Business Today 21 August 2022

For regular international travellers, particularly to Europe, IKEA is, quite literally, a household name. The $42-billion Swedish home furnishings giant has been known for its massive stores and trademark furniture style. So it was no surprise that, given India’s booming aspirational economy, the opening of its first store—called the Blue Box because of its look—in Hyderabad in 2018 saw massive crowds eager to see what was on offer. Four years and five stores later, IKEA, which in a sense was testing the Indian waters so far, has decided to amp up its India play. The reasons are not far to seek. With a huge millennial population that is keen to live well, India is a lucrative market for IKEA. Besides, internationally, despite its global presence, the company is still heavily…

200,000 TONNES Amount of SUP consumed by Indians annually; it is 3 per cent of the total plastic produced in the country ₹10,000 CRORE The size of India’s SUP industry that employs 200,000 people directly and 450,000 indirectly 3.5 MILLION TONNES Amount of plastic waste India generates annually, according to the environment ministry SOURCE: CENTRAL POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD, THERMOFORMERS AND ALLIED INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION, MEDIA REPORTS…

*Projections by CMIE Economic Outlook; #UN’s low projection for India’s population is 1,002 million in 2100 Source: United Nations World Population Prospects 2022 report; CMIE Economic Outlook…

THE BANKING SECTOR has posted a strong performance in the first quarter of FY23 on the back of robust growth and improving asset quality. Consider this: ICICI Bank, the country’s second-biggest private sector lender, has registered a 50 per cent year-on-year (Yo Y) rise in profit after tax at ₹6,905 crore as against ₹4,616 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. Similarly, IndusInd Bank and Axis Bank have also posted jumps of 61 per cent and 91 per cent in net profit at ₹1,603.29 crore and ₹4,125 crore in the first quarter, respectively, mainly due to a fall in bad loans.…

Global and domestic institutional investors turned gung-ho on the stock of beaten-down Paytm’s parent One 97 Communications in the June quarter. Latest shareholding data with the BSE show that FIIs upped their stake to 5.45 per cent in the company from 4.42 per cent on March 31. Likewise, MFs raised their holdings to 1.14 per cent from 1.05 per cent in the same period. On July 27, shares of the company traded at ₹713.65, down nearly 67 per cent, against the issue price of ₹2,150. Is there light at the end of the tunnel?…

After scaling new heights in the first half of 2022, prices of key agri-commodities are expected to fall and bring relief to consumers. In fact, the price of palm oil has already halved in the international market. This, coupled with softening prices of crude oil and a normal monsoon in India, is bringing down the cost of packaging and logistics, apart from raising hopes of a better crop yield. As packaged food majors are planning to increase grammage, experts anticipate the return of a volume-led growth cycle in the second half of FY23.…