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<ul><li><keyword id="113675" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="nvidia" source="Orion">Nvidia</keyword> is now the world's largest company</li><li>It has surpassed <keyword id="6354427" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="apple" source="Orion">Apple</keyword> </li><li>The company is ahead in the AI race</li></ul> In 2024, AI is the talk of the tech world and more and more companies are investing heavily in the emerging technology. But at the middle of the AI boom is Jensen Huang's Nvidia. And now, the company has claimed the top spot as the world’s largest company by market capitalisation, surpassing Apple in a significant shift propelled by surging demand for AI technology. <h2><keyword id="23825488" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="nvidia-overtakes-apple" source="Orion">Nvidia overtakes Apple</keyword> as world's largest company </h2> On Tuesday, Nvidia’s market cap hit $3.43 trillion, narrowly edging out Apple’s $3.38 trillion valuation. This milestone follows Nvidia’s previous brief leap over Apple in June, highlighting the fierce competition between these tech giants. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="114040583" title="I talked to an AI-powered NPC thanks to Nvidia! True to her character, she surprised me with her princess attitude" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div> According to a report in IANS, CEO Jensen Huang attributed the company’s rapid growth to the strong demand for its Hopper chips and anticipation for the upcoming Blackwell generation. These chips power AI research and data-heavy applications globally, solidifying Nvidia’s role in modernising data centres and expanding computing power. "Hopper demand remains strong, and the anticipation for Blackwell is incredible,” Huang said and added, “Nvidia achieved record revenues as global data centers are in full throttle to modernise the entire computing stack with accelerated computing and generative AI.” Nvidia’s revenue figures back its impressive rise. In the second quarter ending July 28, the company reported a 15% quarterly growth and a massive 122% increase year-over-year, reaching $30 billion in revenue. For fiscal 2025, the outlook remains strong, with expected third-quarter earnings of around $32.5 billion. The company has also returned $15.4 billion to shareholders in the form of buybacks and dividends during the first half of fiscal 2025, maintaining a solid position of $7.5 billion left under its share repurchase plan. <h2>Why is Nvidia ahead in the AI race? </h2> The company has been a frontrunner in the AI race as it makes advanced computer chips that power AI technologies. These chips are essential for running complex AI tasks, like training large language models (e.g., ChatGPT) and supporting advanced data processing in data centres. Nvidia’s GPUs (graphics processing units) are particularly good at handling many tasks at once, making them ideal for AI work. While other companies also make computer chips, Nvidia’s focus on innovation in AI hardware has allowed it to stand out and stay ahead of the competition. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="113902265" title="Nvidia’s ChatRTX could be your alternative to ChatGPT for reading long documents, and it doesn’t need an internet connection" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div> On a related note, Apple has also made strides in the market with its smaller-scale AI efforts like Apple Intelligence, which was rolled out to users recently. Microsoft, another major contender, holds a market cap of $3.06 trillion and remains a strong player in the tech landscape.

Nvidia becomes world's largest company amid AI boom, surpasses Apple in the race

Last week, tech giant <keyword id="19906778" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Infosys" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Infosys" meta.hostid="153" meta.entityid="Infosys">Infosys</keyword> was making headlines for delaying onboarding of thousands of freshers for more than two years. It was reported that freshers had been awaiting onboarding since 2022 but nothing was happening on that front. The Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (<keyword id="20033579" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="NITES" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="NITES" meta.hostid="153" meta.entityid="NITES">NITES</keyword>) even filed a formal complaint against the company. Now, <keyword id="21949326" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Infosys-CEO" source="keywords">Infosys CEO</keyword> Salil Parekh has said that everyone with a job offer will be a part of the company even though there are “delays.” <h2>Infosys CEO reassures graduates</h2> Infosys has confirmed its commitment to honour all <keyword id="20345755" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="offers" source="keywords">offers</keyword> extended to fresh engineering graduates, despite ongoing delays in the onboarding process. CEO Salil Parekh recently addressed concerns that have been brewing among thousands of freshers, saying that while some joining dates have been adjusted, every candidate who received an offer will join the company. In a statement, Parekh told PTI, "Every offer that we have given, that offer will be honored, and those individuals will join Infosys. We have adjusted some dates, but beyond that, there is no change in our approach." According to a CNBC report, Parekh also said that the rising interest in Generative AI (GenAI) among clients is a positive sign for future growth. He added that while GenAI is driving significant change within the industry, it will not lead to layoffs at Infosys, a point of distinction compared to trends seen at other tech firms. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="112669758" title="Infosys delays onboarding of 2,000 graduates for more than 2 years, NITES files complaint" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div> Parekh’s reassurances come in response to growing unrest among freshers from the 2022 batch, many of whom have been waiting for nearly two years to start their careers at Infosys. <h2>What is happening with Infosys hiring?</h2> For the unversed, the Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), a Pune-based IT employee union, recently filed a formal complaint with the Ministry of Labour and Employment, accusing Infosys of delaying the onboarding of over 2,000 engineering graduates. These graduates were selected for roles such as system engineers and digital specialist engineers during the company’s 2022-23 recruitment drive. According to NITES, the affected graduates received their offer letters as early as April 2022 but have since faced continuous delays, unpaid pre-training programs, and additional assessments that were not initially communicated. Despite fulfilling all the requirements, these professionals have been left in limbo, unable to begin their careers. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/work-life-balance-is-a-myth-photo-of-man-working-in-front-of-momo-stall-goes-viral-internet-reacts/articleshow/112516510.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">'Work-life balance is a myth’: Photo of man working in front of momo stall goes viral, Internet reacts</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/article/arrange-or-love-marriage-debate-is-passe-people-are-now-marrying-their-ai-partners/articleshow/112522764.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">Arrange or love marriage debate is passe, people are now marrying their AI partners</a>

Everyone will join, there is no change: Infosys CEO after delaying joining of 2,000 freshers for over two years

