In this weekend round-up audio, we talk about Mamaearth’s IPO, output of petroleum products, and the launch of Xiaomi 14, 14 Pro in China among other news.
Weekly Business Roundup at 10:00 am on 29th October 2023.
[Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated]
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You are listening to the Expresso Business Update. Here are the top headlines of the week from the world of Indian and International business brought to you by The Indian Express and The Financial Express.
Let’s begin with some news on upcoming IPOs. Honasa Consumer, the parent company of Mamaearth, is scheduled to open its IPO for public issue on October 31, 2023 and it will close on November 2, 2023. The price band for its public issue at Rs 308-324 per equity share of face value Rs 10 each. The IPO comprises a fresh issue of shares aggregating up to Rs 365 crore and an offer-for-sale, with promoters offloading 41,248,162 shares. The lot size of the Honasa IPO is of 46 shares with subsequent bids in multiple lots of 46 equity shares each. The minimum amount of investment required by retail investors is Rs 14,904. The Basis of Allotment is scheduled for November 7.
Meanwhile, Dalal Street continued to bleed owing to global events and investor panic, with Rs 15 trillion of investor wealth being wiped out over the past five trading sessions. The last big fall was in May 2022, when investor wealth plunged by Rs 18.8 trillion in 5 sessions. The benchmark Sensex lost 2,379 points or 3.58% in the past five sessions. Anshul Arzare, MD and CEO of YES Securities, said, quote, “Global events such as the rise in US bond yields to multi-year highs and the ongoing war in the Middle East have shaken investor sentiment. With the small-cap and mid-caps being overbought and overvalued, investors were waiting for a trigger to exit, and events over the past couple of weeks have provided that,” unquote.
In some more market updates, India’s production of petroleum products rose 5.5% on year to 21.5 million tonne in September, according to data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell. During the first half of the current financial year, production increased by 3.8% to 136.3 million tonne from 131.4 million tonne in the first half of FY23. Of the total 21.5 million tonne produced, 21.2 million tonne came from refinery production and the remaining was from fractionator. Among the petroleum, oil, and lubricants produced in the last month, the share of High Speed Diesel was the highest at 41.6%, followed by MS (Motor Spirit) at 16.6% and Naphtha at 6.4%.
Moving on. The sellers under the Walmart Vriddhi Supplier Development Program (Walmart Vriddhi) — a growth and learning platform comprising training and support for MSMEs have recorded a year-on-year increase of over 70 per cent in sales through Flipkart’s Big Billion Days Sale, the company said in a statement. Launched in 2019, Walmart Vriddhi said it has empowered 40,255 MSMEs across the country, providing them with the tools and knowledge needed to thrive in the digital age. The Vriddhi programme offers free training, expert assistance, tools and skills to small businesses to grow and expand their ventures.
On to the MSME sector. The government’s scheme to formalise street vendors and enable them for bank credit PM SVANidhi has 43 per cent women beneficiaries, informed finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman. A recent study by SBI titled PM SVANidhi: Strengthening Country’s Social Fabric Through Empowering Grassroot Market Mavericks highlighting the impact of the scheme launched in 2020, had noted that 43 per cent female share “indicates empowerment of entrepreneurial capabilities of urban female, giving SVANidhi a gender equalizer tag.” The other 57 per cent were male beneficiaries. The scheme has sanctioned 74.78 lakh applications involving Rs 9,815 crore of which 69.91 lakh applications involving Rs 9,152 crore were disbursed as October 25.
The Department of Personnel and Training has modified instructions for booking air tickets on the Government account in respect of Leave Travel Concession. DoPT said it has been receiving a number of representations seeking clarifications on issues relating to the settlement of claims, particularly of those government employees who have not retained the screenshot of the concerned webpage of the authorised travel Agents during the booking of air tickets. Three authorized travel agents – Balmer Lawrie & Company Limited, Ashok Travels & Tours, and IRCTC are to display the details of the flight having the cheapest fare and flights having fare 10% more than the cheapest fare at the time of booking the air tickets by the Government employees for LTC journey.
Lastly, some update for tech lovers. Xiaomi this week launched its latest flagship smartphones, the Xiaomi 14 and 14 Pro, in China. Both devices are powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, Qualcomm’s latest flagship mobile processor. They also run on Xiaomi’s new HyperOS operating system, which is based on Android 14. The Xiaomi 14 and 14 Pro have similar designs, with flat displays, punch-hole cutouts for the front-facing cameras, and triple-lens rear camera systems. The main difference between the two devices is the size of the display, with the Xiaomi 14 featuring a 6.36-inch display and the Xiaomi 14 Pro featuring a 6.73-inch 1440×3200 px 12-bit LTPO OLED panel with 120 Hz refresh rate.
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