Jio launches 5G services in 34 cities, taking total count to 225 in India

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

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Reliance Jio on Tuesday launched 5G services in 34 more cities, expanding its connectivity further across India to 225 cities, so far.

With this, Reliance Jio became the first and only operator that launched 5G services most of these cities. The users would be invited to the Jio Welcome Offer and would get unlimited data with a speeds of up to 1 Gbps+, at no further cost, from today.

The company said that a 5G network rollout of such a scale was a first across the world and 2023 would be a landmark year for the country.

“Jio has achieved this milestone in just under 120 days since the Beta Trial launch and is well on its way to connect the entire nation with the transformational Jio True 5G services by December 2023,” a Jio spokesperson said.

Jio had earlier announced it had 50 cities across 17 states and Union Territories.

Meanwhile, in the December quarter, the telco’s profit went up 2.7 percent sequentially to Rs 4,638 crore, almost near the CNBC-TV18 poll estimate of Rs 4,650 crore. On a year-on-year basis, the profit rose 28.29 percent. Reliance Jio’s profit during the last quarter stood at Rs 4,518 crore.

Reliance Jio’s revenue for the three months stood at Rs 22,998 crore, rising 2.1 percent from the previous quarter and 18 percent from the corresponding period a year ago. This was Reliance Jio’s fourth consecutive quarter of revenue growth. The company said that the increase in revenue from operations was driven by a steady increase in both the subscriber base and average revenue per user (ARPU).

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Indian Hotels shares gain most in nine months after best ever quarter

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

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Shares of Indian Hotels are trading with gains of 6.5 percent after the company reported a four-fold rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 403.56 crore in the third quarter ended December 2022 on the back of robust demand.

The company had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 95.96 crore in the year-ago period, Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL) said in a regulatory filing.

Profitability of the hotels chain was also aided by lower finance costs, higher other income and gains from the sale of land during the quarter.

Indian Hotels termed the results as its best ever quarter.

Consolidated revenue from operations during the quarter under review stood at Rs 1,685.8 crore as against Rs 1,111.22 crore in the corresponding period previous fiscal, it added. Total expenses were higher at Rs 1,248.62 crore in the third quarter, up from Rs 1,014.23 crore a year ago.

Buoyed by a strong demand in the third quarter, both leisure and business hotels in key domestic markets reported occupancy of over 70 percent and a rate growth of 27 percent as compared to pre-COVID levels, the company said.

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IHCL managing director and CEO Puneet Chhatwal said the company continued to report strong operational and financial performances across its businesses in Q3 resulting in an all-time high profit after tax.

“Robust demand across markets and segments, including our airline catering has led to all group companies reporting a positive PAT in Q3 across domestic and international operations,” company’s executive vice president and CFO Giridhar Sanjeevi said.

The revenue performance supported by scale benefits have enabled strong flow-through and record margins, he said, adding, “IHCL continues to report a healthy consolidated free cash flow of Rs 766 crore till date in FY 2022-23 and remains net cash positive.”

Chhatwal said IHCL has reached a milestone of over 250 hotels and is in line with its vision of being a 300-hotel portfolio by 2025.

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“In this financial year alone 30-plus hotels have been added to the pipeline and 14 hotels have opened, besides a strong growth in amã Stays & Trails with 108 homestays and Qmin with over 25 outlets,” Chhatwal added.

The demand outlook for the sector in 2023 remains robust on the back of sporting events such as world cup hockey and cricket, global events like the ongoing G20 and recovery of inbound and corporate travel, he said.

“IHCL with its vast network of hotels spread across over 125 cities is well positioned to cater to this rising demand,” Chhatwal said.

Shares of Indian Hotels are trading 6.4 percent higher at Rs 320.4. The stock is up for the third straight day.

Also Read: NIIT Q3 net profit remains flat at Rs 55 crore due to St Charles acquisition

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OLX is reportedly looking to lay off 15% of its global workforce

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

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OLX is reportedly laying off 15 percent of its global workforce. This layoff will impact nearly 1,500 employees.

According to a news report by The Financial Express, OLX will reduce its workforce across all countries, business units, and job functions.

As per its website, the Prosus-owned company has over 10,000 employees worldwide, with offices in India, Bulgaria, South Africa, Poland, and Ukraine.

