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Blue Dart chairman Prakash Apte quits on health grounds
Prakash Apte’s sudden exit from the logistics firm’s board leaves a governance vacuum that the company has yet to fill
MUMBAI: Blue Dart Express is scrambling to plug a boardroom gap after its chairman and independent director, Prakash Apte, resigned on April 12th citing health concerns, a departure that unravels oversight across five key committees at one of India’s busiest logistics companies.
The resignation, communicated via email, took effect at the close of the company’s board meeting on April 13th. In his letter, Apte requested to be relieved immediately and sought leave of absence from forthcoming meetings, stating he could no longer continue in his role. “While he is in recovery, his immediate focus is on prioritising his health,” the company told stock exchanges, adding there were no reasons for the exit beyond those Apte himself cited.
The fallout is considerable. Alongside the chairmanship, Apte steps down as chairman and member of the audit committee, the body that sits closest to the company’s financial controls, and exits the nomination and remuneration committee, risk management committee, corporate social responsibility committee, and stakeholder relationship committee in one fell swoop. Few single departures have hollowed out so many governance structures at once.
Blue Dart disclosed the resignation to the bourses in line with Regulation 30 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s listing obligations and disclosure requirements. The board placed its appreciation of Apte’s contributions on record, a customary courtesy that does little to answer the pressing question of who comes next.
For now, no replacement has been named. Apte, for his part, is not retreating from corporate life altogether, retaining board positions at Fine Organics Industries and GMM Pfaudler. Blue Dart, however, must move quickly: a logistics firm that prides itself on speed can ill afford to dawdle on succession.
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Amazon Q1 revenue jumps 17 per cent to $181.5bn, profit soars to $30.3bn
AWS surges 28 per cent while AI bets reshape cash flow and drive future growth
SEATTLE: Amazon kicked off 2026 with a strong first quarter, reporting a 17 per cent year-on-year jump in net sales to $181.5 billion, up from $155.7 billion in the same period last year, as growth across cloud, advertising, and retail continued to gather pace.
Excluding a $2.9 billion favourable impact from foreign exchange, sales still rose a solid 15 per cent, underlining broad-based demand across its businesses.
The company’s cloud arm, Amazon Web Services, remained the star performer, with revenue climbing 28 per cent to $37.6 billion. Operating income for AWS reached $14.2 billion, up from $11.5 billion a year ago, reinforcing its role as Amazon’s profit engine.
Meanwhile, North America sales rose 12 per cent to $104.1 billion, while international revenue increased 19 per cent to $39.8 billion, or 11 per cent excluding currency effects.
Profit growth outpaced revenue. Operating income climbed to $23.9 billion from $18.4 billion last year, while net income surged to $30.3 billion, or $2.78 per share, compared with $17.1 billion, or $1.59 per share, in the first quarter of 2025. A significant boost came from $16.8 billion in pre-tax gains linked to Amazon’s investment in Anthropic.
Cash generation also strengthened, with operating cash flow rising 30 per cent to $148.5 billion over the trailing twelve months. However, free cash flow dropped sharply to $1.2 billion from $25.9 billion, largely due to a $59.3 billion increase in capital expenditure, primarily tied to artificial intelligence investments.
Commenting on the results, Amazon president and CEO Andy Jassy said, “We’re making customers’ lives easier and better every day across all our businesses, and their response is driving significant growth.”
He added that AWS growth of 28 per cent marked its fastest pace in 15 quarters, while Amazon’s chips business crossed a $20 billion annual revenue run rate, growing at triple-digit rates. Advertising revenue also crossed $70 billion on a trailing twelve-month basis, and store unit growth hit 15 per cent, its highest since the tail end of pandemic lockdowns.
Artificial intelligence remained front and centre of Amazon’s strategy. The company deepened partnerships with OpenAI, Meta, NVIDIA and Uber, while expanding its proprietary chip ecosystem including Trainium and Graviton.
Amazon revealed that it has already deployed over 2.1 million AI chips in the past year and plans to roll out more than one million NVIDIA GPUs starting in 2026. OpenAI alone is expected to consume around two gigawatts of Trainium capacity for advanced AI workloads beginning in 2027.
The company also highlighted rapid adoption of its AI services, with Amazon Bedrock processing more tokens in the first quarter than in all previous years combined, and customer spending on the platform rising 170 per cent quarter-on-quarter.
Beyond cloud and AI, Amazon continued to scale its consumer and logistics ecosystem. It delivered more than one billion items via same-day or overnight delivery so far in 2026 and expanded ultra-fast delivery services across multiple global markets. Prime Video also saw strong engagement, including sports streaming growth and box office success for original content like Project Hail Mary, which has grossed nearly $615 million globally.
Looking ahead, Amazon expects second-quarter net sales to reach between $194 billion and $199 billion, representing growth of 16 per cent to 19 per cent year-on-year. Operating income is projected between $20 billion and $24 billion.
Despite macro uncertainties ranging from foreign exchange fluctuations to global economic conditions, Amazon appears to be leaning into its biggest bets yet. With AI investments accelerating and cloud demand holding firm, the company is positioning itself not just for growth, but for what it calls the next big inflection in technology and commerce.
