Business Today 3 March 2024

Deepinder Goyal, 41, is one of those early start-up stars who are followed widely by young Indians wanting to take the entrepreneurship plunge. Goyal’s Zomato—together with arch-rival Swiggy—dominates the country’s food delivery landscape. However, there’s a big difference: Zomato is now a listed company and, more importantly, has been making profits for the past three quarters. Not surprisingly, the Zomato stock (the company was listed in July 2021) has been on a strong upward trajectory as investors begin understanding the strategy that Goyal and his top management have been rolling out over the past year or so. Central to the new Zomato growth menu is Blinkit (formerly Grofers), the quick commerce company Goyal bought for a substantial ₹4,447 crore in June 2022. That was a big bet at a time…

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman outside the finance ministry on the Interim Budget day NOTE DATA FOR FY25 IS INTERIM BUDGET, FOR FY24 IS REVISED ESTIMATE SOURCE: UNION BUDGET, CMIE +FOR A RELATED STORY, TURN TO P40 16.9% The jump in allocation for capital expenditure to ₹11.11 lakh crore in the Interim Budget from ₹9.5 lakh crore in the Union Budget 2023-24 ₹16.85 LAKH CRORE Gross fiscal deficit target for FY25 in the Interim Budget, compared to ₹17.35 lakh crore for FY24 359% Surge in budgeted allocation for the development of the semiconductor and display manufacturing ecosystem in India to ₹6,903 crore…

CATCHING UP GIVEN ITS STRONG PERFORMANCE SINCE MARCH 2020, THE BSE PSU INDEX IS CLOSING IN ON THE SENSEX IN TERMS OF RETURNS DELIVERED IN THE PAST 10 YEARS PROFIT SURGE THE COMBINED PROFIT AFTER TAX OF LISTED PSUs HAS SURGED MORE THAN TWO TIMES SINCE FY14 NOTE RECENTLY LISTED PSUs HAVE BEEN CONSIDERED FOR THE PREVIOUS YEARS AS WELL; FIGURES ARE CONSOLIDATED SOURCE ACE EQUITY INCOME MILESTONE IN FY23, THE TOTAL INCOME OF ALL LISTED PSUs CROSSED ₹50 LAKH CRORE FOR THE FIRST TIME NOTE RECENTLY LISTED PSUs HAVE BEEN CONSIDERED FOR THE PREVIOUS YEARS AS WELL; FIGURES ARE CONSOLIDATED SOURCE ACE EQUITY 356% SURGE WITNESSED BY THE BSE PSU INDEX SINCE THE COVID-19 LOWS, COMPARED WITH THE BSE SENSEX’S 168% RISE DURING THE SAME PERIOD NOTE: DATA TILL…

SHRUGGING OFF THE impact of two ongoing wars across the world, Indian businesses now seem to be on a firmer footing and optimistic about the future. This is reflected in the BT-C Fore Business Confidence Survey of 500 chief executive officers (CEOs) and chief financial officers (CFOs) for the October-December 2023 quarter, which touched its highest level since the April-June 2015 quarter. The Business Confidence Index (BCI) rose to 56.5 in the December quarter, which was marginally higher than the 54.1 in the previous quarter. However, before this, the BCI had touched a high of 57.4 in April-June 2015, after which it had been on a gradual decline and plunged to a low of 43.2 in the June 2021 quarter. Recent data suggests that the domestic economy is showing strength…

PAYTM FOUNDER Vijay Shekhar Sharma, a Bollywood buff, finds himself confronting the kind of existential crisis often found in cinema. This is because the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked the group’s Paytm Payments Bank (PPBL) to halt most of its activities—like taking more deposits, conducting credit transactions, and allowing customers to top up their accounts—after February 29 due to persistent noncompliance. One97 Communications (OCL), the parent company of Paytm, owns 49% equity in PPBL, with Sharma, the majority owner, holding the rest. RBI allows payments banks, under its differentiated licensing scheme, to accept current and savings deposits and offer payments products, but no lending is permitted. Besides, both entities, OCL and PPBL, share close business linkages. The parent company’s Paytm app offers various payments instruments from Paytm Payments…

ONE OF THE miracle stories in the aftermath of the devastating Covid-19 pandemic has been the Indian box office. It has demonstrated not only remarkable resilience in the face of other technological advancements, such as the rise of streaming services, but post-pandemic, it has come back with a vengeance. According to a report by India’s largest multiplex chain, PVR INOX, the Indian box office has experienced a notable growth of 12%, reaching $1.5 billion in 2023 from $1.3 billion in 2019. This stands in stark contrast to substantial declines of 17% and 20%, respectively, in markets like China and the US during the same period. No wonder then that Ajay Bijli, the Managing Director of PVR INOX, is in a jubilant mood. COMING TO 2024, INDUSTRY INSIDERS BELIEVE THE YEAR…