Simar Singh visits Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation’s Central Kitchen in Noida14,000 chapattis, 2,500 soup sticks, 6,000 kachoris and 10,000 complete meals are just a few of the incredible figures of the food churned out, daily, by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation’s Central Kitchen in Noida. Tucked away in Nioda's Sector 64, this facility has even been featured on the National Geographic series, ‘India’s Megakitchens’ and they are on a mission to bring railway goodness to corporates situated nearby. Apart from the Ahmedabad Rajdhani and Sealdah Duronto trains, they also fulfil the gastronomical needs (at extremely reasonable prices) of Supertech, HCL sectors 57 and 60, Samsung sectors 62 and 126, McGraw Hill, Ameriprise and Oxford University Press. Before our tour of the kitchens begins, hairnets are handed out and Sudhir Warrier, AGM Hospitality, tells us about the great demand that is there for IRCTC’s catering. He later tells me that the facility has the capacity of producing 25,000 meals of which it is producing 10,000. “Hopefully by the end of this year we’ll be able to optimize our output. We have the space all we need now is more equipment.” We are shuffled off to an area where, every morning at 11:30, Mother Dairy delivers fresh vegetables the gate from where they are wheeled down a ramp, straight in the Washing and Sanitizing Room where the crates of tomatoes and leafies are washed with water and chlorine tablets. Then they go straight to the mise en place room, where they are chopped up, to be used for the next meal. By this time the vegetables prepped for lunch have already left. There is an impressive machine to cut the fresh produce, with a heavyweight name, ‘Hallide RG 400’. It can be fitted with a variety of blades to facilitate all kinds of cuts. S. Suresh, who has worked for IRCTC for 8 years and for two at this place, tells us that the machine can cut 20 kilos per minute adding, “It also gives a uniform size and thickness which makes the cut pieces easy to cook. Other machines include a large automated pestle for chutneys and idli batter and a potato peeler which can skin 10 kilos of the vegetable within 15 minutes. In accordance with the stringent Indian Railways regulations, there are two separate kitchens for the cooking of vegetarian and non-vegetarian options. Both have huge basins which can be used for cooking. At that moment, the line of basins in the vegetarian kitchen is full of onions at different stages of preparation. On the other side is a spherical “electric kettle” which can be used to cook rice, dal and soup. It has an auto-cut option, which means that once the cooking is done, the machine switches itself off. The facility also hosts a Roti Room, dedicated to making and packaging the chapattis and most of this process is mechanised right from making the dough, cutting it into portions, rolling it out and cooking. The journey of a portion of dough to a chapatti takes a mere 90 seconds, after which it is buttered and wrapped by hand at an unbelievable speed. Apart from these, the Central Kitchen also has a room where the mithai is made, a bakery where soup sticks are rolled out and baked, as well as an in-house laboratory to monitor the quality of the raw materials and the food produced and a research and development kitchen. What one understands, that this kitchen is always buzzing with activity, at the end of the day, everything is immaculately taken care of, every gulab jamun is individually boxed and preperations have already been made to kick-start the next day.
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New scheme, designed by Saïd Business School, Oxford could fundamentally change the way corporations give to good causesA new, additional line in financial reporting that demonstrates a company’s corporate social responsibility contribution, could radically change the way businesses operate, according to Tomo Suzuki, Professor of Accounting and Sustainability Management at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. The additional line appears on a company’s Profit and Loss Account under expenses, as an independent item which reads ‘CSR Expenditure’. It discloses the amount of money being given to corporate social responsibility. The disclosure has very little cost and can promote a positive sense of competition between companies to do more around corporate social responsibility. Companies that meet certain financial criteria such as a net worth, turnover or net profit of at least Rs 500 crore, Rs 1,000 crore and Rs 5 crore, respectively, have to comply with One Additional Line. They must spend at least 2% of the average net profits made during the previous three financial years on CSR and if they cannot pay, they must explain the reasons in their financial reporting. ‘I am delighted that the One Additional Line has been adopted in India,’ said Professor Suzuki, ‘This simple and small facility which has little cost to companies’ administration will radically change the lives of countless people in the country. We could see huge improvements in healthcare, education and sanitation in some of the poorest areas. Because the One Additional Line, being the simple disclosure requirement, is administratively easy, politically neutral and effective in raising money for both companies and stakeholders, other emerging countries are also considering developing a similar scheme.’ The concept, which was designed by Professor Suzuki has already been passed in India, with the help of Sachin Pilot, former Minister of Corporate Affairs, Dr. B Chatterjee, CEO and Director General and G. Gaur, Programme Executive for CSR at the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs, Ministry of Corporate Affairs in India. 16,000 companies came under this scheme in India and billions of dollars have already been generated in its first year ending 31st March 2015. A great deal more money is expected to be generated in the future for socially disadvantaged people. The companies which spend appropriate CSR expenditure are recognised by the market which raises their reputation, opportunities and capital. Professor Suzuki added: ‘The advantage of the One Additional Line is that once a country implements the scheme, and starts to attract funds, other competing economies may choose to follow the same scheme in order to compete internationally. I am currently in consultation with representatives in Brazil, China, Thailand, Vietnam and other countries about the scheme and how it could radically increase corporate social responsibility while enhancing corporate reputation and international finance opportunities.’ Professor Suzuki ’s recommendations for the line were based on his paper ‘Institutional Mechanism Design of Corporate Socio-Environmental Data for Sustainable Growth in Developing Countries - Theory and Practice (Tomo Suzuki, 2013)’, and was tested through research, experimental accounting and analysis of the political economy between Government and business. Research was done on four companies, two from India which included the additional line in their financial reporting and two from China which didn’t have the line. The results showed that investors favoured the companies in India more, even though their profits were less due to additional CSR expenditure. The line is also key for the Indian government to further develop data systems which can be utilised to allocate appropriate resources to education, sanitation and healthcare and help to achieve India’s sustainable growth. Professor Suzuki and Geetnjali Gaur have already submitted a paper to the Indian Government on this subject titled ‘The Further Development of India’s CSR Policy: Review and Proposal from the Institutional Mechanism Design Point of View.’
