AKZOINDIA

July 9 (Reuters) - Asian Paints ASPN.NS, India's largest paintmaker by market share, said on Wednesday that it has sold its entire stake in smaller rival Akzo Nobel India AKZO.NS via bulk deals.

(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]; X: @MukherjeeHritam;))

June 28 (Reuters) - Akzo Nobel India Ltd AKZO.NS:

• AKZO NOBEL INDIA SAYS IT RECEIVED TAX DEMAND NOTICES WITH FINANCIAL IMPLICATION OF $2.1 MILLION - STATEMENT

Further company coverage: AKZO.NS

(([email protected];))

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own. Updates to add graphic.

By Shritama Bose

MUMBAI, June 27 (Reuters Breakingviews) - What’s good for Indian tycoons is not always good for India. Dutch paint maker AkzoNobel AKZO.AS is selling a controlling stake in its local unit to the domestic JSW Group. The deal fits into its goal to focus its global portfolio amid a hypercompetitive market – but it also deepens India’s capital outflow woes.

The $12 billion maker of the Dulux paint brand on Friday said it would offload up to a 75% stake in Akzo Nobel India to privately held JSW Paints for $1.1 billion. It will retain full control over its local powder coatings business and research unit. The proceeds from the sale will be used to cut debt and buy back shares of the parent.

The transaction comes at an opportune time for AkzoNobel, which decided last October to concentrate on coatings in key geographies. It eases the company away from a market shaken up by the entry last year of local tycoon KM Birla’s Grasim Industries GRAS.NS, whose discounts to grab market share are hurting the margins of incumbents. It makes financial sense too, valuing Akzo Nobel India at 22 times EBITDA, more than twice the multiple at which the parent’s Amsterdam-listed shares trade.

Inspired by these sorts of punchy valuations, multinationals in India have been paring stakes in local units. British American Tobacco BATS.L sold shares in ITC ITC.NS to raise $1.5 billion last month, and U.S. appliance maker Whirlpool WHR.N plans to slash its stake in its Indian business to 20% from 51%. Less benign reasons underpin other transactions. Germany’s Siemens sold 90% in its loss-making wind turbine division to TPG amidst cutthroat competition. Swiss drugmaker Novartis is looking for a buyer for its Indian operations, which it says are relatively small compared to other geographies.

The slate of assets on offer bodes well for Indian founders looking to grow through acquisitions. But it undermines India’s vaunted position as a haven for global capital. Net foreign direct investment during the eight months to the end of November 2024 dropped to $500 million from $8.5 billion in the same period of 2023, per data from the Reserve Bank of India. Blame it on repatriations by global firms, which stood at $44.5 billion for the 12 months ended March 2024, having risen every year since March 2020.

Strong valuations aren’t exactly bad news. But if they wind up making India look less of a magnet for global capital, they’re not uniformly good news either.

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CONTEXT NEWS

Dutch paint manufacturer AkzoNobel on June 27 said it had signed an agreement to sell up to a 75% stake in its Indian unit to privately held JSW Paints. The transaction is based on a total enterprise value of approximately 1.4 billion euros ($1.64 billion) and includes AkzoNobel’s liquid paints and coatings business in India.

The Amsterdam-listed company expects the net cash proceeds to be approximately 900 million euros, of which around 500 million euros will be used for deleveraging. AkzoNobel intends to launch a 400 million euro share buyback programme after the deal is closed.

“This divestment is a first step in the strategic portfolio review announced in October 2024, aimed at focusing the company’s capital and capabilities on leading positions in key global coatings markets,” AkzoNobel said.

Akzo Nobel India shares were up 8.2% as of 0852 GMT on June 27. AkzoNobel group shares were up 0.2%.

