Innholdsfortegnelse for 12-Dec-21 i Business Today

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented his five-point agenda—which he called Panchamrit—at the COP26 summit in Glasgow in early November, it was a turning point in India’s climate change agenda. As part of the commitments, Modi announced that India would take its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030, and by that year India would also meet 50 per cent of its energy requirements from renewable energy. India’s commitment to increasing its non-fossil energy capacity ties in perfectly with the ambitions of the country’s two richest men—Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani and Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani—both of whom are now putting in place mega plans in the renewables space. Together, their investments will eventually total $30 billion, or over ₹2.2 lakh crore, indicating the kind of big money…

INDIA HAS AN ADVERTISER universe of around 6,000. In a market as heterogeneous as ours, with multiple genres and languages, even the best media planners struggle to get bang for their buck. That is where cricket helps—it is language neutral, region neutral, everything neutral. Everybody (almost) in India loves cricket. Naturally, it is the most expensive advertising platform. A 10-second spot during the recent India-Pakistan T20 World Cup match came at a tag of ₹25 lakh. After all, nothing gives you cricket’s kind of reach over an unbelievably short period of time, good reason for broadcasters owning the rights to cricket (Star & Disney India and Sony Pictures Sports Network) to drive a hard bargain with advertisers. Not much changes in this paradigm, except when India plays badly on the…

He is a busy man. As Chairperson of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), M.R. Kumar, 61, is preparing the insurance giant for an IPO. The public listing will make LIC one of the most valued companies in terms of market capitalisation. And Kumar, who took charge in March 2019, will leave office by March 2022, the deadline for taking LIC public. In an interaction with Business Today’s Sourav Majumdar and Anand Adhikari, Kumar talks about how the insurance giant is gearing up for the IPO, the changes expected after the listing, and the way ahead. Edited excerpts: Q: Under your leadership, LIC will create history in its 65-year journey by listing on the stock exchanges. What will be your investment pitch? A: We have to build a growth story.…

THE HEADLINE OF this story could well have been “The Great Disruptors”. But even that would probably not have fully conveyed the extent of the tectonic shift that two canny industrialists have seeded within months of each other. They have not partnered. They probably won’t compete directly either. Yet, the impact of their moves could serve to spark long-term change in an area of national and global interest—renewable energy as a source of electric power, with attendant benefits for our planet’s environmental health. The two gentlemen in question—Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, two of India’s richest men, both ambitious to the point of leaving you incredulous—can sniff out a business opportunity years ahead of the curve. Co-relate the two aspects, and it would appear that renewable energy’s time has truly…

STRENGTH TO STRENGTH The online gaming industry is poised for gigantic growth in India Source: Statista, Nazara DRHP, INC24 PROFESSIONAL CLASH Royale player Prashant Pandey started gaming in 2015 while he was studying to become an engineer in Bengaluru. Five minutes of casual gaming turned into 15 hours a day and, in 2018, Pandey went on to represent India at the Clash Royale League e-sports competition in the US. He even started earning a six-figure salary as a player. This year, Pandey co-founded Qlan, a social network for India’s online gaming community, where players can look for jobs, broadcast their skills, share content, etc. “India’s online gaming industry is not what it used to be. It has gone beyond leisure and entertainment. It’s a full-fledged career opportunity in the making now.…

FLYING AGAIN AIRPORTS AND FLIGHTS ARE HUMMING AS PASSENGERS RETURN TO THE SKIES WITH GUSTO 15.4 MILLION Total passenger traffic in September 2021, a YoY rise of 82.7% 63.7 MILLION 22 August 2021 Total passenger traffic in the April-September period 161.9 PER CENT The YoY rise in cumulative passenger traffic in the April-September period of 2021…

Source: NSE “IF YOU DON’T FIND a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.” Record numbers of retail, or individual, investors in India are entering the stock markets and capitalising on the year-and-a-half-long bull run—some even while sleeping. What else would explain the investor behaviour in the market currently, especially in the cash (or spot) market? According to data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE)—the country’s largest by market share in the cash and derivatives market—net investment by the retail segment was ₹51,200 crore in 2020 in the cash market. That has already risen to ₹86,000 crore this year till September. This is much higher than the institutional participation in the same period. As per NSE, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs)—traditionally considered the prime drivers…

What better than walking up to your favourite beverage—prepared just the way you like—when you step out of bed in the morning? Supporting up to 10 user profiles that remember all parameters such as the amount of ground coffee, water temperature, and the amount and preparation of milk, you can have your preferred drink, make that two, with the touch of a button. Miele’s countertop coffee machine grinds and brews, has a bean container and a drawer for ground coffee for making a second type of coffee without changing the beans. Miele says the brew chamber of the machine expands when water flows in, for the ground coffee to thoroughly mix with the water and unfold the coffee aroma. From cappuccinos to espressos, Japanese tea to dark tea and lattes, it…

