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Business

Delhi World Book fair: A fair like no other

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Thomas Abraham

In Delhi it’s that time of year again when publishers, distributors and retailers are scrambling around frantically getting everything from point-of-sale to stocks right. It’s the World Book fair (WBF), which comes around once every two years sprawling across the giant halls of Pragati Maidan. This is the fair’s 20th edition, and although there are look-alikes all over the country, this one is undoubtedly the mother-of-them all.


In the 1980s and the ’90s, the Kolkata Book fair was the fair to go. But with the move from the maidan, apart from other venue and organisational problems, Kolkata has had to give up its title. Today the Delhi WBF is a mammoth affair, and has gone beyond just being a sort of retail exhibition.

Actually, no book fair in India would really qualify to be a ‘trade fair’ like Frankfurt or London, where business and rights deals are a norm. But like the Jaipur Literary Fest, what we lack in focus, or ‘order and method’, we make up for in sheer numbers.

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The WBF is a giant carnival. The last edition had over 800,000 visitors, and the organizers are wondering whether this year the million mark will be touched, given that the Pragati Maidan now has direct metro connectivity and that admission is free. Certainly the exhibitors have gone up since last time to about 1,300. That’s still, of course, less than a tenth of the total number of publishers in the country, as estimated by the various federations who put the count at being well over 15,000.

Month of March

This year, for the first time, the dates of the WBF moved from the traditional January end to early February period to a whole month down the line. This has met with some consternation as many publishers felt that it was leaving it too late for library budgets, and many schools would have exams on, and that might affect the turnout a bit. The jury is out on that one – the verdict will be out on the 4th of March when it all gets over.

So what are the business stats from the fair? Herein lies the rub – there are none. Ironically, for an industry that is seeing technological change at a pace like never before, and typically of an industry still coming to grips with management information, there is no reliable data available apart from guesstimates.

The National Book Trust (NBT) – the fair organizers – blames it on traditional publisher mindsets and the archaic notion of ‘business secrets’ where exhibitors don’t divulge figures. But even just by conservative extrapolation, assuming a Rs 2.5 lakh average turnover per participant (incidentally, the big ones top Rs 20 crore) one is looking at a fair turnover of over Rs 30 crore in cash sales, which is more than three times the business done from all of the leading bookstores all over India in any given week. Trade buying, rights deals, subscription sales, print contracts, and other ‘collateral business’ are on top of this.

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Trade & Rights

The WBF – indeed the industry – needs to take this to the next level with a dedicated two days for ‘trade and rights’. Years ago, the first two hours of the fair every day used to be designated trade hours where librarians and stockists could browse uninterrupted, a practice since discontinued. But if the 9-day fair could be shortened to seven days for consumers with two days as business days, India might yet see the fillip it needs in its rights business, as local-to-international rights networks build.

India has a large contingent going to Frankfurt but bulk of these is either English publishers-distributors, visiting principals or remainder merchants buying surplus stock. The size of the Indian rights pavilion is testament to the fact that our share of the rights pie is negligible.

 

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When were the last time you heard of an Indian work in translation break out through a rights purchase the way Wolf-Totem was snapped up from Chinese or The Devotion of Suspect-X from the Japanese? It’s only if we build a rights module here within the WBF, that one can gradually work up (yes it will take years) to exploiting the rights potential from Indian languages in translation.

So what purpose does the fair serve? With the surge in online bookstores, does it still have any relevance? I believe it still has huge relevance. Quite simply it is at its most fundamental, the only real direct interface publishers have with their end readers. This is the only time you can actually put the range you want up there, and watch readers as they browse.

For most publishers, the long tedious day playing floor assistant and traffic cop rolled into one has its reward in watching that die-hard fan chasing that obscure book you thought would never sell. The ecstasy of finding that long lost book, the agony of seeing something priced beyond one’s budget, the amazement at seeing a bargain or combo offer…it’s all there every day, hour on hour. For readers, this is the one time you’ll get to see, touch, browse lists and full range as you can never anywhere else.

Online has its convenience, but by and large you need to know what book you want, notwithstanding the cross recommendations the better sites have. This is where a reader can experience that joy of discovery-where s/he will see full series, obscure imprints, rare titles.

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Then there are the bargains. Fair rules make it impossible to deep discount but bargain tables with ‘fair prices’ and combination offers abound. What we have over the nine days of the fair is in essence the world’s largest bookstore-over a million square feet of books to choose from-in every Indian language, a lot of foreign ones, and of course English.

