Century Textiles & Industries reported consolidated net loss of Rs 36 crore in Q1 June 2020 compared with net profit of Rs 69 crore in Q1 June 2019.

On a consolidated basis, net sales slumped 54 per cent to Rs 393.86 crore in Q1 June 2020 over Q1 June 2019. Pre-tax loss stood at Rs 48.43 crore in Q1 June 2020 as against pre-tax profit of Rs 114.59 crore in Q1 June 2019. EBITDA tanked 84.29 per cent to Rs 30 crore in Q1 June 2020 as against Rs 191 crore in Q4 March 2020.

However, the company expects to see clear signs of revival from the second half of this financial year across businesses. All businesses have taken decisive steps to re-calibrate to the new normal. The textiles business achieved capacity utilisation of 50 per cent, mainly due to fulfillment of US export orders.

Maternity clothing wear startup MomSoon is expecting an over two-fold rise in sales this fiscal as it plans to expand retail footprints and online presence. The brand was planning to set up retail outlets in some cities but during the lockdown it saw huge demand coming on its website. Its met its monthly targets within fortnight and expects to double its sales this fiscal.

Founded two years ago, MomSoon is in talks with Myntra as well to start selling its maternity wear soon on its platform. It currently sells through Mothercare, Maa, Baby, Fortis La Femme.

MomSoon also plans to start selling dresses made up of virus resistant material. It has sourced anti-viral fabric from Nahar Group. Their fabric has cleared all required tests for anti-viral fabric. Designs on the same fabric are undergoing production and the brand expects to start its sale beginning next month.

Morarjee Textiles, a vertically integrated textile company manufacturing high-end products in prints, dyed and yarn dyed fabrics in a variety of substrates, has launched ViroShield range of protective finishes in collaboration with Australia-based Health Guard Corporation.

ViroShield by Morarjee meets anti-viral efficacy of 99.99 per cent on all corona strains including COVID-19, as per ISO18184 anti-viral test and Bacteriostatic efficacy test ISO 20743. The fabrics have a special chemical molecule which destroys the envelope cell wall of the virus, and as a result the virus dies. Thus, it helps in minimising the chance of re-transmission of pathogens by killing viruses and bacteria upon contact with the fabric.

ViroShield is compatible with all textile substrates and gives protection from droplets and fluids. In addition to being anti-viral and anti-bacterial, the finish is anti-odour, hygienic, skin compatible, non-irritating, and has no impairment on hand feel. The anti-viral finish on the fabric persists up to 30 home/laundry washes at 40 degree centigrade.

Myntra is disrupting the age-old practices of the fashion industry with data and machine learning. It is now able to provide brands with consumer insights that take into account not only the consumer’s profile but also variables like their location, the weather patterns, and what other consumers with similar parameters are buying.

As the threat of COVID-19 started emerging in the country, Myntra partnered with Wildcraft, India’s fastest-growing outdoor gear, clothing, and footwear brand, to sell face masks on its platform.

The retailer also migrated its entire data platform including supply chain management, inventory, and website capabilities to Microsoft Azure. Azure’s built-in Machine Learning tools expedited the retailer’s development of advanced analytics capabilities to understand their consumers better. It also enabled the retailer o provide actionable insights to partner brands about what consumers were looking for and helped them prioritize their offerings accordingly.

With these data-driven insights, Myntra introduced ‘Work from Home Edit’ on its app that focused on categories like comfort wear, loungewear, athleisure, home wear, and ethnic wear.

Apart from gleaning insights from what consumers are searching and buying, Myntra also understands the aspirations of its consumers thanks to Myntra Studio. A personalized content destination, it features fashion style guides from influencers and brands that users can shop directly from Myntra. During the early days of the lockdown, insights from customer behavior on Myntra Studio enabled its partner brands to move their inventory from their physical stores to Myntra.

Textile firm Welspun India aims to make e-commerce a priority and evolve business to meet the demand of ‘new normal’ and expects its factories to run at between 70 percent and 80 percent capacity this year. The company reported 66 per cent decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 54 crore ($7.3 million) for the quarter ended June, as against a net profit of Rs 156 crore it posted in the year-ago period.

The company’s income for the quarter under review was down 30 percent to Rs 1,216 crore, as against Rs 1,736 crore it reported in the corresponding period of the previous financial year. Welspun India is part of the $2.3 billion Welspun Group and the country’s leading player in the textile industry.

