Maruti Q3 profit rises 5%

Tanzania cut its cashew nuts output forecast for this year by

22 per cent after excessive rains pounded the East African country and destroyed some crop. “The quantity will drop to about

225,000 tonnes,” agriculture minister J. Hasunga said. The cashew harvest had been projected to climb to 290,000 tonnes. The global cashew output was

3.3 million tonnes in 2017-18.

US cereal giant Kellogg has set a goal of phasing out the controversial weedkiller glyphosate from its oat and wheat supply chain by 2025, the firm said. Kellogg, which makes corn flakes, pop tarts and other breakfast products, does not own or operate farms but some suppliers have used the herbicide as a "drying agent a few weeks before harvest, particularly with wheat and oats," the firm said.

Tata Motors, India’s biggest automaker by revenue, has an ambitious plan to sell more electric cars for which it is preparing to make batteries, set up charging stations across cities and build a battery recycling plant.

Though the Union government is pushing automakers to shift to electric vehicles (EVs)., some are resisting the move, saying the charging infrastructure needs to be set up first and battery costs are too high to make and sell affordable electric cars.

But six Tata companies— Tata Motors, Tata Chemicals, Tata Power, Tata Autocomp, TCS and

Tata Croma—are pooling resources and expertise to build an electric vehicle ecosystem to make electric cars, officials told media in Mumbai on Tuesday.

“This is the launch of an ecosystem, which is the real need, not just another vehicle launch,” Guenter Butschek, managing director at Tata Motors told reporters.

Tata Power, which has set up 100 charging stations in Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad, will add another 300 by the end of March 2020.

“By 2021, we plan to add 650 more charging stations in more than 20 major cities across the country to boost electric car sales,” Shailesh Chandra, president - e-mobility business & corporate strategy at Tata Motors told Financial Chronicle.

He said all stations will support fast charging and will be linked to a mobile application, which has been developed with Tata Consultancy Services for payments and to check the availability of chargers.

The auto major is also working with Tata Autocomp for the localisation of battery pack assembly and motor assembly.

Tata will also use its chain of Croma stores to display digitally its EVs.

Tata Motors on Tuesday launched the Nexon EV, priced starting at Rs 13.99 lakh, which is one of four electric car models the firm plans to launch over the next two years.

Maruti Suzuki, India's biggest carmaker, on Tuesday reported a 5 per cent jump in net profit for the third quarter of October-December at Rs 1,565 crore from Rs 1,489.3 crore in the same period last year.

“The profit growth was on account of cost cuts, lower operating expenses, fall in commodity prices and reduction in corporate tax rate, partially offset by a rise in sales promotion expenses, higher depreciation, and lower fair value gains on invested surplus,” Maruti said in a BSE filing.

Revenue from operations grew by 5.3 per cent yearon-year to Rs 20,707 crore

Mumbai, Jan. 28: Manappuram Finance on Tuesday reported a 63 per cent rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 397.84 crore for the December quarter from Rs 244.09 crore in the year-ago quarter. On a standalone basis, its net income stood at Rs 332.42 crore, up 57.7 per cent from the year-ago period. in the quarter, with total vehicles sales growth at 2 per cent to 437,361 vehicles.

Sales in the domestic market stood at 413,698 units, up 2 per cent. Exports were at 23,663 units.

Realisations declined 5.7 per cent sequentially to Rs

4.7 lakh per unit during the December quarter.

On the operating front, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) increased 8.9 per cent to Rs

2,102 crore and margin maintained at 10 per cent level, rising 30 basis point YoY to 10.1 per cent.

Overall, numbers missed analyst expectations.

As per an analyst poll, profit was estimated at Rs

1,676 crore on revenue of Rs 21,847 crore and Ebitda was seen at Rs 2,355 crore with margin at 10.7 percent.