At the 45th Annual General Meeting of Reliance Industries (RIL) in August, chairman and managing director (CMD) Mukesh Ambani described the company as an "unputdownable book" with never-ending chapters of success. "Reliance grew from strength to strength because we internalised the founder's mindset of purpose, philosophy and passion," he said. Wednesday marked the 90th birth anniversary of RIL founder Dhirubhai Ambani.
Among the main gainers were Jio Financial Services which jumped 4.99 per cent, Tata Steel (2.09 per cent), Maruti Suzuki (1.87 per cent), M&M (1.31 per cent) and Infosys (1.19 per cent).
The reason for Trent's success is rooted in its slow and steady approach to expansion. Unlike others, Trent, led by Noel Tata, ensured that each store was profitable before it went on to the next, says Raghavendra Kamath.
Kishore Biyani-promoted Future Group is expanding its private labels in various categories with plans to launch more products in new segments such as toothpaste as part of plans to become a Rs 25,000 crore (Rs 250 billion) conglomerate by 2013-14.
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani said on Tuesday organised retailing will be the 'next big idea' in the companies' plans.
Walmart, the world's largest retailer, has paid $1.4 billion to buy out US-based Tiger Global's investment in e-commerce firm Flipkart, according to sources. The transaction puts Flipkart's valuation at $35 billion, against nearly $38 billion in 2021 when it raised funds from Japan's SoftBank, Walmart, and other investors. Tiger Global, Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal, and Accel now have all fully exited the e-commerce firm by selling their stake to Walmart.
The Centre's decision to not reduce the face value of shares of India's Crown Jewel - Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) - was taken to make shareholders feel they are acquiring something 'precious'. The face value of LIC's shares was retained at Rs 10, quoted in the draft prospectus, as it would also align the insurer's shares with those of its private sector peers. Even as the LIC Act was amended to "consolidate or reduce the nominal or face value of the shares", with the Centre's approval, it was decided to stick to the current face value of shares at Rs 10 without splitting the existing 6.32 billion shares.
Slowing inflation prompted the RBI to cut the policy repurchase rate last month by 25 basis points to 6.50 percent, the lowest since 2011.
India's second largest IT services company Infosys on Thursday reported a 3.1 per cent year-on-year rise in net profit to Rs 6,215 crore for the September 2023 quarter. The earnings (before minority interest) of the Bengaluru-based company stood at Rs 6,026 crore in the year-ago period. The company - which competes in the IT services market with TCS, Wipro, HCL Technologies and others - saw its revenue rising 6.7 per cent to Rs 38,994 crore for the just-ended September quarter.
Walmart-owned fintech firm PhonePe said it has crossed 500 million lifetime registered users on its platform. With this milestone, 1 in 3 Indians are now on PhonePe. The company said it is the first Indian internet company to have reached this scale globally. This milestone has been achieved in just over 7 years since the PhonePe UPI (Unified Payments Interface) payments launched in August 2016.
Trading volumes for the equities cash segment remained soft, even as the benchmark indices rallied nearly 9 per cent in July. Meanwhile, volumes in the futures and options (F&O) market dipped marginally, but continued to hover at record levels. In July, the average daily turnover (ADTV) for the cash segment was Rs 46,602 crore, up 4.5 per cent month-on-month (MoM), but 26 per cent lower than the preceding 12-month average.
However, in the last few sessions, the stock of Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), hit its 52-week low level of Rs 2269.75, and has been one of the worst performers among the Sensex pack thus far in calendar year 2023 (CY23). Thus far in CY23, RIL has tanked nearly 11 per cent as compared to a fall of around 5 per cent in the S&P BSE Sensex. The fall in the stock, according to Gaurang Shah, senior vice-president at Geojit Financial Services is mostly due to the overall dip in the market sentiment, which in turn has impacted large-caps, including RIL.
Not just Tesco, Auchan, Walmart, even Biyani & Reliance keen on food FDI: Harsimrat Kaur Badal
In a joint memorandum of central trade unions in the pre-Budget consultation with the finance minister, the unions have also sought that big corporates and multi-nationals should not be allowed to enter retail trade and banking operations.
'The rule for millennials is: You can have a career for life.' 'You have to constantly adapt to the needs of the industry to stay relevant.' 'The jobs will be the same, but the skill sets required will be different.' 'Technology will dominate the nature of jobs available in the future.'
The Hyderabad-born Nadella says it's not the AI engine, but the teams that build it as well as the algorithms to make it intelligent have to be diverse and inclusive, so that the solutions they build do not show up any sort of 'unconscious bias' that they may have.
For the time being, digital lending remains a grey area, notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
After incurring losses for two years on the trot, German luxury automotive company Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (abbreviated as BMW) has posted net profit in India in 2021-22 (FY22), primarily due to high demand of its top-end vehicles, cost optimisation, and price hikes, Business Standard has learnt. BMW India said in its FY22 financial statement that the company is focusing on growth and achieving profitability through induction of new products in the market, strengthening its dealership network, and improving customer satisfaction while reducing costs. The company posted its highest-ever revenue in India in FY22 at Rs 4,365.8 crore.
