Byju's to buy American company 2U

Byju's offered to buy 2U in a cash deal at over 1 billion dollars. Currently Byju's has made an offer to buy the shares of 2U at Rs.15 per share, but they still haven't disclosed it officially. The offer represents a 61 per cent premium to 2U's closing price of 9.30 dollars on Nasdaq (American Stock Exchange) on 23 July 2022. Byju's is one of the world's most successful start-ups with backing from Tiger Global Management and Mark Zuckerberg's Chan Zuckerberg, and its expanding globally through acquisitions.

2U is an American educational technology company that contracts with non-profit colleges, universities to build, deliver and support online degree and non-online degree program. 2U has a current market value of 717 million dollars and about 1 billion dollars debt and other liabilities. The shares of 2U have declined more than 80% in the early 2021. Some of the major acquisitions by Byju's are US based educational gaming company Osmo in 2019 for 120 million dollars, Whitehat Jr which teaches coding for children in 2020 for 300 million dollars, Aakash educational services in 2021 for 1 billion dollars, US based digital reading platform Epic for 500 million dollars, Great learning in2021 for 600 million dollars and Gradeup which is India's largest online exam preparation platform in September 2021. According to studies, Byju's is India's most valuable start-up with a valuation of 22 billion dollars.

Flipkart Grocery leans on small-town India

 Flipkart is rapidly scaling up its grocery operations across the country. Flipkart has opened its largest grocery fulfillment centre in Karnataka. The grocery segment is expected to become a $790 billion market by 2024 from $603 billion in 2019. The demad is shifting from metros to smaller cities and towns.

Flipkart grocery already serves more than 1,800 cities and over 10,000 Pin code areas across India. It offers products ranging from daily household supplies, staples, snacks  and beverages, confectionery, personal care, fresh fruits and vegetables.

The firm works with sellers to offer groceries via multiple channels such as private label platform Supermart, hyperlocal service Quick and social service arm Shopsy. It competes with other e-commerce firms such as Jiomart, Amazon, and Tata group in grocery and food market.

Flipkart is trying to delver groceries in under 90 minutes in five cities including Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai. They have also halved the delivery time to 30-45 minutes. They are planning to launch the hyperlocal services to other cities in aphased manner and aims to be present in over 200 cities by the end of 2022.

Its rival amazon is also making progress through its grocery store called fresh which is now expanded to more than 20 cities. Tata digital owned BigBasket expects gross merchandise value on its platform to grow by 30 percent to 13000 crore.

The Ambanis

 Akash Ambani (30), Mukesh Ambani's first born will be taking over as the chairman at Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, India's No 1 wireless carrier. Mukesh Ambani will still helm the Jio platform, though he's resigned from the Infocomm board. This is probably a stopgap arrangement until Jio Platforms announce their much awaited initial public offering. They have Meta Platforms Inc and Alphabet Inc as their investors. JioMart, the commerce segment of the Reliance Industries will be chaired by Isha Ambani, Akash Ambani's twin sister. 

At an employees' event last year, during December, Mukesh Ambani has first spoken about "momentous leadership transition". It is speculated that retail, telecom and energy may end up as professionally managed and independently listed companies with equity participation. Such a listing would lead to problems at the stock market where the value of the conglomerate would be less than the sum of its parts. 

During the summer of 2009, when Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani were at courts with their dispute over gas, the combined stock market value of their empires was $108 billion. Currently, Mukesh Ambani's empire is worth $221 billion, while Anil Ambani's group is pretty much just left with whatever creditors can get from bankruptcy, outside of power generation, transmission and distribution. 

Reliance industries enjoys a formidable cost of capital advantage as it has high operating profit and little debt and keeping that edge would help considering its competition. With so much going on with the competition and tie ups with other companies, Reliance with want very little drama in the board room. For now, this family setting should work well to keep that away. 

Byju's lays off 500 and may drop more people in latest edtech crisis

 

Byju's on Thursday said that less than 500 people have been laid off at Whitehat Jr and Toppr, but sacked employees have claimed that 1,100 staff had been retrenched at Toppr alone. The layoff at Toppr comes alongside Byju's group firm Whitehat Jr retrenching 300 employees in addition to the resignation of 250 employees from the company in April-May. To recalibrate business priorities and accelerate long-term growth, optimising their teams across their group companies. This entire exercise involves less than 500 employees from across Byju's group companies. Toppr's sacked employees got a call from the company on Monday and were asked to resign, failing which they will be terminated without any notice period.

Toppr has promised 1 month's salary for those who resign and no salary for those who don't. Around 1,100 people have been laid off at Toppr. As part of our back-to-work drive, most of their sales and support employees have been asked to report to Gurgaon and Mumbai offices from April 18. They have made exceptions for medical and personal exigencies and have offered relocation assistance as required. The teachers will continue to work from home. They continue to invest in developing relevant curriculum for students and build a strong teacher community with high recruitment and training standards.

Byju's acquired Toppr for about USD 150 million in July last year. Another employee, who has been laid off by Toppr. This year everyone was assured by the top management, including Hayath, that there is a high growth opportunity for the employees in the company. However, we have been getting some indication about low business after offline classes resumed across the country. They have worked at Whitehat Jr also. Online education is unable to match offline class, the employee added. Edtech firms Unacademy, Vedantu, Lido, Frontrow, Lido etc have cumulatively laid off thousands of people this year.

 

Indian Rupee ends at new low on relentless FII sell-off, slower RBI intervention

•   The rupee settled just shy of the 79-mark against the US dollar on Wednesday as a fall in domestic equities amid unceasing overseas investment outflows soured sentiment towards the domestic currency, dealers said.
• The Indian currency settled at a fresh low of 78.97 versus the greenback, 0.3 per cent weaker than the previous close. In the course of trade, it hit a lifetime intraday low of 78.98 per US dollar. On Tuesday, the local currency had closed at 78.77.
• Since the war in Ukraine broke out in late February, the RBI has heavily expended its foreign exchange reserves in order to shield the rupee from a runaway depreciation. Since February 25, the headline foreign exchange reserves have declined by $40.94 billion. 
• The BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty each settled 0.3 per cent lower than the previous close. Foreign institutional investors have net sold $6.3 billion worth of Indian stocks, so far, in June, National Securities Depository data showed.
• It is the biggest monthly FII outflow from India stocks since March 2020, the month during which the first lockdowns were imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19.
• The analyst said the rupee may weaken to 79.10 per dollar in the coming days. If the rupee were to strengthen over the near term, it would likely not rise beyond 78.38.

Sebi board to clear FPI entry into derivatives

 The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)at its board meeting , likely to decide to clear the decks for  foreign portfolio investors ( FPIs)  participation in the exchange traded commodity derivatives segment. The aim was to aim at boosting liquidity and efficiency bourses, though concerns remain if this can make markets volatile. The board is also likely to clear its annual accounts- a precursor to presenting its annual report before parliament next month. This is the second board meeting under the current Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch, who took over the charge in march.

At present, institutional investors such as Mutual Funds (MFs) and alternative investment funds participate only in derivatives market. However they contribute less than 15 per cent , but comprises the bulk of volumes generated by proprietary trading ( a financial firm or commercial bank that invests for direct market gain rather than earning commission dollars by trading on behalf of clients). Earlier sebi had allowed so-called eligible foreign entities (EFFs) to participate in the Indian commodity derivatives market only to the extent of hedging their exposure. An EFE was defined as a person resident outside India as defines in the Foreign Exchange Management Act, having actual exposure to Indian physical commodity markets with a minimum a net worth of $500000. A number of commodity exchanges have been onboarded the exchanges so far, but due to the restrictive  regulatory framework , the participation of these entities has been nil. Sources say that the framework will be far more flexible. For one, they will be permitted to take naked exposure, doing away with the condition of having actual exposure of physical commodities. The position limits for FPIs will be similar to those applicable to MFs.  Sources added that FPI entry will be in a graded manner, they will be in permitted in commodities with minimal sensitivity and considerable volumes. Popular non-agricultural commodity derivatives where FPIs could be allowed, are gold, silver, crude oil, Natural gas, Aluminum, Copper . Lead, Nickel, Zinc.

