Automaker Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M (NS:MAHM)) on Monday announced that its overall auto sales for June stood at 69,397 vehicles, a growth of 11 per cent, including exports.In the Utility Vehicles (UV) segment, the company sold 40,022 vehicles in the domestic market, a growth of 23 per cent and overall, 40,644 vehicles, including exports.

The domestic sales for commercial vehicles stood at 20,594.

“June has been a momentous month, as we rolled out the 200,000th XUV700 from our facility. We also celebrated 25 years of Bolero Pik-Ups, a category creator and a market leader in the LCV segment,” Veejay Nakra, President, the Automotive Division, M&M, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Mahindra & Mahindra has announced to invest Rs 12,000 crore in its electric vehicle (EV) unit over a period of three years.

In a stock exchange filing, the automaker said that it has approved an investment of Rs 12,000 crore in Mahindra Electric Automobile Limited (MEAL) to fund its EV journey over the next three years. AGENCIES

In a major boost to India’s production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, mobile phone exports from the country gained much ground in FY24 as manufacturing giants like China and Vietnam fell behind.

Railways, I&B and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw posted on X on Monday that “Bharat’s focus on manufacturing with ‘Make in India’ and PLI scheme is showing good results.”

As tech giants like Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) continue to shift iPhone manufacturing to India amid political stability and friendly government policies, India captured almost half of the lost market (40.5 per cent) from China and Vietnam in the last fiscal year.

Mobile phone exports from China went down from $136.3 billion in FY23 to $132.5 billion in FY24.

On the other hand, Vietnam saw a drop from $31.9 billion in FY23 to $26.27 billion in the last fiscal year, according to the latest industry data.

India, on the other hand, became a natural choice for mobile phone manufacturers owing to the PLI scheme.

Mobile phone exports from the country touched nearly $16 billion in FY24 from $11 billion in FY23.

Mobile phone production surged from Rs 18,900 crore in 2014-15 to an estimated Rs 4.10 lakh crore in FY24, registering an increase of 2,000 per cent, as per top electronics industry body India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA).

The overall electronic manufacturing in the country is expected to reach around $250 billion in the next five years.

At present, the electronic exports of the country stand at around $125 to $130 billion. More than 12 lakh new jobs have been created in the electronics manufacturing system in the country.

According to Prabhu Ram, Head, the Industry Intelligence Group at market intelligence firm CMR, expanding the PLI scheme to electronic components manufacturing is a strategic move to address a critical bottleneck in India’s domestic electronics ecosystem.

By incentivising local production, the policy will aim to boost domestic manufacturing capabilities and create a more resilient end-to-end electronics value chain. AGENCIES

The green energy sector in India has taken off well under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and Australian companies, with their top-notch technologies and research and development (R&D) expertise, can seamlessly fit into the Indian green supply chain and help it grow at scale, Australia’s High Commissioner to India, Philip Green OAM, said on Monday.

Speaking to IANS on the sidelines of the ‘India Energy Storage Week (IESW) 2024’ event in the national capital, Philip Green said Australian firms are well aware of the Indian opportunity in the green energy sector and are taking big notice of the overall growth.

“The Indian economy is growing very fast, which means a huge demand for new energy, and a large amount will have to be found from renewable sources,” said the Australian envoy.

“We are the producers of some of the most important minerals and metals for the green energy supply chain. Particularly, Australia is one of the biggest producers of critical minerals on the planet,” he told IANS.

The High Commissioner to India also said there is a growing synergy between the two countries, especially in the area of green energy supply chain.

PM Modi has set a target to install 500 GW renewable energy capacity by 2030.

Abundant solar energy and local technology are aiding in achieving this target while reducing carbon emissions, according to the government.

Australia and India have joined forces to accelerate the production and deployment of renewable energy technologies that will create new economic opportunities, diversify global clean energy supply chains, and help reduce global emissions.

The focus is on scaling up the manufacturing and deployment of solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies, and clean hydrogen technologies, including electrolysers.

On May 24, 2023, India and Australia reiterated a shared ambition on green hydrogen with the exchange of the agreed terms of reference for the India-Australia Green Hydrogen Taskforce. AGENCIES

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday announced that it has now joined Project Nexus with the four ASEAN countries to create a platform to facilitate instantaneous cross-border retail payments.

Nexus, conceptualised by the Innovation Hub of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), aims to connect India’s UPI (Unified Payments Interface), with the fast payment systems of ASEAN members — Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. These four countries and India would be the founding members and first-mover nations of this platform, the RBI said.

