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RAMANAGARA (KARNATAKA): Political temperatures are running high in the Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha segment, which is witness to a bitter and close contest between members of two influential Vokkaliga-caste families, who enjoy immense clout here and in the entire old Mysuru region. The constituency was created in 2008 after delimitation and is spread over the districts of Ramanagara, Bengaluru Urban and Tumakuru in south Karnataka. It has a mix of the rural and urban, with IT parks and industrial townships as well as farm fields. The Vokkaliga caste dominated constituency is witnessing a fierce fight between Congress MP D K Suresh, who is the brother of Deputy Chief Minister and party's state President D K Shivakumar, and eminent cardiologist Dr C N Manjunath, the son-in-law of JD(S) patriarch and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda. Interestingly, Manjunath is brother-in-law of state JD(S) chief H D Kumaraswamy but is contesting on a BJP ticket, as per the arrangement between the alliance partners. Shivakumar and Kumaraswamy represent Kanakapura and Channapatna Assembly segments respectively, both of which are part of Bangalore Rural. This high-profile constituency has thus emerged as the most prestigious segment in the state in the upcoming polls. Bangalore Rural is the only constituency in Karnataka where the Congress won in the 2019 general elections. Repeating a win in 2024 on home turf is crucial for Shivakumar to boost his chief ministerial prospects, political analysts say. Both Shivakumar and the Gowda family are bitter political opponents and have fought each other for political dominance in the region. Gowda had won the Kanakapura Lok Sabha seat, defeating Shivakumar in the 2002 by-polls, but lost in 2004. His son Kumaraswamy had won the seat in 1996, but lost in 1998 and 1999. He later won the segment after it became Bangalore Rural in 2009. Suresh has been representing Bangalore Rural since 2013. In the 2013 by-poll he had defeated Kumaraswamy's wife Anitha. The upcoming contest is also seen as a battle between "a local and an outsider", as Manjunath and the Gowda family originally hail from Hassan district, as also a fight between two contrasting personalities. Manjunath, known for his mild manners and humility, headed the state-owned Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research for 17 years before retiring in January this year. He is a political greenhorn, being seen as an "underdog" challenging the established political might of the D K brothers. Suresh, a three time MP, is considered to be the political backbone and key strategist of his brother Shivakumar, with his strong grassroots level network in the region. According to local Congress leaders, the party is confident about his win, with the minority community votes consolidating in its favour along with a major chunk of Dalit and OBC votes. "The fight will now be as to who will get the larger share of Vokkaliga votes," a leader said. Suresh said, "Voters, especially women are supporting, because of our guarantee schemes. I'm asking 'kooli' (wages) for work I have done, I have raised my voice for Karnataka. Coming from Hassan, people are seeking votes here. I'm from here, people will decide." With Suresh's own clout and his brother Shivakumar being the Vokkaliga face of the Congress as Deputy Chief Minister, he may seem stronger on paper, but the BJP-JD(S) alliance, and Dr Manjunath's candidature have posed a formidable challenge for him, a local BJP leader said. Manjunath has a lot of goodwill among the people and many don't see him as an outsider. This is mainly because many families have been treated at Jayadeva, which he not only transformed into a premier cardiac institute but also touched the lives of countless patients, especially the poor, he said. He is also banking on the Modi wave, Gowda and Kumaraswamy's goodwill among voters, the leader added. "BJP-JD(S) are working together, there is a positive response, I'm confident of a win. People want change, they will respond to criticisms against me," Manjunath said. While efforts are on by local workers to project Manjunath as the future Health Minister at the Centre, BJP is also raking up Suresh's "separate nation" for southern states remark, to target him during the campaign. Congress on its part is targeting Gowda and his son for fielding son-in-law from BJP. Out of the eight assembly segments under Bangalore Rural, five are held by Congress, two by BJP and one by JD(S). Political observers point out that three assembly segments held by BJP and JD(S) account for more than 50 per cent of the total voters of Bangalore Rural. Two of them are in the Bengaluru city limits and pooling of their votes would spell trouble for Congress. However, pointing out that Suresh was the only Congress MP to win in 2019, despite the "Modi wave", they said "D K brothers" will put in everything to win the seat, as they are aware that any upset here may be used by Shivakumar's political detractors to prevent him from becoming the Chief Minister. There is a fight this time because BJP-JD(S) has fielded Dr Manjunath, a farmer in Channapatna's Dodda Mallur said, "Suresh is a local boy, he is hard worker and accessible. Doctor is not from here, will he be accessible?" "Suresh is said to be a good worker, works are still pending. Our vote is for the Doctor, Modi, development and not for the Congress as it divides and rules, its stands are anti-Hindu," a voter in Magadi said.

