Business News at 10:00 am on 23rd April, 2024

Let’s begin. Reliance Retail Ventures, the holding company of Reliance Retail, on Monday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 2,698 crore for Q4FY24, which was up 11.7% versus the year-ago period. Sequentially, however, net profit was down 14.8% as Q3 was a festive quarter and therefore strong from a topline and bottomline perspective, analysts tracking the company said. In a post-results earnings call, Dinesh Taluja, chief financial officer, Reliance Retail, said Q4 performance was driven by consumer electronics, grocery and fashion and lifestyle. Three fashion and lifestyle brands, Taluja said, had crossed Rs 2,000 crore in annual sales. JioMart saw its seller base jump 94% year-on-year in Q4. And consumer brands, led by Campa and Independence brands, grew 3x versus last year in Q4.
Meanwhile, Strong interest from foreign institutional investors and high net-worth individuals, along with a pick-up in retail participation on the final day, helped Vodafone Idea’s Rs 18,000 crore follow-on public offer succeed on the final day of the subscription on Monday. The FPO received 80.12 billion bids, which is 6.36 times higher than the number of shares on offer, according to data on the exchanges. This is based on the lower end of the price band of Rs 10-11 per share set by the company. At the upper end of the price band, the issue was subscribed 7 times, according to the merchant bankers. Of the total bids received for the Vodafone Idea’s FPO, around 65% came from FIIs, according to data from the exchanges.
Moving on. After the recent groundbreaking of its Rs 91,000-crore semiconductor fabrication plant, Tata group, along with its technology partner Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation, has started work on producing the high-end chip technology of 14 nanometer. Sources said that the company has provided the same as part of its business plan to the government. The 14 nm are much more advanced chips, and will be in addition to the 28 nm nodes which Tata Electronics and PSMC plan to manufacture at their fabrication unit, which is coming up at Dholera, Gujarat. The 14 nm chip technology can be fitted in very small components, making them more energy efficient, powerful and faster in performance.
Over to some more industry news. Jio Platforms, the parent company of telecom operator Reliance Jio, on Monday reported a 2.5% quarter-on-quarter growth in its net profit to Rs 5,583 crore for the January-March quarter. Consolidated revenue from operations during the period rose 4.2% QoQ to Rs 28,871 crore on the back of subscriber additions, growth in data and voice consumption. In the absence of tariff hikes and unlimited 5G services, average revenue per user (Arpu) per month was flat at Rs 181.7, sequentially. The company said better subscriber mix in the Arpu growth was partially offset by increasing mix of promotional 5G traffic, offered unlimited to subscribers and not yet charged separately.
Over to technology. The Competition Commission of India on Monday kick-started a process to assess the impact of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence on the goods and services markets. The regulator has invited proposals for a market study, which will help it shape a strategy for fostering innovation and fair competition. The study on “artificial intelligence and competition in India” will focus on all competition-related aspects within the AI ecosystems, including generative AI, and the potential impact of AI on the efficiency and innovation in key industries. According to the proposal, the study will gather data from various stakeholders such as technology firms, start-ups, independent developers, AI development platforms, innovators, investors, and industry associations.
In other news, A group of 21 organisations and a few individuals have written to the ministry of corporate affairs asking it to extend the deadline to provide inputs on the draft Digital Competition Bill, 2024. In a letter, the stakeholders, including Broadband India Forum, CUTS International, CCAOI, Internet Freedom Foundation, have raised a series of arguments in favour of extending the deadline by five months to October 15. On April 10, the last date to submit the comments on the proposed legislation was extended by a month to May 15. For instance, the group said that the draft bill will also likely impact non-digital domains and thus could consequently impact jobs and income generation opportunities created across different sectors.
Lastly, let’s look at the stocks in focus today. These include Reliance Industries, Adani Group, Patel Engineering, Indian Overseas Bank, PSP Projects, Hero MotoCorp, and Tata Consumers. Indian Overseas Bank has announced plans to raise capital, aiming to collect up to Rs 1,000 crore via debt and Rs 5,000 crore through equity. On the other hand, According to Reuters, SEBI uncovered violations related to shareholding disclosures and breach of investment limits in offshore funds associated with the Adani Group. Eight offshore funds are set to settle the charges through penalties without admitting guilt.