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Business Today 21 Aug 2022
Business Today 21 Aug 2022
in
BUSINESS
CONFIDENCE
SLIPPING
STOCK
MARKETS
LOW
EXPECTATIONS
BETTING
ON INDIA
FROM THE EDITOR http://www.businesstoday.in
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CORRESPONDENTS
Senior Editors: Neetu Chandra Sharma, Nidhi Singal,
F
Smita Tripathi, Teena Jain Kaushal
or regular international travellers, particularly to Europe, Senior Associate Editor: Ashish Rukhaiyar
Senior Assistant Editor: Binu Paul
IKEA is, quite literally, a household name. The $42-billion Assistant Editors: Arnab Dutta, Manish Pant
Swedish home furnishings giant has been known for its Special Correspondents: Prerna Lidhoo, Vidya S.
Correspondent: Rajat Mishra
massive stores and trademark furniture style. So it was no PRESENTER AND SENIOR EDITOR, BUSINESS TODAY TV:
Aabha Bakaya
surprise that, given India’s booming aspirational economy,
RESEARCH
the opening of its first store—called the Blue Box because of its look—in Assistant Editor: Rahul Oberoi
Principal Research Analyst: Prince Tyagi
Hyderabad in 2018 saw massive crowds eager to see what was on offer. COPY DESK
Four years and five stores later, IKEA, which in a sense was testing the Senior Associate Editor: Abhik Sen
Senior Assistant Editor: Shishir Kumar Behera
Indian waters so far, has decided to amp up its India play. The reasons Senior Sub Editor: Pranay Prakash
PHOTOGRAPHY
are not far to seek. With a huge millennial population that is keen to Principal Photographer: Rajwant Singh Rawat
live well, India is a lucrative market for IKEA. Besides, internationally, Photographer: Hardik Chhabra
Senior Photo Researcher: Varun Gupta
despite its global presence, the company is still heavily dependent on ART
Deputy Creative Editor: Anirban Ghosh
Western Europe and North America, economies that are stagnating and Deputy Art Director: Rahul Sharma
facing their own set of challenges. India, then, stands out in IKEA’s list Associate Art Director: Raj Verma
Chief Designer: Prabal Biswas
of growth options. As IKEA India’s CEO Susanne Pulverer tells Arnab EVENTS
Senior Manager: Sourabh Dutta
Dutta in our cover story, “It’s a big, big country and we have just started
PRODUCTION
to enter. There is so much to do.” Chief of Production: Harish Aggarwal
Senior Production Coordinator: Narendra Singh
Indeed, Pulverer and her company now have their aggressive strategy Production Coordinator: Ayekpam David Meitei
chalked out. Having pumped in close to `10,000 crore so far in India, LIBRARY
Assistant Librarian: Satbir Singh
IKEA is now upping the ante on expansions. And importantly, it has
Editorial Coordinator: Khushboo Thakur
also tweaked its fabled strategy of setting up massive stores outside city BUSINESS TEAM (MAGAZINE)
confines and is now putting up smaller size stores closer to the customer National Head: Siddhartha Chatterjee
Assistant General Managers: Ankush Madan, Girish C,
to ensure footfalls. But as many multinationals have realised to their Priya Gaur (Govt Sales)
BUSINESS TEAM (BT TV)
peril, India is not an easy market to crack. There are several home-grown Senior General Managers: Masuma Parekh, Nisha Sharma
players—Godrej Interio and start-up Pepperfry just two among them— SALES STRATEGY
General Manager: Sanjay Bhoir
which will give the Swedish giant tough competition, not to forget the AD OPS
Deputy General Manager: Avinash Karkera
countless mom-and-pop furniture shops dotting Indian cities with their
Marketing: Vivek Malhotra, Group Chief Marketing Officer
loyal base of customers. IKEA will have to contend with all of this and
Newsstand Sales: Deepak Bhatt, Senior General Manager
have to wage a long-drawn battle for leadership in the Indian market. (National Sales); Vipin Bagga, General Manager (Operations); Rajeev
Gandhi, Deputy General Manager (North),
Elsewhere in this issue, Ashish Rukhaiyar talks to several leading Yogesh Godhanlal Gautam, Deputy Regional Sales Manager (West),
S. Paramasivam, Deputy Regional Sales Manager (South),
stock market experts and players to put together a story on how they see Piyush Ranjan Das, Senior Sales Manager (East)
the markets playing out over the rest of the year. The broad consensus
Vol. 31, No. 17, for the fortnight August 8, 2022 to August 21, 2022.
seems to be that while the worst may be behind us, it’s not a rosy picture Released on August 8, 2022.
just yet for the near term. And the reasons are many: inflation, monetary Editorial Office: India Today Mediaplex, FC 8, Sector 16/A, Film City, Noida-201301;
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Baby Steps
The central govern-
ment has banned 19
single-use plastic
items. Here’s why the
IKEA
move is important
14 THE BUZZ:
THE POINT
The Multiplier
Effect
BETTING
Overpopulation is a
major concern for
India amid limited
resources
Commodity
DESPITE SUFFERING Prices Cooling
LOSSES, THE GLOBAL COVER STORY
FURNISHINGS GIANT Prices of key agri-
commodities are
36
HAS PUMPED IN NEARLY
`10,000 CRORE AS IT expected to fall.
PURSUES AN AGGRESSIVE And more...
GROWTH STRATEGY IN
THE COUNTRY
PHOTO MONTAGE BY VARUN GUPTA
18 THE BUZZ:
SPOTLIGHT
,
NSE s Bull
Ashishkumar
Chauhan has taken
over as MD & CEO
of the NSE.
And more...
ECONOMY 66
20 UPDATE
THE NEXT 25 YEARS
On the occasion of 75 years of India’s Slipping and
Independence, some growth tips from Sliding
industry doyens for the road to 100 years
The rupee is likely
to maintain its
COVER BY NILANJAN DAS downward trend for
the rest of the year
The Taste
of Tech
Foodtech start-ups
are powering the
robotic kitchen
revolution in India
94
MARKETS THE BT INTERVIEW START-UPS:
50 56 HEALTHTECH
,
An Unpleasant Consensus Uptick in capex likely, on the
back of public capital New-age Health
Experts have already lowered their Managers
expectations from the stock market Sanjeev Krishan, Chairman of PwC
this year. They believe that the bulk in India, explains how India Inc. Riding on innova-
of the correction is behind us, but are can move ahead by navigating the tions, new-age
not yet ready to paint a rosy outlook current challenges healthcare start-ups
are disrupting India’s
insurance space
98
POLICY
Starry
Nights
As regulations bar
any substantial
night-time econo-
mic activities, India’s
night owls barely
VENTURE CAPITAL 82 HEALTHCARE 86 have anywhere to go
8|
PHOTOGRAPHIK
Photo by GETTYIMAGES / DIBYANGSHU SARKAR
BABY STEPS
THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT RECENTLY
Text by RAHUL OBEROI
BANNED 19 SINGLE-USE PLASTIC (SUP)
ITEMS. IT TAKES AROUND 1,000 YEARS
SOURCE: CENTRAL POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD, FOR A SINGLE SUP BAG TO BREAK DOWN.
THERMOFORMERS AND ALLIED INDUSTRIES HERE’S WHY THE MOVE IS IMPORTANT
ASSOCIATION, MEDIA REPORTS Business Today 26 December 2021
|9
200,000
TONNES
`10,000
CRORE
3.5
MILLION TONNES
Amount of SUP consumed The size of India’s SUP Amount of plastic waste
by Indians annually; it is 3 industry that employs India generates annually,
per cent of the total plastic 200,000 people directly according to the
produced in the country and 450,000
Business Today 26indirectly
December 2021 environment ministry
NO ROOM TO
MANOEUVRE
India’s population will be
twice that of China by
2100, according to the
THE POINT UN’s median projection#
(Figures in million)
By RAHUL OBEROI
Graphics by LABOUR PAINS
TANMOY CHAKRABORTY With the population rising, any
further drop in labour force
702 participation rate may impact
613 FY26* India’s GDP growth
FY22 (All-India labour force
489
FY12 393 participation rate as a percentage
FY21 of the working-age population)
72 71.4 71.1 67.5 66.3 65.6
50 DOMINO EFFECT Male
FY01
Rapid growth in population may
43.4 43.3 42.9 40.6 39.8 38.8
lead to a further rise in total
imports, which has already Total
jumped 12 times since FY01
IMPORT BURDEN (Total imports in $ billion;
*Estimates)
Imports of select commodities
will increase further to meet
domestic demand
Petroleum
(*Estimates;
imports in $ billion) 197 & crude
products
162
155 RISKS AHEAD
With the population rising,
82 it will be a challenge for
India to remain a net food
surplus country
22
21.1
OFF BALANCE 2011-12
263
MILLION
The number of
people India
may add to
its population
between 2021 and
2050
183
MILLION
The number of
people likely to join
the working age
group of 15-64 years
in India between
2020 and 2050
22
PER CENT
The percentage
of the incremental
global workforce that
will come from India
over the next three
decades
8
BILLION
The likely
population of
the world by
November 15,
*Projections by CMIE
2022, as per UN Economic Outlook; #UN’s low
estimates projection for India’s population is
1,002 million in 2100
COMMODITY
PRICES
COOLING
After scaling new heights in the first half
of 2022, prices of key agri-commodities
are expected to fall and bring relief to
consumers. In fact, the price of palm oil has
already halved in the international market.
This, coupled with softening prices of
BANKING ON
crude oil and a normal monsoon in India,
is bringing down the cost of packaging
and logistics, apart from raising hopes
THE BEST of a better crop yield. As packaged food
majors are planning to increase grammage,
THE BANKING SECTOR has posted a experts anticipate the return of a volume-
strong performance in the first quarter led growth cycle in the second half of FY23.
of FY23 on the back of robust growth
—ARNAB DUTTA
and improving asset quality. Consider
this: ICICI Bank, the country’s second-
biggest private sector lender, has
registered a 50 per cent year-on-year
(YoY) rise in profit after tax at `6,905
crore as against `4,616 crore in the cor-
THE NEXT The Coming
GENERATION
Gig Wave
responding quarter last year. Similarly,
IndusInd Bank and Axis Bank have also
posted jumps of 61 per cent and 91 per The auction of 5G
16 | cent in net profit at `1,603.29 crore and telecom spectrum— THE NITI AAYOG, the govern-
`4,125 crore in the first quarter, respec-
which concluded ment’s think tank, says the
tively, mainly due to a fall in bad loans.
recently—has yielded country’s gig workforce is
—TEENA JAIN KAUSHAL
the government over expected to shoot up to 23.5
`1.5 lakh crore. In a million by 2029-30, from 7.7
process spread over million in FY21. At present,
a week and after 40 around 47 per cent of the gig
RAY OF HOPE rounds, it emerged
work is in medium-skilled
jobs, 22 per cent are in high-
FOR PAYTM? that Reliance Jio
had spent the most
skilled ones, while low-skilled
jobs make up the balance,
Global and domestic institutional at `88,078 crore to says the report, titled ‘India’s
investors turned gung-ho on the stock of pick up airwaves, which includes Booming Gig and Platform
beaten-down Paytm’s parent One 97 Com- the expensive 700 MHz band, Economy’. It adds that the
munications in the June quarter. Latest followed by Bharti Airtel (`43,084 trend shows that the con-
shareholding data with the BSE show that crore) and Vodafone Idea (`18,799 centration of workers with
FIIs upped their stake to 5.45 per cent in crore). For the consumer, access to medium skills is declining
gradually, while that of those
the company from 4.42 per cent on March 5G translates to better voice and with low skills and high skills
31. Likewise, MFs raised their holdings to data services. The bigger question is increasing. “It may be ex-
1.14 per cent from 1.05 per cent in the same is how much the customer will pay pected that while the domina-
period. On July 27, shares of the company on the back of companies having tion of medium skills would
traded at `713.65, down nearly 67 per cent, coughed up such large amounts. continue till 2030, gig work
against the issue price of `2,150. Is there Companies are expected to with other skills will emerge,”
light at the end of the tunnel? launch 5G services by October. the report says.