No matter what we breed, we still are made of greed, this is my kingdom come, this is my kingdom come…” croons Ajay Bijli, Chairman and Managing Director of PVR, looking every bit the rockstar in a round-neck T-shirt and black denim jacket, as he jams on stage with his band Random Order. The venue is Home, a private club by PVR at Delhi’s Ambience Mall, which has one of the largest sound stages in the city and hosts live performances throughout the week. On this Saturday afternoon, Bijli is practising with his band for a gig he has the next day. Over the next couple of hours, I hear him sing Memories by Maroon 5, Run to you by Bryan Adams, All I need is a miracle by Mike…

353.2 MILLION The Indian OTT audience universe till August 2021, translating into a penetration of 25.3% 96 MILLION Active paid OTT subscriptions in India across 40.07 million paying members STEADY RISE IN SHARE OF ADVERTISING REVENUE FOR DIGITAL AND OTT *Based on primary consumer research; may vary by up to 10% from actual numbers; P: projected; Source: Bain & Co., Statista, RBSA Advisors, Ormax Media, KPMG M&E report…

In one of the biggest policy rollbacks since coming to power, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on November 19 that the Centre would repeal the three contentious farm laws introduced in September 2020, bowing to pressure from farmers ahead of Assembly elections in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. The laws were aimed to remove intermediaries and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country. Their repeal will jeopardise the Centre’s attempt to link small farmers with the food processing units and may impact India’s prospects as a potential exporter of processed foods. Even the production-linked incentive for the food processing sector, which aimed to grow farmers’ income, reduce agri-waste and expand India’s packaged F&B manufacturing base and exports, may now get impacted. In his address to the nation on…

Eight months into FY22, and it has already set a record for the amount raised by companies through initial public offerings (IPOs). Thirty-four companies have collected more than ₹90,000 crore from the mainboard through IPOs since April 1 as against ₹31,511 crore in FY21. Data from ACE Equity showed that a majority of firms delivered robust returns to investors post listing. Average listing gains for FY22 stood at 33 per cent until November 18, with only nine firms listing at a discount. However, eight issues delivered more than 50 per cent gains on listing. Sigachi Industries listed 251 per cent higher at ₹575 on November 15 against the issue price of ₹163. On November 18, 23 firms traded higher than their issue price. With a gain of over 312 per…

Source: Satcom Industry Association IT IS POSSIBLE THAT TWO YEARS from now, you will have another dish perched on your balcony or roof—just like the now-ubiquitous DTH dish. This new dish would provide broadband connectivity not just within your house, but also outside of it through the on-ground infrastructure that will be likely connected to satellites hovering 500 km above the Earth’s surface. Welcome to the future of internet and connectivity. Satellite communication systems have been around for some time, but a lot has changed recently. In the past three years, eight policies directly and indirectly related to satellite communications (or satcom) have been announced. Two policies—Draft Spacecom Policy 2020 and National Digital Communications Policy (NDCP) 2018—are shaping the sector in a big way. “The government is enabling an environment…

“THERE ARE 28 meal occasions in a week. You cannot expect one brand to be fulfilling every customer’s needs on all occasions.” With that thought, Ankit Nagori found the key ingredient in the recipe for his next venture. Curefit, the health and fitness startup Nagori co-founded in 2016 with Mukesh Bansal, hived off its cloud kitchen vertical, Eat-Fit, in October last year. Nagori swapped his stake in Curefit for majority ownership of EatFit. And EatFit became the first and the largest brand in Curefoods, the parent entity he created in 2020 to roll up popular food brands. Today, Cure-foods owns and operates 10 brands from 90 kitchens across 10 cities. “Food is very diverse. Within every category, there could be different flavours and price points. We feel if we have…

Take a sip and breathe in the aroma. Wait. Now take an-other sip to determine the flavour, body, acidity, sweet-ness and the overall balance. Look for fruity, nutty, spicy and floral notes. Sounds like wine tasting, doesn’t it? We are, however, talking about another global favourite beverage with the same amount of complexity—coffee. There is so much more to the beverage than opening a sachet of freeze-dried instant coffee and adding it to water or milk. Welcome to the world of artisanal or specialty coffee, where the beverage’s journey, from cherries to the final cup, is monitored at each level to provide an exceptional brew. From the way the pulp is washed to the roasting and grinding of beans to the way you brew your coffee, all of it impacts…

Himanshu Wardhan has a keen eye for design and décor, something that’s evident from the studio he has designed for himself in Gurugram. The Man-aging Director of Etsy India has used a lot of white and blue, with ample scope for natural light, in his design. “I was inspired by the land-scape of Santorini, where I had enjoyed a memorable vaca-tion a few years ago. The decor is minimal, and this clutter-free space helps me clear my mind,” says Wardhan, who worked in technology and strategy consulting for most of his career, and also was an entrepreneur for a brief period. The furniture, executed by a local contractor, has been designed by Wardhan as well. There is a garden, too, where he grows vegetables. Wardhan was also involved in the…