How Karnataka's iconic Mysore Sandal Soap overshot targets, clocked highest ever sales
The soap maker has been on a winning streak in the past few years, with annual sales almost doubling since 2020-21 to Rs 1,780 crore in 2024-25; net profit grew almost four-fold from Rs 113 crore to Rs 415 crore in the same period. Ramping up production and online marketing played a big role in this, says its MD, Prashanth P.K.M.South India accounts for over 80 per cent of the sales for KS&DL, with Andhra Pradesh the biggest market. Hence, the push into other regions, especially the north. It's also why 'pan-India star' Tamannaah was signed up.
KS&DL has set itself a target of Rs 5,000 crore in annual turnover by 2028. It is investing Rs 250 crore in a new plant at Vijayapura in north Karnataka and also eyeing diversification into new products. 'We are taking it nationaland even international in the future,' says M.B. Patil, Karnataka's minister of large and medium industries. 'Then perhaps we'll need a Hollywood celebrity to endorse us,' he quipped.Subscribe to India Today Magazine- EndsMust Watch
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Time of India
25 minutes ago
- Time of India
'Sitaare Zameen Par' Box Office collection day 15: Aamir Khan and Genelia D'Souza starrer sees a slight dip on second Friday; inches closer to Rs 140 crore in India
Aamir Khan and Genelia D'Souza's film 'Sitaare Zameen Par' continues to maintain its grip over the audience. Released on June 20, 2025, the movie has successfully entered into the third week. Ahead of the same, with a steady pace, the film has been able to create significant business. Though the film has seen its fair share of ups and downs, and on its second Friday, it witnessed a minor drop, after a run of 15 days at the theatres, the business of 'Sitaaze Zameen Par' has come close to the Rs 140 crore mark in the domestic market. 'Sitaare Zameen Par' Box Office collection day 15 According to Sacnilk, 'Sitaare Zameen Par' saw around a 9 percent drop on Thursday, and minted Rs 2.50 crore, bringing the collection of the second week to 46.5 crore. Now, according to the early estimates, the movie has seen a further drop of about 4 percent and earned Rs. 2.38 crore in India on Friday, July 4, 2025. With this, the net India collection of 'Sitaare Zameen Par' stands at Rs.137.78 crore. Day-wise collection of 'Sitaare Zameen Par' Day 1 (Friday): Rs 10.7 crore Day 2 (Saturday): Rs 20.2 crore Day 3 (Sunday): Rs 27.25 crore Day 4 (Monday): Rs 8.5 crore Day 5 (Tuesday): Rs 8.5 croreDay 6 (Wednesday): Rs 7.25 crore Day 7 (Thursday): Rs 6.5 crore Week 1 Total: Rs 88.9 crore Day 8 (2nd Friday): Rs 6.65 crore Day 9 (2nd Saturday): Rs 12.6 crore Day 10 (2nd Sunday): Rs 14.50 crore Day 11 (2nd Monday): Rs 3.75 crore Day 12 (2nd Tuesday): Rs 3.75 crore Day 13 ( 2nd Wednesday): Rs 2.75 crore Day 14 ( 2nd Thursday): Rs 2.5 crore Week 2 Total: Rs 46.5 crore Day 15 (2nd Friday): Rs. 2.38 crore (early estimate) Total: Rs 137.78 crore Occupancy rate on day 15 On Friday, 4 July 2025, the Hindi occupancy rate of the movie stood at 12.89%. It was an improvement over the Thursday occupancy rate, which was a little over 9%. Although the footfall in the morning shows was only 5.83%, the number changed as the day proceeded and rose to 10.41% in the afternoon. Thereafter, the numbers continued to rise, with the evening shows recording 13.74% and the night shows achieving the highest occupancy of 21.58%. Aamir Khan shows gratitude towards the audience for accepting the movie In addition to the box office figures, the movie received a warm welcome from the audience. They expressed their opinions through enthusiastic reviews on social media, and Aamir Khan is nothing but grateful. "I am thrilled with the response. Itne khush cheezein dikh rahe hai. The film is touching a deep chord with people, and that is making me and the entire team very happy," said the actor during his interaction with NDTV. About the film 'Sitaare Zameen Par' is the spiritual sequel to the 2007 release 'Taare Zameen Par.' Directed by RS Prasanna, it follows the story of a brash, suspended basketball coach, played by Aamir Khan, who is ordered to do community service in order to avoid jail time amid his legal woes. During his service, he is asked to coach a team of neurodivergent players, which changes his perspective toward life and highlights some heartwarming moments. Alongside Aamir Khan, the movie also stars Genelia D'Souza, who has been gaining a lot of love for her performance. Further, there are 10 fresh faces who made their debut with the film: Aroush Datta, Gopi Krishna Varma, Samvit Desai, Vedant Sharma, Ayush Bhansali, Ashish Pendse, Rishi Shahani, Rishabh Jain, Naman Mishra, and Simran Mangeshkar.