Eveready set to transform with growth and governance driven road map.

The country’s largest dry cell battery maker, Eveready Industries India, is charting out a roadmap focused on growth and profitability, combined with the “highest” degree of good corporate governance, in order to take it to new heights.Addressing shareholders, Suvamoy Saha, managing director, who was elected to chair the annual general meeting  said that the company was now on a journey towards higher reaches and was in the midst of a transformation that provides the roadmap.There was an obvious focus on topline growth, he said later, responding to shareholder queries. The company has chalked out improvement plans for each of its business categories and separate business unit teams were working on the plans. Evereadys’ three main business categories are: batteries, flashlights and lighting.

The battery business saw an unprecedented cost push in the second half of the financial year, particularly the fourth quarter. Saha said the company took measures to pass about 12-15 per cent of this on to the market.

But he added that though prices seemed to be softening recently, it was still difficult to predict how things would pan out.

The flashlight business was impacted by cheap imports from China. But Saha said the product portfolio had been adjusted to address market requirements fueling cheap imports.Eveready has identified lighting  accounting for 20 per cent of turnover  as a growth area. “It is reasonable to expect that the support of the brand and distribution will increase the business manifold in the near term from its current level. The business was at a near breakeven level in 2021-22 and is expected to turn profitable in the immediate future.”Earlier this year, Eveready roped in consultancy firm Bain & Company. Saha explained the firm had been appointed to advise and support improvement in operational areas. It would also provide inputs on the strategy that the company should be taking over the next 2-3 years.

Ant-backed Zomato loses $1.1 billion market value in just two days.

•  After zomato announced the acquisition of a loss making quick commerce firm Blink-commerce, zomato lost about $1.1 billion of market value in just 2 days
• Some analysts suggested zomato, this acquisition would weigh on future growth.
• Zomato, was one of the first generation unicorns to tap into the Indian capital market.
• Its tumbled 6.6 percent on monday and 8.4 percent on tuesday at Mumbai trading, this is a huge breakdown.
• This fall had made the shares go 21 percent less than the IPO  price.
• Operating cost of zomato will go high because they have to fund activities of blink and its Blinkit application.
• Due to inorganic routes of acquisitions to expand, many new age technology firms and companies as well as their business models, their valuation are being questioned.
• Jack Ma's Ant Group Co.  and Sequoia Capital backs up Zomato, and they invested in Blink in 2021
• The company said the acquisition will help increase its hyperlocal delivery fleet and reduce some costs.
• The acquisition widens Zomato's scope beyond food delivery and highligjts the management's broader ambitions of capturing a larger slice of India's $1.3 trillion commerce market, said an analyat of JM Financial Institutional Securities.

No single use plastic from July 1

 India is going to ban the manufacturing the imports, stocking, distribution, sale and use of identified single use plastic items, which have low utility and high littering potential. This would be practical from the coming 1st of July, says the ministry of environment, forest and climate change. There would be national and state level control rooms for checking illegal manufacturing, imports, sales and the use of banned single use plastics. The list of items banned would be ear buds with plastic sticks, cups, glasses, cutlery, ice cream sticks, forks, spoons, knifes, straws, trays, sweet boxes, cigarette packets, plastic bags under than 100 microns and stirrers. Polythene bags under 75 microns were banned in September 2021 itself. 

The guidelines will provide framework to strengthen circular economy of plastic packaging waste, promote development of new alternatives to plastic packaging and provide steps to move towards sustainable plastic packaging by businesses. The government has now decide to ban plastic bags under 120 microns from the coming December 31. Companies says that making a ban on such items would lead companies to import materials from other countries which would increase their costs, and also stated that it would also kill the employment of more than 2 lakh people in the country. Action Alliance for Recycling beverage Cartons (AARC), which represents Coca-Cola, PepsiCo India, Parle Argo, Dabur, Diago, Radico Khaitan would lead to losses of more than 3000 crores in sales for the industry. There would be supply chain constraints at the moment, but as it is for the good of the environment and for a sustainable development, it would be beneficial to the society in the long run.

Online insurance providers may have to disclose commmission paid

 Pushing transparency and customer protection, online platforms selling insurance policies such as Policybazaar, Acko and other corporate agents may have to disclose information about the commissions they receive. This will also help in stopping misselling of products that have high commission or rewards.

IRDAI is considering a proposal that seeks to have a single limit for expenses made by insurance companies including operating expenses, commission and rewards given by insurers. 

The proposal aims to ensure appropriate market conduct and expense managent by insurance companies.

This can also help the customers by making them aware of what is genuine advice and business interest. Also will give them a clear idea whether agents are trying to sell a high commission insurance product.

Even if there are caps on commissions agents are offered high rewards. Intermediaries are entitled toget rewards of not more than 30 percent as commission or remuneration

Insurance companies cannot offer any rewards to individual employees of intemediaries. They may also not be allowed to provide any other remunerations.

Akash Ambani takes up reins of Jio Infocomm as part of succession plan

 

Mukesh Ambani has stepped down as the Chairman of Reliance Jio Info comm (RJI) and is replaced by his eldest son Akash Ambani. Mukesh Ambani will be the Chairman of Jio Platforms.

The flagship company that owns all Jio digital services brands, including the telecom unit RJI. The RJI board of directors, in meeting on Monday, noted the resignation of Mukesh D Ambani as Director of the Company which was effective on June 27.

Pankaj Pawar, who was instrumental in growing Reliance Retail Ventures, has been named Managing Director of RJI. Jio Platforms raised Rs 152,056 crore ($20 billion) from Facebook, Google and a clutch of private-equity investors in 2020. Reliance Jio Info comm, which launched commercial services in September 2016, had 410 million subscribers as of March 2022.

Operational revenue in FY 2022 was Rs 76,977 crore. Akash has been involved with the creation of the digital ecosystem around Jio’s 4G proposition, and the Jio phone in 2017.

He also led key acquisitions made by Jio in the digital space over the past few years, and has been involved with the development of new technologies and capabilities, the spokesperson added. 

Reliance Industries, the parent company, is India's most valuable private company with a market capitalisation of Rs 17.11 lakh-crore.

 ADANI ,LG among  15 FIRMS CHOSEN BY DPIIT FOR ROUND -2 of WHITE GOODS PLI 

The Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal trade (DPIIT) siad that the Adani group electronics and Crompton Greaves with investment of 1368 crore has been selected as a beneficiary under Government Production Linked Investment (PLI) scheme for white goods . As a part of global supply chain ,this PLI scheme is designed to create a ecosystem for AC s and LED lights .

Edtech company Byju's pushes back payment for $1 billion acquisition

Byju's is pushing pack payments for approximately $1 billion acquisition that was made last year. 

Byju’s sought a two-month extension for the payment of due which are to be paid for the services. Some sellers received partial payment in 2021. Blackstone, which owned 38% of Aakash, changed it’s payment dues this year. The acquisition process is “fully on track and all payments are expected to be completed by the agreed upon date that is August 2022,” Byju’s spokeswoman said.  

G7 pledges $4.5 billion to fight global hunger

 The seven rich democrats, of G7 to commit $4.5 million to fight global hunger , a US official said , as it responds to worries in developing countries about the threat of hunger triggered by Ukraine. 

On the final day of the summit in Germany , the group said that over   half of the sum will be provided by United Nations , which would help 47 countries to fight hunger and to fund regional development of those countries.  The summit is encouraging emerging countries , who have close ties with Russia , to oppose Russia invasion on Ukraine and invited over five major low and middle income economies to support the G7. As earlier victims of western colonization some developing countries see the invasion of Ukraine as self-serving and more concerned about the soaring food prices on their  populations, while some blame western sanctions the reason for high prices and blockade of supply chain , ports and for the shortages.

About $2 billion to go directly to the humanitarian interventions and $ 760 million going to "food assistance " to enhance the resilience and productivity of food systems around the world.