—RAHUL OBEROI —KRISHNA GOPALAN —RAHUL OBEROI
TURBULENT
$70
WEATHER
Following repeated in-
stances of “degraded safety
margins”, aviation regulator
DGCA has curtailed the
number of flights operated
by SpiceJet by 50 per cent for BILLION
the next two months. DGCA
has also said it will maintain FALL IN FOREX
“enhanced surveillance” on RESERVES SINCE
the airline for the next eight
weeks. Meanwhile, the airline SEPTEMBER 3,
claimed the order won’t impact 2021. THE FIGURE
DOWN BUT NOT OUT operations as it had already
rescheduled flights owing to
PLUNGED BY
Amid high inflationary pressure and tight- lean demand. NEARLY 11 PER
ening of monetary policy across the world, —MANISH PANT CENT TO $572.71
the IMF has slashed India’s GDP growth BILLION ON JULY
outlook for FY23 to 7.4 per cent, which is a
downward revision of 0.8 per cent. Despite 15, 2022 FROM
the downward revision, the growth estimate $642.45 BILLION
by IMF is slightly higher than RBI’s latest es- ON SEPTEMBER 3
timate of 7.2 per cent. Despite the downward
revision, India is projected to grow faster than LAST YEAR,
developed economies like the US and China. ACCORDING
—RAJAT MISHRA TO THE RBI
NSE’s Bull
ASHISHKUMAR CHAUHAN took
over as MD & CEO of the NSE on
July 26, a day after relinquishing his
corner office at the BSE. It would
be interesting to see how Chauhan,
who was with the NSE earlier, man-
,
ages the country’s largest bourse
known for its monopoly in various WHAT S
segments, including equity deriva-
tives. Chauhan—an avid propo- NEXT?
nent of wealth creation and capital
formation via stocks—has often re- PRASHANT JAIN is one
ferred to the country’s high equity- of the most high-profile
to-derivatives ratio as encouraging fund managers of the
speculative activity. mutual fund industry. At
HDFC MF, he was man-
—ASHISH RUKHAIYAR aging three schemes
with assets totalling
nearly `90,000 crore
ASHISHKUMAR CHAUHAN PHOTO BY MANDAR DEODHAR; KISHORE BIYANI PHOTO BY RACHIT GOSWAMI
believe the signals were
German automaker in 2018 when it was recovering from the loud and clear late last
2015 Dieselgate scandal, will step down on September 1, three year when HDFC MF got
years before completing his term. Industry insiders say his fail- a new CEO from a rival
ure to turn around Cariad, the company’s software unit—that fund house. Going by
led to delays in launches of several new models of Porsche, the history of such star
18 | Audi and Bentley—seems to have cost him his job. fund managers, a new
investment firm could
—PRERNA LIDHOO
be on the anvil soon.
—ASHISH RUKHAIYAR
The failure to turn around the
carmaker,s software unit Cariad
may have cost Volkswagen CEO
Herbert Diess his job
SLIPPING
AND SLIDING
The rupee has depreciated against the dollar in
recent times and, according to experts, is likely to
maintain its downward trend for the rest of the year
20 |
BY RAJAT MISHRA
-39,993.22
4,988.79
-33,303.45
-35,591.98
-50,202.81
-41,123.14
22 |
AKASA’S
So, to what extent will it be
able to shake up the market?
FLIGHT PLAN
“Akasa is flying into an intensely
competitive market with razor-
thin margins. It is also a market
where the top two players, name-
As India’s newest airline prepares for take-off, here’s ly IndiGo and the Tata group air-
what its future may hold in the country’s intensely lines, command more than 80
per cent market share,” says Sa-
competitive aviation market BY MANISH PANT tyendra Pandey, Managing Part-
ner at aviation advisory AT-TV.
Given Akasa’s financing
X WHEN INDIA’S NEWEST scheduled airline Akasa Air takes prowess and management
to the skies on August 7, it will be launching in the world’s team, it is expected to put up a
fastest expanding aviation market that also faces a clutch of strong fight in sectors where it
challenges. The low-cost carrier, backed by billionaire in- launches operations. The airline
vestor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, will thus have to offer a prod- plans to scale up to a fleet of 20
uct that is both disruptive and different. aircraft within 18-20 months
PHOTO COURTESY BY AKASA
The expectations are high from the carrier. This was evi- of launching commercial op-
dent after tickets for its maiden flight were sold out within erations. AT-TV estimates that
hours after bookings opened on July 22. “As professionals, AKASA AIR Akasa should be able to capture
PLANS TO SCALE
we have spent one and a half years on developing a competi- UP TO A FLEET around 4 per cent market share
tive cost structure from day one,” says Founder & CEO Vi- OF 20 AIRCRAFT in the next few years. “This will
WITHIN 18-20
nay Dube. A quick check reveals that Akasa’s ticket prices MONTHS OF also help them leverage benefits
are lower than its competitors by over 22 per cent on average LAUNCHING of scale, amortise costs and set
COMMERCIAL
in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad sector. Similarly, in the Benga- OPERATIONS up operations to fly interna-
luru-Mumbai sector, its fares are lower by nearly 5 per cent. tionally. However, success also
FIRE SALE
Incidentally, Zomato’s shares
had tanked over 10 per cent dur-
ing intra-day trade on August 23
Mileage Protection
gives customers the freedom
to choose their insurance
premium based on their vehicle
usage,” says Tapan Singhel, MD
A regulatory push is creating a flurry of usage-based motor and CEO of Bajaj Allianz.
insurance policies in India Similarly, Go Digit General
Insurance has launched a ‘pay
BY TEENA JAIN KAUSHAL as you drive (PAYD)’ feature for
OD policies. Under it, policy-
holders get a discount that ap-
plies to anyone driving less than
X THERE IS GOOD NEWS for car owners who do not drive a lot, but have to keep 15,000 km per year from the
their vehicles insured nonetheless. Insurers are increasingly starting to use time the current owner bought
telematics data from vehicles to determine the premium rates of motor-vehicle the car from the showroom.
insurance policies based on a policyholder’s risk exposure, and the distance The company uses odometer
driven. The ‘pay as you drive’ motor insurance policies charge you a premium readings, telematics, and the
based on the usage of the car, which translates into a lower premium payment distance opted by the policy-
when the vehicle is driven less, and higher when it is driven more. holder to give this discount that
This economical evolution in motor insurance policies has happened follow- can go up to 25 per cent.
ing the introduction of a regulatory sandbox by regulator Insurance Regulatory These usage-based policies
and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) that has allowed general insur- are cheaper for those with less
ance companies to introduce tech-enabled concepts in motor own damage (OD) usage, such as people living in
policies. For instance, ICICI Lombard has launched a ‘pay as you use (PAYU)’ small towns and people with
policy where the premium will be based on the extent of the vehicle’s actual, or multiple vehicles. It also suits
potential, use during the policy’s coverage period. In case the distance covered people who do not drive their
by the plan is exhausted, the policyholder can top up the distance covered dur- car a lot, but still have to pay
ing the policy period. A variation of its PAYU plan is the insurer’s ‘pay how you higher premiums.
use (PHYU)’ plan that charges a premium as per the driving behaviour score of
the policyholder. @teena_kaushal
Hunkering Down
his wife Rekha continue to hold 5.05 per
cent stake in the company, according to
corporate database ACE Equity. The cu-
Big bull Rakesh Jhunjhunwala has kept his mulative value of Titan in their portfolio
stands at nearly `10,300 crore as of July
portfolio largely unchanged during the April-June 26, 2022. His stake also remained un-
quarter amid the bloodbath in the market changed in Star Health at 14.39 per cent;
Fortis Healthcare at 4.23 per cent; Ca-
BY RAHUL OBEROI nara Bank at 1.96 per cent; and CRISIL
at 2.92 per cent, among others. His wife,
too, continued to hold 3.10 per cent in
X IT IS WISE not to be overtly adventurous during a storm, say the Star Health and 2.56 per cent in CRISIL.
wise. This also holds true when the markets are in churn. Ask Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s only buy in the last
Jhunjhunwala (pictured), often referred to as the Warren Buffett of In- quarter was mid-cap company Escorts
dia. The billionaire investor has largely kept his portfolio unchanged Kubota, where he picked up 1.39 per cent
in the first quarter of the current financial year, amid the volatility in stake. In contrast, the market maven
the market. That was wise: the benchmark indices—the BSE Sensex sold 3 million shares of Tata Motors dur-
and the Nifty50—tanked over 9 per cent each because of rising con- ing the June quarter. He also pruned his
cerns over inflation and heavy foreign outflows, with investors losing stake in Indiabulls Housing Finance to
around `20 lakh crore. 1.17 per cent from 1.28 per cent. His stake
Watch-to-jewellery maker Titan Company was Jhunjhunwala’s big- in Delta Corp, Indiabulls Real Estate,
gest bet in Q1FY23. The big bull (as Jhunjhunwala is often called) and Nalco and TV18 Broadcast dropped be-
low 1 per cent. Despite the latest churn,
Jhunjhunwala and his spouse together
PHOTO BY BANDEEP SINGH
held shares worth over `27,300 crore as
28 | of July 26. The couple had stake in over
30 companies as of June 30, 2022, com-
pared to 35 at the end of the fourth quar-
ter of FY22.
So, should you follow the big bull’s in-
vestment mantra?
Kolkata-based Abhishek Basumal-
lick, Founder and Chief Equity Advisor
of research firm Intelsense Capital, is
sceptical about “cloning” his process.
“However, we can use the stock names
we get from chasing famous investors as
a starting point for research. If it makes
the cut based on our criteria, then we
can decide to buy it.” But, it has to be a
“conscious and studied decision,” he
cautions.
Kanpur-based Ekansh Mittal, Found-
er of research firm Katalyst Wealth,
agrees. “One should never chase big
investors, as complete allocation and
investment rationale are not available.
There is a considerable delay in the in-
formation. Further, every investor has
a different objective, horizon and risk
appetite. Therefore, investors should do
their due diligence or seek professional
advice for investment.”
@iamrahuloberoi
BY UDAYAN MUKHERJEE
34 |
E
EVEN THOUGH the economic
world is accustomed to periodic
ups and downs, most seasoned
observers place their faith on a
that cannot be addressed through
a monetary or fiscal manoeuvre—
tweaking interest rates or printing
money. So, for many Americans,
industries. Whereas a drought in a
small Asian island wouldn’t even
have made for a footnote in the
western media, now everyone, from
certain rhythm to this ebb and the best example of a Black Swan California to Gurugram, seems to be
flow—namely, that corrective event would be the Lehman Broth- praying for rains in Taiwan.
policy action and market forces ers collapse, almost as much as the Or take the case of China, where
will inevitably address the causes 9/11 attack. But, as the events of the the government has chosen such a
behind any downturn, paving the last two years have shown, and the strict tolerance policy against Co-
way for the next upswing. And life severe heatwaves of this summer vid-19 that shutdowns have brought
will go on. This cyclicality, almost portend, far bigger calamities prob- economic growth to a standstill. In
akin to the seasons of nature, lies ably lie in store in the years ahead, the second quarter, GDP growth
at the core of most long-term fore- to which there is no quick fix known slowed to 0.4 per cent, and most
casting and preparation. But what to man. analysts believe that too was an over-
if repeated assaults on the edifice This is particularly germane to stated number. More than two years
of this cyclicality have brought the economic world, as the damage after its onset, this is how heavy a
things to a point where familiar would not only show up in loss of life price the pandemic continues to
patterns begin to disappear, mak- or livelihood in some remote part of exact on global economic growth.
ing the future far more difficult the globe, which the western world The most recent instance of
to envisage with any degree of can dismiss with some polite, insin- alarm has been the series of con-
accuracy? A sense of helplessness, cere acknowledgement. This time it tinuing heatwaves sweeping across
albeit self-induced, may begin to is showing up in hard, quantifiable the western world. 40 degrees
take root, shaking the world out of losses running into trillions, and Celsius, mostly unheard of in the
its smug complacency. We are at threatening to become even worse. Continent, is par for the course
that crossroads today. Taiwan, the world’s chip factory, is a this summer. And there is more at
The dominance of the US good example. Since last year, it has stake than a sweaty brow. Wheat
in global economic affairs, and been witnessing the worst drought prices are going through the roof as
its obsession with the world of in five decades, as typhoons have all production plummets in Europe;
finance, has led us to view all but disappeared and monsoons rare. olive oil prices soar as Italy grapples
matters through the prism of Chip factories are water guzzlers and with its worst drought in 70 years.
money. A firm belief that there is production has had to be curtailed The Food and Agriculture Organi-
practically nothing in the world severely, leading to shortages across zation or FAO’s Food Prices Index
has been on a tear this year, even as to hear people talk about the pos- Slowly, it is beginning to dawn
food inflation crossed 10 per cent in sibility of another Black Swan event upon CEOs of giant corporations,
June in the US, and nothing that the in the financial markets, triggered and leaders of the western world, | 35
European Central Bank or the US by the recent inflation and reces- that the planet is in a scary place.
