Mahindra First Choice Wheels, the multi-brand used-car business of Mahindra and Mahindra, aims to significantly expand its market by opening new sales centres. The company aims to add 180 outlets this fiscal, taking it from the present 520 to 700 across the country, which includes metros, mini-metros and smaller towns, its CEO and Managing Director Nagendra Palle told reporters in Chandigarh. The firm also plans to expand in the northern part of the country, including Punjab and its key focus areas include Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Chandigarh, parts of UP and Rajasthan. Palle inaugurated a new dealership, 'Moments Hospitality' in Derabassi in Punjab, near Chandigarh and the company will add two more dealerships in the state, including Pathankot and Amritsar. Replying to a question, he said, "Sixty per cent of our buyers are purchasing car for the first time." On the used car market, he said, "In developed markets, second hand car business is at least three times of new car. In India, we just crossed the ratio of 1:1, but there is growing demand among consumers." Palle, who returned to India two years back after a stint of over 20 years in used car market in the US, said the company has created a unique franchisee-driven business and its dealerships offer the entire range of services for customers. He said the used car industry is growing at a rate of 20 per cent per annum, but the company is clocking even higher growth. "The company is growing at a rapid pace with a CAGR of 37 per cent by volumes over the last 5 years. The cumulative retail footprint under the Mahindra First Choice brand is in excess of 8.5 lakh sq feet," he added.
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The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has slapped fines on 530 listed companies for failing to meet a deadline to appoint a women director and boost gender diversity in their boardrooms, a BSE official said on Tuesday. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) last year imposed a quota of at least one female director on the board of every listed firm, and warned of "very serious" consequences if the thousands of companies did not comply by an April 1 deadline. The BSE said in a statement that SEBI rules meant companies who failed to comply would face a scheduled fine. This ranging from 50,000 rupees ($790) to 142,000 rupees ($2,240) to Oct. 1, 2015. After this, they would pay an additional 5,000 rupees ($78) per day until they complied. "As per the provisions of the SEBI circular, BSE has till date (July 13) issued advisory letters to 530 companies regarding levy of fines for non-compliance with the said provision within the prescribed timelines," said a statement. A BSE spokesman said he could not disclose the names of the 530 firms from the 5,711 companies listed on the exchange that were being penalised. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) said it had also sent out letters informing 260 listed firms, many of which are also listed on the BSE, of its intention to levy fines. An NSE spokesman said SEBI could take further action against companies which had not paid up fines and appointed a woman director by Sept 30, 2015. "SEBI may take any other action, against the non-compliant entities, their promoters and/or directors or issue such directions in accordance with law, as considered appropriate," he said quoting the SEBI directive. Not EnoughAccording to PRIME Database, a market research group, which monitors the NSE, 105 companies out of 1,733 still had vacancies for women directors on their boards as of Tuesday. These include private firms such as Aditya Birla Chemicals, Nissan Copper Ltd. and Infotech Ltd as well as state-run companies such as the Bank of India, the State Trading Corporation of India and the Bank of Maharashtra. Analysts welcomed the move, but said it was insufficient to force companies give women seats at the tables. "The fines really are not enough. If you look at it, a company would be paying only around 63,000 rupees or $1,000 - for non-compliance if they paid today," said Pranav Haldea, PRIME Database's Managing Director. "Asking a company to pay that amount will not exactly burn a hole in their pockets." SEBI could take stronger action such as suspension from trading or freezing promoters' share holdings, Haldea said. The companies have argued there are too few professionally qualified women to fill boardroom positions. But others say there are many women who can do the job but need support in terms of visibility and networking. "While SEBI is right to have fined companies for non-compliance to appoint women on boards, is the government doing enough to ensure that women are appointed on boards of companies?" said Sarika Bhattacharyya, co-founder and director of Biz Divas, a non-profit promoting women leadership. "India is still in the nascent stage of appointing women on boards and if necessary steps are taken by the government, we should be able to see better traction." Ahead of SEBI's April 1 deadline, thousands of companies rushed to recruit women directors, with many installing the wives and mother-in-laws of their top executives. But the scarcity of women in the boardroom is not unique to India. Nearly one-fifth of the world's 200 largest companies have no women directors, according to an August 2014 report by Biz Divas. (Reuters)
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Coffee giant Starbucks will open stores in sub-Saharan Africa for the first time next year after agreeing a deal with Taste Holdings on Tuesday, sending the South African company's shares soaring 20 percent. Under the exclusive agreement, Taste, which acquired the licence for Domino's Pizza in South Africa last year, can operate Starbucks coffee shops for 25 years. "We are proud to be bringing Starbucks to South Africa next year," Starbucks EMEA President Kris Engskov said in a statement. "The coffee market here is vibrant and growing fast – we want to be part of that growth," Engskov said. Starbucks operates in about 66 countries with over 22,000 retail stores. The Starbucks deal includes rights to other African countries, Taste said, without giving specifics. Starbucks currently sources coffee from nine African countries: Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Cameroon, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya. Global restaurant brands are increasingly investing in Africa to tap into the continent's growing middle class. U.S. coffee and doughnut chain Krispy Kreme said in May it will open 31 stores in South Africa within five years. Investors are often drawn to South African companies who can offer a gateway into faster-growing economies elsewhere on the continent. "It's quite a big market in South Africa. We have got established players with lots of experience," said Wayne McCurrie, portfolio manager at Momentum Wealth. "Maybe more importantly, if Africa shows the growth potential over the next decade that everyone expects, then this is a good base to start from," McCurrie added. Shares in Taste hit a record high in the session and were up 19.9 percent at 5 rand per share, more than 56 percent year-to-date. (Reuters)