Whirlpool to sell its Russian operations to a Turkish appliances maker Arcelik AS , also includes operations in Kazakhstan and other commonwealth of independent states (CIS) will result in loss of $300 to $ 400 million the current quarter. , a move which which will see a raft of western firms exiting the sanctions-hit countries. 

The 48th G7 summit was held from 26to 28 June 2022 in Schloss Elmau, Bavarian Alps, Germany. other than the G7 members ( Canada, France, Germany , Italy, Japan, The United Kingdom , and The United States) leaders of Argentina , India, Indonesia, Senegal, South Africa, Ukraine.  Germany has previously hosted G7 summit in 2015 at Schloss Elmau, Bavarian Alps.

Education ,health and personal care Ads worst offenders

Education, healthcare and personal care are the most violative categories of ads according to the annual compliance report of India advertising regulator for the last financial year. The Advertising standards council of India (ASCI) on Tuesday released it's annual complaints report for April 2021 -March 2022 taking into account print, television and digital media as it processed  5532 Ads a sharp rise of 62% from 2020-21. It processed to 7631 compliants an increase of 25% from last year.of these 75% were taken up suo motu by the regulatory bodie's  own artificial intelligence based tracking system . Consumer complaints made up 21 % of the pie . 8% of compliants from new category like crypto and gaming and the food and beverage sector.

Zomato Tumbles 6%

    The shares of the food delivery application Zomato fell to 6.4% on Monday as analysts became more concerned on the company's acquisition of the company Blinkit, an instant delivery service firm. Blinkit provides grocery services and other essential items through a mobile application. The stocks which opened at Rs.73 fell as much as 12% and the closing at Rs.65.85. Around 117 million shares were were traded on Monday compared to an average of 43 million shares traded.         

    On Friday, Zomato's board approved the acquisition of Blinkit for Rs.4,447 crore, which is around 570 million dollar deal. As per the deal, Blinkit shareholders will get about 7% of the shares in Zomato at Rs.0.76 per share. The transaction would have a three fold impact on the earnings of Zomato such as increased operating losses to fund Blinkit operations. Blinkit's cash burn could drag down Zomato's valuation by 14%, but Zomato has got 1.6 billion dollars to withstand this situation. Currently Zomato's monthly transaction users is around 15.7 million and Blinkit's monthly transaction users stood up to 2.1 million. Some of the financial services says that it would be better to invest in solid stocks instead to chase hope. Analysts also says that it would earn profit in long run because grocery items usually have a lower margin in the market. Hence we cannot dominate the market at the initial stage, but will definitely show a slow growth in the coming years. One of the reason for the acquisition of the Blinkit is because of the steady growth of the rival Swiggy in the market. 

Airbus close to winning $5.5-bn order from Jet Airways

Airbus SE has emerged as the front-runner to win an aircraft order worth as much as $5.5 billion from Jet Airway India, people familiar with the matter said, solidifying the European planemaker’s hold in the world’s fastest-growing aviation market.

The talks are for A320neo jets and A220 planes, the people said, asking not to be identified because the deliberations are private. Boeing Co and Embraer SA are also in discussions and no final decision has been taken, the people said. Although at sticker prices any transaction would be north of $5 billion, discounts are common in such large purchases. Representatives for Boeing and Airbus didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The potential order comes as Jet Airways, once India’s top private airline, is preparing to return to the skies. Jet Airways got its flying license last month, marking the first time a carrier has been revived under the nation’s new bankruptcy laws. The flying permit proved Jet Airways ready to operate, signaling its transformation into a “new avatar with fresh funding, changed ownership, and new management,” according to a statement.

The airline last week invited former cabin crew to join it. Jet is planning to come back with a hybrid of premium and low-cost services, Chief Executive Officer Sanjiv Kapoor said in April. It will have a two-class configuration where business class passengers will be offered services including free meals, while economy class flyers will pay for meals and other services, he said.

Jet’s new owners -- Dubai-based, Indian-origin businessman Murari Lal Jalan and Florian Fritsch, chairman of London-based financial advisory and alternative asset manager Kalrock

Capital Management Ltd. -- have pledged to make investments of as much as $120 million, Kapoor said.

“We are in final negotiations with lessors and OEMs for aircraft, and we will announce our aircraft choice and fleet plan

once we have made a decision,” a representative for Jet Airways

Sebi slaps 12 crore penalty on Sahara group

Sebi on monday slapped a penalty of 12 crore on Sahara India real estate Corporation, Sahara housing Investment Corporation, subarat roy sahara and few others for violation of the SEBI Act. The matter pertains to the issue of optionally fully convertible debentures  to rise a sizeable amount from the public in contravention of the provisions of the SEBI Act between 2008 and 2009. The matter had come to light when SEBI order said group form Sahara Prime City had filed its offer document with SEBI in 2012. Clearly  when the noticees falsely represented that the OFCD securities De De private the investors of the various measures of investor protection which were available to them under the delegated provisions of the Companies Act and the icdr regulations. As on March 31st 2021 SEBI had recovered  15473 crore out of 23000 crore from SHICL and SIRECL the order further stated. The market regulator found that  SIRECL and SHICL raised money through the public issue of securities by issuing the  OFCDs without following the various procedures intended to protect the interest of the investors, in respect of public issues prescribed under the norms.

 TATA GROUP's  INFOPARK  PROPERTIES RAISES  Rs 1900 CRORE VIA ZERO COUPON BONDS .

Tata GROUP's infopark has raised Rs1900 crore via zero coupon bonds.  Zero coupon bonds are those bonds which have no interest but to be paid at deep discount . Infopark being part of tata group enjoys financial flexibility .A debt of rs 1900 crore should be serviced through cash flows generated by IPC saud by the bond dealers .thus zero coupon bond provides a profit at  maturity when the bond is redeemed for its face value .

Russia Ukraine war may spell boon for Chattisgarh's export profile

 The Russia Ukraine war could be one the reasons for the exports surge in Chattisgarh. The exports nearly tripled during the past three years. Exports reached Rs.25,241.13 crore in FY 21-22 against Rs 9067.92 crore worth of exports in FY 2019 -20.

Exports of iron and steel surged 7.5 times, rice shipping increased 4.68 times and exports of aluminium and its products doubled. There is excessive levels of price volatility in major commodities  due to the conflict and continued effects of covid 19. This might make a jump in the state's rice and ferroalloys exports.

Chattisgarh is a major exporter of ferroalloys. Ukraine and India is among the countries in the world in terms of production and foreign trade. The void left by Ukraine due to the war is intended to be filled by India.

In the backdrop of war the demand for rice has increased as supply of maize and wheat has been affected with unstable prices. Chattisgarh is already in the country's top spot in terms of shipping non basmati rice, and Chattisgarh will get a direct benefit from increasing its rice export volume. Rice exports from Chattisgarh was worth Rs,8,559.12 crore in 2021-22 compared to RS 1,827.01 crore in 2019-20.

Hope rich countries will support India's green energy effort : PM

 The performance of India is in such a way that it was dedicated to the climate commitments. Prime Minister Modi hoped that rich countries of G-7 will support India's efforts in climate change and the clean energy technologies emerging in the country. 

India has achieved 40 percent energy capacity from non fossil sources nine years before time. India has the world's first fully solar power operated airport and it's huge railway system will become net zero in this decade. 

G-7 countries can invest in research, innovation, and manufacturing in this field. This year on World environment day, the Global Initiative for LIFE -- Lifestyle for Environment campaign was launched. 

Credit card spend hit fresh high in may

 Credit card hits an all time high in May. It reached 1.14 trillion and registered 8% month on month growth over April, reveals the latest data released by the RBI. On a (YoY) basis it grew 118%. The banking system saw an healthy 1.7 million credit card additions in May -the highest was in 27 months and  23.2 %higher than the same month. The surge in additions was led by many banks like HDFC, Axis, SBI Card and ICICI Bank. With May's additions , the country's total card base is now at 76.9 million. The banks added cards in May. HDFC added 38500, Axis Bank added 21500,ICICI Bank added 21200 and SBI Card added 20200.