Federal Reserve can do will reverse sion concerns. But, in this milieu For too long, they have focussed
it easily. The gods of the financial of climate change, how far are we only on the benefits of growth,
world seem powerless in front of the from a colossal natural disaster like ignoring all the costs. Now, the
forces of nature. the 2004 Asian tsunami or the 2011 chickens are coming home to roost
Now what if these events were earthquake in Japan? The prospect and there is no place for them to
not one-off aberrations, but the tip is too painful to even contemplate, hide. Till recently, they would say
of the iceberg? Everyone in the eco- though the threat so very real. tactful things about climate change
nomic universe is always in a tearing It may suit politicians to under- and ESG, only to roll their eyes in
rush to proclaim the end of a crisis play these perils, but the general private and dismiss it all as alarm-
and ‘move on’ to the next phase of public is not fooled. As populations ist, leftist tripe. Not any longer, for
growth and profits, even as wiser recognise this inability of their now the fire has reached their own
men warn us against it. Bill Gates elected governments to undo the doorstep. This is no longer an Afri-
and the World Health Organization damage and address their woes, can or Asian nightmare they
are on record saying that there will unrest is creeping in. With inflation can afford to ignore. But it is too
be more pandemics soon, perhaps and cost of living issues spiralling late, already.
even deadlier than the present one. out of control, political instability We are used to a world where
If this prediction, of a Covid-19-like of the likes seen in Sri Lanka or Bra- periods of expansion dwarf inter-
pandemic every few years, was to zil may become more widespread, mittent bouts of contraction, but
come true, where would it leave pros- further imperilling an already could soon be simply lurching from
pects for global growth? fraught world. one crisis to another, with the very
The World Meteorological The truth is that we have pushed notion of a regular cycle fundamen-
Organization or WMO warns that our planet beyond a tipping point. tally altered. The world’s economic
heatwaves and forest fires will The future is now full of unknown- graph over the next few decades may
become recurring features, heavily unknowns, though it would be fairer not resemble the gentle undulating
impacting crops in years to come. to call them known-unknowns as humps of a camel’s back inexorably
Will food inflation be tamed then, this is all our doing, and we should sloping higher, but jagged shards of
through interest rate hikes? have seen it coming. None of this broken glass. Many of those tips will
These days, it is not uncommon should surprise us, really. be pointing southwards.
INDIA
CHALLENGE
36 |
I
KEA’S FIRST INDIA store came
up in Hyderabad in August
2018, but its India plan began
to unfold seven months later.
On March 4, 2019, IKEA India’s
board of directors gathered for an
extraordinary general meeting at
its registered office in DLF Tower- “It’s a big, big country and we have just
A at South East Delhi’s Jasola Dis- started to enter [India]. There is so much
trict Centre. As the government
prepared to relax local sourcing
to do. [And India is] a very important
norms for overseas single-brand growth market for IKEA”
retailers, the board decided to
raise four-fold the company’s au-
thorised share capital, the maxi-
SUSANNE PULVERER
mum amount allowed to be raised
CEO AND CHIEF SUSTAINABILITY OFFICER,
legally through a share issue— IKEA INDIA
from `2,655 crore to `10,000
crore. The move was crucial. Since
its incorporation in August, 2013,
IKEA India had sucked in funds
from its Netherlands-based par- PRIMED FOR
ent for expansion through every
possible avenue it had. However, GROWTH
for further capital through equity
IKEA is bullish about growth in India amid slowing
1
infusion, raising the authorised
share capital was imperative. western economies
That move was a vote of con-
fidence in the Indian market’s It is ramping up store expansion with big-ticket
growth opportunity. As per IHS
Markit, in 2019, per capita con-
2 investments targeted at millions of Indian millennials
3
A fast-growing furniture market and investments by
stood at $5 (`400) while in IKEA’s
branded players have led to growing interest among
two largest markets—the US and
Germany—the figures were $733 consumers
and $661, respectively. Industry
Local players—both branded and unbranded—remain
veteran Swapneel Nagarkar, Se-
nior Vice President & Business
Head at Godrej Interio, estimates
4 IKEA’s biggest hurdles
5
the overall furniture market in In- The Swedish home furnishings giant has changed its
dia at $16 billion (`1.3 lakh crore), go-to-market strategy with a ‘closer to the customer’
and poised to double by 2027. The approach and increasing local sourcing
organised part of that market, by ers,” he says. Young millennials, for meeting demands of finished
value, stood at `50,000 crore in consumers who may have started and intermediate goods.” In this
2019, as per estimates by PwC, earning but are yet to turn rich, scenario, IKEA hopes its global
which further projects the organ- are the ones who currently fit its network of suppliers will place it
ised market to grow to `1,95,200 target profile. at an advantage over local players.
crore by 2035. The big opportu- The millennial is just one piece At the same time, Pulverer
nity: in spite of newer players of the long-term puzzle. If India’s says the company has set a target
entering the market, branded home furnishings market is set of locally sourcing half of what it
companies sell only a tenth of all for a bull run, IKEA is preparing sells in India, up from 27 per cent.
furniture sold in India. to ride the animal. The company’s Over the years, IKEA has secured
IKEA’s plan is to capture the market researchers noted in a re- sourcing partners for textiles, car-
millions of young Indian consum- cent report: “The current level of pets and smaller home furnishing
ers who are on the verge of start- growth in output (supply) is not accessories at constant quality.
ing their family—either alone in sufficient to meet this demand. Now it is looking to begin sourcing
a new city or with their partners. Based on the business-as-usual mattresses locally. “Then sofas,
According to Bedraj Tripathy, a scenario, the sector’s output will metal furniture and then wooden
branded furniture industry vet- expand to about 1.5 times by 2035, furniture. That’s a very big step,
eran and currently Co-founder from $6.96 billion in 2019 to ap- where we need partners to invest
& CEO of UnboxSpaces, IKEA is proximately $10.4 billion by 2035, to build [supply] capability,” she
eyeing a fraction of the vast home which is quite below the expected says. The criticality is apparent
furnishings market for now. “Typ- domestic future demand by 2035. because wooden furniture still
ically, it is the younger consum- Thus, it reflects that systemic in- makes up the bulk of IKEA’s sales
ers that are exposed to the IKEA efficiencies will ensure that the and forms its primary identity
brand. This group comprises furniture industry in India will amongst consumers. Increasing
40 | about 200-250 million consum- continue to depend on imports local sourcing is crucial for its suc-
DATA TILL JUNE 6; SOURCE REGISTRAR OF COMPANIES, MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS, COMPANIES, INDUSTRY
G
to Hong Kong again. By February, a year ago. Its operating expenses,
IVEN THE KIND OF money it IKEA India raised `2,070 crore however, jumped to `1,092 crore
is pumping in, IKEA is clear- in two tranches against non-con- from `1,067 crore in 2019-20. As
ly in India for the long haul. vertible debentures (NCDs), of a result, IKEA’s net loss expanded
Over the past few years, it which `1,370 crore, raised in Janu- to `808 crore in 2020-21, from
pumped in thousands of ary, was meant for purchasing `721 crore in 2019-20. According
crores to put the local unit on a land parcels in Hyderabad, Mum- to industry experts like Tripathy,
strong footing. In the run-up to bai and Bengaluru, IKEA India IKEA’s vast scale of physical retail
its first Blue Box in Hyderabad, as said in RoC filings. Following an- outlets is a key factor in its high
per documents available with the other `750-crore equity infusion initial costs. Its long-haul stance
Registrar of Companies (RoC), in April and raising its authorised for the market allows it to invest
the global management from its share capital the next year, till such large sums of money without
Leiden (Netherlands) office in- June 6, 2022, the company has se- having to break even within the
fused at least `1,650 crore into the cured at least `4,400 crore against short- to medium term.
local unit between mid-2015 and fresh equities, masala bonds and Take its flagship Navi Mumbai
end-2016. Plus, IKEA India raised NCDs from group entities spread store, for instance. Spread across
`300 crore in masala bonds from across Ireland, China and the 500,000 sq. ft, the store may have
IKEA Asia Treasury Centre Ltd, a Netherlands. RoC documents cost IKEA in excess of `600 crore. | 41
Anuj Puri, Chairman of real es- costs in check, these centres also the shift from the unorganised
tate consultant Anarock Group, allow swift delivery. As the com- to organised sector, because con-
says that an estimated `12,000 pany now plans to venture into sumers would be inclined to ex-
per sq. ft could be the cost of land Delhi-NCR, Pulverer says setting plore what all is available before
and construction alone. Then up a fulfilment centre in the re- making their decision. And IKEA
there is running cost. According gion would be imperative before definitely carries its brand name
to Parineeta Cecil Lakra, Coun- IKEA opens its doors to consum- and global reputation,” he says.
try People & Culture Manager at ers. After setting up its flagship Godrej Interio, the largest player
IKEA India, it takes nearly 1,000 large-format stores in Hyderabad, in the branded furniture market
people to run its large-format Mumbai and Bengaluru, IKEA’s with `2,500 crore in annual sales,
stores. Comparatively, leading in- next big move is expected to come has chalked out its own expan-
dustry players like Godrej Interio in Noida and Gurugram. But un- sion plan. The company, which
or Pepperfry have so far launched like other cities, here the company has some 1,200 outlets including
their largest stores measuring is planning to open shops inside 500 branded stores, now aims to
about 10,000 sq. ft in markets like high-street malls that will be built add 100 outlets every year. Ac-
Bengaluru and Delhi. by its parent Ingka Group. cording to Nagarkar, the com-
But it is not just the stores that pany expects its sales to grow
G
guzzle IKEA’s funds. Being in the at 20-25 per cent a year, up from
furniture business means setting ODREJ INTERIO’S Nagarkar its current rate of 15-20 per cent.
up and maintaining large ware- is, however, unfazed by “The next goal is to be at `3,000
houses and fulfilment centres IKEA’s massive plans. crore yearly sales. And eventual-
closer to key markets in top met- “Players like IKEA coming ly, in the next three to five years,
ros. Apart from keeping logistics in will further accelerate take it in the direction of about
42 |
SHAKY START
IKEA India has been incurring losses for the past few years
1,500
1,000
500
PHOTO BY SANDESH RAVIKUMAR
NET PROFIT/
(LOSS)
0
TOTAL REVENUE NET SALES OPERATING
EXPENDITURE
-500
-1,000
FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21; FIGURES IN ` CRORE BIG OPPORTUNITY For $42-billion Swedish
SOURCE: REGISTRAR OF COMPANIES, MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS cracking the fast-growing India market is
| 43
24.4
25
GAINING
STRENGTH 20 17.2
Demand for 15 11.7
furniture is growing
10 7.6
multifold in India 6.2
FIGURES IN $ BILLION 5
*PROJECTION 0
SOURCE PwC 2019 2020 2025* 2030* 2035*
10% 6%
(`32,000 9%
CRORE)
25% 60%
90%
(`2,88,000
CRORE)
HOME COMMERCIAL/OFFICE
BRANDED PLAYERS UNBRANDED PLAYERS HOTELS/RESTAURANTS OTHERS
home furnishings giant IKEA, MARKET SHARE IN PER CENT SOURCE INTERNATIONAL TRADE PROMOTION
important SOURCE INDIAN BRAND EQUITY FOUNDATION COUNCIL
WORRIED
GROWING UNEASE WITH THE VOLATILE ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT DENTS THE
MORALE OF BUSINESSES AND SENDS BT ’S BUSINESS CONFIDENCE INDEX SLIDING
FROM THE PREVIOUS QUARTER ’S LEVELS . BUT WHILE THERE ARE AREAS OF
CONCERN , TOP ECONOMISTS POINT TO STRONG SIGNALS OF POSITIVITY
BY ALOKESH BHATTACHARYYA
GRAPHICS BY RAJ VERMA
Jan-Mar 2022
Apr-Jun 2022
Jul-Sep 2021
Oct-Dec 2021
Jul-Sep 2020
Apr-Jun 2020
Jan-Mar 2020
Jan-Mar 2021
Oct-Dec 2020
Apr-Jun 2021
ON A SLIPPERY SLOPE THE GRIND MIXED SIGNALS
Industries of all types have seen a fall Is the domestic market Inflation, both wholesale and retail,
in confidence in Q1 of 2022-23… enough to sustain seems to be moderating
demand for your
Jul-Sep 2021 Oct-Dec 2021 company’s products? WPI (%) CPI (%)
Jan-Mar 2022 Apr-Jun 2022 18
16 15.18
55.5
56.4
14
54.1
Yes No Can’t say
49.8
50.4
50.1
50.6
48.5
Inflation (%)
51.2
52.1
46.9
48.2
12
10 7.01
8 6.73
6
22% 4 -0.25
2
67% 11% 0
-2 Jul ’20 Jun ’22
100
56.4
53.7
53.8
53.2
52.4
51.4
50.2
80
49.3
50.3
49.5
49.2
49.1
46.4
48.1
56% 44%
47.7
60
40 -16.55 13.81 6.74
20
0
-20
Are input costs rising -40Jun ’20 Apr ’22
for your business? In a press release, NSO has stated that it would
Big Mid-sized Small Micro
not be appropriate to compare the IIP of April and
business business business business
14% May 2020 with indices of earlier months
“No one is worried Says Kumar: “This time the inflation is not so much
about a recession in about excess demand but about disruption in supply.
India. They’re worried And monetary policy, interest rate hike, etc. work only in
about costs. Most curbing excess demand. Having said that, I feel the gov-
manufacturing firms ernment and RBI have taken substantial steps both on
have had to deal with the supply and the demand side, and therefore we might
relatively high costs” see inflation having peaked.”