(Editing by George Hay; Production by Oliver Taslic)

((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on BOSE/[email protected]))

May 16 (Reuters) - Akzo Nobel India Ltd AKZO.NS:

• REPORTS NO NEW INFORMATION FROM PARENT COMPANY

Source text: ID:nBSE25nblp

Further company coverage: AKZO.NS

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By Hritam Mukherjee

BENGALURU, May 13 (Reuters) - India's top paint maker, Asian Paints ASPN.NS, has lost more market share than analysts expected to rival Grasim Industries GRAS.NS in the year since billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla's ambitious paints venture was launched, according to Elara Securities data shared exclusively with Reuters.

Asian Paints' market share fell to 52% from 59% in the 12 months ending March 31, Elara Securities data shows, raising the pressure on the industry leader to spend more on marketing and discounts to retain its crown.

Birla Opus' market share reached 6.8% in the latest quarter.

"Whenever a new entrant comes, its strategies are aggressive. But this time, the scale is much bigger," said Geojit Financial Services analyst Antu Thomas, who had expected Grasim to gain only 1%-2% in market share from Asian Paints.

Birla Opus, which is the paints arm of the Aditya Birla Group company Grasim, has borrowed heavily from Asian Paints' playbook to gain ground in the $9.5 billion sector that also features Berger Paints BRGR.NS, Kansai Nerolac KANE.NS, Indigo Paints INDG.NS and Akzo Nobel India AKZO.NS.

After its February 2024 launch with an investment of 100 billion rupees ($1.18 billion), it expanded the paint sector's capacity at a pace never seen before, analysts said.

It offered deep discounts to lure paint dealers, hired mid-level managers from Asian Paints, and set up factories near its entrenched rival's units, according to Reuters interviews with paint dealers and former Asian Paints employees.

"Asian Paints formed 70% of my annual paints sales in 2023. In 2024, the share was 30%," said Sunny Rahman, a paint dealer in the eastern city of Kolkata, who switched brands to take advantage of lower prices.

The moves have hurt Asian Paints, which reported a larger-than-expected 45% drop in fourth-quarter profit last week and warned that demand conditions were at their worst in decades.

"In a market which is already slow, the intensity of competitive action has been much more," Asian Paints CEO Amit Syngle said on the post-earnings conference call. "I think it is a double-whammy."

INTENSIFYING BATTLE

Asian Paints did not respond to requests seeking further comment.

Birla Opus CEO Rakshit Hargave told Reuters his company had no plans to slow down.

"Our objective is to gain market share, and I think, in the plan that we have, we have built in for the fact that we will do so," Hargave said. He denied the location of Birla Opus factories was decided based on proximity to Asian Paints' units and said Birla Opus was hiring across the sector.

Industry watchers expect the market share battle to intensify further this year, with analysts at ICICI Securities flagging "downside risks" to Asian Paints' outlook calling for EBITDA margin (operating profitability) of 18%-20%.

"The way forward for Asian Paints is not to take steep discounts. It will do well by introducing more products with differential value," Thomas said.

($1 = 84.8530 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Chennai, Subrata Nag Choudhury in Kolkata and Sumit Khanna in Ahmedabad; Editing by Dhanya Skariachan and Lincoln Feast.)

(([email protected]; X: @MukherjeeHritam;))

** Shares of Asian Paints ASPN.NS 0.3% lower ahead of Q4 results, while rivals are flat to higher

** Analysts expect revenue to be flattish due to weak product mix, leading to a 14% drop in profit, per LSEG data

** Higher ad spend due to competition and costlier raw materials to hurt margins, analysts say

** Paint companies, overall, face weak demand

** Kansai Nerolac KANE.NS posted a surprise drop in Q4 profit

** Analysts on avg rate Asian Paints, Nerolac and Berger BRGR.NS "hold"; Akzo Nobel India AKZO.NS is "buy" -LSEG

** Nerolac shares flat on the day, Berger and Akzo Nobel slightly higher

** YTD, Asian Paints up 2%, while Berger has jumped 22%; on flip side, Akzo is down 2% and Nerolac ~4%

(Reporting by Aleef Jahan in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]))

