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Business Standard
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Business Standard
Landmark Cars hits over four-month high; zooms 15% in subdued market
The stock price of the auto dealer company - Landmark Cars share price was trading at its highest since Jan 27, 2025, and has bounced back 84% from it's all-time low of ₹306.05 touched on Apr 7, 2025. SI Reporter Mumbai Landmark Cars share price today Shares of Landmark Cars hit an over four-month high at ₹564, as they zoomed 15 per cent on the BSE in Thursday's intra-day trade amid healthy volumes on expectations of an improvement in the business outlook. The stock price of this auto dealer company was trading at its highest level since January 27, 2025. It has bounced back 84 per cent from it's all-time low of ₹306.05, touched on April 7. The stock had hit a 52-week high of ₹ 746 on June 19, 2024 and a record high of ₹901.95 on February 7, 2024. At 11:29 AM; Landmark Cars was trading 7.5 per cent higher at ₹525, as compared to 0.06 per cent decline in the BSE Sensex. The average trading volumes at the counter jumped multiple-fold with a combined 2.3 million shares changing hands on the NSE and BSE. Landmark Cars made its stock market debut on December 23, 2022. The company raised ₹552 crore by allotting shares at issue price of ₹506 per share. Track LIVE Stock Market Updates At the start of financial year 2024-25 (FY25), the company had set out a goal of opening 24 new outlets. The company has successfully operationalised 23 of them, ahead of timelines and well within budgeted costs. Landmark Cars said it will operationalize the remaining outlet from June 2025. India remains a bright spot on the global map. Various ongoing Free Trade Agreements discussions are improving the prospects for auto business. With discussions around reducing import duties gaining traction, the Indian auto market could become even more attractive for global brands. As a multi-brand retailer aligned with leading international original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), Landmark is well poised to capitalize on these developments. Landmark is also a large partner for BYD as well as MG Motors, leaders in the EV space with clear price and product advantage. Rising EV adoption in India will clearly benefit Landmark in the times to come, the management said in the Q4FY25 earnings conference call. Meanwhile, global benchmarks show that leading auto retailers in the US and China hold between 1.5 per cent to 2 per cent market share in passenger vehicle (PV) space. Compared to this, India's current share in PV market is approximately 0.5 per cent by volume and a little more by value, indicating the significant long term growth potential that lies ahead. 'With stable macroeconomic backdrop and strategic initiatives, we are well poised to capitalize on the long-term growth opportunities and aspire to increase our market share in this growing market,' the management said. Analysts believe Landmark Cars should benefit from the addition of high-growth brands, new PV launches and continuation of the premiumization trend. Meanwhile, in another development, on May 17, Landmark Cars announced that it has received an in-principle approval from Kia India to take over an existing workshop in Hyderabad. With this workshop, Landmark Cars will be able to cater to the large car parcels of Kia in Hyderabad as well as increase its business from after Sales services to achieve long term growth trajectory, the company said. About Landmark Cars Landmark Cars is the leading premium automotive retail business in India with dealerships for Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Jeep, Volkswagen, Citroen, BYD, Renault, Mahindra & Mahindra, KIA and MG Motors. The company also caters to the commercial vehicle retail business of Ashok Leyland in India. The company has its presence across the automotive retail value chain, including sales of new vehicles, after-sales service and repairs, sales of pre-owned passenger vehicles and facilitation of the sales of third party financial and insurance products.
