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[1/6] Ola electric scooters are seen outside the Ola Electric Service Centre, in Thane on the outskirts of Mumbai, India, October 25, 2023. Aggarwal's Ola Electric, which he likens to Tesla in the West, is zipping towards a stock-market listing after going from zero to 338,000 e-scooter sales in about two years. But he acknowledged service capacity issues and said Ola was "aggressively" bolstering its service network by adding 100 new centres and hiring more technicians. 'TESLA FOR WEST, OLA FOR REST'Aggarwal often declares, "Tesla is for the West, Ola for the rest", and he's a man in a hurry. "Electric vehicles are new to people so they aren't aware of how to ride the vehicle to maximise optimal output," he said.

Persons: Francis Mascarenhas, it's, Elon Musk, Aggarwal's Ola, Tesla, Ola, Devendra Ghuge, Aggarwal, Ola EVs, Ravi Bhatia, Bhatia, Japan's SoftBank, Ronald Radhakrishnan, Koradia, Riddhima Talwani, Aditi Shah, Rishika Sadam, Sriram, Arpan Chaturvedi, Anushree, Pandya, Francis Mascerehnas, Varun Vyas, Munsif, Jatindra, Saurabh Sharma, Sumit Khanna, Jose Devasia, Aditya Kalra Organizations: Ola Electric Service Centre, REUTERS, Staff, Reuters, JATO Dynamics, WEST, OLA, West, Singapore's Temasek, Industry, Hero Electric, TVS, EV, Ola, Fayaz Bukhari, Thomson Locations: Thane, Mumbai, India, THANE, HYDERABAD, DELHI, MUMBAI, Chennai, Bengaluru, India's, U.S, China, Kochi, New Delhi, Bhubaneswar, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jose, Srinagar

Companies Reliance Industries Ltd FollowGREATER NOIDA, India, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Indian oil refining giant Reliance Industries showcased its swappable and multipurpose battery storage technology for electric vehicles (EVs) on Wednesday, as it makes a big push on clean energy. Reliance, led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, displayed removable and swappable batteries for EVs that can also be used to power household appliances through an inverter at a renewable energy exhibition. The batteries can be swapped at Reliance's battery swap stations or re-charged by households using rooftop solar panels, which also it plans to sell, the executives added. Development of battery storage solutions is a part of Reliance's bigger $10 billion green push towards clean energy projects. The factory will be set up by 2026 and will make batteries and containerised energy storage solutions.

Persons: Mukesh Ambani, Arpan Chaturvedi, Aditi Shah, Dhwani Pandya, Kim Coghill Organizations: Reliance Industries, Reliance, Electric, Thomson Locations: NOIDA, India

Petrol vehicles have been the top sellers in recent years - increasing their market share to around 68.4% in January-July 2023 from 42.5% in 2014, according to data from automotive market intelligence provider JATO Dynamics. Cost-conscious Indians are preferring to buy petrol cars as they are cheaper than diesel, even though diesel cars offer better fuel efficiency. DIESEL VEHICLES:Tuesday's warning from minister Nitin Gadkari targeted diesel carmakers, whose market share has seen a steady decline to nearly 18% of passenger vehicles in January-July this year from 47.9% in 2014. But when it comes to luxury cars, diesel variants remain in vogue, with their market share rising to 33% so far this year from 31% in 2021. Among automakers, Mahindra and Mahindra (MAHM.NS) has the highest diesel car market share with 47% of unit sales so far this year, up from 28% in 2021.

Persons: Maruti Suzuki, Nitin, Tesla, Aditi Shah, Aditya Kalra, Mark Potter Organizations: Maruti, Tata Motors, Volkswagen, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, JATO Dynamics, Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Mahindra, Hyundai, Kia, Thomson Locations: MUMBAI, China, United States, India

