Category: Business

Accordingly, the company’s net profit rose to Rs 530 crore from Rs 474 crore during the corresponding period of last fiscal….reports Asian LIte News

Titan Company on Wednesday reported a rise of 11.81 per cent in consolidated Q3FY21 net profit.

Accordingly, the company’s net profit rose to Rs 530 crore from Rs 474 crore during the corresponding period of last fiscal.

The sales recovery was led by an impressive festive season off-take in the jewellery division.

Besides, Titan made a provision for Rs 137 crores relating to impairment in the investments in ‘Favre Leuba AG’ (FLAG), a wholly owned subsidiary, consequent to the decision of the company to significantly scale down the operations outside India.

“While the jewellery business grew by 16 per cent (excluding gold bullion sales) over the corresponding quarter of the previous year, the watches and wearables and eyewear divisions also did well with the recovery rate for the quarter being 88 per cent and 93 per cent respectively,” the company said in a statement.

“There was a significant recovery in the diamond studded segment of the jewellery business. While coins sales continue to remain high, wedding jewellery segment also witnessed a very good growth in the quarter.”

According to the statement, the jewellery division recorded an income of Rs 6,249 crores for the quarter (excluding gold bullion sales) as compared to Rs 5,409 crores last year, a growth of 16 per cent.

“The ‘watches and wearables’ business recovered well in the quarter to record an
income of Rs 550 crores against Rs 625 crores in the previous year, a decline of 12 per cent.”

“The eyewear business also improved with revenues declining by 7 per cent in the quarter, recording an income of Rs. 124 crores as against Rs. 133 crores last year.

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The Union Budget 2021-22 has proposed to extend tax holiday for startups by one more year. The move comes as India focuses on ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ mission aimed at making India a more self-reliant nation….reports Asian Lite News

India’s budgetary boost for startups is expected to trigger employment generation, besides ushering in manufacturing and innovation-led growth in FY22.

According to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Secretary Guruprasad Mohapatra, measures such as extension of startup tax holiday and norms to incorporate One Person Companies (OPCs) will give a major boost to the sector and these benefits will percolate to the overall economy.

The Union Budget 2021-22 has proposed to extend tax holiday for startups by one more year. The move comes as India focuses on ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ mission aimed at making India a more self-reliant nation.

In another boost for startups, OPCs will be allowed to grow without any restriction on paid-up capital or turnover and to convert into any other type of company at any time.

Besides, the Budget proposes to allow non-resident Indians (NRIs) to incorporate one-person companies in India.

On further moves to promote startups, Mohapatra pointed out that the Centre is considering implementation of a ‘Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups’ which will provide guarantee up to a specified limit against credit instruments extended by member lending institutions to finance eligible startups.

This fund is likely to be established with a corpus of Rs 2,000 crore and will provide guarantee to banks, FIs, NBFCs and AIFs for collateral free loans to DPIIT recognised startups up to Rs 10 crore.

Furthermore, he said the higher FDI limit for the insurance sector with safeguards will have a positive impact on the economy.

The proposal, Mohapatra said will benefit the end consumer via increased competition leading to more innovative and affordable products.

FY22 Union Budget has proposed to raise the foreign-ownership limit on insurers to 74 per cent from 49 per cent which would allow foreign investors to hold majority stakes in Indian-based insurers for the first time.

The proposal comes with new requirements to ensure sufficient local participation, such as the majority of insurers’ key management personnel and board members to be resident Indians and a requirement that at least half of the board comprises independent directors.

Notably, the Centre plans to specify a percentage of profit to be retained as general reserve within the insurer to prevent excessive capital extraction by foreign parents.

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In a written reply to a question, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur said that there was no recommendation by the GST Council to raise the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on these tobacco products….reports Asian Lite News

The Centre informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday that there was no proposal to raise the excise duty on cigarettes, ‘bidis’ and smokeless tobacco.

In a written reply to a question, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur said that there was no recommendation by the GST Council to raise the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on these tobacco products.

“The GST rates on goods are fixed on the basis of GST Council recommendations. At present, there is no such recommendation. Also, there is no proposal to increase the excise duty on such products,” Thakur said.

Finance Ministry data showed that the overall GST collection from these products, including cess, during FY 2019-20 was Rs 53,540 crore and excise collection Rs 1,610 crore. From July 2017, the central excise duty collected on tobacco has been subsumed in the GST.

Thakur said in his reply that the taxes collected from tobacco, similar to taxes collected from other sources, together form a part of the overall Gross Tax Revenues (GTR) of the government of India and are used to fund various government schemes and programmes.

“In Budget 2020-21, Rs 67,111.8 cr has been allocated to fund the requirements of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. This will be met from both capital and revenue receipts of the government of India,” he said.

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With this, the state has become eligible to mobilise additional financial resources of Rs 2,731 crore through Open Market Borrowings….reports Asian Lite News

Rajasthan has become the 12th state in the country to successfully undertake ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ reform stipulated by the Union Finance Ministry.

With this, the state has become eligible to mobilise additional financial resources of Rs 2,731 crore through Open Market Borrowings. Permission for the same has been issued by the Department of Expenditure.

Rajasthan has now joined 11 other states namely, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh, who have completed this reform.

On completion of ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ system reform, these 12 states have been granted additional borrowing permission of Rs 33,440 crore by the Department of Expenditure.

‘One Nation One Ration Card’ system is a citizen-centric reform. Its implementation ensures availability of ration to beneficiaries under National Food Security Act (NFSA) and other welfare schemes, especially the migrant workers and their families, at any Fair Price Shop (FPS) across the country.

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In separate regulatory filings, Hyundai and Kia, which together form the world’s fifth-biggest carmaker by sales, said they are “not in talks with Apple over developing an autonomous vehicle”….reports Asian Lite News

Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia said on Monday they are not in talks with Apple over an electric car manufacturing project in response to reports of their suspended discussions.

In separate regulatory filings, Hyundai and Kia, which together form the world’s fifth-biggest carmaker by sales, said they are “not in talks with Apple over developing an autonomous vehicle”.

In a statement, Hyundai said that it “has received requests to co-develop autonomous electric vehicle from multiple companies but they were in the early stages and nothing has been finalised”.

On Monday, shares of Hyundai fell 6.2 per cent and Kia shares plunged 15 per cent.

Last month, Hyundai and Kia did not confirm or deny their potential cooperation with Apple over EV car production.

It is unclear whether discussions between Hyundai and Apple might resume or not. But Hyundai is one of only several carmakers that are capable of mass producing a self-driving electric car in their US plants.

In recent years, Apple reportedly has hired engineers and designers with expertise in electric vehicles to develop a self-driving car system, reports Yonhap news agency.

Earlier reports mentioned that Apple was also discussing similar plans with other automobile manufacturers besides Hyundai.

The first Apple electric car is expected to be built on Hyundai’s electric vehicle platform and the initial model could lead to new vehicles built in association with General Motors and European manufacturer PSA.

In a note to investors, TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that Apple’s deep collaboration with current automakers (Hyundai Group, GM and PSA) who have extensive development, production, and qualification experience “will significantly shorten the Apple Car development time and create a time-to-market advantage”.

Kuo believes that the earliest possible date for an Apple car to hit the market is 2025.

The Apple car is rumoured to feature LiDAR technology, which could add a lot of depth to onboard AI functions. The vehicle is expected to use a “C1” chip based on the A12 Bionic processor with in-cabin AI capabilities such as eye-tracking.

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