Reliance Industries Ltd will open its first exclusive retail showroom in Jalandhar this month, followed by more in Punjab in the next couple of months.
US e-commerce major Amazon told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that the talks with the Future Group to resolve the dispute over Future Retail's merger deal with Reliance Retail have failed and sought intervention to ensure that the stores of FRL are not taken over. A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana, on March 3, had acceded to Amazon's request and granted 10 days to it for exploring the possibility of resolving the dispute through dialogue with the Future Group. The bench, also comprising justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli, is hearing Amazon's appeal against the January 5 order of the Delhi high court, which stayed the arbitration proceedings before the arbitral tribunal over Future Retail's merger deal with Reliance Retail. "It often happens that sometimes, we hope very positively but in the end, it is not positive at all.
Stocks of brokerages and market infrastructure institutions (MIIs) witnessed selling pressure after the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi's) crackdown on proprietary trading firm Jane Street. The weakness was attributed to concerns that debarment of the US firm - a prominent player in the futures and options (F&O) segment - will lead to a further decline in volumes, which are already down over 30 per cent from the peak.
Future Retail Ltd (FRL) on Wednesday said it is "committed" to reversal of takeover of its stores by Reliance Retail and will take all such action as may be necessary to seek value adjustments. The Kishore Biyani-led firm also said the action of the Reliance Group has come as a "surprise" to it. Moreover, the action of taking possession of its stores has "complicated" the positive scenario which had started building up after a CCI order in December 2021, FRL said in a regulatory filing.
The company had announced similar pricing for Sri Lanka, where its application was in advanced stages of regulatory clearance.
The Adani family, led by Chairman Gautam Adani, is the most valued first-generation family business at Rs 15.44 trillion.
Profit from its retail business jumped 77 per cent to Rs 1,923 crore and that from telecom rose by 78.3 per cent to Rs 2,665 crore.
After Reliance Industries Ltd and its partner bp plc of the UK, Nayara Energy - the nation's largest private fuel retailer - has started selling petrol and diesel at Re 1 less than the fuel sold by state-owned retailers, officials said. While state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) continue to hold prices despite a drop in international rates, private fuel retailers have started passing on the benefit to consumers. "To further stimulate domestic consumption and cater to local customers better, we have introduced a Re 1 discount in our retail outlets until the end of June 2023," a spokesperson for Nayara Energy said.
The company raised Rs 53,124 crore through a rights issue and sold nearly 33 per cent stake in Jio Platforms Ltd - the firm that houses telecom business and apps - to likes of Facebook and Google for Rs 152,056 crore.
Sun Pharma, Tata Steel, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, Tata Motors, Larsen & Toubro and ICICI Bank were also among the Sensex gainers. HCL Tech, UltraTech Cement, Nestle and Hindustan Unilever were among the laggards.
The Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries (RIL) has offered to buy the land of RIL fuel retailers who wish to exit its dealership. Some of the retailers have been looking to exit the dealership as they are making losses in the venture.
The investments include the supply chain, but exclude real estate component.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Monday rejected Amazon's plea challenging the decision of fair trade regulator CCI to suspend the approval for the e-commerce major's deal with Future Coupons. A two-member bench comprising Justice M Venugopal and Ashok Kumar Mishra, upheld the findings of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and directed it to pay the penalty of Rs 200 crore imposed on Amazon by the fair trade regulator within 45 days from Monday. "This appellate tribunal is in complete agreement" with the CCI, the two-member bench said.
The combined market valuation of the top-ten most valued firms jumped by a whopping Rs 3,84,004.73 crore in the holiday-shortened last week, in-tandem with a smart rally in equities, with HDFC Bank and Bharti Airtel emerging as the biggest gainers. Last week, the BSE benchmark Sensex jumped 3,395.94 points or 4.51 per cent, and the NSE Nifty surged 1,023.1 points or 4.48 per cent.
While Jio MF will undoubtedly grow in size, it will have to cross multiple hurdles even to emerge as the market leader, observes Debashis Basu.
RIL is aiming to revive its 350-odd outlets in Gujarat and Maharashtra by the end of April, followed by the rest of the country. The company may sell only these two products for some time. The company had closed all its 1,400-odd retail outlets through the country last year, after sales dropped drastically due to its inability to match the subsidised prices offered by state sector oil marketing companies.
It bought Rs 410 crore of electoral bonds between financial years 2021-22 and 2023-24, but Reliance said the company is not a subsidiary of any Reliance entity.
India's biggest telecom players, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Industries-backed Jio Platforms, will soon bring billionaire Elon Musk-led SpaceX's Starlink satellite services to India. According to analysts, the move could boost India's tele density, especially in the rural areas, and may be an opportunity for investors to add the two stocks on dips for long-term gains
Future Retail and its promoters have filed appeals before the division bench of the Delhi high court challenging the order passed on Tuesday that dismissed the Group's petitions for termination of the Amazon arbitration. The Delhi high court on Tuesday dismissed the pleas moved by Future Group companies seeking a direction to the arbitration tribunal, adjudicating Amazon's objections against Future Group's deal with Reliance, to take a decision on their application for terminating the arbitration proceedings before moving any further.
Das will 'mentor the Jio Division of Reliance Retail', the Reliance Industries head said.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries has maintained its highest ranking among Indian corporates in the latest Fortune Global 500 list, jumping 16 places to rank at number 88. Reliance was ranked at number 104 in the 2022 ranking and in the 2023 ranking it is placed at number 88, according to the publication. The company has gained a whopping 67 places in the last two years from number 155 in 2021.