Business Recorder
3 days ago
- Business
- Business Recorder
Tariff rationalisation: Rs500bn revenue loss estimated
ISLAMABAD: The government has estimated revenue loss of around Rs500 billion on account of tariff rationalisation including changes in import duties in the next five years under National Tariff Policy. Briefing on customs tariff reforms, Ministry of Commerce Secretary Jawad Paul told the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance, Wednesday, that the estimated revenue impact is Rs500 billion. Various models including macro model, export forecasting model and Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model, import tariff revenue show a loss of about Rs500 billion in static calculations under National Tariff Policy (2025-30). In the next five years, a positive revenue impact of 7-9 percent has been calculated on revenue considering all factors of customs tariff rationalisation; i.e., increased demand, economic growth, transparency, decrease in under-invoicing, smuggling, compliance cost. The GTAP calculations show that the exports will increase by 10-14 percent, whereas, imports will increase by 5-6 percent. During the meeting, committee members inquired about rationale behind calculations of increase in exports and imports. Paul responded a separate technical briefing on calculation models/ trade equilibrium models would be arranged for parliamentarians on this issue. He said that the outcome of the Free Trade Agreements signed with certain countries had a negative impact on the country. The Commerce secretary stated that there is an institutional shift of taking away import tariff policy from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to the Ministry of Commerce. Tariff Policy Board is a recommendatory body to the Federal Cabinet which has taken the final decision on Finance Bill (2025-26). The target of new National Tariff Policy is to reduce overall tariffs from 20.19 percent to 9.70 percent, readjustment of customs duties slabs to 4 slabs (0 percent, 5 percent, 10 percent and 15 percent) from existing 5 slabs in five years, reduction in customs duty to a maximum of 15 percent in five years, elimination of RDs/ACDs in five years and phasing out of Fifth Schedule of the Customs Act. The existing additional customs duties (ADCs) slabs will be eliminated in four years, keeping in view the annual targets for reduction in ACD rates. The ACD rates would be reduced across 7,500 items with complete exemption for lower slabs. Few products at 35 percent Customs duty are subjected to auto sector policy, therefore, the auto sector ACDs will be eliminated gradually from July 1, 2026. The existing regulatory duty slabs will be eliminated in five years, keeping in view the annual targets for reduction in RD rates. The maximum rate of RD is proposed to be reduced from 90 percent to 50 percent to rationalise excessive para-tariffs. RDs will be fully removed on 554 raw materials and intermediary goods. RD rate will be reduced on 602 goods. The notifications to implement these changes will be issued from July 1, 2025, he maintained. Responding to a query, Paul stated that there is no upward revision of slabs of customs duties, DCs and RDs under the tariff reforms and only downward revision in import duties. He said that the new tariff policy would also be applicable on auto sector like other sectors. Auto sector tariff will also be rationalised to enhance competitiveness, productivity and common welfare including removing quantitative restrictions on import of old and used vehicles. The new auto policy would be introduced from July 2026. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb informed the committee that the tariff rationalisation is a big change and a permanent implementation committee has been constituted to monitor impact of tariff rationalisation on domestic industries as well as impact during transition period. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Indian Express
4 days ago
- Business
- Indian Express
‘It's time for a full tariff overhaul and aligning them with broader economic goals': Ajay Srivastava at explained.Live
Tariffs are essentially taxes that countries impose on imports to protect their domestic industries. When a country wants to shield local producers from foreign competition, it puts a tax on imported goods. Under the World Trade Organization (WTO), every member country submits a tariff schedule. This schedule outlines the maximum tariff a country can impose on each product. These are called 'bound tariffs.' Once negotiated and finalised, countries agree not to exceed these limits. For example, if India commits in its WTO schedule that the tariff on glass is 40 per cent, that becomes the bound tariff. India can lower it in the future but it cannot raise it above 40 per cent. Until recently, most countries abided by their WTO commitments and operated within those agreed limits. The problem started when US President Donald Trump began openly violating these rules. The tariffs he imposed broke at least two major WTO principles, first by exceeding the bound tariffs on a wide range of goods and second, by imposing country-specific tariffs, applying different rates on different sources. The WTO requires countries to treat imports from all member nations equally, so this step is a clear violation undermining the very foundation of the WTO system. Today, every country talks about free trade agreements (FTAs) as if they are the driving force behind global trade. In reality, less than 20 per cent of global trade happens through the preferential route, through Free Trade Agreements or FTAs. The remaining 80 per cent happens under the WTO's Most-Favoured Nation (MFN) tariffs. For countries like India, we need to focus on the 80 per cent trade that doesn't depend on FTAs to grow our exports meaningfully. India has increasingly positioned FTAs as a key tool to boost exports. Initially, our strategy was 'Look East.' We began signing FTAs with our neighbouring countries under SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Area), then moved on to ASEAN, Japan, South Korea and later Australia. At one point, we were close to signing a deal with China through the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) but we withdrew at the last minute. After covering most of the East, we shifted our focus westward. We signed FTAs with Mauritius, the UAE, Switzerland and Norway. We've now announced the completion of negotiations with the UK and it's expected that we'll sign agreements with the US and the EU in the near future. Once these are finalised, India will have FTAs with more than 75 countries, covering roughly 75 per cent of global trade. So while we started late, compared to Europe or the UK, we're catching up fast. On the surface, countries like the US have average tariffs of around four per cent while India's average is closer to 17 per cent. However, this is the result of a larger, negotiated settlement under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the WTO, which the US helped broker and now conveniently ignores. During these negotiations, developed countries like the US, EU and Japan, then global leaders in global production of industrial and high-tech goods, wanted two things: One, to lower global tariffs to make it easier to sell their high-end goods. Two, to expand the scope of the global trading system beyond just goods to include intellectual property rights and services, such as finance, telecom and IT and agricultural subsidies. Developing nations, like India and China, were seen as producing low-end goods and having weaker intellectual property frameworks. Thus, the developed nations drafted the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights, or TRIPS, to bring Intellectual Property (IP) enforcement under the WTO, given its strong dispute settlement mechanism. The result was a trade-off: Developing countries accepted stricter rules on IP and services. In exchange, they were allowed to maintain somewhat higher tariff levels for a longer period. As part of this agreement, every country submitted a 'schedule of commitments' to the WTO for each product. For example, for glass, India might have said its maximum tariff, or 'bound tariff,' would be 40 per cent. These schedules were negotiated and accepted by all WTO members. Once the scope is set, the actual negotiations begin. Each country studies its domestic industries and identifies products and industries it would like to protect, which it considers sensitive sectors. For India, these include certain agricultural products to protect farmers and some industrial items. After industry-wide consultation, the country prepares an 'offer list', based on which tariff lines are listed in an Excel sheet. (India has around 12,800 of them.) In that list, it indicates which tariffs we'll reduce and the timing and extent of these reductions. Items to be excluded completely will be recorded in the negative or exclusion list. After both countries exchange their offer lists, they may choose to send each other request lists, asking the other to reconsider. The process continues over multiple rounds, often taking months or even years. Only after these are resolved do they announce the completion of negotiations, after which the legal teams finalise the text and the leaders of the countries sign the agreement. The agreement itself, typically, becomes effective two to three months after the signing. That's when the actual trade benefits — like lower tariffs and improved market access — start kicking in. We need to take a comprehensive look at our entire tariff structure. Right now, in every Union Budget, we make incremental changes — raise tariffs here, reduce them there — but what we haven't done is a full review of all 12,800 tariff lines. When I did a simple analysis, I found that over 90 per cent of our total Customs revenue comes from less than five per cent of our tariff lines. Meanwhile, the bottom 60 per cent of tariff lines contribute less than three per cent of revenue. So we have to ask why we are maintaining tariffs on those lines at all. A thorough review could also help us fix other long-standing issues, like inverted duty structures, where the import duty on raw materials is higher than on finished goods. That discourages domestic manufacturing because it makes local production less competitive. It has been over 25 years since we last did a full tariff overhaul. Now is the time to revisit the structure holistically. Given the number of FTAs we've signed and the structural issues in our system, it's time to conduct a proper, data-driven review. It's not just about revenue, it's about making tariffs more logical, targeted and aligned with our broader economic goals. In the late 1980s, India was ahead of China in several areas. We were exporting more computer hardware. Our pharmaceutical exports, APIs and formulations, were stronger than China's. In textiles and garments, we were neck and neck. When liberalisation came, we focussed more on deregulation without simultaneously building real manufacturing capacity. China, on the other hand, used that same period to build, sector by sector, with vision and intent. They began with textiles and garments, moved into machinery and then into electronics. They scaled up across industries methodically. Importantly, they had strong backing from American companies. What did China do differently? They applied highly strategic, foresighted policies and executed them well. In contrast, we continue to talk about increasing the share of manufacturing in our GDP, while importing the most basic items — knives, nail cutters, nuts, bolts. It's not for a lack of advanced technology, we've just never drilled down deep into the product level to build competitiveness. We need long-term commitment. We need to stop putting bureaucrats in charge of this transformation and instead identify people who have hands-on experience and empower them, set clear goals and get moving. That's how we change the trade equation, by building from the ground up.