An agreement to this effect was signed by the BIS and the central banks of the founding countries i.e., Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Bank of Thailand (BOT), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and Reserve Bank of India on June 30, 2024, in Basel, Switzerland, according to an RBI statement.

Indonesia, which has been involved from the early stages, continues to be involved as a special observer.

The RBI has been collaborating bilaterally with various countries to link India’s Fast Payments System (FPS) – the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), with their respective FPSs for cross-border Person to Person (P2P) and Person to Merchant (P2M) payments.

“While India and its partner countries can continue to benefit through such bilateral connectivity of Fast Payment Systems, a multilateral approach will provide further impetus to our efforts in expanding the international reach of Indian payment systems,” the RBI said.

The platform can be extended to more countries, going forward. The platform is expected to go live by 2026. Once functional, Nexus will play an important role in making retail cross-border payments efficient, faster, and more cost-effective, the RBI statement added.

AGENCIES

South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries said on Monday it has won a 1.4 trillion-won ($1 billion) order to build four liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers for a Middle Eastern shipper.

The vessels will be delivered to the undisclosed shipping company by August 2028, Samsung Heavy Industries said in a regulatory filing.

So far this year, the shipbuilder has clinched orders worth $4.9 billion to build 22 ships, or 51 percent of its 2024 target of $9.7 billion, reports Yonhap news agency.

The ships include 19 LNG carriers, two very large ammonia carriers and one shuttle tanker.

Samsung Heavy Industries is the shipbuilding arm of South Korea’s top family-controlled conglomerate, Samsung Group, whose marquee unit is Samsung Electronics Co. AGENCIES

 Indian equity indices opened in the green on Monday following positive global cues. At 9:40 a.m., Sensex was at 79,197, up 165 points or 0.21 per cent and Nifty was at 24,069, up 58 points or 0.22 per cent.Midcap and smallcap stocks lead the market. The Nifty midcap 100 is up 237 points or 0.43 per cent, at 55,984 and the Nifty smallcap 100 is up 161 points or 0.88 per cent, at 18,478.

Among the sectoral indices, Auto, IT, Metal, and Media are major gainers. Realty, PSU Bank and Energy are major laggards.

Overall market breadth remains positive. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), Out of the total shares 1,631 are in the green and 601 are in the red.

In the Sensex pack, JSW Steel (NS:JSTL), Tech Mahindra (NS:TEML), Maruti Suzuki (NS:MRTI), HUL, TCS (NS:TCS), Wipro (NS:WIPR), Bharti Airtel (NS:BRTI), Tata Steel (NS:TISC), Nestle (NS:NEST) and HDFC Bank (NS:HDBK) are top gainers. NTPC (NS:NTPC), Power Grid (NS:PGRD), L&T, Sun Pharma (NS:SUN), and SBI (NS:SBI) are top losers.

Deven Mehata, Research Analyst at Choice Broking said, “Nifty can find support at 23,900 followed by 23,850 and 23,800. On the higher side, 24,100 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 24,200 and 24,250.”

“The charts of Bank Nifty indicate that it may get support at 52,200, followed by 52,000 and 51,900. If the index advances further, 52,500 would be the initial key resistance, followed by 52,650 and 52,800,” Mehata added.

Most Asian markets are bullish. The markets of Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Jakarta, and Seoul are in the green. American markets closed in the red on Friday. Crude oil benchmark Brent crude remains at $85 per barrel and WTI crude at $82 per barrel. AGENCIES

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won has met with leaders of global tech giants, including Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), to discuss ways to broaden business cooperation in artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors, his company said on Monday.

Chey, who has been on a US trip since June 22, held talks with Amazon CEO Andy Jassy at the headquarters of the US multinational technology company in Washington, last week, to explore ways to enhance cooperation in the AI chip sector, according to SK Group.

Amazon has unveiled its own AI chips, Trainium and Inferentia, as part of its plans to expand its business portfolio to include designing AI chips and offering AI services, reports Yonhap News Agency.

The US company is one of SK Hynix’s clients for high-bandwidth memory (HBM), a core component for AI semiconductors. SK Hynix is leading the HBM market with its latest fifth-generation HBM3E product.

Later, Chey also met with Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger at its headquarters in California.

During the meeting, the two leaders celebrated the long partnership between the two companies and shared views on future technologies and business collaborations in the sector of AI chips.

In partnership with Intel, SK Hynix developed the fastest DRAM for servers, DDR5 Multiplexer Combined Ranks Dual In-line Memory Module, in December 2022.

Last year, SK Hynix’s DDR5 product for servers received approval for Intel’s fourth-generation processor for the first time in the industry.

During his stay in the US, Chey has also met with other tech moguls, including Sam Altman from OpenAI and Satya Nadella of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT).

Meanwhile, SK Group unveiled its reform plan to secure 80 trillion won ($58 billion) by 2026 to increase investment in AI and semiconductors, aiming to keep up with the AI-led industry transition. AGENCIES

SK On, the loss-making battery unit of South Korea’s chip-to-construction conglomerate SK Group, said on Monday it will freeze the annual pay of all executive-level officials until it turns to profit, as part of its cost-cutting measures.Under the measures, C-suite executives, including the chief executive officer, let the company’s board decide their position, SK On said in a statement.

In his message to all employees, SK On CEO Lee Seok-hee said the emergency plan is to respond to “changed business environments” and effectively manage business operations, reports Yonhap news agency.

“The current crisis will be an opportunity (for the company) to reemerge as a leading global manufacturer (in the fields of EV batteries),” the CEO said.

SK On reported an operating loss of 581.8 billion won ($422.7 million) last year and remained in the red in the first quarter of 2024 with a loss of 331.5 billion won.

In its guidance announced earlier this year, the company targeted reaching the break-even point during the second half by posting an operating profit in the third or fourth quarter.

But SK On will continue to make investments in research and development projects to strengthen its competitiveness in car battery manufacturing while reorganising sales operations to flexibly respond to market demands, it said.

The global EV markets are in a stagnation phase, known as the “chasm,” which occurs before the widespread adoption of EVs.

SK On is 89.5 per cent owned by SK Innovation Co., the country’s leading refiner by sales. AGENCIES

 Video telematics startup Cautio on Monday announced a pre-seed raise of Rs 6.5 crore led by Antler, 8i Ventures and AU Small Finance Bank.

The funding round, a mix of equity and debt, also saw participation from Cautio’s early believing customers and angel investors.

“With the support of our friends at Antler, 8i and AU, we are primed to escalate our efforts in deploying cutting-edge safety solutions across the country,” Pranjal Nadhani, Co-founder & CTO, Cautio, said in a statement.

Cautio offers cost-effective video telematics products and delivers tailored solutions aimed at mitigating safety issues prevalent in India.

Through customisable dash cam devices and an AI-powered operating system, Cautio ensures accountability, improves driver conduct, minimises revenue loss, and adopts an API-first strategy, the company said.

“The Cautio model is not just about capturing telematics data but transforming it into actionable insights to enhance driver behaviour, increase safety, and pave the way for autonomous vehicles,” said Nitin Sharma, Partner at Antler.

According to Ankit Acharya, Co-founder & CEO of Cautio, telematics in India has rapidly advanced from GPS, Bluetooth and portable navigation to embedded connectivity.

“India, ranking first in global road fatalities, recorded 1,68,491 deaths in 2022, with overspeeding responsible for 70 per cent of these fatalities, along with approximately 4.4 lakh injuries,” said Acharya.

“Video telematics and dash cams, driven by demand from the commercial vehicle sector, will be crucial in eliminating hearsay and enhancing road safety,” he added. AGENCIES

About 17 Indian startups have raised $196.4 million in funding across 17 deals this week.This represents a decrease of 75 per cent from the $800.5 million secured by the startups last week across 21 deals, reports Inc42.

The largest funding round was witnessed by non-banking financial company (NBFC) Northern Arc this week. It raised $75 million via non-convertible debentures (NCDs) from the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank FMO.

The Fintech sector emerged as the investors’ favourite this week as the startups in the space cumulatively secured $77.4 million across three deals.

Startups in the e-commerce sector raised $48.3 million across five deals, enterprise tech raised $25.8 million across three deals, real estate tech raised $20.2 million across one deal, and health tech raised $10.5 million.

However, seed funding dropped this week by 69 per cent to $6.9 million from last week’s $22.7 million, according to the report.

Softeware-as-a-service (SaaS) startup Rocketlane raised $24 million in its Series B funding round co-led by 8VC, Matrix Partners India and Nexus Venture Partners.

Co-working space solutions provider Smartworks has secured $20.24 million (Rs 168 crore) from a group of investors including Keppel, Ananta Capital Ventures Fund I, Plutus Capital, family trusts, and HNIs.

Meanwhile, a Nasscom report has said that India now ranks sixth among the top nine deep-tech ecosystems globally with 3,600 such startups, which received $850 million in funding last year. AGENCIES