The stock of India's largest listed pure play retail major Trent was down 14.76 per cent at close on Monday after a fall in revenue growth for the March quarter of 2024-25 (Q4FY25). The sales growth trajectory has been in a declining trend over the last few quarters, which, coupled with falling operational metrics, higher competitive intensity, and expensive valuations, has seen the stock crack about 44 per cent since its 52-week highs in October last year.
'This helps the consumers secure more favourable terms from CIs.'
This innovation has made mainframes the fastest-growing segment within IBM's Infrastructure business, demonstrating that even legacy technologies can continue to deliver value.
Flipkart Group Chief Executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy on Monday said the firm was advancing preparations for a potential initial public offering (IPO) in India, which included shifting its holding company to India from Singapore. Speaking at an internal town hall, Krishnamurthy said the company's leadership structure is strengthening and that the steps toward relocating Flipkart's legal base to India are progressing as planned, according to people familiar with the matter.
Vivek Biyani, the nephew of retail veteran Kishore Biyani, will launch a retail chain focused on direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands under the name Broadway, along with actor Rana Daggubati, Apurva Salarpuria of Salarpuria Group and Anuj Kejriwal of Anarock Retail. This new retail format is a multi-brand outlet, which will house D2C brands under one roof. The first store is set to open in Delhi in August this year, and subsequent store launches in Hyderabad and Mumbai are slated in September 2024 and March next year, the company said in its release.
The Reliance Industries' digital services company Jio Platforms Limited has signed an agreement with SpaceX to offer Starlink's broadband internet services to its customers in India, the company said on Wednesday. The agreement is subject to SpaceX receiving authorisation to sell Starlink in India. The development came a day after Jio's rival Bharti Airtel signed a similar pact with SpaceX.
The process of merging Haldiram's Nagpur and Delhi branches to form Haldiram Snacks Food Private Ltd has been completed, informed its CEO Krishan Kumar Chutani on the social media platform LinkedIn. "A new chapter begins in the Haldiram story, and it's a significant one," Chutani posted on LinkedIn on Monday.
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.
Venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) funds had, in 2024, taken bets on traditional businesses rather than tech-first domains like consumer tech, software as a service (SaaS) and software. According to data from Bain & Co, Pitchbook, Venture Intelligence, VCC Edge and AVCJ, prominent VC funds like PeakXV saw their share in this traditional space go up sharply from 14 per cent in 2023 to 23 per cent in 2024.
Dubai is positioning itself as a springboard for Indian companies looking to tap into fast-growing emerging markets, including Africa, banking on low tariffs, long-standing trade relations, and a shared vision for regional economic growth, said Mohammad Ali Rashid Lootah, president and chief executive officer, Dubai Chambers, at the Dubai-India Business Forum in Mumbai.
Hiring trends in India's white-collar job market dipped marginally by 1.4 per cent in March compared to the same month last year, driven by a decline in recruitment in the retail, oil & gas, and education sectors, a report said on Wednesday.
While sedan sales have declined in the mass-market segment in recent years, demand remains strong for BMW sedans, which account for 45 per cent of its sales in India.
Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) reported a 25 per cent rise in net profit attributable to the owners of the company for the January-March quarter of 2024-25, owing to higher revenues and an exceptional gain. For the quarter under review, L&T posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 5,497.3 crore, while revenue rose 10.9 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 74,392.28 crore.
The country's largest retailer Reliance Industries on Monday announced that it will enter the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) business this year as part of its expansion plan. Addressing the 45th AGM of Reliance Industries on Monday, Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL) Director Isha Ambani said: "This year, we will launch our FMCG goods business". The objective of this business will be to develop and deliver products and solve every Indian's daily needs, with high-quality products at affordable pricing, she said while addressing Reliance Industries' annual general meeting.
Traditional field sales are losing ground, with job postings declining except in Tier III and IV cities.
The initial public offering (IPO) lane will be busy next week, with four main-line companies, including Leela Palaces Hotels & Resorts operator Schloss Bangalore Ltd and Aegis Vopak Terminals tapping the primary market to raise over Rs 6,600 crore collectively.
With a potential for a 10x growth in pre-tax profit from the business over the next decade, retail including e-commerce will be the next growth engine for Reliance Industries Ltd, Goldman Sachs said in a report. After growing 5x over FY16-FY20, RIL's core retail revenue growth has taken a pause in FY21 (April 2020 to March 2021) due to Covid related macro headwinds including lower footfalls. The oil-to-telecom conglomerate run by billionaire Mukesh Ambani used the period to build strong digital capabilities of the retail business while continuing to expand its physical reach.
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.
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Tuesday said it has partnered with Elon Musk's SpaceX for providing Starlink's high-speed internet services to its customers in India. This agreement is subject to SpaceX receiving authorisations to sell Starlink's satellite communications-based services in India, Airtel said in a statement.
For Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), the September 2024 quarter (Q2FY25) may turn out to be yet another weak one as refining margins drag, say analysts. Two brokerage firms - ICICI Securities and Nuvama - expect a 1-13 per cent dip in reported profits in Q2FY25 from a year ago. Kotak Institutional expects a modest 2.2 per cent rise. Revenue, at best based on available analyst estimates, could rise up to 4 per cent.
Some major contracts coming up for renewal include TCS' deals with Star Alliance, a consortium of airlines based in Germany, and Nielsen; Infosys' deals with GE Appliances and Daimler; HCLTech's with UK-based life insurer Chesnara; Wipro's with German electric utility company E.ON and Petrobras of Brazil; and Tech Mahindra's with Circle Health.
Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani on Wednesday announced a fresh investment commitment of Rs 50,000 crore in West Bengal by the end of this decade. Speaking at the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) 2025, Ambani said the investment would generate one lakh jobs in the state.
Health insurance premium growth has slowed after touching record highs during the Covid-19 pandemic due to tapering demand from retail consumers amid affordability issues. According to General Insurance Council data, health insurance premiums grew by 10.44 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in the Apr-Jan period of FY25 in comparison with 20.79 per cent in the year-ago period. It was around 23.57 per cent in FY23, and 25.89 per cent in FY22.
The Indian government has assured citizens that the country has ample food stocks to meet domestic demand, despite escalating tensions with Pakistan. The government has also warned traders against hoarding essential food items and creating artificial shortages, emphasizing that there is no need for panic buying. The food ministry detailed the country's current stock levels, showcasing a surplus over required buffer norms for rice, wheat, and pulses. Additionally, India holds substantial edible oil and sugar stocks, ensuring a strong food security position.
A CAG report has found that the 2021-22 Delhi excise policy created risks of monopolies and brand pushing by an "exclusive arrangement" between a few wholesalers and manufacturers. The report highlights that three wholesalers controlled over 71% of the total liquor supply chain in the city, with just 25 brands accounting for nearly 70% of total liquor sales. The report also criticized the formation of retail zones with a minimum of 27 wards in each zone, which limited the number of total licensees and increased the risk of monopolization and cartel formation.
The stock of mall developer and commercial real estate major, The Phoenix Mills (Phoenix), is up 26 per cent since its business update in the third week of January. The gains came on strong December quarter performance and the consumption boost in the Budget which is expected to help the company sustain its growth trends.
From the Sensex firms, Adani Ports, Eternal, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Reliance Industries, Power Grid and NTPC were the major gainers. Sun Pharma, however, tanked over 5 per cent.
Baba Ramdev-led Patanjali Ayurved Ltd will sell its food retail business to group firm Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd for Rs 690 crore as part of its strategy to focus on non-food, traditional medicine and wellness business.
Ola Electric has eliminated its regional warehouses across India, and will now leverage its 4,000 retail stores nationwide for maintaining vehicle inventory, spare parts, accessories, and last-mile deliveries. The strategic move is expected to boost EBITDA margins by almost 10 percentage points, besides improving inventory management and faster customer deliveries, sources directly familiar with the matter said.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's call for making lending rates affordable may not resonate anytime soon as banks still struggle with margin compression, and await clues from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on liquidity and rate action. Hinting that any lending rate cut was some time away, State Bank of India (SBI) managing director Vinay M Tonse said there was still some aggression in the market regarding deposit pricing.
The meltdown in Dalal Street that wiped out investor wealth to the tune of 44 trillion in 2025 also seems to be having a ripple effect on the country's vibrant automobile retail sales.
Mukesh Ambani's Reliance group has struck acquisition deals worth $4.2 billion with a dozen companies in just two years to expand its retail business. The latest purchase was of a majority stake in Justdial for Rs 3,497 crore. Elaborating on his acquisition strategy a few weeks ago during the AGM, Ambani stated that one of the key planks would be to acquire businesses that enhanced Reliance's offerings and experiences to customers and that they would be both physical and digital.
The NCLT has granted Future Retail Ltd (FRL) an extension of 90 days for concluding the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) of the company. Allowing FRL's plea the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has extended the deadline to July 15, 2023, for concluding the CIRP of FRL. "... NCLT on April 13, 2023, heard the application and granted the said exclusion of 90 days from CIRP of FRL and consequent extension for completion of CIRP till July 15, 2023," said a regulatory filing from the company.
Haldiram has entered into an agreement with Temasek as part of which the Singapore-headquartered global investment firm will "acquire an equity stake from the existing shareholders" of India's largest packed snack and sweets company and restaurant operator, according to a statement issued on Sunday. It did not disclose details of the deal or the valuation at which Temasek acquired the equity stake, but this is the first official confirmation of the deal from Haldiram.
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
'I think some of us, like Mukesh Ambani, myself and those of us who head industrial units, ought to really focus on what we can really do to make the world a safer place, maybe 50 or 100 years from now.' 'For instance, how can we deal with climate change and global warming, right now?' 'The effects of it may not be felt now; in fact, we may pay a price for it today, but it will help the generations to follow.'
Private sector lender Axis Bank is close to acquiring Citigroup's retail banking business in India and a deal is likely to be announced soon, sources said on Wednesday. According to the sources, the deal, to be valued at $2.5 billion (about Rs 18,000 crore), will be subject to regulatory approvals. In April 2021, American banking major Citigroup announced its plan to exit from the consumer banking business in India as part of its global strategy. The business comprises credit cards, retail banking, home loans and wealth management.
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.
Global investment firm KKR will invest Rs 2,069.50 crore in Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd for a 0.25 per cent additional stake of the retailer at a valuation of about Rs 8.36 lakh crore, Reliance Industries Ltd said on Monday. After this investment, KKR's shareholding in Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL), the holding company of the retail business of billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led RIL, will increase to 1.42 per cent from 1.17 per cent. The investment is at "a pre-money equity value of Rs 8.361 lakh crore (around $100.87 billion)", said a joint statement.
So far, over 30 people have died across Northeastern states due to heavy rainfalls, floods and landslides, according to media reports.
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