(The author is Managing Director, Hachette India)

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JSW Energy shares plummet 8%; Q4 net profit rises 38% to Rs 574 crore, revenue up 41%

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Shares of JSW Energy plunged as much as 8% to their day’s low of Rs 512 on the BSE on Tuesday after it reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 574 crore for the March quarter, marking a 38% increase from Rs 414 crore recorded in the same period last year.

Revenue from operations rose sharply by 41% year-on-year to Rs 4,499 crore in Q4FY26, compared with Rs 3,189 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year. The company’s board has recommended a dividend of Rs 2 per equity share and fixed Friday, June 5, as the record date to identify shareholders eligible for the payout.

On a sequential basis, profit after tax grew 8% from Rs 529 crore reported in Q3FY26, while revenue increased 10% quarter-on-quarter from Rs 4,082 crore in the October-December quarter.

Total expenses during the quarter stood at Rs 4,666 crore, higher than Rs 4,366 crore in Q3FY26 and Rs 3,142 crore in Q4FY25. This reflects a rise of 7% sequentially and 48% on a yearly basis. The increase in expenditure was driven by higher fuel costs, employee expenses and finance costs, among other factors.

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Power sales volume climbed 48% year-on-year to 11.7 billion units (BUs) from 7.9 BUs. Renewable energy generation rose 68% to 2.9 BUs from 1.7 BUs a year ago, while thermal generation increased 43% to 8.8 BUs from 6.2 BUs.


Generation under long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) grew 25% year-on-year to 8.6 BUs from 6.9 BUs. Short-term PPA generation surged 201% to 3.1 BUs, compared with 1.0 BU in the year-ago period.
JSW Energy’s cash and cash equivalents stood at Rs 10,013 crore during the quarter, reflecting a strong liquidity position. The company reported a net debt-to-equity ratio of 2.1x, while operational net debt-to-EBITDA stood at 5.2x.EBITDA for Q4FY26 jumped 72% year-on-year to Rs 2,602 crore from Rs 1,512 crore reported in the corresponding quarter last year.

JSW Energy shares are up 9.5% in the last 1 month and about 15% in the last 1 year.

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(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

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Vodafone Idea shares drop 4% after telco clarifies on treasury stock transfer report. Here’s what it said

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The shares of Vodafone Idea dropped nearly 4% after the telecom giant issued a clarification on a report claiming that its parent Vodafone Plc plans to transfer part of its stake to the company itself, which had sparked an 8% rally in the share price yesterday.

UK-based Vodafone Plc, which owns a 19% stake in Vodafone Idea, was considering transferring part of its shareholding to the company itself for the Indian telco to hold in its treasury, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. It added that the share transfer would take place instead of Vodafone injecting more cash into the Indian business.

The company’s shares sharply rallied more than 8% on Monday despite the overall stock market crash following the report, which claimed that the move could boost the balance sheet of the loss-making Vodafone Idea, and help its current efforts to raise debt.

Vodafone Idea’s clarification

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After exchanges sought clarification from Vodafone Idea following the sharp surge in share price, the company said that it has not yet received any communication related to this from the Vodafone Group.


Vodafone Idea said that the report may possibly be referring to disclosures already made in December last year about the Contingent Liability Adjustment Mechanism (CLAM) arrangement. As part of the December exchange filing, which the company reshared yesterday, Vodafone Idea had announced that it amended a major agreement with its UK-based parent company to secure the recovery of nearly Rs 5,836 crore linked to liabilities arising from the 2017 Vodafone-Idea merger.
Vodafone Idea share priceVodafone Idea shares have seen a significant surge recently, jumping 10% in one week and 28% in one month. Shares of the telecom company are up more than 2% in 2026 so far.

In the longer term, the stock jumped over 67% in one year, 69% in three years and more than 34% in five years. The company currently has a market capitalisation of more than Rs 1.26 lakh crore.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

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Jyothy Labs shares tumble 15% in two days after Henkel ends Pril, Fa licence agreements

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Jyothy Labs shares tumble 15% in two days after Henkel ends Pril, Fa licence agreements
Jyothy Labs shares declined 5% to Rs 225.20 during Tuesday’s trading session, extending losses for the second consecutive day. The stock has fallen nearly 15% over the two sessions following the company’s announcement that the licence agreements for the dishwashing brand Pril and the personal care brand Fa with Henkel will not be renewed beyond May 31, 2026.

