Page 31 - Business Finance
Mars Wrigley eyes expanding rural reach with affordable pricing
Mars Wrigley Confectionery looks to further boost growth in the rural market, which contributes almost 40 per cent to its overall sales, by offering more products at affordable price points, a top company official said. Mars Wrigley, which recognises India as a "key accelerate market", is ramping up its distribution network and plans to launch more brands here from its global portfolio. The company, which has brands such as Snickers, Mars, Bounty, M&M, Doublemint, Boomer, Orbit, Galaxy and Twix, is also introducing India-specific innovations in the market as per its strategy of being a "global brand with an Indian twist". The company expects India to be among its top 10 markets in the next five to ten years, Mars Wrigley Confectionery General Manager - India Andrew Leakey told PTI. Asked about the rural market, he said, "Yes, we would see growth. For us, rural growth is strong. You are seeing more global brands at affordable price points to bring people into those brands." To ...
EAC-PM rejects Subramanian's GDP claim, accuses him of cherry-picking data
The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) on Wednesday rejected the claims of former CEA Arvind Subramanian regarding over-estimation of GDP growth after 2011, saying his analysis is based on "cherry-picking" of high-frequency indicators while ignoring data on services, agriculture and robust tax collection. The EAC-PM also accused him of blindly trusting data provided by a private agency, CMIE and distrusting government institution Central Statistics Office (CSO). In a paper, EAC-PM said India's GDP estimation methodology stands at par with its global standing as a major and responsible economy. Primary contributors of the paper are economists Bibek Debroy, Rathin Roy, Surjit Bhalla, Charan Singh, Arvind Virmani. Last week, the advisory body had said it would issue a point-to-point rebuttal of the Subramanian's research paper. In a research paper, Subramanian, who stepped down last year, said India's economic growth rate has been overestimated by around 2.5 ...
Jalan panel report on RBI's capital size to be finalised by June-end: Das
The Bimal Jalan committee, which is looking into the size of capital reserves that the RBI should hold, will have one more meeting before finalising its report to be submitted to the apex bank this month-end. The six-member panel, under former RBI Governor Jalan, was appointed on December 26, 2018, to review the economic capital framework (ECF) for the Reserve Bank after the Finance Ministry wanted it to follow the global best practices and transfer more surplus to the government. "Jalan panel report will come at the end of the month, and we have to wait for the report," RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said here Wednesday. The ECF panel constituted by the RBI was mandated to submit its report within 90 days of its first meeting, which took place on January 8. Following this, the panel was given a three-month extension. The other key members of the panel include Rakesh Mohan, former deputy governor of RBI as the vice-chairman, finance secretary Subhash Chandra Garg, RBI deputy governor N .
FM discusses budget proposals with financial sector regulators
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reviewed the state of the economy and discussed various budget-related suggestions and proposals at a meeting with financial sector regulators here on Wednesday. Sitharaman will present the first budget of Modi 2.0 government on July 5 against the backdrop of India's economy hitting a five-year low growth of 6.8 per cent in 2018-19. Financial sector regulators, including RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, Sebi Chairman Ajay Tyagi, and IRDAI chief Subhash Chandra Khuntia, and top finance ministry officials were present in the meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) headed by the finance minister, an official release said. "As discussed in the other FSDC meetings, there was a general review of the current state of the economy, of the overall macro-economic situation, global developments, and there was a discussion on the forthcoming budget and various budget-related suggestions and proposals," the RBI governor said after the ...
Delay in clearing cane growers' dues won't be tolerated: UP CM
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Wednesday issued a stern warning to government officials against any delay in the clearance of dues to the sugarcane farmers. Any delay in clearing arrears of the sugarcane farmers will not be tolerated, warned the chief minister, while directing officials to ensure timely payments to farmers by the sugar mill owners. The officials should ensure that mill owners make full payment to sugarcane farmers by August, Adityanath said, addressing a review meeting of the Sugar Industry and Cane Development Department. The chief minister also mooted the idea of creating a separate fund to provide financial support to the farmers. A separate fund could be created to be used for welfare of the sugarcane farmers and provide them other facilities, said the chief minister. With this fund, facilities such as toilets, restrooms, drinking water etc could be provided to farmers, he added. Adityanath pointed out that a sum of Rs 68,828 crore has already been ..