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsBENGALURU, Sept 8 (Reuters) - U.S. chip firm Nvidia and telecom-to-retail giant Reliance on Friday announced an AI partnership to create language models, generative apps and a cloud infrastructure platform for AI development in the South Asian nation. "Reliance will create AI applications and services for their 450 million Jio (telecom) customers and provide energy-efficient AI infrastructure to scientists, developers and startups across India," Nvidia said. Nvidia globally has a near-monopoly on the computing systems used to power services like ChatGPT, OpenAI's blockbuster generative AI chatbot. Reliance said the new AI infrastructure will speed up a range of India's key AI projects, including chatbots, drug discovery, and climate research. Separately, India's Tata Group too is set to announce an AI partnership with Nvidia later during Friday, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Mukesh Ambani, Grace Hopper Superchip, Reliance, Neil Shah, Munsif, Aditya Kalra, Sharon Singleton, Kim Coghill, David Evans Organizations: NVIDIA, REUTERS, Rights, Nvidia, Reliance, Counterpoint Research, Reuters, India's Tata Group, Thomson Locations: India, Bengaluru, Dhwani Pandya, Mumbai, New Delhi

Ola Electric's S1 Air e-scooters are pictured inside its manufacturing facility in Pochampalli in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, India, August 15, 2023. REUTERS/VarunVyas Hebbalalu/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsNEW DELHI, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Singapore's investment firm Temasek led a $140 million funding round in India's Ola Electric at a valuation of $5.4 billion, two sources with the direct knowledge said, the latest funding for the e-scooter maker before its initial public offering. Ola did not respond to a Reuters request for comment, while Temasek, which is an existing investor in Ola Electric, declined to comment. Ola Electric, founded by Bhavish Aggarwal and backed by Japan's SoftBank Group (9984.T), has become India's e-scooter market leader with a 32% share, competing with Ather Energy as well as companies such as TVS Motor (TVSM.NS) and Hero Electric. Valued at $5 billion last year, Ola sold around 95,000 e-scooters during April-August 2023, industry data showed.

Persons: Ola, VarunVyas, Ola Electric, Bhavish Aggarwal, Japan's, Aditya Kalra, Aditi Shah, Yantoultra Ngui, Dhwani Pandya, Rashmi Organizations: REUTERS, Temasek, Japan's SoftBank, Ather Energy, TVS, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Pochampalli, Tamil Nadu, India, DELHI, India's, Temasek, Ola

That implies a potential $2.5 billion investment will be equivalent to a 2.5% stake in the company. "Several marquee global strategic and financial investors have shown strong interest in Reliance Retail. Ambani said in 2019 that the group planned to list the retail business in five years. Reliance Retail has more than 18,000 retail outlets, but also a growing e-commerce operation where it competes with the likes of Amazon (AMZN.O) and Walmart's (WMT.N) Flipkart. Reliance Retail reported a consolidated net profit of 91.81 billion Indian rupees ($1.11 billion) for the financial year that ended in March 2023, on revenue of 2.6 trillion rupees.

Persons: Ambani, Mukesh Ambani's, Reliance, Morgan Stanley, QIA, Ambani's, Isha Ambani, Aditya Kalra, Scott Murdoch, Sriram, Munsif Vengattil, Susan Fenton Organizations: Retail Ventures, Reuters, Qatar Investment Authority, India's, Burberry, Reliance, Reliance Retail, KKR, Saudi Public Investment Fund, General Atlantic, United Arab, Unilever, Thomson Locations: SYDNEY, Qatar, U.S, China, United Arab Emirates, New Delhi, Sydney, Mumbai

The Dharavi slum, about three-quarters the size of New York's Central Park, featured in Danny Boyle's Oscar-winning 2008 movie "Slumdog Millionaire". Only those who already lived in Dharavi before 2000, mostly ground-floor residents, will get free homes within the redevelopment. In interviews with Reuters, some Dharavi residents cited the billionaire's financial troubles as contributing to their concerns. Last month, a Mumbai court allowed SecLink to add Adani to its lawsuit, forcing the conglomerate to defend its position before judges. In early August, about 300 opposition supporters and residents gathered in Dharavi to object to Adani's involvement.

