Shares of newly listed NSE fell 2% to a low of Rs 1,761 on the BSE on Monday, slipping below the IPO price of Rs 1,785 apiece. Following the decline, NSE’s market capitalisation stood at Rs 4.36 lakh crore, placing it as the 11th-largest listed Indian company, ahead of Tata Group’s Titan Company.

Reliance Industries remained India’s most valuable listed company with a market capitalisation of Rs 16.42 lakh crore, followed by HDFC Bank at Rs 11.16 lakh crore. Other companies ranked ahead of NSE include Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, SBI, TCS, Bajaj Finance, L&T, HUL and Sun Pharma, according to stock exchange data.

Should you buy, sell or hold NSE shares?

Macquarie says NSE is ‘The Dominator’ after it assigned an Outperform rating and a Rs 1,965 target price, implying an upside potential of 9.5% from the last close of Rs 1,793. The brokerage highlighted NSE’s full suite of services, technology and deep liquidity, which make it a key part of India’s financialization, calling it the “lynchpin” of India’s financialization. Strong network effects, profitability, and cash generation further support the business.

Also read: How Gautam Adani turned ₹1 lakh crore of stressed asset deals into a mega infrastructure bet

Emkay also initiated coverage on NSE with a Buy rating and a Sep-27E target price of Rs 2,050, implying around 14% upside. The brokerage’s positive view on NSE rests on three key factors. First, India’s capital market development and growth story has a long runway as wealth creation and financialisation gain momentum, with India’s per capita GDP expected to move from around $3,000 to $10,000 over the coming decades.

Second, NSE has maintained a resilient leadership position across capital market business segments over the decades. Emkay believes its business model has sufficient levers to adapt to changing regulatory and macroeconomic conditions while continuing to deliver profitable growth.
Third, strong profitability and cash generation at market infrastructure institutions (MIIs), including stock exchanges, allow them to command higher valuation multiples globally than other capital market players, which are more fragmented and exposed to competition.NSE commands uncontested leadership across cash and derivatives, driven by a self-reinforcing liquidity flywheel. In the cash segment, NSE holds 93% market share while retaining near-monopoly in the equity futures and stock options segment. While BSE has captured market share following its derivatives relaunch, the brokerage believes index options are transitioning to a phase of stabilisation following several regulatory rejigs. “Supported by secular domestic financialization and under-penetration, NSE possesses a multi-year structural runway, as rising household savings, record SIP flows, and capital formation continue to compound,” it added.

Also read: Rs 6 lakh cr rout! 6 key triggers behind today’s market meltdown

Domestic brokerage firm PL Capital has assigned an ‘Accumulate’ rating with a target price of Rs 1,950, forecasting an upside of over 9% from current levels.

While transaction income accounted for 79% of NSE’s operating revenue in FY26, PL Capital expects the exchange to increasingly benefit from a more diversified revenue mix, supported by multiple recurring income streams. Listing services, colocation, data feed and index licensing are expected to grow at a faster 14% CAGR over FY26-29E, compared with 9% for transaction income.

Disclaimer: This article has been written by Veer Sharma, who is not a SEBI-registered Research Analyst or an Investment Adviser. Veer Sharma and his/her ‘relative(s)’ (as defined under Section 2(77) of the Companies Act, 2013) do not hold any financial interest in the companies mentioned in this article as of the date of publication. The views/recommendations mentioned in this article, wherever applicable, are those of the respective SEBI-registered Research Analyst/brokerage and have been reproduced/reported with due attribution. They should not be construed as the views or recommendations of The Economic Times Digital or the journalist. Readers are advised to consider the original research report and make their investment decisions based on their own assessment. Brokerage disclaimers here.

WASHINGTON — Bill Gates said artificial intelligence is already powerful enough to help cause a billion deaths if people with bad intent get the latest tools, and he told NBC that U.S. law — not company promises — has to set the safeguards.

“AI is certainly powerful enough to drive events that cause a billion deaths,” Gates said on “Meet the Press,” in an interview recorded Sept. 24 and aired Sunday. “So even though it’s pretty hard to get to 100 percent, there’s never been a weapon as powerful as the combination of people with ill intent using the latest AI tools.”

He split two clocks. One is the long-run fear that systems could slip human control, a warning associated with former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon and other safety advocates. The other is nearer: terrorists or hostile states using models now. Americans, he said, should not skip the second while arguing about the first.

