Bullets, gunpowder gutted as fire hits Verna ammo company
Vasco:
Bullets and gunpowder were gutted in a major fire that broke out at Hughes Precision Manufacturing Pvt Ltd, at IDC Verna early on Saturday.
Verna fire station in charge Dilesh Gaonkar told
TOI
that the fire broke out around 4am, and the firefighters received a call from the headquarters about the accident around 4.10am.
'Live and spent bullets and gunpowder stored in one room of the company were destroyed by the flames,' Gaonkar said. 'Boxes containing ammunition turned to ashes, but luckily no casualties were reported.'
He said that fire tenders were pressed into service from Verna, Vasco, Margao, and Panjim.
'According to the company's officials, CCTV cameras captured smoke coming out of the storage room,' Gaonkar said. 'The preliminary probe has suggested that a short circuit could be the reason for the massive fire.'
Gaonkar said that the Verna fire station has asked the company to provide details on the materials gutted and the loss incurred in the fire. Sources said the loss could run into crores. The company supplies ammunition to the Indian defence forces.
The fire tenders were deployed at the company site till late on Saturday.
'Although we succeeded in extinguishing the flames, we are monitoring the site,' Gaonkar said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
31 minutes ago
- Time of India
Wine industry expects a boost in FY26 after last year's consumption slowdown
The wine industry projects a normalised domestic macro environment to boost growth in FY26 after having suffered a setback in 2024-25. The previous financial year saw slowdown in urban consumption growth taking a "temporary pause", according to the annual report of Sula Vineyards Ltd. The impact on urban consumption slowdown was more evident on the wine segment when compared with other AlcoBev categories, as it is a predominantly urban drink, according to the report. Demand for wine was also impacted because of multiple temporary regulatory and other market disruptions, including general elections and state elections in key markets such as Maharashtra, Sula Vineyards Founder and CEO Rajeev Samant said in the report. "After 3 years of strong growth, FY25 was more a year of demand reset for the Indian wine industry," he said, adding, "But the good news is that these setbacks are now behind us as we look forward to a more normalised domestic macro environment going into FY26." Despite the challenges, Sula reported its highest ever revenue from operations at Rs 619.4 crore in FY25. "We continued to consolidate our leadership position, being by far and ahead the largest wine brand in the country," said Samant while addressing his shareholders. According to Samant, the worst has passed and there is "optimism of seeing better traction and growth in FY26 with positive triggers and expansion plans in our Own Brands and Wine Tourism businesses further supported by the normalisation of the macro environment expected soon." The company aims for accelerating earnings Growth over the next 3 years (FY25-FY28) with improved EBITDA margins and capital efficiency. This will be achieved through initiatives such as product development, expansion of its capacity, market Penetration, Wine Tourism and D2C Business. Sula is on track to expand Cellar capacity by 1 million litres to total capacity of 19.2 million litres per annum by the end of FY26. Samant also pointed out that the wine culture is evolving and spreading across the nation, outside its top two markets, which is encouraging. "Our domestic Own Brand sales, excluding Maharashtra and Karnataka, grew by 8 per cent YoY, powered by a total of 11 states registering healthy double-digit growth. This fits in well with our endeavour of creating a truly pan-India penetration," said Samant. India's wine market is valued at approximately $150-200 million (including both domestic and imported wines), with more than 3 million cases being sold annually. "Wine is still in a nascent stage in India, accounting for "Going forward, the Indian wine market is expected to grow at 15 per cent CAGR over CY 2023-2028 led by the increasing prosperity and disposable income, rapid urbanisation, evolving consumer preferences and increase in the number of working women and women drinkers," the company said. Moreover, Sula is also witnessing double-digit growth from its wine tourism business. It has two luxury resorts in Nashik - 'The Source at Sula' and 'Beyond by Sula', with a total of 104 keys. It has a new 30-key resort coming up near its York Winery, near Nashik and is expanding Wine Tourism Facility at Domaine Sula, Karnataka. "In FY25, our wine tourism revenue grew by 10.2 per cent YoY to Rs 60.3 crore, driven by a very successful SulaFest'25, coupled with the strong performance of our resorts. Our resort occupancy improved by 400 bps from 74 per cent in FY24 to 78 per cent in FY25 on the back of a strong festive and wedding season," he said.
