Business News at 05:30 pm on 28th May, 2024

Let’s begin with the major update, state-run Life Insurance Corporation of India, popularly known as LIC, is reportedly planning to foray into health insurance space. The insurance behemoth has already done some “internal ground work” in this regard, according to a report published in ‘The Times of India’. LIC is exploring potential acquisition opportunities, the report said quoting LIC chairman Siddharta Mohanty. In February this year, a parliamentary panel suggested composite licensing for insurance companies. A composite licence will allow insurers to operate both life and non-life insurance products, including health, term and vehicle insurance plans. Composite licences are expected to be allowed by the new government and “we have done some internal groundwork”, Mohanty was quoted as saying in the report. Moving on, Mixed reality (MR) ad campaign platform Flam has raised $4.5 million in pre-Series A funding round from Turbostart, AI-focused Twin Ventures, Alphatron Capital, along with angel investors and several family offices, the company announced on Tuesday. Existing investors in the company including SF-based Inventus Capital Partners, SVQ, and 9Unicorns also participated. Flam said it will invest capital to expand into North America, Europe, and the MENA region. The platform is used by brands including Britannia, Schneider Electric, Mondelez International, and more, to make their digital, print, TV and out of home (OOH) advertising immersive for consumers using artificial intelligence and to have more impactful marketing. Flam CEO said content has been evolving over decades and now it is transitioning into MR experiences. In other news, VA TECH WABAG (WABAG), a pure play water technology Indian Multinational Group, on Tuesday announced that it has secured an order worth around Rs 850 Million from Nama Water Services in the Sultanate of Oman towards Operation & Maintenance (O&M) of the Al Duqm Desalination Plant for a period of 5 years. WABAG constructed this 8 MLD Desalination Plant over 10 years back and was responsible for the O&M of the Plant until 2018. This long term O&M order which has been won against international competition entails O&M of the Plant, the sea water intake and outfall systems, the company said in a regulatory filing. The water produced from this Plant will be used for domestic consumption in Duqm and Haima areas. Meanwhile, Indian private equity and venture capital (PE-VC) investment softened to approximately $39 billion in 2023, mirroring the global trend, said a report by Bain & Company. Traditional sectors including manufacturing, healthcare, energy have shown resilience and gained share, with around 75 per cent of investments in 2023, compared to 60 per cent in 2022, it added. The manufacturing sector in India emerged as an attractive bet for investors with investments of around $2 billion growing by 20 per cent CAGR over the last two years (2021–23). This was driven by supply chain diversification, government incentives, and numerous scale assets coming to market, said Bain & Company’s annual ‘India Private Equity Report 2024’, in collaboration with Indian Venture and Alternate Capital Association (IVCA). Up next, SpiceJet has strongly refuted the claims made by KAL Airways and Kalanithi Maran regarding seeking damages of Rs 1323 crore. These assertions are not only legally untenable but also a regurgitation of previously rejected claims by the Arbitral Tribunal and then the Delhi High Court, SpiceJet said in a statement. KAL Airways and Kalanithi Maran initially sought damages of more than Rs 1300 crore during the arbitration proceedings. This claim was thoroughly examined and subsequently rejected by a panel of three retired Supreme Court judges. Following this, KAL Airways and Kalanithi Maran appealed to the Single-Judge Bench of the Delhi High Court, seeking the same amount in damages, which was again rejected by the court. Moving ahead, The National Capital Regional Transport Corporation announced that its 2.21 megawatt peak (MWp) in-house solar power generation along the RRTS corridor is saving over 2,300 tons of carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) annually. According to a statement, the NCRTC has made significant progress in adopting renewable energy, particularly solar power, along India’s first Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor. By putting up solar panels on rooftops, the NCRTC has turned its stations, depots, and receiving substations into hubs of clean and sustainable energy. NCRTC in its statement highlighted that the solar power plants are now operational at the Guldhar and Sahibabad Namo Bharat train stations, each with a peak power capacity of 729 kilowatts (kWp). Lastly, let’s take a look how the stocks performed today. The benchmark equity indices opened Tuesday’s trading session in the positive territory. The NSE Nifty 50 opens up by 44.70 points or 0.19% at 22,977.15, while the BSE Sensex jumps 194.90 points or 0.26% to 75,585.40 in the opening trade. The broader indices opened in mixed territory. Bank Nifty index opens higher by 109.10 points or 0.22% to settle at 49,390.90. Divi’s Lab, SBI Life, HDFC Life, Grasim Industries, and Hero MotoCorp were the top gainers in the Nifty 50. While Adani Ports, Power Grid Corp, Coal India, BPCL, and ONGC were the major losers in the Nifty 50 on May 28.