Business News at 05:30 pm on 9th October 2023

Let’s begin with the market. Shares of billionaire Gautam Adani’s Adani Ports And Economic Zone fell as much as 3.6% on Monday, as investors grew wary over possible escalation of a conflict in Israel, where the company owns a major port. Adani operates the Haifa Port in northern Israel along with a local company after it completed its purchase for 4 billion shekels ($1.03 billion) in January. Haifa is one of the main seaports in Israel, where about 99% of all goods move in and out of the country by sea. Investor worries come as Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Saturday launched the largest military assault on Israel in decades, killing hundreds of Israelis.

Meanwhile, State-owned firm NLC India Ltd today said that it has emerged as the successful bidder for supply of power to Rajasthan at a tariff of Rs 2.64 per unit. NLCIL is a navratna company under the coal ministry. NLCIL in a filing to BSE said, quote, “NLCIL has been successful bidder for the total capacity of 810 MW for tariff of Rs 2.64 per unit,” unquote. A letter of intent for the same was issued by RRVUNL. The company had participated in a tender floated by Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited (RRVUNL) for procurement of power from 810 MW Grid Connected Solar photovoltaic power projects to be set up in 2,000 MW Pugal Solar Park in Bikaner, Rajasthan.

Over to infrastructure. The Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government is working on a war footing to implement the Safe City project in the state and has earmarked approximately 22,000 cameras for surveillance in various cities. In line with the vision of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the Home Department has pinpointed 21,968 cameras for integration into the initial phase of the Safe City project, spanning 17 municipal corporations and Gautam Buddh Nagar. Out of these, as many as 15,732 cameras have already been seamlessly integrated into the control room infrastructure. Furthermore, 4,150 hotspots have been identified for camera installation, with the deployment set to commence shortly. In addition to this, 1,861 patrolling hotspots have been designated, which are being monitored by 656 Police Response Vehicles.

Next up, industry. One97 Communications Limited that owns the brand Paytm on Monday announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Paytm Payments Services Limited, has become the first in the industry to enable merchants with Alternate ID based Guest Checkout solution across networks. This, it said, will allow customers to checkout as a guest without saving sensitive card details on an e-commerce/merchant website for a transaction. The Guest Checkout solution is made to cut down the long process of signing up for an account on the merchant website by sharing additional information and making purchases faster. To enable ALT ID transactions, Paytm has integrated with card networks to generate alternate ID for guest checkout transactions.

Moving on. Mahindra Last Mile Mobility, a subsidiary of Mahindra & Mahindra has got the first tranche of investment of Rs 300 crore from the International Finance Corporation. It was in March 2023, IFC had committed to invest Rs 600 Crore, at a valuation of up to Rs 6,020 crore, in a new company housing the last mile mobility division of Mahindra Group. Mahindra Last Mile Mobility was incorporated as a subsidiary and it commenced commercial operations in September 2023, pursuant to closing of Asset Transfer Agreement and Business Transfer Agreements with Mahindra & Mahindra. This partnership with IFC reflects the shared values and ambitions both entities have demonstrated in their commitment to sustainable, inclusive, and clean mobility solutions.

Over to the tech world. Spotify is planning to give a bump up to its music platform. The music streaming company is reportedly preparing to launch a new Superpremium, according to code discovered in the app by Chris Messina. The new tier is expected to offer a number of features beyond the existing premium plan, including 24-bit lossless audio quality, AI playlist generation tools, advanced mixing tools and more. The Superpremium tier is expected to be priced at $19.99 per month, which is $9 more than the current premium plan. Spotify has not yet officially announced the new tier, but it is expected to launch in the coming weeks. Messina on X posted the features of this rumoured Superpremium tier.

Lastly, let’s see how the share market performed today. Benchmark indices ended lower with Nifty around 19,500 amid selling across the sectors. At close, the Sensex was down 483.24 points or 0.73 percent at 65,512.39, and the Nifty was down 141.20 points or 0.72 percent at 19,512.30. About 970 shares advanced, 2699 shares declined, and 129 shares unchanged. Biggest losers on the Nifty included Adani Ports, Hero MotoCorp, BPCL, HDFC Life and M&M, while gainers were HCL Technologies, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, TCS, Tata Consumer and HUL are among the top gainers.