Business

"I have a $100 million offer for Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg to take this fight to the Middle East, to promote it, to put it on for charity," Paul announced during an episode of his podcast.

"(I) can guarantee $100 million to charity. We wanna get involved and help make this a reality," he added.

During his podcast, Paul couldn't help but take shots at UFC president Dana White, who has allegedly been in contact with both Musk and Zuckerberg about a possible match, reports Dexetro.

"It's the biggest sporting event ever, and that's why I think there should be people who want this sport to be better and not just greedy people like Dana White to get involved, because it's gonna benefit the UFC," the YouTuber said.

"I think if Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are true about their word, doing it for charity and doing it for a bigger cause… I don't think he should partner with someone who's a piece of sh*t like Dana White," he added.

Recently, some pictures of Musk engaged in "an impromptu training session" have surfaced on the Internet.

Lex Fridman, Host of the Lex Fridman Podcast, Research Scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), on Twitter, shared pictures of training with Musk.

"I did an impromptu training session with @elonmusk for a few hours yesterday. I'm extremely impressed with his strength, power, and skill, on the feet and on the ground. It was epic. It's really inspiring to see Elon and Mark doing martial arts, but I think the world is served far better if they train martial arts but not fight in the cage," Fridman tweeted.

These images come just days after a video of Mark Zuckerberg's Jiu-Jitsu training went viral on social media.

--IANS

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Themed “Make in India with Japan for the Globe,” the Summit featured prominent speakers who opined that there were several industry verticals such as defence, aerospace, manufacturing, information technology and chemical industry where both countries could collaborate to further trade and investments.

In his keynote address, Tsutomu Nakane, Consul General of Japan in Bengaluru, said: “Through this summit we aim to explore the abundant range of opportunities in both nations, enabling businesses to flourish and grow. As of October 2022, 228 companies have set up 537 offices all over Karnataka and the number of Japanese companies expanding into Karnataka is also steadily increasing.

“Cooperation between Japan and Karnataka portrays that business is not only important for the development of bilateral relations but is also of great importance to the world. By investing in or setting up industry in India, Japanese companies can expand their exports to Middle East countries and Africa through India.

“Japan-India business cooperation will bring synergy to both economies by combining Japanese manufacturing know-how with India’s information technology capabilities and its abundant talented workforce. To promote such cooperation, it is necessary for Japan to recognize available business opportunities and for India to further improve amenities and infrastructure in and around industrial parks.”

In her keynote address, Geetanjali Kirloskar, Chairperson and MD, Kirloskar Systems Pvt. Ltd and Chairperson, Toyota Tsusho Insurance Broker India Pvt. Ltd, Bengaluru, said, “India has a relatively stable economy, which represents huge growth potential for Japanese companies to set up a very strong, competitive manufacturing supply chain.

“There is a huge potential for the two countries to develop lighthouse projects in industries which present potential for collaboration such as the chemical industry, which is a multi-billion-dollar opportunity. The defence and aero industry which is looking to indigenize sub-assemblies with newer and more autonomous manufacturing processes is another big opportunity.

“Also, Japanese startups are now looking at Bengaluru very seriously. However, there are two challenges, namely the need to develop a quality vendor in India and the need for quality skilling. We still have a lot of hard work to do in improving the skill quality of the workforce.”

Delivering the Inaugural address, Dr L Ravindran, President BCIC said: “Both Japan and India, characterized by their stability and resilience as economies, need to leverage their economic cooperation to foster broader regional growth. The bond between the two countries serves as a remarkable model, rooted in shared values, mutual respect, and a vision for a prosperous future, not only for their nations but for the global community.

“Through joint research and development initiatives, India and Japan can unlock vast potential and propel their economies to unprecedented levels of success. With Japan’s commitment to invest five trillion dollars in India as announced by their former Prime Minister in 2022 there is a huge potential for small and medium enterprises in Japan to collaborate and conduct business with similar enterprises in India.

“It is essential to prioritize specific sectors such as infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, global mobility, information technology and healthcare as they play a pivotal role in shaping their collective future and achieving investment targets.

“BCIC has set up an office in Japan with a three-pronged strategy to promote Karnataka as an investment destination, take a delegation of industrialists from Karnataka to Japan and host a delegation of industrialists from Japan to Karnataka.” he added.

Mukesh Agarwal, Partner, PwC India, said: “Global economic trends position India uniquely for new investments which is essentially driven by India’s enhanced ease of doing business, attractive industrial policies and incentives, production-based incentives to boost manufacturing ecosystem, favourable cost of doing business and India’s highly talented workforce.

“India is witnessing continued interest from Japanese companies and there is a huge potential for collaboration which is much larger than what we see today. Japanese companies can leverage the opportunities emerging in sunrise sectors which are enabling the growth of new investments in India.”

