Category: BUSINESS

Hyderabad: Chief minister A Revanth Reddy in a strong statement stated the state government would not succumb to pressures imposed by liquor manufacturing companies.

During a review meeting on the liquor supply and prices of beer brands with excise officials on Saturday, January 11, he was recently informed about United Beverages Company’s (UBC) demand for a 33.1 per cent price hike.

The decision on the price hike would be based on the final report by the price fixation committee headed by a retired High Court judge, the chief minister said.

Noting that the excise department had received pending payments periodically throughout the last year, the chief minister instructed finance department officials to systematically clear the outstanding dues from the previous government.

He asked officials to follow strict rules and transparent mechanisms while handing over permits to new liquor companies in Telangana.

He also directed that a notification be issued to invite applications from new liquor brands within a month. He also directed officials to follow a simplified trade policy for the supply of new liquor brands by companies.

He stated that companies must apply under their own brand names, and the selection process should be conducted transparently, evaluating the quality standards and supply capacity of the applicants.

The officials have been instructed to examine the beer prices in the neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Deputy chief minister Bhatti Vikramarka, excise minister Jupally Krishna Rao, chief secretary A Santhi Kumari, special chief secretary Ramakrishna Rao, principal secretary of the excise department Rizvi, and excise commissioner Harikiran were present.

Ahmedabad: The Adani Group on Friday raised about Rs 4,850 crore after selling 13.5 per cent of its stake in Adani Wilmar. The conglomerate last month announced its exit from Adani Wilmar by selling the bulk of its stake to a joint venture partner.

In a stock exchange filing, the company announced the sale of 17.54 crore shares (13.50 per cent equity) in the company (to non-retail investors) and on January 13 (to retail investors) at a floor or minimum price of Rs 275 apiece.

Adani Commodities LLP, a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Ltd, completed the offer for sale (OFS) for a 13.5 per cent stake in Adani Wilmar to non-retail investors on Friday. The offer for sale (OFS) included an option to additionally sell up to 8.44 crore shares, or 6.50 per cent equity.

“We wish to intimate the Stock Exchanges of our intention to exercise the Oversubscription Option in the Offer to the extent of 1,96,29,910 Equity Shares (representing 1.51 per cent of the total issued and paid-up Equity Share capital of the Company) in addition to 17,54,56,612 Equity Shares (representing 13.50 per cent of the total issued and paid-up Equity Share capital of the Company) forming part of the Base Offer Size,” Adani Commodities LLP said in the stock exchange filing.

“Accordingly, the aggregate number of Offer Shares will be up to 19,50,86,522 Equity Shares (representing 15.01 per cent of the total issued and paid-up Equity Share capital of the Company) of which, up to 1,95,08,653 Equity Shares (representing 1.50 per cent of the total issued and paid-up Equity Share capital of the Company) would be available as part of the Offer on T+1 day,” it informed.

The transaction underlines the ability of the Adani Group to continue to successfully raise capital (both debt and equity) independent of underlying market scenarios. With this transaction, the Adani Group has raised a total equity capital of $3.15 billion this fiscal.

Adani Wilmar has now completed its programme for compliance with minimum public shareholding (MPS) norms, with promoters holding 74.37 per cent, and the balance 25.63 per cent held by public shareholders.

On December 30, the Group announced that it would exit Adani Wilmar Ltd (AWL) by divesting its entire 44 per cent stake in the joint venture to raise over $2 billion.

In addition, Wilmar International Ltd. has agreed to acquire the 31 per cent stake held by the Adani flagship in the edible oil maker. Adani Wilmar had a market capitalisation of Rs 42,785 crore ($5 billion) as on December 27.

Adani Enterprises Ltd will use the proceeds from the sale to turbocharge its investments in the core infrastructure platforms in energy and utility, transport and logistics, and other adjacencies in primary industry.

Adani Wilmar has 100 per cent urban coverage and presence in over 30,600 rural towns in India and exports to over 30 countries globally.

Hyderabad: The long-standing issue of demarcating the full-tank level (FTL) of Durgam Cheruvu, which has been a point of contention for the past 25 years, is set to be resolved soon. HYDRAA commissioner AV Ranganath has assured that the final notification for the lake’s FTL will be issued, with the process expected to be completed within four months.

On Friday, January 10, he held a public hearing on the objections to the preliminary notification issued in the past on Durgam Cheruvu’s FTL. Objections and suggestions were received from the residents of 6 colonies living around Durgam Cheruvu Lake, as per the High Court’s direction.

Speaking on the occasion, Ranganath, who is also the chairman of the Lake Protection Committee, said that scientific methods were being adopted to prepare the final notification for the lake’s FTL which was being prepared.

Around 100 people who gathered at HYDRAA’s office in Buddha Bhavan in Secunderabad told Ranganath that the issue first began when due to heavy rain in 2000, the water level increased, and the area which was covered by water was treated as the FTL at the time.

Claiming that the lake’s FTL was 65.12 acres, they said that over the years, the FTL was being shown differently by various departments.