New Delhi: After two <keyword id="19945688" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="acquisitions" source="keywords">acquisitions</keyword> this year, India's second-largest IT services company <keyword id="19906778" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Infosys" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Infosys" meta.hostid="268" meta.entityid="Infosys">Infosys</keyword> is on the lookout to scoop-up more firms and says the acquisition matching scale of recent in-tech buy is certainly a possibility. In an interview to PTI, <keyword id="24144" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="infosys-ceo" source="Orion">Infosys CEO</keyword> <keyword id="20115570" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="salil-parekh" source="keywords">Salil Parekh</keyword> said the company is keen on acquisitions in areas like data analytics, SAAS, and may look at some geographies within Europe, and the US. Asked if more acquisitions could be of the scale matching in-tech, which came with a price-tag of 450 million euros, <keyword id="20039787" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="parekh" source="keywords">Parekh</keyword> said, "Absolutely, I think those would be the size that we will look at in terms of scale, and given our structure we could do a few of those." Back in January, Infosys announced a definitive agreement to acquire 100 per cent of the equity share capital in InSemi Technology Services, a semiconductor design services company headquartered in India, for a consideration (including earn-outs, and management incentives and retention bonuses) totalling up to Rs 280 crore. A bigger acquisition followed in three months. In April, Infosys Germany, a wholly-owned step-down subsidiary, entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 100 per cent of the equity share capital in in-tech Holding -- leading provider of engineering R&amp;D services headquartered in Germany -- for a consideration of up to 450 million euros (about Rs 4,045 crore). "We have very good business in engineering services already within Infosys and then we did those two acquisitions, both of them in engineering services, one on semiconductor side and one on the automotive side... very strong businesses, and we feel quite good about expanding that footprint," Parekh said. Infosys is eyeing more acquisitions, he said, adding that the company is evaluating several firms. "We have a good balance sheet and good cash generation and now we are quite comfortable with the integration of acquisition in different areas. We have done engineering services, we will look at other areas... for example data analytics... may look at SAAS (software as a service) areas, and maybe at some other geographies in Europe, maybe the US as well," he said. Parekh, however, said a lot depends on strategic synergies, financial cost, cultural fit and integration aspects. "We are continuing to look, and we have things that are normally in the pipeline but those take their own time... there are a lot of discussions on strategic fit, on financial cost of it and cultural fit into the company and then how will we integrate them. Many of those discussions are ongoing and we will see what comes out," the Infosys top honcho said. On whether he is hopeful of closing more acquisitions this fiscal year, Parekh indicated that it is tough to put a timeline on the outcome of ongoing discussions. "It is difficult to say... we are evaluating several (of them). But to get a fit on the strategic parameters, financial parameters, culture, integration... all of it may not work out. But these two (InSemi and in-tech) happened relatively quickly... before that for some quarters we had not done anything. It is not a predictable thing, but the evaluation is ongoing," he said. According to the Grant Thornton Bharat Dealtracker Q2 2024 report, Indian dealmaking saw overall 501 deals, valued at USD 21.4 billion. The report said the second quarter of 2024 witnessed the highest quarterly volumes since the second quarter of 2022, while values declined due to the absence of big-ticket merger and acquisition transactions. Grant Thornton Bharat Dealtracker further said the merger and acquisition (M&amp;A) activity during the second quarter saw 132 deals worth USD 6.2 billion, marking a slight increase in volumes but a substantial 50 per cent drop in values. As per the report, domestic deals drove growth with volumes rising 29 per cent and values increasing 2.5 times compared to the first quarter of the current year. In contrast, cross-border deals experienced a decline, with volumes decreasing 24 per cent and values plummeting 85 per cent from the first quarter of 2024.

Infosys is keen on more acquisitions, says CEO Salil Parekh

It took something surprisingly small — something that's been described as "teeny tiny" and "ultra-cropped" — to propel <keyword id="19948011" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Prada" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Prada" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Prada">Prada</keyword> to its place as one of the year's few luxury winners. In fact, it measures under 10 inches long. <keyword id="20885719" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Miu-Miu" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Miu Miu" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Miu Miu">Miu Miu</keyword>'s micro miniskirt, which debuted in 2021 and subsequently went viral, taking over both TikTok and magazine front covers, is emblematic of the brand's show-stopping couple of years — and has no doubt helped its parent company, Prada, do what few luxury companies have been able to do this year: grow. "I think the 'miracle' at Prada is Miu Miu," Luca Solca, a senior analyst at Bernstein, told Business Insider. Thanks to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/miu-miu-revenue-jumps-93-gen-z-asia-sales-prada-2024-7">Miu Miu's hot streak</a>, as well as a series of smart business moves at Prada itself — a focus on a controlled retail pipeline and store productivity, plus some experienced new hires — the company is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zara-inditex-pandora-thrive-amid-luxury-downturn-aspirational-consumer-trends-2024-9">bucking negative luxury trends</a>. It's selling well in Asia, its stock is up, and investors are excited. Net revenue for the first half of the year was 14% higher than in the same period in 2023 and 34% more than 2022. At luxury bellwethers LVMH and Kering, first-half sales fell 1% and 11%, respectively, compared to last year.Its stock is up more than 30% year-to-date, even more than that of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hermes-became-ultimate-status-symbol-2024-2">Hermès, luxury's perennial market leader</a>. Along with Moncler, it's one of only two buy-rated luxury stocks at HSBC. The 111-year-old, family-run, Milanese leather goods shop turned cutting-edge fashion superhouse is now enjoying one of its greatest runs in history. <h2>The trendy little sister</h2>As any elder sibling knows well, sometimes the flashy, fun younger sister can outshine even the most well-prepared eldest. Miu Miu is doing just that. The more experimental brand has become the "It" girl of the fashion industry. It's number two on The Lyst Fashion Index, a quarterly measure of the hottest fashion brands. Searches for Miu Miu are up 47% this year on luxury resale platform The RealReal. The micro minis that stormed the runway in 2021, a sneaker collab with New Balance, and the quilted Wander bags have become must-have looks. That's translated into impressive results: <keyword id="19957111" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="retail-sales" source="keywords">Retail sales</keyword> were up 50% in 2023 and 86% in the first half of this year. Last quarter, website traffic was up 110% year over year, Stifel's Rogerio Fujimori reported in his July note. The brand will likely hit $1 billion in revenue this year. <div type="image" title="Miu Miu micro miniskirt" height="3109" width="4663" msid="113815737" hostid="261"></div>Part of it is the brand's messaging. "Miu Miu is resonating with consumers because of a savvy mix of product and communication marketing," Solca said. In a recent note, he highlighted the brand's events — a tennis club, literary club, and film series — that go beyond just fashion to form a "cultural aesthetic." Miu Miu has embraced stars (Sydney Sweeney and Gigi Hadid were featured in recent campaigns), which has energized its following. The brand has also managed to tap into Asian markets — one of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-luxury-retail-sales-slowdown-brands-fashion-2024-7">most challenging sectors for luxury brands</a>. Again, some smart marketing has helped. The brand enlisted K-pop icons as ambassadors and dressed Chinese stars Lexie Liu, Zhao Jinmai, and Wu Yanshu. It also increased spending on Little Red Book, a social media platform in China, and threw events in Tokyo, Taipei, and Nanjing. In short — pun intended — you can't get trendier than Miu Miu right now, and being trendy is good for business. <h2>The business behind the boom</h2>But Miu Miu's popularity, as attention-grabbing as it is, is only part of the story. The brand accounted for 15% of Prada's sales last year. HSBC analysts called its growth a "(big) cherry on the cake" — the cake being Prada (which didn't respond to a request for comment from Business Insider for this story). Behind Miu Miu's Mary Jane shoes and Arcade bags is a success story at its parent company. The group's namesake line is growing, albeit at a slower and steadier pace. Prada's retail sales were up 3% in the first half of the year compared to last year and 7% in 2023. It's been among Lyst's top five hottest brands since 2022. This didn't happen by accident: In 2017, Prada committed to a turnaround strategy following a few losing yearsand a drop in profitability. At more than 100 years old, Prada hadn't entered the new millennium: Its full product line wasn't available through e-commerce, and its advertising wasn't digitized. "In 2015, the tide really turned for them," Jelena Sokolova, a senior analyst for Morningstar, told Business Insider. "They fared worse than the industry: Sales were negative for a number of years; their earnings plummeted." In response, Prada focused on retail, a channel in which it can control prices and cut back on wholesale, which now represents only 11% of sales. It made an effort to cut down on discounts — a problem that has <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-burberry-became-fashions-biggest-fail-stock-drop-ceo-ousting-2024-8">plagued labels like Burberry</a> and Gucci and can lead to diminishing brand perception. At its retail stores, new CEO Andrea Guerra, who arrived in 2023 from LVMH, has drilled down on productivity, or how much money each square foot of retail space generates, by launching in-store installations, forming one-to-one relationships between sales associates and customers, and infusing stores with wearable pieces and collaborations. The company closed stores that weren't performing and renovated the ones that were. It's worked: Retail productivity has increased 32.5% between 2019 and 2023. <div type="image" title="Prada store" height="3333" width="5000" msid="113815742" hostid="261"></div>There has also been a slew of management changes. In 2020, the company brought on Raf Simons, heralded as one of the biggest stars in the design world, as co-creative director, sharing the title with Muccia Prada — the company's billionaire heiress who The New York Times has <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/04/style/miu-miu-chanel-louis-vuitton-paris-fashion-week.html">referred</a> to as "the most influential woman in fashion." Prada now has more time to use her keen sense of design at Miu Miu. In the years following, it recruited talent from LVMH and Goldman Sachs to join its top ranks. And then there is the sheer cyclicality of fashion and the fact that, after a few years of being less-than-hot, Prada is once again on the rise. It has embraced the 1990s and Y2K aesthetic — a heyday for Prada — popular with Gen Z and was the most searched brand among the demographic on The RealReal. Hit products pushed the profitable leather goods category to revenues of more than $2 billion last year. There was a reimagining of the early 2010s it-bag, the Galleria, complete with a Scarlett Johansson-led campaign. Other handbag rereleases, like that of the Nylon, have taken off, while new purse styles like the Buckle and Arqué got callouts in last year's earnings report. That momentum gave the brand an upper hand going into the luxury downturn. "People prioritize which brands they want to spend on. With a limited budget, first, you drop the ones that were not hot to begin with," Sokolova said. <h2>Can Prada's hot streak last?</h2>Just as fashion comes in, it can come out. And Prada's story — particularly Miu Miu's rapid-fire growth — in some ways mimics that of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gucci-sales-profit-reputation-falling-luxury-kering-michele-china-2024-5">Gucci's hype-driven rise and plummeting fall under Alessandro Michele</a>. "You kind of become a victim of your own success," Sokolova said. Both Prada and Miu Miu are susceptible to volatility, though for different reasons. Miu Miu is still relatively small, meaning its brand identity is not yet established enough to withstand the whims of consumers. CEO Guerra has acknowledged that such incredible growth can lead to a challenge. "There appears to be a glass ceiling," Solca wrote in a recent note. "Being prominent brings fatigue: after a while, consumers feel they have seen and done enough with these brands and move on." Prada, meanwhile, is more exposed in the cyclical ready-to-wear category — which makes up 32% of sales — than other brands like Gucci and YSL. But there are signs of continued growth: Miu Miu is adding 10 to 15 stores next year, while Prada is adding five to 10, the company has said. The brand's retail footprint is particularly underpenetrated in the US. The company's beauty business is still nascent. Last year, it launched skincare and makeup through a partnership with L'Oréal, and there is more money to be made in that sector. With so much control of its sales chain, the company can raise prices and limit overexposure through low-end collaborations or expansion into cheap categories. Plus, the slowdown hasn't happened yet: Miu Miu website traffic and sales continued to grow between the first and second quarters, and the company maintains it's not a flash in the pan. "This is a result of many years of work on the brand, on the products, on the people," Guerra said about Miu Miu's success on the company's most recent earnings call. Meanwhile, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prada-white-tank-top-status-symbol-2024-2">Prada has maintained its brand value</a>. But the woman Miuccia Prada herself knows the pressure is on. "I was very nervous for this show," she told reporters backstage at the line's fashion show earlier this month about the new collection, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/20/style/prada-fendi-milan-fashion-week.html">The New York Times reported</a>. "Much more than usual." September 30, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of Miuccia Prada.