“Setting the context of the summit, A Murali, Advisor, BCIC and Vice President, Toyota Tsusho India Private Limited, said: “The diplomatic relationship between Government of India and Government of Japan is of very high order. This summit offers a unique platform for business leaders, policy makers and academicians to come together and discuss various aspects of economic ties between the two countries and share best business practices. The summit aims to explore new areas of collaboration between the two nations and facilitate exchange of thoughts and people to people contact.”

Thematic sessions at the summit included panel discussions on Unlocking the Secrets of Japanese Manufacturing Excellence, Revolutionizing Global Mobility and Electronics Manufacturing: Collaborative Strategies for India and Japan, Building World-Class Infrastructure for Make in India: A Collaborative Effort between India and Japan and Unleashing India's Talent Pool in IT, Healthcare, and Technology for Japan. The day-long summit was attended by over 200 delegates representing government, Industry, and academia.

--IANS

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In an email to employees seen by TechCrunch, Flipkart Group chief executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy said the “much-awaited compensation will be made today”.

“We have exciting times ahead, and as we continue to grow across businesses, I look forward to your continued dedication and determination to bring about the future that we envision and scale new heights together,” he added.

Moreover, a Flipkart spokesperson confirmed that the payout had been made, the report said.

In December last year, the two firms completed a full ownership separation in a deal that allowed Singapore shareholders to purchase shares directly in PhonePe's India entity.

The PhonePe Group was acquired by the Flipkart Group in 2016.

Besides separating from Flipkart, PhonePe moved its headquarters to India. In January, PhonePe raised $350 million in funding from General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm, at a pre-money valuation of $12 billion, while in February PhonePe raised another $100 million in primary capital from Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global, and TVS Capital Funds.

--IANS

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Kia began production at the 350,000-unit-a-year Indian plant in July 2019, starting with the Seltos subcompact SUV, the company said in a statement.

Other models assembled in India include the five-seat Sonet SUV, the Carens multipurpose vehicle and the Carnival van, reports Yonhap news agency.

The maker of K5 sedans and Sorento SUVs sold 136,108 vehicles in India in the January-June period, up 12 percent from 121,823 units a year earlier.

It aims to achieve a market share of 10 percent in the Indian passenger vehicle market in coming years, up from the current 6.7 percent at the end of June, the statement said.

Kia has eight plants in Korea -- two in Gwangmyeong, three in Hwaseong and three in Gwangju -- and seven overseas ones -- three in China and one each in the United States, Slovakia, Mexico and India. Their overall annual capacity is 3.84 million units.

--IANS

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The decline in WPI was due to fall in prices of mineral oils, food products, basic metals, crude petroleum & natural gas and textiles.

This is the third month in a row when wholesale inflation has stayed in the deflationary zone.

At -4.12 per cent, the WPI inflation has hit its lowest level since October 2015, when it had fallen to -4.76 per cent.

In April 2023, it stood at (-)0.92 per cent.

In March 2023, WPI inflation had fallen to a 29-month low of 1.34 per cent owing to steep fall in indexes of primary articles, manufactured products, fuel and power as well as food.

Meanwhile, according to the commerce ministry data, the all-commodities index of the WPI fell by 0.4 per cent month-on-month in June, indicating weakening of price momentum.

--IANS

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Nifty outperformed the EM benchmark by 10.6ppts. China (-7.8 per cent) and Hong Kong (-7.3 per cent) were the worst performing markets followed by Thailand (-6.6 per cent).

The premium of the Nifty 12-month forward PE is getting close to the extended zone as only 14 per cent of the time the Nifty has been more expensive than the current level, the report said.

The Nifty's consensus FY24/FY25 EPS saw a downgrade of 1.0 per cent/1.4 per cent while most EMs saw a bigger 4 per cent-9 per cent cut in EPS.

India is still expected to deliver the highest two-year EPS growth among the top 19 equity markets in the world, CLSA said.

The Nifty's stellar performance took its 12-month forward PE from 17.4x at the start of the quarter to 18.6x, which implies a 17.7 per cent premium to its average. Only about 17 per cent of the trading days since 2005, the Nifty has been more expensive than the current PE, the report said.

Taiwan (91st percentile), the US (90th percentile) and Korea (89th percentile) are at more extended valuations than India considering their respective historical trading ranges. This outperformance has taken India's valuation premium to the EM as well as Asia ex-Japan benchmarks to +1 std. of the long-term average. India's valuation premium versus China is also well above the past 10 and 15 year averages, the report said.

Mid and small-cap outperformed the Nifty & growth was the best performing style. Realty, auto and telecom were the top performing sectors, the report said.

Small and midcap indices outperformed the Nifty 10ppts and 8.5ppts. About 60 per cent of the Nifty’s constituents outperformed the Nifty led by Tata Motors, Adani Enterprise and HDFC Life. Infosys and UPL were the only Nifty stocks to deliver a negative return, the report said.