While in many places the FTL was shrinking, the residents claimed that the FTL was increasing in Durgam Cherucu.

They also said that in the last 25 years, the Lake Protection Committee had not held a single public hearing on the issue.

The residents told Ranganath that certain media and social media were portraying their lands falling inside the FTL of Durgam Cheruvu. They also said that their plight was such that they were neither able to construct houses in their vacant lands, nor were they able to sell their lands during dire financial needs.

Telling the residents that using revenue records, lake memoirs, satellite images of the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), and other documents to ensure that FTL will be established such that the FTL in the final notification can’t be disputed.

He told them that the establishment of the FTL was a collaborative work of the Survey of India, Survey of Telangana, the irrigation department, GHMC, HMDA, NRSC, and the revenue department. He said that help was also being sought from the experts of BITS Pilani, IIT Hyderabad, and JNTU for this purpose.

Mumbai: Global brokerage Goldman Sachs on Thursday lowered its target price for Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), while maintaining ‘buy’ rating for the diversified group.

The brokerage reduced Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL’s) target price to Rs 1,595 from its previous target of Rs 1,630. The revised target price still suggests a 26 per cent potential upside (as compared to the stock’s closing price on Wednesday).

“We believe the sell-off in RIL’s shares is overdone as the share price is now near our bear case scenario,” the brokerage said in a note.

The brokerage has flagged the points that are seen to be not going in RIL’s favour. This includes the company’s return inflection thesis “taking longer than expected”, it said.

In the October-December quarter (Q3 FY25), Goldman Sachs sees RIL’s EBITDA to “remain largely flat” on annual basis, despite being expected to grow 5 per cent sequentially.

The brokerage has also lowered the company’s EBITDA estimate for the period between fiscal 2025 to fiscal 2027 by up to 4 per cent.

However, Goldman Sachs is optimistic about RIL’s return expansion in fiscal 2026, with returns of telecom arm Jio already seen to be inflecting.

It expects the earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation to grow 24 per cent year-on-year in fiscal 2026.

Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley in a note maintained the ‘overweight’ rating on RIL’s stock, while setting a target price of Rs 1,662. The revised target suggested a 34 per cent upside potential.

“In 2025, as new refining capacity is absorbed, retail profitability improves, and new energy cash flows kick in, re-rating should regain traction,” the brokerage said.

In Q3 FY25, Morgan Stanley expects the company’s EBITDA to remain flattish on an annualised basis despite rising 4 per cent sequentially, as “telecom tariff hikes and tightness in global fuel markets filter through in profitability”.

Bernstein has set a target price of Rs 1,520 apiece for RIL, which suggested an upside of 25 per cent.

New Delhi: Despite muted equity market performance during the month of December, inflows in open-ended equity funds stayed in the positive zone for the 46th month in a row, industry experts said on Thursday.

Actively managed equity mutual fund inflows saw over 14 per cent monthly growth at Rs 41,155.9 crore in the month of December, the data by the Association of Mutual Funds of India (AMFI) showed.

According to Jatinder Pal Singh, CEO, ITI Mutual Fund, gross inflows into active equity schemes was up 17 percent in December compared to November, crossing Rs 72,000 crore while net flows were recorded at Rs 41,156 crore.

“This increase can be attributed to the 70 percent absolute growth in gross inflows into sectoral / thematic equity schemes (Rs. 22,128 crore in December vs Rs 13,133 crore in November), most of which can be attributed to NFOs (12 sectoral/thematic fund NFOs),” said Singh.

Inflows in the large cap category were down by 8 percent month on month while net flows were down 21 percent compared to November 2024.

Through the calendar year 2024, Gold ETF category received a net inflow of Rs 11,226 crore compared with the net inflow of Rs 2,920 crore in 2023, which is a surge of a mammoth 284 percent.

The assets under management of the category also shot up from Rs 27,326 crore in December 2023 to Rs 44,596 crore in December 2024, an increase of 39 per cent.

Akhil Chaturvedi, Executive Director and Chief Business Officer, Motilal Oswal AMC, in December, the Indian mutual fund industry witnessed strong demand for equity funds, particularly small-cap and sectoral/thematic funds, while overall open-ended mutual funds faced net outflows.

“The equity segment was further buoyed by inflows from new fund offers, with passive funds leading the charge. Additionally, small-cap funds saw a notable uptick in demand, although other categories like multi-cap, large-cap, and large and mid-cap funds experienced a decline in investor interest,” he noted.

Months ago, Infosys founder Narayan Murthy had come under scrutiny for proposing an 80 hour work week in India. Now, another tycoon wants to increase the working hours of his employees.

Larsen and Turbo chairman SN Subhramanyan was recently heard asking an employee to report for work on a Sunday. “I regret I am not able to make you work on Sundays. If I can make you work on Sundays, I will be more happy, because I work on Sundays,” he told the employee on the phone.

He went on to say, “What do you do sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife?” the chairman of Larsen & Toubro asked. “Come on, get to the office and start working,” he added.

A video of the conversation has been shared on Reddit.

