Upstox, the discount broker backed by Ratan Tata, achieved break-even in FY23. For the year, revenues crossed Rs1,000 crore. The company is now targeting 10-fold growth in customer base to 10 crore in the next 5 years. In Q4FY23, Upstox generated positive cash flows of Rs130 crore. Upstox has a war chest of Rs1,000 crore and is looking at organic and inorganic growth opportunities. Upstox was founded in 2009 and currently has 1.1 crore customers with 85% in tier-2 and Tier-3 towns and 70% first time investors.
Avenue Supermarts Ltd, the company that owns and operates the D-Mart retail brand, reported 7.8% growth in net profits at Rs460 crore for Q4FY23. Revenues for the quarter were up 20.6% at Rs10,594 crore. For FY23, Avenue Supermarts reported 59.4% higher net profits at Rs2,378 crore. While revenue growth was robust in FMCG and staples, it was tepid in general merchandise and apparel. Out of its 324 stores, 234 stores are more than 2 years old and these stores saw revenues growing 24.2% in Q4FY23.
Adani Enterprises (AEL) and Adani Transmission (ATL), part of the Adani group, propose to raise Rs21,000 crore qualified institutional placements (QIP). Modalities are yet to be worked out. While AEL will raise Rs12,500 crore, ATL will raise Rs8,500 crore. Other group companies like Adani Green are also set to firm up their funding plans. In January, a scathing report by Hindenburg Research led the company to lose market value to the tune of $140 billion over the next 2 months. It is yet to recover from the value loss.
FMCG companies showed mixed performance on sales growth and margin expansion in Q4FY23. Several companies in FMCG space like Nestle, Marico, Britannia and Bajaj Consumer delivered better than street expectations. However, Hindustan Unilever and Dabur missed expectations. ITC is the only big FMCG yet to announce results for March 2023 quarter. The broad trend is that FMCG companies are looking at faster recovery in margins with input prices tapering. However, volumes remain tepid, especially rural demand.
It now looks like Apple will commence manufacture of iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus models in India with the handsets being assembled by Tata Group. Tata Group is expected to become the 4th iPhone assembler for Apple. That means; India could see the first wave of Apple shipments from September 2023 onwards. This will also mark the exit of Wistron from India. Currently, Foxconn, Luxshare and Pegatron have iPhone assembly plants in India. Tata is likely to corner a share of 5% in various iPhone models for calendar 2023.
In what could be music to the years of defence companies, India announced a fresh list 1,000 military items under phased import ban between December 2023 and December 2029. The idea is to engender greater self-reliance in manufacturing items used in fighter planes, trainer aircraft, warships, and different types of ammunition. This will be the fourth such list for negative import items. The import substitution value of this announcement would Rs715 crore per year. They will be eligible for the lucrative PLI scheme.
Go Air has refused to return over 40 leased planes amid insolvency proceedings and this is likely to make aircraft lessors wary of India’s aircraft leasing market. With the NCLT admitting the voluntary insolvency plea filed by the Wadia family, there is a freeze on all assets of Go First. This leaves the aircraft lessors in the lurch. In the Jet Airways case, lessors had time to recover the aircraft before the court proceedings began. This may compel many of the aircraft lessors to classify India as high risk market for leasing planes.
SEBI floated a consultation paper for regulating web-based fractional ownership platforms (FOPs) of real estate properties. The idea is to have a regulatory mechanism at par with the one for REITs so that investor interest is protected. REITs are like a mutual fund and the buyer does not have control over the choice of property. In contrast, the FOPs allow users to select the property of their choice and then get co-buyers. SEBI is looking for a framework to standardize selling practices, independent valuation, and due diligence.