Admitting the Central Bureau of Investigation appeal, the high court said there are "some contradictions" in the trial court's judgment which require "deeper examination".
Reliance Industries' (RIL's) consumer business is expected to lead earnings growth in the Q3FY24 performance, according to analysts. While the energy business is expected to show sequential weakness, the consumer business, especially retail, is estimated to show strong growth. The oil-to-telecom conglomerate will announce its Q3FY24 financial results on Friday.
The total value of India's top 100 brands has increased by 2 per cent, from $162.1 billion in 2020 to $164.9 billion in 2021, according to the latest Brand Finance India 100 2021 report. This uplift in brand value over the course of the first year of the pandemic is an impressive feat given the global economic crisis following the implementation of national lockdowns in March 2020, when business activity was brought to a halt, affecting both production and consumption. Among the brands that came on the top of the list include Tata Group, Reliance Industries, and Mahindra Group.
The bigger threat for DMart is that the Reliance-Future combine now has grocery revenues that are nearly 2.5 times of it, putting pressure on the former to improve stickiness of its consumers.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Retail on Thursday told the government that complex legal structures have been used by some firms to bypass the country's e-commerce rules which from the very beginning do not allow foreign capital in the inventory-based model. At a meeting called by the commerce ministry on allegations that foreign online retailers created complex structures to bypass foreign investment rules and damage small traders, Amazon urged the government not to issue any clarification until investigations into its business practices had been concluded, sources said. At the meeting, Reliance Retail's representatives said the Indian e-commerce policy does not allow foreign capital in the inventory-based model and foreign investment is allowed only in pure technical infrastructure/ platform that facilitates the meeting of buyer with sellers.
US e-commerce giant Amazon has written to Ajay Tyagi, chairman of market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), to take action as is necessary to comply with the Supreme Court Judgment, related to the $3.4-billion merger deal between Future Group and Reliance. Amazon has requested Sebi to direct the Indian stock exchanges to withdraw the Observation Letters related to this deal with immediate effect. In January this year, Sebi had given a go-ahead onto Future Group's scheme of arrangement and sale of assets to Reliance, based on which the Bombay Stock Exchange also granted its "no adverse observation" report to the Rs 24,713-crore ($3.4 billion) deal.
French observers point out that Paris had no choice but to issue a denial given the importance of India's Rafale purchase for France's aerospace industry.
Hospital chain Aster DM Healthcare's plans to sell its Gulf business may run into rough weather with voting advisory firm Institutional Investor Advisory Services (IiAS) raising concerns over the transaction. Recommending an 'against' vote on the resolution, IiAS has said there is no clarity on how Aster DM will utilise the proceeds that it will obtain by selling the unit, which contributes to bulk of its revenues. In November, Aster DM had announced its plans to sell its wholly-owned subsidiary Affinity Holdings, which conducts business in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, to Alpha GCC for $1 billion.
Technology companies continue to be the most valued brands globally, with the top five most valued companies from the technology sector, according to Brand Finance 2024. Samsung has entered the top five most valued brands globally. Apple secured the first position after falling to the second spot in 2023.
Foreign banks and private credit funds are queuing up to fund acquisitions by Indian companies who are buying out their local rivals. The Adani Group, Torrent Group, and the Hindujas have approached several foreign banks and private equity (PE) firms to fund their acquisitions. Global investors have about $2 trillion of funds to invest, and about $100 to $150 billion is set aside for India, according to an estimate by JP Morgan.
RBI's exercise will take into account standards of governance, the viability of the payment bank (PB) business model, and changes, if any, if needed.
The global billionaires list witnessed as many as 94 new entrants from India, stated a report by Hurun India on Tuesday. Following a net addition of 84, the country's billionaire tally touched 271 with their combined wealth at $1 trillion, noted the report. Mukesh Ambani, chairman & managing director of Reliance Industries, is the only Indian to make it into the top 10 of the Hurun Global Rich List 2024, a ranking of billionaires in US dollar terms.
Funds raised by India Inc. through offshore loan syndication hit a 15-year high in 2023 with companies and banks raising $21.4 billion, the highest since 2007. The momentum is expected to continue in 2024 as well with over $4 billion fund raising expected in the first three months of this year. Companies raise funds, both onshore and offshore, depending on interest rates and activities. Funds raised offshore can be deployed in overseas activities.
'Sweden removed the inheritance tax because many of the rich were fleeing. For example, the owner of IKEA had migrated out of Sweden'
Kishore Biyani-led Future Retail Ltd (FRL) on Thursday told the Delhi high court that Amazon was opposing the Rs 24,713 crore deal with Reliance as the Mukesh Ambani company was a competitor, a contention denied by the US-based e-commerce giant which said it was interested in salvaging FRL. FRL contended before a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh that Amazon was not concerned if the deal falls through then all the shops of the Indian company would be closed down and it's more than 25,000 employees would be without any livelihood. Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for FRL, told the court that the US-based e-commerce giant was only concerned that the Mukesh Ambani group company should not get the shops as they are a competitor of Amazon.
Is it Rs 300 billion or Rs 66 billion or Rs 33.12 billion?
