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.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday suggested the G20 trade ministers to work collectively to ensure equitable competition between large and small sellers as there are challenges in the fast growing cross-border e-commerce. In a video message at the G20 Trade and Investment Minister's meeting here, he also emphasised on the need to address the problems faced by consumers in fair price discovery and grievance handling mechanisms. "Digitising processes and use of e-commerce have the potential to enhance market access. "I am glad that your group is working on the 'High Level Principles for the Digitalization of Trade Documents'. These principles can help countries in implementing cross-border electronic trade measures, and reduce compliance burdens.
'We will test the waters, ferret out information through our business correspondents, and only then open a branch'
'To the believers of crypto regulations, I have only one question to ask, how will you regulate it?'
Tech titan Google on Thursday announced new online safety initiatives in India, including multi-city cybersecurity roadshows to upskill about 100,000 developers and digital safety-focused grants of $2 million from Google.org to community organisations.
While the corporate sector has benefited from massive capital expenditure, leading to sky-rocketing stock prices, investors would do well to keep an eye on the macroeconomic picture and government finances, not just corporate profits, for signs of trouble, alerts Debashis Basu.
Billionaire Gautam Adani on Wednesday shared a personal note on the development of Dharavi in Mumbai, days after the Maharashtra government issued a resolution to award the Dharavi redevelopment project to his conglomerate on July 14. In the note shared with the media, Adani said his first tryst with Dharavi in Mumbai was in the late 1970s, and the slum settlement continues to amaze and inspire the billionaire to date. "When this opportunity to renew Dharavi came calling, I seized it with both hands," he said.
Banks enjoyed an expansion in Net Interest Margins (or NIMs) as well as in credit demand through the 2022-23 financial year (FY23). The credit expansion was because economic growth continued to recover from the Covid-19 years, and indeed, second half GDP growth surprised on the upside. The NIM expansion was because banks raised lending rates immediately (in many cases automatically due to floaters) as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) hiked policy rates, and only started raising deposit rates late into the fiscal.
A critical step in this direction would be the abolishment of service tax on micro-insurance in order to encourage and increase penetration of insurance.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah will visit Arunachal Pradesh on April 10 and 11 where he will launch the 'Vibrant Villages Programme' in Kibithoo, a village along the India-China border.
Rajasthan is all set to vote on Saturday to elect members of a new assembly with the Bharatiya Janata Party aiming to unseat the ruling Congress, which is fighting hard to change the trend of alternate governments in the state.
Sun Microsystems on Tuesday said it had evolved a new sales strategy - global client solutions engagement model - in its bid to help customers focus on their problems, including business compliance, reducing costs, providing secure global access and
'The focus on easier access and faster delivery is creating a new consumption pattern that allows consumers to satisfy their last-minute cravings and restock essentials at the click of a button.'
Unlike regular cab service providers, taxi aggregators like Uber and Ola are making it easy for the students to juggle work and studies.
The Indian startup ecosystem has lauded the inclusion of startups in the New Delhi Leaders' Declaration for the first time ever in the history of G20. Industry stakeholders say that the move will lead to easier access to capital, reduce regulatory hurdles, and may revive funding activity. The Declaration, through the Startup20 initiative, recognised startups as "natural engines of growth" and key to socio-economic transformation by driving innovation and creating employment.
'Given that the market is now demanding disciplined growth, well-run companies should be able to demonstrate profitability with the cash on hand.'
For a segment that thrives on promise more than performance, the country's start-up ecosystem is refusing to get carried away by the funding this calendar year. This has created the highest level of uninvested venture capital in seven years as investors wait for corrections in the working and - more importantly - valuation of start-ups while looking for cockroaches instead of unicorns. "Investors are now keen to invest in companies that have good top and bottom lines.
The Chinese dependence is far from over, industry players are also citing a shortage of electronic toys in the country.
'As our per capita income increases and various demographic segments emerge, the need for various kinds of protection and risk covers will become even more explicit.'
'...despite not being ideologically aligned with a vast section of the people of the north east.' 'But the results in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya show that no party, including the BJP, can say that it has really done well.'