Federal legislation is “absolutely” required to watch what advanced systems do and to force safety features, he said. “No one believes self-regulation is sufficient.” Rules would add “a little administrative burden,” he said, and would not “dramatically” slow the pace of innovation.

He was more specific on method than on a bill number. A kill switch is “not enough.” “We do need to monitor any sophisticated model and record exactly what’s being done.” Small groups with AI, he said, can now attempt work that once took a state’s cyber or bioweapons team. “Unless governments insist on various safeguards, you know, we will see a lot of big, negative things because we’re not safeguarding.”

Asked whether the systems are already beyond control, he said no. They are not running “millions of robots yet,” and “we can turn off the computer.” Asked whether extinction talk is a hoax, as President Donald Trump has written, Gates said, “It’s not a hoax at all.”

Trump has framed AI as a race the United States is winning. “WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS! We are leading China, and all others, and will continue to do so,” he posted. Gates called that line “fine” and said monitoring would not “handicap us in whatever he thinks the nation-state race is.” “Certainly, all countries should want the safeguards in place,” he said. “So anyone that says, ‘Well, you know, China won’t put these safeguards in place’ — I totally disagree with that.”

He wants to see Trump. He said he would not ask for a freeze. “I’ll be saying we should impose a requirement on all the AIs in the U.S. and I expect China doesn’t want bioterrorism, they don’t want big attacks by nongovernmental actors.”

Mark Zuckerberg drew the opposite map three days earlier. In an NBC interview with Joanna Stern, the Meta chief rejected an industry-wide pause. “I don’t think that we need some kind of industrywide coordination,” Zuckerberg said. “I think that each lab needs to take the time, and when it sees that there are issues, you just take the time that you need internally to basically make sure that you’re proceeding safely.”

Asked if AI would kill people, he said: “Well, I think if we all do a good job and act responsibly then, no. I mean, I’m quite optimistic about the fact that this is going to be a very positive future for everyone.” He called much of the extinction talk “rhetoric that is filled with doom” and said “there’s plenty of commercial incentive to get this right.” “People aren’t going to adopt it if they don’t trust it.”

That is the split Hankyoreh laid out: Gates wants statutes; Zuckerberg wants each lab to stop itself. Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president and vice chair, has been pushing a third line — companies should not wait for Congress if a product looks unsafe. In remarks this month he compared the choice to aviation. “If you’re making a commercial airplane or if you’re making anything and you’re the CEO of a company and you conclude that your product is unsafe, should you ship it anyway? And I think the obvious answer is no. You have a responsibility to public safety.”

States are not waiting. California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an order last week to stand up an expert panel on stronger AI safety rules. Maryland and New York announced plans this week aimed at tighter in-state limits on AI firms and the data centers that train them.

Gates has made the employment argument in a long essay, asking policymakers to reserve some jobs as human-only. The Sunday interview was about harm at scale, not payrolls. The number he chose — a billion deaths — is not a forecast of a date. It is a claim about leverage: the same models that write code and draft mail can, in his telling, amplify a small group the way a government weapons program once did.

Nuclear arms control needed two capitals and inspectors. AI copies. That is why he told Welker a global framework would be “more difficult” than Cold War nuclear talks, and why he keeps returning to logging and mandates instead of a single off switch. Zuckerberg’s answer is that a lab that ships a product people do not trust will lose the market. Gates’s answer is that the market is not the party that gets hurt first.

MUMBAI — India’s Nifty 50 broke below 23,000 on Monday as oil jumped and foreign investors kept selling, extending a seven-week losing streak that has pulled the benchmark to its weakest stretch since 2020.

The index was at 22,799.25 in late afternoon trade, down 341.25 points, or 1.47 percent, from Friday’s close, according to the snapshot on exchange feeds at 2:59 p.m. India time. That print sat under the 23,000 floor the Nifty had defended through last week. The Sensex dropped more than 1,000 points in the morning, with an intraday low near 72,856 reported by The Week. BSE-listed companies lost about Rs 6 lakh crore of market value in early trade, India Today said, as capitalization slipped from roughly Rs 483 lakh crore to about Rs 477 lakh crore.

The week is short. The immediate drivers are not. Brent crude rose more than 2 percent to about $106.60–$107 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate traded near $94–$95. Those prices followed another weekend without a diplomatic opening on the Strait of Hormuz. President Donald Trump rejected Iran’s latest proposal to reopen the waterway and halt fighting. Iran kept its conditions. Shippers priced a longer disruption.

