Business Today 15 May 2022

It’s a time of transformation and reinvention at India’s largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki. And in more ways than one. The storied car company is in the midst of drawing up a strategy for the future which will hinge on decarbonisation and filling gaps in its product portfolio. Alongside, it has also witnessed an important change in top management where 58-year-old Hisashi Takeuchi has been tasked with executing this game plan as the new MD and CEO. Of course, his predecessor Kenichi Ayukawa, who—together with the company’s iconic Chairman R.C. Bhargava—helmed the company for nine years, will also be around for a while to ensure a smooth transition. There are some key factors driving what is clearly Maruti’s big move into the future. While the company enjoyed what some would call…

Source: World Bank, Drought Early Warning System (DEWS), media reports 16% India’s land area facing drought-like conditions as on April 6, 2022, according to data available with DEWS 1,367 CUBIC METRES Expected water availability on per capita basis by 2031. It was at 1,545 cubic metres in 2011 and 1,816 cubic metres in 2001 600 MILLION People in India facing high to extreme water crisis, according to a 2018 NITI Aayog report…

THE TOP SEVEN METROPOLITAN CITIES WITNESSED 43 PER CENT GROWTH IN NEW RESIDENTIAL LAUNCHES New supply (units) NCR: National Capital Region, MMR: Mumbai Metropolitan Regon APPETITE FOR NEW HOME OWNERSHIP SEEMS TO HAVE GATHERED PACE AMID EXPECTATION OF IMPENDING PRICE RISES 2-5% Increase in average residential property prices across the top seven metropolitan cities in Q1 2022 compared with Q1 2021. Hyderabad recorded the highest annual jump of 5 per cent DEMAND FOR COMMERCIAL PROPERTY ALSO STRENGTHENED DURING Q1 2022, WITH OFFICE SPACE LEASES RECORDING A RISE OF 25% YOY ACROSS CITIES New leasing (office space in million sq. ft) AMID THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC, CO-WORKING AND MANAGED OFFICE SPACES WITNESSED A SUBSTANTIAL RISE IN THE SHARE OF OFFICE SPACE ABSORPTION RENTALS IN THE COMMERCIAL SPACE WITNESSED AN INCREASE OR STAYED…

₹5.88 LAKH CRORE TOTAL AMOUNT OT FUNDRAISING THROUGH PRIVATE PLACEMENT OF CORPORATE BONDS BY LISTED COMPANIES FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2021-22, A SIX-YEAR LOW RIDING ON RAPIDO Food delivery decacorn Swiggy led a $180-million funding into bike-taxi start-up Rapido, which values the latter at over $800 million. Besides bolstering their existing partnership, where Rapdio’s riders fulfil Swiggy orders, the deal helps Swiggy strengthen its ‘neighbourhood convenience economy’ play while allowing both companies to effectively utilise their delivery fleets. —BINU PAUL TWITTERATI RUSH WHEN ELON MUSK acquired a little over 9 per cent in Twitter, it caught the fancy of several Indian retail investors who invest in US-listed companies. Platforms that allow Indians to invest overseas reported a significant jump in trading volume with some reporting up to a nine-fold rise…

THERE IS NO DEARTH of uncertainty on the fate of the Kishore Biyani-promoted Future Group. Caught in a mountain of debt, its flagship, Future Retail as also Future Lifestyle Fashions, among other group companies, face an uncertain future as the next stop appears to be the insolvency courts. A deal struck in August 2020 had Reliance Retail agreeing to buy out the wholesale, retail and logistics businesses of Future Group in a ₹24,713-crore ($3.4-billion) deal. The beleaguered seller could not have asked for anything better since it allowed him to emerge from a deep hole. However, the hole only got deeper when, on April 22, as much as 69 per cent of the flagship Future Retail’s secured creditors rejected the deal. The acquisition was already in the midst of a…

IN THE CURRENT CALENDAR YEAR, there have been six instances of the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex losing more than 1,000 points in a single trading session. Interestingly, there have been an equal number of sessions when it gained over 1,000 points in a single day. And, a single-day fall or gain of high three digits has become the norm. Ask any market participant, and the one word on everyone’s mind is ‘volatility’. But is it that Indian markets have suddenly become overly volatile? Or are they simply reacting to the concerns that continue to plague the domestic- and also the other stock markets the world over? Currently, the key concerns include a mix of macroeconomic and geopolitical factors. The Russia-Ukraine war was a surprise, to say the least, as most…