Business News

Even as Indians’ love for buying homes refuses to die down, institutions seem to have a contra view of the real estate sector. In the Jan-March quarter, institutions poured $1 billion into the sector — which is a 40% drop as compared to the same quarter last year, says a report by Colliers.

Bidding to reduce their reliance on the exorbitant tankers — a necessary step after the exhaustion of half the city’s groundwater-fed borewells — many residential societies have begun innovating water-saving techniques, with varying degrees of success. However, for the several businesses and industries littering the metropolitan town, it seems like dark days are looming.

The era of ‘sensible shoes’ might be behind us, as sports shoes are picking up pace. As per brokerage reports, sports and athleisure sales can grow anywhere between 13-15% compounded annual growth rate for the next 8-11 years — as dressing styles evolve. Sports and athleisure (S&A) footwear growth is structural, says Goldman Sachs. “Demand for the athleisure footwear segment is being driven by the rising acceptance for casual clothing at workplaces, a trend that started post-Covid,” says the Goldman Sachs report.

Cities like Amritsar, Varanasi, Madurai, Puri, Guruvayur, etc. are leveraging their unique culinary traditions and local fashion expertise to give tourists a taste of town beyond spirituality. India’s retail boom has reached its most key religious centres too. There is a Spykar store in Somnath, while Shirdi’s tourists can now shop for FabIndia kurtas. You can spot a Blackberrys outlet in Bodh Gaya, and a Zudio in Varanasi.

K-pop and K-dramas have ushered in a new trend of K-beauty regimens, which have picked up across India too over the last decade. But it’s not the only Asian beauty trend that’s making inroads in this fast-growing market. Japanese beauty companies are also making a beeline for the Indian market to cash in on the ‘natural ingredient’ trend.

Aviation watchdog DGCA has deferred the implementation of the revised flight duty norms for pilots that were to be effective from June 1, according to two civil aviation ministry officials. One of the officials on Tuesday said the revised norms have been deferred for some time to have wider consultations.

The demand for office spaces during the first quarter of 2024 has been strong, registering total leasing of 13.6 million square feet across the top six cities. It is a remarkable 35 per cent increase compared to the same period last year, according to professional services and investment management company Colliers.

With this, Maruti Suzuki will own an equity stake of over 6.44 per cent in the startup, the automaker informed stock exchanges on Saturday.

Inequality in India has skyrocketed since early 2000s, with the income and wealth share of top 1 per cent population rising to 22.6 per cent and 40.1 per cent, respectively, in 2022-23, according to a working paper. The paper titled 'Income and Wealth Inequality in India, 1922-2023: The Rise of the Billionaire Raj' said between 2014-15 and 2022-23, the rise of top-end inequality has been particularly pronounced in terms of wealth concentration.

Indian Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) industry on Wednesday pitched for the entities to get access to direct bank lending and classification as equities. At present, such vehicles can issue bonds or borrow from non-bank lenders or mutual funds, but are prohibited to borrow from banks, said the Indian REITs Association (IRA), a newly formed umbrella body for the five-year-old sector, which comprises four listed entities.

More people signed up for Prime Video in India than any other country outside of the US in recent years, Head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios Mike Hopkins has said. India is one of the key geographies for Amazon, Hopkins said on Tuesday at a star-studded Prime Video Presents event here that saw the announcement of the streamer's 2024 slate of 69 projects including shows, movies, documentaries and returning titles across languages and regions.

India's major cities are experiencing a housing boom in 2024. Sales have gone up by 20% in the first quarter so far (January 1 to March 15) with nearly 147,000 units sold across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Pune, according to a report by NoBroker, a property search portal.According to the report, this positive trend is likely to have been led by a combination of factors. The Indian economy is on a strong growth trajectory, and the government's stable economic policies are boosting buyer confidence in the real estate market. People feel secure about investing in property, despite ongoing increases in property prices, according to the report.

India has probably seen its youngest millionaire in Ekagrah Rohan Murty - the four-month-old grandson of Infosys founder N.R. Narayana Murthy. The 77-year-old Infosys founder gifted shares to his grandson in an off-market transaction. With this, Narayana Murthy's holding in the IT bellwether fell to 0.36 per cent, or more than 1.51 crore shares.

Indians no longer have to fly abroad to buy Valentinos, Balenciaga, or shop at Tiffany & Co. — as these luxury brands have been establishing their presence across the country for the last few years. And, there are more to come. Brioni, Roberto Cavalli, and Dunhill are expected to enter India in 2024. Indians’ love for global luxury brands has been growing as much as their love for India, according to a report by CBRE.

New Delhi, Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger has said a joint venture with Reliance Industries after merging its India business would...

The outlay for the Tea Development and Promotion Scheme has been increased by 82 per cent to Rs 528.97 crore for the next two financial years, the government said on Thursday. The scheme is aimed at supporting the development of improved varieties for increasing the production and quality of tea.

Mobile phone exports from India will grow more than five-fold to USD 50-60 billion in the coming time from about USD 11 billion last year, Union IT and Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said. Speaking at a fintech event on Wednesday, the minister said employment in the electronics manufacturing sector will increase from about 10 lakh at present to 25 lakh in the coming days.

Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) will produce fuel for formula one cars, which is being produced at Odisha's Paradip refinery, said SM Vaidya, Chairman, IOCL, as he announced the partnership with Two Wheels Motor Racing as the "Official Fuel Partner" for the prestigious FIM (Federation Internationale De Motocyclisme) Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) over a span of three years, from 2024 to 2026.

Fair trade regulator Competition Commission can now impose penalties on companies based on their global turnover for violations, with the government notifying the amended competition norms. Till now, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has been deciding penalties on the basis of a company's turnover from a particular business segment where violations have been found.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a prosecution complaint against 299 accused persons and entities (including 76 Chinese-controlled entities) and two other entities controlled by other foreign nationals in an ongoing money laundering case, the agency said on Wednesday. The prosecution complaint filed before a Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Nagaland's Dimapur named 299 accused persons and 78 entities.

The domestic air passenger traffic is expected to surpass the pre-Covid levels of 141.2 million and reach 150-155 million this fiscal, registering an estimated growth of 8-13 per cent, credit ratings agency Icra said on Wednesday. Icra also projected a significant reduction in industry's net loss for the next two fiscals and was also of the view that supply-chain challenges and engine failure issues may remain near-term headwinds.

B9 Beverages Ltd, Bira 91's parent company, on Wednesday said it is raising $25 million in new funding from Tiger Pacific Capital, an Asia-focused fund headquartered in New York and Hong Kong.