Persons: Adani, Gautam Adani's, Narendra Modi's, Danny Boyle's Oscar, SecLink, Eknath Shinde, Modi, Maharashtra's, Sandeep Shastri, Rajendra Korde, Radha Pawar, Srinivas, Mohammad Hasmat Ullah, Ullah, Dhwani Pandya, Aditya Kalra, Arpan Chaturvedi, Francis Mascarenhas, David Crawshaw Organizations: Adani, Consultancy, Reuters, SecLink Technologies Corporation, The, Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP, Modi's BJP, India's, Trust, Reuters ., Dharavi, Committee, Authority, Dhwani, Thomson Locations: Dubai, MUMBAI, rehouse, Dharavi, Maharashtra, The Dubai, Mumbai, Gujarat, snowballing

Sky-high food inflation after erratic monsoon rains damaged crops and disrupted supply chains. Food inflation for July hit a staggering 11.5%, far more than 4.6% in June and marking a three-year high. Even when customers do purchase fashion items, they buy far fewer than they once would have, some of the managers also said. The downturn in fashion spending has also been accompanied by a slide in spending at restaurant chains like Domino's. In some encouraging signs, tomato prices have eased off peaks and India's central bank chief last week said vegetable prices, which have begun to soften, will decline from September.

Persons: Zink London, Skechers, Kaushik Das, Madan Sabnavis, Anjali Mohanty, Tanvi Mehta, Riddhima, Dhwani Pandya, Jatindra, Saurabh Sharma, Aditya Kalra, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: NEW, Euromonitor, Reuters, Skechers USA, Deutsche Bank, Retail, Bank of Baroda, Dhwani, Thomson Locations: NEW DELHI, MUMBAI, New Delhi, Zink London, Mumbai, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Lucknow

☆ A history of India's Dharavi slum and Adani's plans to redevelop it
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MUMBAI, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Indian billionaire Gautam Adani aims to convert Mumbai's Dharavi slum into a modern city hub, while acknowledging that resettling its 1 million residents will be a challenging task. 2004-05: Maharashtra approves redevelopment of Dharavi and appoints Slum Rehabilitation Authority to plan the project. Dubai's SecLink consortium and India's Adani Group are among the bidders. Adani Group bids $614 million, India's DLF (DLF.NS) is among other bidders. 2023: State government awards the Dharavi project to Adani Group.

Persons: Gautam Adani, Dubai's, Adani, SecLink, SecLink doesn't, Dhwani Pandya, Aditya Kalra, David Crawshaw Organizations: Slum Rehabilitation Authority, Maharashtra Social Housing, Action League, India's, Adani, India's DLF, Dhwani, Thomson Locations: MUMBAI, Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Dharavi

A Subway outlet at a Delhi airport terminal announced the "Temporary Unavailability of TOMATOES" in a sign saying the restaurant could not get enough supply that passed its quality checks. Two weeks ago McDonald's restaurants in India dropped tomatoes from their burgers and wraps in many parts of India due to quality issues. In the capital New Delhi, tomatoes was retailing for about 168 rupees ($2.05) a kg (93 cents a pound) on Saturday, after touching around 240 rupees. The government blames the higher prices of tomatoes on a lean production season as monsoon rains disrupt transport and distribution. The government in recent weeks has organised mobile vans to supply tomatoes at cheaper rates, with hundreds queuing each day.

Persons: Krishn Kaushik, Riddhima Talwani, Aditya Kalra, Sriram Mani, Dhwani Pandya, Praveen Paramasivam, Euan Rocha, William Mallard Organizations: Subway, Brands, KFC, Thomson Locations: DELHI, Subway India, Delhi, New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Chennai, India

☆ India's biggest cinema operator banks on "Barbenheimer" after Bollywood flops
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Dhwani Pandya | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MUMBAI, July 21 (Reuters) - India's biggest cinema operator PVR Inox (PVRL.NS) is banking on Hollywood's "Oppenheimer", "Barbie" and unlimited popcorn to pack theatres after a string of Bollywood flops kept away those patrons who still favour going to the movies over streaming services. For the opening weekend, some theatres will also run an "Oppenheimer" movie marathon, with back-to-back shows over a 24 hour period. With 1,702 screens, PVR Inox is India's largest cinema operator. A PVR Inox staff member in Mumbai said several "Oppenheimer" shows - including the midnight and 7 a.m. screenings on Friday - were fully booked. India's online movie ticket booking service BookMyShow said this week 8% those who bought "Oppenheimer" tickets also booked to watch "Barbie", many on the same day.