How Prada is beating the odds and bucking the luxury slump 

A day before the official release of India's Gross Domestic Product (<keyword id="35050" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="GDP" source="Orion">GDP</keyword>) figures for <keyword id="21593310" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Q1-FY25" source="keywords">Q1 FY25</keyword>, a report by <keyword id="20548750" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Anand-Rathi" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Anand Rathi" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Anand Rathi">Anand Rathi</keyword> research estimates the GDP to grow by 7 per cent, primarily driven by the robust performance of the services sector. The financial advisory firm also maintains its full-year <keyword id="19972825" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="GDP-growth" source="keywords">GDP growth</keyword> projection at 7 per cent, though it warns of potential downside risks. Utilities GVA is expected to rise by 11.5 per cent, while the construction sector has slowed due to election-related disruptions and the impact of heat. The mining sector remains strong, supported by increased coal production. The services sector is expected to be the primary driver of GDP growth in Q1 FY25. Despite reduced <keyword id="20155204" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="government-spending" source="keywords">government spending</keyword> ahead of the elections, which is likely to dampen growth in some service sectors, financial, real estate, and professional services are expected to have performed well. This performance is attributed to strong market activity and credit growth. However, the trade and transport sectors present a mixed picture, with some indicators showing improvement while others remain moderate. Overall, Services Gross Value Added (GVA) is expected to grow by 8.2 per cent in Q1 FY25. As per the report, Investment was a key growth driver in FY24, fuelled by government infrastructure projects and a real estate upswing. However, the momentum appears to have slowed in Q1 FY25 due to pre-election restrictions. Despite this, the report predicts a significant rise in government capital expenditure in the coming months, supported by greater budget allocations. The report highlights the changing dynamics of private consumption in India. FY24 saw weak consumption, especially in rural areas, with final consumption expenditure growing by just 3.8 per cent. However, as FY25 begins, there are signs of a rural revival. Indicators such as increased two-wheeler sales and improving Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) volume growth signal a rebound in rural demand. In contrast, urban demand continues to show signs of sluggishness. The muted sales of passenger vehicles, weaker retail credit transfers, and flat Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections underscore this trend. While consumption is not expected to see a significant rise in Q1 FY25, the outlook for the remainder of the year appears positive. This optimism is bolstered by anticipated higher agricultural output and sharper government focus on rural areas. The agriculture sector is expected to post a subdued growth of 2.1 per cent in Q1 FY25, affected by scorching heat and uneven rainfall last year, which led to lower reservoir levels and hindered farming activities. However, the outlook is more promising for the remainder of the fiscal year, with better rains and improved sowing conditions expected to boost agricultural output Additionally, a rebound in stamp duty collections suggests buoyant real estate sales. Private capital expenditure, which was previously subdued, is expected to expand in FY25, driven by rising capacity utilisation and strong order books. The industrial sector, which grew by 9.5 per cent in FY24, is expected to see a shift in growth drivers in Q1 FY25. The focus is now moving towards utilities and mining, with manufacturing growth slowing. While government infrastructure projects and private capital expenditure will continue to support industrial growth, the global growth slowdown poses potential risks.