On Saturday, Jyothy Labs said the decision marks the end of a nearly 15-year partnership between the two companies.

The company added that it is preparing for an “orderly transition” and plans to sharpen its focus on its owned brands, especially Exo in the dishwash category. While Pril has historically been Jyothy Labs’ flagship dishwash liquid brand, Exo has remained a strong player in the dishwash bars segment.

Jyothy Labs had acquired Henkel’s India consumer business in 2011 through a transaction involving brands, assets, and operations. Under the agreement, Pril and Fa were operated under fixed-term licence arrangements, whereas brands such as Mr White and Henko continued under perpetual licence agreements.

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The company fully owns brands including Margo, Neem toothpaste, Tuhina, and Chek. Jyothy Labs also stated that discussions with Henkel regarding a possible renewal had been underway for several months, including the evaluation of “commercial and business continuity alternatives”.


Share Price and Technical Indicators


Jyothy Labs currently commands a market capitalisation of Rs 8,300.88 crore. The stock touched a 52-week high of Rs 378.20.
On the valuation front, the company is trading at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 26.14, while its price-to-sales (P/S) ratio stands at 2.46. The price-to-book (P/B) ratio is 5.48.
Technically, the stock’s 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) is at 43.6. Typically, an RSI below 30 indicates oversold conditions, while a level above 70 suggests the stock may be overbought. Jyothy Labs is currently trading below all eight of its key simple moving averages (SMAs), signalling a bearish trend.

Institutional sentiment remained subdued during the March 2026 quarter. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) trimmed their stake from 12.77% to 12.35%, while Mutual Fund holdings declined from 13.73% to 13.15%.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

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Greggs hails rising sales as new Spanish airport opening is announced

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The company’s new food items are proving popular and ‘appealing to new and younger customers’

Greggs has announced rises in prices of some favourite products

Greggs has announced a rise in sales as new items prove popular(Image: ChronicleLive)

North East food-on-the-go firm Greggs has toasted a rise in sales after announcing its first overseas shop launch. The Newcastle firm has announced results for the first 19 weeks of the year, showing total sales are up 7.5% to £800m.

Like-for-like sales in company-managed shops grew by 2.5% in the first 19 weeks of 2026, and improved to 3.3% in the most recent 10 weeks, as sales of its new menu items took off. Greggs said its new food items including matcha drink, tandoori chicken pizza slice, and its chicken roll – its chicken version of its bestselling sausage roll – were proving popular.

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Tapping into demand in the market for protein meals, new salads were also launched last week to include chicken caesar and chicken, grains and greens. The firm said its partnerships with franchisees and grocery retailers are progressing well and contributing to the growth in overall sales.

It also said it has made “encouraging” profit progress in the year to date, partly reflecting a weak comparator period but also good operational cost control.

In a trading update it said: “The launch of our new chicken roll in April has been a standout, quickly establishing itself as a customer favourite and complementing our iconic sausage roll and vegan roll.

Greggs Chicken Roll

Greggs Chicken Roll is a new permanent addition to its menu(Image: Samantha Bartlett)

“Our drinks range has also been energised through flavour-led innovation across iced coffees, lemonades and refreshers, with the launch of matcha – which has proved extremely popular – marking an important step in appealing to new and younger customers.

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“Together, these launches reflect our focus on relevance and innovation, while staying true to the familiar quality customers expect from Greggs.”

Meanwhile, Greggs is continuing to target the opening of around 120 shops this year – while announcing it has Tenerife as the location for a new international outlet.

In the update to shareholders it said: “In the coming weeks we will open our first shop in an airport outside the UK, working in partnership with leading global travel operator Lagardère Travel Retail at Tenerife South Airport. Tenerife South is a destination for millions of UK and international passengers each year and represents an excellent opportunity to test our offering in an international travel hub.”

The bakery chain, which runs 2,759 shops, also warned that it could be facing higher costs if the Iran war continues.

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It added: “We are monitoring the situation in the Middle East and should the conflict continue and become prolonged we, like all food retailers, will likely see higher overall cost inflation through the end of 2026 and into 2027. In this uncertain environment, our value offer remains highly attractive as customers look to make their money go further.”

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