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The Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI), which comes under the commerce ministry, has taken up a task to upskill artisans engaged in manufacturing Kolhapuri chappals and help them connect with buyers to boost footwear sales in domestic and global markets.

New Delhi: Bharat Biotech is planning to launch its vaccine for COVID-19 in the second quarter next year if it gets the requisite approvals from the Indian regulatory authorities, a top company official said. It said its immediate focus is to conduct the Phase 3 trials successfully across sites in the country. The company's vaccine candidate -Covaxin- has been developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) - National Institute of Virology (NIV) using inactivated Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The virus was isolated in an ICMR lab. "If we get all the approvals after establishing strong experimental evidence and data, and efficacy and safety data in our last stage of trials, we aim to launch the vaccine in Q2 of 2021," Bharat Biotech International Executive Director Sai Prasad told . After the company received approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to conduct Phase 3 clinical trial to establish the efficacy of ...

New Delhi: MG Motor India on Sunday reported a 6 per cent increase in its retail sales at 3,750 units in October. The company had sold 3,536 units in the same month last year, MG Motor India said in a statement. The automaker said it has recorded its highest-ever monthly retail sales for its SUV Hector at 3,625 units in October, registering a growth of 50 per cent against 2,410 units sold in September 2020. The carmaker has also received a robust response for its recently launched premium SUV Gloster with 2,000 bookings, it added. "We expect continued traction because of Diwali in November and are ramping up supplies to cater to the increasing demand," MG Motor India Director - Sales Rakesh Sidana said.

NEW DELHI: The US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) has issued a warning letter to Shilpa Medicare for violating current good manufacturing practice norms at its manufacturing plant in Mahabubnagar district in Telangana. In a letter to company's Managing Director Vishnukant Chaturbhuj Bhutada, the US health regulator said its inspectors, from February 13-20 and February 24-25, 2020, found significant deviations from standard manufacturing practices at company's Unit-IV at Polepally village in Mahabubnagar district. "This warning letter summarises significant violations of current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) regulations for finished pharmaceuticals ...Because your methods, facilities, or controls for manufacturing, processing, packing, or holding do not conform to CGMP, your drug products are adulterated," the USFDA said. The significant violations included the company's failure to thoroughly investigate any unexplained discrepancy or failure of a batch o...

Rehiring has become a bit of a trend of late, says Munira Loliwala, Business Head, Permanent and Specialised staffing, Team-Lease, a staffing company.

New Delhi: The trading of renewable energy certificates (RECs) is likely to be resumed after a gap of four months on November 25 as electricity tribunal APTEL has completed all hearings and may issue the final judgement soon on the REC pricing issue. Trading of RECs or green certificates is done on the last Wednesday of every month on the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) and the Power Exchange India (PXIL). The green certificates trading was suspended in July this year after the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) decided to postpone the trading by four weeks, while hearing three separate petitions related to an issue of fixing floor and forbearance prices of RECs by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC). Talking to on the issue, PXIL Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Prabhajit Kumar Sarkar said, "The APTEL has completed all hearings and kept the order reserved on the issue (of REC pricing). We expect the final order to be released soon, which would p...

New Delhi: The trading of renewable energy certificates (RECs) is likely to be resumed after a gap of four months on November 25 as electricity tribunal APTEL has completed all hearings and may issue the final judgement soon on the REC pricing issue. Trading of RECs or green certificates is done on the last Wednesday of every month on the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) and the Power Exchange India (PXIL). The green certificates trading was suspended in July this year after the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) decided to postpone the trading by four weeks, while hearing three separate petitions related to an issue of fixing floor and forbearance prices of RECs by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC). Talking to on the issue, PXIL Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Prabhajit Kumar Sarkar said, "The APTEL has completed all hearings and kept the order reserved on the issue (of REC pricing). We expect the final order to be released soon, which would p...

Mumbai: This unproven Wall Street legend has endured nine long decades. It purportedly concerns a precocious shoe-shine boy, the father of JFK, and the catastrophic 1929 October crash that heralded the arrival of the Great Depression. The story is rather simple: When a shoe-shine boy gave stock tips to Joseph Patrick ‘Joe’ Kennedy in the summer of 1929, the wise investor equated his unsolicited advice to a grave warning sign. He cashed out – just days before the fatal crash.Nine decades later, in another October rendered more dreary and dull than usual by the protracted lockdowns, the initial share sale of a fintech company is reminding the faint hearted of the 1929 frenzy. Retail bidding for the Ant Group in mainland China and Hong Kong has lined up confirmed offers amounting to $3 trillion at last count – roughly equivalent to 80% of the 2020 nominal GDP of Germany, the world’s fourth-biggest economy.Of course, such staggering demand for the biggest IPO on record has meant unpreceden...

