New Delhi, July 31 (IANS) India is a key growth market for us and this year has been about scaling up by expanding our smartphone portfolio, leveraging cutting-edge design and user experience innovations into different market segments, Akis Evangelidis, Co-founder of global technology brand Nothing, said on Wednesday.

The company, which became the fastest growing brand in India in the first-half of this year by witnessing 567 per cent growth (according to Counterpoint Research), started with Phone (2a) and followed with CMF Phone 1 — “both of which became our best-selling smartphones with record sales on their respective launch days,” Evangelidis told IANS in an interaction.

He said that the product strategy has been coupled with aggressive offline expansion, including 300 service centres, with exclusive ones in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru.

“We plan to open two more exclusive centres by year-end,” he mentioned.

In addition to a sizeable online presence, the company have more than doubled its offline presence from 2,000 to 5,000 locations.

“In the first three years, we focused on establishing our operational foundations while navigating one of the world’s most competitive industries. Moreover, over the years, what started as design differentiation evolved into innovative user experiences in both hardware and software,” Evangelidis told IANS.

According to Counterpoint Research, Nothing was the fastest growing brand in the January-June period, driven by the introduction of new models, including the mid-segment Phone (2a) and budget-segment CMF Phone 1.

Carl Pei, Co-founder and CEO of Nothing said that while market share should be the result of creating great products, not the end goal, “I’m thrilled to see this growth”.

“This success demonstrates that we are effectively executing our strategy. The most exciting part is that this achievement is fuelling Nothing’s innovation, which will be a core focus for 2025,” said Pei.

–IANS

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Mumbai, July 31 (IANS) Indian equity indices opened in the green on Wednesday following positive cues from Asian peers.

At 9.41 a.m., Sensex was up 82 points or 0.10 per cent, at 81,542 and Nifty was up 30 points or 0.12 per cent, at 24,887.

The market trend remained positive. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 1,507 shares remained in the green and 480 shares remained in the red.

The Nifty Midcap 100 index was at 58,792, up 169 points or 0.29 per cent and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 19,146, down 60 points or 0.31 per cent.

Pharma, FMCG, metal, fin service and media indices were in the green. Realty, energy and PSU bank indices were in the red.

In the Sensex pack, NTPC, Asian Paints, JSW Steel, ITC, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki, HUL and Nestle were major gainers. Tata Motors, Power Grid, IndusInd Bank and Axis Bank were major losers.

Recently, SEBI proposed new rules for Futures and Options (F&O) trading to prevent speculation in the market.

According to the market experts, “SEBI’s crackdown on F&O trade is eminently desirable and can go a long way towards making the ongoing rally healthy and less speculative.”

“The irrational exuberance of the retail investors, particularly the newbies who entered the market after the Covid crash, will do more harm than good to the overall market in the long run,” they added.

There was a bullish trend in global markets. The markets of Shanghai, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Seoul and Jakarta were bullish. However, US markets closed mixed on Tuesday.

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) extended their selling as they sold equities worth Rs 5,598 crore on July 30, while domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 5,565 crore on the same day.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 30 (IANS) In a jolt to real estate company Omaxe, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Tuesday banned the company’s top management, including Chairman Rohtas Goel, from the securities market for two years.

The markets regulator also barred the company’s Managing Director Mohit Goel and three others from the securities market for irregularities in the company’s financial statements.

The SEBI said in its “final order in the matter of misstatements and irregularities in the financial statements of Omaxe Limited” that these people have been “prohibited from holding any position as Director or Key Managerial Person of any other listed company for two years”.

The markets regulator also imposed a Rs 47 lakh fine on 16 entries which need to be paid within 45 days.

“SEBI was in receipt of complaints against Omaxe Limited for fraudulent transactions, diverted/siphoned of funds, misrepresented the financial statements, inflated turnover etc,” read the 126-page order.

As these allegations were serious in nature, the matter was taken up for further examination by SEBI, including conducting a forensic audit into the affairs of Omaxe. The order stated that these entities have “acted in concert to execute a fraudulent scheme which they tried to portray as normal transactions for the benefit of the company although it was experiencing loss, while also trying to portray that these as merely lending activities, thereby trying to maintain the price of the scrip of Omaxe for three years”.

