Author: Keshav Singh Chundawat

Incoming Dutch government eyes to ‘opt out’ of EU asylum rules

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The incoming Dutch government led by nationalist Geert Wilders’ PVV party will look to opt out of European Union migration rules, as its says it is facing an asylum crisis.

Wilders on Wednesday reached a deal to form what is set to be the most right-wing government in the Netherlands in decades, almost six months after a major election victory.

In its government plan published early on Thursday, the four-party coalition says it will aim for the “strictest-ever asylum regime” with stronger border controls and harsher rules for asylum seekers that arrive in the Netherlands.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

IEA cuts 2024 oil demand growth forecast, widens gap with OPEC’s prediction

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The International Energy Agency (IEA) on Wednesday trimmed its forecast for 2024 oil demand growth, widening the gap with producer group OPEC in terms of expectations for this year’s global demand outlook.

The divide between the IEA, which represents industrialised countries, and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries sends divergent signals about oil market strength in 2024 and, over the longer term, about the speed of the world’s transition to cleaner fuels.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

NSE suspends trading in stock of Brightcom Group from June 14 onwards

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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National Stock Exchange in a circular on Tuesday, May 14, announced that trading in securities of Brightcom Group Ltd shall be suspended with effect from June 14  until the company complies with Master Circular. This will impact nearly 6 lakh retail investors.

“Trading in securities of the above-mentioned Company would be suspended w.e.f. June 14, 2024, and the suspension will continue till such time Company complies with Master Circular,” NSE said.

After 15 days of suspension, trading in the securities would be allowed on trade for trade basis in (Z category) on the first trading day of every week for six months, NSE added.

“It is hereby informed that Brightcom Group Limited has not complied with requirement of Regulation 33 (i.e. Submission of Financial Results) of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 (“Listing Regulations”) for two consecutive quarters’ i.e. September 30, 2023 and December 31, 2023. Hence, the trading in securities of Brightcom Group Limited shall be suspended w.e.f. June 14, 2024,” the stock exchange added.

The Hyderabad-headquartered company has been under SEBI’s radar for the past two years. The company is being monitored by SEBI for violations of listing regulations, hiding information, and several other regulations.

SEBI stated that from 2014-15 to the next 5 years, the company has shown reduced expenses and increased profits. During this period, the company attempted to conceal accounting entries equivalent to ₹1,280 crore.

Currently, promoters hold an 18.38% stake in the company, while public shareholding stands at 81.62%. Among the public shareholders, retail investors hold a 37.89% stake, with 5.7 lakh individuals.

Renowned investor Shankar Sharma held nearly 2.3 crore shares, or 1.14% stake of Brightcom Group at the end of the December 2023 quarter.

Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund holds a 1.1% stake in the company, while Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund holds a 1.09% stake. The LGOF Global Opportunities Fund, included in the FPI, has a 2.48% stake in the company.

The stock of the company fell to its lowest at ₹12.19 earlier this week.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

MOIL recommends dividend of ₹2.55 per share; March quarter profit rises 12.6%

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Manganese Ore (India) Ltd (MOIL) on Wednesday (May 15), announced its results for the quarter ended March 2024. The state-owned miniratna company’s net profit increased 12.6% year-on-year (YoY) to ₹91.1 crore in the quarter-ended March 2024. The net profit stood at ₹81 crore in March 2023 quarter.

The company’s revenue from operations dropped 2.8% to ₹415.88 crore in the quarter ended March 2024 compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

The earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) fell 3.2% YoY at ₹128.3 crore against ₹132.6 crore in the quarter ended March 2023. The EBITDA margin stood at 30.8% in the reporting quarter in comparison to 31% in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

The board of MOIL recommended a final dividend of ₹2.55 per share. This is in addition to the interim dividend of ₹3.5 per share already paid by the company. “Thus, total dividend for the year is ₹6.05 per share for the year (including paid interim dividend of ₹3.50 per share). This is 64% then last years’ total dividend,” the company said in a regulatory filing.

The stock of the company closed on Wednesday with a slight increase of 0.09% at ₹440.25 on BSE.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

HPL Electric Q4 Results: Dividend of ₹1 per share announced, net profit spikes 22%

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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HPL Electric & Power Limited on Wednesday (May 15), announced its earnings for the quarter ended March 2024. The electrical equipment company’s net profit increased 22.3% year-on-year (YoY) to ₹13.72 crore.

The company’s consolidated revenue from operations climbed 17% to ₹424.09 crore in the quarter ended March 2024 compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. 

The earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 24% YoY to ₹55.3 crore against ₹44.6 crore in the quarter ended March 2023. The EBITDA margin stood at 13% in the reporting quarter versus 12.3% in the corresponding period of  the previous fiscal.

The board of directors of the company announced a final dividend of ₹1 per equity share, subject to the approval of the shareholders at the forthcoming annual general meeting  (AGM) of the company.

The electrical equipment company added that the dividend, if passed by the shareholders, will be credited within 30 days from the date of the AGM. 

HPL Electric & Power Ltd. had received an order worth ₹181 crore to supply smart meters on February 13. It received an order from a leading Advanced Metering Infrastructure Service Provider (AMISP) client.

The stock of the company closed with a 0.37% rise on Wednesday (May 15) at ₹411.35 on the BSE.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Fighting intensifies between Israeli troops and Hamas led-militants across Gaza Strip

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Israeli troops fought militants across Gaza on Wednesday, including in the southern city of Rafah that had been a refuge for civilians, in an upsurge of the more than seven-month war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.

Antagonism between Israel and the United Nations worsened as the Israeli army sought an explanation for footage showing armed men next to UN Palestinian relief agency vehicles. Separately, the UN said it was investigating an unidentified strike that killed an international staffer in Gaza earlier this week.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

OPEC expects oil demand to rise by 2.25 million bpd in 2024, shifts key forecast to OPEC+

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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OPEC stuck to its forecast for strong growth in global oil demand in 2024 on Tuesday and said it would switch to focus on projected demand for OPEC+ crude, reflecting that the wider group is now the main forum for cooperation in the market.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, in a monthly report, said it expected world oil demand to rise by 2.25 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2024 and by 1.85 million bpd in 2025. Both forecasts were unchanged from last month.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

State Bank of India cuts its headcount by 25,000 in five years

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The country’s largest lender, State Bank of India, has cut its total headcount by 10% since FY19, equating to 25,000 fewer staff. The number of employees at the state-owned lender stood at 2,32,296 at the end of March 31, 2024, according to data collated from exchange filings.

In contrast, the bank had a total headcount of 2,57,252 at the end of FY19. That was despite the fact that the bank enjoys one of the lowest attrition rates in the sector, which stood at 1.43% during FY24.

On an average, the bank has witnessed a reduction of 5,000 employees every year since FY19, with the highest cut being in FY23 at 8,392 employees. However, the reduction in the number of employees coupled with a surge in profitability aided the bank report improved profit per employee. The bank reported a profit per employee of 26.2 lakh in FY24, against 5.8 lakh reported in FY20. At ₹61,077 crore, the net profit of SBI grew at an annualised rate of 44% between FY22 and FY24.

The staff expenses of SBI increased by 24% in FY24 to ₹71,237 crore. During the fiscal year, the bank also provided an additional provision of ₹13,387 crore to cover the 12th bipartite wage revision settlement. Excluding the one-time wage revision expenses, staff expenses are set to increase by ₹500 crore per month from FY25. The management expects the overheads to be in the range of ₹65,000 crore to ₹70,000 crore for the financial year 2025. “Our employees are recruited from the best talent in the country and are trained to handle the scale, complexity and compliance requirements of the bank,” said Dinesh Khara, Chairman of SBI, post-Q4 results.

Additionally, improvements in profitability also pushed the bank’s return on assets (RoA) higher. The RoA, which has been on an upward trend over the last six years, hit 1.04% in FY24. In comparison, the ratio stood at 0.02% in FY19.

Shares of SBI have outperformed the benchmark index by a wider margin over the last six months. While the stock of SBI has rallied as much as 41% in six months through May 14, the gauge for bank stocks—Bank Nifty—has yielded a return of 9% during the same period.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Startup Digest | Amazon to help 50 Indian startups go global, Karan Johar’s MyGlamm POUT now on Blinkit & more

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Amazon’s startup accelerator “Propel” aims to help 50 Indian Startups go global in 2024

E-commerce giant Amazon has announced the fourth season of Propel–an accelerator program which aims to launch 50 early-stage Indian startups in the consumer products space, expand globally and become international brands in 2024.

The entries for the Propel Global Business Accelerator Season-4 will remain open from May 14 to June 9, 2024. Participating startups stand to win total rewards worth over $1.5 million including AWS Activate credits, six months of free logistics and account management support, as well as a combined $100,000 in grant from Amazon for the top-3 winners. 