In fact, the economists say that many of the concerns
OMKAR GOSWAMI of the first quarter are getting moderated now especially
FOUNDER, CERG ADVISORY
because of the fall in commodity prices, because crude
oil prices have softened considerably in recent weeks,
“The government and because the RBI has taken measures to fight infla-
and RBI have taken tion, which seem to be working.
substantial steps both On the other hand, the increasing gap between im-
on the supply and the ports and exports (see chart ‘The Trade Deficit is Widen-
demand side, and ing…’) does cause some concern, despite the notion that a
therefore we might see low current account deficit is actually good for the econ-
inflation having peaked” omy because it means less inflow of money into the sys-
tem and, therefore, less impact on inflation. “It depends
RAJIV KUMAR on the size of the trade deficit,” says Goswami of CERG
EX-VICE CHAIRMAN, NITI AAYOG
Advisory. “If you have a balance of payments (BOP) defi-
cit that crosses 2.5 per cent of GDP, which it has, then
“The domestic situation there is a concern. As long as trade is increasing, a mar-
is good on the sales ginal trade deficit of half a per cent or even 1 per cent of
or revenue side. The GDP is not a big deal. But our trade deficit and BOP defi- | 49
problem is in input costs. cit are now becoming larger. So, there is a concern.”
ICRA’s Nayar, though, is slightly more positive:
Apart from fuel, coal has
“With commodity prices coming down, the trade defi-
been a big problem for
cit should now be somewhat smaller than what it was
steel users, for instance” earlier, although weaker global growth would dampen
ABHEEK BARUA exports. That is also a positive going ahead. For the bal-
CHIEF ECONOMIST AND EXECUTIVE ance of payments, we are expecting a deficit in FY23.
VICE PRESIDENT, HDFC BANK
But specifically to FII outflows, the worst will certainly
be behind us. Even the rupee may now enter a period of
“With commodity prices consolidation, and subsequently if global sentiment im-
having corrected, proves, we could see a mild appreciation as well.”
this would be a net What the economists agree on, across the board, is
positive for the Indian the economic situation in the US. The 75 bps interest
economy and possibly rate hike by US Fed Chair Jerome Powell was on ex-
would result in better pected lines, and he did say he did not believe the US is
confidence in Q2FY23” currently in a recession. But Indian economists believe
the country is certainly headed that way. (Caveat: These
ADITI NAYAR interviews were taken before Powell’s announcements.)
CHIEF ECONOMIST, ICRA LIMITED
Says Kumar: “The US will most likely slip into a reces-
sion. That is because the Fed acted too late and now will
go the other way.” Adds Barua of HDFC Bank: “Even if
MANY OF THE CONCERNS it’s not a deep recession, there will be a shallow reces-
OF THE FIRST QUARTER ARE sion.” That will certainly impact US market demand for
GETTING MODERATED NOW Indian companies engaged in business in that country.
ESPECIALLY BECAUSE OF THE But back home, all metrics point towards slow im-
FALL IN COMMODITY PRICES, provement in the ground situation and, hopefully, a
SAY ECONOMISTS much improved business sentiment next time.
@alokeshb
MARKETS OUTLOOK
AN UNPLEASANT
CONSENSUS
leading market experts have already lowered
their expectations from the stock market this
year, and while they believe that the bulk
of the correction is behind us, they are not yet
ready to paint a rosy outlook
BY ASHISH RUKHAIYAR
I
Most broking firms and experts in India have
forecast a middling performance target for the
Sensex and the Nifty for end-2022
Nifty/Sensex Downward
year-end target revision since
(2022) January
BofA Securities 14,500 Yes
Nomura 16,900 Yes
Motilal Oswal
17,500 Yes
Financial Services
IIFL 17,600/59,000 Yes
ICICIdirect 18,700* Yes
Nikhil Kamath 23,000-25,000** NA
Shankar Sharma 58,000-59,000 No
MOVING IN TANDEM
“IN THE LONG RUN, WE ARE ALL DEAD.” The author The BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices have mir-
of this widely quoted sentence is celebrated 20th cen- rored the benchmark Sensex for the past 10 years
tury economist John Maynard Keynes, who is often re- 80
ferred to as the father of macroeconomics—the branch
of economics that deals with interest rates, govern- 60
ment spending and taxes to manage an economy’s 40
growth. The sentence is also perhaps best suited to 20
52 | reflect the current mood of the stock markets, wherein
0
everyone, as always, is bullish on the long-term India 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
growth story. But, there is a wide consensus among -20
market participants on the near-term concerns related -40
to interest rates, inflation and economic growth. S&P BSE SENSEX S&P BSE MIDCAP S&P BSE SMALLCAP
If data is anything to go by, there are strong SOURCE BT RESEARCH
headwinds in the stock markets that also explain the
tumultuous movement of Indian equity benchmarks
that were, till recently, down over 18 per cent when com-
pared to the all-time highs the indices touched last year.
A further 2 per cent fall, and the Sensex and Nifty
PUTTING UP A FIGHT
would technically be in ‘bear market’ territory that While earlier the famed bull runs on the bourses were drive
is typically marked by long bouts of range-bound market in recent times, domestic investors have started pic
movement. The Nasdaq in the US is currently in a bear 80,000
market zone, having dived nearly 29 per cent from the
52-week high of 16,212 it hit on November 22, 2021. 60,000
Back in India, the S&P BSE Sensex touched its 40,000
(IN ` CRORE)
Sep ’20
Oct ’20
Nov ’20
Dec ’20
Feb ’21
Mar ’21
Apr ’21
May ’21
Jun ’21
Jul ’ 21
Sep ’21
Oct ’21
Nov ’21
Dec ’21
Feb ’22
Mar ’22
Apr ’22
May ’22
Jun ’22
Jul ’22
foreign investors sell Indian (and Asian emerging mar- act in the coming months. Nikhil Kamath, Co-founder
54 | ket) stocks in record amounts.” of stockbroking firm Zerodha, believes that FPIs have
In the US, inflation touched 9.1 per cent in June, the been reallocating capital amidst a rise in global interest
highest since November 1981. The UK is also witnessing rates, and this will continue till further rate increases
its highest ever inflation in 40 years at 9.4 per cent in happen in the global markets.
June. Japan’s core consumer inflation has stayed above Sanjay Mookim, Strategist and India Head of Re-
its central bank’s 2 per cent target for the third consecu- search at JPMorgan, says an immediate reversal of the
tive month in June. In Germany, inflation hit 8.2 per trend in FPI flows looks difficult. “The US Fed is raising
cent in the same month, even as its central bank expects rates while the Indian economy is slowing. Unless oil
a further spike in September. Incidentally, nearly half of prices ease meaningfully, it will be difficult for flows to
the 19 countries in the Eurozone are now facing double- return,” he says. Interestingly, the current month has
digit annual inflation with the overall rate at the high- seen a slight slowing of sorts as FPIs have been net sell-
est point since 1999, when the group was created. ers at a modest $179 million till July 27. But according to
Meanwhile, inflation in India eased slightly to 7.01 per market participants, it is too early to call it a trend.
cent in June from 7.04 per cent in the previous month, “We have already seen a reduction in the pace of sell-
but it has stayed above the Reserve Bank of India’s upper ing in the last few days. In recent months, FPIs were net
limit of six per cent for six consecutive months now. sellers to the tune of around `2,500 crore a day, which
Simply put, central banks globally hike rates to rein has come down to around `1,000 crore a day in the last
in inflation, and that in turn affects the flows into 10 days... We expect FPIs to be net buyers in the days to
the stock markets, especially from FPIs, in emerging come when the global uncertainties settle down,” says
markets, including India. Hence, it does not come as a domestic broking firm IIFL.
surprise that FPIs have pulled out a record $28.6 billion Siddhartha Khemka, VP and Head of Retail Research
in the current calendar year (till July 27). More impor- at Motilal Oswal Financial Services, expects FPI selling
tantly, overseas investors have been net sellers for nine to reverse around September this year “once the full
consecutive months starting October 2021, and have impact of inflation plays out on corporate earnings”.
sold shares worth a cumulative $33.6 billion till June. “By that time, the performance of the monsoon and
Experts appear divided on the outlook for foreign its impact would be known to the market. H2FY23 also
flows, but all agree that it depends on how central banks marks the start of the festive season, which could bring
demand back and revive the economy. Inflation might IS THE WORST BEHIND US?
also peak out by that time while central banks might get “I think the worst is over for India,” says Sharma, though
over with the aggressive rate hike cycle. All these factors he believes that a worst-case scenario could see a further
can lead to FPI flows returning,” he adds. 10 per cent fall in the benchmarks. While the benchmark
More importantly, experts believe that domestic Sensex was up nearly 5.3 per cent in the current month till
institutional investors or DIIs—that include mutual July 27, it has come on the back of three successive months
funds, insurance companies, banks and financial of fall that saw the index drop over 5,500 points, or nearly
institutions—would continue pouring huge amounts 9.5 per cent. The Nifty, meanwhile, is currently down over
of money into stocks, and support the markets like they 10 per cent when compared to its record high of 18,604.45
have been doing for the past several months. “I expect touched in October 2021 but experts believe it is too early
domestic liquidity to be very strong,” says Shankar Shar- to conclude that the market has bottomed out.
ma of First Global while adding that the worst seems to Arora believes that the Nifty could bottom out be-
be over for India. Citing the headroom available, he says tween 14,500 and 15,000, whereas Nomura’s Mukherjee
that there is an overall return potential of 15 per cent per pegs the bottom at around 14,500 by assigning a 16 times
annum for the Indian market. multiple to FY24 consensus earnings, and assuming 5
per cent lower-than-projected earnings. IIFL expects
THE SAFE BETS the Nifty to trade in the range of 14,800 to 16,800 during
Irrespective of the state of the markets, experts always the next few months, adding that “it is too early to call it
have a set of sectors that they believe are safe bets from a a bottom with a medium-term perspective”.
long-term investment horizon. Rakesh Arora, Managing Kamath is of the view that India is in a “structural
Partner at Go India Advisors, says that investors should long-term bull run,” though the current downswing
focus on domestic oriented sectors like cement, industri- could easily last a few quarters, and a fall between 5-10
als, and banks while staying away from global sectors like per cent is possible. “The sentiment around Indian
metals and IT, among others. “It will be best to stick to equity markets has deteriorated significantly… It is quite
large-caps, and debt-free mid-caps,” he says. possible for the Indian market to fall further along with
For First Global’s Sharma, renewable energy and weaker global equities,” says Mookim of JPMorgan.
small-sized FMCG companies are the safe bets, though Perhaps nothing sums up the investors’ mood better
he believes that large-caps will disappoint. “The main than the latest edition of the Bank of America Global
area of focus has to be small-caps. I see Indian small- Fund Manager Survey that was conducted in July. “Dire
caps being the best equities in the world,” he adds. level of investor pessimism… expectations for global
Zerodha’s Kamath advises investors to stay away growth and profits are at all-time lows; cash levels are
from growth stocks and IPOs, even as he is bullish on highest since 9/11; equity allocation is at the lowest since
banking. Interestingly, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund Lehman... global growth expectations have slumped to
also believes that investors should avoid platform-based net -79 per cent, an all-time low; and recession anticipa-
businesses and chemical businesses owing to valuations. tion is at the highest since May 2020,” the report states.
For Pankaj Pandey, Head of Research at ICICIdirect, the Most investors do not like to see the market fall but
sectors that could do well include banks, automobiles, it appears that there is an unpleasant consensus when
capital goods & power, and retail & hospitality. BofA it comes to the near-term outlook. In the long term, as
Securities prefers a defensive strategy, and is overweight Keynes said, all are anyway dead.
on the energy sector due to high energy prices along with
sectors such as staples, healthcare, and utilities. @ashishrukhaiyar
THE BT INTERVIEW
S anjeev Krishan,
51, has long been
regarded as PwC’s
go-to man for
business deals in
India. He rose from
an articled trainee
to occupy the top job at the consulting
major in January last year. As Chairman
of PwC in India, he is developing
capacity to help the corporate sector
Russia. Clearly, India is in a sweeter spot. The ability
to do that [business] at scale and the presence of a
huge local market positions India quite well. If
everybody starts to think about localising manufac-
turing and even localising services at some point in
time, India’s demographic dividend will come into
play. I’m very positive about the whole captive space
in India because that’s where the demographic divi-
dend is going to show up. Globally, a big challenge
is the shortage of right-, high-quality talent at an
affordable cost.
that has already been created, how does ON THE something that is not going to withstand the
LOCALISATION
one continue to leverage that and not OF SUPPLY vagaries of the VUCA world and that I might
make SEZs ghost towns? A lot of it was CHAINS as well sell this business.
predicated on financial giveaways. So how Private equity capital is available, but
do you leverage that infrastructure and It’s not like a they [the PE funds] are looking at your met-
make it more productive? That’s one of the switch that you rics. For decent businesses, private capital
can turn on
key things. The second question is how to is usually available. I believe that portfolio
and off. But the
align the broader SEZ policy with what we localisation of rationalisation is going to be key as we move
want to do in general, such as PLI and Aat- supply chains is forward. When you go beyond the top 20
manirbhar Bharat. How do you align vari- bound to happen, corporates, there is clearly a focus on port-
ous government initiatives? China is also and happen folio rationalisation and not doing the same
everywhere. And
focussing on inputs. That’s very important. wherever and
things over and over again. At the end of the
Clearly, the intent in India is also to focus whoever can day, everybody wants to create value. When
on what is absolutely critical, whether it is localise quicker, scaling up, forward and backward integra-
chemicals for pharmaceuticals, whether will be able to tion would be prioritised over inordinate
it is semiconductors or chips for your come through expansion. We are also seeing a generational
reasonably
automobile industry. So, whatever you are unscathed. shift with many family businesses and
good at or wherever economics works for conglomerates, changing perspectives and a
you, you really need a back end. We have to more favourable approach to M&As.
