Business
How Ruias are reinventing the Essar Group
For the last three years, the Mumbai headquartered Essar Group, founded by Shashi and Ravi Ruia, has deliberately kept a low profile. They were busy putting into action their deleveraging and monetisation strategy to free the group of all its debt and start on a clean state.
And they managed to do just that by monetising assets worth $25 bn by selling Essar Oil, Essar Steel, Essar Power and Essar Ports. Perhaps, for the first time in the country such huge debts have been paid off by a business house.
Leading from the front is the 54-year old Prashant Ruia, director, Essar Capital. He is working at a feverish pace to take the group to the next level. Between June 2022 and March 2023 the group made several big announcements. The group, it seems, is now approaching all its businesses with the mindset of a PE player.
According to sources, “The group has paid off 100% debt. Basically, the group has put in place the strategy of deleveraging and monetisation of assets, consolidation of operating companies, and getting into a new growth cycle.” And that is paying rich dividends.
Now with all debts paid, the mood at the Essar House is upbeat. The group has chalked up ambitious plans to be in the same areas where they have domain expertise. It will be Energy, Infrastructure & Logistics, Metals & Mining, and Technology & Retail.
To go with it, the group has identified three themes: Decarbonisation, Decentralisation and Digitisation. For instance, decarbonisation means the group wants to move away from fossil fuel to green fuel. To make this happen, Essar Oil UK, a 10 MTPA refinery acquired in 2011 which serves 16% of UK’s road fuel demand has entered into an agreement with Vertex Hydrogen. Vertex is part of Essar Energy Transition which is planning an investment of $3.6 bn in India ($1.2 bn) and the UK ($2.4 bn) to develop a range of low carbon energy transition projects which would include blue and green hydrogen, biofuels, battery storage, solar PV etc.
The investment in the UK will play a key role in supporting their government’s decarbonisation strategy.
Essar 2.0 sees the group focusing on transitioning existing assets to green businesses, while investing in creating new-age ESG-centric sustainable businesses.
Besides oil refineries and storage terminals in the UK, it has exploration and production facilities in Vietnam; Iron ore plant in USA, coal mine in Indonesia. It has entered into an agreement with Saudi Arabia to set up a 4 MTPA greenfield steel plant in Ras Al-Khair. In India, it has plans to set up 14 MTPA iron ore pellet plants close to Paradip port, Odisha and triple its CBM productions in West Bengal.
Essar Group which currently has a turnover of $15 bn and $1 bn profit will see most of its new initiatives becoming operational by December 2025 or early 2026. Looks like the second innings of the Ruias will be better than the first.
Business
Adani Enterprises, Jabil plan to build mega AI, data centre infra platform in India

New Delhi, Oct 13: Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL) and global engineering, supply chain and manufacturing company Jabil Inc. on Tuesday said they have signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a proposed 50:50 joint venture to manufacture and assemble artificial intelligence (AI) and data centre equipment in India.
The MoU follows the June 2026 announcement of Adani Group and Jabil’s intent to establish a strategic alliance to develop an AI and data centre infrastructure manufacturing ecosystem in India.
“The AI revolution will demand far more than just breakthroughs in algorithms. It will require an entire new industrial architecture where energy, hyperscale infrastructure, advanced computing and precision manufacturing converge to power the intelligence economy,” Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani said.
At Adani, “our vision is to expand up the AI value chain evolving from powering and hosting AI infrastructure to engineering and manufacturing the critical systems that will define the next generation of computing”, the billionaire industrialist said.
According to a statement, the proposed joint venture remains subject to execution of definitive agreements, receipt of applicable approvals, and satisfaction of customary conditions.
“Our proposed joint venture with Jabil marks a strategic step towards this future, combining Jabil’s world-class engineering and manufacturing capabilities with Adani’s integrated strengths in energy, infrastructure and data centres to help build the physical backbone of the global AI economy,” said Gautam Adani.
The venture would provide a manufacturing base in India to serve domestic demand and support exports.
The companies estimate the global market opportunity at more than $3 trillion over the next seven years, driven by investment in AI computing.
“The signing of this MoU is the next step forward in our shared efforts to establish a scaled AI infrastructure manufacturing platform in India, a market we believe will become increasingly important for both domestic and global AI infrastructure demand,” Jabil Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mike Dastoor said.
“Integrating Jabil’s 60 years of engineering and manufacturing expertise with Adani’s significant infrastructure and energy capabilities, we can bring our rack-level data centre solutions to more hyperscalers in India and around the world,” he added.
The venture is aligned with Adani Group’s $100 billion commitment to develop 5 GW of green-energy-powered, hyperscale AI-ready data centres by 2035. The proposed venture would add hardware manufacturing to the Group’s presence across infrastructure, energy, logistics and data centres.
The joint venture would manufacture and assemble AI racks, servers, storage and networking equipment used in data centres. The racks would house high-performance computing systems for AI applications and other digital services, the statement said.
Business
Sensex, Nifty open flat; IT and realty stocks lead gains

