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End of an Era: Pallonji Mistry, business tycoon passes away at 93
Shapoorji Pallonji Group chairman and billionaire industrialist Pallonji Mistry passed away late at night on Monday (June 27) in Mumbai, company officials said. The 93-year-old died in his sleep at his south Mumbai residence, officials said. As per the latest Forbes report, he had a net worth of over USD 13 billion, ranking at 143 worldwide. He was nicknamed the “Phantom of Bombay House” for his powerful boardroom presence.
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PALLONJI MISTRY
Indian-Irish tycoon • Born: 1929 (age 93 years), India • Spouse: Pat Perin Dubash • Net worth: 1,290 crores USD (2022) Forbes • Parents: Shapoorji Pallonji • Education: Imperial College London • Children: Cyrus Mistry, Shapoor Mistry, Aloo
Mistry, Laila Mistry • Grandchildren: Firoz Mistry, Zahan Mistry
Shapoorji Pallonji Group covers six business segments - engineering and construction, real estate, infrastructure, water, energy, and financial services. It is spread across 50 countries.
He is survived by his wife Patsy Perrin Dubash, and four children – two sons Shapoor Mistry and Cyrus Mistry, and two daughters Laila Mistry and Aloo Mistry. Shapoor Shapoorji runs the Pallonji Group, while Cyrus served as chairman of the Tata Group from 2012 to 2016; And Aloo is married to Ratan Tata’s half-brother Noel Tata.
He was born to a Parsi family in India, in 2003, he took up Irish citizenship through marriage. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2016 for his outstanding contributions to business and industry.
Mistry, who was born in 1929, attended the Cathedral & John Cannon School in Mumbai before continuing study at Imperial College in London. At the age of 18, he started his career by assisting his father in the family business (founded in 1865). He contributed to its expansion in the Middle East to Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Qatar in the 1970s.
The 156-year-old Shapoorji Pallonji Group, established in Mumbai, today operates in the construction business across South Asia, Africa, India, the Middle East, and Africa. It was responsible for erecting several of Mumbai’s most recognizable structures, including the Brabourne Stadium, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) building, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building, and the Malabar Hill reservoir.
According to a 2018 court document, Mistry owns 18.37 percent of Tata Sons through the Shapoorji Pallonji Group. In 1930, his father Shapoorji Pallonji purchased shares of Tata Sons. It’s interesting to note that Pallonji’s father produced the biggest Hindi film blockbuster of its era, Mughal-e-Azam (1960), and was re-released by the family after it was digitally coloured in 2004. After that, the family stopped making investments in the film industry.
Online gadget reseller Cashify bags $90 million in new funding
Cashify, a re-commerce marketplace, has received $90 million in Series E capital from Prosus and NewQuest Capital Partners. In this round, new investment Paramark Ventures joined existing investors Bessemer, Blume Ventures, and Olympus Capital. By doing this, Cashify has amassed a funding total of $140 million. The present funds received will be used to grow into new regions while also bolstering
the team and investing in marketing and technical infrastructure.
The business intends to increase its efforts to acquire devices and directly contact a sizable client base. Cashify intends to establish physical locations, increasing its presence in 51 Indian cities. Asia Environmental Partners, a division of Olympus Capital focused on clean energy and sustainability, led a $15 million Series D fundraising round for the business in March 2021.
Mandeep Manocha, Founder and CEO of Cashify, said, “We look forward to stepping up our presence and offerings for our valued customers in India and fulfilling our broader goal of integrating the circular economy.”
“The younger generation, who is also aspiring, has the highest demand for reconditioned cellphones, but their price range is between Rs 8,000 and Rs 15,000,” says the author. This makes purchasing an iPhone or OnePlus impossible. We offer a refurbished phone with a six-month warranty, Manocha continued.
A well-known brand in the market and a popular option for buying and selling used refurbished smartphones is Cashify. Its services are the reason it is the greatest location to sell phones. Simply sign up for the platform, select the device you wish to sell, and you’re ready to sell your phone. Cashify sends a representative to sellers’ home to perform diagnostic checks before paying them cash on the spot for the item.
By first purchasing the phone and performing any minor repairs that may be required, Cashify completes this procedure. The used phones are then sold to individuals wishing to purchase a used phone or to companies who provide phones to their staff members across India.
More than 150,000 used smartphones are currently purchased each month on the platform. The market for used smartphones in India was estimated by IDC to be worth $2.3 billion.
Beginning of new era: Akash Ambani replaces father Mukesh as Reliance Jio chairman
Reliance JioInfocomm Ltd, the digital arm of Reliance Industries, on Tuesday (June 28) announced that Ambani will resign as the company‘s director effective from June 27. The company said it had appointed a nonexecutive director and Ambani’s son Akash Ambani as the chairman of the board. Pankaj Mohan Pawar will take over as the Managing Director of the company from 27 June.
JIO
• Headquarters: Reliance Corporate Park,
Ghansoli, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra,
India • Founder: Mukesh Ambani • Founded: 2007, Ahmedabad • Parent organization: Jio Platforms • Subsidiaries: LYF, Reliance Jio
Infocomm Pte. Ltd
“The board of directors have at their meeting held on June 27, 2022, noted the
resignation of Mr. Mukesh D Ambani as director of the company effective from close of working hours on June 27, 2022,” Jio informed the stock exchanges.
The board has also “approved the appointment of Akash M Ambani, non-executive director as chairman of the board of directors of the company “, it added.
The company added that the appointment of Raminder Singh Gujral and KV Chowdary as additional directors of the company, designated as independent directors, for a period of five years commencing from June 27, 2022, has been approved by the board. It further stated that Pankaj Mohan Pawar’s appointment as managing director of
Jio had been approved. However, approval from shareholders would be needed before the decision could be made.