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Flipkart continued its policy of big ticket hires on Tuesday (14 July) as Ambarish Kenghe, co-founder and product management lead for Google Chromecast and a key member of the Google TV team, joined Myntra, a leading m-commerce platform owned by Flipkart, as Senior Vice President and Head of Product.Ambarish will start working at Myntra’s Bengaluru headquarters by the end of this month and will report to CEO, Mukesh Bansal to scale up Myntra’s product road map while leveraging the mobile smartphone revolution in India. Myntra was acquired by Flipkart last year. Two months ago Myntra became an app-only player.Kenghe is the second Google executive to join Flipkart. In March, Punit Soni, a Google product management executive and former vice president of product management at Motorola, joined Flipkart as its new chief product officer. Ambarish KengheWith more than 15 years of experience in product development and management, Ambarish Kenghe had been instrumental in the conceptualisation of Chromecast, making it one of the best selling electronic devices and one of the highly decorated hardware products from Google.Before Google, he was a management consultant at Bain & Company, Technical leader at Cisco where he worked on Catalyst 6000, a highly appreciated product. He has multiple patents from his work there."We are excited to have Ambarish join our leadership team to lead product management. He has an extensive experience in developing various world class consumer products including Google Chromecast. He will be driving product innovation to build the next generation of mobile products to deliver a highly engaging &personalised fashion experience to our customers", said Mukesh Bansal, CEO, Myntra and Head of Commerce, Flipkart. Excited about his new role, Kenghe said, “I am honoured to join a company such as Myntra that is re-writing the rules of the game. I am looking forward to being part of the amazing team obsessed with developing the best-in-class product experience for customers by constantly engaging in solving unique challenges for consuming & buying fashion online using technology & product insights.”He further added, “I am also excited about moving to India where a large chunk of next billion Internet users will come from. India has a confluence of factors coming together to make it a once in a lifetime opportunity for technology professionals to make a difference.”Kenghe holds an MBA from Berkeley and Master’s degrees in Computer Science and Engineering from Purdue University and IIT Kanpur.
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The Home Ministry has cleared a proposal of Chinese telecom giant Huawei to set up a manufacturing unit in Tamil Nadu with riders like appointment of Indians to key posts of chief of technical operations and chief security officer.The move came almost two months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to China where he affirmed his commitment to creating a business environment suitable for both the countries.The Home Ministry's security clearance to Huawei Telecommunications for setting up a unit for electronics and telecom hardware came with certain conditions, including making it incumbent upon the Chinese multinational networking and telecommunications equipment and services firm to appoint Indians in key posts like chief of technical operations and chief security officer.Besides, Home Ministry's clearance will be further required if Huawei appoints foreign nationals as chairman, managing director, chief executive officer and chief financial officer.Huawei wants to set up a unit for electronics and telecom hardware and support services, including trading and logistics activities, at the Special Economic Zone, Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu at a cost of Rs 25 crore. It had submitted a proposal in December 2013.Home Ministry officials said the clearance to Huawei will pave the way for further Chinese investment in the country as it would send a positive signal to possible investors.Huawei currently has a Research and Development facility in Bangalore for which no security clearance was required.As per the new national policy drawn up by the Home Ministry to fast-track security clearance, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will formulate mandatory security parameters in addition to technical, quality and interface parameters to clearly define security standards for technical equipment relating to networking systems.The DoT would ensure the setting up of state of the art laboratory and certification facilities for security certification of foreign equipment entering the Indian market through both direct and indirect routes.There should be a regime of continuous testing and audit of networks, after the deployment of such equipment. All these requirements and systems should be in place in a year, as per the new policy.All agreements with foreign companies making investments through the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) route will have a 'National Security Clause' specifying that any adverse information regarding the same at a later stage would lead to the termination of the contract, official sources said.The pact with the foreign company can be terminated after proper notice in case the company is found to be indulging in money laundering, having links with foreign intelligence agencies or terror groups.Government agencies estimate that about 60 per cent of telecom equipment installed in India is of Chinese origin.Given the dangers such as embedded malware and bugs in Chinese equipment, India will be setting up testing facilities to screen all such telecom apparatus.A total of 14-15 parameters have been set out in 8-9 sensitive areas like Telecom, ports, civil aviation, uplinking/downlinking of TV channels or FM stations.The Home Ministry has also spelt out places where foreign investment is not welcome such as locations close to border and vital installations.(PTI)
