Bullets

After placing a ban on rice export, the Indian government brought additional stipulations to further control the domestic price. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry set basmati rice’s minimum export price at $1,200 per tonne. 

Last week, 20% of export duty was imposed on parboiled rice after banning the export of non-basmati rice.

This move was taken to curb the wrongful categorisation & export of non-basmati rice as aromatic basmati variety.

Also, read how and why the Indian government placed an export ban on rice and the consequences here.

Indian startup is amid a challenging funding environment and then we have Zepto, co-founded by Stanford dropouts at age 20, who secured $200 million at a $1.4 billion valuation.

Participating investors included StepStone and Goodwater. Zepto plans to go public in two to three years and targets profitability in 15 months with assistance from Y Combinator.

Its rise in the grocery delivery world is impressive, leaving us to wonder: will it disrupt or be disrupted?

Are you guys aware that you can invest in unlisted companies? Check this article for further details.

Following the disclosure that Vijay Shekhar Sharma had purchased a 10.3% share from Antfin, discussions are now underway regarding Antfin's intention to sell a further 3.6% holding in a block deal.

The sale's floor price is set at ₹880 per share, 2.7% less from Paytm's most recent closing price of ₹904.45.

To find out what is going on with Paytm, go here.
Also, if you want a deeper dive into the topic, make sure to read this article.
 

American multinational fast food franchise Subway has agreed to sell to Roark Capital, Dunkin’ owner. Valued at $9.55 billion (around ₹789.59 crores), Subway has been looking for a buyer via an auction since February.

Roark formed an earn-out agreement, a contractual provision where the owner selling would receive compensation for specific goals. Without the earn-out, the deal’s value gets reduced to $8.95 billion.

With this deal, Roark Capital will become one of the world’s largest restaurant operators.

While we watch the Subway-Roark deal for you, check out what’s happening with another giant in the food chain industry here.

India's agricultural sector faces mounting difficulties as essential commodities experience problems. Following restrictions on onion and rice exports, sugar is now added to the list due to a predicted 3.3% drop in production in the upcoming season. 

Inadequate rainfall has led to decreased cane yields, prompting India to consider a ban on sugar exports from October. 

For an in-depth analysis of the concerns surrounding India's Agriculture sector, read more here.
 

A minority stake of 0.99% is likely to be acquired by the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) in Reliance Retail. An investment of ₹8,278 crore would take place for the stakes on a fully diluted basis.

Additionally, Reliance Retail plans to raise a fund of ₹3,048 crore through an Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT).

By the way, Chandrayaan 3 crossed boundaries by landing on the moon's South Pole. But did you know there is one big foreign brand that is unable to cross India's coast? Check out who it is and why here. ⬅️

Cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX is set to let go of around 70 employees, which makes up about 12% of their total team.

This move aims to guide the company towards making a profit, as stated by the founders, Sumit Gupta and Neeraj Khandelwal, on Tuesday.

Gupta and Khandelwal pointed fingers at bigger economic circumstances, an extended period of downward trends in the cryptocurrency market, and taxes on local exchanges for affecting their business's performance in terms of trade and earnings.

Remember, startups have their dirty secrets too! Curious? Discover some by clicking here.
 

Jio Financial Services Ltd (JIOFIN, the third largest NBFC in India by market cap hit the lower circuit hattrick today at a price of ₹227.25 and ₹224.65 on BSE and NSE. All hope is not lost for the NBFC newcomer, though. LIC has come in and acquired a 6.66% stake in JIOFIN on Tuesday.

To read about LIC's Investments: A Fatal Hypocrisy, check this. 

Always the saviour of troubled or slow businesses, LIC could change its tagline to "Bure market ke saath bhi, bure market ke baad bhi!"
 

Titan Jewellery’s subsidiary Caratlane Trading Pvt. Ltd., received a FEMA violation notice from the Enforcement Directorate in March 2022. The violation allegedly occurred between 2011 and 2014, as per ED.

Caratlane approached a former Chief Justice of India who backed their claim of no violation. They then challenged the show-cause notice alleging it broke FDI rules relating to Tiger Global’s investment between 2011-2014.

The case comes under the adjudicating authority and is still pending.

Caratlane, being a private company, might be complicating matters for authorities. Learn about how more disclosure of information from private companies will help authorities and you here.

Investment group Prosus, known for backing Indian startups like Byju's and Swiggy, is making changes. 

They're separating their EdTech and food delivery businesses. Gautam Thakar, ex-CEO of OLX Autos, will lead EdTech, and Roger Rabalais, currently CFO and COO, will head the food delivery part.

Last month, Prosus made headlines due to its disagreements with Byju's. 

Prosus is the largest institutional investor in the EdTech company. If you're interested, you can read more about what's happening with Byju's.
 