In addition to financial support from Amazon, startups will also get a shot at funding from venture capital partners, including Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund, Peak XV Partners, Fireside Ventures, DSG Consumer Partners, Accel, V3 Ventures and Elevation Capital, who will all feature on a panel to evaluate the winners of Propel Season 4.

Amazon will also help participating startups connect with Indian revenue-based financing firms namely Klub, Velocity and GetVantag, who will provide curated offers to the participating startups to expand their business at scale.

9Unicorns launches Fund II with a target of $200 million and rebrands itself to 100Unicorns

Venture Catalysts-backed 9Unicorns rebrands itself to 100Unicorns and launches its second accelerator fund with a target size of $200 million including a green-shoe option of $100 million with a plan to back 200 outlier startups.

The accelerator fund provides funding ranging from $300,000 to $1 million in the first round, along with product, business & fundraising support. This is followed by $500,000 to $2 million in subsequent rounds with co-investors.

100Unicorns (formerly 9unicorns), which reviewed over 14,000 startups and invested in 140 startup funding deals through its first fund, has backed the likes of Shiprocket, BluSmart, ZyppElectric and LeverageEdu, among others. 

PhonePe resolves trademark infringement dispute with Aniket Food via out-of-court settlement

Digital payment platform PhonePe has reached an out-of-court settlement with Aniket Food regarding a trademark infringement case. The resolution comes after a series of legal proceedings initiated by PhonePe against Aniket Food for the unauthorised use of its trademarks.

The dispute, which was brought before the Calcutta High Court, saw PhonePe seeking legal recourse against Aniket Food for the illicit use of its trademarks, including “PhonePe”.

The High Court, in its order dated April 10, 2024, had granted an ex-parte injunction in favour of PhonePe, prohibiting Aniket Food from manufacturing and selling products bearing the infringed trademarks.

Additionally, a Special Officer appointed by the Court conducted an inventory of the infringing goods at Aniket Food’s premises on April 19, 2024. Following the Court’s intervention, Aniket Food approached PhonePe for an out-of-court settlement.

Shiprocket aims to upskill 100,000 Indian MSMEs through eCommerce learning

Shiprocket has launched an e-commerce learning platform to empower 100,000 merchants over the next 2-3 years, with the aim of boosting their “contribution to India’s GDP and succeed in the anticipated $300 billion Indian eCommerce market”.

Shiprocket Growth Academy will offer learning, community, consultancy, and analytics, “designed to empower eCommerce sellers at every stage of their journey”. The platform offers a suite of offerings, including courses, tutorials, webinars, podcasts, and expert-led master classes by the leadership of Shiprocket.

Launched in 2017, Shiprocket is a logistics data platform that connects retailers, carriers, and consumers across national and international locations. Shiprocket provides a technology stack to help retailers integrate their shopping websites on Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, Zoho, and others with the platform’s multi-carrier API to manage orders, prints, and shipping labels.

Shiprocket also offers fulfillment solutions with more than 45 warehouses located across India. With 25+ courier partners on board, the brand offers pan-India as well as international shipping deliveries. Its shipping solutions are available across 24,000+ pin codes within India and 220 countries. 

The Good Glamm Group Partners with Blinkit bringing Karan Johar’s MyGlamm POUT in 10 minutes

Beauty and personal care conglomerate Good Glamm Group has partnered with quick commerce platform Blinkit to offer MyGlamm POUT by Karan Johar on the hyperlocal platform for delivery in about 10 minutes. 

MyGlamm POUT’s range of products, including lipsticks, lip liners, and lip glosses, will be available for delivery on Blinkit. 

As Blinkit seeks to expands usecases and SKUs on its platform, “listing such luxury, celebrity-led makeup products is bound to bring unparalleled convenience & experience to customers,” said Anish Shrivastava, Category Head, Blinkit. 

“In today’s fast-paced world, convenience is key, and with Blinkit’s lightning-fast delivery, we’re bringing luxury beauty directly to our customers’ doorsteps in just 10 minutes,” Ketan Bhatia, Group Brand Director, Good Glamm Group. 

redBus launches women-specific interface on app to enhance experience of travel for women

redBus, an online bus ticketing platform, has created a separate booking flow for women on the app, aimed at “revolutionizing the bus travel experience specifically for female passengers”. 

Users can now toggle to the women-specific app experience, which shows top-rated buses, highly recommended by other women travelers. This new interface provides a more transparent, secure experience and fosters a sense of community, allowing women users to make informed choices based on authentic user experiences.

