In the weekly roundup, we talk about all the major happenings of the week gone by. From Amul’s sales plan for the US to latest boost to domestic aviation sector, we have got it all covered in this podcast.
Here’s the Weekly Business Roundup at 10:00 am on 31st March, 2024.
[Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated]
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Let’s begin – After announcing the sale of locally sourced ‘fresh milk’ in the United States, the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) – which sells dairy products under ‘Amul’ brand – is aiming to launch similar business in a few more countries. For the first time, GCMMF has tied up with the Michigan Milk Producers Association, a 108-year-old cooperative, to sell ‘fresh milk’ in the east coast and midwest markets of the US under the Amul brand. The initial supplies of Amul milk will be in New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Washington, Dallas and Texas among others. The milk collection and processing will be done by MMPA, while GCMMF will carry out the marketing and branding of Amul fresh milk.
Up next – The IMD has predicted intense rain and thunderstorm activity over Arunachal, Assam and Meghalaya today and a fresh spell of intense rainfall/thunderstorm likely from March 30. Meanwhile, fairly widespread rainfall with isolated thunderstorms & lightning is very likely over Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim from March 27 to 30. A fresh western disturbance is likely to hit the himalayan region, which will bring widespread light rainfall and snowfall over Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit, Baltistan, Muzaffarabad, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand till March 29. Meanwhile, isolated hailstorms are likely over Himachal on March 28 and 29. Isolated heavy rainfall/snowfall also likely in the upper areas of northeastern states.
Moving on – After continuous growth in startup funding in the previous three quarters of 2023, the Indian startup ecosystem saw a slowdown in the first quarter of 2024. According to Tracxn’s Geo Quarterly India Tech Report – Q1 2024 (till March 15), $1.6 billion was invested in the first quarter across 222 rounds, down by 27 per cent from $2.2 billion in 291 rounds in Q4 2023. In Q3 last year, $1.9 billion was invested in 269 rounds and $1.6 billion was invested across 360 rounds in Q2. The Q1 drop was 51 per cent from $3.2 billion invested in startups in Q1 2023 while funding rounds also declined by 48 per cent from 432 in Q1 last year.
In another development – Giving a major boost to the domestic aviation sector, Thiruvananthapuram International Airport has announced its summer schedule, boasting a notable 17% increase in weekly flight operations compared to the winter schedule. The bolstered schedule will be effected from March 31 to October 24, 2024, which would reflect the airport’s commitment to enhancing air travel connectivity. With the rise in weekly Air Traffic Movements, the airport is poised to accommodate heightened travel demands. It is noteworthy that the new destinations will include Hanimaadhoo in the Maldives, alongside additional services to Bengaluru, Delhi, and Hyderabad in the domestic sector, and Abu Dhabi, Dammam, Kuwait, and Kuala Lumpur in international destinations, as mentioned in the airport’s announcement.
Meanwhile – State-run natural gas company GAIL (India) Ltd plans to commission its first green hydrogen project in central India in April, three company sources said. The 10-megawatt proton exchange membrane electrolyser for the green-hydrogen producing unit at the Vijaipur complex in Madhya Pradesh state has been imported from Canada, they added. The unit is expected to produce about 4.3 metric tons of hydrogen per day, with a purity of about 99.999% by volume, and would use renewable power. India aims to reach 5 million tons of annual green hydrogen production capacity by 2030.
In other news – Giving credence to the notion of India’s economic growth being increasingly jobless, a new report from the International Labour Organisation noted that while the gross value added grew at an annual average rate of 6.7% between 2012 and 2019, the employment growth “was nearly negligible, at 0.01%.” This was even worse than in the period between 2000 and 2012 when the GVA grew 6.2% and employment, 1.6%. Worse, youth unemployment in India increased nearly threefold, from 5.7% in 2000 to 17.5% in 2019, but declined since to 12.1% in 2022, the report released by ILO and Institute of Human Development said, while adding that almost 83% of the total unemployed workforce in the country is youth.
Lastly – Gautam Adani’s family has infused Rs 6,661 crore in Ambuja Cements in order to increase their stake in the company by 3.6 per cent to attain 66.7 per cent holding. This follows the infusion of Rs 5,000 crore infused by the promoter of the company for exercising the warrants issuance approved by the board of the Company in October 2022. Per the company, this infusion will play a role in helping to increase the group’s cement capacity to 140 million tonnes per annum by 2028. Ambuja Cements said in a regulatory filing that this strategic move underscores unwavering commitment to have robust capital management philosophy for the portfolio companies and the latest investment testifies the commitment by Adani family to boost future prospects and potential of cement vertical.