Persons: Oppenheimer, Barbie, Gautam Dutta, Dutta, hasn't, BookMyShow, Dhwani Pandya, Aditya Kalra Organizations: Marvel, Netflix, Dhwani, Thomson Locations: MUMBAI, Mumbai

Foxconn (2317.TW) withdrew from the JV with the Indian metals-to-oil conglomerate on Monday, in a setback to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's chipmaking plans for India. "Foxconn is committed to India and sees the country successfully establishing a robust semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem." India expects its semiconductor market to be worth $63 billion by 2026, but Modi's plan has so far floundered. The $3 billion ISMC project is stalled because Tower is being acquired by Intel, while another $3 billion plan by IGSS was also halted because it wanted to re-submit its application, Reuters has reported. Like Foxconn, the Indian government has said the breakup of the JV had "no impact" on India's semiconductor plans, adding that both companies were "valued investors" in the country.

Persons: India Foxconn, Foxconn, Narendra Modi's chipmaking, Modi, IGSS, Ann Wang, Vedanta, Anil Agarwal, Vedanta's, Yimou Lee, Ben Blanchard, Tanvi Mehta, Aditya Kalra, Jacqueline Wong, Sonali Paul, Alexander Smith Organizations: India, JV, Vedanta, TW, Semiconductors, IGSS Ventures, ISMC, Intel, Reuters, REUTERS, Vedanta's, Vedanta Ltd, Vedanta Resources, Thomson Locations: chipmaking, India, TAIPEI, MUMBAI, Singapore, New Taipei City, Taiwan, Vedanta's India, Vedanta's London, Taipei, Mumbai, New Delhi, Pandya, Bengaluru

☆ India's Godrej Aerospace eyes share of GE engine manufacturing
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( Dhwani Pandya | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MUMBAI, July 10 (Reuters) - India's Godrej Aerospace said on Monday it will pitch to manufacture modules of GE 414 engines and become part of the supply chain to manufacture engines that will power the country's next generation indigenous fighter jets. "We will have to study the tie up done between GE and HAL ... How the deal happens and how much technology transfer happens needs to be seen. We will have more clarity in 2-3 months," Maneck Behramkamdin, associate vice president and business head at Godrej Aerospace said during a plant visit. The company is planning to invest 2.50 billion Indian rupees ($30.26 million) to build a facility in Khalapur in Maharashtra for advanced manufacturing and assembly and integration facilities, Godrej Aerospace said. The Modi government has been pushing for indigenous manufacturing as well as sourcing local components for aerospace and defence and companies like Airbus and Boeing have recently committed to more local manufacturing and investment.

Persons: Narendra Modi's, Modi, Dhwani Pandya, Sethuraman, Himani Sarkar, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: Aerospace, GE, U.S, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, HAL, Godrej Aerospace, Airbus, Boeing, Dhwani, Thomson Locations: MUMBAI, Khalapur, Maharashtra, Mumbai

Reliance Retail includes Ambani's core retail businesses, including digital and brick-and-mortar stores. It is fully owned by Reliance Retail Ventures, which also houses other retail operations such as international partnerships and the billionaire's consumer goods business. In 2020, Reliance Retail Ventures raised 472.65 billion Indian rupees ($5.72 billion) by selling a 10.09% stake, valuing it at roughly $57 billion based on current exchange rates. EY valued Reliance Retail at 884.03 rupees per share, while BDO valued it at 849.08 rupees, the source said. Reliance Retail has in recent years partnered with a slew of global brands to launch and expand their presence in India.

Persons: Mukesh Ambani, valuers, Ambani, Tiffany, Aditya Kalra, Sriram, Chris Thomas, Savio D'Souza, Louise Heavens, Mark Potter Organizations: Reliance, Reuters, BDO, EY, Reliance Retail Ventures, KKR, Saudi Public Investment Fund, General Atlantic, Reliance Retail, Burberry, Thomson Locations: DELHI, India, New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru

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