“OLX is taking necessary measures to reduce its cost structure in light of changing macroeconomic conditions. Regrettably, this means we are reducing the size of our workforce across the company. We are sorry to part ways with these valuable contributors, but doing so is necessary to meet our future ambitions,” as reported by The Financial Express.

In 2020, OLX laid off close to 250 employees from its sales and support departments.

OLX’s latest job cuts come amid an ongoing wave of layoffs at tech companies around the world due to high inflation and recession fears.

Also read: 78 percent Indian workers uneasy about job security amid layoffs: Survey

As per data by Layoffs.fyi so far in 2023 234 tech companies have laid off 75,912 employees. Big tech giants like Google, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon have announced job cuts and hiring freezes. In India too so far Indian startups have cut over 1,600 jobs in 2023.

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Spotify’s user growth beats estimates, expects 500 million listeners next quarter

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

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Spotify on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter results that beat expectations for both active users and subscribers, and forecast the number of listeners would reach 500 million next quarter.

The number of monthly active users rose to 489 million in the quarter, beating Spotify’s guidance and analysts’ forecasts of 477.9 million.

Premium subscribers, who account for most of the company’s revenue, rose 14 percent to 205 million, topping estimates of 202.3 million, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Also Read: Spotify job cuts — music streaming company to lay off 6% workforce

The growth was driven by marketing campaigns and as more listeners signed up in countries such as India and Indonesia.

Apart from the forecast of half a billion users, Spotify also expects premium subscribers to reach 207 million in the current quarter and revenue of 3.1 billion euros ($3.35 billion). Analysts were expecting subscribers of 202 million and revenue of 3.05 billion euros.

Its quarterly revenue was 3.2 billion euros, above analyst estimates of 3.16 billion euros.

Spotify last year laid out plans to get a billion users by 2030 and to reach $100 billion in revenue annually. It also promised high-margin returns from its costly expansion into podcasts and audiobooks.

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The company has invested more than $1 billion in building out its podcast business which currently has more than four million titles.

But those investments have hit gross margins.

Last week Spotify announced plans to lay off 600 employees as it sought to control its operating expenditure that grew at twice the speed of its revenue last year.

In 2023, the company expects revenue to begin to grow faster than operating expenses, which have jumped due to headcount growth and higher advertising costs.

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India’s retail inflation for industrial workers rises marginally to 5.5% in Dec

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

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Retail inflation for industrial workers rose marginally to 5.5 per cent in December 2022 from 5.41 per cent in November due to higher prices of certain food items.

“Year-on-year inflation for the month stood at 5.50 per cent compared to 5.41 percent for the previous month (November 2022) and 5.56 percent during the corresponding month (December 2021) a year before,” a labour bureau statement said.

Similarly, it stated that the food inflation stood at 4.10 percent against 4.30 percent in the previous month and 5.93 percent during the corresponding month a year ago.

The All-India CPI-IW (consumer price index for industrial workers) for December 2022 decreased by 0.2 points and stood at 132.3 points. It was 132.5 points in November 2022.

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On one-month percentage change, it decreased by 0.15 percent with respect to the previous month compared to a decrease of 0.24 percent recorded between corresponding months a year ago.

The maximum downward pressure in the current index came from Food and Beverages group, contributing 0.52 percentage points to the total change.

At the item level, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Brinjal, Carrot, Onion, Potato, Tomato, Peas, Garlic, Chilies Green, Apple, Orange, Sunflower Oil, Vanaspati Oil and Poultry/Chicken etc. are responsible for the fall in the index.

However, this decrease was checked by Rice, Wheat Atta, Wheat, Cow Milk, Fish Fresh, Egg-Hen, Drum stick, Chilies Dry, Cumin Seed/Jira, Turmeric, Tea Leaf, Cooked Meals, ESI Contribution, Medicine Allopathic and Tuition and other fees school/ITI etc. putting upward pressure on the index.

At the centre level, Lucknow and Nasik recorded a maximum decrease of 1.9 points each.

Also read: Economic Survey 2023 estimates real GDP to be at 6-6.8%

Among others, 19 centres recorded a decrease between 1 to 1.8 points and 37 centres between 0.1 to 0.9 points. On the contrary, Faridabad recorded a maximum increase of 3.3 points followed by Nagpur and Tirunelveli with 3.0 and 2.4 points, respectively.