Economic Times
26 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Ban-battered bike-taxi riders say struggling to make both ends meet
TIL Creatives The bike-taxi ban in Karnataka has battered thousands of gig workers, as a major part of their income has disappeared. About 150,000 bike-taxi riders were estimated to be operating in Bengaluru alone before the high court-imposed ban came into effect June 16. Since then, their income has come down by half, said at least a dozen such gig workers ET spoke with. These workers on bikes typically operate across segments such as bike taxi, parcel services, food delivery and quick commerce. Since they can't carry fare-paying passengers, many of them have switched fully to delivering parcels, food and groceries, causing a glut of riders in the market and affecting the income for gig workers from these sources as well. 'I used to earn Rs 800–900 daily, but now I earn only Rs 400–500. This barely covers my bike's EMI,' said Mohammed Miraj, who has worked as a bike taxi rider in Bengaluru for the past three years. The 24-year-old rode with Uber, Rapido and other platforms to make a the ban, ride-hailing platforms Rapido and Uber renamed their bike service 'bike parcel' and 'moto courier'. This allowed gig workers like Miraj to work as couriers. He now delivers parcels for Uber, Rapido and platforms such as Borzo and Porter. 'But unlike bike taxis, parcel orders are infrequent, and the drivers must travel 10-15 km with no return rides,' he taxi operations account for 40% of India's ride-hailing volumes with Bengaluru having a 15–20% share, industry executives gig economy employed 7.7 million workers in 2020-21, according to a 2022 Niti Aayog report. The gig economy offers flexible jobs through platforms such as ride-hailing, food delivery and courier services. Flexibility factor For Mohammed Salim, a 41-year-old part-time graphic designer, the bike-taxi ban meant losing more than just used to begin his day at 7 am and work till noon, dropping officegoers in the city. He did the same in the evening between 4 pm and 8 pm, taking employees home. When not ferrying people, he would work on graphic designs at home.'The bike taxi not only gave me an opportunity to earn, it also allowed me to follow my passion in graphic design. No other job gives you that opportunity (and flexibility),' he said. 'At this age, who gives a job to a 41-year-old? This ban has completely left me without an income.' Ripple effect With bike-taxi riders moving to other platforms, the earnings of gig workers who primarily focus services such as food and grocery delivery have also taken a hit. Varun (name changed to protect identity), who hails from Bihar and works full time for Zomato in Bengaluru, said his earnings shrank from Rs 11,711 a week before the ban to Rs 5,749. 'Some days I used to earn more than Rs 2,000, but after the ban it has never happened,' he said. 'Riders have increased, which made me lose many orders. Despite me getting the notification (for an order), someone else would go pick it up.' A full-timer at Swiggy said, also on the condition of anonymity, that he used to earn far more money before the ban. Between June 2 and June 8, he worked 46 hours, earning Rs 8,743. This went down to Rs 7,334 after working 56 hours in the week after the ban, his app showed. Miraj, the bike-taxi rider who is now working as a courier, said the loss of earnings and rising costs have forced him to make difficult now earns Rs 400–500 a day. From that, he saves Rs 5,000 every month to pay his bike's EMI of Rs 5,000.'I used to give my mother Rs 500 (every day) from my savings, but today after the ban I hardly even get that much myself,' he said. 'I hope the bike taxi ban is revoked. Let them bring rules — we are ready to follow. It's not just for us; many office-going people used to take our services daily.'In its order in early April, the Karnataka high court said bike taxis could not operate without proper regulations under the Motor Vehicles emails and calls to aggregator companies including Rapido, Ola, Uber, Zomato and Swiggy did not elicit any response. Other job options DriveU, which provides professional car drivers, saw its headcount swell immediately after the ban on bike taxis came into the following fortnight, around 1,200 drivers joined its ranks against 181 in the same period of the previous month, chief executive Rahm Shastry told ET.'We've seen a substantial increase in drivers looking for new opportunities after the bike taxi ban,' said Shastry. 'As more drivers join the platform, our fulfilment rate has also gone up, ensuring better service for our customers.'Earlier, it could only be able to fulfil 65% of the demand due to a shortage of drivers, but now it does 80%, said Shastry. 'We have also raised earnings from Rs 525 to Rs 575 per trip for the driver partners,' he added. Elevate your knowledge and leadership skills at a cost cheaper than your daily tea. How Balrampur Chini, EID Parry are stirring up gains amid melting sugar stocks Are Sebi's MII evaluations driving real change or just more paperwork? Delhivery survived the Meesho curveball. Can it keep on delivering profits? Drones have become a winning strategy in war; can they be in investing? Stock Radar: Trent stock showing signs of bottoming out; stock still down over 25% from highs – what should investors do? Buy, Sell or Hold: Motilal Oswal initiates coverage on Inox Wind; Gabriel top pick for Elara Securities One simple reason to own & trade them: 5 large-caps from different sectors with upside potential of up to 46% Weekly Top Picks: These stocks scored 10 on 10 on Stock Reports Plus