Anand Rathi anticipates Q1 FY25 GDP growth at 7%, a little lower than RBI's estimate of 7.1%

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Europe could fall into recession in 2025 under Trump's economic proposals, a major EU bank said.</li><li>The eurozone may fall from "sluggish growth into a full-blown recession," ING analysts wrote.</li></ul>The eurozone economy faces the possibility of a looming recession as tariffs promised by President-elect Trump look set to dampen growth, according to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://think.ing.com/articles/trump-wins-tax-cuts-come-with-a-cost/#a5">analysts at a Dutch bank.</a>"A looming new trade war could push the eurozone economy from sluggish growth into a full-blown recession," a team including James Knightley, chief international economist at ING, wrote in a note to clients.Trump pledged on the campaign trail to impose <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/global-reaction-donald-trump-election-victory-tariffs-trade-disputes-2024-11">a fresh era</a> of trade tariffs, building on policies he enacted during his first term as president.He has vowed to impose a 60% tariff on goods imported from China and a 10% blanket tariff on all other goods entering the US.While China was the primary focus of the tariffs the first time around, Europe could be in the firing line in Trump's second term.European Union economic growth is already struggling, and has lagged behind the US in recent years. The bloc expanded by 0.2% in the most recent quarter, compared to 0.7% growth in the US.The US is Europe's largest market for exports, particularly for industries like automobiles, pharmaceuticals, and luxury goods, so any tariffs could cause further pain. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/germany-auto-giants-volkswagen-bmw-mercedes-struggle-sales-china-evs-2024-10">Germany's stuttering auto industry</a>, a crucial part of Europe's largest economy, could be particularly affected."The already struggling German economy, which heavily relies on trade with the US, would be particularly hard hit by tariffs on European automotive," ING's analysts wrote in a section of the note titled "Europe's worst economic nightmare comes true."Along with potential tariffs, ING's analysts said the prospect of Trump reducing US military support for Ukraine could also create a headwind for the European economy."Uncertainty about Trump's stance on Ukraine and NATO could undermine the recently stabilized economic confidence indicators across the eurozone," they wrote.There are also worries that if Trump <a target="_blank" rel="" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-trump-could-handle-ukraine-war-if-reelected-scenarios-2024-10">reduces financial aid to Ukraine</a>, Europe will be forced to allocate more spending to the conflict."Even though tariffs might not impact Europe until late 2025, the renewed uncertainty and trade war fears could drive the eurozone economy into recession at the turn of the year," ING said.ING's view was echoed by Nigel Green, CEO of UK-based financial advisory firm deVere Group.He said Europe's economic challenges, including high energy costs, sluggish economic growth, and geopolitical instability, would <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/global-reaction-donald-trump-election-victory-tariffs-trade-disputes-2024-11">only get worse in the event of a tariff battle with the US.</a>"A fresh trade war with the US under Trump's presidency could exacerbate these problems, destabilizing the region's economy further," Green said.

Europe faces a 'full-blown recession' under Trump's tariffs, big bank says

In a rather dampened <keyword id="19915531" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="forecast" source="keywords">forecast</keyword> for the Indian economy, <keyword id="19908266" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ICRA" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="ICRA" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="ICRA">ICRA</keyword> has forecast a sharp <keyword id="20637625" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="slowdown" source="keywords">slowdown</keyword> in India's <keyword id="19972825" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="GDP-growth" source="keywords">GDP growth</keyword>. The credit rating agency has projected a year-on-year expansion of 6.0% in <keyword id="22106354" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Q1-FY2025" source="keywords">Q1 FY2025</keyword> — the lowest in the last six quarters. In Q4 FY2024, India recorded an impressive 7.8%. The Reserve Bank of India had expected the growth momentum to continue this financial year as well. Earlier this month, the RBI governor had projected a 7.1% growth in Q1, while the growth rate for the entire financial year FY2024-25 was projected to be at 7.2%. The central bank had attributed this potential robust growth to improved agricultural activity, sustained buoyancy in services activity, healthy balance sheets of banks and corporates, thrust on capex by the government, visible signs of pick up in private investment, and improving prospects of global trade. However, RBI’s growth projections for this financial year were slightly moderated due to lower-than-anticipated corporate profitability, general government expenditure, and core industries output. As per ICRA, the sharp drop in GDP growth is primarily due to parliamentary elections and a contraction in government capital expenditure weakening urban consumer confidence. Another main cause could be the weakening urban consumer confidence, which reported a surprising downtick in the May and July 2024 rounds of the Central Bank’s Consumer Confidence Survey. “The lingering impact of last year’s unfavourable monsoon and an uneven start to the 2024 monsoon prevented a broader improvement in rural sentiment. Lower volume growth combined with diminishing gains from commodity prices weighed upon the profitability of some of the industrial sectors. The heat wave also affected footfalls in various service sectors, even as it provided a significant boost to electricity demand,” said Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist at ICRA. Despite the Q1 slowdown, ICRA expects economic activity to pick up in the latter half of FY2025, projecting an overall GDP growth of 6.8% for the full year, with a potential to exceed 7% in the second half. The agency expects decelerated growth in Gross Value Added (GVA) as well, easing to 5.7% in Q1 FY2025 from 6.3% in the previous quarter. This slowdown is primarily attributed to a decline in industrial growth, which is predicted to moderate to 6.4% from 8.4%, along with slight reductions in the services sector's growth and a modest improvement in agricultural GVA. The difference between GDP and GVA growth is expected to narrow to around 30 basis points (bps) in Q1 FY2025, down from 148 bps in the previous quarter, due to lower growth in net indirect taxes amid a rise in government subsidies. ICRA's analysis indicates that industrial GVA growth is likely to moderate in Q1 FY2025, with a slowdown in manufacturing and construction offset by growth in electricity, mining, and quarrying. Additionally, a contraction in government and state capital expenditure, along with a significant drop in new project announcements, has contributed to the overall slowdown. Manufacturing profit margins have also been under pressure due to rising global commodity prices and narrowing deflation in input costs, which, combined with slower growth in manufacturing output, suggests a deceleration in manufacturing GVA growth. In the agricultural sector, GVA growth is projected to be modest at 1.0% in Q1 FY2025, amidst declining output from most rabi and summer crops and a deficient rainfall in June 2024. With growing concerns around inflation and unemployment in India and across the world, the latest forecast could further fuel the fears around recession and slowdown in major economies. However, a much clearer picture will emerge with the actual quarterly estimates of GDP for Q1 from the National Statistical Office (NSO) next week. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/digital-initiatives-to-triple-indian-retail-borrowing-to-usd-2-5-trillion-by-2030-sp-global/articleshow/112263945.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">Digital initiatives to triple Indian retail borrowing to USD 2.5 trillion by 2030: S&amp;P Global</a>

