TMS Ep312: Tata's Bisleri buyout, India's space start-ups, Markets, ARPU

Bisleri, India’s biggest and most popular packaged water brand, is up for sale. 82 years old Ramesh Chauhan -- who built this brand -- is scouting for a new owner who can take forward his legacy. And the news has stirred a wave in the FMCG sector. Several big players are said to be in talks with the veteran industrialist. Tata group is also one among them. But what will the salt-to-software conglomerate gain by adding Bisleri bottles to its water crate? 

An altogether different kind of race is, meanwhile, going on in space. India too is trying to land a spot there. After government-controlled ISRO, the country’s private sector too has made a move. India’s first privately-developed rocket, Vikram-S, blasted off towards the sky earlier this month. Some called it India’s SpaceX moment. But will it be? Bhaswar Kumar tells how India’s commercial space industry may well become a technology power house and taste commercial success

Let us move on to markets now. After more than a year, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex index logged its fresh lifetime high last week. The index has rallied over 20% from its 52-week low led by metals, financials, and FMCG shares. The NSE Nifty50, meanwhile, is hovering near 1-year highs. Do these sectors have enough legs to take the indices further higher or is it time for sector rotation? 

The stock of Bharti Airtel hit a 52-week high early this week on the back of 5G rollout, the tariff hike in two states and an impressive 89% jump in its net profit. Its average revenue per user, or ARPU, also shot up to ₹190. Telecom companies, media platforms and firms in several other sectors often cite ARPU numbers to flaunt their performance. We decode it for you in this segment of the podcast.