MUMBAI: Broadcaster Zee Entertainment Enterprises may post around 50 per cent decline in net profit in the quarter ended September, while net revenues may have dropped up to 28 per cent as advertising rates continue to reel under pressure due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and subscriptions revenues may be flat on a high base.While industry-wide advertising revenues have been improving gradually, they still remain under pressure as corporate spending has not yet picked up fully amid the current economic slowdown.Analysts also hope for better cash generation, sustained balance sheet improvement and update on funds recovery on sale of overseas investments earlier this year.Kotak Institutional Equities expects Zee Entertainment to report a decline of 53.3 per cent in the net profit from a year ago, while it believes net sales may have shrunk 17.4 per cent.Kotak analysts expect 25 per cent decline in ad revenues (down 65 per cent YoY in 1Q) and modest 2 per cent YoY growth in domestic s...

Kushal Kolthe, a senior revenue manager at holiday home rental company Vista Rooms, was put on leave without pay in late March. “Initially some of us were asked to take a sabbatical but as the Covid situation worsened, we were told to go on LWP. They were very upfront and transparent about it,” says the Mumbai resident. “Of course I wasn’t really happy about it but I understood it’s a difficult decision.” In the intervening months, Kolthe tried to start a brand with his friends which kept him occupied for a while. Then, in August he got a new job… his old one.Rehiring has become a bit of a trend of late, says Munira Loliwala, Business Head, Permanent and Specialised staffing, Team-Lease, a staffing company. “Across industries, 40% of our client base is considering or looking at rehiring laid off workers. This is happening the most in the financial services industry, then in manufacturing, followed by hospitality and healthcare,” she says. For the most part, however, these are not perma...

Nachiket Shetye and Bansi Kotecha have a lot on their plate since the pandemic began. Six months ago, they co-founded Kytchens, a “kitchen as a service” tech platform, out of Mumbai. Almost instantly, restaurants from across the country inundated them with requests to create models to take food to clients’ doorsteps, while retaining the packaging, presentation and taste patrons would have experienced if they had come in to eat. Many of these requests that turned into business for Shetye and Kotecha — who get into strategic partnerships with food and beverage brands to help them grow and expand — were from restaurants that seldom or never delivered before. It showed how even the fanciest of restaurants were adapting to the new reality. In a pandemic-struck world, where going to a restaurant has become anxiety-ridden or bothersome, restaurateurs have decided to take gourmet food and great experiences to the customers. Hundreds of high-end restaurants have suddenly popped up on the delive...

By Kriti GuptaJust days before the U.S. election investors are largely positioned for a surge in risk sentiment under a Blue Wave scenario. For a handful of assets, there’s a chance that they’re completely wrong.Will a Joe Biden victory trigger an equities rally if the Senate remains Republican? Can Big Tech repeat its 273% ascent under President Donald Trump? Does the Democrats’ plan to shift to renewable energy mean oil’s dead? Bloomberg’s Markets Live team debated these topics and more in a live discussion and came up with alternative views beyond the consensus.Senate RiskConsensus view: A Biden victory helps risk assetsNon-consensus view: A Trump win helps risk assets -- but only with a Democratic SenateThe Senate race is key for fiscal stimulus. The gap between aid proposals from the Trump administration and House Democrats is narrow, so a flipped Senate could unlock more than $2 trillion of assistance. That could send the S&P 500 toward 3,650, a two standard deviation move fr...

By Sarah PonczekThere’s been a narrative in trader circles for some time now that they’re fine with, maybe even a little excited about, the prospect of a Joe Biden presidency. Many a rally has been ascribed to growing chatter about the possibility of a blue wave on Election Day.And yet, for some investing veterans, there’s a nagging concern that this view is a little optimistic, that some of the things that have made Biden an attractive candidate for voters craving change could make for a rougher ride in markets.For one thing, they note, there’s his pledge to roll back the huge tax cuts that President Donald Trump handed corporate America back in 2017, a move that, irrespective of the public-policy merits it may have, at least has the potential to create stress for equities. There’s also the fact that Biden repeatedly says he cares little about what happens to the market. Even if that’s sloganeering and not quite true, it’s hard to believe he cares about it as much as Trump, who at tim...

Sharjah: Pushed to the wall, Sunrisers Hyderabad produced a clinical performance to beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by five wickets and stay alive in the Indian Premier League Play-off race, here on Saturday. SRH first produced a brilliant bowling effort to restrict a batting-heavy RCB to a modest 120 for seven and then chased down the target in 14.1 overs to zoom to fourth spot in the standings from seventh. SRH now have 12 points from 13 games and need to win their last league game against table-toppers Mumbai Indians to stay in the hunt. RCB, who needed a win to seal their Play-offs berth, slumped to their third consecutive defeat in the tournament but stayed at second place in the table with 14 points from 13 games. The 121-run target was always going to be a walk in the park for SRH in a small ground like Sharjah unless RCB inflicted early damage which they failed to do. RCB removed SRH skipper David Warner (8) early but they needed more wickets upfront to be in the contest. Afte...