ICRA forecasts slowdown in India's economy: GDP growth expected to hit six-quarter low in Q1 FY2025

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Arm CEO Rene Haas said in a recent interview that he needs more engineers to drive AI growth.</li><li>Companies are aggressively recruiting top AI talent, with some offering lucrative compensation.</li></ul>The AI train is running at full steam, but Arm CEO Rene Haas believes there's one thing they need to keep it moving — more engineers.Finding enough talent is "one of the real limiters" to the company's growth, Haas told Bloomberg in a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-10-25/arm-ceo-rene-haas-ai-will-progress-much-faster-than-the-internet">recent interview.</a>"Our opportunity is broad," he said. "We're in smartphones, PCs, cameras, automobiles, data centers — and all these solutions require more and more innovation. I need more engineers. We're trying to expand globally."Arm is a British semiconductor and software design company. According to an <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://investors.arm.com/static-files/dcdd6629-24bb-40ef-ba55-8aca1362205a">SEC filing</a> earlier this year, approximately 83% of the company's 7,096 total employees were involved in engineering activities as of March — increasing from roughly 80% in 2023 and 75% in 2022."Competition for highly skilled personnel, and particularly engineers, can be intense," Arm said in a section of the filing about risk factors facing the business.The comments from Arm and its CEO highlight how the generative artificial intelligence boom following ChatGPT's launch nearly two years ago has led to a talent war for top AI engineers and researchers.A limited pool of researchers and candidates with experience in areas like machine learning and data engineering has allowed AI talent to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/recruiting-ai-talent-ruthless-right-now-ai-ceo-2024-3">become more selective</a> when evaluating job offers. Some tech giants have tried to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-talent-wars-big-tech-ceos-recruiting-paying-huge-packages-2024-4">woo AI specialists</a> with hefty compensation packages or personal reachouts from CEOs like <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-chatgpt-openai-ceo-career-net-worth-ycombinator-prepper-2023-1">Sam Altman</a> and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-meta-net-worth-wealth-rich-list-musk-bezos-2024-9">Mark Zuckerberg</a>.Ram Srinivasan, a future of work expert and managing director of consulting firm JLL, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-workers-real-winners-ai-talent-war-pay-2024-7">previously told Business Insider</a> that the high demand for AI talent has led to offers for top experts topping $1 million in total compensation."This competitive market is pushing up salaries and providing attractive financial incentives for tech workers," he said.According to a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/artificial-intelligence/job-barometer/report.pdf">report from PwC</a>, which analyzes half a billion job ads, roles requiring AI specialist skills can carry up to a 25% wage premium. The research also indicated that growth in AI specialist roles has outpaced all jobs since at least 2016.While tech companies are racing to hire employees with AI expertise, other software developers are struggling not to get left behind amid industry-wide layoffs as companies look to cut costs and reallocate resources. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/news/2024-hiring-workplace-trends">Data from Indeed</a> showed a 45% decrease in job postings since December 2023 in the software development sector.Competition among tech workers has stiffened following the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/layoffs-sweeping-us-these-are-companies-making-cuts-2024">layoffs</a> that swept the tech industry over the last two years following the hiring boom of the pandemic. According to layoffs-tracker <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://layoffs.fyi/">Layoffs.fyi</a>, over 264,000 employees were laid off from 1,193 tech companies in 2023, nearly 99,00 more than 2022. So far in 2024, over 141,000 employees have been laid off by 476 companies.As of Monday, Arm had nearly 300 engineering-related roles open on its jobs site.

Arm CEO says AI growth is being limited by finding enough talent: 'I need more engineers'

