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< Back China becomes India’s largest trading partner again 14 May 2024 China surpassed the US as India’s top trading partner after two years. In FY2024, imports from China rose by 3.24% to $101.7 billion, and exports increased by 8.7% to $16.67 billion. The latest report by the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) shows that India’s trade with China has increased while its trade with the US has decreased. India relies heavily on China for telecom, advanced technology, and pharmaceutical imports. India imported 44% of the smartphone and telecom parts worth $4.2 billion, 77% of laptop and PC parts worth $3.8 billion, and 75% of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles from China last financial year. To reduce this dependency, India has taken steps like production-linked incentive schemes, quality control orders, and anti-dumping duties. India's second-largest trade partner is Russia. Last year, our imports from Russia spiked by 952% to $61.44 billion, and exports increased by 78.3% to $4.26 billion. Saudi Arabia and the UK were India’s third and fourth largest trade partners, respectively. Previous Next

< Back IMF’s 2024 report cited several challenges with Pakistani economy 14 May 2025 The report, released in October 2024, cited investment and productivity declines, as well as governance issues. The IMF bailed out Pakistan for the 29th time since 1989. It offered an immediate disbursement of USD1 billion under the Extended Fund Facility and approved USD1.4 billion under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility arrangement. It praised Pakistan’s fiscal progress and steps towards restoring macroeconomic stability and reducing interest rates and inflation. Contrarily, its October 2024 report highlights: Long-term decline in domestic investment and economic productivity Stagnant growth compared to peers Deteriorating capital accumulation Insufficient investment in human capital and social services, like health, infrastructure, and education Over 40% of the population lives under the poverty line Inadequate funding for climate and environmental protection State domination through State-Owned Enterprises (SOES) and State-led market interventions is undermining the performance of the private sector and worsening inefficiencies in several sectors. The IMF commended its progress in this report but noted that Pakistan’s recovery remains fragile. Never miss another post from SalestorrsNews150. Follow Salestorrs on WhatsApp , LinkedIn , Facebook , X , and Instagram . Previous Next

< Back Luxury home sales spike by 37.8% in 2024 in metros 18 Nov 2024 Delhi-NCR and Mumbai emerged as the top markets where luxury home deals are getting closed in 15 days flat. Driven by Millennials and Gen Z, luxury home sales in metro cities experienced a significant rise between January and September 2024. Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, and Hyderabad emerged as the winners, with 90% of the total luxury residential property sales in the top seven metro cities. As per a CBRE report, the total number of luxury homes sold between January and September 2024 was around 12,625, against 9,160 units sold in the same period last year. Delhi-NCR topped the charts with sales of around 5,855 units, an increase of 72% year-on-year, followed by Mumbai with 3,280 unit sales and 18% growth. 33% of buyers purchase ultra-luxury homes, and 54% of home deals are closed by millennials. The trend is also driven by a 12% rise in the number of affluent Indians (earning over $10,000 annually, approximately ₹8.4 lakhs) from 2019-2023. There are expected to be 100 million affluent Indians by 2027. Previous Next

< Back Europe, Middle East reopen airspace 27 Jun 2025 Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, and Bahrain had shut their airspace after Iran’s missile strikes on the American military base in Qatar. While the Middle East shut down its airspace amid rising escalations, Europe cancelled and rerouted flights. British Airways, Air France-KLM, and Finnair cancelled flights to Dubai, Bahrain, and Doha. Several others suspended flights to Iran and Israel. Their flights were rerouted via Egypt, Saudi Arabia or the Caspian Sea. IndiGo, Air India, Air India Express and Qatar Airways operating from India cancelled their flights. For 24 hours, Air India suspended its flights to Europe, the Middle East and five cities in the US - destinations that used the West Asian airspace. Delhi-Melbourne and Dubai-Hyderabad routes were also cancelled. The Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency of India (ICRA) estimates the Indian aviation industry to grow by 7-10% in FY2026, while facing losses worth ₹30,000 crore driven by high fuel costs, aircraft leases, and logistical issues. The costs of grounded aircraft and passenger compensation are likely to add to the figure. Never miss another post from SalestorrsNews150. Follow Salestorrs on WhatsApp , LinkedIn , Facebook , X , and Instagram . Previous Next

