... driven by softer momentum and not just
base effects. Most Asian central banks are
now on a pause, and the window to easing should
open up later this year.
By mid-2023, we expect inflation momentum
(m-o-m, seasonally adjusted) to be closer to central bank targets in most
economies. This means most Asian central banks are now in a policy pause phase and,
if underlying inflation moderates durably, as we expect, the window to easing
would open up later in 2023.
#1. Asia’s inflation is driven more by
supply than demand-side factors Asia’s inflation differs from inflation
in the US/Europe, as it is more supply-side driven, and these drivers are
gradually abating. Oil prices are around one-third lower than almost a year
ago. FAO food prices have fallen for eleven consecutive months, and this has
historically transmitted to Asia’s food inflation with a lag of around six months.
Pandemic-driven supply-chain disruptions have fully normalised. Currency depreciation
pressures have abated. The full impact of these easing supply-side pressures
has yet to reflect in Asia’s inflation. That said, risks remain. There are
upside risks to food inflation, such as climate change and El NiƱo (associated
with less rainfall in Asia). Geopolitical risks are a threat. Lagged
adjustments to utility prices or the removal of subsidies are also risks,
although amid slow growth, we expect any such tweaks to be delayed into 2024.
#2. Base effects: The role of
base effects in lowering headline inflation is well recognized. For instance,
assuming unchanged monthly momentum, base effects alone could moderate
percentage year-on-year headline inflation from current levels by 5.9pp by
year-end in Singapore, 4.9pp in the Philippines and 2.9pp in Korea.
#3. Easing food/energy prices should
lower headline and core inflation: Food and fuel have dominant weights
in the consumption basket in EM Asia. They drive headline inflation, play
important roles in expectations formation and often spill into core inflation,
due to second-round effects. This is a key reason why policymakers
pre-emptively use supply-side and fiscal measures to limit the pass-through
from high food/energy prices to consumers. Now playing out in the reverse
direction, the moderation of food/energy price pressures should lower headline
inflation and curtail household inflation expectations, while also easing
(sticky) core inflationary pressures.
#4. No wage-price spiral in Asia: Labour
markets in Asia are less flexible, so the post-pandemic frictions caused by
mass layoffs and early retirements (as seen in the US) are less of an issue.
Countries like Singapore and Malaysia that are dependent upon migrant workers
have already addressed the supply mismatch. Asia also continues to experience
labour market slack, as a more restrained post-pandemic fiscal response has
resulted in a more gradual demand recovery.
#5 Goods disinflation: Pipeline price pressures have eased materially across Asia, with
falling import prices, lower PPI inflation and a moderation in the PMI input
price index. Manufacturing firms used the past two quarters of lower input
costs to recoup their margins; however, with weaker goods demand and subdued
input cost pressures, we expect faster core goods disinflation.
#6 Services inflation is likely to
moderate: Services catchup in Asia is largely
complete and as wage growth moderates, this should have a salutary impact on
services inflation. In countries where consumption is at a greater risk of
slowing due to restrictive domestic monetary policy (e.g., South Korea), we expect
services inflation to slow more rapidly. Housing rental inflation remains
elevated, but higher interest rates are slowing residential property price
growth, which will likely feed through to rental inflation, albeit with a lag.
That said, our view is that services inflation in Asia is likely to moderate,
rather than collapse, since domestic monetary conditions are broadly neutral.
#7. China is unlikely to be a source of
inflation: China’s growth cycle is
desynchronized from the rest of the world, but we do not view China as a
material source of inflation risk, either to itself or globally. China’s growth
rebound since its re-opening has underwhelmed in the cyclical segments like
autos and property, and lacklustre export growth remains a challenge. With
lower consumer confidence, weak income and job prospects, our China economics
team expects the release of China’s pent-up consumption demand to disappoint
market expectations, at a time when its policy stance is still one of support,
but with restraint. For the rest of Asia, China’s services-led rebound is likely
to have limited growth spillover effects on goods demand (which is what matters
for Asian exports). Moreover, weak demand from US/Europe amid high uncertainty
is likely to more than offset any positive spillovers from China reopening. In
our view, the decision by OPEC+ to cut oil production, despite China’s reopening,
suggests underlying demand is much weaker than broadly believed.
We expect Q4FY23E Nifty50 sales to increase
~13% YoY and ~5% QoQ. Sequentially, we see an 81bp expansion in Nifty EBITDA
margin (ex-financials) and a 71bp expansion in Nifty PAT margin (ex-Axis Bank
due to one-offs following merger of the Citi portfolio), driven by overall
lower raw material cost and easing off of commodity prices. We expect Nifty
EBITDA (ex-financials) to grow at 9% QoQ and Nifty earnings to grow by ~3% QoQ,
owing to margin improvement. If we were to consider one-off effect of Axis
Bank-Citi merger, we expect Nifty earnings to post healthy 11% QoQ and 17% YoY
growth.