It's impossible to talk about workforce innovation without addressing artificial intelligence.During a virtual roundtable, we asked Business Insider's <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/workforce-innovation-board-tackles-topics-such-as-c-suite-innovation-ai-worker-wellness-2024-8">Workforce Innovation board</a> to tell us how AI would transform companies over the next year.One major topic was reskilling and upskilling employees. BI's Tim Paradis, who focuses on the future of work, asked whether there were any fears that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vinod-khosla-universal-basic-income-ai-job-loss-2024-9">dire predictions of AI</a> outpacing human capabilities to learn, like those advanced in a recent article by Sun Microsystems cofounder <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.khoslaventures.com/ai-dystopia-or-utopia/">Vinod Khosla</a>, would prove true."The basic drivers of job creation will change with a technology that does not only augment human capabilities, but also may surpass them altogether," Khosla wrote, "leaving education and upskilling — a historical avenue for retraining and relevance — somewhat impotent."Board members rejected the grim prognostication."I disagree with that statement," said Justina Nixon-Saintil, IBM's vice president and chief impact officer, though she agreed that AI would exacerbate the digital divide."We made a commitment to scale 2 million people in AI by 2026," Nixon-Saintil said. "There's a sense of urgency in making sure we are not leaving people behind."AARP's Marjorie Powell argued that the global labor shortage was evidence of an enduring need for human workers but that no one can afford to be complacent. "You're going to have to relearn how to do your job," Powell said.Others described the importance of communicating clearly with workers about what AI means for their jobs now and in the future."We're trying to figure out how this transformation is going to occur," said Chris Deri, the president of the corporate advisory businesses at Weber Shandwick. "There has to be transparent communications and stakeholder engagement alongside figuring out these enterprise and strategic matters."The following has been edited for length and clarity.<h3 id="4a721470-9d79-4540-a871-62ad779b2870">How will the most innovative companies be transformed by AI over the next 12 months?</h3><h2 id="58f968af-3acb-493b-870e-b8d2bf021db1">Justina Nixon-Saintil, vice president and chief impact officer, IBM</h2><h3 id="a436d836-8481-4230-8a70-68bd3cfe6353">"Any tasks or jobs in the company that could be automated by AI will happen within the next year."</h3>A lot is going to change. Any tasks or jobs in the company that could be automated by AI will happen within the next year. For any jobs that cannot be automated, workers will need to understand how to work alongside AI.You need to understand what AI means for your role, how to use it to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-use-ai-save-time-work-best-ways-use-chatgpt-2024-9">increase productivity or efficiency</a>, and how to create new products and solutions leveraging AI. That's going to be the big shift, and here we actually continue to upskill our employees to prepare for that shift.Last year, we had an AI challenge across the company, and a huge percentage of our employees participated. They had to get training first, and then they were part of a team to come up with innovative solutions leveraging AI. We did it again this summer. So the company is very focused on how to upskill all employees, because it's going to impact every role in the company.<h2 id="82ccd740-f6d2-4536-8e3d-54d9f225dac0">Anant Adya, EVP, service offering head, and head of Americas delivery, Infosys</h2><h3 id="66cbaa75-725e-4e65-880c-285d5d102e74">"How can we eat our own dog food right before we start telling customers to adopt AI?"</h3>We have two objectives. One is to become an AI-first enterprise. The first task is to see how we can start using AI in everything we do, whether it's in our claims or travel expenses, procurement, or handling invoices.Our philosophy is very simple. AI is not about replacing an individual or replacing an employee but how we can amplify our productivity by using the tools. How can we eat our own dog food right before we start telling customers to adopt AI?Second is that for all the offerings that we have today, we want to make sure we infuse AI into them. When we go and talk to our customers about task-level automation, coding or developing an application, or migrating a workload into the cloud — how can we infuse AI into everything that we do? So it doesn't just become a people-based offering but a people-plus-AI-based offering.<h2 id="961badc0-cb06-4d47-9329-ac1f1b2d70dd">Marjorie Powell, chief HR officer and senior vice president, AARP</h2><h3 id="0aee923e-e647-43c9-bf57-4c2ecc03a872">"It's important that everyone learns how to deal with prompt engineering; we are not going to hire prompt engineers."</h3>We believe there's going to be a greater emphasis on <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-will-change-most-jobs-employers-help-workers-keep-up-2024-8">upskilling and reskilling</a> alongside AI technologies.It's important that everyone learns how to deal with prompt engineering; we are not going to hire prompt engineers. It's going to become a skill for employees to craft clear and specific prompts, adjust to the right audience, and utilize elements and problem-solving skills to identify inaccurate responses.It's about adaptability. Employees are going to have to be open to continuous learning and adapting to new AI tools and technologies in their jobs. So we make sure we're providing some kind of atmosphere and culture for being excited and energetic about learning.The workforce will have to problem-solve regardless of the tool and the technology, and it will require test-and-learn approaches. We created a "community of practice" in the company where individuals can join and help with peer learning and have a sandbox to play around with AI, depending on where they are.They can cross-pollinate across business-unit lines, and that has become very exciting. We also use that group to pilot the new technologies we're considering rolling out to the company.Data literacy is going to be very important — understanding how to read and interpret and tell a story of the data.We're also developing power users in the company, people who are really, really good at this that other employees can tap into when they need help.<h2 id="0ef1d87b-57f3-4474-bfdc-21c4f4fc1b74">Alicia Pittman, global people team chair, Boston Consulting Group</h2><h3 id="dd47519b-c973-4a00-b508-f05159afdea8">"Gen AI also offers an opportunity to avoid leakage of human capital, which obviously we all care quite a lot about."</h3>We have 35,000 employees, and north of 70% are active users of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/companies-using-ai-bain-survey-roi-2024-6">generative AI</a> now. We've taken a full-company approach of upskilling and rolling out both custom and off-the-shelf tools, regardless of the job.The bottom-up innovation power of gen AI is super exciting. For example, our teams and employees have created more than a thousand custom GPTs, mini automation machines, to-do scripts, and dashboards to create bespoke analyses and build newsletters — it's super quick, and it doesn't require big investments or processes.That's one thing that's specific to gen AI versus other types of technology innovation — it's sparking a lot of energy and unlocking human capacity.Gen AI also offers an opportunity to avoid leakage of human capital, which obviously we all care quite a lot about. It really changes the game in terms of the amount of learning you can keep within the team and not lose as people move around.We're also seeing how gen AI is creating an exoskeleton for generalists to be able to take on more technical tasks. It's not going to turn a generalist analyst into an expert coder, but actually our analysis would show that they can get 80%-plus there on some coding tasks, which then you still need the expert coder to do quality control.<h2 id="d130e1cc-4600-48d2-941b-e5e5b1eddc1f">Maggie Hulce, chief revenue officer, Indeed</h2><h3 id="d4c2bf89-e522-4f0d-bbff-d8d4f916c1e1">"Do I have to build this huge team of AI engineers? The answer is no."</h3>We're trying to infuse AI in all our externally facing products and solutions to make them more insightful, intuitive, and delightful to use — and, in many ways, to create experiences that mimic what a personalized human experience might be like, but at scale.We also see most roles and workflows becoming augmented with AI. That's becoming more and more obvious as the months go on and as teams engage with AI and find applications and new ways of working.I was at Dreamforce recently in San Francisco. What Salesforce <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.salesforce.com/news/press-releases/2024/09/17/google-autonomous-agent-partnership/">unveiled</a> was how it wants to help companies essentially launch AI agents in sales, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/verizon-is-using-generative-ai-to-streamline-business-relationships-2024-7">customer service</a>, marketing, and commerce.For many companies to get the full power of what AI can do, you have to be able to link up lots of different datasets that are usually in disparate places. It's hard work, and it's very time-consuming. To hear the stories of companies being like, "Guess what, you don't actually have to move that data around anymore," this is going to change how a lot of companies experiment and start to play with AI-oriented applications that will fundamentally change their operations.There are a lot of companies out there that have already started to light it up. We're thinking a lot about how sales, customer service, marketing, and product have operated for a long time in various silos. When you think about customer experiences, they really shouldn't be that way. They should be much more integrated than they are today. Some of these technologies can be part of the accelerants for how customer experiences can be reimagined.Part of what's been hard for people is like, "OK, but do I have to get all of these disparate parts of my company to all work together in a new way? Do I have to build this huge team of AI engineers?" The answer is no. You don't have to be the tip of the spear in terms of sophistication.<h2 id="8b49bd10-b04d-4857-afbc-b2979d5711e9">Kenon Chen, executive vice president of strategy and growth, Clear Capital</h2><h3 id="550eee1b-ffef-4a90-bbea-a94d7a6ba7a2">"As AI accelerates, you also have to accelerate the handling of data in a way that can produce accurate models."</h3>At Clear Capital, we participate in the highly regulated housing-finance industry. To enable AI to be used in accordance with our clients' expectations of governance and quality control, we've taken a three-pronged approach.First, we've been investing in creating good industry standards and working with the industry to ensure there's agreement on how AI models should be tested, how they ensure compliance with antidiscrimination and fairness practices, and how the data should be handled.Second, we've been investing a lot in higher-quality data. As AI accelerates, you also have to accelerate the handling of data in a way that can produce accurate models. So we've invested quite a bit in better digitization and generation of data.Third is fostering collaboration between innovators, industry players, policymakers, and regulators. We participated this year in the Federal Housing Finance Agency's generative-AI tech sprint, where about 80 leaders from different aspects of the housing industry brainstormed ways to apply generative AI to the lending process to improve borrowers' experience.One thing that became clear after participating in that was where we have more tools and more capabilities to accelerate. We always have to go back to the why: What is the mission? And we have to make the mission at the company level that much more clear so that as we apply these new tools, it's always for the sake of the mission.<h2 id="5e045b5f-3490-4435-8321-bab58740eaa8">Chris Deri, president, corporate advisory businesses, The Weber Shandwick Collective</h2><h3 id="79930c20-445b-4959-b644-53f07e252292">"There's a mega-trend need for all of us to adopt AI and understand it, but that means something different for different parts of our organization."</h3>We're a public-relations firm, so we're looking at AI for ourselves and for our clients.In terms of our own people, one lesson we've already learned is that there was an instinct to take a top-down approach, as in everybody's got to figure out how AI is going to change their business, but we need to take a bottom-up approach.In the simplest sense, we do consumer marketing, healthcare marketing, and corporate advisory work. We really need to design training for each of the different practitioner types.There's a mega-trend need for all of us to adopt AI and understand it, but that means something different for different parts of our organization.Another thing we're doing is creating a futuristic think-tank group in our company — three or four people who have been putting together an ecosystem to give us constant learning. We also have academic institutions, investors, technologists, and other practitioners to help.We're also looking at our business model and how we budget and scope. The classic assignment we get is companies call us and say, "We want to map our stakeholders and what their expectations are of us." That used to be a project that we would figure out with just consultant time. Now we're applying AI to do some of that.We need to figure out how to take advantage of those efficiencies to add new value — that human value. So we need to relook at our entire business and service model, and we haven't figured it all out yet.Anant talked about "eating your own dog food." We've mapped out the implementation of that stack for ourselves to test and learn, and then we will start to use that in how we show up as advisors to our clients on the same journey.<h2 id="3bf33684-0da6-43af-856a-e0d807c42725">Sharawn Tipton, chief people and culture officer, LiveRamp</h2><h3 id="2513253b-1145-4ac9-afad-cb752e1513d8">"What we're trying to do is really keep people at the center of this transformation."</h3>We're thinking a lot about the AI trust gap. I'm in San Francisco today, and I was walking around and I saw all these autonomous vehicles, and it dawned on me that my mother would never ride in one. She just does not trust that technology.As a data company, we're thinking a lot about how do we ensure that our customers, our clients, and our partners trust that we're going to protect their data and use AI when appropriate and be certain that we have safeguards for when it isn't appropriate. And then I think the biggest area that my team is focused on with this trust gap is job security and what this means for the average worker.So what we're trying to do is really keep people at the center of this transformation. We're thinking a lot about employee resource groups. That way we've been able to reach all different types of team members. So how do we target our ERGs and think about who are the slow adapters? Who are the folks that typically get left behind, and how do we give them a little extra push?What we want to do is think about how to continue to have our team members trust their leaders, but also trust AI and where we're going, and get them to understand this isn't about replacing jobs. We are really focused on transforming jobs. That is a huge shift and a huge opportunity for us.<h2 id="c0d7e4c7-96a5-41d7-8c3f-29dee443e291">Shane Koller, senior vice president and chief people officer, Ancestry</h2><h3 id="2fb41060-9718-4c06-940a-5ac8246457b5">"The more people we get thinking about governance, the better AI technology will be used."</h3>There are a lot of different points of view on what AI will and will not do and how quickly.I was reading an article in The Wall Street Journal over the weekend that said for every one person who believes that AI is going to replace everyone's jobs, there are three or four who think there's going to be this boom in AI and then it's going to settle down. And that the promise we think AI is going to deliver will probably take longer than we think to come to fruition.One of the things that we've been doing at Ancestry very intentionally is bringing up the subject of governance, because I think we all think of AI as this steamroller that's going to come and either we're going to step aside from it or we're going to get steamrolled.The more people we get thinking about governance, the better AI technology will be used. And I say that within Ancestry as well as within companies in general and within governments. We have more of a role to play in how this rolls out than we think.We've been building AI into our product for over 10 years now, and we've been giving more thought to how would we govern the use of AI within our own company so that we're not, for example, putting our customers' data at risk. We're very conscious that security and privacy is first and foremost in every discussion. It's really about how you govern such an amazing technology.