ON DEALS
make it through the broader SEZ and other
government policies. The SEZ law will re- Deals will Q: When you took over last January,
inforce India’s position as a manufacturing continue to you talked about a five-year strategy.
hub and key investment destination. happen. Until How much progress has been made?
now, all deals A: We articulated our aspiration of being
Q: Despite low capacity utilisation took place for | 59
growth reasons,
more relevant to Indian businesses. When
and demand, there has been consoli- but today a lot of we looked at our portfolio, we needed to
dation and M&A activity. How do you them are going increase the work that we were doing with
justify this appetite of India Inc. for to take place for Indian businesses and create more rel-
deals? consolidation evance for them. And we identified certain
reasons.
A: The good news is that deals will continue sectors and areas like emerging technolo-
to happen, and as a deals person, I’m very gies, cloud, ERP, analytics, cybersecurity,
happy. Until now, it [the deals] has all been ON CAPITAL etc. If you look at the amount of money that
EXPENDITURE
for growth reasons, but today a lot of it is India Inc. is spending on digital transfor-
going to be for consolidation reasons. In the The government mation, you will see that a large part of
first quarter of 2022, if we look at the start- has put out that is going into cloud and cybersecurity.
up ecosystem, the amount of private capital a significant For instance, look at financial services or
that the start-ups raised was very sig- amount of money consumer businesses. They are the ones
nificant. The dry powder available globally for the revival of
the capital cycle.
that have a lot of consumer interface. They
has recently crossed $900 billion. Just as We should see an are adopting the cloud, AI, bots, etc. As rural
globalisation is a disruptor, so much private uptick in capital area consumption [of technology] goes up,
capital available globally is also a disruptor. expenditure, the next level is local language capabilities.
Today, private capital is a major disruptor. particularly Blockchain is one area where there is a huge
on the back of
public capital. possibility of use cases. I think these are the
Q: There was a time when corporate I would like to technology areas in which we are continuing
India or the experts used to talk believe that it will to make investments. We recently signed an
about focussing on core competence. help the private agreement to acquire Venerate Solutions, a
Today, big corporations are diversi- sector have digital company. We will look at a couple of
the confidence
fying into multiple areas. Do you see to enhance its acquisitions in the technology space in the
a rationalisation of portfolios in the capacity. next two to three years. A part of our strat-
large- or mid-corporate segment? egy is also to support India’s $5-trillion GDP
A: I think the question is that when money aspirations and we are looking at increasing
gets dearer, you want to do fewer things. I’m our relevance in the domestic market.
noticing that people are doing a big review
of their portfolios and saying that this is @TheSouravM, @anandhikari
IPO
S M
I
SMES HAVE RAISED
NEARLY `8,000 CRORE
THROUGH IPOs V I B R
D E S P I T E L I M I T E D T R
T H E I R D E D I CAT E D
B O U RS E S L I ST E D S M
ST E A DY G ROW T H
BY A S H I S H
I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y
OVER 250
COMPANIES HAVE
MIGRATED FROM
THE SME PLATFORM
TO THE MAIN
BOARD SO FAR
FUNDS RAISED
BY SMEs THROUGH
IPOs IN 2022 HAVE
ALREADY BREACHED
THE 2021
QUANTUM
O SMES
A L L
S
A N T
NEARLY 50 SME
COMPANIES HAVE
GONE FOR IPOs TILL
DATE IN 2022
R A D I N G T R ACT I O N O N
P L AT FO R M S AT T H E
E s H AV E R EG I ST E R E D
OV E R T H E Y E A RS
RU K H A I YA R
ANIRBAN GHOSH
IN 2018, A RECORD
141 SME IPOs
WERE LAUNCHED
48,400
CRORE
APPROXIMATE MARKET
CAPITALISATION OF
ALL LISTED SMEs IN INDIA AS
ON JULY 11, ACCORDING
TO THE EXCHANGES
L
ET US GO BACK a decade. Then, the business for good. “The best thing to come with list-
India already had a vibrant ing is the level of professionalism in our company,” says
stock market with many well- Rahul Batra. “When we decided to get listed, we brought
known business families and on board a professional CFO who helped us save a lot on
conglomerates having listed interest costs. We got experts in HR, sales, data manage-
their companies on the bourses. ment and almost for everything. Once you are listed in the
But a missing link was a dedi- market, you have to deliver good results and that pressure
cated platform for small and helped us perform better. If we had not listed, we wouldn’t
medium enterprises (SMEs)— have brought in this kind of professionalism,” he adds.
often considered the backbone One of the reasons for improved professionalism is
of any economy. For context, the fact that listing brings with it institutional investors
government data shows there as the SME arena has been seeing traction from them.
are nearly 9.8 million registered “The SME segment has grown significantly year on
micro, small and medium enter- year, especially during pre-Covid-19 times. Many of our
prises or MSMEs in the country. IPOs witnessed participation from mutual funds, alterna-
Such a platform was always on the minds of market tive investment funds, and ultra HNIs,” says Mahavir Lu-
participants—something on the lines of the London nawat, Founder, Pantomath Capital, an investment bank-
Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market or AIM ing firm that has managed more than 100 SME issues.
platform—wherein such companies could be provided He adds that the issues have provided exits to PE/VC
with a lenient set of listing rules, which would prepare funds, while there have been cases of acquisitions, fur-
them to migrate to the main exchanges after a few years.
Eventually, such a segment was launched—both on
the BSE and the National Stock Exchange (NSE)—in
March 2012. Soon after, the first SME listed. If the num-
bers are anything to go by, the segment has registered
consistent growth since inception. That’s commendable,
considering that its trading turnover pales in compari-
son to the benchmark indices. For example, on the BSE
SME, the average daily trading turnover in July is pegged
Given that listing
at `18.5 crore with the cumulative turnover at nearly `315
crore; on the BSE, the comparable figures are `3,211 crore
has its benefits and
and `54,588 crore, respectively. The segment has also
helped companies grow and scale to the next level by pro-
there are a lot of
viding them the benefits of listing, like increased visibil-
ity, better access to finance and better compliance and
SMEs wanting to get
processes, along with the respect a listed entity enjoys. listed, there is strong
THE BENEFITS OF LISTING
Brothers Rahul and Varun Batra are Directors of Beta
potential for growth
Drugs, an SME listed on NSE Emerge. Theirs was a busi- of both SMEs and the
ness like any other family-managed venture, and it was do-
ing pretty well before being listed. But listing did change segment
Business Today 21 August 2022
SME IPOs IN 2022
This year, March and June saw the highest
number of IPOs by SMEs, with 27 of them
raising `487 crore in total
300 16
250 14
12
200
10
150 8
100 6
4
50
2
0 0
January February March April May June
ther fund-raising and significant expansions after listing TOTAL ISSUE AMOUNT IN ` CRORE (LHS)
in several cases. “This segment has emerged as a true al- NUMBER OF SME IPOs (RHS) SOURCE PRIME DATABASE
ternative for early-stage businesses to raise growth capi-
tal without the interest burden,” he says.
their directors and promoters were barred suring that sustainable businesses are
from the markets for allegedly using the brought to the public in order to strive
exchange platforms for money laundering, for next-level growth,” says Lunawat.
tax evasion and manipulation.
“The schemes, plan, device and artifice STRONG POTENTIAL
employed in this case, apart from being a As for those who have taken advantage of
possible case of money laundering or tax “The success the platform diligently, the benefits are
evasion which could be seen by the con- of this platform many. “The SME platform prepares you
cerned law enforcement agencies sepa- has brought to migrate to the main board and since
rately, is prima facie also a fraud in the se- positivity the regulatory framework of the SME
curities market in as much as it involves, among SMEs segment is a bit lenient compared to the
manipulative transactions in securities and and other main board, a company gets two to three
64 | misuse of the securities market,” stated an years to make the requisite changes and
stakeholders…
80-page order issued by Sebi in June 2015. We have got be ready to move to the main board,”
In all, nearly 240 entities were barred says Ashish Saraf, President of Manora-
firms listed
from the securities market after the regu- ma Industries, a Chhattisgarh-based
from 20 states”
latory probe. “It appears that the entities… SME that jumped to the main board af-
created demand for the supply of shares AJAY KUMAR ter being listed in the SME segment.
from preferential allottees and pre-IPO THAKUR The amount of respect and prestige
transferees and provided hugely profitable HEAD, BSE SME & definitely goes up after migrating, Saraf
exit to them at an unrealistic price achieved START-UP, BSE adds, highlighting the fact that he gets
through price manipulation,” stated the enquiries from many Chhattisgarh-
Sebi order, highlighting the fact that the un- based SMEs as they want to understand
usual price rise was without any significant the experience and benefits of listing.
improvement in the companies’ financials. Firms can migrate to the main board
Even today, the platforms see quite a few after staying listed on the SME plat-
instances of stock prices registering a huge forms for a minimum of three years, of
spike, though market participants feel that which they should be profitable for at
the wrongdoings in the SME segment are a least two years.
thing of the past with the current regula- Given that listing has its benefits
tory framework being much more evolved
“This segment and there are a lot of SMEs wanting to
and stringent than what it used to be dur-
has emerged as get listed, there is strong potential for
ing the early days of the segment. a true alternative growth of both the SMEs and the seg-
“Barring a few stray instances, we for early-stage ment. With exchanges doing a lot in
have not come across any such undesir- businesses to terms of creating awareness, the coming
able cases. A more pertinent issue, in my raise growth years should be interesting for the seg-
view, is how vulnerable are businesses, and capital without the ment, provided good quality companies
whether they are sustainable. The quality interest burden” come to the arena and stock prices are
of businesses is a very critical barometer, MAHAVIR influenced by fundamentals instead of
especially given the fact that early-stage LUNAWAT entities with vested interests.
investing is high risk, high return. We must FOUNDER, PANTOMATH
think of a more robust mechanism for en- CAPITAL @ashishrukhaiyar
THE BUILDING BLOCKS of achieving sustained high growth are very clear.
There has to be a mindset to drive infrastructure at a pace and, at the same
time, get your equation in terms of water and agriculture right. You should
have an industrial sector that should be able to build on its own in terms of
positive cash flows and margins. You need a financial system that can sup-
port all these things. That, too, happens when you have clean balance sheets.
In our case, banks’ balance sheets are clean and corporate India is also de-
leveraged. The capital market, especially the equity market, has come of age.
There is also a new driver—the digital revolution. In a digital world, every-
thing becomes more efficient, more competitive and more productive.
All these together—the unfinished agenda in infrastructure, unfinished
agenda on water, growth agenda on industry and manufacturing, and com-
pletely new opportunities from digital—will propel us down this runaway.
A Global
Growth
Engine
f KEKI MISTRY
VICE CHAIRMAN & CEO,
HDFC LTD
INDIA WILL REALISE its true potential in the next 25 years. It stands apart from
its emerging market peers as it is not a one-trick pony. Further, a stable govern-
ment committed to sustainable policy measures to facilitate strong growth,
create jobs and improve living standards augurs well for the economy. India is
a consumption-based economy with strong macroeconomic fundamentals.
Its growth drivers are self-sustaining owing to favourable demographics,
demand, rising aspirations, growing middle class, rapid urbanisation and en-
trepreneurship. There is huge under-penetration in financial services, which
implies a tremendous potential for growth. Continued focus on financial sec-
tor reforms, technological initiatives, employment creation and infrastructure
development will make India one of the engines of global growth.
REDEFINING
THE
CONTOURS
OF GROWTH
Focus on f S.N. SUBRAHMANYAN
CEO & MD, LARSEN & TOUBRO
Per Capita
Income INDIA@100 must attempt to redefine the traditional contours of develop-
ment. Infrastructure must be sustainable. Skill development must be broad-
based, and requirement-driven, technology and IT-enabled services must be
f MANISH SABHARWAL human-intensive, automation should eliminate hazards and aid precision,
CO-FOUNDER & mobility must be non-polluting, and growth must be even. I am confident
VICE CHAIRMAN, that we will be able to create sustainable and mass affordable housing, water,
TEAMLEASE SERVICES
and waste management infrastructure. One way to achieve such sustain-
ability would be to utilise hydrogen in hard-to-abate sectors. E-commerce
INDIA@75 may be ranked fifth platforms as we know today might be reinvented. Transportation will be
in the world in total GDP but end-to-end multi-modal. We have bypassed the normal route of financial
is 134th in per capita GDP. My inclusion using cellphones and products such as UPI. This must be aided by
hope for the next 25 years is that mega-scale renewable power and clean fuels including nuclear energy. In
we make raising our per capita tangible terms, we should attempt to be at least 30 per cent of global manu-
income our primary policy goal facturing and contribute a good 15 per cent of the world’s GDP.