< Back India's own AI, Ola’s Krutrim, to launch in Jan’24 18 Dec 2023 The company claims that Krutrim outperforms Chat GPT4 and Meta’s Llama 2 chat in Indian languages regarding computation and speed. On Friday, Ola Founder Bhavish Aggarwal announced the public launch of India’s own Large Language Model (LLM) Krutrim in January 2024. This model will offer generative support for 10 Indian languages and be able to take inputs for 22 languages. The company claims that Krutrim’s current model outperforms OpenAI’s GPT4 in terms of computation and speed, and Meta’s Llama 2 chat. Although it couldn’t beat Google’s Bard and Gemini. Krutrim can operate on voice and text commands. An advanced Krutrim Pro model will be launched in the next quarter of 2024. This Pro software will offer task, vision, and speech execution abilities. The developers used more than 2 trillion tokens of data to train Krutrim in Indian languages. A token is a basic data unit like a text or code an LLM uses to process and generate language. The company used an Indian-made tokenizer to build Krutrim. Previous Next

< Back India updates plastic waste management rules 8 Jul 2025 The Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2025, were formulated by the Ministry of Environment. India’s Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) is implementing new pollution control rules from July 1st. These regulations mandate that all plastic packaging have a barcode, a QR code or a unique ID linked to CPCB registration. The Producers, Importers, and Brand Owners (PIBOs) will comply with Rule 11 that mandates enhanced labelling and traceability for packages. The CPCB will publicly list compliant parties. There will be daily escalating fines for non-compliance, as well as conviction for repeated and serious violations. This is bound to enhance accountability for companies that fall under the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) framework. The aim is to curb plastic pollution and encourage companies to enhance their recycling infrastructure, such as PET recycling plants, and utilise AI-based sorting, as seen in Google’s CircularNet model, which Saahas Zero Waste uses. Never miss another post from SalestorrsNews150. Follow Salestorrs on WhatsApp , LinkedIn , Facebook , X , and Instagram . Previous Next

< Back How JLR turned from the worst mistake to a money maker for Tata? 10 Nov 2023 JLR brought a ₹21,000 crore debt to Tata Motors. In FY 2009, the company reported a loss of ₹2,500 crores, a first in seven years. Tata bought the British car maker for USD 2.3 billion on June 2, 2008, at the beginning of the recession. The world thought of it as a colossal mistake at the time. The acquisition brought a ₹21,000 crore debt to Tata Motors, and for the first time in seven years, the company posted a loss of ₹2,500 crores. And, now, in the second quarter of the current financial year, JLR recorded two-thirds of Tata Motors’ total profit. So, what changed? JLR’s focus on profitable vehicles like the Defender, Range Rover, and Range Rover Sports clocked 77% of the order book and 64% of total car sales this year. It plans to take its global market share from 12% to 17% by FY 2026. They will eventually wholly exit the low profitability segments like the Jaguar sedan and relaunch them as fully electric sports vehicles starting from £ 100,000 with a range of 700 kilometres. Previous Next

< Back Reliance eyeing Walt Disney India operations for OTT and TV business 7 Nov 2023 Disney has been looking for partners for some time, and Adani, Kalanithi Maran, and Sony Pictures have shown interest. Since July, Disney India has been looking to sell or partner up for its digital and TV business. And Reliance happens to be a contender. This deal could boost Viacom18-Star’s market share to 35% in OTT and 40% in TV, leaving behind Sony-Zee’s 15% OTT market share. It may end up with a top line of around ₹25,000 crores and 115 channels and two streaming platforms (JioCinema and Disney+Hotstar). Previously, Viacom18 had won the rights to IPL 2023-27, and BCCI India matches that were once Disney+Hotstar property. Adding to its woes, Disney’s deal with HBO for megahits like Game of Thrones and Succession ended, causing a 16% decline in its subscriber base. However, Disney’s decision to sell is primarily based on the US$ 44.5 billion debt faced by its US operations and falling global stock. CEO Bob Iger plans to cut costs up to US$ 5.5 billion. Previous Next