Cotton Corporation of India sold about 700,000 bales of cotton recently its highest single day sale in five years, as it offered discounts on bulk orders.

The state-owned company procured 10.4 million bales of cotton – each bale weighing 170 kilograms – amounting to one-third of India's cotton production in 2019-20. It has so far liquidated only about 7.4% of it as it resisted distress sale as expected by traders and millers.

Now, as it stares at yet another bumper procurement operation during next cotton season beginning October 1, CCI has offered a discount of Rs 1,500 per candy for purchase of more than 200,000 bales of cotton. Buyers get a ‘free period’ of 90 days, which means they have to lift at least 50% of the cotton purchased within the first 45 days while they get another 45 days to lift the balance.

Between October 2019 to June 2020, CCI could sell only 200,000 bales of cotton as it had refused to sell at a loss, as expected by traders and millers. Based on the minimum support price (MSP), the cost of cotton procured by CCI is about Rs 45,000 per candy of 356 kg each, while the ruling market price is about Rs 35,000/candy.

Besides its huge procurement in the 2019-20 cotton season, when its agent Maharashtra State Cotton Growers' Marketing Federation alone procured 1.7 million bales of cotton from farmers, CCI is also carrying 900,000 bales of cotton of the 2018-19 season, which is prices lesser than the new cotton by about Rs 1,000 per candy of 356 kg each.

The Cotton Corporation of India (CCI), which is holding surplus stocks of cotton just ahead of the next harvest season, is trying to boost exports of the fiber crop. The corporation is working out on a memorandum of understanding to export 1.5-2 million bales of cotton to Bangladesh besides setting up own warehouse in Vietnam.

The corporation had procured nearly a third of India’s 2019-20 cotton output. Of the 12.1 million bales it had procured, along with its agent Maharashtra State Cooperative Marketing Federation, it has been able to sell 900,000 bales in the present cotton season, which ends on September 30.

To increase exports to Vietnam, the corporation is looking for a warehouse to facilitate transport and easy availability of our cotton to buyers in Vietnam. The CCI has now started offering discounts on bulk purchases to domestic buyers, as the country is looking at yet another bumper production thanks to good progress of monsoon rainfall. It sold 700,000 bales of cotton last week.

Reliance Industries (RIL) is in late-stage talks to acquire the retail business of Future Group as the two companies have ironed out their differences over certain terms and conditions and a deal will be announced soon.

RIL will acquire the retail, supply-chain and related businesses of Future, which will mark the end of founder Kishore Biyani’s play in India’s modern retail, an industry he pioneered.

The deal has taken time due to disagreements over the valuation of Future Retail, the flagship of Biyani’s enterprise. Future Retail, meantime, is facing increased liquidity pressure after it missed interest payments on its US dollar-denominated bonds last week.

Subsequently, Fitch cut its credit ratings on the company. Promoters own 42 per cent in Future Retail, which runs hypermarket chain Big Bazaar and neighbourhood grocery chain Easyday Club, but 75 per cent of the holding is pledged as on June 30, 2020.

Biyani is likely to retain the FMCG and residual businesses of Future The deal will be financed through a mix of share-swap and cash.

Indian retailers expect a 64 per cent de-growth in their businesses in the first half of July as compared to the same period last year as the Indian retail sector continues to face hurdles at state and local levels making recovery all the more distant, according to the fourth edition of a business survey conducted by the Retailers Association of India (RAI).

A few categories like food and grocery and consumer durables have started showing some signs of improvement with overall de-growth now at 45 per cent and 30 per cent respectively, compared to the same period last year, the survey found.

Within the consumer durables category, large-sized retailers indicated a de-growth of 21 per cent, whereas within food and grocery, small and medium-sized retailers reported a de-growth of 35 per cent, RAI said.

In terms of categories, apparel and clothing declined by 74 per cent, footwear was down by 74 per cent, jewellery, watches and personal accessories were down by 78 per cent, while furniture and furnishing witnessed a drop of 63 per cent.

The survey found sports goods sales dropped by 68 per cent, beauty, wellness and personal care decreased by 71 per cent, and quick service restaurants declined by 73 per cent.

Regionwise, RAI said all regions are equally beaten for sales growth with east at 62 per cent decline, while west dropped 69 per cent, north declined 68 per cent and south also saw a dip of 58 per cent in the first half of July this year as compared to the same period last year.