68 | by raising the productivity of five
places of which only two are geo-
graphic: our states (Karnataka
and Uttar Pradesh have the same
GDP but a 4x difference in popu- INDIA TO LEAD THE WORLD
lation); our cities (Bengaluru and
Patna may have a 50x difference f PARTH JINDAL
in per capita GDP); our sectors MD, JSW CEMENT & JSW PAINTS
(software is only 0.8 per cent of
the labour force but produces 8
per cent of the GDP); our firms INDIA WILL BE A $12-trillion economy
(there is a 24x productivity dif- and a healthy middle-income country
ference between our biggest and [by 2047]. The country will use its
smallest manufacturing firms); young demographic, engineering
and our skills (two children of and IT prowess to ‘make in India for
the same age with the same paper the world’. It will be a pioneer in the
qualifications now have a 4x dif- use and advent of green energy—
ference in salary based on their from renewables to green hydrogen.
soft, functional and industry Equally important will be ensuring
skills). My vision of India@100 universal healthcare, education and
is a new tryst with destiny where food for all. While India is on the cusp
our 3Es of employment, employ- of a fascinating development story,
ability and education create an we must work towards reducing the
infrastructure of opportunity unacceptably high levels of inequality
that ensure that the two most im- prevalent today. On the technology
portant decisions an Indian child front, nothing can come in the way of
does not make today—pin code India taking a dominant position on
and parents—become irrelevant the global stage. I have no doubt we
to their prospects, prosperity will be at the forefront of high-quality
and potential. infrastructure.
FINTECH TO
DRIVE MSME
GROWTH
f NIRMAL JAIN
A Fount for FOUNDER & CHAIRMAN,
IIFL GROUP
Hundreds of
Unicorns INDIA IS THE FASTEST-GROWING fintech market in the world with 87 per cent
adoption of fintech compared to the global average of 64 per cent. As per
data available, in 2020, India processed 25 billion real-time transactions
f RITESH AGARWAL compared to 15 billion in China and only 1.2 billion in the US. The govern-
FOUNDER & GROUP ment’s successful push of JAM (Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar and mobile num-
CEO, OYO ber) accelerated financial inclusion of the masses. UPI has already revolu-
tionised payments. The next stage of innovation is set with OCEN (Open
WE WILL LOOK BACK at the Credit Enablement Network) and AA (Account Aggregator), which are the
current period as one when the engines for propelling digital delivery of credit to hitherto credit-deprived
foundations for a New India MSMEs. To create millions of jobs and bring exponential economic growth,
were laid down. A time when credit and banking services to the unbanked and under-banked small en-
India’s long-promised poten- trepreneurs will happen through the innovative neo-banking platforms.
tial is materialising through
a combination of progressive
and enabling government | 69
programmes, and development
of physical and virtual infra-
structure that organisations—
young and established—are
harnessing to the hilt. India’s
welfare schemes are also get-
Banking
ting more efficient, targeted
and effective. The country’s
Will be
start-ups are solving problems
through tech and by creating
Transformed
jobs—leading to spending
f AMITABH
increasing—and by bringing CHAUDHRY
commerce to the smaller MD & CEO, AXIS BANK
towns of India. Today, the
small town is the new big town
for entrepreneurship. By 2047, BANKING IS GOING through a transformative phase in which contextualisation,
I see India as having elimi- personalisation and democratisation will be the key drivers. Contextualisation
nated that distinction: every means that banking services will increasingly be embedded in the contextual
corner [of the country] will be journeys of customers. For example, rather than going to a bank for mortgage,
a fount for hundreds of uni- customers will get instant funding while selecting their dream home on a real
corns. India’s golden decade of estate search site! Personalisation means that power will shift from vanilla
growth would have established product manufacturers to platforms that create exceptional experiences, and
us among the top three econo- customers will be in control of what they want to consume, when and how. For
mies, and hopefully among instance, a credit card was a vanilla product, and now BNPL options are provid-
the top two nations when ing on-demand credit, while multiple fintechs are offering cards configurable
measured on soft power. I do by individual customers to suit their individual needs. Democratisation of data
clearly envision the coming 25 and credit through India Stack and OCEN will allow every Indian with basic
years to be truly the commonly identity to have access to credit. For example, a small company offering tax
envisaged ‘Amrit Kaal’. uploading facilities could offer on-demand credit using OCEN.
Hour to sustain that at 6-7 per cent for the next 25 years, even on a larger base. That
means the GDP can easily increase by 4x from where we are today. Critically,
the growth rate of our population will also start to decrease. These two fac-
f NITHIN KAMATH tors together become very important since that translates to a better quality
FOUNDER & CEO, of life and a wide choice available to the consumer. That scenario when we
ZERODHA have a buyers’ market is an indication of a developed economy. The basic
foundation for all this will be laid over the next 5-10 years to make sure the
INDIA IS LUCKY ENOUGH to
world comes to India to deploy its funds and not anywhere else. I see a clear
have the youngest popula- opportunity for us to become a global manufacturing hub and that will be the
tion among the developing big transformation. Nothing can be more significant than that.
countries—meaning we
have a substantial and stable | 71
population of working-age
adults. But this also poses
a challenge because a big
chunk of this population has
a massive skill gap, as can be
seen in the unemployment
statistics. The other impor-
Energy
tant thing is we [need to] do
whatever it takes to stop the
Security
brain drain and ensure start-
ups register at home and
the Key
contribute to our tax base.
The country is also one of f PRAVEER SINHA
the very few bright spots in MD & CEO, TATA POWER
an otherwise gloomy global
economy. If we are to realise
our economic potential, we INDIA IS CHARTING a new economic growth road map to emerge as a truly
need to do whatever it takes self-reliant energy secure nation by 2047. The pace at which economic de-
to upskill our youth to make velopment is happening will enable India to become a global economic and
them ready to face what technology powerhouse in the next 25 years. As the world’s fastest growing
promises to be an age of economy, it is adopting an aggressive carbon-reduction approach. Energy se-
disruption. We also must not curity will be a giant step for India in becoming a global superpower. The en-
forget that growth has to be ergy demand of the country is growing at a fast pace and renewables will play
equitable, while taking great a major role in meeting this demand. The country has taken multiple initia-
care to ensure that we con- tives and is accelerating the adoption of clean energy technologies to trigger
sider the environmental and a new wave of sustainable growth. Technology will play a key role in driving
ecological costs of growth. the entire energy transformation. My vision for India in 2047 is of a secure, ef-
All said and done, I’m long ficient and clean energy nation, connected with the rest of the world through
on India. an interconnected grid in the spirit of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’.
WHEN INDIA REACHES 100, the transformation to green will have been reached.
By then, all hydrocarbon-powered vehicles will be gone. Cars will be fuelled by
batteries charged with renewable energy, biofuels from agricultural crops, and
hydrogen from water. New jobs will be based on tech, universities will have inter-
Putting
disciplinary degrees, and sustainability will provide the top jobs. CESL believes
that with the level of ambitious and continued steer the government is driving,
People
India will be ahead of the world in achieving its climate commitments. First
f UMESH REVANKAR
VICE CHAIRMAN & MD,
DARE TO DREAM SHRIRAM TRANSPORT
FINANCE COMPANY
f SUNIL MATHUR,
MD AND CEO, SIEMENS LIMITED MY VISION FOR INDIA@100
INDIA@100 WILL SET AN EXAMPLE of being a clean is one where everyone gets
and united country. An economic powerhouse where equal opportunity to do
there is enough for everyone’s need but not greed. his/her economic activity.
Quality education and healthcare will be available to Put people first to create an
each citizen. Smart cities will attract the best talent entrepreneurship culture
by providing them with a sustainable environment that helps communities
and facilities that are integrated. India will demon- find economic solutions
strate that bureaucracy, industry and civil society can and create wealth. By
work together to provide equal opportunity for each empowering the com-
citizen. I dream of an India which plays a leading role mon man, with a focus on
in smart manufacturing, software and technology. financial inclusion, we
can democratise access to
finance. Women form a
disproportionately large
CLOUDY
82 |
WEATHER
A MATURING ASSET CLASS, CLIMATE TECH
OFFERS STRONG FINANCIAL RETURNS TO
INVESTORS AND AN OPPORTUNITY TO CREATE
OUTSIZED ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL
IMPACT. YET, THE SECTOR IS FAR FROM
BECOMING A PRIORITY FOR INDIAN VCs
BY BINU PAUL
ILLUSTRATION BY ANIRBAN GHOSH
S
USTAINABILITY IS THE NEW DIGITAL.
Companies did not have a digital function 20 years
ago. And today, you cannot imagine a business
without digitalisation embedded in it. The same
thing is happening to sustainability. Climate and
sustainability are not only the biggest problems
to be solved, but also the biggest opportunities
available for the next 20 years,” says Anjali Bansal,
Founder of Avaana Capital, a climate-tech focussed early-stage
venture capital (VC) firm.
She bases her investment thesis on the enormous opportunity
that climate and sustainability presents and compares it to the
opportunity created by the digital revolution. On this principle,
the Mumbai-based VC firm is currently raising its second climate
-tech focussed fund with a target corpus of $150 million. VC firms
such as Avaana Capital are among a growing tribe of dedicated
early-stage climate tech focussed funds that are providing the
missing piece of the puzzle of growth-capital requirements for the
climate-tech ecosystem.
Climate tech as an attractive asset class for pure-play VC
investors, and not as impact funding or ESG investment targets, has
just begun to gather steam. Globally, climate tech start-ups raised
a little under $40 billion across 600+ deals in 2021, as per a report
from Climate Tech VC, a climate tech research and publication
outlet. According to PwC’s “State of Climate Tech 2021” report,
climate tech accounts for 14 cents of every venture capital dollar.
VENTURE CAPITAL CLIMATE TECH
I
N INDIA, TOO, a few early-stage with reasonable unit economics, it
the sectors attracting
climate-tech focussed VCs investments in India is easier to get growth capital. It’s
have set up shop. Nature-Fix a pure business opportunity for
Climate (NFC) Ventures—a investors, irrespective of whether
$200-million climate-tech-focussed Key challenges include it is climate, or not,” he says.
VC fund launched by impact a lack of quality data, Capital is stuck in the late stages
investor Harsha Moily and former measurement criteria, as most PE funds have capital
Abraaj India MD Balaji Srinivas— traditional mindsets, allocation for climate, but the deal
a limited record of
is looking to tap into the massive flow and pipeline are weak. PE
sustainable funds, and
climate-tech start-up opportunity. firms typically look for companies
a lack of awareness
IIM Ahmedabad’s incubator- that have gone through the journey
cum-accelerator, the Centre from idea to Series B for large-ticket
for Innovation Incubation and SOURCE: SUSTAINABLE investments.
INVESTMENTS REPORT BY
Entrepreneurship, is also planning BENORI KNOWLEDGE
“There aren’t many late-stage
to launch a new climate tech tech companies in India. Close to 60
fund—named Bharat Innovations per cent of climate-tech start-ups
Fund—with a target corpus of $100 are in the idea- and R&D stage, the
million. Investment advisory firm rest are in commercialisation and
Unitus Capital is raising a dedicated scale-up phase. Climate-tech firms
climate-tech fund, too, sources say. need a longer gestation period, so
The emergence of these dedicated it will take a while to build large
early-stage funds is indicative of the businesses in this segment, but we
opportunity present in the climate- are getting there,” says NFC’s Moily.
tech space. There is a sense of Bansal feels VCs alone cannot
urgency among enterprises to start cater to the massive requirement
their net-zero journeys, and fulfil of the space, and that patient,
the sustainability commitments science-based capital for creation
made to the board and shareholders. of new solutions should come from
R.I.P
(2020-2022)
BY N E E T U C H A N D R A S H A R M A
ILLUSTRATION BY ANIRBAN GHOSH
R
AMBA SINGH, A DELHI-BASED medi- doubled global capacity of manufacturing
cal equipment distributor, is ea- respirators to support the frontline work-
gerly waiting to free up space in his ers during the pandemic,” says Ashutosh
warehouse, now occupied by over a Shirodkar, Executive Director and Country
dozen oxygen concentrators that he Business Group Leader-Safety & Industrial
bought in March 2021 when India Business Group, 3M India, adding that with
was reeling under the second wave the pandemic waning, there has been “re-
of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Chi- duced demand for respirators from the | 87
nese concentrators, which Singh had healthcare sector”.
bought from domestic companies According to AiMeD, nearly one-third of
for `25,000 each and rented out for the country’s medical device manufactur-
at least `10,000 a day to Covid-19 ing capacity is lying unused. Vivek Tiwari,
patients, haven’t been used for over a Founder & CEO of Medikabazaar, a B2B
year. “Since there is no demand, I offered these to small local hospitals store for hospital supplies, says that during
at throwaway prices, but they didn’t want them,” says Singh, who plans the second wave, manufacturers ramped
to donate them to charity since he has already recovered their cost. up production of ventilators, PPE kits and
Ventilators, oxygen concentrators, personal protective equipment masks to meet demand. “As a result, hospi-
(PPE) kits, oxygen cylinders and many other items that were consid- tals and supply-chain partners are still car-
ered life-savers during the initial days of the pandemic are now gath- rying a large number of unused equipment
ering dust at hospitals and manufacturing units. These commanded and most of this is lying in the top 20 cities
premium prices when Covid-19 was at its peak, but with the infection of the country,” he says, adding that before
curve seeing a downward trend after December 2021, these products the pandemic, India used to manufacture
are no longer in demand. only 6 million PPE kits per annum, which
was ramped up to over 230 million.
