PV exports from India rise 46% in April-Dec; Maruti Suzuki leads segment

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

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Passenger vehicle exports from India increased 46 percent in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, with Maruti Suzuki India leading the segment with dispatches of around 1.68 lakh units, as per the latest data by SIAM. The total passenger vehicle (PV) exports stood at 4,24,037 units in April-December 2021-22 as compared with 2,91,170 units in the same period a year ago.

Passenger car shipments saw 45 percent growth at 2,75,728 units while utility vehicle exports rose 47 percent at 1,46,688 units during the period under review, the data by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers showed. Export of vans nearly doubled to 1,621 units in April-December 2021-22 as compared with 877 units in the same period last fiscal year.

Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) led the segment during the period, followed by Hyundai Motor India and Kia India at the second and third positions, respectively. MSI, the country’s largest carmaker exported 1,67,964 PVs in the period under review, almost triple as compared with 59,821 units in the same period of the previous fiscal year.

Besides, the company shipped out 1,958 Super Carry (LCV) units during the nine-month period. MSI’s top PV export markets include Latin America, ASEAN, Africa, the Middle East and neighbouring regions while its top five export models comprise Baleno, Dzire, Swift, S-Presso and Brezza.

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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

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail faces data breach on its portal

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

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Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd (ABFRL) is facing a data breach on its portal, and the company is investing the incident. Meanwhile, the company has assured that it will have no operational or business impact on its operations. The company has engaged forensic security experts to investigate the data breach incident where over 5.4 million email addresses were released online from the portal of the Aditya Birla Group-owned company.

“ABFRL is investigating an information security incident that entailed unauthorised access to its e-commerce database,” said an ABFRL spokesperson while confirming the incident. However, he also added that there has been no operational or business impact.

“As a pro-active measure, the company has reset passwords of all customers and enabled OTP based authentication and taken further steps to secure access to customer and employee information,” he said. According to the reports, ABFRL’s database has been made public by a hacker group known as ShinyHunters.

Cyber security expert Rajshekhar Rajaharia has also shared information on this. “#ShinyHunters allegedly made public 700 GB of data of #AdityaBirlaFashion including 5.4Mn emails, phone. It seems New Year Data Breaches season started in India. Time to change work email’s password,” he tweeted.

The database includes personal customer information such as names, phone numbers, addresses, dates of births, order histories, credit card details, and passwords stored as Message-Digest algorithm 5 (MD5) hashes, the reports added. The data breach also includes details of employees, including salary details, religion, and marital status. ABFRL, which had a revenue of Rs 5,181.14 crore in FY21, is the country’s largest pure-play fashion powerhouse with an elegant bouquet of leading fashion brands and retail formats.

As of September 30, 2021, the company has a network of 3,264 stores across approximately 26,841 multi-brand outlets. It has a repertoire of leading brands, such as Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly and Peter England, along with India’s largest value fashion retail brand Pantaloons.

While its international brand portfolio includes – The Collective, India’s largest multi-brand retailer of international brands, Simon Carter and select mono-brands such as Forever 21, American Eagle, Ralph Lauren, Hackett London, Ted Baker and Fred Perry. Last week, it had announced to acquire a 51 per cent majority shareholding in popular and contemporary brand Masaba, promoted by the leading designer Masaba Gupta for a cash consideration of Rs 90 crore.

Additionally, ABFL has also made a foray into branded ethnic wear through the acquisition of the Jaypore brand and partnerships with India’s leading designers Shantanu and Nikhil, Tarun Tahiliani and Sabyasachi.

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

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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

IPO-bound India1 Payments aims to deploy 20,000 ATMs in next 4-5 yrs

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

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IPO-bound India1 Payments Ltd, which is currently rolling out 300-400 ATMs in a month, is hopeful of deploying over 20,000 such machines in next 4-5 years to ensure cash availability to customers in semi-urban and rural areas, its MD and CEO K Srinivas said on Sunday. “The hike in interchange fees by RBI coupled with various structural growth drivers, including expected increase in cash withdrawal transactions, will accelerate White Label ATMs deployments in the country,” he said.