Air India unions file pleas against proposed eviction of employees

 

The unions argue that the airline’s letter asking employees to vacate office accommodation by July 26 amounts to a change in service condition. The unions argue that the airline's letter asking employees to vacate office accommodation by July 26 amounts to a change in service condition. Air India unions have moved the Bombay High Court to challenge the proposed eviction of employees from staff colonies in Mumbai.

 

The violation of the Industrial Disputes Act. It requires companies to issue a notice to union members before enacting change in service conditions. Aggrieved by the management action, Aviation Industry Employees Guild (AIEG), Air Corporation Employees Union (ACEU) and All India Service Engineers Association (AISEA) have filed separate writ petitions for quashing of the airline’s October and May letters to staff.

 

Currently, there are around 1,600 families residing in AI staff quarters at Kalian in Mumbai. The allotment of accommodation is provided till retirement/cessation of service, according to the Air India allotment rules. There is no provision for any unilateral and arbitrary termination as is sought to be in the present case. Also, the service engineers have pointed out that the airline could not have issued a letter seeking vacation of flats pending conclusion of conciliation proceedings.

 

The conciliation eventually ended in a failure. Last September, the civil aviation ministry issued certain directions to Air India on the issue of staff retaining office accommodation. In turn, the airline asked employees to give an undertaking that they would vacate their homes within six months of disinvestment. The employees issued a strike notice against it and the matter was referred to the labour commissioner office for conciliation.

 

Bajaj Auto to buyback shares worth Rs. 2.5K cr at Rs. 4,600 each

 

Bajaj Auto to buyback shares worth up to Rs. 2,500 crore. The two-wheeler giant to buyback 5.43 million shares aggregates up to 1.88 per cent of its paid-up share capital through the open market at Rs 4,600 each. 54% of the share is owned by the promoting group.  This is not the first time Bajaj is buying back the shares, in 2000, shareholders agreed to the buyback for Rs.400 each of 18 million equity shares.
These purchases act as a positive signal about the management's ability and confidence in the dynamics of business.
Based on the minimum payback price and minimum payback size the company to buy at least 27,17,392 ( around 2.7 million) equity shares. Bajaj to use 50 per cent of the amount earmarked  I.e. Rs. 1,250 crores.
If the payback is below the maximum payback price then the number of equity shares bought will be increased. However, it is always subject to a maximum payback price.
" The company at its meeting held on Monday has approved the proposal for buyback of the fully paid-up equity shares with a face value of Rs. 10 from existing shareholders. It would be from the open market through the stock exchange mechanism at a price not exceeding Rs. 4,600 per equity share " it said in a statement. The board Constituted a committee and decided to buy back the shares. Rajiv Bajaj, CEO of Bajaj Auto, said that it is the policy of returning up to 90 per cent of the annual profit to shareholders.
Dividends were paid, each year  from FY08, by the company from Rs. 20 per share in FY08 to Rs. 140 at the end of FY22.
 

5G

 The telecom companies in India are eyeing the 5G band of 3.5K to 3.6K MHz. The companies are gearing up to compete against each other in order to grab the position of the top bidder because being the top rank bidder will allow a company to have advantage over its competitors. The top rank bidder will be assigned the best unencumbered (not having any impediment) spectrum in the 3.5 Ghz 5G band. 

The top rank is decided using a complex process where the telecom companies are assessed based on the role each company plays in pushing up the bid prices in each clock round. The 5G spectrum is being sold in a private auction to the telecom companies and the companies that have applied for the NIA are to participate in the auction. In a private auction, the price ticks up at regular intervals and a bidder can drop out any time. The last bidder remaining pays the current clock price and gets the item. 

If a telecom company ups the price and others don't, then the telecom company will be the top bidder and has access to the certain advantages over the others. In case there is a tie between two bidders, then the record is assessed as to who is the bidder that stayed in the top for more clock rounds and so on and so forth. 

The 3500-3600 MHz band has no other users which would restrict its use. The rank one bidder will be assigned the 3500-3600 MHz band and this band, because there are no other users has an advantage over other bands for the telecom company. Going downwards, the 3400-3500 MHz band. This band is used by ISRO. This band would be assigned to the number two rank holder. The disadvantage for the second rank holder has been highlighted by Bharti Airtel to the regulator. The ISRO uses the band for the NavIC system. It is an Indian constellation of eight satellites run by the ISRO and these satellites provide navigation and timing services. The Department of Space has indicated that there should be a buffer zone. 

The third rank holding bidder will have it worse as the 3300-3400 MHz band is used by the Indian Navy and defence services in coastal areas. Considering India's vast coastline, the bidder will have a major disadvantage because they will not be able to use the entirety of the spectrum as they again will have to create a buffer zone. Airtel has suggested that the Navy and defence system should fully vacate this spectrum before it is auctioned off. The 3600-3630 MHz spectrum does not have the required equipment and eco-system globally and it will take atleast three to four quarters for its commercial deployment. 

A 40 MHz in the 3630-3670 Mhz has been reserved for the BSNL and MTNL (Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited) as it would take a few years to commercially deploy 5G.

FMCG firms margins may face pressure next quarter.

 FMCG companies margins are expected to remain under pressure because the commodity prices continue to remain high year on year. The companies will continue to increase rates as they have been taking price hikes in a staggered manner.

Commodity prices have came down from the peaks but still remain elevated compared to last year which will be affecting the margins for at least a quarter.

Hindustan Unilever told its investors that the FMCG prices will remain higher and they will continue to take price hikes of its products even as the market growth has moderated due to inflation.

Parle products said that they will not make further price hikes as the raw material prices have cooled off. Emami, isn the stand that correction input costs will help the company but it will wait for commodity prices to stabilize before taking any pricimg decisions.

FMCG companies saw urban and rural demad decline in may compared to april because consumers tempered purchases due to increasing prices. According to Bizom's data FMCG sales went down to 16.5%. 

 INDIAN  ECONOMY MAY TOUCH  $30 TRILLION 

IN NEXT 30 YEARS said - PIYUSH GOYAL 

India is one of the fast moving economies in the world and is expected to be $30 trillion in the next 30 years .According to Mr Piyush Goyal ,every year if India grows at 8 percentage at compound annual rate then it could  double in the next 9 years .At present Indian economy is 3 trillion economy which will double within the next 9 years and become 6 trillion economy .Now our country is growing because of the current war between Russia and Ukraine also due to COVID pandemic . The textile industry of India is expected to grow 20 lakh crore in industry size and 10 lakh crore in exports in next 5 years .

Crypto Myth

 Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies in general are perceived as assets, currencies or both. They are computer managed ledger entries that can function as money if someone is ready to to value these as money and use them in transactions. Crypto-currencies inherently process no value, but are valued or bought at a high price. Some people believe that crypto-currencies might be advanced technical money which would be able to replace the currency notes.

People these days boasts about Bitcoin but their identity remains anonymous and with security. The use of Bitcoin involves it being used as a currency to purchase goods and services. It is similar to gold, the moment we give value to it, it adds up. So, basically if we don't value gold, it does not have any value in the market. For any currency to be a viable source of income, the primary requirement is that its value should be stable. Crypto has fall to more than 56% in the last six months.

There are several criminal activities traced, false informations and stolen Bitcoins. British economist Henry Dunning Macleod states that bad money will drive out good money. When you see someone making money out of crypto, you may have the urge to mimic the same and make some money, this is known as information cascade. Information cascade causes people to value the judgement and actions of others and contrast to their own. Crypto-currencies have now been advertised in many famous shows, matches, events etc. by bollywood stars whom people idolize. Investment opportunities in the short run must be avoided says George s Clason. Warren Buffet also states to avoid investment opportunities which you do not understand well.  

