financial year 2018 to Rs 7.75 trillion in the financial year 2022. Further, Fitch estimates India’s infrastructure industry to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 9.9% from Rs 8.56 trillion in the Financial Year 2023 to Rs 13.72 trillion in the Financial Year 2028.ICICI Securities Limited, DAM Capital Advisors Limited, Jefferies India Private Limited, Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities (India) Private Limited, Nuvama Wealth Management Limited, and SBI Capital Markets Limited are the book-running lead managers, and Link Intime India Private Limited is the registrar of the issue.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

"Globally, we are in a Goldilocks environment with good macros as you defined it, we have inflation which is trending down though it is persistent in the journey from 3% to 2%, it is showing some persistence but despite that central banks are talking about rate cuts," says Ajay Bagga, Market Expert.Since we have seen March was clearly a month where a lot of adjustments happened financially, this was a truncated week and then a lot of tax harvesting. But now what lies ahead for us. Let us not forget big cues coming in from the domestic market when BJP also launches its manifesto. What are you picking and how are you gearing for the next week and especially for the April series now?See, now the immediate catalyst for the markets will be the earning season. Politically, the markets have discounted political continuity and stability, it is a matter of numbers from 320 to 400, what are the numbers like, but more or less the markets have discounted continuity and that as far as politically the biggest catalyst will be the July union budget, what comes with that, but right now what the markets will be keenly looking at is the start of the earning season.Globally, we are in a Goldilocks environment with good macros as you defined it, we have inflation which is trending down though it is persistent in the journey from 3% to 2%, it is showing some persistence but despite that central banks are talking about rate cuts.So, if the first quarter was one of anticipation of a rate cuts, the second quarter will be one where we will be seeing imminent rate cuts either in June or July the rate cut cycle will start, the Swiss National Bank already cut rates as the pioneer, but I think ECB and Fed moves is what the markets will look at, but overall global micro is relatively robust.China I think there is a recovery coming, so by the end of the second quarter you will see an incipient recovery in China, the stimulus working will help out China as well and that will really boost market sentiments. Monsoon is looking normal. The first initial talks is of a La Nina setting in and covering most of the Indian subcontinent rainfall this year, so that will be a big boost to rural consumption and we are seeing the consumer stocks moving in anticipation. So, continuity, stability, good global micro, good Indian micro, a trending downwards inflation and on top of that you heap in rate cuts coming in. I think we have a lot going for these markets in the quarters ahead.Since you have also mentioned the corporate earnings, the Q4 earnings, which will be a key trigger to watch out and we know that Indian valuations have always been steep. Now, what do you make out of Q4 earnings because one part of the argument is this also that the easy basket buying which was there from the last two-three years has also gone by. We need to be very selective and earning-based stocks will only move. What do you make out of the quarter four earnings?At near to all-time highs that is a truism that any earnings miss leads to a much sharper correction. So, we are priced to perfection or maybe ahead of perfection, but we are expecting a pretty good earnings season.The sectors that will really shine up would be autos, industrials, capital goods. IT, there will be challenges as we saw with foreign IT companies giving poor guidance, our IT stocks also got hit.But I think IT is a contra bet and two quarters down the line it might be a very different situation, especially given the way our IT majors are remodelling their service delivery towards AI, towards data and machine learning which were already there, but a lot of AI projects will now start coming.Globally, what will happen is now the wide dispersion of AI into supply chains, into the manufacturing chains, as well as the service utilities will start and our IT companies will be well positioned for that.It might take two quarters, four quarters for the market to start recognising that, but I think the IT sector could be a contra bet. Banks I think come back, especially the PSU banks. There is a lot of foreign investor interest that is now rising in the public sector banks.So, I think banks and NBFCs will again start performing and you could see some amount of interest. Pharma, you already mentioned, I think pharma is again well positioned. The issue with pharma is the compliances and one after the other some FDA or something comes in and that disappoints investors.But overall, the sector has got a lot going for it. So, industrial, capital goods, railway and defence will get the next boost from the union budget. Again, industrials, infra will continue to do well and consumption comes back. I am expecting a better monsoon and rural demand to pick up after nearly two years and consumer stocks are already positioning for that.I think consumption demand will start coming back. Metals, as Aditya mentioned, China will be the big arbiter of metal prices and I think Chinese recovery leads to better metal prices, better realisations this year.