Leaders from BCG, Infosys, AARP, and more predict how AI will transform top companies in the next 12 months

Leading multiplex operator <keyword id="19986619" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="PVR-INOX" source="keywords">PVR INOX</keyword> plans to close 70 <keyword id="22996404" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="non-performing-screens" source="Orion">non-performing screens</keyword> in FY25 and will go for potential <keyword id="20069509" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="monetisation" source="keywords">monetisation</keyword> of non-core <keyword id="20478737" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="real-estate-assets" source="keywords">real estate assets</keyword> in prime locations such as Mumbai, Pune, and Vadodara, according to its latest annual report. Though the company will add 120 new screens in FY25, it will also close almost 60-70 non-performing screens, as it chases for <keyword id="738150" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="profitable-growth" source="Orion">profitable growth</keyword>. About 40 per cent of new screens addition will come from South India, where it will have a "strategic focus" on this lesser penetrated region as per its medium to long-term strategy. Moreover, <keyword id="799" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="PVR" source="Orion">PVR</keyword> <keyword id="6407732" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="INOX" source="Orion">INOX</keyword> is redefining its growth strategy by transitioning towards a capital-light growth model to reduce its capex on new screens addition by 25 to 30 per cent in the current fiscal. Now, PVR INOX will partner with developers to jointly invest in new screen capex by shifting towards a franchise-owned and company-operated (FOCO) model. It is also evaluating monetisation of owned real estate assets, as the leading film exhibitor aims to become "net-debt free" company in the foreseeable future. "This involves a potential monetisation of our non-core real estate assets in prime locations such as Mumbai, Pune, and Vadodara," said Managing Director Ajay Kumar Bijli and Executive Director Sanjeev Kumar addressing the shareholders of the company. In terms of growth, they said the focus is to speed up expansion in underrepresented markets. "Our company's medium to long-term strategy will involve expanding the number of screens in South India due to the region's high demand for films and comparatively low number of multiplexes in comparison to other regions. We estimate that approximately 40 per cent of our total screen additions will come from South India," they said. During the year, PVR INOX opened 130 new screens across 25 cinemas and also shut down 85 under-performing screens across 24 cinemas in line with its strategy of profitable growth. "This rationalisation is part of our ongoing efforts to optimise our portfolio. The number of closures seems high because we are doing it for the first time as a combined entity," said Bijli. PVR INOX's net debt in FY24 was at Rs 1,294 crore. The company had reduced its net debt by Rs 136.4 crore last fiscal, said CFO Gaurav Sharma. "Even though we are cutting down on capital expenditure, we are not compromising on growth and will open almost 110-120 screens in FY25. At the same time, not wavering from our goal of profitable growth, we will exit almost 60-70 screens that are non-performing and a drag on our profitability," he said. In FY24, PVR's revenue was at Rs 6,203.7 crore and it reported a loss of Rs 114.3 crore. This was the first full year of operations of the merged entity PVR INOX. Over the progress on merger integration, Bijli said "80-90 per cent of the targeted synergies was achieved in 2023-24" In FY24, PVR INOX had a 10 per cent growth in ticket prices and 11 per cent in F&amp;B spend per head, which was "higher-than-normal". This was primarily on account of merger synergies on the integration of PVR and INOX, said Sharma. "Going forward, the increase in ticket prices and food and beverage spending per head will be more in line with the long-term historical growth rates," he said. PVR INOX aims to restore pre-pandemic operating margins, enhancing return on capital, and driving free cash flow generation. "We aim to boost revenue by increasing footfalls through innovative customer acquisition and retention," said Sharma adding "We are also driving cost efficiencies by renegotiating rental contracts, closing under-performing screens, adopting a leaner organisational structure, and controlling overhead costs."