Capping months of negotiations, when iconic US motorcycle-maker Harley Davidson last week announced an alliance with Hero MotoCorp, India’s largest two-wheeler maker, it underscored a trend that has been gathering speed in the Indian motorcycle market — growing consumer demand in the mid-size segment, or vehicles with engine displacement between 200 and 500cc. The premium motorcycle market in India (classified by the industry as 200ccplus) sees annual sales of 800,000 and its undisputed king has for long been Royal Enfield. Now, a slew of new players and partnerships are revving to grab market share, even as changing customer preferences indicate that this segment is poised for massive expansion. Of all the motorcycles sold in India, the mid-size segment accounts for 5-8% marketshare. “The premiumisation of two-wheelers in India is as fundamental as the demographic age of the country and despite the temporary disruption on wages, the direction is unmistakable,” says KN Radhakrishnan, C...

In 2019, the Kansara family of Ahmedabad exited its gold refining business after running it for nearly 28 years. At its peak, Gujarat Gold Centre — helmed by Anil Kansara and his three brothers — posted a trading turnover in excess of Rs 1,200 crore, refining nearly 30 kg of gold a day. But the constant need for exceptionally high working capital, excessive borrowing cost, low margins and the dwindling supply of domestic scrap gold forced the Kansaras out of business.“I was not happy exiting the business I built from scratch. It was like selling my own child,” says Kansara, a metallurgy engineering graduate of the mid-70s from NIT-Rourkela. “You’ll not be able to operate a gold refinery profitably if your only source of raw gold is from dore imports. You cannot survive by just refining scrapped household gold either. You’ll need a good mix of both to get a fair chance of survival. And to be really profitable, you may have to bend yourself to market forces and give into unfair trade pra...

With passenger vehicle (PV) sales garnering strong numbers this Navratra, automakers are looking to get into the upcoming festive season in top gear. As per industry estimates, October 2020 is likely to throw up a record monthly sale in PVs, signalling a turnaround of fortunes for the auto industry. According to estimates the, PV sales is expected to be around 3.32-3.35 lakh units in October, a growth of around 15% over September 2020. Interestingly this could be the highest ever monthly sale for PVs. The last highest was 3.1 lakh PV units recorded in September 2017. Sustained demand for personal mobility post Covid and a higher offtake from rural markets are also helping the automakers clock good wholesale numbers , say experts. Leading the PV sales would be the country’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki on the back of improved sourcing supplies and an upbeat customer confidence. While Shashank Srivastava, ED, Maruti Suzuki refused to comment on the PV volumes this month, he mentioned ...

By Jack EwingFRANKFURT, GERMANY: On paper the European economy is snapping back smartly from the pandemic, growing more in the third quarter than it ever had. But images from Paris, Madrid and Frankfurt tell a different story. Cafes are rolling up their awnings, theaters are canceling performances, and it’s starting to look like March again on city streets.The risk of another severe downturn in Europe is rising as new lockdowns take effect in countries like Germany, France and Belgium, where authorities are desperate to prevent a surge in coronavirus infections from overwhelming hospitals.Instead of returning to a semblance of normalcy, governments in the European Union, America’s largest trading partner, are straining to find ways to support furloughed and unemployed workers, and to keep restaurants and other businesses from going bankrupt.This week, in an extraordinary move, the European Central Bank all but promised to unleash new relief measures by December at the latest. Warning t...

NEW DELHI: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) on Friday midnight handed over the Mangaluru airport to the Adani group on lease for a period of 50 years, according to an official statement.The central government in February 2019 had privatised six major airports of the country -- Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, and Guwahati. After a competitive bidding process, the Adani group won the rights to run all of them."In accordance to concession agreement executed on February 14, 2020, AAI handed over handling of Mangaluru @aaimlrairport to @AdaniOnline on lease for 50 yrs. Exchange of symbolic key held at midnight 00:00 hrs on October 30, 2020," the AAI said on Twitter on Saturday.The AAI had signed concession agreements with the Adani group on February 14 for operations, management and development of the Mangaluru, Lucknow and Ahmedabad airports.On October 22, the AAI had said in a press release that the Adani group would be taking over the airports at...