The ATMs which are set up, owned and operated by non-bank entities are known as White Label ATMs (WLAs). At present, the Bengaluru-headquartered company operates a network of 10,300 WLAs and deploys its ATMs under the brand name of “india1ATMs”.

It is the second largest ATM brand in the semi-urban and rural areas after State Bank of India (SBI). India1 Payments, promoted by the Banktech Group of Australia and formerly known as BTI Payments, has installed these machines mostly in semi-urban and rural areas across 14 states and union territories.

“In the calendar year 2021 India1 has rolled out in excess of 3,000 ATMs and likely to continue at the same pace in next 4-5 years given the low penetration of ATMs in semi-urban and rural India. That should put India1 in good stead to be a large ATM network with over 20,000 ATMs,” Srinivas told PTI. He further said the company will continue to focus on states like UP, Bihar and West Bengal which has low penetration of ATMs.

The company focuses on ensuring availability of cash in its ATMs, especially those located in rural areas. “We are mindful that when a customer comes to our ATMs in rural areas after travelling 8-9 kms then he should be able to withdraw money,” he said.

Srinivas said the company may consider deploying ATMs in the northeast region next year. Currently, the company has no presence in the area. “We are committed to improving financial inclusion through accessibility of our ATM services in the under-penetrated semi-urban and rural areas of the country,” he said.

According to the latest data from the RBI as of September, there were 2.4 lakh ATMs in the country, of them around 28,000 are white-label machines. The company has grown over 15 per cent over last year and accounts for more than 50 per cent of incremental ATMs deployed in this period.

It services over 72 million customer transactions and facilitates a gross transaction value of over Rs 13,600 crore every quarter on an average. On the company’s future growth strategy, Srinivas said the company will continue to expand ATM network in semi-urban and rural regions, improve local operational capabilities and drive profitability through customer engagement and cost optimization. In addition, the company will focus on offering the micro-ATM services in remotest areas among others, he added.

India1 Payments, promoted by Banktech Group, was incorporated in the year 2006 and subsequently invested by ICICI Ventures in 2013. The company, which has already received Sebi’s go-ahead to float initial share-sale, plans to come out with its public issue in coming months.

The initial public offering (IPO) comprises fresh issuance of equity shares worth Rs 150 crore and an offer of sale (OFS) of 1.03 crore equity shares by promoters and investors. The OFS consists of sale of 1 lakh equity shares by the Banktech Group, up to 25.08 lakh equity shares by BTI Payments Singapore, up to 49.94 lakh equity shares by India Advantage Fund S3 I, up to 24.86 lakh equity shares by India Advantage Fund S4 I and up to 2.16 lakh equity shares by Dynamic India Fund S4 US.

Proceeds from the fresh issue will be utilized to repay debt, for funding capital expenditure requirements of the company, setting up of ATMs in India and general corporate purposes.

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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

Life insurers seek separate bucket for life insurance premium, tax-free annuity in Budget

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

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The life insurance industry has recommended the government to create a separate bucket for tax rebate under section 80 (C) and make annuity tax-free for the benefit of subscribers as part of its demand for the next Union Budget to be unveiled in February. The Rs 1,50,000 limit for tax rebates is a pretty cluttered bucket and it does not give much space for the life insurance premiums (to get the full benefit of tax exemption), Karthik Raman, CMO and Head– Products, Ageas Federal Life Insurance, said.

“We want to create a separate bucket from the tax benefit in terms of rebate because section 80 (C) has a limit of Rs 1,50,000 and everything comes under that like PPF is part of it, and if one has a home loan then for all practical purposes, it is gone. So, we would like to have a separate amount of money earmarked for investment in life insurance for tax rebates,” he said on behalf of the industry.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to present the general budget for the next fiscal on February 1. Also, the industry would like the annuity products to come under tax rebates.