** Indian paint makers Asian Paints ASPN.NS, Berger Paints India BRGR.NS, Akzo Nobel India AKZO.NS and Kansai Nerolac KANE.NS climb between 1% and 2%

** Brent crude futures LCOc1 fell to their lowest since December 2021 in previous session before steadying on Thursday, still trading near multi-year low levels O/R

** Fall in oil prices benefits paint makers, who count crude as a major raw material

** Both ASPN and KANE gain ~2%, while BRGR and AKZO climb 1.3% and 1.2%, respectively

** AKZO only major paint maker rated "buy" on avg, rest rated "hold" - data compiled by LSEG

** KANE's 12% YTD drop biggest, followed by AKZO's 11% slide and ASPN's 4% decline

** BRGR only major paint maker to log YTD gains, up 9.3%

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru)

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March 3 (Reuters) - Akzo Nobel India Ltd AKZO.NS:

• GETS TOTAL TAX DEMAND ORDER FOR 15.8 MILLION RUPEES

Source text: ID:nBSE4NnMSC

Further company coverage: AKZO.NS

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Feb 24 (Reuters) - Akzo Nobel NV AKZO.AS:

• TO SEPARATE POWDER COATINGS BUSINESS FROM ITS INDIAN SUBSIDIARY

• MADE OFFER TO ACQUIRE POWDER COATINGS OPERATIONS, INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH CENTER FROM AKZO NOBEL INDIA LIMITED

• AKZONOBEL INDIA WILL SEEK ITS SHAREHOLDERS' APPROVAL IN COMING WEEKS, WITH VOTING PROCESS EXPECTED TO CONCLUDE ONE MONTH LATER

• BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF AKZONOBEL INDIA HAS ACCEPTED AKZONOBEL'S OFFER

Further company coverage: AKZO.AS

(Gdansk Newsroom)

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Rewrites with management commentary from post-earnings call

By Hritam Mukherjee

Feb 7 (Reuters) - Akzo Nobel India AKZO.NS said on Friday it expects the demand for paints to recover from the second half of the year after the effects of the federal budget's consumption-boosting proposals filter through essential items before influencing discretionary purchases.

Last week, the government dished out its biggest income tax relief in at least a decade, hoping that higher disposable incomes would boost demand and consumption, thereby lifting the economy.

However, the effects of that on the demand for discretionary items such as paints will only start from the second half of this year, Akzo Nobel Chairman and Managing Director Rajiv Rajgopal said in a post-earnings call.

Earlier in the day, the 'Dulux' paintmaker reported a 5% fall in consolidated third-quarter net profit to 1.09 billion rupees ($12.47 million) as its 2% increase in its revenue was outweighed by a 2.3% rise in expenses.

Paintmakers saw weak demand from retail consumers who are choosing cheaper brands in the face of high inflation, analysts say and demand forecasts by paint companies have been mixed so far.

While market leader Asian Paints ASPN.NS missed earnings estimates and issued a grim demand outlook, Kansai Nerolac KANE.NS said it also expects the lower income tax rates to increase demand.

Akzo Nobel India's larger peers, Grasim Industries GRAS.NS and Berger Paints BRGR.NS, are due to report their results next week.

(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee and Ashna Teresa Britto in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)

(([email protected]; Twitter: @MukherjeeHritam;))

Updates with earnings details, analyst comment in paragraph 3, and background

Feb 4 (Reuters) - India's Asian Paints ASPN.NS missed third-quarter profit estimates on Tuesday, though stronger-than-expected volume growth in its core domestic decorative business lifted its shares by 5%.

The paintmaker's consolidated net profit during October-December slumped 23% to 11.11 billion rupees ($127.6 million) year-on-year, slightly below analysts' average estimate of 11.31 billion rupees, as per data compiled by LSEG.