With the objective of making India a manufacturing hub for domestic and foreign companies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched the 'Make in India' initiative.
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.
Reliance Infrastructure is fully geared to deliver the project in 60 months from the appointed date of June 24, 2019, as per the contract, Reliance Infrastructure said in a BSE filing.
The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group's financial services arm Reliance Capital on Friday said it has received approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for its proposed 26 per cent stake sale in Reliance Life Insurance to Japan's Nippon Life.
Walmart group firm Flipkart continues to dominate the e-commerce segment with 48 per cent market share while Softbank-backed Meesho has emerged as the fastest growing e-commerce platform in terms of user base in India, a latest report by AllianceBernstein said. According to the report, Flipkart's user base grew 21 per cent year-on-year (YoY), Meesho accelerated at 32 per cent while Amazon lagged at 13 per cent user growth primarily due to relative premium offerings as compared to peers. "As of FY23, Flipkart was the market leader, with a 48 per cent share in India eCommerce.
Exuding confidence in setting up a profitable banking venture, industrialist Anil Ambani on Tuesday said the proposed bank will help lower Reliance Capital's debt to one-fourth of current levels and would be listed as a separate entity in three years.
'Elections are fought to win.' 'In our party, the leadership takes the final decision, and our leaders are very clear about it.'
The rally in the equity markets in the second half of 2023 has led to a sharp surge in the cutoff for stocks to qualify as largecaps and midcaps. On the latest list put out by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi), the smallest largecap stock now has a market capitalisation (m-cap) of Rs 67,000 crore, 35 per cent higher than in July 2023. In the case of midcaps, the cutoff has surged 26 per cent to Rs 22,000 crore.
Hiranandnani's new venture is well-timed, but it will face heavy competition from both international majors and domestic peers like Adani Group.
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.
Modi was in Lakshadweep on January 2 and 3 to inaugurate the Kochi-Lakshadweep Islands Submarine Optical Fiber Connection and lay foundation stone for the renovation of primary healthcare facility and five model Anganwadi centres.
The Hinduja group is learnt to have backtracked from making a minimum Rs 8,950-crore offer for Reliance Capital (RCap) - a deal that it had belatedly put forth in December, after Torrent Investments emerged as the highest bidder for the bankrupt firm in the challenge process. The Hindujas' latest move has put Indian lenders, with an exposure of Rs 24,000 crore, in a spot as it was the former's revised offer that led to a call for a second auction and litigation by Torrent, which had placed a bid of Rs 8,649 crore in the first auction. Torrent has moved the Supreme Court and plans to wait for the apex court verdict before participating in any fresh auction. A banking source said there was an informal meeting of a few lenders of Reliance Capital with the bidders - the Torrent group and the Hinduja group on Friday when the latter changed its stand. The meeting of RCap's committee of creditors (CoC) is scheduled for Monday.
The apex court said Ambani and the others will have to purge contempt by paying Rs 453 crore to Ericsson in four weeks. A bench comprising Justices R F Nariman and Vineet Saran said if the 'contemnors' failed to make the payments within the specified period, they will undergo a jail term of three months.
Is it is necessary to play divisive politics to succeed in the next general elections? asks Dr Sudhir Bisht.
How much do you know about the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024?
In last few years, a number of global players have exited the Indian mutual fund business.
"We are delighted to welcome Google as a strategic investor in Jio Platforms. We have signed a binding partnership and an investment agreement under which Google will invest Rs 33,737 crores for a 7.7 per cent stake in Jio Platforms," Mukesh Ambani said at the company's annual general meeting.
All directors, key officials, and shareholder speakers will be visible and audible and thousands of shareholders, including those from the US, UK, Canada UAE, Japan, HongKong, Singapore, Malaysia, and Australia, will be able to post their questions and eVote on resolutions.
The last time a bear attack was launched on a controversial businessman was when a cabal of brokers launched an assault in the early 1980s on what they thought was an over-priced Reliance share, recalls T N Ninan.
The 4G service may use Reliance Retail, with a surging customer base, as the launch pad
BPCL and ONGC raised $4.9 billion in 2016-17 against $1.65 billion raised by Reliance
As many as 49 players including Reliance Retail, Jindal Power Ltd and Adani group have submitted Expression of Interest (EoI) for acquiring the assets of debt-ridden Future Retail, which is currently going through insolvency resolution process. Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd, which is the holding company for retail operations of RIL and April Moon Retail Private Ltd, a joint venture between Adani Airport holdings and Flemingo group have again submitted their EOI, after the lenders of Future Retail decided to invite fresh bids after dividing FRL's assets into clusters. According to an update from FRL's Resolution Professional, the 49 players would be permitted to submit "resolution plan(s) for any/all such Clusters under Option II".
Culver Max Entertainment, formerly known as Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI), has terminated merger agreements with Zee Entertainment, which could have otherwise created a USD 10 billion media enterprise in the country.
The launch of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd last September, particularly the tariff war it has unleashed on its competitors, has deepened the crisis facing India's telecom sector. One offshoot of this is the major drop in earnings reported by industry leaders Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular with each passing quarter. Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com tells the story in numbers.