CHALLENGING TIMES “Similarly, capacity for ventilators and
“These are very challenging times for manufacturers of Covid-19-criti- surgical masks had gone up by 10 times dur-
cal medical devices who had invested in plants and production lines for ing the peak of Covid-19,” he says. While
FFP2 (N95-equivalent) masks, surgical masks , oxygen therapy (venti- there has been a sharp decline in demand
lators, oxygen concentrators, high nasal flow oxygen equipment), sy- with the pandemic receding, the recurring
ringes, etc., as demand has ebbed sharply and manufacturers are left demand for PPE kits, masks, gloves and
with huge capacities of plant and machinery and unsold inventories,” sanitisers is still higher than pre-Covid-19
says Rajiv Nath, Forum Coordinator, Association of Indian Medical levels due to increased awareness and en-
Device Industry (AiMeD). demic protocols. “But medical equipment
Not just Indian companies, even multinational conglomerates like and devices like pulse oximeters, thermom-
3M are facing a slump in demand. For over 50 years, 3M’s respirators eters, oxygen concentrators and ventilators
such as the N95 have been used across industries, during natural disas- have seen a decline in demand.”
ters, and outbreaks such as the Covid-19 pandemic. “We approximately Medikabazaar’s operating revenue grew
20 140 20 30 8 24
0 5 0 20 0 52
3.3x to `558.95 crore in FY21 from `168.55 crore in FY20. Being an end- as they saw it as a golden opportunity “are
to-end hospital supplies and equipment procurement platform, the now facing liquidity challenges and scaling
company saw a huge surge in Covid-19 protection and treatment-relat- down production or shutting operations or
ed products and equipment. “We sold close to 1,000 ventilators during selling off their machinery. We are encour-
Covid-19,” says Tiwari, adding that there have been no orders for venti- aging them to seek QA Certification so that
lators in the past two quarters, while demand for oxygen concentrators they can export surpluses.”
was negligible. As for face shields, the company has seen no demand in For instance, in the first wave of Covid-19,
the past few months. Max Ventilator, a manufacturer of medi-
cal ventilators and allied medical devices,
SETTING OFF LOSSES achieved growth of 100 per cent and in 2021
Industry experts say that with the pandemic showing signs of reced- saw business of `100 crore. But now, the
ing, the central government lifting provisions of the Disaster Manage- company is looking at other products. “Many
ment Act, and state governments easing restrictions, a large number of those ventilators were Covid-19-specific
of Covid-19-related supplies, equipment and accessories remain un- machines which is why they have now lost
utilised. Manufacturers are trying to repurpose their products to miti- their utility. And probably after the Covid-19
gate financial losses. demand has saturated, there won’t be much
AiMeD’s Nath says that those manufacturers who were in existence demand for them. So, we have another three
prior to Covid-19, and were exporting these products “are relatively products that are meant for ICUs, but not
better off as they have a more sustainable supply chain to cater to”. But necessarily for Covid-19, and that could re-
those who entered the medical device manufacturing space recently sult in 25 per cent growth for the company,”
Total number of manufacturers Total manufacturing capacity; data as of January 13, 2022
35 50 0 18 25 78
0 39 5 38 0 30
*viral transport media, used to carry samples; Source: Association of Indian Medical Device Industry
says CEO and Founder Ashok Patel. According to health industry experts, an estimated 20,000 oxygen
Besides these, almost all diagnostic concentrators are lying unsold or unused. As a majority of Indians are
companies came out with some form of Co- vaccinated against Covid-19 and the infections are mild, the surplus
vid-19 test kits or other. Now, some that had items, experts say, can have other use cases. “We have close to 25,000
invested in Covid-19 test kits are looking primary health centres (PHCs) in rural areas. The government can con-
at other markets for exports. For example, sider moving simpler equipment and devices like oxygen concentrators
Mylab Discovery Solutions, which makes to PHCs and community health centres in rural areas that can act as
Covid-19 test kits along with other diag- first-level treatment for the patients,” says Medikabazaar’s Tiwari.
nostic products, is looking at international Agrees Dr Rana Mehta, Healthcare Industry Leader and Partner at
markets that have demand for such kits, PwC India: “With the demand for these products going down due to low-
says MD Hasmukh Rawal. The company er incidence of coronavirus cases, these manufacturers need to reinvent
had a 30,000 sq. ft facility, and the neces- these products as the opportunity for growth of hospitals is clearly vis-
sary approvals to manufacture critical ible. Repurposing these products for larger healthcare needs is required
molecular diagnostic products before the for the twin purpose of usage of the unused products, and boosting the
pandemic. When Covid-19 struck, Mylab healthcare sector.” Policy support and special duty waivers to facilitate
“decided to redirect our resources to make the export of unused equipment could also help, say experts. Medical
Covid-19 test kits”. Now, it is focussing on device manufacturers stuck with unsold Covid-19 inventory would be
other diseases. “We have invested around hoping that some of these suggestions come good.
$15 million in our manufacturing facility,”
adds Rawal. @neetu_csharma
F O O D T E C H S TA R T - U P S A R E P O W E R I N G
THE ROBOTIC KITCHEN REVOLUTION IN
I N D I A T O H E L P D E L I V E R Y P L AT F O R M S
L I K E Z O M AT O A N D S W I G G Y F U L F I L T H E I R
1 0 - M I N U T E D E L I V E R Y D R E A M
B Y P R E R N A L I D H O O
ILLUSTRATION BY NILANJAN DAS
TARTING IN 1987, the US televi-
sion series Star Trek: The Next
Generation featured Captain
Jean-Luc Picard ordering the
Food Replicator for “Tea. Earl
Grey. Hot!” This captured the
imagination of millions as they
got a peek into a futuristic alternative reality.
Sadly, the Food Replicator is still far from reality,
unlike a dozen other sci-fi predictions such as
self-driving cars and space travel. But there’s
hope, with home-grown robot companies and
cloud kitchen start-ups like Mukunda Foods,
Xook and RoboChef working to make this a real-
ity. In fact, some of them used the Replicator as
an analogy when starting out to build robotic
solutions for commercial kitchens.
“Food replication might be sci-fi today, but
the industry is certainly moving towards special
focus products, and then towards multi-purpose
machines focussing on specific kinds of food.
That will become a more pervasive reality in the
food robotics segment. Automation is a must for
companies that want cooked food delivered in 10
minutes,” says Rajagopal Natarajan, Co-founder
of Bengaluru-based start-up Xook that offers
meal preparation robots, co-working office
spaces and apartment complexes. While custom-
ers can personalise their food based on taste
preferences like spicy, sweet, creamy, or saucy,
these machines can rustle up salads and six other
types of dishes within two minutes!
A new phenomenon in the country, a dozen
tech start-ups like Xook are operating a kitchen-
as-a-service (KaaS) model in the Indian food ser-
vice delivery market that is expected to double in
value to $13 billion by 2025, according to research
firm RedSeer. A report by Motilal Oswal pegs
the market in India to grow at over 30 per cent
CAGR between 2021 and 2026. Meanwhile, the
global online food delivery services market size
is expected to grow from $115.11 billion in 2021 to
$128.32 billion in 2022 at a CAGR of 11.5 per cent,
according to the Business Research Company.
Bengaluru-based Mukunda Foods is another
kitchen robotics firm leveraging this trend.
Founded nearly two decades ago as a quick ser-
vice restaurant (QSR), today it is powering food
delivery platform Zomato’s 10-minute delivery
dream. Earlier this year, Zomato bought a 16.66
START-UPS KITCHEN TECH So, how do these robot chefs prepare your
favourite shahi paneer once you order? A shahi
paneer recipe can be made within three minutes
using a Mukunda Foods kitchen robot called
per cent stake in the company, an acknowledgement ‘Wokie’. First a chef makes the base gravy, the
of the potential of these start-ups. “For an order to be automated wok then adds paneer, cream and
delivered in 10 minutes, food must be ready and out of other spices in the perfect proportion at the
the kitchen in three minutes. People start ordering when touch of a button. And, your favourite shahi pan-
they’re hungry. If they get tasty food [delivered] faster, eer is ready. Not just that, a whole list of recipes
they might actually pay a premium for the convenience can be prepared. For example, another machine
they’re getting,” explains Mukunda Foods Co-founder called ‘Misty’ can make momos from scratch,
& CEO Eshwar K. Vikas. “The No. 1 filter that’s used while ‘Dosamatic’ can churn out delectable do-
on Zomato and Swiggy is speed. That’s where we come sas in two minutes. There are many other such
in. We don’t regenerate the food; we cook it faster and machines these start-ups have designed, and
people know the difference.” many more are under development.
According to Vikas, building a physical product (hard- While cooking can be automated, what about
ware) has many challenges because unlike a software taste? “We spend at least two to three years in
product, changes cannot be made on the go. The prod- getting the taste right. Nobody will buy the ma-
uct’s development is tedious, and usually takes four to five chines for its tech, if the food doesn’t taste nice.
years with huge expenses. The other challenge for these That’s why we work with a lot of in-house chefs,”
tech firms is to get the taste of the food right because says Vikas of Mukunda Foods. His machines,
it’s more of a culinary art than a mechanical one. Hence, Vikas says, have solved the challenge of stan-
apart from the challenges of designing efficient hardware, dardisation of taste, temperature and quality for
taste and recipes play a major role. “The availability of QSRs and cloud kitchens. Other beneficiaries of
quality talent in food tech, globally, is less, and you have to their smart kitchen include brands such as Aun-
build the talent, which is time consuming,” he adds. tie Fung’s, edabba, Biggies Burger and Meraki,
among others.
RoboChef, another company in the automat-
W
92 | ITH THE AVERAGE PRICE of its robots between ed kitchens space, has taken the tech to the next
`35,000 and `2 lakh, Mukunda Foods has so level. Its kitchens are fully automated with mini-
far automated over 3,000 commercial kitch- mal need of a chef to be present. Currently, its
ens in over 22 countries. Working with 250 players, such equipment is in use in about 50 kitchens in Chen-
as ITC and Chaayos, it is helping chefs make this ‘tech- nai, Hyderabad and Singapore. It runs a multi-
tonic’ shift. In the past two years, it claims to have sold vessel system with digital recipes that are used
more than a thousand robots, and the demand is growing. to make biryanis and curries, and other dishes. If
a QSR or cloud kitchen can shell out `1 crore for
its solution, then churning out 20,000 portions
of biryani in a few minutes is child’s play.
Not just KaaS start-ups, this trend has also
led to a rise in cloud kitchens that are exclusively
focussed on order delivery, and they are increas-
ingly using technology and automation to re-
duce their daily production and delivery times.
THE INDIAN FOOD “A very natural behaviour is that you start think-
ing about food when you’re hungry. So, there are
DELIVERY MARKET a lot of relevant use cases for 10-minute food
delivery for consumers. Coming to the execu-
IS EXPECTED TO tion side of things, it’s a tricky problem to solve,”
says Rohan Agarwal, Partner at RedSeer. “De-
DOUBLE IN VALUE liveries are where it takes the most time, which
means that the food preparation time needs to
TO $13 BILLION BY come down. That’s where these [kitchen tech]
solutions will come in handy. They will be able
2025, ACCORDING to speed up the preparation, [and make the pro-
cess] fail-safe, tech driven and consistent. It also
TO RESEARCH FIRM helps you improve margins on the kitchen side
because the cost of manual labour comes down,”
REDSEER he adds. According to RedSeer, cloud kitchens
are set to be a $2-billion industry in India by 2024, up from systems, AI, and IoT in collaboration with its
$400 million in 2019. partners. “We are also building smart kitchen
Meanwhile, Mumbai-based Ghost Kitchen India has appliances and machinery that are already op-
a portfolio of 30 in-house food delivery brands, including erational in the kitchens. We are also develop-
Starboy Pizza & Shakes, New York Waffles & Dinges and ing machines that understand recipes,” says
Wakka Makka, across cuisine categories. “Technology is Prakash Dutta, Global COO, Rebel Foods. For
heavily influencing the food delivery industry. [It plays a instance, the company uses a rotating wok that
big role] in our operations,” says Karan Tanna, Founder simulates a chef’s stir-frying motion. The wok
and CEO of Ghost Kitchen India. Apart from robotics, AI also controls the temperature and the amount
is used to predict the amount of ingredients to be used in a of oil dispensed. Dutta says the company has
particular recipe. Similarly, ML and open data are key tools also attached a video screen and an app to the
that enable access to real-time and aggregated data visibil- wok. At different stages of cooking, the machine
ity that helps in inventory or stock management. instructs the chef when to add the different in-
Tanna says foodtech is not only about leveraging dis- gredients as per the recipe. “While chefs will
covery platforms but also using tech that is customised to come and go at Rebel Foods, intelligent robots
your operations. “We use AI to predict the requirement are passing down recipes,” says Dutta, adding
of raw material in our kitchen so that we never run out of that these machines enable the company to run
them; the availability ratio of menu items is always tar- multiple brands—including those of its part-
geted above 95 per cent. Now it’s not only about food, but ners—from the same kitchen. “The future of
also about how to best leverage the customer who shops food is very exciting—deep personalisation, au-
online and deliver him the experience that increases the tomation, farm to fork tracing, complete trans-
stickiness of the brand,” he says. parency, and safety,” adds Dutta.