Jio Financial Services Limited, Reliance Group's demerged financial arm, cannot catch a break. Since its listing on August 21, 2023, the shares of the financial entity hit 5% lower circuit on its first day on the bourses. The closing prices on NSE and BSE for 21st August were ₹248.90 and ₹251.75, respectively.

Since then, the prices have fallen another 5% today due to block deals by institutional investors selling JFSL as it does not constitute their Index Funds.

Read about more of the Ambani Family's woes here.

In a transaction worth ₹435 crore, Japanese investment firm SoftBank has decided to dilute around 2% of its stake in the kids and baby accessory company, FirstCry. Ranjan Pai's MEMG Family Office, Harsh Mariwala'a Sharrp Ventures, and Hemendra Kothari's DSP Family Office will take over the sold stake.

The stake sale is presented as less of an attempt by SoftBank to exit FirstCry, and more of the company gaining experienced fund houses joining its fold.

Speaking of Indian startups with shift in stakeholding, read about the implications of Paytm's buyback decision here.

X, formerly Twitter, has been the talk of the town ever since Elon Musk acquired it. Now, users have reported a major glitch, which is deleting the posts and pictures before 2014.

Several popular tweets before December 2014 have been affected due to this mysterious glitch, as per the technology news website “The Verge”.

Users believe this glitch to be part of the company’s cost-cutting measures. Musk & CEO Linda Yaccarino have not responded on the matter.

Well, this news surely doesn’t come as a surprise; after all, Twitter is suffering from “Elon Musk” side effect. Read here to get the complete story.

After its demerger from Reliance Industries, Jio Financial Services Ltd. (JFSL) announced to list on stock exchanges on August 21, 2023. JFS shares were already credited in investors’ demat accounts last week.

As per this listing, every investor of Reliance Industries would receive one share of JFSL for every share held.

Experts on the matter believe JFSL would debut at a premium. With this, Reliance Industries is also set to dominate the financial sector.

Check out the article on how Reliance Group once had to face the eagle-eye investigative skills of RAW here.

Another 495 workers from the Edtech's mentorship and product specialist roles were let go. From July 1 to July 20, the staff were put on a performance improvement plan (PIP).

The post-sale division has not experienced any recent layoffs. In fact, 200 additional specialists have been hired by Byju's over the last two months, as stated by one spokesperson.

Make sure to read this article to learn everything there is to know about Byjus.
 

The Falguni Nayar-led company Nykaa recorded a small 8% gain in net profit year over year for the April to June quarter, reaching ₹5.4 crore, whereas the revenue increased by 24% to ₹1,422 crore.

Their shares have decreased by around 11% since the beginning of the week. 

While the beauty and personal care market appears to be Nykaa's best bet, the fashion industry continues to be a pain in the company's side as it tries to catch up.

Click here to read about a business with significant room for expansion in the meantime.
 

Bata India is set to enter a strategic partnership with German sportswear manufacturer Adidas. The partnership will lead to improving Adidas' presence in India.

Owing to this news, the Netherlands-based shoe manufacturer Bata's shares prices went up by 5.3%! Also, yes, Bata is NOT an Indian company!

The association will be executed in the form of wholesale deals between Adidas and Bata or the shop-in-shop format.

Speaking of brands that appear to be of some nation but belong to another... Click here to read about Old Monk, the Indian alcohol brand that appears international!

After India’s consumer price index inflation rose to 7.4% in July, the July-September quarter is likely to expect a “well-above 6%” inflation rate. This comes from RBI's August bulletin article, titled “State of the Economy”.

The rapid surge in commodity prices, especially tomatoes, had economists believing CPI inflation to be 6.6% on average.

A hike in prices of cereal, fruits, meat & fish, pulses, sugar, and spices would be a major factor for headline inflation.

Tomato prices played a major role in July's 15-month high of 7.4% CPI. Read here to know how the tomato price hike affected India's agriculture sector.

ISRO's Chandryaan-3 is about to begin its lunar mission's last and possibly most sensitive orbit-based phase. Chandrayaan's lander, named Vikram and the rover it carries, Pragyaan, will separate from the launcher module and begin its descent to the moon's pole.

The ₹625 crore lunar mission is competing with Russia's Luna-25 and running on a similar schedule and is scheduled to land on the moon around 21-23 August.

Multiple Indian companies have participated in making the mission the success that it is today. Click here to read about the stocks that could benefit from the success of the Chandrayaan mission.

Vedanta, led by Anil Agarwal, has been given approval by the Hyderabad NCLT to acquire Meenakshi Energy through insolvency. 

With Vizag Minerals, they outbid Jindal Power and a group of Prudent Asset Reconstruction Companies. 

With Vedanta's ₹1,440 crore offer, 31% of the debt will be recovered and given to lenders, trade creditors, and employees. After receiving an initial payment of ₹312 crore, lenders will receive ₹1,143 crore over a period of 5-7 years.

Meanwhile, if you have invested or are planning to invest in Paytm, make sure to check this article.