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Partners with ForgeStop for Innovative Smart Labels on Indri Single Malt Bottles That Enables App-Free Authentication and Unprecedented Product Security.

In a pioneering move to safeguard consumers and reinforce trust in premium Indian spirits, Piccadily Agro Industries Limited has become the first Indian alco-bev company to implement ForgeStop’s cutting-edge anti-counterfeit smart label technology for its acclaimed Indri Single Malt.

With counterfeiting rampant in India – where it’s said that more Scotch is consumed than Scotland even produces – Piccadily has taken a bold and proactive step. By integrating NFC-enabled smart labels into its packaging, the company is setting a new benchmark in authenticity and transparency, investing significantly to ensure consumers receive only genuine, original products, reinforcing trust in premium Indian spirits.

ForgeStop InfoTap Labels on Piccadily products utilize EM Microelectronic echo-V chips with 128bit AES encryption and dynamically changing tokens – giving them bank level security and making them virtually impossible to fake. They also feature tag-tamper detection – alerting a consumer if the bottle seal has ever been broken – this prevents bottle re-use, a major issue with Alcohol counterfeiting that is difficult to combat with other technologies. Its platform creates a unique digital twin of every product at the moment of production and secures the product until it’s enjoyed by the customer. The software allows for app-free authentication and provides batch level product information – making it the most user-friendly anti-counterfeit technology available. This technology can be connected to the blockchain generating an immutable product journey – securing supply chains.

Unlike static technologies such as QR codes or holograms, this NFC tap and verify experience allows customers to simply tap their smartphones to the bottle to instantly confirm its authenticity and view batch-level information.

“As a brand committed to authenticity and quality, we’re proud to be the first Indian single malt brand to take this bold step,” said Praveen Malviya, CEO (IMFL), Piccadily Agro Industries Limited. “Counterfeit alcohol is a serious issue in India and globally. With ForgeStop’s smart technology, our customers can enjoy Indri with the confidence that what’s in the bottle is exactly what we crafted.”

“We’re proud to partner with Piccadily Distilleries, a globally recognized brand leading the way in product integrity. With ForgeStop’s smart label technology, consumers can instantly verify authenticity and access product information with a simple tap-no app required. It’s a seamless blend of security and brand storytelling,” said Terry Katz, CEO of ForgeStop.

As per the TRACIT (Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade) September 2023 report on India, a significant share of alcohol sold in India is counterfeit-well above the global average-and the problem is escalating rapidly. Counterfeit alcohol not only harms brands but also poses serious risks to consumer health.

With this first-of-its-kind initiative, Piccadily is elevating the standards of transparency, safety, and innovation in the Indian spirits industry-paving the way for a more secure and connected future for whisky lovers.

About Piccadilly Agro Industries Limited (PAIL)

Piccadilly Agro Industries Limited (PAIL) is a publicly listed company on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE: PICAGRO). The company operates primarily in two strategic business segments: Distillery and Sugar. Its manufacturing facility is located in Indri, Haryana, covers 168 acres and is equipped with advanced technology for producing a diverse range of products, including Malt, Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA), Ethanol, and White Crystal Sugar.

Piccadilly Agro Industries Limited has established itself as a key player in the alcoholic beverages industry, particularly renowned for its expertise in malt spirits. The company boasts a robust portfolio that includes premium expressions of Indri single malt whisky, blended malt whisky brands and Camikara, premium sugarcane juice aged rum.

In 2022, Piccadilly Agro Industries Limited made a significant mark with the launch of ‘Indri’ its flagship single malt whisky brand, aimed at catering to discerning consumers who appreciate quality and craftsmanship in spirits. By focusing on premiumization strategies and leveraging its technical capabilities, the company has successfully positioned itself as a leader in the Indian single malt whisky market by becoming the ‘fastest growing single malt whisky brand’ in 2024.

About ForgeStop

ForgeStop is a connected product technology company that helps brands deliver engaging, trusted product experiences while protecting against counterfeiting, supply chain fraud, and lost consumer trust. Its smart label platform enables interactive product experiences that protect brands and engage buyers.

The report claimed that OnlyFans could be sold for between $1.46 billion and $2.42 billion.

Leonid Radvinsky, the billionaire owner of adult content social media site OnlyFans, has put his site on sale but is struggling to find a buyer because of its X-rated business model, the New York Post reported. Mr Radvinsky, a 40-something computer programmer who bought OnlyFans in 2019, is looking to sell the platform even after it pushed his net worth to $3.8 billion, the outlet said, citing three sources close to the situation.

According to the Post, Mr Radinsky immigrated to the US from Ukraine as a child and studied economics at Northwestern University. He currently lives in a Miami penthouse with his wife. He bought OnlyFans from Tim Stokely and his family, which launched the site in 2016 as an outlet for musicians and influencers. A year later he lifted its ban on porn and the company took off.