< Back Kareena Kapoor Khan, Sugar Cosmetics to sell Korean beauty products Ishita Nigam 13 Oct 2023 The new company, Quench Botanics will be a JV between Khan and Sugar Cosmetics' parent company, Vellvette Lifestyle. Kareena Kapoor Khan and Sugar Cosmetics' parent company Vellvette Lifestyle Private Limited has signed a strategic partnership to start Quench Botanics to sell premium Korean beauty products in India. Khan will be the investor and co-owner of the new venture. As per Vineeta Singh, CEO, Sugar Cosmetics, Quench Cosmetics is expected to earn ₹100 crores in net revenue in the next 12 months. The startup plans to create communities on Instagram and YouTube to grow its brand following through online skincare education and training. With this move, Khan joins the bandwagon of Indian celebrities who own skincare brands. While Deepika Padukone owns 82°E, Nayanthara has 9Skin, and Kriti Sanon just launched Hyphen. Indian beauty market is expected to grow to $17.4 billion by 2025 from $15.6 billion in 2022. Previous Next

< Back 5,000 Swiggy employees make ₹9,000 crore after IPO success 16 Nov 2024 70 former and current employees stand to earn over $1 million (₹8.5 crore each) in Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOPs). Food delivery major Swiggy’s ₹11,327 crore IPO last week is among the largest for a startup in recent years. Its shares debuted at ₹420 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), a 7.7% premium over the issue price of ₹390. They opened at ₹412 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), a gain of 5.64% from the issue price. Of the 5,000 Swiggy employees set to earn ₹9,000 crore in ESOP payouts, 500 will earn over ₹1 crore each, and 70 of these 500 will take home over ₹8.5 crore each. Moneycontrol reported that Swiggy co-founders and the top executive team received $200 million in ESOP payouts before the IPO. Several of them saw their ownership stake in the company rise before the listing. Zomato had listed on the exchanges in 2021 and generated ESOP payouts worth ₹7,000 crore. Flipkart paid ₹5,800 crore to 17,000 existing and former employees in July 2023. Previous Next

< Back No funding, unsellable EVs deepen BluSmart’s troubles 8 Apr 2025 Gensol Engineering, BluSmart’s sister concern, witnessed its market cap slide from ₹4,250 crore in May 2024 to now ₹665 crore. On March 28th, Refex withdrew its deal to buy 2,997 EVs from Gensol. Gensol, founded in 2012, is a listed solar engineering and construction enterprise. BluSmart, founded in 2019, is its sister concern. Anmol Singh Jaggi founded both companies. BluSmart’s rise in Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru is attributed to better-quality cabs, punctuality, and well-trained drivers with minimal cancellations. It raised USD24 million in July 2024 from MS Dhoni’s Family Office, ReNew, and Zurich-based responsibility Investments. BluSmart positioned as a sustainable alternative to Uber and Ola, who hire drivers having their own cars. Gensol took loans from the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) to buy EVs, which BluSmart picked up. BluSmart’s profits did not benefit Gensol as they are separate entities. Gensol now has IREDA’s unpaid loans worth ₹470 crores, thus affecting its credit rating, reputation, and share price. BluSmart entered a leasing partnership with Mahindra & Mahindra, Kinto, and Orix. Never miss another post from SalestorrsNews150. Follow Salestorrs on WhatsApp , LinkedIn , Facebook , X , and Instagram . Previous Next

< Back Adani to start shipbuilding at Mundra Port 9 Jul 2024 The decision is well-timed because fleet owners worldwide are looking for alternatives, and the ship-building yards in South Korea, Japan, and China are booked until 2028. India ranks 20th globally in commercial shipbuilding with a 0.05% market share. Its goal is to be among the top ten shipbuilders towards the Maritime India Vision 2030 and scale up to the top five by 2047. Befitting this ambition, Adani has planned to create a shipbuilding site at its flagship port at Mundra. Adani recently got approval from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate change for a ₹45,000 crore expansion plan for Mundra Port. This gives the conglomerate the required resources to start supplying new vessels in a starved industry. The global shipping industry is shifting its focus to green ships to meet its decarbonisation goals. Over the next 30 years, approximately 50,000 green ships will need to be manufactured to replace the existing fleet. Global shipyards outbid Indian shipbuilders by up to 35%. Even governmental aids in taxes and duties fail to reduce this cost difference. Previous Next