Hyundai Motor India (HMI), the country’s second largest carmaker, has drawn up ambitious expansion plans for making India a production hub that will also cater to the rising export demand for its vehicles in the emerging markets.

HMI Managing Director Unsoo Kim said in a conference call that the car major would be expanding production to meet the growing demand in the domestic market as well as the export market in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and South Asia.

"We are seeing the domestic volume is increasing and the export market is also increasing. And then, we have a very suitable product lineup for emerging markets," Kim said.

Kim said that a healthy mix of domestic and export volumes will enable the company to not only secure profitability but gain a natural hedge against market fluctuations.

In a new record, Apple has reached almost Rs 60,000 crore in iPhone exports from India in the first seven months during the current fiscal (FY25).

In the April-October period, the Cupertino-based tech giant exported iPhones worth almost Rs 60,000 crore (over $7 billion), at almost Rs 8,450 crore (nearly $1 billion) worth export each month in the ongoing financial year, according to industry data.

This time, the company is exporting newly-launched iPhone 16 models from India, apart from the other popular models in its 15 and 14 series.

Last fiscal (FY24), Apple exported iPhones worth over $10 billion and this fiscal, the tech giant has already achieved 70 per cent of that figure with five months to go — set for a new export record riding on the government’s 'Make in India’ and production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes.

Average cost of real estate construction in India is estimated to have risen up to 11 per cent in the last one year, mainly due to a significant surge in labour costs coupled with a moderate price increase in construction materials like sand, brick, glass and wood, a report showed on Thursday.

The cumulative effect of rise in the prices of four key construction materials including cement, steel, copper and aluminum have been relatively low.

In fact, average cement prices have seen a steep decline of 15 per cent, while average steel prices have witnessed a marginal 1 per cent decrease over the last 12 months, according to a Colliers report.

“With labour accounting for more than one-fourth of overall construction cost, a 25 per cent annual rise in labour costs has stretched construction budgets and impacted operational expenses,” said Badal Yagnik, Chief Executive Officer, Colliers India.

India's smartphone market is expected to exit 2024 with a low single-digit annual growth, as Apple posted its largest-ever quarterly shipment in India with 4 million units in the third quarter (Q3), according to a new report.

In the July-September period (Q3), smartphone shipments in India reached 46 million units, reflecting 5.6 per cent growth YoY (year-over-year).

Upasana Joshi, Senior Research Manager, Devices Research, IDC Asia Pacific, said that growth in the biggest quarter of the year was fuelled by attractive discounts, multiple financing options, extended device warranty and cashback and bank offers across both online/offline channels.

The launch of several new 5G smartphones also drove demand. One of the biggest draws during the eTailer sales was the attractive discounts on last year’s flagship models from Apple and Samsung, she mentioned.

South Korea's car exports rose 5.5 per cent on-year in October to reach a new record, data showed on Thursday, driven by the global popularity of eco-friendly models, including hybrid vehicles.

The combined value of vehicle shipments reached $6.2 billion last month, marking the highest amount for any October, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, reports news agency.

The number of cars shipped totalled 243,367, up 8.1 per cent from a year earlier, the report showed. Shipments of hybrid cars alone amounted to $1.1 billion, soaring 80.3 per cent on-year to surpass the previous record of $1.07 billion set in August.

The number of cars produced in October reached 367,624 units, rising 7.8 pe rcent from the previous year, on the back of the release of new models, such as Kia’s electric EV3 SUV and the upgraded K8 sedan.

Domestic automobile sales, meanwhile, rose 3.1 per cent to 145,756 units, marking the first on-year increase since November 2023.

Total two-wheeler sales in the country surged by a robust 14.2 per cent to 21.64 lakh units in October this year, compared to 18.96 lakh units in October 2023, according to figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) on Wednesday.

Passenger vehicle sales, including cars and SUVs, also increased to their highest ever monthly level of 3.93 lakh units in October which represents a 0.9 per cent rise over a high base figure of 3.9 lakh units for October 2023.

Rajesh Menon, Director General, SIAM said that “October 2024 saw two major festivals Dussehra and Diwali, both occurring in the same month, which traditionally drive higher consumer demand providing a significant boost to the auto industry’s performance”.

Passenger vehicles (PVs) posted its highest ever sales of October in 2024 of 3.93 Lakh units, with a growth of 0.9 per cent, albeit on a high base of last October.

Homegrown ride-sharing platform Rapido registered a net loss of Rs 371 crore last fiscal (FY24) from Rs 675 crore in FY23.

Controlled expenditure helped the company cut losses by about 45 per cent in FY24 from Rs 675 crore in FY23, as return on capital employed (ROCE) and EBITDA margins stood at -90.7 per cent and -52.5 per cent, respectively.

The Swiggy-backed platform spent Rs 1.65 to earn Rs 1 last fiscal, according to its financials.

Its operational revenue went up almost 46 per cent to Rs 648 crore in FY24 against Rs 443 crore in FY23.

Its transportation services made 55.9 per cent of the operating revenue, which increased 48.4 per cent to Rs 362 crore in FY24. Rapido cut down employee costs by 16.9 per cent to Rs 172 crore.

Mercedes-Benz India is on course to close the current year with a double-digit jump in sales, fuelled by the rising demand for luxury cars in a fast-growing economy, the company’s managing director Santosh Iyer has said.

Mercedes-Benz India has now launched its new 'AMG C 63 S E PERFORMANCE' model equipped with F1 hybrid technology priced at Rs 1.95 crore. This is the company's 14th product launch this year, aimed at driving up sales volumes of its high-end vehicles which are priced upwards of Rs 1.5 crore.

Speaking to reporters at the launch, Iyer said that the festive season brought the company’s best sales figures, reflecting the strength of the auto major’s performance in a fiercely competitive and fluctuating market.

Chinese electric vehicle (EV) giant BYD on Wednesday officially announced its plan to enter South Korea's passenger car market.

BYD Korea, the company's South Korean sales subsidiary, said in a statement that it has "completed review to release passenger car brands in the domestic market" and officially confirmed its entry with a target date, likely early next year, to be set in the near future.

BYD Korea said it is currently working on establishing regional sales and service networks, recruiting staff, obtaining vehicle certifications, and finalising marketing plans and employee training, reports news agency.

"To meet the high expectations of Korean consumers, we conducted in-depth evaluations with experienced employees and partners," Cho In-chul, head of BYD Korea's passenger car division, said.

With AI-driven transformation, India is projected to increase its workforce from 423.73 million in 2023 to 457.62 million by 2028, a net gain of 33.89 million workers, according to a report on Wednesday.

Emerging technology will transform talent across India’s key growth sectors, generating 2.73 million new tech jobs by 2028, according to new research by AI platform for business transformation, ServiceNow.

The research, commissioned from the world’s leading learning company, Pearson, showed that the retail sector is set to lead employment growth, requiring an additional 6.96 million workers to fuel its expansion.

This is followed by manufacturing (1.50 million jobs), education (0.84 million jobs) and healthcare (0.80 million jobs) sectors.