Mr Radvinsky earned $472 million in dividends from OnlyFans during the fiscal year ended November 2023, the outlet reported. His earnings were almost all of the profits generated by the platform, which is said to have about 40 employees. According to the last available UK financial filings, from 2021 to 2023, his total payouts ballooned to more than $1 billion from OnlyFans’ holding company, Fenix International Ltd., which he owns. 

“OnlyFans is a revolutionary platform which continues to lead the creator economy. As with any business of this scale it is natural that we are open to discussions about how we continue to build on our success,” an OnlyFans spokeswoman said, per the Post. 

The report claimed that the site could be sold for between $1.46 billion and $2.42 billion. 

You’re looking to find billionaires and trying to sell it as not an adult content company but just a platform like X that allows adult content,” the NY Post source said. “But I think most people right now view OnlyFans as an adult content company,” they added. 

According to OnlyFans CEO Keily Blair, 59% of revenue comes from creators selling add-on services like pay-per-view messages and live streams, while 41% comes from subscriptions. The platform takes a 20% cut from its 4 million creators, who make content for 300 million subscribers. Since OnlyFans is not available on App stores, it avoids sharing revenue with Apple or Google. According to the UK filing, two-thirds of the company’s $1.3 billion revenue, or about $863 million, comes from US customers.

According to the Post, Mr Radvinsky watched his net worth balloon to $3.8 billion after the platform boomed during the COVID-19 lockdowns. At the time, the billionaire briefly banned sexually explicit content, but the decision was reversed days later. 

Higher defense spending would potentially weigh on India’s fiscal strength and slow its fiscal consolidation, Moody’s.

India is well-positioned to deal with the negative effects of US tariffs and global trade disruptions as domestic growth drivers and low dependence on exports anchor the economy, Moody’s Ratings said on Wednesday.

In a note on India, the agency said government initiatives to boost private consumption, expand manufacturing capacity and increase infrastructure spending will help offset the weakening outlook for global demand.

Easing inflation offers the potential for interest rate cuts to further support the economy, even as the banking sector’s liquidity facilitates lending.

“India is better positioned than many other emerging markets to deal with US tariffs and global trade disruptions, helped by robust internal growth drivers, a sizable domestic economy and a low dependence on goods trade,” Moody’s said.

Besides, the Pakistan-India tensions, including the flare-up earlier in May, would weigh on Pakistan’s growth more than on India’s.

“In a scenario of sustained escalation in localised tensions, we do not expect major disruptions to India’s economic activity because it has minimal economic relations with Pakistan. Moreover, the parts of India that produce most of its agricultural and industrial output are geographically distant from the conflict zones,” Moody’s said.

However, higher defense spending would potentially weigh on India’s fiscal strength and slow its fiscal consolidation.

The central government’s infrastructure spending supports GDP growth, while personal income tax cuts bolster consumption.

India’s limited reliance on the trade of goods and its robust service sector are mitigants to US tariffs. Nonetheless, sectors such as autos, which have some exports to the US, face global trade challenges despite their diversified operations.

Moody’s had earlier this month lowered its economic growth projections for the 2025 calendar year to 6.3 per cent, from 6.7 per cent, but its growth rate will be the highest among G-20 economies.

In early April, the US administration announced and then paused for 90 days the implementation of sweeping, country-specific tariffs on trading partners.

It maintained a base tariff of 10 per cent, with exemptions for some sectors and higher tariffs imposed previously for other sectors, including steel and aluminium.

The Indian economy has remained resilient and continues to show signs of steady progress, said RBI report.

Global growth continues to face several challenges due to ongoing trade tensions, policy uncertainty, and weak consumer sentiment, says a recent report by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Despite these global headwinds, the report mentioned that the Indian economy has remained resilient and continues to show signs of steady progress.

It said “Amidst these challenges, the Indian economy exhibited resilience. Various high frequency indicators of industrial and services sectors sustained their momentum in April”.

The report highlighted that persistent trade frictions, rising uncertainty in policymaking, and low consumer confidence are putting pressure on the world economy. Although a temporary pause in tariffs has provided some relief, the overall global outlook remains fragile.

It also added that the emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs), especially those in Asia, are expected to experience slower growth due to the impact of tariffs. Financial turbulence is also emerging as a key risk to global growth projections.

In contrast to this global uncertainty, India’s economy is showing strength. High-frequency indicators for both the industrial and services sectors maintained their momentum in April. The resilience is further reflected in record Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections during the month.

The agriculture sector is also expected to perform well. A bumper rabi harvest and higher planting for summer crops, along with favourable forecasts for the 2025 southwest monsoon, are positive signs for rural income and food production.

RBI said “India continues to be an economy supported by stability- monetary, financial and political; policy consistency and certainty; congenial business environment; and strong macroeconomic fundamentals”.

Inflation trends are encouraging as well. Headline Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation fell for the sixth month in a row to reach its lowest level since July 2019. This decline was mainly due to a continued easing of food prices.

The report noted that domestic financial markets were under pressure in April, but saw a turnaround beginning in the third week of May.

In the automobile sector, trends were mixed. Wholesale automobile sales fell 13.3 per cent year-on-year in April, mainly due to a high base effect that affected two-wheeler sales.