Crude at that level is a tax on India. The country imports most of the oil it burns. Higher barrels feed inflation expectations, pressure the rupee and lift the subsidy and current-account debate that fund managers have been running since the Middle East war widened. U.S. Treasury yields moved with the oil bid. The 10-year note was near 5.2 percent. The 30-year was above 5.5 percent, a zone last seen in 2004, CNBC-TV18 reported. Dollar assets at those yields compete with emerging-market equities.

Foreign portfolios have already chosen. After buying in July and August, they sold again in September. India Today put September equity sales near Rs 19,000 crore and year-to-date selling above Rs 2.5 lakh crore. Provisional NSE data showed Rs 3,694 crore of foreign selling on Friday alone.

Dr. V.K. Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Investments, named the two prices that matter this week. Brent at $106 and the U.S. 10-year at 5.2 percent were “strong headwinds” for markets, he said. “FPIs, after turning buyers in July and August have again turned sellers in September. This scenario will keep the market under pressure in the near-term.”

Banks and other financials led the domestic damage. Rate-sensitive stocks usually do when global yields jump and foreigners cut India. Mid-caps and small-caps, which held up better than the Nifty in parts of the summer, were pulled into the same tape. Asia was mostly lower. The KOSPI, Nikkei 225 and Shanghai Composite traded red. The Hang Seng was the exception.

The technical break added speed. CNBC-TV18 noted that 23,000 had been the downside hold all last week and gave way at the open. Once that line went, systematic selling and stop-loss flows tend to chase the index toward the next round number. The session low near 22,820, reported in morning coverage, put the Nifty at about a six-month trough. From the August peaks above 24,300, the index has given back more than 1,500 points.

None of that is a verdict on Indian company earnings by themselves. It is a verdict on the discount rate and the oil bill. A seven-week losing streak is rare. The Financial Express said it was the longest since 2020. Streaks that long usually need more than one bad headline. This one has three: war risk at Hormuz, $107 crude, and foreign accounts that flipped from buyers to sellers when U.S. yields climbed.

Domestic institutions have been the other side of that trade for much of the year. They cannot cancel a $107 barrel. They can keep buying dips if household SIP flows stay steady. Monday’s tape suggested they were not large enough to hold 23,000 once oil and the dollar moved together.

What happens next is still the same checklist. A ceasefire that reopens Hormuz would take the risk premium out of crude. A deal that does not would keep Brent elevated and keep FPIs cautious. U.S. yields near 5.2 percent make that caution rational. Vijayakumar’s line is the one desks will repeat into the next session: the near term stays under pressure while those two numbers stay high.

For a reader watching only the Nifty, the story on Sept. 28 is simpler. The index that closed Friday above 23,100 was trading under 22,800 before the last hour. Sensex names had already marked off more than 1,000 points. Six lakh crore of listed value was gone by late morning. Oil, yields and foreign sales did the work. The 23,000 handle did not.

This article was written by

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Suzlon Energy shares slipped over 2% on Monday, hitting their lowest level in nearly six months, as analysts flagged key levels for investors to watch.

The stock fell to Rs 39.92 apiece on the NSE, its lowest level since early April. It is now nearing its 52-week low of Rs 38.19, which it touched in March this year.

Suzlon Energy shares have lost nearly half their value since hitting a 52-week high of Rs 61.50 in November last year. The company currently has a market capitalisation of around Rs 54,968 crore.

The decline came amid a sharp rise in trading volumes. The broader stock market also remained under pressure on Monday, weighed down by surging oil prices, rising bond yields and broader geopolitical concerns.

Also read | Why is the market falling today? Sensex tumbles over 900 points, Nifty below 22,900. 6 key factors behind Rs 6 lakh crore rout

Suzlon Energy Q1 results

Suzlon Energy shares saw a sharp downturn in July this year after the company reported a 6% year-on-year (YoY) drop in net profit to Rs 305 crore in Q1 FY27 from Rs 324 crore a year ago. The renewable energy player’s EBITDA fell to Rs 595 crore in Q1 FY27, from Rs 599 crore in the same period last year, while EBITDA margin declined to 15.6% from 19.2%. While net profit, EBITDA and margins declined, its revenue from operations rose 22.5% YoY to Rs 3,819 crore in Q1 FY27 from Rs 3,117 crore in the year-ago period.
EBITDA and PAT margins fell amid ongoing developments, given the temporary logistics disruptions arising from the geopolitical situation, certain strategic investments, and a change in scope and segment mix, said Suzlon Group’s CFO Rahul Jain.