Ashok Leyland to close Pantnagar plant for 6 days to adjust production
Hinduja Group flagship firm Ashok Leyland Wednesday said it will close its Pantnagar plant for six days from June 24 to adjust production according to the demand. The Pantnagar plant is an integrated axle machining and assembly facility of the company. "As part of the company's strategy to align with the production and sales requirements", its plant at Pantnagar "will remain closed from June 24, 2019 to June 29, 2019 (both days inclusive)," Ashok Leyland said in a regulatory filing. The company's total vehicles sales, including exports, had declined by 4 per cent to 13,172 units in May as against 13,659 units in the same month last year. Its total medium and heavy commercial vehicles sales dropped 14 per cent during the month to 8,946 units as compared with 10,421 units in May last year. Light commercial vehicle sales, however, had grown by 31 per cent to 4,226 units in May as against 3,238 units in the year-ago month. The Indian automobile industry has been passing through a slump ...
Indian Pharma industry aspiring to grow to USD 120-130 bn by 2030: IPA
The Indian pharmaceutical industry is aspiring to touch USD 120-130 billion by 2030 from the current USD 38 billion, industry body Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) said on Wednesday. The report, tiltled 'Indian Pharmaceutical Industry: The Way Forward - Vision 2030', is based on a research collaboration with McKinsey & Co and inputs from the IPA members and industry leaders, IPA said in a statement. To achieve the the goals of Vision 2030, the stakeholders need to work on accelerating the goal of universal healthcare across India and the world by providing access to high-quality affordable drugs, it added. The stakeholders also need to work on becoming the world's largest and most reliable high drugs supplier and achieve to grow to USD 120-130 billion by 2030, IPA said. "The Indian pharmaceutical industry is entering its next phase of growth. At this critical juncture, there is a need for stronger collaboration between pharma companies, the government and regulatory agencies,"
Pepperfry expects Rs 500 cr revenue from Clouddio biz by 2021
Online home furnishing firm Pepperfry expects its mattress segment Clouddio to contribute to around Rs 500 crore in its over Rs 7,000 crore revenue target by the next fiscal, a top official said Thursday. The company estimates that its home brand in total will fetch revenue of around Rs 3,000 crore to the total business by end of next financial year. "Overall Indian mattresses business is estimated to be around USD 2 billion (about Rs 14,000 crore) crore of which Rs 300 crore is done online. We at Pepperfry to do half it. Clouddio accounts for 40 per cent of the total sale that we do. By 2021, we expect Clouddio to contribute at least Rs 500 crore in total revenue. "We maintain that we want to reach USD 1 billion revenue by 2021, and half of it will come from home brands," Ashish Shah, Founder and COO, Pepperfry told PTI. The company has started opening offline store for showcasing products and claims to have seen traction from customers. "We now have around 65 Pepperfry studios where
Assam BJP MPs urge Sawant to reopen defunct mills of Hindustan
Union Minister of State for Food Processing Rameswar Teli Wednesday urged Heavy Industries Minister Arvind Ganpat Sawant to reopen PSU firm Hindustan Paper Corp's two defunct mills in Assam by either PPP route or privatising them. HPC's Cachar unit in Panchgram stopped working from October 20, 2015, while the Nagaon mill in Jagiroad has stopped functioning on March 31, 2017. No salary was paid to the staff of Cachar and Nagaon units since January and March of 2017 respectively. Teli wrote a joint letter along with Assam Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Pijush Hazarika and all the BJP MPs from the state. "We strongly believe that the scope of making HPC a viable company still exists, if it is run by efficient professional management with proper modernisation, technological upgradation and financial re-structuring. "This can be carried out by either implementation of PPP model or private takeover initiative," the BJP lawmakers demanded in the joint letter to
In railways' 100-day plan: Reducing Delhi-Howrah, Delhi-Mumbai travel time by 5 hours
The railways plans to bring down by five hours the travel time between the busy Delhi-Howrah and Delhi-Mumbai routes with an investment of about Rs 14,000 crore in infrastructure over the next four years. This is one of the 11 proposals prepared by the railways in its 100-day plan, with instructions to initiate immediate action to implement them by August 31. The two routes account for 30 per cent of passenger and 20 per cent of freight traffic. Presently, the fastest train on the Delhi-Howrah route takes 17 hours to complete the journey while on the Delhi-Mumbai route the quickest train takes 15.5 hours. The proposal is to reduce the travel time to 12 hours and 10 hours respectively. The proposal is being sent to the Cabinet Committee for Economic Affairs for approval. According to the proposal document, the railways has set a target to ramp up the speed of the trains on these routes from the present 130 kmph to 160 kmph. The document, a part of the 100 day-plan being prepared by ...
