In India, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) majors continue to hold sway, with incumbent brands cornering 65 per cent of the market share, shows a Bain & Company report. While identifying the continued preference of Indians for incumbent brands, the report says that the dominance of general trade in the country has allowed national brands to maintain their supremacy. The low penetration of e-commerce in the country has also helped large brands.
In 2024 so far, 20 startups have already visited the campus with 80 placements.
'On the final product, there can be an increase of a minimum of 10 per cent in February and March.'
'Will make sure that we create value. We will again look for organic and inorganic opportunities.'
Online travel portals are flooded with flight and train bookings, hotels teeming with requests for accommodation, and spiritual merchandise on e-commerce platforms is selling like hotcakes. As the consecration ceremony of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on January 22 draws near, Indians across the country are putting their travelling boots on as the temple frenzy catches on. India's largest travel technology (traveltech) platform MakeMyTrip (MMT) has witnessed a substantial four-fold increase in bookings for Ayodhya compared to the previous year.
As Ayodhya readies itself for the glittering, much-awaited consecration ceremony of the Ram Mandir on January 22, and as millions of pilgrims and devotees pour into the holy city for the momentous event, companies are rushing to do their bit and be a part of the mega celebrations. Some are offering a part of their profits as donations, telcos are beefing up the number of cellular towers to ensure better connectivity, and there are those distributing jalebis and food platters.
The availability of domestic capital to fund startups and an ability to attract talent in the early days are among the biggest challenges faced by entrepreneurs, Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy said on Thursday. "It is desirable to create a policy that makes it attractive for domestic institutions like family offices of HNIs (high net-worth individuals), insurance companies or large corporations to invest in venture capital funding," he said at the T N Chaturvedi Memorial Lecture 2024 in New Delhi's Prime Ministers' Museum and Library.
Retail companies are expected to witness a tepid strong same-store sales growth (SSSG) expansion in the third quarter (October - December) of the current financial year (Q3FY24) on the back of subdued sales in the festival season. The third quarter of the financial year typically witnesses higher sales since it coincides with the festival season. This time around, weak customer sentiment has dragged down SSSG.
'The success of one or two IPOs does not dictate whether the upcoming IPOs will be successful or not, but it certainly indicates that the markets and investors are enthusiastic about startup IPOs.'
Several food and grocery delivery firms witnessed their highest ever single-day orders on New Year eve, December 31. Zomato achieved a record-breaking number of orders on its app. The company carried out nearly as many orders on December 31 as the total for the equivalent day in the period from 2015 to 2020.
At a time when the Indian startup space is going through a funding winter, marked by investors tightening their purse strings, angel investments in fledgling firms have maintained their momentum. While overall deal volumes among startups have fallen, investment activity among the country's most-active angel investors have been relatively steady. We Founder Circle (WFC), a Mumbai-based network of angel investors, emerged as the most-active angel investment platform for the second consecutive year in 2023 with 82 investments.
'Due to rural stress, volumes continue to remain an issue for the industry, and we are yet to see any revival in demand.'
Food delivery major Zomato has received a Rs 401.7 crore show cause notice from the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) over 'unpaid taxes' on delivery charges collected from customers, the company said in a regulatory filing late on Wednesday. The company claimed that it is not liable to pay the penalty for the period from October 29, 2019, to March 31, 2022, as the amount collected from customers is "on behalf of the delivery partners during the referred period."
Something is cooking in online food delivery. After 15 years of grappling with the demands of the business - read cash burn - Gurugram-based Zomato reported its first profit in the first quarter of 2023-24 (FY24). Not satiated, it reported a profit in the following quarter as well: Of Rs 36 crore in the second quarter compared to Rs 2 crore in the first. A year ago, in the second quarter of FY23, it had reported a loss of Rs 251 crore.
'In the next 15-20 years, India will have at least 50 new (AI-driven) billion-dollar companies that are going to solve problems for the largest companies around the world.'
Companies manufacturing fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) continue to see rural stress sustain and it continues to trail urban demand. At the Confederation of Indian Industry's FMCG summit, managements of various companies pointed out urban demand continued to grow while rural demand remained under pressure because incomes were under stress in rural areas. "Due to rural stress, volumes continue to remain an issue for the industry and we are yet to see any revival in demand," Sudhir Sitapati, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) at Godrej Consumer Products
Godrej Consumer Products has launched a new brand of liquid detergent Godrej fab in South India, four decades after introducing Godrej Ezee, the country's first specialised liquid detergent tailored for winter wear and woollens, in 1983. The Mumbai-based company decided to launch another brand of liquid detergent despite having Godrej Genteel liquid detergent.
Hindustan Unilever (HUL)'s decision to split its beauty and personal care division and place a renewed focus on digital has been driven by its aim to serve the consumer of tomorrow, say analysts and brand experts. HUL managing director and chief executive officer Rohit Jawa is looking to make the company 'future ready', and while these bets are not for the short-term, they will eventually pay off as the Indian consumer is young and digital friendly, they add. "Rohit Jawa comes with digital experience and he is preparing to steer HUL into serving the future consumer who is more digital friendly," said Sachin Bobade, vice-president at brokerage firm Dolat Capital.
'We will continue to build new engines of growth in terms of innovations, enter newer categories, and look at newer propositions.'
Consumer durables retailers and manufacturers may end up bearing the cost of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) tightening on easy personal loans, as their margins are expected to be impacted by higher borrowing costs. During the recently passed festival season, consumer durables companies started offering longer tenure loans, zero down payments, and zero interest on a wider assortment of products than ever before, making the products more affordable. While 18- and 24-month easy monthly instalment (EMI) options were available earlier, companies offered them only on select products; now, they are being extended to a larger section of products.
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