Business Today 15 October 2023

The success of India’s ambitious Chandrayaan-3 mission to the moon—where the Vikram lander touched down near the lunar South Pole, making India the first country in the world to achieve this feat—has made the nation proud. The Chandrayaan mission’s success has also rubbed off positively on around 400 private sector firms that have, over the years, formed part of the vendor ecosystem for the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), the agency that forms the core of India’s space programmes. So much so, that legacy firms and start-ups are now busy readying plans for forays in the space sector across a range of activities. Large conglomerates like the House of Tata, Larsen & Toubro, the Godrej group and Walchandnagar Industries are in various stages of their forays in the space sector.…

ASSESSING THE STATE OF GOVERNANCE IN STARTUPS Highlighting the prevalent issues of governance within startups, Kalpesh Jain, MD and CFO, Multiples Equity emphasized that while it’s not a systemic problem, the industry lacks a significant focus on governance processes and systems. Many startups prioritize growth over establishing robust governance practices, which leads to gaps and potential risks. He suggests that stakeholders, including shareholders and the board, should emphasize the importance of governance and implement effective processes and systems. KEY AREAS FOR STARTUPS TO FOCUS Commenting on this, Puneet Garkhel, Partner and Leader, Forensic Services, at PwC India added that operational resilience, governance, and financial metrics should be key areas of focus for startups. He emphasized the need for a holistic view of the business, considering valuations and factors such as…

SOURCE: REDSEER, MEDIA REPORTS 40 PER CENT Contribution of the festive season to the annual sales of companies in sectors like apparel, white goods, electronics and packaged goods 20-25 PER CENT Expected year-on-year rise in India Inc.’s ad and consumer promotion spending in H2 2023 due to festivals ₹ 90,000 CRORE Likely gross merchandise value of the e-commerce sector during the festive season this year compared to ₹76,000 crore in 2022…

MARKET MATRIX FIIs ARE THE LARGEST INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS, ALTHOUGH PROMOTERS STILL CONTROL OVER HALF OF THE MARKET SHAREHOLDING PATTERN OF NSE-LISTED COMPANIES; DATA AS OF FY23 SOURCE NSE, HSBC 245 per cent THE RETURNS DELIVERED BY NIFTY IN THE PAST 10 YEARS UNTIL SEPTEMBER 15, BEATING MAJOR GLOBAL MARKETS SUCH AS CHINA’S SHANGHAI COMPOSITE (UP 39 PER CENT) AND THE UK’S FTSE 100 (UP 17 PER CENT) ₹6.40 lakh crore THE CUMULATIVE CONSOLIDATED PROFIT OF THE NIFTY50 COMPANIES IN FY23, UP NEARLY 190 PER CENT AGAINST ₹2.2 LAKH CRORE IN FY13 22.8 times THE PRICE-TO-EARNINGS RATIO OF THE NIFTY 50 INDEX ON SEPTEMBER 15, 2023, STILL LOWER THAN ITS HISTORICAL 10-YEAR AVERAGE OF 24.45 TIMES; THIS PROVIDES FURTHER HEADROOM FOR NEW HIGHS LOCAL SUPPORT DOMESTIC INVESTORS ARE NOW GIVING FOREIGN…

As the Cofounder of a prominent Web3 company in India, can you share your perspective on the current regulatory landscape for the web3/crypto industry in the country? To be candid, India’s regulatory climate has not been the most conducive to the growth of Web3 start ups. Especially when viewed in comparison with, for instance, European, Middle Eastern, or other Asian countries that are developing bespoke regulations tailored to the Web3 ecosystem. This space is complex and unique. Therefore, regulations must be tailor made to it, and retrofitting traditional regulatory tools to the Web3 ecosystem is not the way out. I've often quoted the 1 % TDS as an example demonstrating policy makers' noble intentions gone wrong. While the objective of the levy was to monitor transactions in this space, it…

▶ TRADE TALKS BETWEEN India and Canada are expected to remain stuck for the foreseeable future amidst rising diplomatic tensions between the two countries over the Khalistan issue. But, ongoing investments and trade between the two countries may remain unaffected. “It seems unlikely that the trade talks will resume anytime soon. It will be taken up only when both sides are more at ease,” says a source. Tensions between the two countries escalated after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that there were “credible allegations” of the Indian government being behind the killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) chief and a designated terrorist in India. While India has strongly denied the allegation, a full-blown diplomatic war has flared up between the two nations.…