Among others, 4 centres recorded an increase between 1 to 1.7 points and 21 centres between 0.1 to 0.9 points. The rest of the 2 centres’ indices remained stationary.

The Labour Bureau, an attached office of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, has been compiling Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers every month on the basis of retail prices collected from 317 markets, spread over 88 industrially important centres in the country.

The index is compiled for 88 centres and All-India and is released on the last working day of the succeeding month.

Also read: Economic Survey 2023 | Government expects inflation to cool off but slowly

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AAP setting agenda for Karnataka assembly polls, will fight all 224 seats: Atishi

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

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Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi on Tuesday said her party is setting the agenda for the upcoming Karnataka assembly election with BJP promising ‘Namma Clinic’ on the lines of Delhi’s Mohalla Clinics and Congress promising 200 units of free electricity as has been implemented in the national capital.

The party will fight in all the 224 assembly constituencies across the state in the election, which is less than three months away, and the list of candidates would be announced in the first week of March, the AAP leader said at a press conference.

The party leader said people do not want a “copycat version of the Delhi model of governance and want the original”. Hence, the party has decided to fight the election in Karnataka with all its vigour.

Also Read: Assembly Elections 2023: These states will go to polls this year

She said the BJP and the Congress are “poor copycats in implementing schemes”.

While the saffron party has been in power for the past three-and-half years, it is only at the brink of assembly polls that it is promising to implement the ‘Namma Clinics’ based on the Mohalla Clinic model of Delhi, she claimed.

“If you (BJP) were serious about providing high-quality healthcare, why has it not been done all these years? It goes to show that a copycat is only a copycat,” Atishi charged.

She wondered why the BJP made a promise of 24,000 classes under the ‘Viveka’ scheme in Karnataka at the end of its tenure. “My question is why they were not built in the last five years. You (BJP) have been in power, you had the budget and yet you have not built them,” Atishi sought to know.

The AAP leader said the Congress is promising 200 units of free electricity if voted to power, which is similar to AAP’s scheme, which has already been implemented in Delhi.

She challenged the Congress that the people of Karnataka will believe the party’s promise of free electricity if it gives free electricity in the states where it is in power such as Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh before the date of Karnataka assembly election.

Regarding the Janata Dal (Secular), she said the party is now talking about high-quality education.

“You can see that the entire election agenda of the Karnataka state assembly election has been set by the AAP because people want change as they are tired of corruption,” said the AAP MLA, representing Kalkaji in Delhi.

“The AAP has shown that they can bring high-quality education, high-quality healthcare, and they can give 200 units of free electricity to the people and that is the reason people are gravitating towards our party,” Atishi pointed out.

The party will contest all the 224 seats and there was a tremendous response on the ground, the AAP leader said. “I urge the people of Karnataka to choose an honest party, which has delivered its promises,” she said.

Also Read: Karnataka elections 2023: Congress promises 200 units of free electricity, launches ‘Praja Dhwani Yatra’

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NIIT Q3 net profit remains flat at Rs 55 crore due to St Charles acquisition

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

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Talent development corporation NIIT Ltd on Tuesday posted almost flat consolidated net profit at Rs 55 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2022 mainly on account of acquisitions that the company made in the US. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 54.9 crore in the same period a year ago.

The consolidated revenue from operations of NIIT Ltd grew by 18.2 percent to Rs 454.6 crore during the reported quarter, from Rs 394.3 crore in the December 2021 quarter.

“In the midst of an uncertain macroeconomic environment, NIIT further strengthened its market position by recording a revenue growth of 16 percent quarter-over-quarter and 18 percent YoY,” NIIT Ltd, Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Vijay K Thadani said.

He attributed flat net profit during the quarter to acquisitions that the company made in the US. “During the quarter, we acquired St Charles Consulting Group and we could only get two months of their revenue.”

“The acquisition of St Charles Consulting Group is aligned with NIIT’s stated strategy to deploy its growth capital for the purpose of expanding its capability set and accessing new market segments,” Thadani said.

The company through its US-based subsidiary acquired 100 percent stake in St Charles on November 4 for about USD 65 million.

The deal comprises fixed consideration of USD 23.43 million subject to certain adjustments as per the agreement and USD 41.66 million based on annual performance over the next four years.

