Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's children -- Isha, Akash and Anant -- on Monday were appointed on the board of his energy-to-technology conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd, in what is seen as a clear path of succession planning at India's most valuable company.
Having created businesses ranging from world's largest single-location oil refining complex to nation's largest mobile network operators in just few years, billionaire Mukesh Ambani says his group Reliance Industries Ltd will never be complacent and will grow to be among the top 10 business conglomerates of the world. Addressing employees on Reliance Family Day - the birthday of the group's founder Dhirubhai Ambani, he said Reliance is now aiming to consolidate a place among global leaders in digital data platforms and AI adoption. "Today, the domestic and global environments for business are changing very fast.
The cross-border rail project near Tripura's capital Agartala and Akhaura in Bangladesh is expected to boost cross-border trade, and significantly reduce the travel time between Agartala and Kolkata via Dhaka.
Tatas-owned Air India plans to acquire no-frills carrier AirAsia India and has sought approval from the Competition Commission for the proposed deal. AirAsia India is majority-owned by Tata Sons Private Ltd with a shareholding of 83.67 per cent and the remaining stake is with AirAsia Investment Ltd (AAIL), which is part of Malaysia's AirAsia Group. Full service carrier Air India and its low-cost subsidiary Air India Express were acquired by Talace Private Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons Private Ltd, last year. Besides, Tatas operate full service airline Vistara in a joint venture with Singapore Airlines.
Reliance Brands is in advance stage of talks to take over the India rights for premium makeup and beauty retail chain Sephora, from Arvind Fashions, according to two persons in the know. The Mukesh Ambani-led retail company is already in talks with developers to lease out stores for Sephora, said one of the above mentioned sources. While Reliance Brands was yet to answer Business Standard's query, an Arvind Fashions spokeperson, in an e-mailed response, said: "As per company policy, we do not comment on market rumours and speculation."
For the first time in 13 years, since Jet Airways' A330 planes exited the airline's fleet in around 2010, an Indian wide-body aircraft will have a Rolls-Royce-powered engine, with Air India ordering 40 Airbus A350 planes. On Tuesday, Air India announced its mega aircraft order for 470 aircraft, including A350 planes. The A350 aircraft, which will come in two variants, are powered solely by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines and the local team has begun work to assist Air India with its aircraft-induction plans.
The joint venture of Jio Financial Services and BlackRock to foray into India's asset management space could be disruptive but not disastrous for incumbent industry players, analysts said on Thursday. As an investment strategy, analysts suggest investors stay put in shares of those AMCs that consistently improve business metrics, and where market capitalisation-to-asset under management (AUM) valuation is not stretched. However, growth expectations of incumbent players may get trimmed in the medium-to-long term, analysts said, once the Jio-BlackRock JV unveils its plans, discounting the looming challenge as significant enough to dent their profitability.
In a landmark deal announced in Mumbai, Star Den Media Services Pvt Ltd and Zee Turner Ltd will form a joint venture to combine distribution of their respective channel bouquets in India.
More than 60 per cent of shareholders of edutech Byju's on Friday voted for removal of founder CEO Byju Raveendran and his family over alleged "mismanagement and failures" at what was once India's hottest tech startup, but the company dug in its heels, calling the voting done in the absence of founders as "invalid". Prosus - one of the six investors who had called the extraordinary general meeting (EGM) - in a statement said "shareholders unanimously passed all resolutions put forward for vote.
Once the requisite approvals have been received, the joint venture would be primarily engaged in selling value added services for mobile devices.
'The Indian govt's initiatives on EVs are very strong and customers want to buy EVs. This will make the country's conversion to EVs faster than other markets, and I hope even faster than the US'
The UK-based BAE Systems has zeroed in on M&M and is believed to have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) after holding talks with at least two other leading corporates -- Tatas and Larsen and Toubro (L&T) for its Indian Land Systems project, sources close to the development said.
'Given that the market is now demanding disciplined growth, well-run companies should be able to demonstrate profitability with the cash on hand.'
Indian conglomerate Vedanta on Monday said it has signed a pact with electronics manufacturing services giant Foxconn to form a joint venture (JV) for manufacturing semiconductors in India. Vedanta is the first company to make the announcement to invest in semiconductor manufacturing after the government announced a Rs 76,000-crore programme to boost electronic chip and display ecosystem in the country. This is also the second attempt of Vedanta to enter the semiconductor space after its earlier plans to set up a display unit with about Rs 60,000 crore investment could not take off.
Around 6,967 tech employees lost their jobs in Bengaluru, the highest among Indian cities, partially because of its evolution in recent years as a start-up hub.
'The deal pipeline across products is robust for 2024.'
Murthy joins the league of top corporate honchos who have launched private equity funds to assist budding entrepreneurs and upcoming ventures across various sectors in India.
The new mantra was to align Apple's ambition with the government's, focusing on Modi's favourite themes of Make in India, employment generation and India as a high-tech export hub.