Growth proved to be the best performing style during the quarter as the top-quintile growth stocks beat the Nifty by 9.3ppts followed by a 2.3ppt beat by top-quintile momentum names. The top-quintile value stocks underperformed by 0.3ppts.

(Sanjeev Sharma can be reached atSanjeev.s@ians.in)

--IANS

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The central bank said it took this decision at the monetary board meeting conducted on Wednesday, reports Xinhua news agency.

The board arrived at this decision following a careful analysis of the current and expected developments, including the faster-than-envisaged disinflation process and benign inflation expectations in the domestic economy, with the aim of enabling the economy to reach its potential and stabilizing inflation at mid-single-digit levels in the medium term, while easing pressures in the financial markets, the statement said.

The board expects that with this reduction of policy interest rates by 200 basis points, and the reduction of policy interest rates by 250 basis points in early June 2023, along with the significant reduction of risk premia on government securities witnessed recently, the market interest rates, particularly lending rates, will adjust downwards adequately and swiftly, said the central bank.

Therefore, the banking and financial sector is urged to pass on the benefits of this significant easing of monetary policy by the central bank to individuals and businesses, thereby supporting economic activity to rebound in the period.

Sri Lanka increased its interest rates significantly in 2022 to deal with rising inflation.

--IANS

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The investment amount however rose 7 per cent compared to the immediate previous quarter which saw $5.7 billion being invested across 181 deals, shows data from Venture Intelligence.

“Clearly, Big Ticket Private Equity investors have far more confidence in investing behind basic sectors like Healthcare, Infrastructure, Manufacturing and Financial Services at this point," noted Arun Natarajan, Founder, Venture Intelligence.

"From the perspective of Internet & Mobile companies, the new investments in Unicorns like Infra.Market and Lenskart and also the significant build of 'Dry Powder' (un-invested capital) with India-dedicated VC firms, provides scope for optimism that the funding winter will begin to thaw in the second half of the year.," he added.

The $2 billion investment by the Singapore government owned Temasek Holdings in Manipal Hospitals accounted for 20 per cent of the overall PE-VC investment pie in Q2'23.

The acquisition of Mumbai-based education loans provider HDFC Credila by Baring Asia and ChrysCapital for $1.1 billion and Canadian investment firm Brookfield’s $1 billion investment in energy platform Avaada Ventures were the other top PE-VC deals of Q2'23.

These were followed by a $630 million investment in Cube Highways Trust and a $450 million investment in travel and logistics SaaS company IBS Software.

The PE-VC investment figures for the first 6 months of 2023 - at $15.5 billion (across 363 deals) - was 50% lower compared to the same period in 2022 (which saw $31 billion being invested across 800 deals).

The Q2’23 witnessed 19 mega deals ($100 M+rounds) worth $8 billion, compared to 37 such investments (worth $10.3 billion) in Q2’22 and 17 such deals (worth $3.6 billion) in the immediate previous quarter.

--IANS

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They suggested that the government provide essential training and support in branding, marketing, and financial knowledge to help housewives embark on their entrepreneurial journeys.

They also expressed how challenging it has become for women to sustain their households amid increasing inflation.

Atishi drew parallels with the Business Blasters programme, which instilled confidence in Delhigovernment school children, and expressed her commitment to “instill similar confidence in thousands of women inDelhi, transforming their lives by fostering financial independence".

Atishi also acknowledged the effectiveness of the research conducted by experts and the field experience of Anganwadi workers, stating that they would play a crucial role in designing programmes and policies related to women'sentrepreneurship.

--IANSatk/arm

He gave these directions during a meeting called recently to discuss the issue of increasing the availability of export credit to the MSME exporters. The meeting was attended by top officials of 21 banks including the State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Union Bank of India, Bank of India and Central Bank of India among others.

A presentation on ‘Export Credit and Export Credit Insurance for Banks (ECIB)’ was made by Export Credit Guarantee Corporation Ltd (ECGC) Chairman M. Senthilnathan.

Based on its experience under the scheme of enhanced cover, the ECGC has now proposed further modifications to make available adequate and affordable credit to a larger section of MSME exporters.

The product facilitates the borrower accounts to be treated equivalent to ‘AA’ rated account with reduced cost of export credit to the exporters.

In the meeting, Goyal said that the ECGC can examine the extension of the scheme, proposed for nine banks, to all the banks so that the export credit offtake for the MSME exporters can be increased.

Bankers, on their part, suggested that the ECGC should adopt claim processing method similar to the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) for which the Commerce Minister advised the ECGC to follow a pattern on similar lines to compensate their loss.

Goyal further advised banks to take advantage of the proposed scheme and extend adequate and affordable export credit to MSME exporters. This would enable the country to achieve its target of $1 trillion merchandise exports by 2030.

He also advised the ECGC to examine 75 per cent claim payment to banks under the ECIB scheme, within 45 days of receiving the claim. It was further informed by the minister that in the next four months, all the ECGC services would be digitised, so that physical interaction can be minimised.

--IANS

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