Today, the annuity at the hands of the receiver or annuitant is taxable. An annuity is viewed as salary and hence it is taxable. However, typically annuity is received by people who are moved out of the regular source of income and they look at an annuity as an alternate source of income. “The cost of living is only going up, and taxing them doesn’t sound right. We are requesting (the government) if an annuity can also be considered under Section 10 (10D) and can be made tax-free. Section 10 (10D) of the Income Tax Act allows an exemption for life insurance benefits including bonus. These are the two things the industry would be very happy if the government could consider,” Raman said.

He urged the government to make a beginning in that direction and to start again from where it had left it before the insurance premium was merged under the overall tax exemption limit of Rs 1,50,000 under section 80 (D). “So, a separate bucket can be created for the life insurance (premium). And the next year and going ahead if the government feels that it is an important investment, and considering the kind of impact the pandemic had, it would encourage people to look at life insurance as a correct investment,” the official said further.

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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

Novak Djokovic loses deportation appeal in Australia

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

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Novak Djokovic’s hopes of playing at the Australian Open were dashed on Sunday after a court dismissed the top-ranked tennis stars appeal against a deportation order.

Three Federal Court judges upheld a decision made on Friday by the immigration minister to cancel the 34-year-old Serbs visa on public interest grounds.

The decision likely means that Djokovic, who is not vaccinated against COVID-19, will remain in detention in Melbourne until he is deported.

A deportation order usually also includes a three-year ban on returning to Australia.

The minister cancelled the visa on the grounds that Djokovic’s presence in Australia may be a risk to the health and good order of the Australian public and may be counterproductive to efforts at vaccination by others in Australia.

Djokovic’s visa was initially cancelled on January 6 at Melbournes airport hours after he arrived to compete in the first Grand Slam of 2022.

A border official cancelled his visa after deciding Djokovic didn’t qualify for a medical exemption from Australias rules for unvaccinated visitors.

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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

Metro Brands Q3 net profit jumps 54.6% to Rs 100.85 crore

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

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Footwear retail chain Metro Brands has reported a 54.63 percent jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 100.85 crore for the third quarter ended December 2021. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 65.22 crore during the October-December quarter of the previous fiscal, Metro Brands Ltd (MBL), earlier known as Metro Shoes, said in a regulatory filing.

Its total revenue from operations was up 59.02 percent at Rs 483.77 crore during the quarter under review against Rs 304.21 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. MBL’s total expenses rose 47.26 percent to Rs 362.59 crore in Q3 FY 2021-22, compared to Rs 246.21 crore in the year-ago period.

MBL CEO Nissan Joseph said it was the best quarterly revenue, EBITDA and PAT in the history of the company. “We also are encouraged by the growth we have witnessed across the multiple Tiers of cities that we operate in and the continued growth of our e-commerce and omnichannel business,” he added.

As of December 31, 2021, MBL operated 629 stores across 140 cities in India. On the current situation, Joseph said: “We closely monitor the potential disruptions of the current COVID situation and are ready to respond to local regulations, which may impact our locations, while keeping the safety of our customers and associates as a priority”.

MBL had raised Rs 295 crore through the initial public offer in December last year. Meanwhile, MBL, in a separate filing, had on Friday informed to enter into a strategic partnership with wellbeing footwear brand FitFlop for the Indian market.

FitFlop was launched in 2007 by Canadian entrepreneur Marcia Kilgore, and its footwear is currently being marketed and sold in over 60 countries globally. “Metro Brands has been selling FitFlop in India for the last four years and with this agreement, Metro Brands has secured exclusive rights for the sale of FitFlop for Indian markets across formats, including exclusive brand stores, multi-brand stores, airport stores, distribution, online marketplaces and webstore in India,” MBL had said in a statement. FitFlop’s footwear is biomechanically engineered, designed to complement body structure, joint alignment and natural movement.

MBL is also the national retail partner for Crocs in India and operates 159 stores.