NEW DELHI: A record net profit, an improvement in asset quality, a fall in sequential provisioning, recovery in disbursements to pre-Covid levels, soft NIM and increase in mobile transactions were some of the key highlights of ICICI Bank's September quarter results. Record profitWhile a multifold jump in profit in ICICI Bank's September quarter results was expected, a 6.5 times jump in year-on-year profit beat analysts estimates. The Rs 4,251 crore profit reported by the bank was its highest ever quarterly profit so far. The growth was aided by the bank's low base, as the lender incurred taxes of Rs 3,712 crore in the year-ago quarter due to one -time additional charge. This past quarter, total expenses for the bank stood at Rs 1,015 crore.The numbers were also boosted by the bank's treasury income, which jumped on Rs 305 crore worth stake sale by the bank in ICICI Securities during the quarter.Disbursements at pre-Covid levelsThe bank said, there has been a substantial...

Two-wheeler maker India Yamaha Motor on Saturday said it has tied up with Amazon India to sell its range of apparels and accessories online. This is for the first time in India that the company would sell its apparels and accessories online, India Yamaha Motor said in a statement. With this move Yamaha customers and motorcyclists will be able to buy a wide range of accessories and apparels for both motorcycles and scooters in an easy and convenient way through Amazon India, it added. Yamaha merchandise on the online market place will include a wide range of riding apparels such as T-Shirts, jackets, the two-wheeler maker said. Besides, the company will also retail other merchandise like stickers, key chains, along with other two-wheeler accessories, it added. "We are continuously working to strengthen our online presence in the Indian market and today's announcement is another step in this direction to connect and communicate with our target audience," Yamaha Motor India ...

NEW DELHI: ICICI Bank on Saturday reported a six-fold jump in its net profit at Rs 4,251 crore for the September quarter.The private lender had reported a profit of Rs 655 crore in the year ago quarter.Net interest income (NII), which is the difference between the interest income a bank earns from its lending activities and the interest it pays to depositors, rose 16 per cent to Rs 9,366 crore from Rs 8,077 crore in the year-ago quarter.Net interest margin (NIM) for the quarter stood at 3.57 per cent compared with 3.69 per cent in the June quarter and 3.64 per cent in the year-ago quarter. It reflects surplus liquidity with the bank, ICICI Bank said.This latest figures included provisions of Rs 497 crore made on a prudent basis on loans aggregating to Rs 1,410 crore that were not classified as non-performing pursuant to the Supreme Court’s interim order.The SC had earlier directed that accounts that were not classified as non-performing till August 31, 2020, should not be classified as...

New York: Restaurant company Inspire Brands announced Friday it was buying Dunkin' Brands, owner of the Dunkin' donuts and Baskin-Robbins ice cream chains, for $8.8 billion. Including debt, the transaction will rise to $11.3 billion, the company said in a statement. Inspire already owns the Arby's, Buffalo Wild Wings, Sonic Drive-In and Jimmy John's restaurant chains. The Dunkin' chain, created in 1950 in the US northeastern state of Massachusetts, is known for its variety of donuts as well as its coffee and breakfast sandwiches. Baskin-Robbins started in 1945 in California and is famous for its 31 flavors of ice cream. The two brands account for more than 20,000 distribution points in more than 60 countries. They have suffered somewhat from the pandemic and the resulting temporary or permanent closures of stores, with turnover of their parent company having fallen by six percent in total over the first nine months of the year. A former subsidiary of the Allied Dome...

Mumbai: Jewellery retailer Malabar Gold and Diamonds on Friday said the company is planning to invest Rs 240 crore to open nine stores in India and other countries. The Group currently operates 250 retail outlets spread across 10 countries including India, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and America, Malabar Gold said in a statement. The plan to add nine stores with an investment of Rs 240 crore will see Malabar Gold expand its footprint across all tier-I and tier-II cities in the north and central India as well as strengthen its position in markets like Singapore, Malaysia, Oman and the UAE. Malabar Gold has scheduled the opening of five stores across the country including in Lucknow, Dwarka (Delhi), Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh), Thane (Maharashtra), and Kamanahalli (Bengaluru) in Karnataka. In the global market, the brand is scheduled to open one store each in the UAE, Singapore, Malaysia, and Oman. Despite the challenging market conditions resulted by lower demand, higher price of gol...

Famed value investor Jeremy Grantham says the best returns on investments do not come from taking biggest risks, but from buying cheapest assets.He says the lesser an investor pays for a stream of earnings, the higher will be the chances of his return over time.“You don't get rewarded for taking risk; you get rewarded for buying cheap assets. If the assets you bought got pushed up in price simply because they were risky, you are not going to be rewarded for taking the risk; you are going to be punished for it," he told investors in his quarterly letter.Jeremy Grantham is a British investor and Co-founder and Chief Investment Strategist of Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo (GMO), a Boston-based asset management firm.Grantham has a reputation for accurately predicting about three major market bubbles: Japan's asset-price bubble in 1989, the dot-com bubble in 2000, and the US mortgage crisis in 2008.Grantham's investment strategyGrantham's investment strategy is built on the...