Bank credit growth eases to 12.31% as on 07 June 2019
Deposits rises 9.92% as on 07 June 2019
Sebi fines 4 entities Rs 21 lakh for fraudulent trading in BSE stock options
Markets regulator Sebi has imposed a total fine of Rs 21 lakh on four entities for carrying out fraudulent trades in the illiquid stock options segment on the BSE. ENPAR Fortune Pvt Ltd, Flyhigh Exports Pvt Ltd and Anuj Katta were fined Rs 5 lakh each, while Arham Share Consultants Pvt Ltd was levied penalty of Rs 6.20 lakh, totalling Rs 21.20 lakh, according to Sebi's separate orders. Sebi had conducted an investigation between April 2014 and September 2015 into the trading activities of several entities that were suspected to be entering into non-genuine trades in illiquid stock options. Pursuant to the investigation, Sebi found that the four were among the several entities that executed non-genuine trades by reversing trades with same entities on the same day with wide variations in price without any basis for such wide variation. "The synchronized trading by the Noticee (four entities) with same counterparty at same time for same quantity at same price and reversal of transaction .
Jitendra New E V Tech's JMT 1000 HS gets FAME 2 Nod
The Nashik based Jitendra Electric Vehicles' JMT 1000 HS electric scooter has been cleared by the Government for availing a subsidy of Rs 19,753.The company announced a post subsidy Mumbai price of Rs 79,015. The company has received massive response from customers and commitments have been received for more than 650 scooters.Jitendra Electric MD Jitendra Shah thanked the International Centre for Automotive Technology (ICAT) Manesar for the technological guidance and development assistance. He also thanked Department of Heavy Industry for awarding the subsidy under FAME 2.Jitendra Electric was incorporated in 2015 and since then, producing and selling electric 3 and 2 wheelers. When asked as to how his company has continuously brought out new and innovative products, Jitendra Shah gave credit to the automobile eco system of Maharashtra.Availability of high quality of vendors, young and innovative work force and discerning customer base have been the key factors for us to bring better .
Myntra to set up 30 experience centres
Fashion e-tailer Myntra Wednesday said it is setting up 30 experience centres across major cities where customers can receive orders and try items as part of its efforts to enhance customer experience. Started as a pilot a few months ago in Bengaluru, the Flipkart-owned company has now set up five of these experience centres in Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru and Hyderabad ahead of its End of Reason Sale (EORS) later this month. "We started the pilot a few months ago with an experience centre in a Bengaluru tech-park where we receive a large number of orders. At these centres, we will offer value added services like order pickup, instant returns, trial room and alterations of products," Myntra Jabong Head Amar Nagaram told PTI. This not only results in better customer experience but also brings down cost of returns as customers can receive faster replacements, he added. Nagaram said Myntra has already set up five such centres and aims to expand that to 30 in the next few months across various ...
