News in numbers | Aditya Birla Nuvo, Grasim merger to create Rs59,766 crore revenue firm
Post merger, Grasim will become a more diversified firm
₹ 59,766 crore
What is it? The combined revenue of Aditya Birla Nuvo and Grasim Industries, both of which belong to the Aditya Birla Group. The group announced the merger of the two on Thursday.
Why is it important? Post merger, Grasim will become a more diversified firm with interests in cement (contributing 42% of its revenue), textiles (17%), telecom (16%), financial services (15%), chemicals (9%) and others (1%). The combined net profit will be ₹ 4,245 crore. Shareholders aren’t happy. Grasim’s share prices fell 12% in the last two days since reports on the merger emerged.
Tell me more: The group plans to spin off its financial services business, and list it separately. The merger will also bring down the cross-holdings in Aditya Birla Group, since its larger companies, including Grasim and Nuvo, hold shares in each other.
315 million
What is it? The number of rural internet users in India by 2020, according to Boston Consulting Group.
Why is it important? That would represent an addition of nearly 200 million internet users in the next four years—from 120 million at present. It would demand a change in the way online businesses approach customers—with greater stress on local languages, smaller mobile screens, simplified user interface, logistics and optimising for slower connections, among other things. At present, online businesses mostly cater to urban customers and have been facing a slowdown in their growth.
Tell me more: The share of online users in rural India will be 48% by 2020, from 36% at present, according to the report, The Rising Connected Consumer in Rural India.
$31 billion
What is it? India’s telecom revenue for 2015.
Why is it important? It’s about 3% of the global revenue of $1.093 trillion. India has a large and growing number of telecom users, but the average revenue per user (ARPU)is still low at about $4 per user, compared to $20 per user in Asia. Some analysts believe ARPU might go further down as companies target next segment of relatively poorer users for data. Besides, Reliance Jio launch is expected to have an impact on prices as telecom players compete for customers.
Tell me more: China Mobile, with revenue of ₹ 4.63 trillion crore from 886.2 million connections, Vodafone ( ₹ 2.68 trillion from 461 million connections) and Bharti Airtel ( ₹ 336 crore from 336.2 million connections) are among the top mobile companies by connections globally.
2
What is it? The number of Indians in Forbes’ 100 Richest Tech Billionaires 2016 list. That’s Wipro Ltd’s Azim Premji and HCL Technologies’s Shiv Nadar.
Why is it important? Neither Wipro nor HCL Tech is the largest tech firm in India, and Premji and Nadar made it to the list on account of their huge shareholding in their respective companies. United States has more than half (51) of the top 100 tech billionaires, followed by China (19) and Canada (5).
Tell me more: Bill Gates (Microsoft), Jeff Bezos (Amazon) and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) top the list. The top 10 also has billionaires from Google, Oracle, Alibaba, Tencents and Dell.
3
What is it? The number of Indian companies to get Intel Capital’s investment this year. All the three were follow-up investments.
Why is it important? Intel Capital is reportedly slowing down on investing in Indian start-ups. It’s significant because Intel’s venture capital arm has been the most active of corporate VCs (CVCs) in India between 2011 and 2015, according to CB Insights. It also reflects the slowdown in global CVC activity, which just hit its lowest in the last nine quarters.
Tell me more: Qualcomm Ventures, Bertelsmann India Investments and Cisco Investments are the other three most active VCs in India. Intel Capital refunded Hungama, Helpshift and IndiaMART.com this year.
howindialives.com is a search engine for public data
Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!