Ajit Mishra, vice president, research, Religare Broking, answers your stockmarket queries.
Humble attitude, capacity to adapt to complex situations make Indian managers much sought-after.
Despite near-term headwinds of rising input costs and the possibility of lower demand for products as Covid dented rural & urban India, and impacts both production & consumption, analysts remain bullish on stocks of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies and expect the index to relatively outperform its peers in the second half of fiscal 2021-22 (FY22). In the past one year, prices of key commodities such as groundnut oil, mustard oil, Vanaspati, soya oil, sunflower oil and palm oil have shot up in the range of 20 per cent to 60 per cent, data show. The FMCG sector macros in this backdrop, according to analysts, have further deteriorated because of weakness in consumer demand and likely margin pressure due to elevated crude oil, palm oil and global food prices.
In the Sensex pack, IndusInd Bank was the top gainer, soaring around 8 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, PowerGrid, ONGC, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma and M&M.
Higher prices are burdening household budgets and threatening the margins of leading manufacturers.
First it was called content-led commerce. Then it came to be known as influencer-led commerce. And its latest iteration is creator economy. This evolution of the terminology for online personas impacting buying decisions -- through blogs, memes, bite-sized videos, and podcasts -- has happened over the past five to seven years.
Move comes at a time when the $50-billion Unilever is looking to double its turnover in 10 years.
On its radar are Alberto-Culver and the personal care and laundry portfolios of Sara Lee, both recent acquisitions of Unilever.
The iconic British brand acquired by Unilever in 2009 from American major Sara Lee, is attempting to get a new image with actors Sidharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan.
Irrespective of demonetisation and GST blues, IIM Lucknow has been able to successfully place their batch of 459 students.
To tackle the resultant inflation, the Indira Gandhi government had imposed price controls on manufactured products, including soaps and vanaspati, in 1973.
HUL's board approved the royalty of 3.15 per cent of turnover effective from February 2013.
Companies which have been dropped from the list include Tata Motors, Hindustan Unilever, MRF, Glaxo SmithKline Consumer Healthcare, Pfizer, Dr Reddy's Labs, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, HDFC and Kotak Mahindra Bank
Inbound M&A into India totals $9.86 billion this year, the highest in Asia.
Hindustan Unilever, the FMCG major, has posted disappointing numbers for the December quarter on weak consumer sentiment, specially in discretionary categories.
Net sales were 12.48 per cent at Rs 6,367.14 crore.
The Indian IT services sector is scrambling to retain talent since digitisation-led transformation has increased the demand for a digitally skilled workforce. As a result, the pull for jobs for tech professionals is also coming from non-IT sectors, leading to higher attrition among IT companies. The average number of tech jobs from non-IT sectors has seen a 41 per cent uptick in March-May'21 versus March-May'19, according to data from Naukri.com.
Over the past few months, FMCG companies redefined their "fairness" offerings to make them more inclusive in the backdrop of the global movement "BlackLivesMatter".
The fast moving consumer goods major Hindustan Unilever on Monday said it exited from BPO firm Capgemini Business Services India by selling its remaining 49 per cent stake to IT consultancy firm Cap Gemini SA for an undisclosed sum.
I have a number of wonderful opportunities where I can leverage my global experience, says Manvinder Singh Banga, President, Unilever Plc.
The BSE Sensex ended at 28,504, stronger by 322 points or 1%.
The country's top FMCG stocks, such as Hindustan Unilever, ITC, Nestl, Britannia, Godrej Consumer Products, and Dabur, among others, are currently trading at around 41x their trailing 12-month earnings, down from their peak P/E multiple of around 48x at the end of December 2018.
Will the warning shots from giants like Unilever and P&G break digital growth?
ICICI Bank's valuation tumbled Rs 6,883.44 crore to Rs 3,48,532.24 crore, taking the worst hit among the top-10 firms.
60-65 per cent of the FMCG industry's overall sales come from urban areas; 35-40 per cent from rural areas.
Markets
TCS, HDFC Bank, Infosys and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the other firms in the top-10 list which witnessed a rise in their market capitalisation. On the other hand, HUL, HDFC, Bharti Airtel, ITC and ICICI Bank finished with losses.
Nilanjan Roy spent 13 years with Bharti Airtel, prior to which he worked for 15 years with Unilever across their global operations.
In spite of a severe second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, and a widespread disruption in public life therefore, India's fast-moving consumer goods (FMGC) sector seems to have emerged as one of the most resilient segments of the economy. The early numbers and estimates for the April-June quarter indicate a steady recovery in FMCG players' business, which is now set to exceed the pre-pandemic level. Amid nationwide lockdowns because of the first Covid wave, FMCG revenues had been severely affected in mid-2020.
The board meeting also saw Mehta, 57, being re-appointed as MD & CEO for a period of five years after the completion of his term in October
Ajit Mishra, vice president, research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
The list includes Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints and Bharti Airtel - firms that investors feel are most likely to come up with the next big innovation.
One of the oldest living brands in the country, Horlicks has been innovative in its approach, which helped it survive intense competition
India now has three companies in the global top 100 list in terms of market value: Reliance Industries (RIL) ranks 72, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is at 86 and HDFC Bank at 99.
'We ask Bollywood to see the writing on the wall, acknowledge their responsibility, and get on the right side of history.'
This stupendous success of Indian talent for Unilever globally is in no small measure on account of the strong foundations that were laid in the early years of the organisation, which is celebrating its 75th year in India.
After the hit of the pandemic, India Inc is now worried about the adverse impact of inflation and higher commodity prices on their revenues and margins. The inflation scare is the strongest among manufacturers of consumer goods such as automobiles, consumer durables, and fast-moving capital goods (FMCG). Companies across sectors fear they will not be able to pass on the hike in input costs to their consumers due to weak demand, which, in turn, would lead to a hit on margins and profitability in the forthcoming quarters.
While HUL's Fair & Lovely was launched in 1975, Emami's Fair & Handsome was unveiled in 2005. Both companies now straddle both the men's and women's fairness categories in the country.
Sebamed's campaign for its cleansing bar of the same name, released across print, television, digital and outdoor, has also named Santoor, a popular soap brand from Wipro Consumer Care.
The one-minute-long ad features a young Hindu girl, dressed in a white t-shirt, who chooses to get stained in Holi colours in order to protect her young Muslim friend who has to go to the nearby mosque to pray. The advertisement ends with its classic tagline, 'Daag achche hain' (stains are good).
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