India’s Most Valuable Unlisted Company: National Stock Exchange Takes the Lead

The 2024 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 highlights some of the most valuable unlisted companies in the country. This year, the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) has emerged as India’s most valuable unlisted company, surpassing the Serum Institute of India, which held the top spot in 2023.

NSE witnessed an impressive 201% increase in valuation, reaching INR 4,70,250 crore and moving up one position from last year. Serum Institute of India, known for its contributions to the pharmaceutical sector, saw a modest 10% growth in value but dropped to the second position with INR 2,11,610 crore.

Tech-driven companies also made significant strides in the rankings, with Zoho Corporation securing the third position, experiencing a 58% valuation surge to INR 1,03,760 crore. Similarly, Zerodha, India’s leading discount brokerage firm, climbed to the fourth position with a 50% value increase.

Below is the list of the Top 10 Most Valuable Unlisted Companies from the 2024 Burgundy Private Hurun

Click here to access the full list.

Source: Hurun Research Institute, 2024 Burgundy Private Hurun India 50

Darwinbox to raise $150 million from KKR, Partners Group, others: Report

Darwinbox, an enterprise HR technology platform, is set to raise nearly $120-$150 million in a funding round led by global private equity firms KKR and Partners Group, Mint reported citing people familiar with the matter.

The funding round, which is likely to value the company at around $950 million, will comprise a combination of primary and secondary fundraise. "While KKR is pumping in $50 million in the company, Partners Group will pool in $55 million," one of the sources told Mint.

The valuation is lower than the $1 billion valuation the company had in 2022, as it joined the unicorn club after raising $72 million in a round led by TCV.

Notably, the company's early investors including Peak XV, Lightspeed Ventures, StartupXseed and Endiya Partners are likely to exit either partly or in full through the secondary round, the report added.

Darwinbox was founded by Jayant Paleti, Rohit Chennamaneni and Chaitanya Peddi in 2015. The firm works in the human resources (HR) tech space, digitising functions such as attendance, payroll and employee onboarding.

Earlier in October last year, the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform reported a 58 per cent on-year increase in total revenue for the financial year 2024 (FY24), driven primarily by its international expansion and the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered products to its offerings, co-founder Jayant Paleti told Moneycontrol.

"We are a well-capitalised company. Our balance sheet is strong. And as a board, we took a call that the most important priority is to invest in some of these things, so that growth happens for a long period of time…Our net margin is negative but it is a conscious choice," Paleti had said.

China's Honor announces $10 billion investment in AI devices

SHENZHEN, China, March 2(Reuters) - Chinese smartphone maker Honor will spend $10 billion over the next five years on developing AI for its devices as the former Huawei unit prepares for a public listing, its CEO James Li said on Sunday.

The Shenzhen-based company aims to expand from being primarily a smartphone company and develop a system of AI-powered PCs, tablets and wearables, Li said in a speech at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) trade show in Barcelona.

In December, Honor said it had completed a shareholder restructuring that moved it closer to an initial public offering, though no timeline has been announced.

Honor's announcement comes amid a boom in Chinese AI investment spurred by interest in startup DeepSeek's low-price large language models, with interested parties from local governments to home appliance makers rushing to integrate DeepSeek's technology or do more AI research.

Last year Honor slipped from second to fourth place in terms of China phone shipments, with a 14.9% market share, amid renewed competition from its former parent, Huawei, and strong growth from Vivo, according to consultancy IDC.

In August Reuters reported that Honor is receiving a high level of support from the Shenzhen local government in terms of research and development funding, tax breaks and support expanding overseas.

Rupee to rise alongside Asian peers; US tariff risks to cap upside

MUMBAI, March 3 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee is likely to inch up on Monday, tracking an uptick in regional peers to kick off a week where the focus will be on news flow on U.S. tariffs and economic data.

The 1-month non-deliverable forward indicated that the rupee will open at 87.40-87.42 to the U.S. dollar compared with 87.4950 in the previous session.

The Indian currency dropped 1% in February, logging its fifth straight monthly loss.

March is considered seasonally favourable for the rupee and the Indian currency may be able to pause its losing run, a currency trader at a bank said.

The rupee "will have to negotiate" the "always present" U.S. tariff headline risk and "handle the effects" of the volatility that it will bring in, he said.

Last week, hedging demand, persistent equity outflows, and the usual market flows exerted downward pressure on the rupee. Intervention by the central bank mitigated a potentially larger decline, per traders.

