Builders bet on affordable homes as luxury sales dip, however, signs of revival after note ban and Rera are slowly visible
With the dizzying rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in the country, India Inc has transitioned from a wait-and-watch policy to full-on emergency mode, bringing back remote and flexi work, stringent safety protocols, and allowing only essential travel. Companies - especially in metros like Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata - that had adopted a hybrid work model during the last few months when the caseload remained low, are either switching back entirely to work-from-home (WFH), or calling skeletal staff to office on select days. Take the case of cigarettes-to-hotels major, ITC, which had been on a hybrid work model over the last few months.
Corporate India continues to be generous in rewarding its shareholders with big dividend payouts. This is especially true for shareholders of companies such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Hindustan Zinc (HZL), and Coal India (CIL) which are seen as cash cows of large business groups and the government. Boosted by a big payout by these three companies, the combined equity dividend payout by listed companies was up 38 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to a record high of Rs 2.27 trillion in 2022-23 (FY23), compared with Rs 1.65 trillion in 2021-22 (FY22).
The financial year ending Saturday saw such big-ticket events that set the directional tone for the country's business journey.
Registration of housing properties in the Mumbai municipal region increased 35 per cent year-on-year to 7,556 units during this month on rising demand, according to Knight Frank. The registrations for September 2021 were 87 per cent higher compared to the pre-pandemic period of September 2019. "Mumbai BMC region (Churchgate to Dahisar and Colaba to Mulund) recorded its best September month performance. Recording 35 per cent YoY growth in property registrations in September 2021, 7,556 units is a 10-year best performance in the month of September," Knight Frank said in a statement.
After a five-day long visit, Apple CEO Tim Cook left India with a note that he can't wait to return to the country. The visit of Cook coincided with 25 years of the iPhone maker's presence in India. Cook arrived in India on Monday. The visit started with the launch of the first official Apple store in Mumbai on April 18 followed by a second in the national capital on April 20.
The scrutiny is expected to be over this month itself.
'And if the United States, at that time, perceives India to have welched on the deal, not been our friend, when we did so much to make it a friend, that's trouble.'
The list of corporations publishing biographies has lengthened steadily as companies have realised the effectiveness of story telling as a brand building tool. Kanika Datta investigates the rising trend.
Unless new members are inducted at jet speed, the strength of Tata Sons board will come down to four in July.
With the new owner shelling out Rs 18,000 crore for the buyout of 'Maharaja' this would be the highest ever amount garnered through privatisation or even the cumulative sum garnered through strategic sale in 1999-00 to 2003-04. The government had garnered roughly over Rs 5,000 crore during that five-year period by privatising 10 CPSEs.
The growth was led by family-owned companies and business groups with presence in pharmaceuticals, information technology services, and consumer products.
Gautam Adani's alleged proximity to Narendra Modi may dent the latter's self-styled image of incorruptibility, points out Kanika Datta.
A Delhi court on Saturday sent Shankar Mishra, accused of urinating on a woman co-passenger on an Air India flight, to judicial remand for 14 days while rejecting a plea by police for his custody.
Nearly 490 million people of working age are outside the bounds of India's unemployment assessments. A decrease in the unemployment rate could signal economic growth, but could just as well mean that people have given up looking for work. A revealing excerpt from Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran and Tata Chief Economist Roopa Purushothaman's Bridgital Nation: Solving Technology's People Problem.
Gupta has expressed an intent to buy Port Talbot, Britain's biggest steelworks
Bangalore-born Bhattacharyya, an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2002 for his services to science and technology and made a life peer in the UK's House of Lords in 2004.
The world is full of family businesses that withered away with the passing of generations, creating much bitterness and ill will. Entire clans that used to be household names have become pale shadows of their once-mighty empires.
'But we are much better than what we all had expected and planned, and what all the prophets of doom had predicted.'
SBI will hold 30 per cent in RIL joint venture
It is not the first time the history of the Godrej family is being written. In its centenary year in 1997, film journalist and former editor of Filmfare and Screen B K Karanjia had, at the behest of the industrial family, penned a voluminous two-part history, tracing their trials and tribulations since 1897. So, what made the family want to tell its story again 25 years later? And not through another book, but through a completely different medium?
'Cyrus was also generous, hospitable, sharing of whatever he had.' 'He never ever acted like the inheritor of great wealth.'
'Government shouldn't be in the business of running airlines, instead it should develop the ecosystem of civil aviation.'
Urban planners and real estate experts say bad town planning in Mumbai and rising deaths during the ongoing pandemic are a "sad reality". Dev Chatterjee and Raghavendra Kamath report.
An opportunity to enter a burgeoning sector at a low valuation and favourable policies are propelling some of India's largest corporate groups to scoop up drone start-ups. "Indian corporations lost the race in aerospace and space tech. "No one wants to miss the bus this time. "These are seasoned businessmen and they realise that the market cap of tech companies with problem-solving capabilities will exponentially rise in future," says Vipul Singh, CEO of Aarav Unmanned Systems (AUS).
'The rising cost of construction, the cost of doing business, high compliance, and inflation/interest rates going up have already reduced returns to single digits.'
Dhirubhai Ambani lived in a one-room chawl in Mumbai with his wife and children and went on to establish the Reliance Group.
TCS still ace in the pack
Tatas, Adani, Bharti, HDFC and Sun Groups have clocked huge gains.
One should appreciate the sagacity and audacity of JRD and Nani Palkhivala in founding TCS on April 1, 1968. At that time there was no Microsoft or Intel, SAP or Accenture, much less Google.
They needed a person who could build and execute their vision: A frontiersman; a problem solver and an institution builder. It was their and India's good fortune that Faqir Chand Kohli more than measured up to their requirements and indeed laid the foundation to take TCS to unimaginable heights and to the giant success that it is today. Shivanand Kanavi salutes the incomparable F C Kohli, who passed into the ages last week.
'We cannot understand why the government is facilitating the import of artillery when our indigenous guns are doing so well.'
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
The JV, Voltbek Home Appliances, aims to take on LG, Samsung as well as home-grown players such as Godrej among others head on with a slew of products that hopes to combine the best of both worlds -- European technology and design, with Indian pricing and delivery.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
Ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala on Thursday said real estate developers are afflicted with very low return on capital as compared to bluechip stocks. Jhunjhunwala, who runs RARE Enterprises and is set to be a major shareholder in an upcoming airliner, said only the affordable housing developers can look at listing because of the volumes which they can deliver. It can be noted that very few developers like Macrotech Developers formerly Lodha, and DLF are listed on the bourses. Jhunjhunwala cited the case of DLF, saying the stock price plummeted to Rs 80 from Rs 1,300 per piece to illustrate the risks associated.
Nikunj Saraf, Vice President Choice Wealth, answers your queries.
Titan is investing heavily on research and development, which will do things beyond a smart watch can do today such as switching off lights, locking, and unlocking doors and making payments. Titan is also working closely with start-ups, too, to develop such futuristic features.
India's billionaires are pledging a decent amount of their wealth for the welfare of society.
Aditya Birla Nuvo gets board's nod, Videocon submits application.