Top economies are at risk of high-inflation trap, says BIS

• World's central bank, Bank for International Settlement is looking forward to raise interest rates to prevent surge in inflation turning into something even more problematic.
• The BIS is swiss-base
• Energy and food prices increase means in many places inflation is high.But the usual action of increasing interest rates may end up in recession amd may even lead to stagflation.
• Stagflation means prices rises and economic growth goes down.
• BIS thinks, with rates rise without triggering recession is still possible, but it might be a difficult situation.
• Global stocks are down 20 percent and US treasury bond, could be having there biggest losing first half of the year

India's resolve for climate commitments evident from performance: PM to G7

 

  Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said he wishes that developed countries of the G-7 will support India's efforts in fighting climate change and invited them to invest in the huge market for clean energy technologies emerging in the country. He remarked on investing in a Better Future: Climate, Energy, Health' at G7 Summit, Modi emphasized that India has achieved the target of 40 per cent energy capacity from non-fossil sources nine years ahead of the deadline. The target of 10 per cent ethanol-blending in petrol has been achieved 5 months before time. India has the world's first fully solar power-operated airport. India's huge railway system will become net zero in this decade," he said.
"When a large country like India shows such ambition, other developing countries also get inspiration. We hope that the rich countries of the G-7 will support India's efforts. Today, a huge market for clean energy technologies is emerging in India," the prime minister said.

G-7 countries can invest in research, innovation, and manufacturing in this field, he said. And that affordable technology can be provided to the whole world. Indian culture and lifestyle also have core theories of circular economy in them, Modi said. "I called for a movement called LIFE - Lifestyle for Environment - in Glasgow last year ( COP 26 ) This year on World Environment Day, we launched the Global Initiative for Life campaign. The goal of this campaign is to encourage an eco-friendly lifestyle," he said.

"We can call the followers of this movement Triple-P i.e. 'pro planet people', and we should all take the responsibility of increasing the number of Triple-P people in our own countries. This will be our greatest contribution to the coming generations," he said.
German Chancellor Olaf received Modi, on his two-day trip to Germany for the G7 summit upon his arrival at Schloss Elmau.

"Becoming pro-planet people. Investing in a better future. In the @G7 session on climate, energy & health, PM @narendramodi highlighted India's efforts for green growth, clean energy, sustainable lifestyles & global wellbeing," Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted.
After the Quad summit( Japan, may ) this is the first meeting between Modi and Biden. They are also scheduled to meet in July for the I2U2 virtual summit of the quadrilateral economic forum comprising India, Israel, the UAE and the US.

The Group of Seven (G7) is an inter-governmental political grouping consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US. The German Presidency has invited Argentina, India, Indonesia, Senegal and South Africa to the G7 Summit in Elmau, Bavaria.

The G7 summit

 The Group of Seven Summit includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. The presidency of the summit goes around among the member countries and Germany holds the presidency this year. The German chancellor Olaf Scholz has invited India, Argentina, Indonesia, Senegal and South Africa for the summit this year as partner countries. The Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky will take part virtually on the 27th. 

A number of international organizations are taking part in the summit this year, including the United Nations (UN), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank. 

The Group of Seven met in the initial years to discuss the economic problems of the times when around 1980's they have included foreign and security policy issues. In 1991, the then Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev was invited to the London Summit. And in 1998, Russia became a member and the Group of Eight was constituted. In 2014, Russia was thrown out after it has violated Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. 

The Prime Minister is to attend the G7 Summit and is expected to speak in two sessions that include energy, environment, climate, food security, health, gender equality, democracy and the Ministry of External Affairs and will also be holding bilateral meetings with some of the leaders of some of the participating countries. 

The war remains on top of tackling climate change in the agenda this year and the member countries are expected to promise and deliver more military support for Kyiv and more sanctions on Moscow but even the leaders admit that defending Ukraine's sovereignty has tough consequences for the rest of the world with the increasing food and fuel prices. Leaders of India, South Africa, Indonesia and Senegal have been invited to discuss what more can be done to curb the global inflation. One idea being looked at is a cap on the price of Russian oil. 

Towards the commencement of the summit Russian missiles strike Kyiv.

Wikipedia Business Model

Wikipedia was launched in January 2001 by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger who set up a US non-profit called the Wikimedia Foundation.Wikipedia is one of the most frequently used web resources. Vast sums are needed to maintain a huge repository of continuously growing content, which is cross-indexed, searchable and instantly available. The Wiki has approximately 450 paid employees and contractors who ensure the wheels keep turning, and it has massive bandwidth and hosting service costs.

The Wiki concept is simple: crowdsourcing on a global scale. Britannica and similar encyclopedias ask domain experts to write encyclopedia entries. The Wiki allows anyone to anonymously start an entry, which can be edited by anyone (an individual is not supposed to edit his/her own entry) to add, delete or modify.Wikipedia was launched in January 2001 by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger who set up a US non-profit called the Wikimedia Foundation. The idea proved wildly successful. The Wiki has now expanded into 327 language Wikis. It has approximately 56 million entries and gets over 18 billion page views per month with over 5 billion unique visitors. There are three edits per second (not all new entries) and 20,000 new entries per day. Essentially everyone with an internet connection visits Wikipedia at least once a month.

The non-profit status means that donations are tax-deductible for US tax purposes, and in quite a few other countries, too. Rupee donations to the Indian chapter are not deductible though the Indian foundation says it is trying to get the relevant clearances. Much of the funding comes in dribs and drabs from small donations made by millions of users.The cash flow statement for 2020-2021 states the foundation holds over $86 million in cash, another $117 million parked in short-term investments and over $20 million in long-term investments. Against this, it has around $9 million in current liabilities. This means, roughly $202 million in free cash.

In the expenses allocations, around 43 per cent of costs is allocated to direct website support; 32 per cent is community support (training and tools development for contributors, and also legal costs); 13 per cent is administrative costs; and 12 per cent is towards the fund-raising effort. The foundation releases its annual plan and has quite a few projects apart from Wikipedia itself.Wikipedia’s own guidelines say that Wikipedia entries cannot be cited as reliable in other Wikipedia entries. Studies suggest Wiki entries are around 80-85 per cent accurate, while the Britannica’s accuracy is reckoned above 95 per cent.The crowd sourcing does seem to work on the whole however  85 per cent is a reasonable benchmark. Wikipedia itself recommends users need to study attached citations to judge an entry for reliability. 

Jet Airways starts operational hiring, invites former cabin crew to rejoin

•  Jet Airways began its operational hiring on Friday and asked its former cabin crew members to rejoin the airline
• Aviation regulator DGCA had on May 20 granted Jet Airways a revalidated Air Operator Certificate (AOC), allowing the airline to resume commercial flight operations.
• Commencement of hiring for pilots and engineers to follow in the coming days, when we make our aircraft choice reveal, he added.
• The opening batch of the cabin crew members in the airline will consist of former staff only.

India leading the way of innovation

 

India leading the way of innovation, says PM Narendra Modi in Germany

 

India has come a long way and is leading the way of innovation said by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Germany on Sunday. India has over 100 unicorns and is witnessing one unicorns every 10 days.

According to the reports, there was a time when India was nowhere in the race of start-ups. Today, the third-largest start-up ecosystem. PM Narendra Modi state that India will not be left behind in the fourth Industrial Revolution.

Every village in India is open defecation free, has electricity and 99 per cent of the villages also have clean cooking fuel. India has been providing free ration to 800 million poor people since the last 2 years.

India is making revolution in IT and digital technology also. Forty per cent digital transactions in the world are from India. India is making new records in data consumption. India is among the countries where data is cheapest.

Modi said that 90 per cent adults have taken both doses of Covid vaccines in India and 95 per cent have taken at least one dose. Made in India vaccine has saved crores of lives across the world.

 

Sustainable climate practices have become a part of the lives of India's ordinary people.

Modi in G7 Summit says that India is the mother of democracy. The diversity of culture, food, clothes, music and traditions makes our democracy vibrant. India has shown that democracy can deliver and has delivered.

India's wheat exports

 India's food secretary Mr. Sudhanshu Pandey has stated that India is deeply conscious of its responsibilities towards vulnerable countries to provide humanitarian assistance through the supply of food consignments both during and after the pandemic. Last month, the government has banned wheat exports in a bid to check high prices amid concerns of wheat output being hit by a heat wave. Wheat exports were allowed to countries that had to meet their food security needs that have requested India and that have gotten the permission of the government. 

