Reliance Retail Q4 profit rises 12.9% to Rs 2,415 crore, revenue up 21% Reliance Retail on Friday reported a 12.9 per cent increase in its net profit to Rs 2,415 crore for the quarter that ended on March 31, 2023, helped by the increase in footfalls and new store openings. The company’s revenue for operations surged 21.09 per cent to Rs 61,559 crore in the fourth quarter of this fiscal. The retail arm of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) said it posted a net profit of Rs 2,139 crore in the January-March quarter of FY22 and its revenue from operations was Rs 50,834 crore. The number of stores operated by Reliance Retail crossed 18,000 and the number of footfalls at its stores was 21.9 crore, up 41.29 per cent year-on-year. Its gross revenue, which includes the value of sales and services, rose 19.39 per cent to Rs 69,267 crore in the three months that ended March 31, 2023. It was Rs 58,017 crore in the year-ago period. Its pre-tax profit (Ebitda) during the quarter was also up 32.63 per cent to Rs 4,914 crore. During the January-March quarter, Reliance Retail expanded its physical store network with 2,844 new store openings, taking the total number to 18,040. Besides it also continued to bolster its infrastructure capabilities and the area operated by it increased 57.69 per cent to 65.6 million sq ft. “The business continued to invest in strengthening its supply chain capabilities by expanding over 1.7 Million Sq. ft. of warehouse space,” said an earning statement from Reliance. For the financial year ending March 31, 2023, Reliance Retail’s revenue from operation was up 32 per cent to Rs 230,931 crore compared to Rs 174,980 crore a year ago. Its net profit for FY23 was Rs 9,181 crore, up 30.13 per cent from Rs 7,055 crore in the previous year. Similarly, its gross revenue in the year was up 30.37 per cent to Rs 260,364 crore. Commenting on the results, Isha M Ambani, Executive Director, Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd, said:” Reliance Retail continues on the path of registering industry leading growth year after year at a scale unmatched in India. Our focus on customer-centricity backed by investments in technology, innovation and new business segments have helped us create operational excellence and steer the transformation of India’s retail sector.” Reliance Retail Ventures Lt is the holding company of Reliance Retail.
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In its consultation paper, Sebi has suggested that trustees of mutual funds should focus on market abuse by AMC, its employees and mis-selling by the AMC to increase the asset base.
Also, trustees should be responsible for fairness of fees and expenses charged by the AMC, compare its performance with peers and ensure that AMC’s sponsor is not getting any undue advantage.
In addition to the core areas, the trustees should be responsible for periodically reviewing the steps taken by AMCs for the folios which do not contain all KYC attributes with bank details.
Further, Sebi has suggested that trustees and their resource persons should independently evaluate the extent of compliance by AMC and not merely rely on AMC’s assurances.
To facilitate trustees’ supervision, AMCs should provide them with analytical information.
Presently, the trustees primarily rely on the AMCs for ensuring compliance with the applicable rules.
Under the rules, trustees hold the property of the mutual fund in trust for the benefit of the unitholders. The trustees appoint an AMC to float schemes for the mutual fund and manage the funds mobilised under various schemes, in accordance with the investment objectives.
“In view of the increasing scale and reach of the mutual fund industry, trustees’ role in respect of unitholders’ protection assumes even greater significance,” Sebi said on Friday.
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Over the past decade there has been a five-fold increase in the size of the mutual fund industry. The assets under management (AUM) has surged from Rs 7.93 lakh crore in November 2012 to Rs 39.89 lakh crore in December 2022.
To ensure that trustees devote time and attention to their core responsibilities, Sebi has suggested that for fulfilling other responsibilities, trustees may rely on professional firms such as audit firms, legal firms, merchant bankers for carrying out due diligence on their behalf.
The Sebi also listed some duties trustees can delegate to AMCs. This include ensuring that all systems are in place prior to the launch of any scheme by the AMC, and calculating any income in the mutual fund due to the fund and any income received in the mutual fund for unitholders.
The regulator has proposed to provide a one year time to existing trustees with board of trustee structure to convert into a trustee company, from governance point of view.
Presently, two structures for trustees are permitted — corporate and board of trustees structure. Moreover, there are a few mutual funds which have the board of trustees structure while the trustees of all other mutual funds have adopted the structure of a trustee company.
Considering the enhanced role of trustees over the period of time, Sebi has suggested to increase the minimum number of trustees to adequately perform their functions. Presently, the minimum number of trustees prescribed is four.
Also, it has been proposed that the chairperson of the trustee company should be an independent director.
Sebi has suggested that apart from the meeting of the audit committee of AMCs and trustees (which mostly comprises of independent directors), the board of AMCs and the board of trustees may be mandated to meet at least once a year to discuss the issues concerning the mutual funds.
The regulator proposed that the existing MF Regulations on AMC and its obligations may be amended to include additional clauses with respect to the obligations of the board of AMC.
The proposed amendment may include a clause which casts an obligation on the board of AMC to ensure that all the activities of the asset management company are in accordance with the provisions of these regulations.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has sought comments from public till February 24 on these proposals.