Indian Stock Market News 30th August 2024
The Chairman of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani, highlighted that the company is playing a big role as a leading employer in the country during the 47th Annual General Meeting of the company. He added that Reliance Industries created more than 1.7 lakh new jobs in the last year, taking its total workforce to almost 6.5 lakh. Many external agencies have rated Reliance as the best employer of India. This is a matter of pride for Ambani, and he has said that the achievement is particularly close to his heart.
Besides employment opportunities, Ambani also mentioned that the conglomerate has invested over ₹5.28 lakh crore in the last three years. Further, he said Reliance is the biggest contributor to the national exchequer; it paid ₹1,86,440 crore as taxes and duties in FY2023-24. The group’s CSR spends went up by 25% at ₹1,592 crore, and its cumulative spends in the past three years have been ₹4,000 crore.
Quick commerce player Zepto has raised another $340 million in a follow-on funding round, raising its valuation to $5 billion. This fundraising is close on the heels of another $665 million fundraise in June this year, at a $3.6-billion valuation. In all, the fresh investment round has been led by General Catalyst, and new investors include Dragon Fund and Epiq Capital. Existing backers such as StepStone, Lightspeed, and DST also participated.
This additional funding is more a strategic move to strengthen our balance sheet and help power further growth,” said Aadit Palicha, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Zepto. Besides that, he mentions the main importance of bringing onboard a lead investor like Neeraj Arora from General Catalyst, which he said could be the main pivotal opportunity for the future of the company. To this, Neeraj Arora added that the founders at Zepto have shown great vision and have been able to execute well so far, and thus he is very excited about the potential of such a company setting new benchmarks for India’s e-commerce sector.
Swiggy announced that Amitesh Jha will join Swiggy Instamart as the chief executive of quick commerce business, with effect from Sept 4, 2024. Having over 20 years of experience, Jha was most recently at Flipkart where he played an instrumental role in scaling multiple categories such as electronics and fashion while also overseeing the captive logistics arm propelling Flipkart’s rapid expansion.
He replaces Phani Kishan, the present CEO of Swiggy Instamart and co-founder of Swiggy, who would take on a wider charter at Swiggy on Central Growth. According to Swiggy’s Group Chief Executive Sriharsha Majety, Jha will helm Swiggy Instamart at an important transformative phase of its journey and his deep experience in e-commerce and supply chain management will be invaluable in strengthening its grocery business. more
Bazaar Style Retail, founded by Rekha Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, has opened its IPO. The price band is between ₹370-₹389 per share. It remains open until September 3 for bidding. This is a fashion retailer that is on offer operating in West Bengal and Odisha with expansion plans.
The ₹834.68 crore IPO consists of a fresh issue of ₹148 crore and an offer-for-sale by existing shareholders. Money raised through the IPO would be used for repayment of debt and general corporate purpose. The company, operating 162 stores in nine states, had secured ₹250.1 crore from anchor investors ahead of the IPO-a reflection of considerable market interest in its growth prospects.
Indian Railways and Amazon India have reinforced their partnership by signing a new MoU aimed at leveraging further the speed and reliability of the rail network for package movement. The partnership thus targets towards building the hub-and-spoke model for first and last-mile optimization, reducing overall transit times taken, and scaling up operations across the network.
Amazon India will work closely with the Indian Railways to define the requirements at both ends that can support a more consistent operational timeline matching the demand of the e-commerce sector. Ravinder Goyal, Member (Operations and Business Development), Railway Board, appreciated Amazon for the partnership which is likely to increase the volumes of parcels handled by the railways manifold.
Ola Electric is planning to make its products available on the Open Network for Digital Commerce starting next week. The move is part of the broader push under which Bhavish Aggarwal-run firm unveiled the Roadster motorcycle series recently, while renaming the Ola Cabs as Ola Consumer.
The ONDC is a government-backed initiative that will aggregate buyers and sellers across the country to build a common foundation for an integrated digital marketplace. The move aligns with plans by Ola Electric, the part of the company at Agarwal’s helm, to develop automated dark stores for D2C brands and leverage India’s growing demand for electric vehicles.
Companies in the quick commerce segment are competing fiercely and trying to raise their GOV, or average order value, to increase revenues further. For instance, Blinkit has increased its GOV throughput per store from ₹6 lakh to ₹10 lakh per day, while for top stores, the figure is as high as ₹18 lakh daily. In fact, Swiggy Instamart and Zepto, too, reportedly posted record manifolds for increases in their GOV throughput, meaning the sector placed even more emphasis on ensuring it maxed out its efficiency and profitability.
According to industry analysts, at least half of these quick commerce players are targeting a GOV throughput of ₹15-20 lakh per day per store in the next couple of years. Increasing order values, therefore, will be an important determinant of the financial performance and viability of these companies.
A recent report by TeamLease Degree Apprenticeship estimates the government’s plan to set up 50 e-commerce export hubs will add 2.25 lakh to 2.75 lakh additional jobs in the sector. The hubs are likely to multiply India’s export capability manifold and accelerate growth in the logistics sector, which is already growing at a 12% CAGR.
It also reveals that e-commerce has indeed been transformative, especially in the marketing, merchandising, and management job roles. Further, the rise of export hubs would also result in a significant requirement for skills like retail management, cross-border trade, and digital payment solutions, thus continuing to contribute to the economic development of India.
Raymond Lifestyle, the demerged unit of Raymond, intends to add 900 new stores in the next three years and is eyeing 12-15% on-year growth in sales along with an operating profit growth of 18-20%. The shares of the company will start trading on bourses from September 5 following the demerger aimed at unlocking shareholder value by creating a focused lifestyle business entity.
Chairman Gautam Singhania pointed to the opportunities opening on account of internal challenges in China and Bangladesh, and on account of new trade pacts with the UK, European Union, and Australia. The standalone entity will focus on building Raymond’s lifestyle segment, riding on the strong brand equity backed by a professional management team for growth.
India’s gold consumption forecast for 2024 has been revised upwards to 850 tonnes from 750 tonnes, with good monsoon and a cut in gold import duty factoring in. The increase could be driven by demand for gold jewellery, with gold demand rising 10 percent YoY during the July-September quarter, said WGC Market Strategist John Reade.
This trend is likely to continue during the Diwali-Dhanteras period in the fourth quarter, too. Import duty was already revised downwards from 15% to 6%. This has triggered a quick turnaround in demand as gold increasingly becomes perceived as a financial instrument in India, as is indicated by its rapidly rising gold ETFs.
For the fiscal year closed in June 2024, Pernod Ricard announced a slight decline of organic sales, which reflected the challenging environment of a normalizing market after two years of exceptional growth post-pandemic. Saying, “the performance was strong overall despite a very volatile economic and geopolitical environment,” this company has seen, on an organic basis, a decline of 1% in sales, while there is a more substantial 4% decline on a reported basis.
Challenges were evident in both the U.S. and Chinese markets, where organic sales were down 9% and 10%, respectively. The company does remain optimistic regarding longer-term prospects, however, anticipating a return to growth once market conditions settle.
The mid-sized funding deals are increasing in the Indian alcoholic beverages market, led from the front by early-stage institutional investors, while HNIs have joined the bandwagon. This is being led by increased demand for craft beer, ‘gin, whiskey, and vodka in Tier-II and -III cities.
According to the industry executives, this growth has been attributed to premiumization, with a relatively more younger consumption base. Still, an increase in disposable incomes and a shift in consumer preference are bound to continue supporting the growth of this market, making it an attractive investment sector.
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