US retail giant Walmart has increased its stake in Indian e-commerce subsidiary Flipkart as it paid USD 3.5 billion (around Rs 28,953 crore) to acquire shares from its non-controlling interest holders in six months to July 31, 2023.

Additionally, during the six months ended July 31, 2023, the company received USD 700 million related to new rounds of equity funding for the company's majority-owned PhonePe subsidiary, said the Bentonville-based retailer in a US Securities & Exchange Commission (US SEC) filing.

Goods and services tax (GST) collection in August grew 11 per cent to Rs 1.59 trillion annually on account of increased compliance and anti-evasion measures.

In August 2022, collection was Rs 1.43 trillion.

However, during the month, the tax collected by the Centre (CGST) and the states (SGST), and the revenue from imports and inter-state sales moderated over the previous month.

Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL), the retail arm of Reliance Industries, is said to be in advanced talks with global investors to raise $2.5 billion by the end of this month. This latest fundraising plan follows RRVL bagging $1 billion investment in August from Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) for a 0.99 per cent stake. QIA valued the country’s largest retailer at a pre-money equity valuation of nearly Rs 8.28 trillion.

According to a Reuters report, based on three sources, the plan to raise $2.5 billion is part of a combined $3.5 billion target the firm has set for itself. The QIA investment was part of this exercise.

Food delivery and restaurant aggregation platform Zomato has introduced 'Foodie Buddy,' also known as Zomato AI, a personalised artificial intelligence (AI) based chatbot. The company said in its recent blog post that the chatbot has been designed to assist customers in making their dining choices.

According to the platform, this feature will be accessible exclusively to Zomato Gold members and will be launched in a phased manner.

The Enforcement Directorate late Friday night arrested Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal in a money laundering case linked to an alleged bank fraud of Rs 538 crore at the Canara Bank, official sources said.

He was taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) following a long session of questioning at the central agency's office here.

The country's maiden solar mission -- Aditya-L1 is all set to be launched today at 11

With the launch rehearsal and vehicle internal checks all being completed, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set for the country's maiden solar mission -- Aditya-L1 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC-SHAR) in AP's Sriharikota.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Friday admitted the insolvency application against instant drink mix Rasna for unpaid dues to the tune of Rs 71 lakh.

The application for insolvency was filed by logistics company Bharat Road Carrier Pvt Ltd.

Indian equities stood out in August as foreign investors sold stocks in almost every other Asian emerging market, thanks to the nation’s strong corporate earnings performance and its growing appeal as an alternative to China.

Global funds purchased $1.6 billion of Indian shares on a net basis last month through Aug. 30, according to the latest exchange data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s even as they withdrew a combined more than $6 billion from Taiwan, South Korea and Indonesia. With a small $35 million inflow through Aug. 24, Malaysia was the only other exception.

Shares of state-owned oil exploration & production companies, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India surged up to 6 per cent on the BSE in Friday’s intra-day trade after the government hiked price of domestic natural gas to $8.6 per metric million British thermal units (MMBtu). The new price, scheduled to take effect from September 1, marks an increase from the current price of $7.85 mBtu.

Fitch Ratings, moreover, affirmed ONGC's rating at 'BBB-' with a stable outlook. Fitch expected ONGC's upstream Ebitda over FY24-FY27 to improve, driven by increase in oil price assumptions, given lower uncertainty on demand destruction related to energy transition risks.

Edtech giant Byju's and its term loan B lenders have decided to postpone an ongoing disagreement in the US courts until October 06. This extension aims to provide more time to achieve an out-of-court resolution, according to a report by Mint.

The parties are working on reaching a forbearance agreement, and discussions are still ongoing, the court said in its August 24 order, according to the Mint report.

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