Time of India
37 minutes ago
- Time of India
Agrochem market may hit $14.5 bn by FY28; herbicide exports jump; sector set for 9% CAGR: Report
India's agrochemicals industry is forecast to grow to $14.5 billion by 2027-28, clocking a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9 per cent, even as global headwinds persist, Rubix Data Sciences said in its latest outlook. The research firm pegs the current market size at $11.2 billion for 2024-25, up 8.7 per cent year-on-year despite a tough external environment marked by inventory destocking, aggressive Chinese price competition and muted demand in key export destinations. Agrochemical exports fell 22 per cent in FY 24 for the reasons above. Rubix, however, expects a 'moderate recovery' in 2024-25 as global supply chains stabilise and Indian players leverage their cost competitiveness. Herbicides outpace other segments A standout trend is the surge in herbicide shipments, which logged a 20 per cent CAGR between FY 20 and FY 25, lifting their share of total agrochemical exports from 31 per cent to 37 per cent. Rising farm-labour costs worldwide and India's ability to deliver affordable crop-protection solutions are driving demand. Japan has edged past Brazil as the second-largest buyer of Indian herbicides, while the United States and Brazil remain the top markets for insecticides and fungicides. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch vàng CFDs với mức chênh lệch giá thấp nhất IC Markets Đăng ký Undo 'Sector resilient, adapting fast' 'The drop in agrochemical exports over the past year has definitely been a setback, but it's also part of a larger global reset,' said Mohan Ramaswamy, co-founder and CEO, Rubix Data Sciences. 'What we are seeing now is Indian manufacturers adapting fast, whether it's by improving cost efficiency, diversifying portfolios, or tapping into new markets. The sector is resilient, and we believe the recovery under way will be steady and sustainable. At Rubix, we are committed to helping businesses make sense of these shifts through data-led insights that support smarter decisions and long-term growth,' he added. Rubix believes the combination of cost-competitive manufacturing, product diversification and new-market penetration will help the industry navigate global challenges and sustain momentum towards the $14.5-billion mark.
The Hindu
37 minutes ago
- The Hindu
The Tiger's Share: Keshava Guha's Sharp Tale of Property and Privilege
Published : Jun 22, 2025 15:37 IST - 4 MINS READ It is difficult to resist a novel that Amitav Ghosh, in one of the three heavyweight endorsements paratexting it, attributes to 'an astute and insightful observer of contemporary India'. This comment mostly holds true, although I would have preferred to say 'Delhi' instead of 'India'. Keshava Guha's The Tiger's Share is a consciously 'Delhi' novel, and for me that is a point in its favour. Another thing in its favour is the novel's engagement with family property. Now, at least in north India, the two topics that come up most often in conversation are property and the state of one's stomach. Despite Indian English fiction being full of foodie segments, it seems to leave out any extensive narrative on 'gas' and related matters that north Indians discuss frequently on trains and buses. More surprisingly, family property—as a perennial matter of contestation and litigation—is also mostly missing from Indian fiction in English, though there is hardly any middle- or upper-class family in north India that does not have a torturous story to tell about it. The Tiger's Share By Keshava Guha Hachette India Pages: 256 Price: Rs.699 The Tiger's Share is about two families where property does raise its divisive hydra-head, at least initially. Tara, the narrator, is a successful Delhi lawyer and has little sympathy for her younger brother, who has been doing the kind of floating writerly and cultural degrees abroad that seem to have become permissible in upper-middle-class families now. When their father, Baba, who has made a small fortune for himself as a meticulous CA, decides to retire and implies that his five houses might not go to the two children, Tara is not overly concerned. But her brother—who has, as they used to say, expectations—is bothered, and both the brother and the mother suspect Tara of legal subterfuge in the matter. Also Read | Eyewitness to a withering republic Around the same time, Lila, a potential friend who gradually turns into a real friend, approaches Tara with her own problem. Lila's father, a refugee from Pakistan who had become extremely rich as an astute businessman, has just passed away. Lila has a brother, Kunal, adopted, who now wants to take over the father's mantle, which means having the women in the family look up to him as the (alpha) head. This Lila refuses to do, leading to property-related tensions. Unfortunately, though, this rich promise of a real property-litigation novel, narrated from a gendered perspective, is not fully redeemed. It does not disappear but recedes into the background, with Tara and Lila opting for different solutions. Then Baba's mysterious retirement decision takes centre stage towards the end of the novel. It is an intriguing decision, though it further defuses the property aspect, which seems to be in keeping with the narrator's—and perhaps the author's—position. The conclusion should not be revealed, but I have to say that while it is interesting from an existential perspective, it is also comfortable from a propertied and political one. Nell Freudenberger, in her rave blurb, notes the 'shocking conclusion' of the novel, and probably the conclusion is shocking to Western readers. But without revealing the conclusion, one needs to add that Indians who are familiar with the Boddhisattva story about the tiger with two malnourished cubs, and who are aware of, say, Parsi funeral customs, might be able to anticipate the conclusion by the fourth quarter of the novel. Immaculate narration This is a gripping novel, narrated immaculately and at a fast clip. It contains female characters who strike one as refreshingly contemporary and independent, which is a relief, but too often talk in an identical fashion, which is not. The most interesting characters of the novel are the two men (alas) who do not fully 'belong' to its elite classes: Baba, who has struggled his way up and managed to do so with exceptional success, and Kunal, whose adoption has not eased his own struggle to shape himself in the new India of old 'traditions'. Baba is narrated with awed love by Tara, and Kunal with a degree of class-educational dislike—both these aspects leave many questions unasked, adding to the under-narrated fascination of these two characters. Also Read | Wings of desire There is a kind of brisk confidence in the narration, which fits the narrator but can also sometimes turn irritating. I am not sure if this is intentional. If it is, then it remains underdeveloped in a novel that is usually gripping, always readable, and quite often humorously perceptive about the Delhi cocktail circles being surveyed. Not to mention the smaller characters in those circles, such as Wojciech Zielinski, the desperately popular, uber-fit cultural attaché, or Vicky, the perfectly groomed cultured millionaire heir with an entitled attitude to sexual exploitation. Tabish Khair is an Indian novelist and academic who teaches in Denmark.