A SUCCESSFUL SUCCESSION PLAN IN PROGRESS
Mukesh Ambani will continue to be the chairman of Jio Platforms Ltd, the flagship firm that owns all Jio digital services brands including Reliance Jio Infocomm. Mukesh Ambani indicated last year that his children were taking on more responsibilities, but this is the first time he has officially taken a backseat.
Mukesh Ambani has spent years studying how billionaire families, from the Waltons to the Kochs, pass their wealth on to the next generation. That process has recently accelerated, with the tycoon laying out a blueprint for the next phase of his $217 billion business to avoid a succession battle that disbanded several prosperous dynasties, including his own. “Mukesh Ambani has learned from his past and does not intend to make the same error that his late father Dhirubhai Ambani did. It appears that each of his children will run a different firm, said a Mumbai-based analyst.
Akash Ambani, an alumnus of Brown University, studied economics. He married his childhood friend Shloka Mehta, who is the daughter of a diamond merchant and jeweler from Mumbai. They had a son Prithvi in 2020. Akash has a twin sister Isha and a younger brother Anant.
Mukesh Ambani is the second richest Asian and 10th richest in the world with a personal net worth of $90.4 billion and derives most of his wealth from his 42% stake in RIL.
RIL shares closed 1.5% higher at INR 2529 on the BSE, taking the company’s value to INR 17.1 lakh crore.
UPI & RuPay card to accept in France soon; NPCI signs MoU with Lycra Network
News highlights
• The National Payments Corporation of India International (NPCII) has signed an MoU with France’s
Lyra Network. • This will allow Indians to pay using UPI and Rupay cards in France. • UPI is already accepted in Bhutan,
UAE, and Singapore.
The National Payments Corporation of India International (NPCII) and the Lycra Network of France signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Thursday. Indians will soon be allowed to pay in France using their UPI or RuPay cards, according to this MoU. For Indian students or visitors, this will be beneficial.
https://twitter.com/NPCI_NPCI/status/1537303162889342976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1537303 162889342976%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url= https%3A%2F%2Fd-23883220223460914775.ampproject. net%2F2206071918001%2Fframe.html This MoU between France and India was announced by Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw. During the introduction, he stated that Indians can pay using UPI and RuPay card in France where there is a Lyrca Network terminal or machine.
Unified Payments Interface (UPI)
• Markets: India; Bhutan; Nepal; Malaysia; Singapore; United Arab Emirates; International by cross border payment agreements • Owner: National Payments Corporation of India • Introduced: 11 April 2016; 6 years ago “NPCI, International, and Lyra Network of France have signed an MoU for ‘Acceptance of UPI & Rupay Card in France.’ In a month, India conducts 5.5 billion UPI transactions. “Today’s Memorandum of Understanding with France is a significant victory for us,” Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told ANI.
UPI is already an internationally recognised way of payment, according to the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology. In the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and Bhutan, Indian UPI is utilised. He also stated that following France, NPCI International’s next priority will be Nepal.
“We gave it a shot and were successful. The majority of the items accepts UPI and Rupay cards. I am convinced that we can accomplish the same in Europe. In France, we are attempting to implement UPI and Rupay cards as quickly as possible. We’ll have to talk to the central bank, the regulator, and businesses in France about this. Digital payments are not widely used in France. However, it must be integrated and smooth. As in India, it lacks efficiency,” Ashraf added.
He also discussed his experience with digital payment that is both frictionless and transparent, as well as how beneficial it may be in France.
Tencent buys stake worth $264 million in Flipkart
Chinese technology conglomerate Tencent has bought stake worth $264 million (about INR 2,060 crore) in Flipkart through its European subsidiary from its co-founder Binny Bansal, according to reports.
Bansal holds around 1.84 per cent stake in Flipkart after selling his stake to Tencent Cloud Europe BV. According to report, the deal was finalised on October 26, 2021, and the information was shared with government officials at the start of the current fiscal year.
Tencent
Multinational conglomerate company
Founded: 11 November 1998, Cayman Islands Headquarters: Shenzhen, China Revenue: 48,206.4 crores CNY (2020) Net income: 22,781 crores CNY (US$35.32 billion, 2021) Number of employees: 1,12,771 (2021) Founders: Ma Huateng, daniel, Zhang Zhidong, Chen Yidan, kney
Flipkart
Online retail company
Founded: October 2007, Bengaluru CEO: Kalyan Krishnamurthy (Jan 2017–) Headquarters: Bengaluru
Subsidiaries: Myntra, PhonePe, Ekart, Mallers, Inc., MORE Parent organization: Walmart Founders: Binny Bansal, Sachin Bansal
Following the transaction, the Tencent arm owns a 0.72 percent stake in Flipkart, which is valued at around $264 million, according to a final valuation of $37.6 billion reported by the e-commerce firm in July 2021. Flipkart had raised $3.6 billion at the time in an investment round headed by GIC, CPP Investments, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and Walmart. DisruptAD, Qatar Investment Authority, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, Tencent, Willoughby Capital, Antara Capital, Franklin Templeton, and Tiger Global were among the many investors who took part in the round.
Tencent Holdings Ltd., often known as Tencent, has a net worth of $449.95 billion as of June 3, 2022. Tencent Holdings Limited is a company that provides Internet services. Tencent offers Internet, mobile, and telecom services, as well as online advertising.
Reports said that the transaction took place in Singapore, but Flipkart informed the Indian authorities about it as a responsible entity and that the transaction does not fall under the purview of ‘Press Note 3’ which calls for scrutiny of investment that any Indian company gets from countries sharing land border with India.
While Tencent has invested in many enterprises in India, the government has banned various gaming apps, including PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite, which were developed by Tencent Group. According to the PTI report, e-mail query sent to Flipkart and Bansal did not elicit any reply.