Mumbai, Oct 13: India equity benchmark indices opened flat on Tuesday amid buying in IT and realty sector shares.
At the opening bell, Sensex was at 71,951.73, up 27.05 points or 0.04 per cent. Meanwhile, Nifty began trading session at 22,364.15, up 0.80 points or flat.
Sector-wise, Nifty IT, Nifty Midsmall IT & Telecom and Nifty Realty jumped up to up 2 per cent. Nifty PSU Bank was up 0.31 per cent, Nifty FMCG up 0.22 per cent and Nifty Oil & Gas up 0.20 per cent.
On the downside, healthcare and pharmaceuticals shares witnessed selling pressure as Nifty Midsmall Healthcare fell, Nifty 500 Healthcare, Nifty Pharma and Nifty Healthcare declined up to 0.75 per cent.
Market experts said there are no triggers to change ongoing trend of sustained FII selling and DII buying in the cash market.
But with the US 10-year bond yield above 5.2 per cent, FIIs are likely to continue selling in cash market. With net inflows into mutual funds touching a record high of Rs 38,307 crore in September, DIIs will continue to absorb selling from FIIs, experts said.
Moreover, CPI inflation at 5.54 per cent came on expected lines with food inflation at 7.74 per cent and Brent above $100. A rate hike by the RBI in December is a foregone conclusion and will be margin accretive for banks, they added.
Technical analysts said recovery construct has weakened significantly, but day will start with hopes of bounce back as yesterday’s slippage paused without breaking the recent low.
Such an upmove would need to push beyond 22,435 to signal strength, inability to do so could pave way for drop to 22,070-21,900, they said.
Additionally, Asian equities traded lower as AI rally came under fresh pressure ahead of key earnings season.
Nasdaq ended lower on Monday as oil prices surged following attacks on Saudi airport, while investors awaited start of third-quarter bank earnings and key economic data this week.
Business
Indian equity markets open higher amid positive global cues

Mumbai, Oct 12: Domestic equity benchmark indices opened higher on Monday amid positive factors like gains in Asian markets and a decline in crude oil prices.
Nifty began trading session at 22,593.20, up 72.75 points or 0.32 per cent.
Meanwhile, Sensex opened at 72,771.32, up 298.99 points or 0.41 per cent.
In early deals, mostly sectoral indices were trading in positive territory. Nifty Media, Nifty Auto and Nifty Chemicals jumped up to 1 per cent.
Similarly, Nifty Realty, Nifty Oil & Gas, Nifty Cement, Nifty Metal and Nifty IT surged between 0.81 per cent to 0.64 per cent. However, other sectoral indices were also trading marginally higher.
On the downside, Nifty PSU Bank just slipped 0.01 per cent.
Market experts said external headwinds are dominating domestic tailwinds, adding that the market is going through a stage wherein external headwinds are dominating domestic tailwinds.
Elevated crude prices and high US bond yields will continue to impact market. FIIs will continue to sell in the near term, and DIIs will continue to absorb FII selling, according to them.
Moreover, an impressive GDP growth estimate of 7.1 per cent for FY27 and improving corporate profitability provide strong fundamental support to the market, the experts said.
“Therefore, investors can accumulate fairly valued growth stocks ignoring uncertainty and volatility in market. For investors with medium-to-long-term horizon, this market provides value buying opportunities. Patience is key,” they added.
They further noted that if crude declines sharply following favourable developments in the Middle East, the market can rally significantly from current levels.
Technically, Friday’s bounce and inside bar formation set up an environment for a rise to 22,800-23,200. However, inability to close above 22,575 will keep trend within bear grip. Downside marker for day may be kept at 22,295, Friday’s reaction low, another analyst said.
In addition, asian markets opened cautiously today in early hours as investors braced for earnings season which could test elevated technology valuations.
Oil prices eased on prospects of higher Russian supplies following agreement to halt attacks on energy facilities.
-
Crime4 years agoClass 10 student jumps to death in Jaipur
-
Maharashtra2 years agoMumbai Local Train Update: Central Railway’s New Timetable Comes Into Effect; Check Full List Of Revised Timings & Stations
-
Maharashtra2 years agoMumbai To Go Toll-Free Tonight! Maharashtra Govt Announces Complete Toll Waiver For Light Motor Vehicles At All 5 Entry Points Of City
-
Maharashtra2 years agoFalse photo of Imtiaz Jaleel’s rally, exposing the fooling conspiracy
-
National News2 years agoMinistry of Railways rolls out Special Drive 4.0 with focus on digitisation, cleanliness, inclusiveness and grievance redressal
-
Maharashtra2 years agoMaharashtra Elections 2024: Mumbai Metro & BEST Services Extended Till Midnight On Voting Day
-
National News2 years agoJ&K: 4 Jawans Killed, 28 Injured After Bus Carrying BSF Personnel For Poll Duty Falls Into Gorge In Budgam; Terrifying Visuals Surface
-
Crime2 years agoBaba Siddique Murder: Mumbai Police Unable To Get Lawrence Bishnoi Custody Due To Home Ministry Order, Says Report