Rebel Foods, a Mumbai-based company that operates Well, it looks like the Food Replicator isn’t
over 45 cloud kitchen brands including Faasos and Beh- too far into the future.
rouz Biryani, uses software, robotics and automation for
food preparation. The company uses a lot of embedded @PLidhoo
NEW-AGE HEALTH
MANAGERS
RIDING ON INNOVATIONS SUCH AS SUBSCRIPTION-BASED AND BITE-SIZED
PLANS, NEW-AGE HEALTHCARE START-UPS ARE DISRUPTING
INDIA’S INSURANCE SPACE
3
care centres across Bengaluru,
and two in Hyderabad, known as They also provide health insurance to
Clinikk Health Hubs. It offers vir- cover the cost of hospitalisation
tual consultation, unlimited access
4
to doctors, medicines, diagnostics
and specialist consultation, all in Some of these start-ups, however, do
exchange for a subscription fee. not have a licence from regulator IRDAI
Till now, it has partnered with Hero
MotoCorp and Vodafone, tech plat- The regulator has issued notice to
forms like Ola, Rapido and Shadow-
fax and the Government of Goa to
serve over 2 million customers.
5 exercise caution while dealing with
unregulated entities
All these services are available
tech helps us deliver faster benefits wasn’t efficient to cater to com- tions. The Insurance Regulatory
transfer and proof-processing, and panies that have 10-100 employ- and Development Authority of In-
better risk assessment with afford- ees,” says Shanai Ghosh, CEO and dia (IRDAI) provides two types
able pricing,” says Co-founder An- Executive Director at Edelweiss of licences: One is a distribution
iruddha Sen. The common thread General Insurance. Their grow- licence and the other is the tough-
among these start-ups is strategy: ing popularity can be observed in to-get insurer (manufacturing) li-
they break down large premiums funding. Recently, Onsurity raised cence. “There are two types of risks
into smaller payments, making the $16 million in a Series A round led in forming an insurance company.
product affordable and accessible. by Quona Capital, alongside exist- First is the capital risk that requires
Consumers want to try out a service ing investors Nexus Venture Part- insurance companies to set aside
before committing, and it means ners. Clinikk, too, raised $6.4 mil- capital to meet a policyholder’s
PHOTOS BY SANDESH RAVIKUMAR
greater flexibility and control over lion in seed and pre-Series A round claims. Then there are regulatory
services without burning a hole in led by MassMutual Ventures, while risks that are required to be met to
their pockets. Kenko Health raised $12 million as protect the interests of policyhold-
“Currently there’s a lot of trac- part of its Series A round led by Se- ers,” explains Abhishek Poddar,
tion for the idea of group health quoia Capital India. Co-founder and CEO of Plum, an
insurance being sold to smaller employee benefits-focussed firm.
companies who are not targeted REGULATORY HURDLES Hence, while companies like
[by traditional insurers]. It’s a good The rising interest in subscription- Plum and Nova Benefits are li-
idea because group health [insur- based insurance models makes the censed distributors under IRDAI’s
ance] was largely in the domain sector a high-growth market. But, ambit, managed-care players like
of large brokers, and for them it there is the hurdle of clear regula- Kenko, Onsurity and Even Health-
ONSURITY
doctor consultations, Launched: 2020 subscription basis; super app for
diagnostic tests; it healthcare and wellness
Founders: Yogesh Agarwal
also offers dental care,
and Kulin Shah Offerings: Health cover, tele-
mental health, vision
care, preventive care Funding: Raised $16 million consultations, medicines on
and at-home care discounts, lab tests, wellness
Number of subscribers: programmes
Premium: Over 2,500 SMEs with more
`299-1,499 than 300,000 members Premium: NA (Offered only through
per month corporate policies)
USP: Offers group health
Network: Over 200 plans to small and medium Network: Over 6,000 hospitals
hospitals businesses on monthly across metros
care are not under the direct regula- ter not just under insurance regula- healthcare benefits with our plans,”
tory purview of IRDAI. It is for this tory purview, it could be under the concurs Sen of Kenko Health.
reason that on April 13 this year the purview of the banking regulator “We have a managed-care model
regulator issued a notice regarding as well. In anything of this nature with a strong grievance redressal
Even Healthcare that offers health where public money is collected, we mechanism. And since we are an ear-
plans through monthly subscrip- need some safety net.” ly-stage start-up, we take customer
tions. It advised people to note that Onsurity’s Agarwal disagrees. grievances very seriously. Also,
they are dealing with the start-up “As a healthcare membership plat- IRDAI is thinking about creating a
at their own risk, and clarified that form, we have insurance compa- regulatory framework for managed-
only IRDAI-registered insurance nies providing us a Group Master care models. We are working with
companies, or their appointed Policy that is governed by IRDAI IRDAI-approved insurers under its
agents and intermediaries, can guidelines. This is similar to how group insurance ambit where our
sell insurance products. The IR- companies like travel portals and subscribers can opt into a health in-
DAI did not respond to a request banks provide bundled insurance surance plan that they get as a group
for comment. with their offerings like tickets, or cover,” says Clinikk’s Kaur.
Experts say that the space must credit/debit cards. Similarly, our These new-age healthcare start-
be closely watched as it involves membership comes with group ups are bridging the gaps in the
the collection of money from the health insurance”. sector. However, there is a need for
public. Bhabatosh Mishra, Direc- “IRDAI approves insurance tighter regulations so that the inter-
tor of Underwriting and Claims at companies. We’re much more than ests of subscribers stay protected.
Niva Bupa Health Insurance, says, that. But we do partner with IRDAI-
“The collection of money is a mat- approved companies to provide @teena_kaushal
STARRY NIGHTS
WHEN THE WHOLE WORLD SLEEPS, NIGHT OWLS
PROWL THE STREETS OF INDIA’S MEGACITIES.
BUT WITH REGULATIONS BARRING ANY
SUBSTANTIAL ECONOMIC ACTIVITY DURING
NIGHT-TIME, THEY BARELY HAVE ANYWHERE TO GO
BY RAJAT MISHRA
PHOTOS BY RAJWANT RAWAT
MEMORABLE NIGHTS
Khubani in Andaz Delhi
hotel hosts various
theme-based nights
every week
I
am. However, when you travel across the
world, the party begins at night.
But the case for a night-time economy
is not only to cater to the demand of revel-
lers. The former Night Mayor of Amster-
dam, Mirik Milan, once said: “Late night
culture is a massive motor for a city’s eco-
nomic well-being.” Meanwhile, the night-
time culture in India is a little different.
As people in the megacities of the country
seek the warmth of their beds, even the
parts of the economy that can function
at night, and add substantial value to the
overall economy, go into a slumber. But
there are some pockets in the country
where a night-time economy is an evolv-
ing phenomenon.
IT’S 1 AM IN A STILL, MUGGY NIGHT in Delhi. The latest stride in this direction has
In a corner of the city, at the Aerocity area been taken by Haryana. To compete with
near the international airport, Khubani New Delhi’s new liquor policy that looks
in Andaz Delhi hotel is brimming with to upgrade the city’s liquor vends and in-
people decked in their swankiest attires. tensify competition among private play-
Men and women sway to the soft, soul- ers (the policy was recently rolled back),
ful music wafting through the place, with Haryana has given bars and restaurants an
some looking in from the balcony of what option to operate 24x7 across cities in the
100 | you might describe as a ballroom. Each state. According to its new liquor policy,
patron seems to be in thrall of the song be- there will be no cap on timings for outlets
ing sung by a Sufi singer. While the crowd that pay an additional liquor licence fee of
is mesmerised by the melody, people in `20 lakh per annum. However, pubs and
uniform are busy weaving through those restaurants that would like to close their
swaying to the music, serving drinks and establishments at 2 am instead of 1 am can
snacks among the patrons. Even the bar is operate on older licences, and pay the usu-
bustling with orders. al annual liquor licence fee of `18 lakh. The
The stream of people coming in to en- new policy allows for pubs and restaurants
joy every Wednesday evening’s Sufi ren- to start serving liquor from 8 am, while the
dition doesn’t stop till late into the night. old policy that was modified in April this
“We enjoy coming to the outlet, which year extended the closing time for pubs
is safe and where we can enjoy at night. and restaurants from 1 am to 2 am.
Sometimes, we want to stay beyond 1 am Vikrant Batra, owner of the Cafe Delhi
but the bar staff starts pushing us to leave, Heights chain—that has not opted for the
and that irks us,” says a couple who fre- new 24x7 regime introduced by the Hary-
quents Khubani and other similar outlets. ana government—says that extending the
5-10
Khubani is one of the few nightclubs closing time of cafes and bars from 1 am to 2
in Delhi that remain open late into the am has resulted in a revenue hike of over 25
night. “You can count outlets like Khu- per cent for them. “Just an extension of one
bani on your fingertips in Delhi. Being PER CENT hour has resulted in a steep revenue rise,
the national capital, Delhi is still very far THE EXPECTED and an increase in job creation by 15 per
GROWTH IN THE
from becoming a night-time economy,” HOSPITALITY cent. Imagine if we are allowed to be open
says Sharad Madan, Co-founder of Imper- SECTOR IF IT through the night [without the need for an
fecto and Khubani. Madan owns 12 such IS ALLOWED additional licence], what kind of boost it
TO OPERATE
establishments in Delhi and Gurugram, THROUGH THE will give to our revenue, and subsequently
and says that there are hardly any people NIGHT to our nation’s economy as well,” he adds.
out having a good time in Delhi after 1 SOURCE INDUSTRY But the liquor policies of state gov-
home nor office, where people can take a break from their
hectic city life in the fast lane 13,400 jobs and $492 million in wages at
night for the year, according to a report
A thriving night-time economy in India’s megacities has the commissioned by the New York Mayor’s
potential to make them favoured tourist destinations, and not Office of Media and Entertainment.
just transit points to other tourist locations in India Australia is no different. With a vibrant
night-time economy in place, the nation
The night-time economy is vulnerable due to a lack of witnessed a total turnover of $128 billion
regulation, and requires the care and protection of the local in sales in 2019-20, although this was a de-
government in order to thrive cline of $12 billion from the previous year,
T
countries, I am sure, what business we
HE CHALLENGES of creating a are doing throughout the day, we will do
night-time economy are enor- that business in 4-5 hours at night,” says
mous. “There are a lot of factors Khubani’s Madan on the potential of the
that need to be considered before night-time economy in Delhi.
forming a night-time policy. Basic Batra of Cafe Delhi Heights opines
things can be considered such as that it’s not only food and drinks that
concessions on electricity rates, flexibility make a night-time economy functional.
in labour laws and working hours, and em- “We should have grocery stores, malls,
powering other sectors to work through and a mix of entertainment to create a
the night,” says Naik of Nexus Malls. 360-degree night market. Why can’t I
According to Khubani’s Madan, secu- have a haircut at midnight? Why can’t I
rity and infrastructure play vital roles in go to study in a library at midnight? We
the growth of a night-time economy. “In should have all the options,” he says.
a city like Delhi, we have very patchy in- Those options, of course, are a little
frastructure at night, no metro or public way away. As they say, the night is young,
transport, etc. However, in top night- and full of expectations.
time economies, infrastructure and
public transport along with security add @RajatMishra9518
THE
Bengaluru-based
Record Room, a
vinyl and craft beer
bar, encourages
people to explore
the world of vinyls
through its listening
station
Growing interest
among young listeners
who are attracted
to the more tangible
quality of the
analogue format is
leading to a revival of
the vinyl
BY SMITA TRIPATHI
THE GOOD LIFE TRENDS
Otis India is the Indian arm of the global elevator and escalator manufacturer and services brand
‘The strength of
mance and began winning prestigious orders.
—VIDYA S.