Suzlon Energy optimistic on wind energy opportunities

India’s wind energy industry has visibility of around 85 GW capacity that could be commissioned before 2030, putting the sector broadly on track to achieve the government’s 100 GW wind power target, Suzlon Energy co-founder Girish Tanti told The Economic Times.

“If you add up the bids which have been announced, the projects under development and the projects under construction, already today as an industry, we have visibility about 85 GW before 2030 to be commissioned,” Tanti said, adding that with another five years remaining until 2030 and additional bids expected, the industry is largely on track to meet the 100 GW target.

The executive said the next phase of India’s renewables planning should target 400 GW of wind capacity by 2047. “As an industry we are ready,” Tanti said, adding that the wind target could increase further as confidence in the technology grows.

Also read | Suzlon’s Girish Tanti says wind energy sector can meet 100 GW target by 2030

Disclaimer: This article has been written by Debaroti Adhikary, who is not a SEBI-registered Research Analyst or an Investment Adviser. Debaroti Adhikary and her ‘relative(s)’ (as defined under Section 2(77) of the Companies Act, 2013) do not hold any financial interest in the companies mentioned in this article as of the date of publication. The views/recommendations mentioned in this article, wherever applicable, are those of the respective SEBI-registered Research Analyst/brokerage and have been reproduced/reported with due attribution. They should not be construed as the views or recommendations of The Economic Times Digital or the journalist. Readers are advised to consider the original research report and make their investment decisions based on their own assessment. Brokerage disclaimers here.

The Insolvency Service will make abusive phoenixing, where directors repeatedly walk away from company debts and set up similar businesses again, its leading enforcement priority under a five-year strategy it launches tomorrow. Some 146 investigations have started since April, with another 87 about to begin.

Duncan Beach, who became chief executive in January after a 20-year career in change management at banks including HSBC and Credit Suisse, said the practice was his main concern.

“It is such a blight on the economy,” Beach said.

He gave the example of a small housebuilder that sells a new home off-plan to a family, closes the business and walks away, then sets up again and repeats the fraud. Another was a small hotel that makes all its staff redundant, shuts the company and reopens the next day under a different corporate structure, free of its liabilities.

“It just feels completely wrong,” he said. “It is not a victimless crime.”

The agency is working with other government bodies, including HM Revenue & Customs, and will seek prison terms for directors it finds acting unlawfully. Rather than waiting for companies to become insolvent, investigators are targeting live businesses where they suspect wrongdoing.

They are using AI to piece together evidence held across different government bodies, including Companies House, which had previously been difficult to bring together. Business Matters reported in July on plans to use AI analytics to find rogue phoenix directors.

The government has given the service an additional £5m a year for five years to create a 50-strong team of investigators focused on abusive phoenixing. The agency’s annual report for 2025-26 records the £25m allocation, made in the 2025 Autumn Budget.

Peter Etherington, of Ilkley, West Yorkshire, was jailed for 18-and-a-half months at Bradford Crown Court on 5 August and disqualified from acting as a director for ten years after repeatedly flouting the law at his publishing business.

David Snasdell, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, said at the time: “He ran the same business through one phoenix company after another, committing serious misconduct in the process.”

Fraud is the most common reported crime, representing about 40 per cent of all offences measured by the crime survey for England and Wales and affecting more than four million adults a year. “That number is growing so it is a problem. We see it day-in, day-out and it is becoming very visible,” Beach said.

The agency is also pursuing organised criminals operating behind false company identities. Last week the High Court in Manchester wound up seven companies registered in Lancashire, London, Manchester and Reading in the public interest, after the service and Companies House found connections between them.

“This should send a clear message that companies cannot use false filings or misleading information to gain credibility and put other businesses at risk,” said David Usher, another chief investigator.

Beach said he wanted to improve Britain’s risk-taking culture and let entrepreneurs fail and go again without being unduly penalised.

He said some existing insolvency and restructuring tools were “geared towards larger organisations” and could be “quite complex and quite expensive”. The options will include “a new rescue tool specifically tailored to small businesses”, he said.

Beach is also reviewing how insolvency practitioners are regulated. Liability for mistakes when a company enters an insolvency process currently sits with the individual practitioner. Asked whether regulation could shift to firms, he said: “It’s certainly on the slate and I can understand why it’s important for the sector.”

Bob Pinder, director of quality assurance at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, said: “We’d like to see renewed momentum towards a firm-based approach to insolvency regulation, with modern regulation focused on the systems, controls, and culture within firms, while continuing to hold individuals accountable where appropriate.”

