TCS has made it to the fastest growing brand of the decade and positions it among the top three brands in IT services globally, according to brand valuation firm Brand Finance in its 2020 Global 500 report. Its brand value increased nearly six-fold since 2010 to $13.5 billion in 2019. TCS’s year-on-year brand value grew from $12.8 billion to $13.5 billion, making it the fastest-growing among the top three IT services brands for the second year running. “Our principal goal is to be the primary growth and transformation partner for our customers,” said its COO N Ganapathy Subramaniam. “This accolade is further recognition of the strength and depth of our Business 4.0 framework, which underpins everything we’re doing to transform industries and business models.” Brand Finance’s Brand Guardianship Index has named TCS CEO Rajesh Gopinathan among the top 100 global CEOs worldwide. The index rates CEOs on how well they measure up as brand ambassadors, based on marketing investments, growth in stakeholder equity and business performance. However, Gopinathan’s 2020 ranking has dropped to 69, from 53 in 2019.
Govt clears 100% FDI in Airtel
The department of telecom (DoT) has approved raising of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Bharti Airtel to 100% from existing 49%, a move that is expected to give flexibility to the loss-making company in raising foreign funds. The company also has received an approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that allows foreign investors to hold up to 74% stake in a company, it said in a stock exchange filing. “Bharti Airtel has received the approval from the DoT for increasing the limit of foreign investment up to 100% of the paid-up capital of the company,” the filing said. The approval comes one day before the company has to clear statutory liabilities of up to nearly £ 3.56 billion, of which £2.17 billion is licence fee and another £1.39 billion is spectrum dues (excluding dues of Telenor and Tata Teleservices). These dues come after the October 24 Supreme Court order related to Adjusted Gross Revenues (AGRs).
Malaysia may buy more Indian sugar
To placate New Delhi amid the ongoing spat over palm oil imports, Malaysia’s top sugar refiner said it will increase purchases of the commodity from India. MSM Malaysia Holdings Berhad will buy 130,000 tonnes of raw sugar from India worth $49 million in the first quarter, the company said. It bought around 88,000 tonnes of raw sugar from India in 2019. MSM is the sugar refining arm of the world’s largest palm oil producer, FGV Holdings, which is a unit of Malaysian state-owned Federal Land Development Authority or Felda. The company did not cite the palm oil dispute as a reason for the increase in purchases. But sources, who are familiar with discussions between the company and the government on the purchase, said it was a bid to appease India, which has been urging Malaysia to reduce the trade deficit between the countries. India, the world’s largest edible oil buyer, this month effectively halted Malaysian palm oil imports apparently in retaliation to Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s comments criticising New Delhi over its policy on Kashmir. Malaysia has said it will look to other markets to sell more palm oil but that may not be easy as India has been the biggest buyer of Malaysian palm oil for the past five years. Malaysia’s exports to India were worth $10.8 billion in the fiscal year that ended on March 31, while imports totalled $6.4 billion.
BoB suffers £140.7 mn loss in Q3
Bank of Baroda reported a loss of £140.7 million for the quarter ended December 2019 as against a net profit of £47.1 million in the corresponding quarter last year. The main reason behind the loss is a £662 million provision toward defaults and stressed loans, nearly double of last year’s £341.6 million. While the results were signed by newly-appointed CEO Sanjiv Chadha, the bank has been without a chief for most of the quarter under review after former managing director & chief executive officer P S Jayakumar completed his term in October 2019. In a statement, the bank said its fresh slippage of loans into default category rose to £1.039 billion. As a result the bank’s gross NPA (GNPA) was £7.31 billion as on December 31 compared to £6.99 billion as on September 30.
India's mobile exports grow in April-Nov
Amid falling exports, mobile phones have emerged as a bright spot, with shipments out of India trebling to nearly $2.5 billion (over £1.7 billion) during April-November with over half the cellphones shipped to the UAE. Data pointed to a spurt in mobile exports after several assembly units came up in the country. The list of exporters includes Apple, which is shipping iPhones, as well as other prominent brands such as One Plus and homegrown ones such as Lava and Karbonn.
Industry executives said the recent trade tension between the US and China has also resulted in many global companies de-risking their manufacturing operations and shifting a part of production to India. A relatively cheaper cost of labour and easier relations with the US means that there is less fear of a sudden trade backlash. Also, with the Indian government’s focus on Make in India and the recent cuts in corporate tax rates for new establishments, companies are hopeful that manufacturing here will only go up, giving hope to counter larger hubs such as China and Vietnam.