The interface highlights popular boarding points based on user traffic and offers exclusive deals specifically offered for women by bus operators, which can be as high as 25%. Moreover, the women-centric features incorporate user-generated tags that illuminate why certain services are highly regarded by women, focusing on aspects such as punctuality and hygiene and how many other women are traveling in the same bus. 

redBus is also introducing a priority helpline that ensures immediate assistance with zero wait time for any query. This is designed to address anxiety and enhance the overall travel experience.

OpenAI launches GPT-4o with faster, more versatlie capabilities

OpenAI has announced GPT-4o, a model enhancing GPT-4 capabilities across voice, text, and vision, promising faster, cheaper, and broader language support in a phased global rollout.

 GPT-4o, where “o” stands for “omni,” introduces a new era of human-computer interaction by accepting and generating combinations of text, audio, and image inputs and outputs.

This model represents a leap towards more natural interaction capabilities, boasting response times to audio inputs as swift as 232 milliseconds, rivalling human conversational response times, OpenAI CTO Mira Murati said during the presentation.

GPT-4o not only matches the performance of its predecessor, GPT-4 Turbo, in processing English text and code but also shows marked improvements in understanding non-English languages. It outperforms existing models in vision and audio comprehension, all while being twice as fast, 50% more cost-effective, and supporting five times higher rate limits in the API.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Powell reiterates Fed likely to keep rates higher for longer to curb inflation

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the US central bank needs to be patient as it awaits more evidence that high interest rates are curbing inflation, doubling-down on the need to keep borrowing costs elevated.

Powell reiterated it will likely take longer than previously thought to attain the confidence needed to lower interest rates, echoing remarks made following the Fed’s latest meeting on May 1. He described current rates as restrictive by “many, many measures” but noted time will tell if policy is sufficiently restrictive to bring inflation back to the Fed’s 2% target.

“We think about the effect of the things we’re doing on financial conditions more broadly and on the economy,” Powell said Tuesday during an event hosted by the Foreign Bankers’ Association in Amsterdam. “All of those things lead us to believe at this time that policy is restrictive, and that it looks like it will take longer for us to become confident that inflation is coming down to 2% over time.”

“We think that it’s probably a matter of just staying at that stance for longer,” he added.

During the moderated discussion between Powell and European Central Bank Governing Council member Klaas Knot, the Fed chief reiterated it wasn’t likely that the Fed’s next move will be a rate hike. Powell added it’s more likely that the Fed will just keep the policy rate where it is.

US central bankers, including Powell, have expressed disappointment at the lack of inflation progress in the first quarter. Earlier this month, policymakers kept their benchmark policy rate unchanged at a 23-year high, a level Powell said he was prepared to maintain “for as long as appropriate.”

Powell said that he expects inflation will move lower on a monthly basis, but price figures in the first quarter have tempered his confidence.

“The first quarter in the United States was notable for its lack of further progress on inflation,” he said. “We did not expect this to be a smooth road, but these were higher than I think anybody expected.”

“What that has told us is that we’ll need to be patient and let restrictive policy do its work,” Powell said.

Producer Prices

The producer price index, a measure of wholesale prices, topped all economists’ forecasts in April, a government report showed Tuesday. That said, several components from the report that feed into the calculation of the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge — the personal consumption expenditures price index — were more mixed.

Powell described Tuesday’s report as “mixed.” The consumer price index for April will be released Wednesday, and economists surveyed by Bloomberg estimate prices rose a firm 3.4% from a year earlier.

The US economy continues to show resilience even with the Fed settling in with higher-for-longer rates. Non-farm payrolls have averaged 246,000 a month so far this year, and unemployment remains low. The April jobs report, however, did show some signs of moderation, with a slower pace of job growth and an unexpected tick up in unemployment.

Powell described the labor market as “very strong” with signs of gradual cooling and re-balancing, in part driven by an increase in labor supply from immigration as well as an easing in demand. He added the labor market is about as tight as it was before the pandemic in 2019.

European Outlook

ECB officials including President Christine Lagarde have signaled they’ll begin to lower borrowing costs at their June meeting, a sentiment Knot echoed Tuesday. What happens after is less clear and more controversial.

Some European policymakers favor a series of quick rate cuts to reduce the burden on the euro-area economy, while others call for caution, arguing with persisting risks to consumer prices. Though ECB officials insist on being independent from the Fed, there seems to be some disagreement on how much the ECB’s monetary policy can diverge from that of its US counterpart.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow