Summer rain: Good for rural sales, hurts urban market; ‘early’ monsoon hits ice cream, soft drink demand in cities where FMCG companies tackle slowdown

MUMBAI: A contrasting tale may be playing out in the FMCG space. While the arrival of early monsoons is expected to boost consumption of soaps, shampoos, packaged food, and other household staples in rural areas, which have already been growing faster than urban areas for the past five quarters, summer sales of companies are likely…

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Drools turns unicorn after Nestle’s bet

MUMBAI: Swiss consumer goods giant Nestle has picked up a minority stake in the Indian pet food startup Drools. The Bengaluru-based company did not disclose the specifics of the deal but said it was valued at $1 billion post-investment, joining the ranks of unicorn startups. “This is a financial investment by the company, and Drools…

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GTRI: US talks of trade deficit, but has surplus from India

NEW DELHI: While American President Donald Trump’s focus is on the $45 billion trade deficit with India, a paper released Monday estimated that the US “quietly rakes in” $80-85 billion from India through education, digital services, financial operations, royalty on intellectual property, and defence exports.“These massive earnings don’t show up in the narrow goods trade…

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Niti backs finance plan for medium units

NEW DELHI: Niti Aayog, government’s policy think tank, recommended the introduction of a dedicated financing scheme to allow medium enterprises to avail loans at concessional rates. It also backed a credit card for such units with a Rs 5 crore limit for emergency needs.The report, released on Monday, stated that the scheme should be under…

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Groww files IPO papers, eyes $1 billion

BENGALURU: Investment platform Groww has confidentially filed for an IPO with markets regulator Sebi, a newspaper advertisement showed on Monday. The offering is expected to raise between $700 million and $1 billion through a mix of fresh issue and an offer for sale, people familiar with the matter said. The proceeds will be used to…

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