According to the markets regulator, the real estate company misrepresented the financial statements during 2018-19, 2019-20, and 2020-21 including revenue, debtors, advances, and expenses. The fraud was never disclosed to the shareholders of Omaxe.

The probe observed that “Omaxe and its management, knowingly, reported wrong, false, manipulated financial statements to create an impression among the investors that the financial statements as published by the company, were reflecting true and fair view of the company’s financial performance”.

“It was alleged that they were knowingly involved in manipulations/ irregularities in the company’s financials and thus, induced the investors for dealing in Omaxe scrip with an intention to deceit upon them in order to maintain the price of the scrip to take the advantage of their pledged shares,” read the SEBI order.

–IANS

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Mumbai, July 30 (IANS) The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Tuesday launched India’s first website for passive funds at the National Stock Exchange (NSE), along with unveiling a comprehensive report on the Indian Capital Markets.

The website provides a comprehensive platform for retail investors and empowers them to easily access information and understand the Indian passive funds industry.

It provides in-depth information on aggregate industry data, fund-wise data, and screeners for selecting funds based on various parameters such as underlying index, AUM, tracking error, tracking difference, trading volume, TER, comparison of funds, etc.

Meanwhile, the report on Indian Capital Markets covers the most significant reforms, important milestones, and technological innovations in the Indian Capital Markets, steered by the regulator, Market Infrastructure Institutions (MIIs), and market participants, along with their impact on investors in the country, said SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch.

The report delves deeper into recent technological innovations and reforms, several of which are global firsts, findings from a retail investor survey across 12 cities in India and a nuanced analysis of benefits to investors.

“The transformation and growth of our Capital Markets is due to a collective vision to create a resilient, progressive, and technology-driven ecosystem that provides access, information and control to the Indian investor community, while ensuring guardrails for protection,” she said.

Buch said that it is critical for all MIIs and market intermediaries to foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, feedback for review of regulations, and swift tackling of emerging risks.

According to NSE’s MD and CEO Ashish Kumar Chauhan, the report provides a comprehensive analysis of India’s Capital Markets evolution over the years, propelled by active retail participation, sustained and high inflow by domestic institutional investors, and strong performance of listed companies.

“The MIIs and several other market participants have adopted and implemented SEBI’s initiatives with speed and technological agility to make this transformation successful. We would like to thank our regulator, investors, MIIs, and all the stakeholders for their participation and collaboration in this journey,” he added.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 30 (IANS) GAIL (India) Ltd on Tuesday reported a 25 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 2,724 crore for the April-June quarter of 2024-25, compared to the corresponding figure of Rs 2,177 crore in Q1 FY-24.

The company said that the increase in profit was mainly due to increased gas transmission volumes, increased domestic natural gas marketing volume, and improved natural gas marketing margins.

The gas major’s revenue from operations came in at Rs 33,692 crore in Q1 FY-25 as against Rs 32,227 crore in Q1 FY-24. Profit before tax (PBT) in Q1 FY-25 stood at Rs 3,642 crore as against Rs 1,889 crore in Q1 FY-24.

On a sequentially quarter basis, revenue from operations was higher at Rs 33,692 crore in Q1 FY-25 as against Rs 32,335 crore in Q4 FY-24. PBT registered a robust growth of 28 per cent to Rs 3,642 crore in Q1 FY-25 as against Rs 2,842 crore during Q4 FY-24.

On a consolidated basis, revenue from operations stood at Rs 34,822 crore in Q1 FY-25 as against Rs 32,833 crore during Q4 FY-24. PBT in Q1 FY-25 stood at Rs 4,114 crore as against Rs 3,099 crore in Q4 FY-24. PAT (excluding non-controlling interest) was Rs 3,183 crore in Q1 FY-25 as against Rs 2,469 crore in Q4 FY-24.

GAIL Chairman Sandeep Kumar Gupta said that the company has incurred a capital expenditure (capex) of about Rs 1,659 crore during the current quarter, mainly on pipelines, petrochemicals, equity to JVs, etc. which is about 21 per cent of the annual target of Rs 8,044 crore. He further stated that GAIL has advanced its net zero carbon target for scope-1 and scope-2 emissions to 2035 from the earlier date of 2040.

–IANS

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