The $100-million fund, which has the option to raise a further $200 million, will benefit small and medium enterprises engaged in defence production.
After agonizing over this for weeks, he made a decision. When they met after work one evening, he startled her by blurting out, 'I think we should break up.' A moving excerpt from Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's An Uncommon Love: The Early Life of Sudha and Narayana Murthy.
Indian entrepreneurs have an excellent opportunity to start companies with anywhere between $1-10 million and create one of the top 10 companies.
Reliance Industries Ltd on Friday reported a 9 per cent rise in its December quarter net profit as a planned maintenance-induced weakness in oil business earnings was offset by stability in retail and telecom verticals. The oil-to-retail-to-telecom conglomerate's consolidated net profit of Rs 17,265 crore, or Rs 25.52 per share, in October-December - the third quarter of the current 2023-24 fiscal - was 9.3 per cent higher than Rs 15,792 crore, or Rs 23.19 a share, earning a year back, according to a company statement. Quarter-on-quarter, the profit was lower when compared to Rs 17,394 crore earnings in the preceding three months ended September 30.
Future Group said customer acquisition costs, fulfilment costs and other expenses in e-commerce add up to 50 per cent of overall business costs, making it unviable
Adani Group on Thursday said it has formed a 50:50 joint venture with Japanese conglomerate Kowa Group for sale of green hydrogen in Japan, Taiwan and Hawaii markets. Billionaire Gautam Adani-led conglomerate is investing up to $50 billion over the next 10 years in setting up a fully integrated green hydrogen ecosystem in India. This includes the production of 1 million tonne of green hydrogen in the initial phase which will be ramped up to 3 million tonne later.
Dixon Technologies right now is a beehive of activity. It is building a new facility in Noida to make 1.3 million laptops for Taiwanese PC maker Acer. The facility must be up and running in four months. The pace of activity will only increase. Last week Dixon won a similar contract from Lenovo, the Chinese personal computer maker and the third largest information technology (IT) hardware brand in India, to assemble laptops and notebooks. Though the clientele in these two cases is Taiwanese and Chinese, Dixon is a company reaching for the stars with its feet planted firmly in the Indian government's policy.
Air India will purchase 220 planes from Boeing for $34 billion, with an option to buy 70 more aircraft that could take the total transaction value to $45.9 billion, a deal that US President Joe Biden described as a "historic agreement". While announcing the Boeing-Air India deal on Tuesday, Biden also asserted that together with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he was looking forward to deepen the ties between India and the US. As per an announcement from the White House, Boeing and Air India have reached an agreement under which the airline will purchase 190 B737 MAX, 20 B787, and 10 B777X for a total of 220 firm order valued at $34 billion at list price.
Singapore Airlines first approached the Tatas, its old choice for a venture in India, and was aware of AirAsia negotiations.
Shedding its opposition, the Bar Council of India (BCI) on Wednesday took a significant decision to permit foreign lawyers and law firms to practise in areas such as foreign law, international legal issues and arbitration matters, saying that the legal fraternity here may be left behind if it sleeps over the matter.
Follow these handy tips on to run the marathon without hurting your body.
India on Thursday approved capital acquisition of a plethora of indigenously-developed military hardware including indigenous BrahMos missiles, marine diesel engine, artillery gun system, electronic warfare suits and utility helicopters at a cost of Rs 70,584 crore as part of a mega procurement plan.
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.
Infosys' co-founders, S D Shibulal and S Gopalkrishnan, on Tuesday launched Axilor Ventures, a business incubator and platform for supporting innovation and entrepreneurship.
'We are expected to grow at above 28 per cent this year, higher than the industry.'
During 2023, the Indian real estate sector - both housing and commercial - witnessed buoyancy fuelled by demand, supply, and absorption, and the sector is banking on the upcoming Budget to keep the momentum going. Mumbai-based Sattva Group wants the government to focus on the critical pillars for long-term growth. The company emphasised on the infrastructure boom with increased allocation, lower goods and services tax (GST) rates, incentives for affordable housing and single-window clearance to fast-track projects and support liquidity.
The Indian startup ecosystem recently celebrated the 100th unicorn milestone. It came after a month of no big fund announcements. Compare this to 2021, when three to four unicorns were being added every month. Nevertheless, the 100th unicorn needs to be celebrated since the first unicorn was announced in 2011 - 11 years ago.
Though all the regulatory and ministerial approvals are yet to come in, two working groups with specific mandates have been set up.
Investors are increasingly turning optimistic about shares of new-age companies. From broad-based 'sell' calls, analysts are giving thumbs up to Zomato, Paytm, and FSN e-Commerce Ventures-owned Nykaa as these companies have shifted focus to sustainable profits. The shares of Zomato hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 126 apiece on the BSE on November 7, having rallied 15.4 per cent in one week.
'80% of the rural and urban population don't have enough purchasing power.'