India has increased its market share in global wheat exports during 2021-22 with lower exports form Ukraine and a record domestic production during the year 2021. This has opened new markets for India in Egypt and Vietnam. India is the second largest producer of wheat globally after Russia. India has exported a total of 8.2 million tonnes till March 2022 and the government claims that India has the capacity to export up  to 10-15 million tonnes during the current fiscal year which ends March 2023. 

The UN is making continuous and prolonged efforts to increase global food security and has highlighted the need for resilient and uninterrupted food supply chains in a time where the world is experiencing disasters such as climate change induced calamities, pandemics and conflicts around the world. The most affected are the developing and the least developed countries as the world is hit by rising food, fertilizer and nutrition prices. 

Afghanistan is facing the worst humanitarian crisis at the moment. The country has no money to give out salaries or to buy food. The western aid has been suspended because of the Taliban government and its inclusion of designated terrorists. India has provided humanitarian assistance in the form of a 33,000 tonne wheat consignment to Afghanistan since the ban of wheat exports from India. The commitment was made to export 50,000 tonnes but only so much has been fulfilled. The ban was placed to ensure domestic availability and to ensure supply to vulnerable countries to whom supply cannot be guaranteed by market forces. India caters to the needs of neighboring countries through government-to-government mechanism. 

Three charts show trouble for Indian stocks nearing a bear market

 

With the end of easy-money policies and emerging inflation, Indian stocks spiraled down from an all-time high. It is less likely that it end very soon, says three charts.

The S&P BSE Sensex Index has fallen more than 15 per cent from its October high, nearing the 20%, from its january peak of about $3.7 trillion dollars, a loss that denotes a bear market( a market where market prices are falling, encouraging selling, and prolonged price decline experienced )  The selloff comes as climbing costs and a record plunge in the rupee has forced RBI, the central bank to raise the rates to combat inflation, just like it's global peers.

The Indian stock market’s value is already down nearly 20% from its January peak of about 3.7 trillion dollars. The unsupportive monetary setting and an unusual retreat of foreign investors and earnings estimates appear balanced to fall over the cloud of the outlook for a rebound.

“We expect the markets to further correct from here,” said Bennifer Malandkar, chief investment officer at Raay Global Investments Pvt. “Expectation is that by the second quarter, most negative news, the outcome of the Fed’s actions will get priced in.

Foreigner Flight:
Since September, overseas stocks are being sold at a record pace, and about $32 billion was withdrawn. The retreat of countries including South Korea and Taiwan is part of the wave. “India is not in isolation since it’s part of the emerging market basket, and the EMs are out of favor,” said Raay Global’s Malandkar. “Until the US Fed rate is at its peak, we will see redemptions happening across EMs.”

Rosy Estimates:
Valuation contraction has been the main reason for the drop in Indian capitals. Earnings estimates for the NSE Nifty 50 Index are yet to clock a meaningful decline like that seen in MSCI Inc.’s largest measure for Asian equities.
In the last few weeks, strategists at Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd., Bank of America Corp. and JP Morgan Chase & Co. have expressed their concerns about the revenue optimism that has surrounded India. Pending any rebound in valuations,  stocks are to be pulled down further by estimate cuts. Analysts Are Missing the Point on India’s Earnings: Taking Stock( to carefully think about something to decide what to do next)

Suffering Small-Caps
Smaller stocks were hit harder by investor risk aversion, with measures of small and mid-cap Indian shares having already entered bear markets. Trade breadth has weakened, with just 16% of S&P BSE 500 Index stocks trading above their 200-day average level, the lowest In two years.

 

Akasa plans test flight next week

Akasa, India’s newest airline, will conduct a proving flight with the country’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation as early as next week as it looks to start commercial services by around the end of July, Chief Executive Officer Vinay Dube said Friday.Akasa backed by billionaire Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, will likely receive its air operator’s certificate within days of the proving flight, apply for airport slots and start to sell tickets within a two to three week period, Dube said in an interview at the startup airline’s office in Mumbai.

The value carrier’s first routes will be domestic, with a focus on point-to-point services. International flights are on track to start in the second half of 2023, said Dube, a former Delta Air Lines Inc. veteran who also ran Jet Airways India Ltd.Akasa, whose other backers include Aditya Ghosh, the executive who spearheaded low-cost carrer IndiGo for nearly a decade, has bold growth plans, intent on adding 18 aircraft in the year ending March 2023. The first delivery from a November order for 72 Boeing Co. 737 Max jets, worth $9 billion at sticker prices, is in hand and Asaka should take delivery of one to two planes a month, Dube said.

Cracking India’s ultra-competitive aviation market won’t see Akasa compete on fares alone. While the airline plans to be cost competitive, having superior customer service and an employee-centric culture will also be critical to its long term success, Dube said.

“I don’t think India has excess supply -- India will need 1,000 planes over the next 20 years. The pie is growing faster in India,” he said.

Indeed the country’s Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said earlier this year that India may need to add as many as 120 jets every year to keep pace with demand. The country is gearing up by building airports even in the smallest of cities, training more pilots and crew as well as improving maintenance facilities.

Asaka has a pilot training center of its own in Delhi and on top of cabin crew has hired more than 100 pilots in preparation for the start of commercial services.Dube also said that with a fleet of new aircraft powered by CFM International Inc. fuel-efficient LEAP-1B engines, the airline has the youngest, greenest fleet in India, if not the world.Akasa will have 15 to 17% fuel efficiency by flying brand new planes with brand new engines,” he said. “Akasa will also get an edge on the cost of fuel owing to its operating procedures and practices.

Save our Ocean, protect our Future'

 

Save our Ocean, protect our Future': UN Ocean Conference begins Monday

 

United Nations Ocean Conference set to take place in Lisbon, Portugal from June 27 to July 1 and will be co-hosted by the Governments of Kenya and Portugal. The Ocean Conference comes at a critical time as the world is seeking to address many of the deep-rooted problems of the societies laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic. These problems require major structural transformations and common shared solutions that are anchored in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To mobilize action, the Conference will seek to propel much needed science based innovative solutions aimed at starting a new chapter of global ocean action.

United Nations Ocean Conference, maintaining the momentum for action to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. The United Nations has designated 8 June as World Oceans Day a day for humanity to celebrate the ocean. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres state that the ocean can be the biggest ally in responding to planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.

UN Ocean Conference is an opportunity to commit to a sustainable blue economy that can create jobs while protecting the planet. The ocean covers over 70 per cent of the planet. It is life source, supporting humanity's sustenance and that of every other organism on earth. The ocean produces at least 50 per cent of the planet's oxygen, it is home to most of earth's biodiversity, and is the main source of protein for more than a billion people around the world. Not to mention, the ocean is key to our economy with an estimated 40 million people being employed by ocean based industries by 2030.

 

Intel expands in India, unveils new design and engineering centre

 

Intel expands in India, unveils new design and engineering centre

 

Intel, the world’s largest maker of computer processors, is expanding its design and engineering footprint in the country. Unveiling chip giant Intel’s new facility in India. India’s digital economy reach dollar 1 trillion. Intel on Friday unveiled a centre with 453,000 sq feet spread over two towers which accommodate 2000 employees. It will help advance cutting-edge design and engineering work in clients, data centres, graphics, artificial intelligence, automotive segments and IoT (Internet of Things), where devices communicate with each other intelligently. Union minister of state for electronics and information technology, visited Intel’s Bengaluru campus on Friday to unveil the new state of the art facility.

The centre features facilities including IoT based systems like desk booking platforms, an interactive kiosk for occupancy status and floor layouts, and real time room occupancy indicators. One floor of 70,000 square feet is dedicated to high tech R&D labs for silicon design and validation purposes. The facility sports a host of employee amenities such as over 50 video-enabled conference rooms, phone booths, collaboration spaces, breakout zones, and lounge areas.