NIIT’s Corporate Learning Group (CLG) reported a growth of 22 percent in net revenue to Rs 363.6 crore on YoY basis and renewed contract with all the existing customers and closed the quarter with 71 MTS customers with a revenue visibility of USD 321 million.

Thadani in an interview to CNBC-TV18 said that the company’s CLG business margins are seen to be around 20 percent on an organic basis. The St Charles acquisition is expected to aid the CLG business margins by 50-100 basis points. However, there was a weakness in tech hiring in Q4 which impacted the company’s skill and careers revenue.

The Skills and careers group (SNC) division of the company grew by 4 percent to Rs 91 crore during the reported quarter.

Despite this setback, Thadani remains optimistic about the future of the company’s skills & careers segment. He expects the segment to see a growth of 40-45 percent with maintained margins.

“As industries are going through multiple transformations and disruptions, skilled talent continues to be a top priority for CEOs. We see significant and robust opportunities for growth in both the CLG and SNC businesses,” NIIT, CEO and Executive Director, Sapnesh Lalla said.

He said that the economic uncertainty will remain for next few quarters and the company will leverage its CLG division and expansion of business in new geographies to mitigate the impact.

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‘Not a survey but an economic story backed by evidence’: CEA

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

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A few years of meaningful nominal growth will make a significant difference to fiscal consolidation, said Chief Economic Advisor V. Anantha Nageswaran, adding that there was no reason to believe the government is deviating from the fiscal consolidation path.

Nageswaran was speaking to CNCB-TV18 in the backdrop of the Economic Survey 2023 being tabled in the Parliament earlier in the day on January 31. The survey document, which is prepared under the CEA’s administration, holds key highlights of India’s macroeconomic landscape and government policies as well as reforms that can be ushered in.

Talking about the survey, the CEA said, “I told my team we are not presenting a survey, but an economic story backed by evidence. Everything has to be backed by evidence.”

Nageswaran also spoke about how India needs to create more space for welfare and social  development.

According to the survey report, the CEA combined government initiatives such as health and education and other facilities and has started a conversation on the ‘quality of life’ — a first of its kind approach in India, which is still an emerging economy.

On economic growth

Nageswaran said if additional reforms are undertaken, it is possible for the country’s growth to go beyond 7 percent in the remaining decade.

The Economic Survey 2023 estimated the FY24 GDP growth to be at 6-6.8 percent. The survey’s baseline forecast for real GDP growth is 6.5 percent.

“Given the uncertainties we face, a difference of a few basis points on GDP estimates is not big,” the CEA said.

The RBI in its MPC meeting in December estimated the GDP to grow 6.8 percent, paring the projection for FY23 for the third time in the month.

Earlier this month, the National Statistical Office (NSO) estimated the Indian economy to grow at 7 percent in 2022-23, as against the expansion of 8.7 percent in the previous fiscal.

On growth risks and inflation

The CEA said the downside risk is higher compared to the growth estimates in the global context. He did not see any domestic risks to India’s growth estimates.

The COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, sanctions on Russia and China’s zero-COVID policy, caused a disruption in supply chains, causing prices of commodities to shoot up. To combat inflation, central banks across the world hiked interest rates, following the US Fed’s cue. Now, the world is staring at a possible global slowdown as well as possible recession.

Also Read: Economic Survey 2023: India to remain fastest growing major economy in the world — A look at key highlights

“We face political and economic uncertainty from the global situation and my best assessment is that risks are dominantly from global events,” he said.

Capital expenditure

Nageswaran felt that India has to continue with both government as well as private sector capex. “There is room for both to grow,” he said, adding that India needs to work on the quality of expenditure with higher capital expenditure.

“The quality of expenditure is more important than the headline deficit,” he said, adding that it has seen quite a lot of improvement as well. Talking about India’s debt sustainability, the CEA said it is not in serious doubt.

On nominal GDP & FDIs

The government expects the nominal GDP to continue to be ahead of cost of borrowing and the same would help achieve fiscal consolidation.

He said India also needs more investments on the automatic route.

Talking about foreign direct investments (FDIs), Nageswaran said they have shifted to a higher level. “We are on the right track to attract FDI,” he said, adding that it is a work in progress.

