Weekly News Wrap: China pledges growth support on spending; Amazon India to waive 50% fee for new sellers

And Reliance seeks acquisitions amid plans to expand to consumer business.

From Bloomberg:

China’s Premier Li Keqiang called for more policies to drive up consumption in the economy as the latest figures show a further plunge in travel and spending over a three-day public holiday amid tight Covid controls.

Tourism revenue declined 22.8% to $4.1b (CNY28.7b) over the Mid-Autumn Festival from a year ago. Compared with pre-pandemic levels in 2019, revenue was down 39.4%, worse than last year’s 21.4% drop, according to figures from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The number of trips fell 16.7% to 73.4 million from the same period last year.

The figures came as China’s State Council pledged more support to stabilize the economy.

From Reuters:

Amazon.com’s Indian arm said it will halve the fee for new sellers on its platform as the e-commerce giant gears up for the festive season in one of its key markets.

All new sellers registering on Amazon.in between Aug. 28 and Oct. 26, and launching within 90 days, can avail of a 50% waiver on the amount they pay to sell their products through the website, it said in a statement.

"We have over a million sellers from India who will have the opportunity to showcase their products to customers across the country during the festive season," said Vivek Somareddy, Director Fulfillment Channels at Amazon India.

The selling fee is calculated as a percentage of the sales price paid by the buyer.

Amazon's "Great Indian Festival," the company's annual festive season sale, kicks off on September 23.

From Bloomberg:

Adani Wilmar, the kitchen essentials firm owned by Gautam Adani, is scouting for local and overseas acquisition targets as Asia’s richest man doubles down on boosting his empire’s food operations weeks after Reliance Industries announced plans to launch a consumer goods business.

“We are looking at acquiring brands in staple foods and distribution companies to boost our consumer goods offering and reach,” Angshu Mallick, chief executive officer and managing director at Adani Wilmar, said in an interview Wednesday. “We are expecting to conclude a couple of acquisitions by March.”

The company has earmarked $62.9m (INR5b) from its initial public offering for purchases, Mallick said. Additional funding will come from internal accruals and the 30 billion rupees of planned capital expenditure for next year starting April, he said.

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