Time of India
28 minutes ago
- Time of India
Ban-battered bike-taxi riders say struggling to make both ends meet
The bike-taxi ban in Karnataka has battered thousands of gig workers, as a major part of their income has 150,000 bike-taxi riders were estimated to be operating in Bengaluru alone before the high court-imposed ban came into effect June 16 . Since then, their income has come down by half, said at least a dozen such gig workers ET spoke workers on bikes typically operate across segments such as bike taxi, parcel services, food delivery and quick commerce. Since they can't carry fare-paying passengers, many of them have switched fully to delivering parcels, food and groceries, causing a glut of riders in the market and affecting the income for gig workers from these sources as well.'I used to earn Rs 800–900 daily, but now I earn only Rs 400–500. This barely covers my bike's EMI,' said Mohammed Miraj, who has worked as a bike taxi rider in Bengaluru for the past three years. The 24-year-old rode with Uber, Rapido and other platforms to make a the ban, ride-hailing platforms Rapido and Uber renamed their bike service 'bike parcel' and 'moto courier'. This allowed gig workers like Miraj to work as couriers. He now delivers parcels for Uber, Rapido and platforms such as Borzo and Porter. 'But unlike bike taxis, parcel orders are infrequent, and the drivers must travel 10-15 km with no return rides,' he taxi operations account for 40% of India's ride-hailing volumes with Bengaluru having a 15–20% share, industry executives gig economy employed 7.7 million workers in 2020-21, according to a 2022 Niti Aayog report. The gig economy offers flexible jobs through platforms such as ride-hailing, food delivery and courier Mohammed Salim, a 41-year-old part-time graphic designer, the bike-taxi ban meant losing more than just used to begin his day at 7 am and work till noon, dropping officegoers in the city. He did the same in the evening between 4 pm and 8 pm, taking employees home. When not ferrying people, he would work on graphic designs at home.'The bike taxi not only gave me an opportunity to earn, it also allowed me to follow my passion in graphic design. No other job gives you that opportunity (and flexibility),' he said. 'At this age, who gives a job to a 41-year-old? This ban has completely left me without an income.'With bike-taxi riders moving to other platforms, the earnings of gig workers who primarily focus services such as food and grocery delivery have also taken a (name changed to protect identity), who hails from Bihar and works full time for Zomato in Bengaluru, said his earnings shrank from Rs 11,711 a week before the ban to Rs 5,749. 'Some days I used to earn more than Rs 2,000, but after the ban it has never happened,' he said. 'Riders have increased, which made me lose many orders. Despite me getting the notification (for an order), someone else would go pick it up.'A full-timer at Swiggy said, also on the condition of anonymity, that he used to earn far more money before the ban. Between June 2 and June 8, he worked 46 hours, earning Rs 8,743. This went down to Rs 7,334 after working 56 hours in the week after the ban, his app the bike-taxi rider who is now working as a courier, said the loss of earnings and rising costs have forced him to make difficult now earns Rs 400–500 a day. From that, he saves Rs 5,000 every month to pay his bike's EMI of Rs 5,000.'I used to give my mother Rs 500 (every day) from my savings, but today after the ban I hardly even get that much myself,' he said. 'I hope the bike taxi ban is revoked. Let them bring rules — we are ready to follow. It's not just for us; many office-going people used to take our services daily.'In its order in early April, the Karnataka high court said bike taxis could not operate without proper regulations under the Motor Vehicles emails and calls to aggregator companies including Rapido, Ola, Uber, Zomato and Swiggy did not elicit any which provides professional car drivers, saw its headcount swell immediately after the ban on bike taxis came into the following fortnight, around 1,200 drivers joined its ranks against 181 in the same period of the previous month, chief executive Rahm Shastry told ET.'We've seen a substantial increase in drivers looking for new opportunities after the bike taxi ban,' said Shastry. 'As more drivers join the platform, our fulfilment rate has also gone up, ensuring better service for our customers.'Earlier, it could only be able to fulfil 65% of the demand due to a shortage of drivers, but now it does 80%, said Shastry. 'We have also raised earnings from Rs 525 to Rs 575 per trip for the driver partners,' he added.