Arcelormittal Nippon Steel India Ltd., a joint venture between two of the world’s leading steel makers, is in talks with banks to raise about 85 billion rupees ($1 billion), according to people familiar with the matter, in what could be the biggest local-currency loan this year to fund the firm’s expansion.At least three lenders including State Bank of India, ICICI Bank Ltd. and Axis Bank Ltd. would be participating in the syndicated deal, with proceeds to be used for capital expenditure, said the people who asked not to be identified for discussing private information.SBI, India’s top bank, could lend more than half of the loan, which may carry a tenor longer than five years and be priced against a local interest rate benchmark, they said, adding that details of the lending facility are not finalized and may change.If the deal materializes, it would be the country’s largest rupee-denominated loan in 2024 so far, Bloomberg-compiled data show. India’s fourth-biggest manufacturer of flat steel — used in everything from consumer goods to cars — is seeking to ramp up capacity as a widely-anticipated reelection by Prime Minister Narendra Modi may spur infrastructure spending in the world’s most-populated nation.ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank did not immediately reply to e-mailed requests seeking comment.The steel firm had earlier held loan negotiations with a few other lenders but they couldn’t agree on the cost of funding, said the people.The company is a joint venture between major steelmakers ArcelorMittal South Africa Ltd. and Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp. It’s India’s fourth-biggest flat steel producer with an annual capacity of 8.8 metric tons as of March 2023, according to Crisil Ratings, a local credit risk assessor.Building and construction makes up 39% of India’s total steel demand, with infrastructure at 27%, engineering and packaging at 21% and automotive at 12%, respectively, a Bloomberg Intelligence analysis shows.

Hoping to see a turnaround of fortunes in FY25, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) raised stakes in TCS, Infosys, HCL Tech, Wipro, Coforge and Persistent Systems in the March quarter. But as the macro environment remains uncertain with further challenges in the short run, dollar money is now having second thoughts.In the first fortnight of April, FIIs sold IT stocks worth around Rs 4,700 crore to buy power and banks. This comes after March shareholding pattern revealed that FII stake went up by 24 bps to 12.7% in TCS, 26 bps to 6.96% in Wipro, 41 bps to 34.11% in Infosys, 23 bps in HCL Tech and 96 bps to 35% in case of Coforge.During the quarter, FIIs were net sellers in stocks like LTTS, LTIMindtree, Mphasis and Tech Mahindra. On the other hand, mutual funds took a more bearish stance on the Indian IT sector in Q4 by cutting stakes in 6 out of top 10 stocks - Coforge, HCL Tech, Infosys, LTIMindtree, Persistent Systems and Tech Mahindra.Also read | Iran-Israel war or election jitters? Why FIIs decamped with Rs 20,000 crore in 4 daysCommon buyings by both MFs and FIIs during the quarter were TCS and Wipro. In the case of LTIMindtree and Tech Mahindra, both the big boys of Dalal Street were on the sell side. <iframe title="FIIs raised stake in 6 IT stocks in Q4" aria-label="Table" id="datawrapper-chart-E87Z8" src="https://et-infographics.indiatimes.com/graphs/E87Z8/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="423" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();</script>However, after being a bull in Q4, FIIs were seen taking a U-turn in the first two weeks of April amid fading hopes of a recovery in FY25.While the names of IT stocks which FIIs sold this month are not known yet, experts believe it could be the Tier-I IT stocks. After falling 7.5% in March, the Nifty IT index is down about 4.4% so far in the month.Barring a