Refusing to give up on the Foreign Direct Investment in multi-brand retail issue, which could affect its core vote bank of small traders, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday said it will oppose the government decision in Parliament and try to build a joint strategy with National Democratic Alliance partners and other political parties.
A day after winning Parliament's approval to the decision of allowing FDI in retail, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said the move will benefitfarmers and consumers and help introduce new technologies in agri marketing.
Jiomart B2B is the latest among organised supply-chain companies to bite the bullet, shutting down its warehouses, and asking its employees to leave. Why are companies finding it difficult to sustain the supply-chain business? Experts point out that gross margins in supplying fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) are very low.
Reliance Retail said it has decided to discontinue its non-vegetarian food offering 'Delight' with immediate effect and would focus on vegetarian offerings only within retail portfolio.
Investor confidence in unlisted shares was shaken after recent developments that saw online drugstore PharmEasy issuing new shares in a rights issue at a 90 per cent discount to its previous valuations and Reliance Retail's move to buy back and cancel shares held by public investors. Both stocks were, at one time, very popular in the unlisted market, with canny investors cornering them with the objective of benefiting from their listing. "Since investors have suffered losses on both counts, they will be careful when it comes to dealing in shares of unlisted companies," observes a broker dealing in unlisted shares, adding that there will be some rationality to the pricing.
'Sell part of your portfolio where you're making good money, especially in small caps and mid caps.' 'The money which you take home is yours. The money which is there on paper is not yours.
India on Friday moved closer to a major economic reform, with a committee of secretaries (CoS) giving an approval in principle for allowing up to 51 per cent foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail.
Amid the ongoing festival season and ahead of the elections for five state assemblies, the Centre is closely monitoring inflation, particularly in food items, to enable it to take steps to increase their supplies. "There is a complete no-nonsense attitude when it comes to food inflation, and instructions have been issued at all levels to be very sensitive to any possible price movements in any commodity," a senior official explained. Sources have said that all departments dealing with food items have been instructed to keep a close eye on all commodities and maintain a weekly record of their price movements.
Foreign direct investment in the retail sector was one of the wish list of the US companies and the US had been pushing for it for quite some time now.
The government on Tuesday announced a Rs 200 per cylinder cut in prices of domestic cooking gas as it looked to counter the cheaper LPG promise of the Congress in upcoming assembly elections in states like Madhya Pradesh.
Elections may be a few months away, but the government may get into election mode much earlier than that, predicts A K Bhattacharya.
The RBI interest rate decision, industrial production data for June and the ongoing quarterly earnings from corporates would largely drive the stock markets this week, analysts said. Other major factors such as global market trends, the movement of oil prices and the trading activity of foreign investors would also influence trading, they added. "The market will have an eye on the RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, which will be announced on August 10, 2023. We are heading towards the last batch of Q2 earnings of key companies such as Adani Ports, Coal India, Hero MotoCorp, Hindalco and ONGC, among others, which will lead to stock-specific movement," said Pravesh Gour, senior technical analyst, Swastika Investmart Ltd.
A letter reversing the decision was sent by Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje to Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma.
This is perhaps the first time that retail prices in India are higher than the global rates
The Bentonville-based retailing giant's statement comes in the wake of the Indian government considering easing norms for foreign direct investment in multi-brand retailing in India. Jain said the company wants the government to liberalise the FDI regime in retail in the country and has conveyed this to the concerned authorities several times.
Brokerages have maintained their ratings and target prices on FSN E-Commerce Ventures, the parent company of Nykaa, after the fashion and beauty online retailer posted in-line numbers during the October-December quarter (Q3) of financial year 2023-24 (FY24). They have, however, cut earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) estimates after weak demand weighed across line items in Q3. "While revenue growth was healthy at 22 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y), gross margins declined 90 basis points (bps), weighed by higher discounting in own brands and lower ad income.
Flaying the Centre's decision to allow Foreign Direct Investment in retail, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Sunday alleged it was taken under pressure from a few retail giants and asserted her government would not allow multi-brand global players to set up their markets in the state.
Jaitley evaded vital questions on this issue.
'Unlike Big Bazaar, where the promoter calls the shot, in ABRL, professionals take decisions. So, every new CEO leads to a change in strategy, which confuses vendors and the team.'
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) will engage stakeholders in the e-commerce space to establish standards with the objective of self-regulation, said its deputy director Parul Gupta at the Internet Commerce Summit 2022 in Bengaluru. "Standardisation will allow parties to transact qualified commodities and services at any location and time," said Gupta. BIS recently released standards for e-commerce players, travel portals, and food delivery platforms that publish consumer reviews online, as part of the government's efforts to crack down on fake reviews, said Gupta.
UK-based retail major Tesco Plc on Tuesday filed the first application for setting up multi-brand retail outlets in India.
Ten states and Union Territories have endorsed the Centre's decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retail, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Monday.
Insists that decisions were based on larger concerns about national security, need to insulate India from persistent global economic slowdown.
India could allow global online retailers such as Amazon.com Inc to sell their own products as early as next month, removing restrictions that could boost competition in one of the world's biggest, and most price-sensitive, retail markets.
'We are engaging in substantial open market sales of both wheat and rice to control food inflation; special measures of market intervention in vegetables, pulses and oil seeds were also taken to cushion the impact.'
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company (IPru) is struggling to generate growth in the value of new business (VNB). This is due to a combination of weak growth through the parent bank's channels, a shifting product mix in favour of unit-linked life insurance policies (ULIPS), and higher payouts to third-party channels. Leverage from current investments, a further reduction in contributions from ICICI Bank, and a pick-up in non-participating policies from the end of the year is key for this metric in the near to medium term.
Singh had said that India needed one trillion dollars to bail out the nation from the economic crisis and FDI in retail sector can alone make that happen.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has increased the application limit for retail investors to Rs 2 lakh, from Rs 1 lakh at present. The decision was taken at the regulator's board meeting today.
He said the policy paralysis, which had gripped the country in recent months, was over, and India was back in business.
The wholesale price-based inflation eased to a 29-month low of 1.34 per cent in March on easing prices of manufactured products and fuel items, even though food articles turned expensive.
Sashidhar Jagdishan, managing director and chief executive officer of HDFC Bank, the largest private-sector lender of the country, has just completed his first term. The period October 2020-October 2023 was a roller coaster, and the second one, which started on October 27, could be more interesting as the lender absorbs the impact of the merger of HDFC, which was integrated on July 1, and moves to the next growth phase. Soon after he took over the reins from Aditya Puri on October 27, 2020, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) debarred HDFC Bank from enrolling new credit card customers and launching new products under the Digital 2.0 programme due to repeated outages on its mobile-banking and internet-banking platforms.
While reminding retail investors of making informed decisions on investments in stock market, Securities and Exchange Board of India on Wednesday said that the foreign institutional investors' investment in 2004 have touched $7 billion mark, exuding
India's plans to relax foreign direct investment (FDI) rules across a broad spectrum of industries have received the final approval from the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA).
Announcement of macroeconmic data such as industrial production and inflation, the US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision along with trends in global equities would dictate movement in the stock market this week, analysts said. Besides, foreign fund trading activity would also guide the trends in equities. "All eyes are now on the US Fed policy outcome for cues, which is scheduled on June 14. In the following sessions, the European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of Japan (BoJ) will also announce their policy decisions.
She said during Question Hour in Rajya Sabha that Bharatiya Janata Party got a massive mandate on the basis of its election manifesto which opposes FDI in multi-brand retail.
The Street's optimism on India's largest listed automotive maker by market capitalisation is not misplaced, given the robust wholesale performance in recent months and the strong 2023-24 (FY24) October-December (Q3) results.
In the July to September quarter of 2023-24 (Q2FY24), Voltas' revenues grew by 29.7 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y), but the adjusted net profit was down by 63 per cent Y-o-Y. The revenues hit Rs 2,290 crore, led by growth in the Unitary Cooling Products segment (up 15.4 per cent Y-o-Y, and in the EMP (Electromechanical project) business (up 66.8 per cent Y-o-Y). The UCP revenue rose to Rs 1,200 crore in Q2FY24, driven by volume growth despite weak consumer spending - the three-year annual growth is 18 per cent.
The Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement, the civil nuclear technology transfer, telecom infrastructure security and business jet landing rights are among other "policy accomplishments in 2011" listed on the US chamber's website.
India's trade account could come under pressure and there could be an inflation push if crude oil prices remain above the $90 per barrel (Brent) for a prolonged period since India imports over 85 per cent of its oil and roughly 50 per cent of its gas. A rebound in economic activity is bound to lead to higher fuel demand. While India is the third-largest importer of crude, it is a net exporter of refined products, which helps to compensate to some degree.
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