Business Today 4 September 2022

For those tracking the diversified, Kolkata-headquartered ITC Limited over the past few decades, the transformation of what was primarily a cigarettes company has been nothing short of dramatic. Ever since its iconic former chairman, the Late Y.C. Deveshwar, laid the foundation of the new ITC many years ago by resolving to reduce its dependence on tobacco and move into the FMCG space, the company—now under the stewardship of Sanjiv Puri—has been in the midst of an aggressive strategic plan that has already seen it emerge as India’s third-largest FMCG player, after Adani Wilmar and Hindustan Unilever. Puri, who takes a keen interest in the FMCG play, makes his vision clear when he tells us that his ambition is to make ITC the No. 1 FMCG company in India. Puri has…

PHOTOGRAPHIK SOURCE: CMIE A SIP OF INDIAN TEA THE ONGOING CRISIS IN SRI LANKA IS EXPECTED TO KEEP GLOBAL TEA PRICES ELEVATED AND DRIVE UP DEMAND FOR INDIAN TEA 25 PER CENT The rise in tea prices in India in the past one year due to a price surge in the global market 6.5 PER CENT Likely growth in India’s tea exports in 2022 over the previous year 270 MILLION KG India’s tea exports in 2018, the highest ever; the figure was nearly 206 million kg in 2021 1,343 MILLION KG India’s tea production in 2021-22; the figure was 1,258 million kg in 2020-21…

1.65 billion LIKELY POPULATION OF INDIA IN 2047 (AS PER UN PROJECTIONS), COMPARED TO AROUND 1.40 BILLION IN 2021 3rd INDIA WILL BE THE THIRD-LARGEST IMPORTER BY 2050, BEHIND CHINA AND THE US $1 trillion INDIA’S EXPORTS BY 2030, ACCORDING TO PIYUSH GOYAL, UNION MINISTER FOR COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY THE ECONOMY JUGGERNAUT MANY ECONOMISTS BELIEVE IN INDIA’S STELLAR GROWTH RATE *Projection by IMF; **projection by IHS Markit; ***projection by Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran; ****projection by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal A BRIGHT FUTURE PER CAPITA INCOME, WHICH IS A ROUGH INDICATOR OF THE PROSPERITY OF A COUNTRY, SHOWS BETTER DAYS AHEAD FOR INDIANS Per capita net national income at current prices converted with the then year-end dollar exchange rate. *Projection by Bloomberg Intelligence for 2030; **projection by Chief Economic…

UBER, TIGER EXIT ZOMATO INVESTMENT FIRM TIGER Global Management and ride-hailing firm Uber have sold stakes in Indian food delivery firm Zomato as the oneyear lock-in period ended on July 23. While Tiger made a partial exit to reduce its holding from 5.11 per cent to 2.77 per cent, Uber sold its entire 7.78 per cent stake in Zomato. Tiger Global Management had first invested in Zomato in September 2020 at a valuation of $3.4 billion and followed up later in February 2021 at a valuation of $5.4 billion. Uber had picked up the stake when Zomato acquired its local food business Uber Eats in an all-stock deal in 2020. —BINU PAUL THE COMING 5G WAVE Even before 5G has been introduced, the April-June quarter saw one 5G-enabled phone in…

Start-up Champion INDIA IS HOME to 75,000 start-ups in the 75th year of Independence and this is only the beginning, Union Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted. Over 750,000 jobs have been created by start-ups. As per data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the latest 10,000 start-ups were recognised in 156 days, compared to 808 days for the initial 10,000. India, the third largest start-up ecosystem in the world, raised a record $35 billion and 43 start-ups turned into unicorns in 2021, according to PwC data. —BINU PAUL TELECOM WARRIOR During a recent interaction with employees of BSNL, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Communications, was heard warning them to start delivering results within two years or face the axe. In a leaked five-minute clip, the minister was heard saying that their…

GET READY TO pay more for your dream home. Following a repo rate hike of 50 basis points (bps) by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) at its recent monetary policy meeting, banks have started passing on the burden to home loan borrowers. Lenders such as ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank have already increased interest rates on their home loans, while others are expected to follow suit. “The RBI has hiked the repo rate for the third time in a row, as the government tries to control inflationary pressures. In the past three months, the repo rate has increased by 140 bps to 5.4 per cent and is [now] hovering above the pre-pandemic levels,” says Ramesh Nair, CEO, India and Managing Director (Market Development), Asia, of Colliers.…