To support his argument, Subhramanyan explained how a Chinese man, whom he had met said that China could surpass the United States because the Chinese work 90 hours a week.

The video was shared on Reddit where SN Subrahmanyan came under fire for his comments. Many people in the comments section compared him to Infosys founder Narayana Murthy, who earlier faced massive backlash for saying the youth must work 70 hours a week for nation-building.

Users asked why low-paid employees were expected to put in the same hours as a CEO.

“I don’t care about competing with China. Let China become number one; it doesn’t make any difference to me. I just want to sit with my family and enjoy the limited amount of time I have here on Earth with my loved ones,” wrote one Reddit user.

“I was in that speech yesterday. Someone asked in L&T (if) sick leave Is approved only if you fall sick (for) two days, why and how come we can fall sick (for) only (one) day? He said ‘then don’t fall sick’,” another claimed.

“That’s why the craze for government jobs is at its peak in India. The private sector is only good at harassing employees,” a Reddit user said.

“Even Narayan Murthy was saying 70 hours. This man is saying 90 hours..” read one among dozens of such comments.

New Delhi: The Indian economy is projected to grow at a robust 6.8 per cent in the financial year 2025-26, driven by strong high-frequency indicators, according to a Bank of Baroda forecast.

The report expects nominal GDP growth to be around 10.5 per cent during the next financial year. It highlights that key indicators of this growth include robust air passenger traffic, a rise in services PMI, and increased GST collections. Additionally, higher rabi crop sowing is expected to boost agricultural growth, providing a stable foundation for the economy.

The report highlighted that the Indian economy has shown resilience, driven by strong festive demand and steady improvement in economic activity. This resilience is reflected in high-frequency indicators that have shown a significant uptick in the third quarter of FY25.

The report states that while there has been a slowdown in 2024-25, on the bright side both private and government consumption is expected to register a strong growth of 7.3 per cent (4 per cent in FY24) and 4.1 per cent (2.5 per cent in FY24) respectively in FY25. Furthermore, in a positive surprise, the export growth is likely to register a strong growth of 5.9 per cent against a growth of 2.6 per cent in FY24.

It also highlights that government expenditure is expected to pick momentum in the second half of 2024-25 which will emerge as a driver of growth. Besides, the report is bullish about the higher growth in the agricultural sector.

However, the report cautions about downside risks due to global headwinds. Among these, the threat of a tariff war looms large as the incoming US administration under President Trump may impose protectionist trade policies. Such measures could disrupt global trade and potentially trigger retaliatory actions, posing risks to global economic stability.

It said, “A range of economic and strategic risk prevails post the imposition of the tariff policies by the incoming US President Mr Trump. This could be a far-reaching impact on global trade”.

Domestically, the focus will shift to key economic events, including the Union Budget, corporate performance in the third and fourth quarters, and the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy decisions, the report added.

Amid rising competition in the delivery app market, food and grocery delivery platform Swiggy has launched a separate application, Snacc, promising food delivery in just 15 minutes.

The app was launched on January 7 and is currently available in select areas of Bengaluru.

Snacc can be downloaded from both iOS and Android stores.

The app’s landing page features a menu categorized into options such as Indian breakfast, coffee, beverages, and eggs and protein.

According to a report by Moneycontrol, Swiggy plans to expand Snacc to other parts of the country in the future.

Interestingly, the concept for the app and its offerings was reportedly developed only around mid-December.

In a related move, online food aggregator Zomato has also entered the quick delivery space, offering a similar 15-minute delivery service.

As reported by Mint, a ’15 mins delivery’ tab appears in Zomato’s app’s Explore section, providing customers with a list of food options available for quick delivery within a 1.5 km radius. However, it remains unclear if this option has been rolled out nationwide.

New Delhi: Electric vehicle (EV) company Ola Electric Mobility Limited has received an administrative warning from the markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), for violating disclosure norms.

The reason cited is that Ola Electric announced its e-scooter expansion plans first on social media instead of announcing it on the stock exchanges.

In an administrative warning, sent via email on January 7 for violating various sections of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, the regulator asked the EV firm to ensure “equal, timely, cost-efficient access to relevant information for all investors” via stock exchanges.

“By failing to first disseminate the information on the stock exchanges and instead announcing it on social media platforms, you have failed to provide equal and timely access to information to all investors,” read the SEBI warning.

Ola Electric Founder Bhavish Aggarwal had posted a video on his X handle on December 2 before 10 a.m, in which he shared his plan to increase the company’s sales network by nearly four times by December 20. The company later informed the exchanges post 1.30 p.m on December 2.

SEBI stated in its warning letter that “The above violations have been taken very seriously. You are warned and advised to be careful in future and improve your compliance standards to avoid recurrence of such instances, failing which appropriate enforcement action may be initiated.”

On Wednesday, at around 10:13 am, the EV company’s shares declined 4.78 per cent to Rs 75.38 per share.

In addition, Ola Electric’s market share declined by 5 percent on a MoM (month-on-month) basis to 19 percent in December. It was 24 percent in November, dethroning it as the top Indian 2-wheeler EV company.