The 1.6% volume growth in the decorative business was higher than our expectations of a 1% this quarter, said Antu Thomas, a research analyst at brokerage Geojit Financial Services.

Asian Paints, India's largest paintmaker by market share, was among the top percentage gainers in the benchmark Nifty 50 .NSEI.

Shares of the company jumped 5% following the results but pared early gains, trading up 2.5% at 2,352 rupees.

Revenue from operations dropped 6% to 85.49 billion rupees, and came in below market expectations of 89.19 billion rupees.

Asian Paints is the first among its peers to report quarterly results. Kansai Nerolac KANE.NS and Akzo Nobel India AKZO.NS are slated to report their earnings later this week.

Over the last few quarters, Asian Paints has been grappling with increased competition following Grasim Industries' GRAS.NS entry in the sector, while inflation-strained shoppers tightened their purse strings and opted for cheaper private labels.

($1 = 87.0550 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

(([email protected]; X: @MukherjeeHritam;))

Jan 10 (Reuters) - Akzo Nobel India Ltd AKZO.NS:

• GETS GST ORDER WITH TOTAL LIABILITY OF 2.4 MILLION RUPEES

Further company coverage: AKZO.NS

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Jan 7 (Reuters) -

• BERGER PAINTS ACTIVELY LOOKING TO BUY AKZO NOBEL'S INDIA STAKE - CNBC TV18, CITING SOURCES

• AKZO NOBEL'S PROMOTERS LOOK TO EXIT INDIA MARKET WITH SALE OF THEIR 74.6% STAKE; DEAL VALUE EXPECTED TO BE AROUND 100 BILLION -120 BILLION RUPEES - CNBC TV18

Source text: https://tinyurl.com/4tuwrxvc

(([email protected];))

Jan 6 (Reuters) - Akzo Nobel India Ltd AKZO.NS:

• AKZO NOBEL NV REQUESTS EXPLORATION OF POWDER COATINGS BUSINESS SALE

• AKZO NOBEL NV REQUESTS EXPLORATION OF DECORATIVE PAINTS IP ACQUISITION

• BOARD AUTHORIZES MANAGEMENT TO EXPLORE POTENTIAL TRANSACTIONS

Source text: ID:nBSE4SQlNQ

Further company coverage: AKZO.NS

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** Akzo Nobel India AKZO.NS gains as much as 8.6% to 3768 rupees

** Pidilite Industries PIDI.NS, JSW Paints and Indigo Paints INDG.NS in race for stake in Amsterdam-based Akzo Nobel's AKZO.AS Indian arm, Mint reports

** Deal to sell 74.6% stake values Indian arm at $2.1 bln-$2.5 bln, report adds

** Stock sees biggest pct gain since Oct. 31, day after Mint reported AKZO is looking to sell its Indian unit

** More than 137,000 shares traded, 6.5x the 30-day avg

** AKZO India last up 7.5%, extends YTD gains to ~43%

($1 = 84.9220 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Ananta Agarwal in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]))

Nov 27 (Reuters) - Akzo Nobel India Ltd AKZO.NS:

• GETS SHOW CAUSE NOTICE OF TAX DUE OF 19.2 MILLION RUPEES

Source text: ID:nBSEKyRJ1

Further company coverage: AKZO.NS

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Nov 26 (Reuters) - Akzo Nobel India Ltd AKZO.NS:

• AKZO NOBEL INDIA - GETS SHOW CAUSE NOTICE OVER TAX DEMAND OF 19.2 MILLION RUPEES

Source text: [ID:]

Further company coverage: AKZO.NS

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Nov 22 (Reuters) - Akzo Nobel India Ltd AKZO.NS:

• APPROVED SALE CO'S IMMOVABLE PROPERTIES NOT BEING PUT FOR PRODUCTIVE USE

Source text: ID:nBSE9Bkkrs

Further company coverage: AKZO.NS

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Oct 30 (Reuters) - Akzo Nobel India Ltd AKZO.NS:

• AKZO NOBEL INDIA LTD - GETS TAX ORDER FOR DEMAND AT 377.2 MILLION RUPEES

Source text: ID:nBSE79K8tN

Further company coverage: AKZO.NS

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** Shares of Asian Paints ASPN.NS and Berger Paints India BRGR.NS drop 4% each

** Smaller firms Kansai Nerolac KANE.NS and Akzo Nobel India AKZO.NS decline 2% and 2.6%, respectively

** Oil prices rise on prospect of a widening Middle East conflict that could disrupt oil flow from the region O/R

** Crude prices make up for roughly one-third of paint makers' costs; higher crude prices will spike total costs

** As of Sept-end, ASPN had gained for seven consecutive months, BRGR for four

** ASPN, KANE rated "hold", while BRGR rated "sell" on an average - LSEG data

(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru)

(([email protected];))

** Shares of Akzo Nobel India Ltd AKZO.NS rise as much as 4.6% to 3,855 rupees

** Paint maker says it has commenced commercial production at its Gwalior plant on Sept. 5 with an installed production capacity of 5166 T per annum

** Adds, invested 1.05 bln rupees ($12.51 million) to increase production capacity to meet the growing demand for powder coating, especially in North and East India

** Stock on track to gain for third week

** More than 50,000 shares traded as of 1:52 p.m. IST, busiest day yet in over a month

** AKZO last up 2.5%, adding to YTD gains of ~45% so far

($1 = 83.9250 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Meenakshi Maidas in Bengaluru)

(([email protected];))

Aug 29 (Reuters) - Akzo Nobel India Ltd AKZO.NS:

• GOT TAX DEMAND OF 92.7 MILLION RUPEES

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSE90CJ9L

Further company coverage: AKZO.NS

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Aug 1 (Reuters) - Akzo Nobel India Ltd AKZO.NS:

• AKZO NOBEL INDIA LTD JUNE-QUARTER CONSOL NET PROFIT 1.15 BILLION RUPEES

• AKZO NOBEL INDIA LTD JUNE-QUARTER CONSOL REVENUE FROM OPERATIONS 10.36 BILLION RUPEES

Source text for Eikon: [ID:]

Further company coverage: AKZO.NS

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** Kansai Nerolac Paints KANE.NS shares up 3%, set for best day in three weeks

** Kansai Nerolac, a unit of Japan's Kansai Paint 4613.T, reports 4% rise on adjusted Q1 profit, helped by price hikes

** Other paint companies -- Shalimar Paints SHLP.NS, Asian Paints ASPN.NS, Berger Paints BRGR.NS Akzo Nobel India AKZO.NS -- also gain 1%-2.5%

** KANE rated 'hold' on avg, as is ASPN and AKZO, while BRGR rated 'sell' (SHLP not covered) -LSEG data

** KANE down 12.5% YTD, with only SHLP worse off (down 17%), while ASPN down 11.5% and BRGR 10%; AKZO lone gainer, up 14%

** KANE's fwd 12-month PW of 30.2 is lowest, just under AKZO's 30.4, while BRGR at ~50 and ASPN at 54.4 -LSEG data

(Reporting by Sethuraman NR in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]; (+91 9945291420); Reuters Messaging: [email protected]))

** Shares of Asian Paints ASPN.NS up 2.2% on track for its best day in a month

** Stock is top pct gainer on Nifty 50 .NSEI which is down 0.9%

** Co hiked prices of its products across its portfolio by 0.7%-1% to offset rising input costs, CNBC-TV18 reports

** ASPN did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment

** Peers Kansai Nerolac KANE.NS, Indigo Paints INDG.NS, Berger Paints BRGR.NS up between 1.2% and 3.9%; Akzo Nobel India AKZO.NS down 0.1%