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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

Goa favourite destination for Indian travellers this year: OYO survey

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

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A majority of Indians would prefer to go local and explore domestic destinations instead of international ones this year with Goa topping the bucket list followed by Manali, according to OYO Travelopedia. OYO Travelopedia, the annual consumer survey by OYO to study travel intent and expectations among its user base across some of its core markets, including India, Indonesia, and Europe, took responses of nearly 3,000 people in December 2021.

As per the survey, 61 percent of Indians would prefer to go local and explore domestic destinations, while 25 percent would like to try international as well as domestic trips in 2022. Despite the excitement to travel, 80 percent of respondents said safety continues to be a key concern amid the pandemic, and the arrival of booster dose would give them the reassurance to travel.

As far as the favourite destination is concerned, Goa topped a third of the respondents’ 2022 bucket lists, it said. “This is followed by Manali, Dubai, Shimla, and Kerala,” hospitality chain OYO said adding other international destinations on Indian travellers’ bucket list include Maldives, Paris, Bali, and Switzerland.

When it comes to travel partners, 37 percent of the respondents said they would like to travel with their spouses or partners. On the other hand, 19 percent said they would “love to take that much-awaited vacation with close friends”, while 16 percent opted for a family vacation, and another 12 percent preferred solo backpacking. “A good 16 percent of respondents said they would like it all!” the survey said. According to OYO Travelopedia, in Indonesia, Bali emerged as the favourite destination for 2022, while in Europe, a majority of respondents opted for Bornholm, the Danish island in the Baltic Sea.

A vast majority of people in the Netherlands said they would love to travel to Austria this year.

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

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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

Mercedes-Benz aims accelerating sales of electric vehicles in India

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

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With plans afoot to locally assemble its all-electric sedan EQS in India, luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz is looking to accelerate sales of electric vehicles in the country, according to a senior company official. Mercedes-Benz India plans to bring to the market the locally assembled EQS electric sedan in the fourth quarter of 2022 to add to the all-electric SUV EQC, which was launched as a fully imported unit in October 2020 priced at Rs 1.07 crore.

“We have taken a step by step approach in developing electric vehicle strategy in India. EQC was first available in six markets in India and gradually expanded. Now we are in 50 cities with the EQC and the next step is to expand the portfolio with a car, which we believe has a stronger volume appeal and producing it locally,” Mercedes-Benz India Managing Director & CEO Martin Schwenk said. Elaborating further on the electrification plans, he said, “When we did the rollout of the brand EQC we actually looked into what safe numbers we can expect. We do the same in the EQS. At the end, you have to think of which car has a volume aspiration that makes sense for local production.” The EQS will be launched in the fourth quarter of 2022 and it will be assembled at the company’s plant at Chakan in Maharashtra. “It is a car with completely different characteristics. It’s a luxury sedan and it has a different customer base and we would also expect a broader base of interest. So the local production makes sense,” Schwenk said.

When asked if the local assembly of the EQS would lead to other future EV models to be assembled in India, he said, “We are planning on the one hand and on the other we are acting based on how the environment is developing. We now see the time is mature to bring locally produced EQS.” Schwenk further said, “What we will do on top in future, these are plans that are to be made based on the market conditions, expectations of the customers that are developing — So we will also look into what are the signs in the market.” Mercedes-Benz has a “strong backbone of products” in its global EV portfolio and the company is in a position to assess which car has the best chance to be launched in India either as locally produced or as an imported vehicle. “This conversation will continuously happen but it will only be decided when we feel we see a clearer view of what the next step should be,” Schwenk said.

When asked with plans to start local assembly of the EQS, has Mercedes-Benz India given up on demands for reduction in customs duties of imported vehicles, specially EVs, he said the company will not change anything in its stand as “very high import duties limit the localisation of the technology and adoption in the market”. “So, whatever would happen to ease the pain on duties would eventually lead us to have other options in terms of growing the market, and higher demand would be created and we’ll also see other options for localisation,” Schwenk said.