Economic Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Economic Times
India's May trade deficit narrows to $21.88 bn amid New Delhi's active FTA push
India's merchandise trade deficit saw a decrease in May, reaching $21.88 billion. This is an improvement from April's $26.42 billion. Economists had anticipated a higher deficit. Merchandise exports amounted to $38.73 billion. Imports totaled $60.61 billion. The government is actively pursuing Free Trade Agreements. These figures reflect a slight year-on-year decrease in both exports and imports. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads India-US trade amid tariff turbulence India's merchandise trade deficit in May stood at $21.88 billion, amid the country actively pursuing Free Trade Agreements, the government said on trade gap narrowed from $26.42 billion in April. On a year-on-year basis, the trade deficit was slightly lower compared to $22.09 billion recorded in May per a Reuters poll, economists had expected the May trade deficit to be around $25 merchandise exports in May 2025 were down 2.17 per cent, at $38.73 billion, down from $39.59 billion in May 2024. Meanwhile, imports fell 1.7 per cent YoY, at $60.61 billion as against $61.68 the trade in services showed an estimated surplus of $14.65 billion in May, as services exports rose to an estimated $32.39 billion while imports increased to $17.14 billion, Trade Secretary Sunil Barthwal told further revealed that in the April-May period, exports increased to $77.19 billion, while imports rose to $125.52 billion."Despite the global policy uncertainty regarding trade, we have done extremely well," Barthwal added that the decline in global crude oil prices had weighed on overall exports. Among product categories, exports of electronic goods, including mobile phones, recorded the sharpest year-on-year rise of 54 per cent in of chemicals grew by 16 per cent, while pharmaceuticals rose 7.38 per cent, he latest trade data also comes amid a trade pact underworks between India and the United States, who are working to resolve the tariff hikes imposed by US President Donald Trump in April this year. Several rounds of negotiations have taken place to address issues related to market access, tariffs, and regulatory exports to the United States expanded in April-May to $17.25 billion, up from $14.17 billion a year earlier. The growth suggests that the recent U.S. tariff hikes averaging 10 per cent in early April have had limited impact so far."India and the U.S. are aiming to sign an interim deal before July 9," said the trade ministry official. "India-U.S. bilateral trade deal talks are progressing, sticking to time line of signing deal by fall 2025."Exporters remain watchful as uncertainty continues over the 90-day pause on reciprocal duties for major trading partners, including a 26 per cent tariff on Indian goods that remains effective until July 9.
Time of India
6 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
India's May trade deficit narrows to $21.88 bn amid New Delhi's active FTA push
India's merchandise trade deficit in May stood at $21.88 billion, amid the country actively pursuing Free Trade Agreements, the government said on Monday. The trade gap narrowed from $26.42 billion in April. As per a Reuters poll, economists had expected the May trade deficit to be around $25 billion. The merchandise exports in May 2025 stood at $38.73 billion, down from $39.59 billion in May 2024. Meanwhile, imports stood at $60.61 billion as against $61.68 billion YoY. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Neurologists Amazed: These Barefoot Shoes Help Seniors Lose Weight and Live a Life with Less Pain Barefoot Vitality Learn More Undo (More to come)
