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- Bit by Bit 20th Jan || Budget 2023 Expectations for FMCG sector || India's giant auto market is short of EV buyers
Bit by Bit 20th Jan || Budget 2023 Expectations for FMCG sector || India's giant auto market is short of EV buyers
Good Morning Readers!
Here are:
"5 amazing stories in 5 minutes to make you future ready"
Happy reading!
MARKET UPDATE
NIFTY 50 : ₹18,107.35 (-0.32%)
BSE SENSEX : ₹60,858.43 (-0.31%)
NIFTY BANK : ₹42,328.85 (-0.30%)
USD/INR : ₹81.240 (-0.25%)
BRENTOIL : $86.16 (+1.39%)
MCXGOLD : ₹56,443 (+0.40%)
FII Net Cashflow : + ₹400 crores
DII Net Cashflow : - ₹129 crores
(Market Data as of 11:00 PM on 19/01/2022)
ECONOMY
The Story:
While the rest of the globe struggles with an imminent recession, conflict, and inflation, 2023 will be a year for the Indian economy to improve its position on the global arena, according to the Reserve Bank of India's state of the economy report. According to the RBI, who cited an estimate from the International Monetary Finance, having the distinction of having a sixth of the world's working population may only improve the chances that the economy would exceed Germany and Japan by 2027.
With an estimated 1.4 billion people, India will have the highest population in the world in April 2023. With a median age of 28, India has the opportunity to take advantage of the demographic dividend and announce its emergence as a future economic powerhouse, according to RBI. In 2023, India's GDP will be worth $3.7 trillion, keeping it ahead of the UK for fifth place in the globe.
FMCG
The Story:
The FMCG industry in India continues to recover as consumers have returned to their normal routines. According to NielsenIQ’s FMCG Snapshot for Q2 2022, the FMCG industry had grown by 10.9% in the quarter ending June 2022 versus 6% in the previous quarter.
With budget 2023 just a few days away, there are some expectations of the industry, which see the sector as one of the most critical industries, which traces its chain from rural India. Rural demand is poised to recover, with food and overall inflation likely to trend between 5-5.5 percent compared to 6.8 percent in 2022. The lower inflation will support rural demand.
According to a Moneycontrol report, in 2023, rural demand will pick up strongly, the urban market will remain steady and move with a positive bias, volume growth will replace price-led change, and, more importantly, the sector will witness margin recovery.
Meanwhile, industry experts and FMCG players are optimistic about the budget and expect some initiatives from Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
AUTOMOTIVE
The Story:
India is now among the top three auto markets in the world. A feat indeed, but it’s being driven by internal combustion-engine cars even as global pressures force a pivot to cleaner electric vehicles. Over 4 million four-wheel vehicles were sold in India last year, surpassing Japan and coming in behind China and the US.
India’s electric success has been limited to its two-wheeler, or 2W, market. And it won’t be easy to replicate for larger vehicles. Despite a host of options for consumers — especially now — electric cars are too expensive for what they offer drivers. Power systems can’t support charging networks, even if companies are incentivized to set up infrastructure and we end up with enough stations. The supply of electricity isn’t consistent in many parts of the country, and charging larger batteries requires higher capacity and voltage.
TECH
PhonePe raises $350 million funding from General Atlantic at $12 billion pre-money valuation
The Story
PhonePe, a leader in digital payments, announced on Thursday that it had secured $350 million in capital from international private equity firm General Atlantic at a $12 billion pre-money value, making it the most valuable privately held Indian fintech company.
The company claimed the investment is the first installment of a fund-raising effort worth up to $1 billion that began this month. Other foreign and Indian investors also took part in the round.
Walmart purchased PhonePe in December 2020 for $700 million, valuing the company at $5.5 billion at the time. Razorpay, a supplier of digital payments, which had a last valuation of $7.5 billion, has recently been overtaken in terms of valuation.
Anything Interesting
Microsoft Corp. plans to incorporate artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT into all of its products and make them available as platforms for other businesses to build on. Mr. Nadella said that his company would move quickly to commercialize tools from OpenAI, the research lab behind the ChatGPT chatbot as well as image generator Dall-E 2, which turns language prompts into novel images. Microsoft was an early investor in the startup.
Microsoft said Monday that it is giving more customers access to the software behind those tools through its cloud-computing platform Azure. Mr. Nadella said at the panel Tuesday that the aim was to make Azure “the place for anybody and everybody who thinks about AI,” both for businesses and end users, including making ChatGPT available to business users. Mr. Nadella said that his deal would boost competition.
