Lightspeed Venture Partners forays into Southeast Asian markets

Choosing Singapore as its regional headquarter for the market, this news comes just months after the venture capital firm announced raising over $4 billion across four different global funds to support early and growth stage startups. Lightspeed said that it is deploying capital in the Southeast Asian market, from these global funds. In India, Lightspeed … Read more

Reliance denies plans for Amazon mega-deal

Indian conglomerate Reliance denied a report Thursday that it was planning to sell a $20-billion stake in its retail business to US rival Amazon in a deal that could upend the country’s hugely lucrative e-commerce sector. The report published by Bloomberg on Thursday said that Reliance, owned by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, had offered … Read more

ITC’s Q1 PBT falls 33.8% to Rs 3,435.88 cr, revenues decline 17.2%

A steep decline in cigarettes and hotels revenues due to the nationwide lockdown, imposed to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, dragged diversified conglomerate, ITC’s profit before tax (PBT) 33.81 per cent to Rs 3,435.88 crore in the June quarter. Revenues from operations fell 17.21 per cent to Rs 10,478.46 crore. Profit after tax was down by … Read more

ET Analysis: Is Asian Paints innovating or piling on non-core businesses?

Asian Paints acquired a modular kitchen business in 2013, then a bathroom fittings business in the next year. With Covid striking, the company forayed into hand and surface sanitisers in May and has now announced the launch of floor and toilet cleaners. Is India’s largest decorative paints company innovating through its foray into growth-oriented consumer … Read more

ITC

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Johnson-Hitachi to halve imports, double exports over next 1 year

The move comes amidst the shrill calls for boycotting Chinese goods following violent skirmishes on the Leh border earlier this month that lead to the killing of 20 Indian soldiers. The government sees the air-conditioning industry as a priority sector for generating jobs along with furniture, leather and footwear. Leading air-conditioner maker Johnson Controls-Hitachi India … Read more

Behind the Jio investment rush

That could either have meant that Jio Platforms would raise about $5.7 billion more, or sell another 10% stake. But as it turns out, the company has ended up selling an additional 12.4% stake already to global investors, and has raised $8 billion more. At the rate Jio Platforms is signing up investments—$1.3 billion per … Read more

Near-term outlook for FMCG sector ‘extremely uncertain’, says HUL

While describing the current situation as “much more uncertain than normal”, the FMCG major added that it is confident about its ability to manage the immediate crisis, news agency PTI reported. “The situation remains volatile with the trajectory of the virus undetermined, evolving hot spot geographies, the success of containment measures uncertain, the severity and … Read more