Also Read: Economic Survey 2023: India aims 45% reduction in emission intensity of its GDP by 2030 from 2005 levels

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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

Economic Survey 2023 | NITI Aayog’s Suman Bery believes growth forecast of 6.5% is feasible

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

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The Budget session of Parliament kicks off with the tabling of the Economic Survey 2023. The recovery is complete that’s the key message from the 371 page Economic Survey 2023 which was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday (January 31).

The first economic survey since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, it highlighted that prudent assumptions in last year’s Union Budget provided a buffer to the government during global uncertainties.

The survey has highlighted that India has moved on from its encounter with the pandemic and projected real GDP growth of 7 percent this fiscal. It has also forecast 6.5 percent real GDP growth and an 11 percent nominal GDP growth in FY24.

Talking about growth forecast of 6.5 percent real GDP growth Suman Bery, vice chairperson at NITI Aayog said homework has been done and the growth target is relevant.

He said, “What Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Anantha Nageswaran said that looking at the various growth drivers, and he has made this point explicitly, I believe in his press conference, that even abstracting from slowing world trade growth, he believed that the growth rates are feasible. So my sense would be that the homework has been done.”

He added that for 2023 it is not necessarily in India’s interest for there to be a return to a very buoyant economy. He said, “Because that might make the task of disinflation, particularly in the US that much harder, which means a higher final or terminal Fed funds rate, which would put pressure on the RBI. So that those are the mechanisms by which what happens globally, has an impact on what happens in India.”

According to the survey the government capex has increased from a long average of 1.7 percent of GDP in the 2009 to 2020 period to 2.5 percent of GDP.

Berry said, “As the economic survey points out, there have been improvements both in in the hardware highways, particularly, waterways, railways, as it points out, we are already doing pretty well, airports. So, that’s the dividend on the government side.”

He added, “Capital expenditure at the moment has been important, but we must keep it in perspective, it’s not even as much as a quarter of total capital expenditure, the rest of which is households and private corporates. We are expecting that private corporate expenditure be mobilized what’s called crowding in by what government does.”

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He mentioned that the major challenge for India, and for the emerging world, is our green transition. He said, “Our green transition is going to require higher investment rates, it is going to require investment, whether those are higher investment rates really depends on the availability of financing. The financing, ideally, should come from abroad.”

For full interview, watch accompanying video

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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

RBI appoints V Ramachandra as member of Advisory Committee of SIFL, SEFL

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

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The Reserve Bank on Tuesday appointed V Ramachandra, former chief general manager of Canara Bank, as a member of the Advisory Committee of Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited (SIFL) and Srei Equipment Finance Limited (SEFL).

After superseding the boards of SIFL and SEFL in October 2021, the RBI had appointed a three-member advisory committee to assist the administrator of the two crisis-ridden firms.

“Consequent upon the resignation of Shri Farokh N Subedar from the Advisory Committee with effect from January 31, 2023, it has been decided to appoint Shri V Ramachandra as a member of the Advisory Committee with immediate  effect,” the central bank said in a statement.

Also Read: Indian economy remains resilient in hostile global environment, says RBI governor

The Advisory Committee shall advise the Administrator in the operations of SIFL and SEFL during the corporate insolvency resolution process, it added.

The other two members of the committee are — Venkat Nageshwar Chalasani, former deputy managing director, State Bank of India; and T T Srinivasaraghavan, former managing director, Sundaram Finance Limited.

In October 2021, the RBI had filed applications for initiation of corporate insolvency resolution process against SIFL and SEFL at the Kolkata Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

Following admission of the petitions by the NCLT, the RBI had decided that the three-member committee “shall continue as the advisory committee” constituted under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy (Insolvency and Liquidation Proceedings of Financial Service Providers and Application to Adjudicating Authority) Rules, 2019.

Srei Group, which mainly caters to the MSME and infrastructure sectors, owes around Rs 18,000 crore to around 15 lenders, including Axis Bank, UCO Bank and State Bank of India, besides nearly Rs 10,000 crore of external commercial borrowings and bonds.

In a regulatory filing earlier this month, Srei Equipment Finance had said its administrator has received a report from the transaction auditor about certain fraudulent transactions in 2019-20 and 2020-21, bearing a monetary impact of over Rs 3,025 crore on the Srei group.

Also Read: India’s bad bank makes the highest bid for two SREI Group companies

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