Indian Stock Market News 23rd August 2024
Union Minister Piyush Goyal has strongly lashed out at the business conduct of Amazon in the country, terming the e-commerce giant’s pricing practices as “predatory.” He said that the crores of investment Amazon is claiming to have made in the country are all cold comfort or balderdash done to cover the drain of an abnormal amount of money.
Speaking in Delhi, from an event where a report titled ‘Net Impact of E-Commerce on Employment and Consumer Welfare in India’ was published, Goyal said: “Amazon’s business model is a matter of concern. Goyal pointed out the company’s loss of INR 6,000 crore in one year, with that possibly being the cost of predatory pricing. He further pointed out that the operations of Amazon were legally restricted to B2B activities alone under the existing foreign direct investment rules, while, however, the group was reportedly indulging in business-to-consumer transactions, thereby opening up questions into the legality or otherwise and ethicality behind the Amazon’s operations in India.
Goyal’s comments come against the backdrop of Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s announcement of additional investments totaling $15 billion by 2030, which takes the total planned investment of the company in India to $26 billion. In fact, Goyal explained that he is not against e-commerce, but one has to take a cautious and critical view to understand the real implications of such platforms on the Indian economy.
Zomato has decided to acquire the entertainment and ticketing business of Paytm for Rs 2,048 crore. As part of its overall strategy that focuses on getting an extended presence in the lifestyle segment beyond core food delivery, the acquisition became necessary.
Now, all I need to do is to take this deal to my respective board for approval—remarkably, the two boards have already cleared the transaction. It will represent Zomato’s foray into the segment of services in what constitutes a department in everyday life: dining, movies, sporting events, and live performances. They will roll out a new app called District that integrates Paytm’s existing ticketing operations, thereby bringing these two services on board to drive user engagement over a single, frictionless experience across both dining and entertainment services.
Ticketing services will continue for the coming year using Paytm, though gradually being shifted to Zomato’s platform. As part of the agreement with the acquisition, close to 280 employees of Paytm will join Zomato. The analysts in the industry say it will not only upgrade Zomato’s service offerings but also increase its muscle in the market with increased user retention and cross-selling opportunities.
Bengaluru-based jewelry retailer Bluestone has closed a Rs 900 crore financing round, more than doubling its previous valuation to $970 million. This pre-initial public offering or pre-IPO round paves the way for an initial public offer later in the year.
Some noteworthy investors in this round include Prosus, Peak XV Partners, and Steadview Capital. This capital infusion will also give Bluestone the rocket fuel it needs to fuel its aggressive expansion plans, with the company looking to double its physical store count from the existing 220 to 400 in the next 12 to 18 months.
Founded in 2011, Bluestone has shown impressive growth, with significant increases in revenue and reduction of losses for the past years. The funding round has not only strengthened the financial position but also underlined investor confidence in the business model and prospects of the company going forward, outshining its peers in a highly competitive jewelry market.
There’s been a flood of freaked-out Apple iPhone users who are literally troubled since learning of a new bug that crashes the device by simply typing a specific sequence of four characters. According to Konstantin, a security researcher who underlined this bug, two double quotes followed by two colons (“”::) need to be typed in the search fields of certain apps.
When typed in partly, this character string crashes iPhone’s Springboard, which reloads the device back to the lock screen. While the bug is not a security concern, it’s the latest headache for Apple’s stable iOS. The issue has now been acknowledged by the experts and is expected to be fixed shortly after the next software update is issued.
According to the recent report, the e-commerce sector in India has greatly impacted the job creation process by allowing vendors to work online and create 15.8 million jobs within the industry per se, of which 3.5 million are accounted for by females. The said study, which was conducted by Pahle India Foundation and launched by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, went into detail on how e-commerce stimulates employment opportunities and raises consumer welfare all across the country.
At the same time, the report says online vendors have pushed up employment by 54% over their offline counterparts, and rising e-commerce is swelling female labor. It also found that economic activity in online retail is spreading to smaller cities and towns. The results underline the role that e-commerce plays in the front line of job creation and digital inclusion in the Indian economy.
New Delhi-NCR-based logistics tech company Shiprocket has announced the pilot launch of its new D2C marketplace, Zop, which enables the unaided discovery of smaller D2C brands. Visibility for such brands has been hit hard by the high cost of advertising on legacy platforms, with both Meta and Google increasing ad prices.
Zop has close to 200-300 brands that have been boarded in its pilot phase, across categories like fashion, beauty, and electronics. In this respect, the platform levies a sales commission on the listing of products and intends to run several experiments that optimize the demand generation process for the brands it supports.
Zop’s entry into the marketplace sector positions it as a competitor to established players like Amazon and Flipkart, but with a unique focus on promoting Indian homegrown brands. Shiprocket’s CEO, Saahil Goel, has expressed confidence in Zop’s ability to carve out a niche in the increasingly crowded e-commerce space.
Walmart unloads $3.74 billion stake in JD.com as it refocuses Chinese operation on core business, which so far includes its Sam’s Club stores that experience increased membership and sales during the pandemic.
JD.com shares are just the latest example of how Western firms are increasingly pulling back from such investments as geopolitical tensions rise with the West. A prime example is Walmart, which said that the move allowed it to better focus its resources on fortifying its current operations in China and elsewhere abroad, including India, where it also has majority ownership in Flipkart.
He would still maintain his equanimity with JD.com in the form of a commercial relationship, but the content has not been revealed.
According to data released by the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), exports nosedived 21.9% in July to $1,665.4 million. The decline is attributed to weak demand from consumers in key markets such as the United States and China because of their current geopolitical tensions and economic problems.
Cut and Polished Diamond Exports Decline By 21.3% The export of cut and polished diamonds fell marginally by 21.3%, along with a drop of 10.5% for exports of gold jewelry. The decline was still etched with the news that the India International Jewellery Show (IIJS) Premiere 2024 signed off with huge business of almost $12 billion in deals, and hence Indian jewellery continues to have a strong presence across the world market.
A majority of Indian jewelers have failed to report despite the requirement to do so under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). In fact, less than 20% of the estimated 100,000 jewelers in the country have registered with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) or reported high-value cash transactions under the law, said a source.
As per government norms, jewellers recording annual turnover of more than Rs 500 crore are supposed to report suspicious transactions to the FIU. Still, until now compliance has remained low, thus making the large amount of cash transactions in the jewellery industry a matter of concern from the point of transparency and legitimacy. Work by trade bodies to boost compliance is under the way, but still, a significant challenge is there.
NASA, the United States space agency, is to determine whether two astronauts aboard the Boeing-built Starliner spacecraft should be heading back to Earth using that vehicle, or alternately stay up at the ISS and return aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon — a safety decision. NASA was concerned with safety after Starliner had problems trying to reach the ISS, where the two astronauts are now staying.
Originally planned as an eight-day mission, Starliner has had its visit to the ISS postponed several times because of multiple leaks and thruster outages. Before NASA made a final decision, the company was ordered to conduct a complete spacecraft’s reassessment to ensure safety concerns. The result of this decision is crucial for Boeing, which has been facing setbacks more than once in the development process of Starliner, meant to compete with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon.
Top 15 Incredibly Beautiful Women from Across the World
Krystyna Pyszkova, Representing The Czech Republic, Crowned Miss World 2024!
Source: Google
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