Commodities, led by metals, are expected to
post the highest YoY decline in earnings on lower prices and weak realization,
while banks (ex-Axis Bank) are likely to grow by 33%, led by improving NIM and
lower credit cost. Autos (ex-Tata Motors), fueled by raw material cost
moderation, is expected to drive 32% YoY earnings growth.
We expect basic materials, led by metals, to
erode 95% of Nifty’s incremental PAT YoY, implying materials will offset half
of Nifty’s incremental profit, owing to lower realization and commodity prices.
However, improved volume and recovery in steel prices since the past quarter
means metals will add 95% to Nifty’s incremental PAT sequentially.
We see banks (ex-Axis Bank) contributing 72% to
Nifty incremental YoY PAT, owing to sustained credit growth, improving NIM and
lower credit cost, followed by energy, which would contribute 59% on improved marketing
margin of oil marketing companies (OMC) and higher GRM of Reliance, due to
Russia’s crude discount.
Overall, we expect financials and energy to
contribute 131% to Nifty’s incremental YoY PAT. QoQ we see energy and materials
contributing 216% to Nifty’s incremental QoQ PAT.
Despite geopolitical tensions, FII outflows,
high inflation & interest rates, and the US-Europe banking crises in FY23,
India remains resilient, with healthy corporate earnings in the first three
quarters. In Q4FY23, financials are expected to dominate with improving net
interest margin and lower credit cost. Double-digit growth is expected in
consumption-oriented sectors, due to volume growth and softer raw material cost
despite subdued demand in rural areas. The metals sector also is likely to recover
sequentially, following removal of exports duties and easing off of COVID-19
related curbs in China. As the interest rate cycle peaks, macroeconomic
tailwinds are expected to support earnings growth, even as global demand-led
growth may falter.
We remain positive on Indian autos with the
sector in midst of strong earnings cycle. We see healthy 11-18% volume CAGR for
PVs, 2Ws and trucks over FY23-25E, with 2W growth outpacing 4W. Strong top-line
growth and better margins should fuel double-digit EPS CAGR for most OEMs.
2W growth to outpace 4Ws over FY24-25: India's auto demand, after suffering its worst downturn in decades,
appears poised for continued double-digit growth in FY24-25. Two-wheelers (2Ws)
have lagged in recovery but the abnormal 35% fall over FY19-22 created a very favorable
base for the segment that is core to personal mobility; we believe 2Ws are ripe
for a replacement cycle too. We see 2Ws outpacing 4Ws with 18% CAGR over
FY23-25E (FY23E:+19%). While PVs (passenger vehicles) have witnessed some
demand moderation in recent months, we see tailwinds from low penetration,
aging vehicles-in-use, and reverse shift from shared to personal mobility,
driving 11% CAGR over FY23-25E (FY23E: +26%). Trucks have entered the third
year of up-cycle, and we expect 12% CAGR over FY23-25E (FY23E: +39%). Tractors,
conversely, are at risk of a downturn, and we expect 15% fall in FY24E (FY23E:
+12%).
Improving margin trajectory: Weak demand and a severe metal price rally weighed on auto OEM
margins in the last 2-3 years. Steel (Indian HRC flat) and aluminum prices doubled
over mid-2020 to Apr-2022, but then corrected 27-32% by Dec-2022, led by
weakening China macro and tightening interest rates elsewhere. With China
showing signs of cyclical recovery, metal prices are likely to have bottomed
out; however, we believe the intensity of any potential price increase is
unlikely to be similar to 2020-22. We expect 1-4ppt EBITDA margin expansion for
most of our covered auto OEMs over FY23-25E, led by better pricing power amid
good demand, and operating leverage benefit.
TVSL and TTMT strengthening EV franchise: The sharp increase in govt incentives, along with new product
launches, has resulted in share of EVs in 2Ws rising from just 0.4% in FY21 to
5% in Mar-Q; we expect 10% by FY25. TVS has risen to #2 position in E2Ws in recent
months; with its market share in E2Ws approaching that in ICE scooters, TVS is
turning the electrification risk into an opportunity. While EV adoption in PVs
is slower (2% of industry in Mar-Q), Tata is leading, with EVs forming 15% of
its India PV volumes in Mar, and we believe it will benefit from rising EV
adoption.