Intel has the largest design and engineering operations outside the US, with facilities in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. It has nine such design and engineering centres in India, which include eight in Bengaluru and one in Hyderabad. The Santa Clara, California-based company said it had invested over $8 billion in India to date and continued to expand its R&D and innovation footprint in the country. Its workforce in India has increased to about 14,000.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently said India’s consumption of semiconductors was expected to cross $80 billion by 2026 and $110 billion by 2030. Modi urged the industry to make India a global hub for semiconductors.

Suzuki-Toyota with mid-size SUV

Japanese automakers Suzuki Motor Corp and Toyota Motor Corp are going to start their midsize SUV (sports utility vehicle) in the market under their joint vehicle development and manufacturing program, to take on Korean rivals ( Kia and Hyundai mainly ) and especially to strengthen their presence in the Indian market. The companies will start the commercial production of vehicle from the coming August (Karnataka). The Indian subsidiaries Maruti Suzuki and Toyota Kirloskar will market their vehicles seperately under their own badges. An example would be Creata's engine and Seltos's engine, both have got the same engine under the hood but different company names (badging). The Toyota Hyryder is to be launched on July 1, and the Suzuki version will hit the road later. Currently the Korean companies Hyundai and Kia Motors are dominating the mid-size segment in India with the models Creata and Seltos respectively. Both the companies have done a very remarkable market study, and only then launched their vehicles. The Indian road are quite bumpy and with a lot of potholes, so people are ready to buy vehicles with a better ground clearance and comfort comparitively. 

Toyota and Suzuki are planning to even export vehicles to Africa. By bringing together the strengths of Toyota and Suzuki through the collaboration, the two companies will be able to provide a wide variety of vehicle electrification technologies to the consumers. The collaboration would help in the growth of the Indian economy and providing eco-friendly mobility needed by the customers. Toyota and Suzuki signed a memorandum of understanding for understanding a business alliance in 2017. Currently, Toyota sources and sells premium hatchback Baleno as Glanza and entry level SUV Vitara Brezza as Urban Cruiser from Maruti Suzuki India.

Forex reserves down $5.9 bn in a week

 Forex reserves of India have declined $5.9 billion to $590.59 billion for the week ended june 17. 

The decline in the reserves were mainly due to the decline of foreign currency assets of $5.4 billion. The central banks intervention in the foreign exchange market and selling dollars to curb excessive volatility in the exchange rates and prevent depreciation of rupee. Forex reserves dropped over $10 billion in two weeks.

The start of Ukraine war have put pressure on most emerging market currencies because the investors rush for safe haven assets.

The rupee has declined to 5 percent against dollar in 2022. It fell to an all time low of 78.39/$1 and the previous close was at 78.31/$1.

The decline was reflective of the RBI expending reserves to curb market volatility rather than owing factors such as revaluation. RBI has been protecting the rupee from excessive volatility in the face of US rate hikes and elevates commodity prices.

The RBI has decided to take advance delivery of outstanding long forward dollar position points to protect the depleting forex reserves.

SEBI gives UPI payment option to invest in public issues of REITs, InvITs

 UPI or Unified Payment Interface, was provided as an additional way of payment by SEBI, to retail investors.

• This new framework will be applicable to public issue units of Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT) and Real estate investment trust (REIT).
• Previously in 2019 SEBI's process for payment of the above mentioned instruments was through Applications Supported by Blocked Amount (ASBA)
• Time taken for allotements and listing of units of privately placed InvIT has been reduced by SEBI.
• These moves was to streamline the process of allotement and listing of units.
• REITs and InvITs are new investment instruments in the Indian context, but extremely popular in global markets.
• REITs - A portfolio of commercial real assets, a major portion of which is already leased out.
• InvITs - A portfolio of infrastructure assets, sucha s highways and power transmission assets.

Zomato board approves acquiring quick commerce firm Blinkit for Rs 4,447 crore 

Zomato approved acquisition of e commerce  company blinkit for 4447 crore .Zomato will acquire 33018 equity shares .This will carryout through issuance snd allotment  up to 62.8 million  paid up equity shares ,this will close by the end of August .Zomato already holds a stake in the acquired entity and is paying 60 crore .the CEO in a bog said that ,they are planing to acquire blinkit  which is a quick commerce business in India .

Akasa Air

 Akasa Air is India's newest airline. It will be conducting a 'proving flight' with the Director General of Civil Aviation as early as next week and aims to start its operations by the end of July. A fleet of 72 flights have been placed for an order with Boeing. The airline has been delivered its first order of the Boeing 737 max jet at Seattle. It aims to add 18 more to regular operations by the end of March,2023. 

The airline aims to offer low cost carrier services. The prime investor and owner is Mr Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, a well-known Indian billionaire and stock trader. He has partnered with IndiGo's Aditya Ghosh (also, board member of Fabindia and OYO) and Vinay Dube, the ex- CEO of Jet Airways, to launch this airline. The airline will run domestic first and would be focusing on point-to-point service. The CEO Mr Vinay Dubey has said the international operations are set to start from the second half of 2023.

The strategy they intend to follow is not a hub concept where the air traffic is directed through one city. They intend to connect Indian metro cities to two tier and three tier cities. In India's "ultra-competitive aviation market", the airline aims not to compete on air fares alone but also on customer service and aims to build an employee-centric culture in order to ensure its long-term success.

The Civil Aviation Minister Mr Jyotiraditya Scindia has said that India is aiming to build airports in the smallest of cities and is training more pilots and crew. He has also said that India may need to as many as 120 jets a year in order to meet the increasing the demand. This suggests that there is a growing demand for aviation services. 

The airline has its own pilot training center in Delhi and has hired more than 100 pilots in preparation for the start of its services.

The CEO has also stated that Akasa Air would have the youngest, greenest fleet in India if not in the world as they have a fleet of new aircraft powered by CFM International Inc. fuel-efficient LEAP-1B engines. The fleet would have up to 15-17% fuel efficiency by flying brand new planes with brand new engines although Akasa will not have an edge on the cost of fuel owing to its operating procedures and practices. 

Future Enterprise defaults on Rs. 4.10 cr interest payment for NCDs.

 Debt-ridden Future Enterprises Ltd (FEL) couldn’t pay its debt on  interest payment of Rs 4.10 crore for its non-convertible debentures(NCDs).The date of the payment was the 24th of June 2022, FEL said in a regulatory filing. The Company is unable to fulfil its debts in respect of the interest on Non-Convertible Debentures, which  was due on June 24, 2022," it said. This is the fourth time in June,  that the group led by kishore  Biyani ,failed to fulfil its obligations.

The Future Group, earlier the week couldn't pay the debt,  twice, Rs 85.71 lakh and Rs 6.07 crore for its non-convertible debentures. Future Enterprise Ltd had made another default on the payment of interest of Rs 1.41 crore, this month. The latest default is on the interest of securities issued for a sum of Rs 40 crore.

FEL has failed to pay the debt, I.e the interest payment for the period between June 24, 2021, to June 23, 2022, it said. The debentures of the enterprise are secured and have a coupon rate of 10.25 per cent per annum.

Future Enterprise Ltd in April informed the exchanges about the insolvency of Rs 2,835.65 cr towards its consortium of banks. Its payable date was March 31, 2022.

Future Enterprise limited was a part of the 19 group companies operating in retail, wholesale, logistics and warehousing segments, which were supposed to be transferred to Reliance Retail as part of a Rs 24,713 crore deal announced in August 2020. But the project didn't go as planned and the deal was called off by the billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd in April.

Gold movement may come under e-way bill tracker.

The GST council may impose the movement of gold and precious stones within a state under the e-way bill tracking system.This will help to track the movement of gold which could aid in finding tax evasions and smuggling.

As inflation going up gold is considered as a safe investment during these periods which could also lead to more smuggling of gold.

As the proposal from the panel empowers the states to decide on imposing the rule. They also suggested setting a minimum threshold value of ₹2 lakh for generating such e-way bills. At present e-way bill is required for interstate transport of goods valued over ₹50,000 except gold.