Beach said he hoped the Insolvency Service would become better known as a tool for directors running their businesses, not only winding them down. “I want them to understand that the insolvency system is a positive place that gives them confidence to try to take a risk, to do business, to be an entrepreneur,” he said.

TAT promoted Thailand’s film production strengths and tourism appeal at TIFF 2026 with panels, interviews, networking, and curated filming routes, enhancing its film tourism strategy and international allure.

Thailand’s Cinematic Allure at TIFF 2026

At TIFF 2026, Thailand’s Tourism Authority (TAT) showcased the nation’s cinematic and tourism strengths through the initiative “Amazing Location Thailand: From Scene to Scenic.” This initiative focused on exhibiting Thailand’s potential as a vibrant backdrop for film productions. The event included insightful industry panels and media interviews that underlined Thailand’s impressive production capabilities and diverse locations. By participating in these activities, TAT emphasized how the country’s unique blend of natural beauty and modern infrastructure creates an ideal environment for international filmmaking.

Connecting Filmmakers with Local Opportunities

During the event, TAT curated 10 distinctive filming routes designed to highlight the country’s rich cultural heritage and scenic vistas. These routes provided international filmmakers with firsthand experiences of Thailand’s stunning locations and its well-equipped production facilities. The curated tours aimed to bridge connections between filmmakers and local communities, illustrating how local culture and community involvement enrich the filmmaking experience. This initiative is a strategic part of Thailand’s broader effort to boost its appeal as a destination for film tourism.

Reinforcing Thailand’s Global Appeal

Through networking events and engaging presentations, TAT aimed to strengthen Thailand’s position as a sought-after location for international film projects. The successful promotion at TIFF 2026 not only enhanced Thailand’s reputation in the film industry but also highlighted its charm as a travel destination. By showcasing Thailand’s dual appeal in tourism and film production, TAT hopes to attract filmmakers from around the globe, further supporting the growth of film tourism and fostering international collaborations.

Source : TAT showcases Thailand’s film production strengths and tourism appeal at TIFF 2026

The funding will be used for ‘development activities’ at the site between Kelly Bray and Callington

An ancient mine in Cornwall with vast deposits of critical minerals has secured a $9.25m investment from the US government. The Department of War has injected US$9.25m in the Redmoor tungsten-tin-copper-silver project, between Kelly Bray and Callington.

The mine site is operated by Strategic Mineral’s wholly owned subsidiary Cornwall Resources and is estimated to be worth more than a billion dollars.

The funding will be used to accelerate the project through all feasibility studies and a final investment decision for mining, investors were told on Monday (September 28).

The money will also support an engineering programme that includes drilling and development activities aimed at fast tracking the route to underground mining.

Charles Manners, Strategic Minerals executive chair, said: “We believe the strengths and investment case for Redmoor have been clearly demonstrated through this investment.

“The US Government has in recent weeks made significant investments to support allied, western world tungsten supply chains.

“We would like to thank the US Government for this investment, and we look forward to working with them through the Department for War as we deliver this transformation project, with the aim of accelerating the development process for a new the UK tungsten mine capable of contributing significantly to this objective.”

Over the last decade, Cornish Resources has undertaken wide-ranging mineral exploration activities around Redmoor, which is regarded as one of Europe’s highest-grade, undeveloped tungsten resources. In March, silver was also detected at the site.

Mark Burnett, Strategic Minerals executive director, said UK domestic support for Redmoor was also being investigated.

“This programme provides further additionality to the company’s plans to integrate and accelerate Redmoor through feasibility,” he said.

“The board would like to thank the CRL team for their hard work and dedication to Redmoor. Their work has positioned the project for this investment, including through an intense application and contracting process, and a recent trip to Philadelphia to discuss its project proposal in person with senior government officials.”

Dennis Rowland, managing director of Cornwall Resources, said the “transformational” funding would add “significant momentum and support” for the mine’s development.

“It helps eliminate funding uncertainty and risk between Redmoor’s feasibility development stages and positions the project for rapid development through integrated workstreams,” he added.

The prime minister’s Sunday morning BBC interview set hares running when it comes to the future of a policy once seen as politically untouchable.

The timing of the PM’s new social care plan sparked suggestions the government could be about to signal the death knell to the state pension triple lock after 16 years.

Andy Burnham said he will put forward tough decisions to fund a new national care service as part of Labour’s next general election manifesto, seeking a mandate to make the changes next Parliament.