The demand for white-collar gig roles saw an 11 per cent uptick year-on-year in March, amid muted hiring across industries due to global headwinds and job cuts, according to a recent report. The month saw white-collar hiring in India rise 2 per cent in terms of job posting activity compared to the same period the previous year, according to the report by staffing portal foundit.in (formerly Monster APAC and ME). Sectors such as retail, telecom, and Travel and Tourism saw the biggest growth in demand on an annual basis.
'Calendar year 2023 is going to be big as pessimism takes a back seat.'
BJP has strong reservations in allowing FDI in mult brand retail.
'Post-Covid world will be different from the pre-Covid world.'
Ajit Balakrishnan recalls some lessons from the last time people talked of 'convergence' -- the mid-1990s.
Ambani's holding group launched the Indian Super League, an elite competition of newly created teams, in 2014 with the aim of attracting investment and big global names, much like the Indian Premier League has in cricket. 'It was 100% a wasted opportunity'.
India's first digital rupee pilot project will commence on Tuesday with nine banks, including SBI, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, issuing the virtual currency for transactions in government securities. "...the first pilot in the digital rupee - Wholesale segment shall commence on November 1, 2022," the RBI said in a statement on 'Operationalisation of Central Bank Digital Currency-Wholesale (e?-W) Pilot'. It also announced that the first pilot in digital rupee - Retail segment is planned for launch within a month in select locations in closed user groups comprising customers and merchants.
The Delhi high court on Friday refused to interfere with the 'malicious' arrest of Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case related to the now-scrapped excise policy of the Delhi government, saying it cannot impute political motive to a 'premier' investigating agency in the absence of material on record. It also said Singh's was not a 'prima facie case of no evidence at all'.
V G Mathew, managing director and chief executive officer of South Indian Bank speaks to Gireesh Babu, about demonetisation impact, rights issue and future plans.
RBI's interest rate decision, macroeconomic data and global trends would dictate terms in the equity market in a holiday-shortened week, analysts said. Besides, the focus will also be on foreign portfolio investors' trading activity, they added. Equity markets will remain closed on Tuesday for 'Mahavir Jayanti' and on Friday on account of 'Good Friday'.
New-age tech tools and 'mystery shoppers' are helping the country's top bourse stay ahead of the curve against dabba trading platforms and entities dolling out unsolicited investment tips. In the past one month, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) has issued close to two dozen warnings and advisories against such activities. "We saw a rise of dabba trading or illegal trading platforms after the pandemic.
The basket of crude oil that India buys has hit a decade high of $121 per barrel, but retail selling prices of petrol and diesel continue to remain frozen. The Indian basket on June 9 touched $121.28, matching levels seen in February/March 2012, according to data available from the oil ministry's Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC). As per the PPAC, the Indian basket of crude oil averaged $111.86 per barrel between February 25 and March 29 - the immediate period after Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent oil on fire.
Of the 300 operational malls in the country, just 5-7 per cent, or about 20 malls, are doing well, suggest analysts reports.
One of the reasons is that the retail prices are not bench-marked to crude but their respective international benchmark prices.
Maruti Suzuki India's net profit surged 80.3 per cent to Rs 3,716.5 crore in the September quarter, driven by better sales, softening commodity prices, cost reduction efforts and higher non-operating income. The company had delivered a net profit of Rs 2,061.5 crore in the year-ago period, Maruti Suzuki India said in a statement on Friday. Maruti said it is expecting the affordability of small cars in the domestic market to come back in the next 2-3 years in the face of rising income levels of people and a growing economy, among others.
India's MRP and Packaged Commodities Acts are dated and not in line with the modern world's digital price mechanisms and comparisons.
Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das will hold a meeting with CEOs of public sector banks on Wednesday to discuss issues concerning slow deposit growth and sustainability of high credit demand. As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, deposits rose by 9.6 per cent as compared to 10.2 per cent on a year-on-year basis, while credit offtake witnessed a jump of 17.9 per cent as against 6.5 per cent a year ago. According to an agenda circulated for the meeting, sources said, sustainability, including pricing and slow growth of deposits, would be discussed.
While efforts are being mounted on a war footing to arrest its spread, COVID-19 will impact economic activity in India directly through domestic lockdown. The second-round effects, it said, would operate through a severe slowdown in global trade and growth.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday said the government and the central bank are in discussion with South Asian countries to have cross-border trade in rupee. He also said the central bank digital currency (CBDC) is in trial phase and the RBI is moving very carefully and cautiously on digital rupee launch. After the successful launch of the wholesale pilot, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on December 1, last year, began its retail CBDC pilot project.
The domestic equity market, which is on a record-breaking spree, will focus on macroeconomic data announcements, movement in global stocks and the US Fed minutes to get further direction, analysts said. Trading activity of Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) will also innfluence investors.From the domestic macroeconomic front, Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) data for the manufacturing sector will be released on Monday, and that o,f the services sector on Wednesday. Investors, this week, will keenly watch major global market events, icluding the outcome of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes, scheduled to be out on Wednesday.
American retail major Walgreens Boots Alliance on Tuesday said it would retain its pharma retail business - Boots UK - thus abandoning the entire sale process. The company did not make any comment specifically on the offer made by Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries (RIL), which had made a bid for the company last month. "As a result of market instability severely impacting financing availability, no third party has been able to make an offer that adequately reflects the high potential value of Boots and No7 Beauty Company.
