Trackpad
Vedanta declares third interim dividend for FY22
The company board has agreed to a third interim dividend of Rs 13 per equity share on the face value of rupee 1 per share for the current financial year 2021-2022, a total sum of Rs 4,832 crore.Vedanta in a regulatory filing said that the record date for payment of dividends is Thursday, March 10, 2022. Vedanta Ltd has also reported a 26.2 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 4,164 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2021. Its consolidated income during the second quarter of FY21 increased to Rs 34,674 crore from Rs 23,621 crore in FY20.
Due to increased tensions between Russia and Ukraine Vedanta will profit from the sharp increase in base metal prices, and also be supported by the surge in energy prices. They also expect good operating performance on improving volumes and higher longer metal prices, which would continue to drive good dividends. Earlier, Vedanta has earmarked USD 15 billion for a foray into an electronic chip and display manufacturing space and plans to scale up investment to as much as USD 20 billion (about Rs 1.5 lakh crore). The company for use in mobile phones and electronic devices expects to roll out display units, by 2024 and electronic chips from Indian manufacturing plants by 2025.
''Semiconductor is a long-term business. We are looking at about USD 10 billion on display. Right now, we are looking at USD 7 billion in semiconductors that may also go up by another USD 3 billion to further extend it. First 10 years we have engaged to invest up to USD 15 billion. We will evaluate further investment at a later stage.” said Akarsh Hebbar, Vedanta Group's Global Managing Director of Display and Semiconductor Business.
BSE signs MoU with Cotton Guru Maha FPO Federation
BSE India’s premier exchange and the world’s fastest Stock Exchange with a speed of 6 microseconds has signed a MoU with Cotton Guru Maha FPO Federation, a market-facing comxpany which is responsible for valueaddition and marketing of member Farmer Producer Organisations and farmers. Via this MoU, BSE will be able to enable the Cotton Guru Maha FPO's members to effectively participate in knowledge-sharing initiatives to understand the benefits, techniques and strategies of risk management using cotton futures contracts.
Commenting on the association, Shri Sameer Patil, CBO, BSE said “BSE not only provides a robust and efficient platform for price discovery and risk management in cotton but also undertakes several educational and awareness activities to sensitize stakeholders about the modalities of using the exchange platform. The MoU with Cotton Guru Maha FPO will enable the Exchange to reach out to a large stakeholder group in the cotton value chain in one of the of the most prominent cotton growing, processing and textiles regions of the country.”
This MoU also signals a long-term engagement between BSE and Cotton Guru to undertake several educational and awareness activities to sensitize cotton stakeholders about the modalities of using the exchange platform. Against the current backdrop of covid and geopolitical uncertainty, awareness of risk management for cotton stakeholders is crucial as several factors like rainfall, pest attacks, exports have a bearing on cotton trade and prices.
BSE aims to facilitate collaboration in fields like organising educational awareness events for cotton value chain participants, including farmers across Maharashtra, and joint representation to ministries and regulators for further development of the sector, and work together for designing of new products on commodities contracts. Both parties would participate together in seminars and various other programs with mutual understanding to educate the people / community about the commodity derivatives markets, its benefits and encourage commodity stakeholders to hedge exchanges.
Further, both entities will cooperate in the growth and development of value chain participants and enable them to face competition and manage price risks better. BSE provides an efficient and transparent market for trading in equity, debt instruments, equity derivatives, currency derivatives, commodity derivatives, interest rate derivatives, mutual funds and stock lending and borrowing.
Sanmina and Reliance create manufacturing joint venture in India
Sanmina Corporation (Sanmina), a leading integrated manufacturing solutions company and Reliance Strategic Business Ventures Limited (RSBVL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), India’s largest private sector company announced that they have entered into an agreement to create a joint venture through an investment in Sanmina’s existing Indian entity Sanmina SCI India Private Ltd. The day-to-day business will continue to be managed by Sanmina’s existing management team in Chennai, which will be seamless from an employee and customer perspective.
The joint venture will prioritize high technology infrastructure hardware, for growth markets, and across industries such as communications networking (5G, cloud infrastructure, hyperscale datacenters), medical and healthcare systems, industrial and cleantech, and defense and aerospace. In addition to supporting Sanmina’s current customer base, the joint venture will create a state-of-the-art ‘Manufacturing Technology Center of Excellence’ that will serve as an incubation center to support the product development. RSBVL will hold 50.1 per cent equity stake in the joint venture entity with Sanmina owning the remaining 49.9 per cent.
RSBVL will achieve this ownership primarily through an investment of up to Rs 1,670 crore in new shares in Sanmina’s existing Indian entity, while Sanmina will contribute its existing contract manufacturing business. As a result of the investment, the joint venture will be capitalized with over $200 million of cash to fund growth.
All the manufacturing will initially take place at Sanmina’s 100-acre campus in Chennai, with the ability for site expansion to support future growth opportunities as well as to potentially expand to new manufacturing sites in India over time based on business needs. The transaction is expected to close no later than September 2022.
Reliance Retail Ventures joins hands with Abraham and Thakore
Reliance Retail Ventures Limited, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited and the holding company of all retail companies within the group, has invested in Abraham & Thakore Exports Pvt Ltd for a majority stake. RRVL seeks to leverage its subsidiary Reliance Brands Limited's (RBL) deep understanding of the affluent Indian customer and their heft across digital, retail operations, marketing, and supply chain platforms, to build brand Abraham & Thakore’s global appeal in the fashion and lifestyle category.
A&T unlocked the potential and power of Indian handlooms by approaching them with modernity and meaning through weaving and design intervention in unconventional, even non-conformist ways.
A&T’s interpretation of Indian textiles started with loungewear and home collections that were first sold at The Conran Shop in London and later in global stores of repute such as Liberty, Browns, Harrods, and Selfridges. For almost 15 years the brand mostly retailed predominantly in international stores before coming to India with their first fashion show presentation.
The brand is strongly rooted in the philosophy of understanding the cultural construct of fashion. Not only is an Abraham & Thakore Ikat sari a part of the permanent collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum, but in 2015 the brand’s creations were chosen for Fabric of India, V&A’s first major exhibition that explored the rich, multi-faceted and dynamic world of Indian handmade fabrics.
Each collection continues the exploration of developing a quiet and modern design voice while simultaneously drawing on the rich traditional vocabulary of Indian design and craft. Its strong cultural language gives it a unique resonance in different mindsets and markets. The design trio, David Abraham, Rakesh Thakore and Kevin Nigli will continue to lead the creative direction of the brand.