There are other suggessions which mandates e-invoicing for tax payers supplying gold and precious stones who have an annual turnover of ₹20 crore or more for b2b transactions.

It also include levying GST on a reverse charge mechanism basis on the purchase of old gold by registered dealers and jewellers from unregisteree persons.

This report was considered in response to the concerns by different states with respect to the security of gold and precious stones as well as of persons carrying such consignments. 

Europe-Russia-Ukraine

 UK has introduced new sanctions against Russia in terms of exporting internal repression goods and technology, goods and technology relating to chemical and biological weapons, maritime goods and technology, additional oil refining goods and technology and, additional critical industry goods and technology. There is a prohibition introduced on the export to, or for use in Russia of jet fuel and fuel additives, a prohibition on export to, or for use in Russia of EU denominated currency. Importing revenue generating goods that originate in Russia is prohibited too. These further sanctions fall in as EU leaders prepare to grant Ukraine candidate status. Moldova was another country that was given the candidate status along with Ukraine. The Kremlin has warned that the already strained ties with Moscow can be worsened. 

The Russian rouble has further weakened against the dollar. The sanctions introduced and Russia's imports which were boosted by high commodity prices has made the rouble inflated. 

Germany, Europe's biggest buyer of the Russian gas has about 58% of its inventories full. Economy minister, Robert Habeck has warned about the seriousness of the situation. The country has a target of 90% to meet by November in a routine plan to prepare for winter. The Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline is operating at 40% of normal levels, this means less gas will be available for storage for Germany. The pipeline will be shut next month for maintenance hence, there will be a further drop in the storage and there are fears it may never return to full capacity. 

Nike, the American multinational corporation has walked out of the Russian market. It is making a full exit in the coming three months. It has started suspending operations as the pace of western companies leaving Russia has accelerated. It has confirmed that it will leave the country completely like McDonalds and Renault. 

 PM MODI MEETS FOXCONN CHIEF ,hails manufacturing plans for India . 

Prime minister Narendramodi has  deal with a Taiwan based company  (Foxxconn )for the electronic manufacture in India .Taiwan-based company is also planning to set up an EV manufacturing in India and they also trying to set up there manufacturing units SouthEast  Asian including India . Vendanta and foxcon signed an agreement and  they together joined as joint venture  company in India .Vedanta hold a 60 percent of equity while Foxconn earn a 40 percent of equity . Vedanta is planning to  invest 

15 billion to build displays and semi conductors chips in India .

Accenture had $16.16 billion revenue in March - May quarter

 Information technology services and consulting firm Accenture beat the expectation to a revenue of $16.16 billion. This was a 22% increase over the $13.26 billion reported over the same quarter the preceeding year. 

Accenture expects the firm's revenue to be in range of 25.5% to 26.5%. The firm's consulting revenues were $9.03 billion which was an increase of 24% and outsourcing revenues were $7.13 billion which was an increase of 19% from the corresponding quarter in the previous fiscal year. 

According to Julie Sweet, the financial results reflect continued broad based demand across markets, services and industries and the talent of their workforce. 

Stabilise Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka prime minister Ranil Wichremesinghe had said it's economy has collapsed completely. The day-to-day life of the islanders have been difficult due to the shortage of fuel, gas, water and electricity. Due to these situations, it has been predicted that it may lead to a humanitarian crisis. Sri Lanka has a debt of 12 billion dollars (foreign debt) and needs a 6 billion for the next few months just to keep going, that is for imported fuels and food mainly. One of the foreign creditors recently filed a suit in United States stating that Prime Minister Ranil Wichremesinghe and government of Sri Lanka's decision to suspend it's payments. 

A team of high level officials from New Delhi, the finance secretary, the foreign secretary, the cheif economic advisor have now travelled to Colombo to discuss assistance. The Indian government has already provided assistance like credit lines, currency swaps and other necessary assistance which would be beneficial for them earlier ( the total assistance in monetary terms would be 3 billion dollars). The Sri Lankan prime minister said he would set up a meeting which would include lenders like Japan, India, China and probably the US. This meeting is to create a structure of the created debts among countries. An example is Laos, which owes about half of the public debt to China and is also identified as the Asia's next possible defaulting country.

The action taken must be domestic and mainly with internal structural reform that would stabilise the currency, which would lead to a sustained growth. The prime minister also said that the country would hit rock bottom and the rest of the world must try to prevent that from happening. 

Tata Steel plans low CO2 steel-making technologies in UK, Netherlands

 

Tata Steel plans low CO2 steel-making technologies in UK, Netherlands

 

Tata Steel is working on a plan for transition to low carbon technologies for making steel in the UK and Netherlands.  Tata steel UK and Tata Steel Netherlands are two independent companies from Tata Steel Europe. Both Tata is developing a plan for transition to low CO2 technologies in line with the company’s goal to produce CO2 neutral steel by 2050 in Europe. Tata Steel in Netherlands plan to gradually phase out blast furnaces and coal over the next 10 years by replacing them with a combination of Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) technology based on hydrogen, and electric furnaces.

 

India operates based on assessment of the opportunities in the Indian market which will calibrate their growth plans and timing for implementation. Currently they focus on completing expansion project in Kalinganagar to create a state-of-the-art 8 MTPA site. During 2022-23, Tata Steel will be commissioning a pellet plant, which is 70 per cent complete, and the phase-wise commissioning of the cold rolling mill complex, starting with the pickling line and the cold rolling mill. Both are margin expansionary projects as part of the overall expansion project in Kalinganagar.

 

Kalinganagar is focused on higher value-added products including plates, coated products, advanced high strength steels and products for newer applications. As part of its mid-term plan, capacity addition in India using scrap Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) route will also be set up to convert the collected and processed scrap into steel. There are also plans for shifting from metallurgical coal to cleaner fuel like natural gas, upscaling pilots of CCU (carbon capture units) and hydrogen based steel-making in India. In FY 2021-22, a 5 TPD (tonne per day) pilot plant was successfully commissioned at Jamshedpur to capture CO2 from blast furnace gas. Successfully tried continuous injection of Coal Bed Methane (CBM) gas in one of our blast furnaces.

Tata's electric four wheeler catches fire

In a first for an electric car in India Tata Nexon electric vehicle caught fire on Wednesday evening in Mumbai suburb.This comes against the backdrop of numerous reports of fire mishaps involving electric two wheelers. Tata motors said it is investigating the incident and remains fully committed to all aspects of safety. A detailed investigation is currently being carried out to ascertain the reasons for the incident a company spokesperson was quoted as saying in a statement. The owner of the two month old nexon escaped unhurt . He reached out to the companies call centre after he  saw fumes coming out .The call sender advised him to abandon the car immediately. A few minutes later it burst into flames. Government has also ordered and independent enquiry to investigate the nexon ev fire incident. The spokesperson said that they will share a detailed response after complete investigation they remind committed to safety of there vehicles and their users .

BRICS cantogether help out in global post-covid recovery:PM

• Brazil, Russia, India,China, South Africa are the nations that constitutes BRICS.
• These nations had a similar approach to global economic governance in the aftermath of the pandemic.
• Presidents of the above mentioned nations along with our PM Narendra Mpdi had a summit hosted by China as the chair for this year.
• Among the discussions, Russia's invasion of Ukraine was not commented on by PM Modi even though it caused challenges for the global economy and its impacts on global inflation and supply chain disruptions.

BRICS     five of the largest developing nations of the world representing:  41% of global population

                           24% of global GDP

                           16% of the global trade.

• India's real GDP was set to grow 7.5% in the current FY (FY23) which would make India the fastest growing major economy in the world.
• Also India's digital economy was set to cross $1trillion by 2025.
• Goods and services exports of India stood at $670 billion which exceeded the target of $400 billion for merchandise exports alone, even though global economy was disrupted.
• To benefit people associated with trade, commerce and MSMEs a new Vanijya Bhawan was introduced.
• Also NIRYAT (National Import-Export for Yearly Analysis of Trade) portal was launched. The portal is to break silos by providing real time data to all stakeholders.