The Indian office real estate market, which had recovered significantly in early 2022, began to slow down in the latter half due to macroeconomic problems in the developed world. Rental yields are likely to be stable at best in FY24.
Security has been beefed up across the national capital, especially in New Delhi district, on the eve of the G20 summit with police, paramilitary forces and other agencies maintaining a hawk-eye vigil in the city, officials said on Friday.
For the urban population, recalibration of ATMs has already started and they will start dispensing the new Rs 2,000 currency notes from Monday or Tuesday.
Retail investors now own a bigger slice of small-cap companies than a couple of years earlier, attributable to their growing conviction in mutual fund (MF) schemes focused on this space. Data from Capitaline shows MFs' average holding in the National Stock Exchange Nifty Smallcap 250 rising to 8.67 per cent, from 7.67 per cent in the past two financial years, with the number of companies with over 20 per cent MF holdings, rising from 15 to 24. At the end of May, the top five small-cap firms with the highest MF holdings were Carborundum Universal, Blue Star, Cyient, Gujarat State Petronet, and Cholamandalam Finance.
The Army is looking at procuring the LUHs and LCHs to replace its ageing fleets of Cheetah and Chetak helicopters.
At Prestige Polygon Towers in Chennai's Teynampet, hectic preparations are on for a mega global investors' meet under the aegis of Guidance Tamil Nadu (the state investment promotion agency) scheduled for January 2024. Asked about the key focus areas of the meet, the agency's managing director and chief executive officer, V Vishnu, said the state was betting big on electric mobility. This is no surprise, given that the state has signed electric vehicle (EV)-related memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with several companies in the recent past that may bring in investments worth around Rs 33,000 crore with the potential to create over 43,000 job opportunities.
Indian Bank expects recoveries to be more than slippages in this financial year, which will result in improved asset quality.
While the ruling BJP, riding on the Modi juggernaut, wants to break the 38-year jinx and retain its southern citadel, the Congress is seeking to wrest power to give the party much-needed elbow room and momentum to position itself as the main opposition player in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
'There are a few states which are reporting higher numbers of cases indicating possible localised spread of infection,' Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has said in a letter to these states.
In an unexpected turn of events, Elon Musk, the world's richest man and the biggest shareholder of Twitter, has decided not to join the board of the micro-blogging platform. The decision of Musk -- who has made a raft of suggestions in recent days for Twitter, even wondering whether its headquarters should be turned into a homeless shelter -- was made public by the platform's India-origin CEO Parag Agarwal in a tweet on Sunday evening. With a 9.2 per cent stake, Musk is currently the biggest shareholder of Twitter, which had entered into an agreement with the billionaire whereby he will get a seat on the platform's board till the 2024 annual shareholders' meeting. He was to join the board on April 9.
The Congress needs to reorganise itself at the grassroots, infuse younger blood, and have more boots on the ground. Just offering freebies is not the answer anymore. Leadership matters, asserts Ramesh Menon.
Nasdaq-listed information technology (IT) services firm Cognizant will incur the cost of $400 million over two years as it sets to restructure its operations amid sluggish growth rates. Its NextGen Program aims at simplifying the operating model, optimising corporate functions, and consolidating and realigning office space to reflect a post-pandemic hybrid work environment. As part of this structural shift, Cognizant will eliminate 80,000 seats, or 11 million square feet of real estate in large cities in India.
What is it about Arohan that puts it in the top league of microfinance institutions in the country?
Believe it or not, the regulator is even stretching its arm to identify stressed borrowers and gauge the 'distance to default' as a measure of a particular bank's fragility, reveals Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Union minister Rajeev Chandrashekar on Tuesday rejected Dorsey's claim, calling it an "outright lie" and "an attempt to brush out that very dubious period" of firm's history.
Could it have been more reformist? Of course, but this is an election year Budget, observes Akash Prakash.
Long-term investors should consider moving into smaller stocks. Rather than try to pick stocks, it makes sense to build a diversified portfolio by exposure across midcap and small caps funds, suggests Devangshu Datta.
On Easter, April 9, 10,000 BJP workers are being assigned to visit the houses of 100,000 Christian families. Plans are afoot to visit the homes of Muslims on Eid.