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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

India’s COVID vaccination drive completes 1 year, over 156.76 cr doses administered so far

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

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The countrywide vaccination drive against COVID-19 on Sunday completed one year, during which over 156.76 crore of vaccine doses were administered. According to health ministry officials, over 92 percent of the adult population have received at least one dose while over 68 percent have been fully vaccinated. The Centre will issue a postal stamp on Sunday afternoon to mark the completion of one year of the inoculation drive.

The drive was rolled out on January 16, 2021, with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase. Vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2. The next phase of the COVID-19 vaccination commenced from March 1 for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions. Vaccination of all people aged over 45 from April 1. The government then decided to expand the ambit of the inoculation drive by allowing everyone above 18 to be vaccinated from May 1. The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from January 3 this year for adolescents in the age group of 15-18 years.

India started administering the precaution dose of Covid vaccine to healthcare and frontline workers, which include polling personnel deployed in the five poll-bound states, and comorbid people aged 60 and above from January 10 in a bid to stymie the coronavirus spread driven by its Omicron variant. The health ministry has claimed that India’s vaccination programme has been one of the most successful and largest inoculation programmes when compared to many developed western nations with a significantly low population base to vaccinate.

In the vaccination drive, the country has achieved several milestones, which have no precedent in the world, including administering over 100 crore doses in less than nine months, administering 2.51 crore doses in a single day and several times administering one crore doses in a day, it said. Covid vaccine doses administered in the country surpassed the 100-crore mark on October 21 last year. The cumulative vaccine doses administered in the country surpassed the 150-crore mark on January 7.

With the administration of more than 66 lakh vaccine doses in a day, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 156.76 crore, according to provisional reports till 7 am on Sunday. More than 43.19 lakh precaution doses of the vaccine have been administered. Also, 3,38,50,912 first doses have been given to beneficiaries in the 15-18 years age group.

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

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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

Over 60% of Omicron-infected people in Delhi without travel history, says study

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

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More than 60 percent of the people infected with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in the national capital did not have any travel history or contact with international travellers, suggesting that its community transmission had happened quite fast, according to a study by the Delhi government-run Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences. The study, possibly the first in India to provide evidence of community transmission of Omicron, looked into genome sequencing data of positive cases collected from five districts of Delhi — South, Southeast, Southwest, West and East — between November 25 and December 23 last year.

A total of 332 samples were sent to ILBS from different testing laboratories across the five districts and out of these, 264 samples that passed “quality check” were analysed. Out of the 264 samples sequenced, 68.9 percent were found infected with Delta and its sub-lineages while the remaining 82 samples (31.06 percent) were Omicron.

In Delhi, the first two cases of Omicron were detected in the first week of December. The study conducted by the Department of Clinical Virology of the facility observed a steep increase in the daily progression of Omicron cases with its preponderance in the community from 1.8 percent to 54 percent. Among the 82 cases, 46.3 percent belonged to a total of 14 families, and out of these, only four families had documented travel history. Out of the remaining 10 families with no travel history, three families contracted the infection after coming in contact with a non-family member with a travel history.

“Rest of the 20 individuals from seven families contracted the infection possibly due to community transmission,” it said. The study stated that 39.1 percent of the people with Omicron had a history of travel and/or contacts, while 60.9 percent showed community transmission.

“Our findings strongly suggest that Omicron has a much higher rate of asymptomatic carriage resulting in a high prevalence of asymptomatic infection, a likely major factor in the rapid dissemination of the variant locally and globally. Our results suggest a large decrease in protection from the vaccine or natural immunity against COVID-19 infections caused by the Omicron variant,” noted the study. Out of 82 Omicron patients, 72 were fully vaccinated with 56 percent of the individuals having received Covishield, followed by Covaxin (12 percent), Pfizer (11 percent), Moderna (four percent), Sputnik V (four percent) and Johnson and Johnson (one percent).

The study also stressed the urgent need for booster vaccination. According to an official, it was after the findings of this study that Health Minister Satyendar Jain had announced the community transmission of Omicron.

On December 30, Jain had said that Omicron was gradually spreading in the community and the new, fast-spreading variant of concern had been found in 54 percent of the latest samples analysed in the national capital.

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