Future Retail has shut most of its Big Bazaar stores since February 25 (Friday) and its website is also down as it missed lease payments to Reliance Industries (RIL). RIL will open most of the 200 Future Retail stores as Reliance stores in the next week and it is in the process of taking stock, re-branding, and transferring 30,000 Future Retail and Future Lifestyle employees on to the rolls of its manpower and staffing firm Reliance SMSL, according to a source. The first tranche of stores are set to be opened as early as in the next two days.
While Reliance has the clout to negotiate prices with suppliers for its e-commerce, not to forget the cost advantage of integrated warehouse and supply chains, Amazon and Walmart are no pushovers, they too have deep pockets.
Stock market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty tumbled over 1 per cent each on Friday as tensions soared between India and Pakistan, fuelling fears of a wider conflict.
Qwik Supply, the third largest donor to political parities using electoral bonds, bought Rs 410 crore bonds between 2021-22 and 2023-24, and gave all but Rs 25 crore to the BJP.
Future Retail Ltd (FRL) on Wednesday said it has filed an appeal in the Delhi high court against the status quo order on its Rs 24,713-crore deal with Reliance. On Tuesday, a Delhi High Court bench of Justice J R Midha had directed FRL to maintain status quo in relation to its Rs 24,713-crore deal with Reliance Retail that has been objected to by US-based e-commerce giant, Amazon. Following the Tuesday directive, FRL had said it would explore legal recourse.
The average ticket size of retail health insurance in India has increased by nearly 48 per cent over 6 years due to elevated medical inflation and increased demand for higher coverage policies among policyholders. According to data by online insurance broker PolicyBazaar, the average ticket size of retail health insurance in India has increased to Rs 26,533 so far in FY24, up 48.22 per cent from Rs 17,900 in FY19.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries has started a limited test use of WhatsApp to connect customers to grocery stores, days after Facebook decided to invest USD 5.7 billion in digital assets controlled by the company. JioMart, an e-commerce venture of Reliance Retail, "has already started interacting with customers on WhatsApp for grocery orders" in Navi Mumbai, Thane and Kalyan, Credit Suisse said in a report.
Nita Ambani, wife of Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, has been recommended for appointment as a director on the board of the company.
From the Sensex pack, Bharti Airtel, Titan, Tata Consultancy Services, Hindustan Unilever, Infosys, Nestle, Reliance Industries, Mahindra & Mahindra, HDFC Bank and Tata Motors were the biggest gainers. However, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance and UltraTech Cement were the laggards.
Shares of Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) rose nearly 1 per cent on Tuesday, hitting an intraday high of Rs 2,986.05 per share, after most brokerages reacted positively to the company's March quarter (Q4FY24) results. The bullish outlook stems from Reliance Jio's potential tariff hikes, given the competitive landscape, along with slow but steady improvement in the oil-to-chemical (O2C) vertical.
In a regulatory filing, Reliance -- the country's most valuable company - said, 'The 43rd AGM will be held on Wednesday, July 15, 2020 at 2 pm though video conferencing / other audio-visual means.'
Aditya Birla Group has announced its foray into the branded jewellery space with an investment of around Rs 5,000 crore and will battle it out with Titan's Tanishq and Reliance Industries- Reliance Jewel. The business will be housed in a new venture, "Novel Jewel", and will open large-format exclusive stores across the country with its in-house jewellery brands, the company said in its release. "The new venture will seek to transform customer experience by creating an aspirational national brand with unique designs and a strong regional flavour.
Export-led Indian IT sector is not directly hit by Trump's tariff order on goods, but there could be worrisome indirect bearings on it arising out of possible slowdown in decision-making and GDP growth in America over higher tariffs, which may then cloud demand from specific verticals, according to some analysts.
From the 30-share Sensex pack, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, Adani Ports, JSW Steel, IndusInd Bank, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the biggest laggards. Tata Motors, NTPC, Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints and Infosys were the gainers.
Reliance Industries Ltd on Friday reported an 11 per cent drop in its June quarter net profit largely due to weak oil-to-chemical (O2C) vertical and higher interest and depreciation cost. Net profit was Rs 16,011 crore, or Rs 23.66 per share, in April-June - the first quarter of current 2023-24 fiscal year - compared with Rs 17,955 crore, or Rs 26.54 a share, earning a year back, according to a company's stock exchange filing.
Perhaps, the group's leadership position and potential in the retail segment prompted Tata Sons Chairman Cyrus Mistry to identify retail as one of the group's four growth clusters in his recent Vision 2025 statement.
Zudio was the standout performer as it tapped into the pentup demand in small-town India, at a pace never seen before, notes Indrajit Gupta, co-founder and director, Founding Fuel.
RBML - the joint venture of Reliance Industries Ltd and supermajor BP - has told the government that fuel retailing for the private sector in India has become unsustainable after market-controlling public sector firms frequently froze petrol and diesel prices at rates way below the cost, sources said. Despite a surge in oil prices, state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) first froze petrol and diesel rates for a record 137 days beginning early November 2021 when five states including Uttar Pradesh went to the polls, and last month again went into a hiatus that is now 47 days old. "They (Reliance BP Mobility Ltd) has written to the petroleum ministry over the fuel pricing issue," a highly placed source in the government, who didn't want to be quoted, told reporters.
After missing two self-imposed deadlines, billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd on Friday announced recalibration of a proposed $15 billion deal to sell 20 per cent stake in its oil refinery and petrochemical business to Saudi Aramco, saying the two firms have agreed to re-evaluate the proposed investment in light of the Indian firm's new energy forays. The stake sale talks, which were first officially revealed in August 2019, are being reset in light of Reliance making forays into new energy business in recent months by investing $10 billion in alternative energy over three years. To pivot to green energy, it has already bought a German maker of photovoltaic solar wafers and signed a deal with a Danish company to manufacture hydrogen electrolysers in India.