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Strong delivery segment growth likely in 2022 as online shopping behaviour takes roots among consumers: Vahan

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Despite the growing cases of the highly infectious Omicron variant of Covid-19 across the country, India’s flourishing blue-collar segment is anticipating higher demand growth for blue-collar workers across the delivery category in 2022.

Although this developing situation has raised some uncertainty of a possible third wave, there is a strong likelihood of it manifesting itself through/accelerating shift in consumer behaviour towards a more digital world and triggering lasting changes in online shopping behaviours.

Vahan, a technology startup that enables companies to hire blue-collar workers at scale, sees the year 2022 as one of further acceptance of online shopping behaviours by consumers across categories. The company believes that this emerging situation will lend support to a massive surge in demand for delivery workers where metros will contribute over 60 per cent of the overall demand in 2022 followed by tier two and tier three cities.

Vahan witnessed rapid demand for delivery workers in the August to November 1st week period last year fuelled by contests, discounts, incentives, etc. running across the board around the IPL season and T20 world cup.

A rapidly growing cohort of consumers identifies speed, convenience, and quality as the most important elements of a positive customer experience. This trend is likely to hold true in the near future where grocery delivery service providers will extend quick commerce service to attract and retain customers.

Vahan data shows that the grocery delivery service providers offered quick commerce and narrowed the delivery radius to 2-3 km during the festive season last year.

This stoked cyclist demand and brought more temporary workers thereby increasing the hiring pool. The company is expecting a month-on-month increase in demand close to 30 per cent across industries in 2022 as against 25 per cent across industries in 2021 with the food delivery category as the major contributor.

Bike taxis and food and grocery delivery have lent heft to the booming e-commerce industry in India. This has been corroborated by Vahan’s data which shows that companies hired almost double of their business-as-usual (BAU) numbers in the festive period of 2021.

As per Vahan, bike taxis emerged as a preferred mode of commute during the pandemic period and its sustained demand in the August to November 1 st week period indicates changing travel patterns of consumers at large. Vahan expects bike taxis to gain more popularity in 2022 with demand coming from all across the country and an upward spiral in demand for e-commerce in tier 2 and 3 cities with rising Internet penetration pan India and consequent changes in consumer buying habits.

The year 2021 was marked by the increasing focus of organisations in the delivery space to achieve gender parity at the workplace. This indicated a change in perception that delivery work is not appropriate for women. This trend is likely to take root in 2022 onwards and open space for the women to enhance their contribution to the delivery segment to 15 per cent in 2022 up from around 7-10 per cent of the overall hiring requirement per month of delivery staff across industries from food delivery to e-commerce in 2021.

According to Madhav Krishna, Co-founder and CEO, Vahan, “The blue-collar job market in India is set to repeat its astounding growth performance in 2022 as online shopping behaviour and preference for speedy delivery takes root in the country. Vahan, with its technology enabled recruitment platform which seamlessly connect employers and delivery workers effectively, with speed and at an unprecedented scale is clearly sitting in a sweet spot given the growing number of organisations embracing delivery model and increasing number of blue-collar workers wake up to a new dawn of comfort and convenience online recruitment portals like Vahan brings to them.”

India has over 250 million blue-collared workers, and this number is growing with a decline in agricultural employment and the addition of around 7-8 million new college graduates to the workforce every year, 60 per cent of which lack employability skills and end up joining the blue/grey-collar workforce. This presents a massive opportunity for placement in the blue-collar industry.

Interest in Vahan’s placement solution is high. It is currently recruiting 10,000+ people a month and is set to become India’s largest blue-collar recruitment platform in 2022.

Business

Gold, silver gain up to 2 pc amid optimism over West Asia peace talks

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Mumbai, June 12: Gold and silver prices traded higher on Friday, with precious metals surging by up to 2 per cent amid hopes of a peace deal in the ongoing West Asia conflict.

On the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), gold futures (August) increased as much as 1.11 per cent or Rs 1,668 to hit an intraday high of Rs 1,50,600 as of around 11:30 am.

The yellow metal was trading at Rs 1,49,916, up 0.66 per cent or Rs 948. It touched an intraday low of Rs 1,49,569, a gain of 0.42 per cent or Rs 637 from the previous close.

Meanwhile, silver futures (July) traded at Rs 2,42,143, higher by Rs 2,490 or 1 per cent.

The white metal touched an intraday high of Rs 2,44,817, jumping 2.15 per cent during the session so far. It recorded an intraday low of Rs 2,41,601, up 0.81 per cent or Rs 1,948 from the previous close.

Earlier in the day, gold and silver began the session at Rs 1,50,595 and Rs 2,42,776, respectively, on the commodity exchange.

According to commodity market experts, bullion remained under pressure overall and was headed for a second consecutive weekly decline as persistent inflation concerns and growing expectations of a US Federal Reserve rate hike continued to weigh on sentiment.