However, tractor sales showed strong growth, though the pace slowed. Vehicle registrations rose 2.9 per cent year-on-year, with the transport segment seeing its highest growth in six months during April 2025.

Overall, the RBI report emphasized that as advanced economies struggle with economic uncertainty, India continues to stand out as a promising destination for long-term investors.

Fund Flow from Operations (FFO) increased to Rs 66,527 crore ($7.8 billion), up 13.6 per cent, driven by strong operating leverage across businesses.

The Adani Portfolio of companies on Thursday reported a landmark fiscal result for FY25, as EBITDA scaled to an all-time high of Rs 89,806 crore ($10.5 billion), up 8.2 per cent year-on-year.

Excluding non-recurring prior period items, the growth stands even higher at 18 per cent (on-year). Meanwhile, profit after tax (PAT) rose to an all-time high of Rs 40,565 crore.

Gross assets increased to Rs 609,133 lakh crore at a six-year (FY19-FY25) CAGR of over 25 per cent, as the Adani Portfolio registered record capex of Rs 126,000 crore ($14.7 billion).

“A key highlight of FY25 is the continued industry-beating Return on Assets (RoA) of 16.5 per cent, which is among the highest in any infrastructure business globally, underpinning the attractive asset base and the execution capabilities of the Adani Portfolio to continuously churn out the best quality assets across sub sectors,” said Jugeshinder ‘Robbie’ Singh, GCFO, Adani Group.

“Additionally, we have undertaken various initiatives related to governance and ESG, viz. Tax Transparency report released by all portfolio companies, in addition to all the other initiatives introduced over the past years, resulting in industry-best ESG scores and performance by international ESG rating agencies,” he added.

Cash after tax (CAT) or Fund Flow from Operations (FFO) increased to Rs 66,527 crore ($7.8 billion), up 13.6 per cent, driven by strong operating leverage across businesses.

According to the company, higher cash flows helped record asset addition of Rs 1.26 lakh crore — the highest in the history of Adani Portfolio, taking the total gross assets to Rs 6.1 lakh crore ($71.2 billion). Three-fourths of this was added in the past six years.

High growth in profits has led to a sharp reduction in the leverage of portfolio companies – portfolio-level net debt to EBITDA has reduced from 3.8 times in FY19 to as low as 2.6 times now.

Robust financial performance across businesses resulted in consistent ratings improvement with milestone achievement in FY25.

Nearly 90 per cent of EBITDA is now generated from assets with domestic ratings of ‘AA’ and above, as compared to 63 per cent and 48 per cent two and six years ago, respectively.

As a result, the cost of debt for FY25 was 7.9 per cent against 9 per cent in FY24 and 10.3 per cent in FY19.

According to the company, Adani Portfolio had a cash balance of Rs 53,843 crore (As on 31 March 2025), representing 18.5 per cent of gross debt and “is sufficient to cover 21 months of debt servicing requirements comfortably above our stated 12 months 1 day of debt servicing policy”.

At around 9.29 am, Sensex was trading 281.75 points or 0.35 per cent up at 81,233.74 while the Nifty added 109.75 point or 0.45 per cent at 24,719.45

The Indian benchmark indices opened higher on Friday amid mixed global cues, as buying was seen in the FMCG, IT, and auto sectors in the early trade.

At around 9.29 am, Sensex was trading 281.75 points or 0.35 per cent up at 81,233.74 while the Nifty added 109.75 point or 0.45 per cent at 24,719.45

Nifty Bank was up 69.85 points or 0.13 per cent at 55,011.15 The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 56,582.95 after adding 258.10 points or 0.46 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 17,561.40 after climbing 58.30 points or 0.33 per cent.

According to analysts, the silver lining from the market perspective is India’s strong macros, particularly the resilient growth and declining inflation and interest rates.

In the Sensex pack, ITC, Adani Ports, Infosys, PowerGrid, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, SBI, HCL Tech, UltraTech Cement, Tata Motors and Eternal were the top gainers. Whereas, Sun Pharma, M&M, NTPC, Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki and ICICI Bank were the top losers.

In the Asian markets, China, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Seoul, Jakarta and Japan were trading in green.

In the last trading session, Dow Jones in the US closed at 41,859.09, down 1.35 points, or 0.00 per cent. The S&P 500 ended with a loss of 2.60 points, or 0.04 per cent, at 5,842.01 and the Nasdaq closed at 18,925.74, up 53.09 points, or 0.28 per cent.

“US stocks closed mixed on Thursday after a volatile session, with major indices erasing early losses as Treasury yields retreated from recent highs following the House passage of President Trump’s tax and spending legislation,” said experts.

On the institutional front, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers as they sold equities worth 5,045.36 crore on May 22, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased equities worth 3,715.00 crore.

“Even when the market turns weak, domestic demand driven segments like financials, telecom, aviation etc are resilient and this is reflected in the strength in the stock prices of the big boys in these segments like ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel and Interglobe Aviation. This message from the market is important,” said Dr VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Ltd.

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