India's factory activity growth dips to 14-month low in Feb due to cooling demand

BENGALURU, March 3 (Reuters) - India's manufacturing activity grew at its weakest pace in over a year last month due to cooling demand, but employment generation rose at a healthy pace and inflation eased, a private survey showed on Monday.

The softer manufacturing data suggests the growth rebound in Asia's third-largest economy may be short-lived after the government said gross domestic product expanded 6.2% last quarter from 5.6% in the previous one.

Goods production, which accounts for less than a fifth of overall output grew 3.5% in October-December, only a slight rise from 2.2% in the previous quarter.

The HSBC final India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (INPMI=ECI), opens new tab, compiled by S&P Global, fell to 56.3 in February - its lowest since December 2023 - from 57.7 in January. A preliminary estimate was much higher at 57.1.

However, the index has been in expansionary territory - above 50 - for 44 consecutive months, the longest streak since July 2013, which marked 52 months of continuous growth.

Domestic demand waned slightly with the new orders and output sub-indexes falling to 14-month lows although factories reported an improvement in technology investment and commissioning new projects.

International demand softened last month from an over 14-year high in January.

"Although output growth slowed to the weakest level since December 2023, overall momentum in India's manufacturing sector remained broadly positive in February," said Pranjul Bhandari, chief India economist at HSBC.

"Robust global demand continued to boost growth in the Indian manufacturing sector, which increased its purchasing activity and employment."

Bitcoin jumps 20% after Trump hints at new strategic reserve

SINGAPORE, March 3 (Reuters) - Bitcoin surged more than 20% from last week's lows on Monday and several other cryptocurrencies also rallied sharply after U.S. President Donald Trump raised the possibility of a new U.S. strategic reserve that would include a range of tokens.

Trump said in a post on Truth Social that his January executive order on digital assets would create a stockpile of currencies, including bitcoin , ether, XRP, solana and cardano. The names had not previously been announced.

Bitcoin and ether will be at the heart of this reserve, he posted on Sunday.

The post sent the world's largest cryptocurrency up by a fifth from the November lows it was trading at on Friday, helping flip sentiment on a token that has been sliding since mid-January on disappointment Trump had not followed through on pledges to loosen regulation.

It was last at around $91,605, up from Friday's low of$78,273.

Ether was also up 20% from Friday's lows to $2,351, a 7% drop from Sunday's closing levels.

XRP and solana were up around 30% from Friday's lowest levels, while cardano was up 60% from last week's lows.

"Trump just gave the pump that crypto traders have been holding out for," said Matt Simpson, senior market analyst at City Index.

"Any faith that was lost last week appears to have been restored," and new highs could be made unless there was another wave of risk-off selling, he said.

Euro rebounds from 2-1/2-week low, Ukraine and defence spending in focus

March 3 (Reuters) - The euro rebounded from a 2-1/2-week low against the dollar on Monday as investors monitored a renewed push for peace in Ukraine and a possible increase in defence spending in the euro area.

The euro climbed 0.3% to $1.0404, pulling away from Friday's low of $1.0359, which it had hit after Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy clashed in an extraordinary meeting at the Oval Office.

Zelenskiy received a warm welcome in Britain immediately afterwards, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Sunday that European leaders had agreed to draw up a peace plan to present to Washington.

The U.S. dollar index - which measures the currency against the euro, sterling, yen, Canadian dollar and two other major rivals - eased 0.25% to 107.28.

"It is ever more clear that Europe urgently needs a plan to ensure undisrupted support for Ukraine," said Minna Kuusisto, chief analyst of global macro and geopolitics at Danske Bank, adding the risk is growing that the U.S. might completely cut off aid to Ukraine and Europe needs a plan to fill the gap.

"We argue that arming Ukraine is by far the cheapest option for Europe," she said.

Analysts said a possible peace deal in Ukraine and a likely increase of fiscal spending by euro zone countries could provide some boost to future growth, supporting the currency.

Meanwhile, a more likely selective implementation of tariffs on essential imports would have a smaller effect than a blanket 25% tariff on all EU exports to the United States, analysts say.

Trump had floated last week a 25% "reciprocal" tariff on European cars and other goods.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia analysts, however, expect the dollar to resume its rally this week.

"The trade war is intensifying," they wrote in a client note. "'Peak tariff' has not yet been reached."