Bit by Bit 24th Jan || BPCL enters food & beverage segment || Earth’s inner core may be reversing its rotation. & more

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MARKET UPDATE

• NIFTY 50 : ₹18,118.55 (+0.50%)

• BSE SENSEX : ₹60,941.67 (+0.53%)

• NIFTY BANK : ₹42,821.25 (+0.74%)

• USD/INR : ₹81.437 (+0.56%)

• BRENTOIL : $87.98 (+0.40%)

• MCXGOLD : ₹56,760 (+0.34%)

• FII Net Cashflow : - ₹220 crores

• DII Net Cashflow : + ₹435 crores

(Market Data as of 11:00 PM on 23/01/2022)

ECONOMY

Record e-way bills in December point to robust GST receipts in January

The Story:

Monthly creation of e-way bills or electronic licences required for shipment of products inside and across states reached an all-time high in December, implying that GST collection in January will be robust.

According to data from GSTN, the organisation that processes GST returns, monthly e-way bills generated increased to 8.41 crore in December, exceeding the 8.4 crore permits raised in September. The October GST revenue collection, which represents September transactions, was the second highest at 1.52 trillion. Analysts use e-way bills as a high-frequency measure of economic activity.

After a strong start to the year with a 13.5% and 6.3% economic expansion in the June and September quarters, GDP growth is expected to normalise in the second half of the fiscal, going by the 7% full year growth rate projected by the National Statistics Office

FMCG

BPCL enters food & beverage segment

The Story:

Public sector oil marketing and refining company Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) has launched its first cafe outlet—‘BeCafe’—Brewing Journeys, in a diversification drive aimed at attracting footfalls at its fuel stations.

The first cafe has been opened at at Gurunanak Service Station, Haldwani in Uttarakhand enroute major tourist locations along Nainital, Bhimtal corridor. This will be the first of the proposed 20 BeCafé’s that BPCL proposes to open in a few strategic retail outlets in the northern region along prominent highway corridors.

The company has plans to expand to 50 such outlets in FY23 in order to create density for higher market impact and optimise resources including supply chain. BeCafé is the company’s “Highway to Non Fuel Business”, thus enabling them to gain entry into the high margin F&B segment. BPCL’s mission statement is to be India’s largest franchised café chain with a customer value proposition of providing ‘on the go F&B’ convenience, a company statement said.

AUTOMOTIVE

Maruti Suzuki recalls over 11,000 Grand Vitara. Here’s why ?

The Story:

India's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki on Monday announced that it has recalled 11,177 units of Grand Vitara that have been manufactured between 8 August 2022 and 15 November, 2022.

Maruti Suzuki said that there is a 'possible defect in rear seat belt mounting brackets' said the company in its regulatory filing. The carmaker said that authorized car dealer workshops will inspect and replace the part, free of cost. "The Company has announced to recall 11,177 Grand Vitara vehicles manufactured between 8th August 2022 and 15th November 2022," said Maruti Suzuki in its regulatory filing.

"It is suspected that there is a possible defect in rear seat belt mounting brackets (“Parts"), which in a rare case, may loosen in the long run and impact its functionality. Vehicle owners will be receiving communication from Maruti Suzuki authorized dealer workshops for inspection and replacement of the affected parts, free of cost," it further added.

This comes at a time when Maruti Suzuki is to announce its December quarter results on 24 January,2023.Maruti Suzuki India reported around 9 per cent decline in total wholesales at 1,39,347 units in December 2022 as compared to the year-ago of 1,53,149 units. "The shortage of electronic components had some impact on the production of vehicles, mainly in domestic models. The company took all possible measures to minimize the impact," MSIL said.

TECH

Zomato is shutting down its 10-minute food delivery business

The Story

Zomato is shutting down its 10-minute food delivery service Zomato Instant less than a year after it was launched as it chases profitability amid tough market conditions. The company recently told its restaurant partners it would look to close down the service, said two sources privy to the development.

“It didn’t look like it would turn profitable. The company was not getting the daily volume required to even pay the fixed costs. It wasn't scaling up to that level,” a person aware of the development, told the sources.

The plan is to now pivot to a new product,” he said, adding that Zomato is experimenting with low-value packed meals – thalis or combo meals. It has not been decided if Zomato will retain the 10-minutes preposition for this. However the new offering will be launched in 7-10 days, one of the sources said. However, Zomato said it was not shutting down Instant but rebranding the service.

"Instant is not shutting down. We are working on a new menu with our partners and rebranding the business. All finishing stations remain intact, and no people are impacted by this decision," the company said.

Anything Interesting

Earth’s inner core may be reversing its rotation.

Our planet may have had a recent change of heart.

Earth’s inner core may have temporarily stopped rotating relative to the mantle and surface, researchers report in the January 23 Nature Geoscience. The direction of the inner core’s rotation may be reversing — part of a roughly 70-year-long cycle that may influence the length of Earth’s days and its magnetic field — though some researchers are sceptical.

“We see strong evidence that the inner core has been rotating faster than the surface, [but] by around 2009, it nearly stopped,” says geophysicist Xiaodong Song of Peking University in Beijing. “Now it is gradually mov[ing] in the opposite direction.”