** Analysts on avg have a 'hold' rating on Asian Paints, Nerolac, Akzo Nobel and Indigo Paints INDG.NS; Berger rated 'sell' -LSEG data

** Nerolac's 17% slide YTD is most, followed by Berger (14%), Asian Paints (13%) and Indigo Paints (3.7%)

** AKZO only paint-maker to post YTD growth, up ~11%

(Reporting by Varun Vyas in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]))

July 4 (Reuters) - Akzo Nobel India Ltd AKZO.NS:

• GETS SHOW CAUSE NOTICE FROM GST DEPARTMENT WITH DEMAND OF 3.7 MILLION RUPEES

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSE4KfpLv

Further company coverage: AKZO.NS

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June 5 (Reuters) - Akzo Nobel India Ltd AKZO.NS:

• GETS SHOW CAUSE NOTICE MENTIONING DISALLOWANCE OF ITC, TAX WORTH 1.01 BILLION RUPEES FROM KARNATAKA GST DEPARTMENT

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSE7m2BKp

Further company coverage: AKZO.NS

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In May 16 news item, removes extraneous word "million" in bullet 1

May 17 (Reuters) - Akzo Nobel India Ltd AKZO.NS:

• MARCH-QUARTER CONSOL NET PROFIT 1.09 BILLION RUPEES VERSUS 954 MILLION RUPEES

• MARCH-QUARTER CONSOL REVENUE FROM OPERATIONS 9.73 BILLION RUPEES VERSUS 9.51 BILLION RUPEES

• DIVIDEND 25 RUPEES PER SHARE

Further company coverage: AKZO.NS

(([email protected];))

May 15 (Reuters) - Paint maker Akzo Nobel India AKZO.NS reported a near 14% rise in its fourth-quarter profit on Thursday, aided by higher sales of its decorative paints.

The maker of Dulux paints reported a consolidated net profit of 1.09 billion rupees ($13.1 million) for the quarter ended March 31.

Revenue from operations rose 2% to 9.73 billion rupees.

For further result highlights, click [Full story]

KEY CONTEXT

Indian paint makers are facing a weak demand environment with consumers resorting to cheaper options, forcing larger players to cut prices to sustain their sales. Akzo Nobel India also flagged moderation in its volumes, but maintained better profit margin aided by favourable product mix across different categories.

Larger rival Asian Paints reported lower revenue in the March quarter and flagged lower demand in the premium segment of products, while Berger Paints BRGR.NS reported a marginal increase in revenue. Kansai Nerolac KANE.NS reported a 2% increase in revenue, while Indigo Paints INDG.NS is yet to report results.

PEER COMPARISON

* Mean of analysts' ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell

** Ratio of the stock's last close to analysts' mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT

JANUARY-MARCH STOCK PERFORMANCE

-- All data from LSEG

-- $1 = 83.4859 Indian rupees

(Reporting by Anisha Ajith in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K)

(([email protected];))

** Asian Paints ASPN.NS edges 0.2% lower ahead of Q4 report

** Analysts expect ASPN to report 9.6% increase in Q4 profit, 3.8% rise in revenue -LSEG data

** Ambit Capital expects vol growth to slow to 6% from 14% year-ago on soft demand but expects price cuts to generate effective rev growth

** Jefferies sees gross margins to be flattish q-o-q, but expanding y-o-y on lower raw material prices

** Centrum says post-festival season demand remains sluggish yet picked up in Feb/March on demand for exterior paints, launch of new products, strong traction in damp-proof segment

** Analysts' avg rating on ASPN is "hold" -LSEG data

** Kansai Nerolac KANE.NS, Indigo Paints INDG.NS, Akzo Nobel AKZO.NS also 'hold's; Berger Paints BRGR.NS a 'sell'

** ASPN down 16.5% YTD vs Nifty 50's .NSEI 2.4% rise

(Reporting by Rama Venkat in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]; https://twitter.com/ramavenkat0607;))