The triple lock, which in theory expires at the end of this Parliament, means state pensions rise every April by at least 2.5%, or in line with the highest of prices or earnings.

Earlier this month, BBC News put this precise question about changing the triple lock in the next Parliament to Chancellor John Healey, who replied “the PM has said, like I have, that we must bring down welfare costs”.

It was a non-denial reflecting the fact that the PM has been besieged with advice, including from some of his favourite economists, that scrapping the triple lock, or even signalling it is a future possibility, is a golden opportunity for Britain’s economic policy at a tricky moment in the bond markets for all heavily indebted nations.

The UK specifically is seen as a place where successive governments have shirked tough long-term decisions. Could this be Burnham and Healey’s attempt to shift that perception, even in the slightly wild markets for government borrowing?

The politics are trickier. Reform’s leaders see the policy as a key potential dividing line with Labour.

Many in Westminster privately agree the Osborne-era policy is unsustainable economically, but argue it is politically impossible to unpick.

Many pensions campaigners point to the fact that even after increases, the UK’s state pension is not generous by international standards, though other countries have very different systems and rates of private provision.

Former ministers point out that the quid pro quo of redeploying the pension cash savings towards an in kind care service could shift the argument.

The lock is costing £15.5bn a year, treble original estimates of the 2030 cost, especially because of the volatility of prices and earnings.

Reverting to an earnings link could save tens of billions of pounds a year in the long run.

It is the sort of saving that could plausibly fund some form of national care service, potentially with cash left over as a buffer in a volatile world – but that depends on the ambition of the care plan, the generosity of any replacement for the triple lock, and how volatile prices are in the long term.

It had been deemed politically unthinkable, but the government now seems to be thinking about it, at least for the future.

The John Lewis Partnership is expanding its concessions into fine art and bespoke travel, adding three art galleries and 12 travel hubs to its department stores in the next stage of an £800m transformation plan.

The employee-owned retailer is also increasing its Randox Health concessions, which offer health assessments and blood tests, from three to seven, and opening six Tish Lyon studios offering piercing and jewellery welding services.

The company hopes the concessions, known as shop-in-shops, will attract more customers and keep them on the shop floor for longer.

The galleries will be run by Clarendon Fine Art, Britain’s largest art gallery group, and feature works by artists including Picasso, LS Lowry and Keith Haring. More modern pieces from the French street artist Thierry Guetta, known as Mr Brainwash, will also be available across a range of price points.

Two of the galleries are already open, at John Lewis’s Oxford Street and Southampton stores, and a third is set to launch in Cheadle, Greater Manchester. The galleries offer personalised art consultancy services.

The travel hubs will be operated by Audley Travel, an Oxfordshire-based tourism and advisory company whose trips range from private safaris to beach stays and river cruises.

John Lewis said demand for its advisory services, which include home design and personal styling, had risen by more than 5 per cent over the first half of the year.

Katie Papakonstantinou, director of services and hospitality at John Lewis, said: “Today’s shoppers want far more than products on shelves, they want inspiration, helpful expertise, and extraordinary experiences.”

She added that the expansion aimed to transform its stores into “dynamic destinations that drive footfall and build customer loyalty”.

Papakonstantinou has previously linked in-store experiences to customer loyalty, when the retailer announced plans for more cafés and restaurants in its stores last year.

The expansion forms part of a turnaround led by Jason Tarry, the chairman, who is seeking to revive sales after a period of rising costs and pressure on consumer spending.

The partnership’s interim results, published on 10 September, showed pre-tax losses widening to £124m in the 26 weeks to 1 August, from £88m a year earlier. Tarry has said he is “confident” that the company will turn an annual profit.

In the same statement, the partnership said it remained cautious about the second half and that its full-year outcome would be determined by peak trading.

The £800m investment programme has already brought Topshop back to 32 John Lewis stores, alongside refurbishments of key branches including the Oxford Street flagship.

Earlier this year the retailer set out plans to grow its share of the beauty market with its first Korean beauty concessions, seeking to tap into consumer interest in cosmetics and skincare from South Korea.

That included launching 20 Korean skin and haircare brands online and opening Skin Cupid concessions in its Cambridge, Kingston and Leeds stores over the summer.

John Lewis has also set a target of generating more than £100m in extra profits through more “joined-up” loyalty programmes, and a further £180m from its retail media business, which includes promotional partnerships with brands.

The retailer has separately been investing in video content to improve its visibility in AI search, launching a YouTube chatshow ahead of Christmas.