Analysts said precious metals rebounded sharply from six-month lows after US President Donald Trump indicated that the US and Iran could reach a peace agreement as early as this weekend.

However, gains remained limited amid continued uncertainty over the negotiations, with Iranian officials denying that a final agreement had been reached, according to them.

Optimism around a potential diplomatic breakthrough eased concerns over global energy supplies, triggering a decline in crude oil prices and improving broader market risk appetite, experts added.

Market participants will now track developments in US-Iran negotiations and upcoming commentary from the Federal Reserve for further direction in precious metal prices.

In international markets, COMEX silver traded at $66.94, up more than 4 per cent, while COMEX gold rose over 2 per cent to $4,203.70 per ounce.

Meanwhile, crude oil prices declined sharply, with US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude falling roughly 3 per cent to $85 per barrel. International benchmark Brent crude declined 1.59 per cent to $88.94 per barrel.

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Business

Gold, silver prices fall up to 2 pc amid West Asia tensions

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Mumbai, June 11: Gold and silver prices traded lower on Thursday, with precious metals falling by up to 2 per cent amid escalating tensions in the West Asia conflict.

On the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), gold futures (August) declined as much as 1 per cent or Rs 1,573 to hit an intraday low of Rs 1,46,444 as of around 12 pm.

The yellow metal was trading at Rs 1,47,860, down 0.11 per cent or Rs 157. It touched an intraday high of Rs 1,48,089, up 0.04 per cent or Rs 72 from the previous close.

On the other hand, silver futures (July) were trading at Rs 2,34,500, down Rs 1,005 or 0.43 per cent.

The white metal touched an intraday low of Rs 2,30,493, declining 2.12 per cent during the session so far. It recorded an intraday high of Rs 2,35,402, down 0.04 per cent or Rs 103 from the previous close.

Earlier in the day, gold and silver opened at Rs 1,46,518 and Rs 2,31,671, respectively, on the MCX.

In international markets, precious metals also remained under pressure. COMEX silver was trading at $63.90, down over 1.29 per cent, while COMEX gold was trading 0.68 per cent lower at $4,105.30 per ounce.

According to commodity analysts, precious metals remained under pressure as investors assessed the latest developments in the West Asia conflict. Gold stabilised near multi-month lows after the US military confirmed the completion of its latest strikes on Iran, raising expectations that diplomatic negotiations could resume.

They said easing safe-haven demand, coupled with expectations that US interest rates could remain higher for longer, weighed on bullion prices. Higher interest rates reduce the appeal of non-yielding assets such as gold and silver.

Market participants also continued to monitor inflationary pressures stemming from rising energy prices and their potential impact on the US Federal Reserve’s policy path.

Meanwhile, crude oil prices surged sharply, with Brent crude rising over 2 per cent to trade near $95 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude climbed 4 per cent to $93.64 per barrel.

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Business

Indian markets trade higher despite West Asia tensions

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Mumbai, June 10: Domestic equity markets traded higher on Wednesday in the morning session despite elevated geopolitical tensions and rising crude oil prices.

Sensex gained as much as 0.59 per cent or over 400 points to touch an intraday high of 74,356 in early trade, while the Nifty rose 0.46 per cent or about 100 points to 23,351.

Sectoral performance was largely positive, with FMCG stocks leading the gains. Nifty FMCG rose 1.5 per cent, followed by Nifty Chemicals (0.67 per cent), Nifty Oil & Gas (0.60 per cent) and Nifty Private Bank (0.50 per cent).

On the downside, metal stocks remained under pressure, with Nifty Metal declining more than 1 per cent. Nifty MidSmall IT & Telecom fell 0.62 per cent, while Auto, Media and PSU Bank indices traded marginally lower.

Among the Nifty 50 constituents, Hindalco Industries emerged as the top loser, shedding nearly 3 per cent. Eternal, Adani Enterprises, NTPC and Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles (TMPV) were among the other major laggards.

“While weak global cues and geopolitical tensions could keep markets volatile in the near term, technical indicators suggest signs of stabilisation after recent selling pressure. Nifty has strong support around 23,000-23,100, while 23,500-23,600 remains the immediate resistance zone. A decisive breakout on either side is likely to determine the market’s next directional move,” analysts said.

Investors and traders’ sentiment remained cautious amid escalating tensions in West Asia after the United States launched strikes on Iran, raising concerns about a broader regional conflict and its potential impact on global energy supplies.

On the commodities front, international benchmark Brent crude rose 0.75 per cent to around $93 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained 0.88 per cent to nearly $90 per barrel.

In Asia, markets traded largely in the red. Japan’s Nikkei and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined more than 1 per cent each, while South Korea’s KOSPI plunged nearly 4 per cent.

Overnight, Wall Street ended lower, with the S&P 500 slipping 0.26 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite declining 0.97 per cent.

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