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Investors live in exciting times. Just when the Greece crisis made some headway with the nation reaching a deal with its European creditors on Monday (July 13), bringing relief to thousands of investors back at home, the markets witnessed volatility in the backdrop of mixed cues from domestic data front.Sensex closed 28.29 points lower at 27,932.90 on Tuesday, while Nifty closed at 8,454.10, down 0.07 per cent. The fall in both the indexes can be attributed to the worse-than-expected retail inflation data that shattered hopes of an interest rate cut by the RBI. As per governmentdata, higher food prices pushed India's retail inflation to an eight-month high in June.“Initially, the mood was subdued in reaction to the CPI inflation data, which surged to eight month high of 5.4 per cent, announced postmarket on Monday,” said Jayant Manglik, President, Retail Distribution, at Religare Securities Ltd. “As the day progressed, sentiments got some support after the WPI inflation fell to -2.4 per cent lower than previous month’s number of -2.35 per cent,” he added. Today, majority of sectoral indices closed flat while stock specific move kept the traders busy.Commenting on the headline inflation for June 2015, Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General at CII noted that the WPI inflation print has continued to move into the negative territory for the eighth consecutive month. Coming close on the heels of a moderate rise in retail prices, the inching down of WPI inflation is sure to lift market sentiment. The decline in wholesale price inflation is attributed to the deceleration in food prices even as there is a marginal uptick in fuel & power inflation.Market experts, however, said that the overall market sentiment is still positive even as there may be some volatility in the near future due to the ongoing earning season.
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The new Philips AquaTouch will be available across all retail outlets and leading online portals. It is priced at Rs 4995, says Haider Ali KhanPhilips India and its new brand ambassador Varun Dhawan came together to unveil a new electric shaver ‘Philips AquaTouch’ in Mumbai on Tuesday (14th July). It has a new way of shaving as it has been titled ‘Wet and Dry Electric Shaver’ that can help u shave with only water or you can use it on dry mode. It is compatible either way.Philips has created a niche in men and women body grooming products targeting the youth who wants to express themselves freely through their personal style. Philips India has said that they continue to focus on trimming and body grooming business with bollywood actor Arjun Kapoor as the brand ambassador while the shaving business with Varun Dhawan. Now they have all new three faces of bollywood to endorse their personal care business in India, Arjun Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhawan.On the launch of the product, ADA Ratnam, president personal health at Philips India said, “Manual shaving is a thing of past and we have been leading the shift to electric shaving over the years. The modern man of today wants no-mess, skin friendly shaving solutions and we provide it with Aquatouch.”He also added that, “Varun Dhawan simplifies the modern man image of suave, confident and well-groomed. And with this product will give you the perfect shave without any nicks and cuts.”Varun Dhawan seems elated about his association with Philips and said, “It is a brand that led the male grooming revolutions in India over the years. I have been a user of Philips shavers for years. Ir represents the modern man of today.” He also said that he had started shaving at the age of twelve when he was in school and got many cuts.The new Philips AquaTouch will be available across all retail outlets and leading online portals. It is priced at Rs 4995. Philips offers electronic shavers, trimmers, hair clippers and body groomers for men and dryers, straighteners for women. It had posted Euro 21.4 billion sales in 2014 and employs over one lakh people in more than hundred countries.
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US-based cyber security solutions provider Fortinet, announced that it has closed the acquisition of Wi-Fi vendor Meru Networks. With the close of this acquisition, Fortinet expands on its secure wireless vision and enterprise growth focus, broadens the company’s solutions portfolio, and expands its opportunity to uniquely address the $5 billion global enterprise.In connection with the acquisition, Fortinet is paying $1.63 per Meru share in cash, an equity value of approximately $44 million for the transaction. With the completion of the transaction, Meru employees officially join Fortinet.The deal involved Fortinet purchasing just over 60 per cent of Meru's shares for around US$44 million, and then merging one of Fortinet's wholly-owned subsidiary companies with Meru, making Meru a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fortinet. Ordinary owners of the remaining 40% of Meru shares received the right to the same $US1.63 per share. Meru will be soon delisted from the NASDAQ.Frontier notes in its release that the addition of Meru’s intelligent Wi-Fi solutions to the Fortinet portfolio extends the delivery of a secure, uninterrupted user experience – anytime anywhere – providing peak performance in environments requiring high capacity load and a high-density of wireless users, such as enterprise, education, healthcare, and hospitality.“To truly protect against all possible attack vectors, we are continuing to expand our market-leading end-to-end security platform to provide customers with the visibility and continuous threat protection they need – from the data center, to the cloud to the end-point,” said Ken Xie, founder, chairman and CEO of Fortinet.Fortinet and Meru customers will benefit from Fortinet’s commitment to providing secure, uninterrupted connectivity for their highly mobile end-users, while offering channel partners a broader solutions portfolio to take to market.
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