Valuations attractive; still time to Buy: We remain positive on Indian autos, with the sector in a positive
demand and margin, and hence earnings, cycle. Most stocks are trading near or below
their respective last 10-year average PE on our FY24 estimates; we find this
attractive in the context of a strong earning cycle. We have fine-tuned
FY24-25E EPS estimates for our coverage within +/-4% range.
The NHAI had set a target of awarding 6,500 km
in FY23, of which it awarded ~3,750 Km (vs. 6,306 Km in FY22) at an NHAI cost
of INR 1trn. Ordering seems to have spilt over to FY24 with our checks
suggesting ~INR 350bn of bids expected to be awarded during early H1FY24.
During the year, HAM continued to be its preferred mode of awarding with
75/31/3 projects awarded on HAM/EPC/another basis. Competitive intensity
reduced towards the FY23 end as developers maintained calibrated aggression.
Non-road players outperformed their inflow guidance, while road players need to
catch up on missed guidance.
Reduction in competition intensity: The competition intensity cooled off with the top-6 listed players
placing their bids at an average of 14.3% over and above the NHAI cost vs. a
6.5% discount in FY22. Similarly, the top-6 unlisted players’ bids were at a
4.8% premium over the NHAI cost vs. a 2.9% discount in FY22. Further, HAM
projects were bid at an average premium of 6.7/4.4/2.8/5.6% in Q1/Q2/Q3/Q4FY23.
However, EPC projects continued to be bid at an average discount of
5.4/22.2/21.4/28.7% in Q1/Q2/Q3/Q4FY23. Out of the total 109 projects awarded
during the year, 38 projects worth INR 361bn were awarded at an L1 cost of INR
418bn i.e. an average premium of 16% over the NHAI cost whereas, 71 projects
worth INR 683bn were awarded at an L1 cost of INR 573bn i.e. an average
discount of 16% over the NHAI cost.
FY23 order inflows; very few companies
surpass/meet their FY23 guidance: Out of the
coverage universe, companies like LT, Ahlu, ASBL, DBL, HG Infra, KEC, and KPTL
have either surpassed or met or marginally missed their FY23 order inflow (OI)
guidance. Companies like JKIL, PNC, and KNR have not even achieved 50% of their
FY23 OI guidance. This is more a function of broad-based ordering beyond roads
and well-diversified companies benefitting from the same.
Power T&D, Railways, Metro, Water,
O&G, Hydrocarbon, and Building EPC witnessed robust ordering. Pickup in export orders aided inflows for the EPC companies like
LT, KEC and Kalpataru. We expect a pickup in domestic power grid awards for
capital goods and railways and private capex pickup shall aid strong inflows.
Valuation remains supportive: Tier-1 infrastructure companies are trading at ~9.5x FY25E EPS. We
expect the competitive intensity to reduce further. Infrastructure asset
creation is the top priority, which may lead to robust ordering.
Gross bank credit offtake rose by a robust
15.5% year on year (y-o-y) in February 2023 due to strong growth across all the
sectors, especially in the Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), and
unsecured personal loans segments.
Personal loans growth accelerated to 20.4%
y-o-y in February 2023 from 12.5% a year-ago period, driven by other personal
loans, credit cards, housing and vehicle loans.
Credit growth for the services was robust at
20.7% y-o-y in February 2023 as compared with 6.2% a year-ago period due to
growth in NBFCs and retail trade.
Industry credit offtake growth moderated at
7.0% (compared over the last couple of months), registering a lower growth
compared to personal loans and services. Infrastructure witnessed a 0.6% growth
due to slow growth in the power sector and a decline in the telecom sector and
railways.
Housing loans (share of 47.6% within personal
loans) grew by 15.0% y-o-y in February 2023 compared with 13.1% in the year-ago
period. In spite of reporting healthy growth in the month, the share of housing
loans dropped to 47.6% in the personal loans segment as of February 24, 2023,
vs. 49.8% over a year ago as unsecured loans grew at a faster pace.
Unsecured loans reported a robust growth of
26.3% y-o-y in February 2023 due to the miniaturization of credit,
digitalization of loans (faster loan turnaround and easier process), and
preferences for premium consumer products. Its share increased to 32.5% in the
personal loans segment as of February 24, 2023, vs. 30.9%% over a year ago.
After housing, unsecured loans are the second biggest component in the personal
loan segments.
Given the strong demand for different retail
loan verticals, we anticipate retail credit growth to remain in the high digit
for FY24.
Vehicle loans (a share of 12.4% within personal
loans) registered a robust growth of 23.4% y-o-y in February 2023 as compared
to 10.0% in the year-ago period. Outstanding for vehicle loans stood at Rs.4.96
lakh crore on February 24, 2022. Nonetheless, it declined by 0.1% over January
2023, witnessing a drop after 20 months.