Rudratej Singh appointed BMW Group India President and CEO
German auto major BMW Group Wednesday announced the appointment of ex-Royal Enfield global president Rudratej Singh as President and CEO of its Indian operations. The appointment will be effective from August 1, 2019, BMW Group India said in a statement. Singh has more than 25 years of experience and has held multiple leadership positions both in the automotive and non-automotive industry, it added. In his last assignment, Singh was the Global President at Royal Enfield and before that he worked with Unilever in India and international markets for over 16 years. "Having worked across diverse industry segments, Singh has deep understanding of strategic business techniques based on fundamental consumer insights, a transformational leadership approach and fresh thinking that will strengthen BMW Group's operations in India," BMW Group Senior Vice President, Region Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa Hendrik von Kuenheim said. "As a priority market for the BMW Group, India
Renault to stop selling diesel vehicles in India from next year
French auto major Renault Wednesday said it will stop selling diesel vehicles in India from next year when BS-VI emission norms kick in, following the footsteps of market leader Maruti Suzuki, citing tightening regulatory measures against the fuel globally. The company, which made its global unveil of its compact multi-purpose vehicle Triber here in India, is bringing the vehicle only in petrol engine option as part of the strategy even as it prepares to introduce electric vehicles (EV) in the near future here. "I think this is the strategy that we are going to follow," Groupe Renault Chief Executive Officer Thierry Bollor told reporters here in an interaction when asked if the company would stop selling diesel cars in India when the next emission norm kick in India from next year. From April 1, 2020 India will implement the stricter Bharat Stage-VI (BS-VI) emission norm across the country in all vehicle categories. In April this year, car market leader Maruti Suzuki India had said ..
Data usage per smartphone in India set to double by 2024: Ericsson report
India region had the highest average data usage per smartphone at 9.8 gigabytes (GB) per month in 2018 and the number is set to nearly double by 2024, according to a report. The Ericsson Mobility Report, June 2019 edition, claimed that Indian smartphone users are willing to pay more than 66 per cent premium for futuristic 5G services. The report comes at a time when India is on the verge of starting 5G trials. The Digital Communications Commission, the highest decision-making body in the Telecom Department, has recently cleared spectrum allocation norms for 5G trials in India. The spectrum auctions too are scheduled to be held this calendar year, and the Telecom Department has asked the regulator to reconsider its spectrum recommendations, including for 5G radiowaves, to ensure competition and greater participation of larger set of players. The Ericsson Mobility report has predicted that globally 5G uptake will be faster than expected. It has also forecast that total smartphone ...
US CEO hands Oxford University USD 189 million for AI studies
An American billionaire has given Oxford University 150 million pounds (USD 188.6 million) for a new institute that will study the ethical implications of artificial intelligence and computing technologies. The donation from Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of the private equity firm Blackstone, will also fund a center to house all of the university's humanities subjects in a single space to encourage collaborative study. "AI is going to be the fourth revolution, and it is going to impact jobs, excellence, efficiency," Schwarzman told the BBC. "It is a force for amazing good and also a potential force for not good." Schwarzman compared the rise of AI to the rise of the internet, which was launched by computer scientists who thought it was "cool." "And parts of it were cool interconnectedness, globally the ability to communicate, it is pretty amazing," he said. "What they forgot were all the negatives, this inability to control cyber bullying, lack of freedom of speech all kinds of negative ..
Rupee up 2 paise to 69.68 vs USD ahead of Fed policy decision
The rupee inched up 2 paise to end at 69.68 against the US dollar Wednesday ahead of the US Fed's interest rate decision. Hopes of a breakthrough in US-China trade talks and softening crude oil prices supported the local unit, forex traders said. At the interbank foreign exchange (forex) market, the domestic currency opened at 69.57 to a dollar and gained further strength to touch a high of 69.49 during the day. However, it could not hold on to the gains and finally ended at 69.68, up 2 paise over its previous close. The rupee had settled at 69.70 against the US dollar Tuesday. "Global markets would also await the outcome of the ongoing FOMC policy meeting which will conclude on June 19. The central bank is highly expected to come out in dovish note and markets would be highly anticipating any kind of hints on future rate cuts by the central bank," Angel Broking Research Associate Vaqar Khan said. Khan further said the rupee is likely to remain range-bound in the coming days despite ..
HDFC to acquire entire 50.8% stake of Apollo Group in Apollo Munich Health Insurance Company
For consideration of Rs 1336 crore