small upside of 1% in TCS and 6% in Persistent, all 10 constituents of Nifty IT index have lost value so far in the year. LTIMindtree, Coforge and Mphasis have seen double-digit declines.What should investors do?While TCS management guided for FY25 revenue growth to outstrip FY24, Wipro guided for -1.5% to +0.5% IT Services revenue growth in Q1 FY25.Infosys' FY25 revenue guidance of 1-3% YoY in cc terms was so disappointing that Kotak Equities said it expects normalised growth only from FY26. Nomura lowered its FY25-26 EPS estimate by 2-3% driven by lower revenue and margin outlook.Many domestic investors are sounding bearish on the outlook for IT stocks for the next few months."We do not believe that they are at the end of the tunnel. It will take some more time, especially the BFSI segment which is the mainstay for most of our IT companies. Unless that picks up, I do not think they will have too much to talk about in terms of numbers. And there is so much change going on in the industry with generative AI and all of that. So, how these companies will play on those things, I think we will have to give some more time," said Daljeet Singh Kohli of Vasuki India Fund.Global brokerage BNP Paribas, however, believes that while discretionary demand remains slow, the sector appears to have bottomed, and valuations are already pricing in most of the risks.(Data inputs: Ritesh Presswala)(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

Brokerage Citigroup maintained a sell rating on Wipro, Morgan Stanley recommended an Equal-Weight rating on HDFC AMC, Investec recommended a buy on Dixon Technologies and a hold on HDFC Bank post Q4 results.We have collated a list of recommendations from top brokerage firms from ETNow and other sources:Investec on HDFC Bank: Hold | Target Rs 1620Investec recommended a hold rating on HDFC Bank but slashed the target price to Rs 1620 from Rs 1625 earlier.The Q4 numbers were in line with estimates, but with several one-offs. Seasonality played a huge part. The numbers were adjusted for seasonality and one-offs.Creating floating provisions is a continuation of the larger changes to the capital allocation policy post-merger, said the note.UBS on Voltas: Buy| Target Rs 1800UBS upgraded Voltas to buy from neutral earlier and raised the target price to Rs 1800 from Rs 885 earlier.The company is claiming back its lost market share. The global investment bank believes that Voltas will surprise on the market share in near future.VoltBek JV should break even in FY26. The global investment bank believes that the Street is not pricing in a potential market share ramp up.UBS sees FY26 market share at 23% vs 19.5% factored in by the Street.Investec on Dixon Technologies: Buy| Target Rs 8650Investec recommended a buy on Dixon Technologies and raised the target price to Rs 8650 from Rs 8250 earlier.Another customer wins, another earnings upgrade. Longcheer is one of the largest mobile original design manufacturing (ODM) players globally.The brokerage firm is of the view that the new customer should add 3-5 mn smartphones to the mobile business.This will lead to an 8-9% upgrade to FY25-26 EPS. The global investment bank continues to see Dixon as an excellent play on electronics manufacturing.It sees the optionality of entry into new categories/ backward integration/ new customer wins.Citigroup on Wipro: Sell| Target Rs 430Citigroup maintained a sell rating on Wipro and slashed the target price to Rs 430 from Rs 440 earlier post Q4 results.The Q4 numbers were in line with estimates but the company gave a weak Q1 guidance. The global investment bank lowered EPS estimates by 2%, and now expects FY25 cc revenue growth to be flat on a YoY basis.Wipro's relative performance continues to be weak(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by experts are their own. These do not represent the views of the Economic Times)