PVR INOX to close 70 non-performing screens in FY25, plan monetisation of real estate assets

<ul class="summary-list"><li>China's GDP grew 4.6% in the third quarter — its slowest pace of growth in six quarters.</li><li>The People's Bank of China triggered two market support programs after China announced economic data.</li></ul>China on Friday released third-quarter growth data that was its slowest in six quarters, but its stock markets still ended higher on a shot of confidence from its central bank.China's economy grew 4.6% in the third quarter of this year, the country's <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.stats.gov.cn/english/PressRelease/202410/t20241018_1957042.html">statistics bureau</a> announced as it touted a "stable growth trend." This was higher than the 4.5% growth forecast that economists polled by Reuters had expected but lower than the 4.7% recorded in the second quarter of the year.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://stcn.com/article/detail/1356778.html">Sheng Laiyun, the deputy head of China's statistics bureau,</a> told reporters the bureau is confident of hitting the country's official GDP growth target for the year of around 5% based on the trend of economic stabilization and recovery seen in September.China's third-quarter GDP brings growth in the world's second-largest economy to 4.8% through the first three quarters of this year. That puts it at "striking distance" to hit its full-year growth target, wrote Lynn Song, the chief economist for Greater China at <a target="_blank" href="https://think.ing.com/articles/chinas-3q-gdp-beat-should-keep-growth-target-in-striking-distance/">ING.</a>September's retail sales figures were also promising, as they rose 3.2% from a year ago to a four-month high. It was also higher than the 2.5% growth economists polled by Reuters had expected.Meanwhile, industrial production in September grew 5.4% from a year ago — higher than the 4.5% economists had forecast.Even so, some analysts are not convinced the economic data release signals a convincing recovery."We would downplay the importance of better-than-expected key economic indicators in September given that the structural weakness in the property and household sectors remains largely unaddressed," wrote Betty Wang, the lead economist at Oxford Economics, in a note on Friday.In September, China's new home prices fell 5.8% from a year ago — the fastest pace since May 2015, according to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/china-new-home-prices-fall-fastest-pace-since-2015-2024-10-18/">Reuters</a> calculations based on official data."The property market unsurprisingly remains the biggest drag on China's growth," wrote Song, adding that stabilization in the real estate market remains "elusive."<h2 id="be1d62f1-13f0-4ff7-949a-fa2fb1c30260">The People's Bank of China to the rescue</h2>Also on Friday, markets got a shot in the arm as <a target="_blank" class="" href="http://www.pbc.gov.cn/goutongjiaoliu/113456/113469/5481032/index.html">the People's Bank of China</a> pulled the trigger on two funding programs that stand to inject as much as 800 billion Chinese yuan, or $112.6 billion, into its stock market.These programs — a share buyback and a swap facility — were first announced in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-economy-aggressive-monetary-stimulus-interest-rate-rrr-2024-9">late September</a> in a package of measures to support the stock market.PBOC's governor also signaled more interest rate cuts at a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/china-cenbank-chief-warns-against-any-illegal-fund-flows-into-stock-market-2024-10-18/">financial forum on Friday.</a>The central bank's announcements on Friday boosted market sentiment, sending China's benchmark <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/csi-300">CSI300</a> to close 3.6% higher. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index also closed 3.6% up."The market is in a bad-news-is-good-news mode, as weak data implies more stimulus ahead," Larry Hu, the head of China economics at Macquarie Group, wrote.China's economy is being dragged by factors including a property crisis, high youth unemployment, and deflation. Especially concerning is <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-economy-weak-domestic-demand-factory-activity-amid-strong-export-2024-7">depressed consumer sentiment</a> as people prefer saving over spending in the current downturn.China has made frequent mentions of support and stimulus measures in recent weeks in an attempt to shore up flagging sentiment after years of negative news and after a massive rally last month ran out of steam."I think they are really trying to underpin growth," Rajiv Biswas, an international economist who's also the author of "<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow sponsored noindex" class="" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=2252c62746e53e506c655ce3df395bcea3ecbee5e1b11653f5e13361d3be9338&amp;postID=6711e994e5b54083005dea1d&amp;postSlug=china-economy-3q-gdp-growth-stock-market-stimulus-2024-10&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FAsian-Megatrends-Rajiv-Biswas%2Fdp%2F1137441887">Asian Megatrends</a>," told Business Insider.He added that he expects Beijing to continue to do more to support growth so the economy can enter 2025 on better footing."We expect the policy coordination between monetary and fiscal policy will be stepped up in the following quarters. This should cushion the downside risks in the economy," wrote Oxford Economics' Wang.

China just triggered more stimulus measures, even as it says its economy is showing 'stable growth'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>An acceleration of US economic growth is a major risk for investors, says economist Steven Blitz.</li><li>Blitz warns a "no landing" scenario could lead to inflation rebound and Fed rate hikes.</li></ul>An acceleration of economic growth in the US might be the stock market's worst-case scenario, according to GlobalData TS Lombard chief economist Steven Blitz. While that may sound counterintuitive, as a recession would also not be great for stocks, Blitz wrote in a note on Tuesday that the "no landing" scenario is a big risk as it could lead to a fresh spike in inflation and an about-face by the Federal Reserve. "What has now become the biggest risk in the Fed's cut and aggressive guidance, and the one markets are not pricing - that there is no landing at all," Blitz said.Blitz is concerned that the Fed will keep interest rates too low for too long, leading to a hot economy and making inflation once again Wall Street's biggest worry."The Fed will not get the funds rate down to 3%, but the terminal rate for this round will nevertheless end up too low and be kept there for too long. Inflation subsequently rebounds and the Fed is back raising rates sooner than anyone expects," Blitz said.That would be a wake-up call for investors, especially as the "Goldilocks" dream of a soft landing in the economy becomes the consensus on Wall Street.According to Blitz, the Fed funds rate should settle at around 4%, a full percentage point above the long-term projections of numerous Fed members, because the economy is still showing remarkable resilience."One cannot ignore that in the face of higher real rates versus pre-Covid, the economy has stayed strong and employment full," Blitz said.The Atlanta Fed's GDPNow estimate for third-quarter GDP growth is 2.9%, imports on a year-over-year basis are seeing an uptick, and more containers are "riding the rails" in a positive sign for economic health, Blitz observed.None of those signals suggests that the Fed needs to follow through with aggressive interest rate cuts <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-today-dow-record-high-rate-cut-hopes-rise-2024-9">like the futures market is currently projecting,</a> he said.The CME's FedWatch Tool is pricing 75 basis points of interest rate cuts before year-end, in addition to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fed-cuts-interest-rates-how-much-september-fomc-powell-inflation-2024-9">the Fed's 50 basis point rate cut last week.</a>"Running a too-low real funds rate, which this Fed is apt to do, consequently risks a much higher inflation outcome than they are assuming," Blitz warned.The potential Fed policy mistake that Blitz is so worried about would mirror the 1960s, according to the note, which helped fuel a painful decade ahead of high inflation and poor stock market returns.

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