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In passenger vehicles, Tata Motors recorded an year-on-year growth of 30 per cent, with sales of 10,281 units, compared to 7,911 units in June 2014, writes C H UnnikrishnanThe country's top commercial vehicles maker Tata Motors continued to witness strong growth in passenger cars and commercial vehicles and its exports grew in the range of 18 to 44 per cent in June as compared to the same period last year. With the total commercial and passenger vehicles sales (including exports) in June 2015 of 40,870 vehicles, it experienced a growth of 6 per cent over 38,574 vehicles sold in June 2014. The company’s domestic sales of commercial and passenger vehicles for June 2015 were at 35,823 units, up 3 per cent over 34,760 vehicles sold in June 2014. Cumulative sales (including exports) for the company for the fiscal are 116,511 units were higher by 6 per cent over 110,004 vehicles, sold last year. In passenger Vehicles, the company recorded an year-on-year growth of 30 per cent, with sales of 10,281 units, compared to 7,911 units in June 2014. The growth trend was driven by the cars segment, specifically the new launches of Zest and Bolt and the new GenX Nano. The sales of the passenger cars in June 2015 were higher by 44 per cent at 8,516 units, compared to 5,933 units in June last year. But, the utility vehicles sales declined by 11 per cent at 1,765 units in June 2015. Cumulative sales of all passenger vehicles in the domestic market for the fiscal were 31,649 units, higher by 29 per cent over last year. While in commercial vehicles, the medium and heavy segment continued to show growth at 11,450 units, up by 18 per cent, over June 2014, the light and small commercial vehicle sales however continued to reflect the industry decline and were at 14,092 units, a decline of 18 per cent over June 2014. These impacted the overall commercial vehicles sales for the company in June 2015 in the domestic market that were at 25,542 units, a decline of 5 per cent, over June 2014. Cumulative sales of commercial vehicles in the domestic market for the fiscal was 71,351 units, down by 5 per cent over the last year. Cumulative light commercial vehicles sales was 38,934 units, down by 19 per cent over last year, while medium and heavy commercial vehicles sales at 32,417 units were higher by 18 per cent, over last year. Tata Motors' exports at 5,047 units in June 2015, was higher by 32 per cent compared to 3,814 vehicles in June 2014. The cumulative sales from exports for the fiscal at 13,511 units were higher by 32 per cent, over 10,227 units sold last year. The auto maker from India's largest business conglomerate, has a consolidated revenues of Rs 2,62,796 crores ($42.04 billion) in 2014-15. Through subsidiaries and associate companies, Tata Motors has operations in the UK, South Korea, Thailand, South Africa and Indonesia. Among them is Jaguar Land Rover, the business comprising the two iconic British brands. It also has an industrial joint venture with Fiat in India currently.
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The BBC said it will cut more than 1,000 jobs because it expects to receive 150 million pounds ($234 million) less than forecast from the licence fee next financial year as viewers turn off televisions and watch programmes on the Internet. Every UK household with a television has to pay 145.50 pounds a year to the BBC, a public service broadcaster which was founded in 1922. "The licence fee income in 2016/17 is now forecast to be 150 million pounds less than it was expected to be in 2011," the BBC said in a statement. "This is because as more people use iPlayer, mobiles and online catch-up, the number of households owning televisions is falling. It also provides further evidence of the need for the licence fee to be modernised to cover digital services." Only 69 percent of viewing by British adults is now through live TV and among 16 to 24-year-olds, only 50 percent of viewing is done through live TV, the country's telecoms regulator said. (Reuters)
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Xiaomi on Thursday (2 July) said that it 34.7 million smartphones in the first six months of 2015, an increase of 33 per cent year-on-year.Lei Jun, founder and CEO of Xiaomi, said, “Even with the China smartphone market slowing down, we did a stellar job of posting a 33 per cent growth on last year’s numbers. It can be said that we outperformed the market and produced an excellent report card".Xiaomi has maintained its ranking as China’s top smartphone vendor in terms of market share for five consecutive quarters. In February this year, analyst firm IDC revealed that Xiaomi ranked first in China for the year of 2014, with a market share of 12.5 per cent.Bin Lin, co-founder and president of Xiaomi, said that this is an affirmation of the company’s innovative business model, which includes selling directly to consumers via e-commerce. Sales on Mi.com make up 70 per cent of Xiaomi’s total smartphone sales, helping the company become China’s third-largest e-commerce player. During Mi Fan Festival in April this year, Xiaomi sold 2.12 million phones in just 12 hours.The majority of Xiaomi’s smartphones are already on open sale without the need for pre-registration, making it more convenient for users to make purchases.Among the smartphones released by Xiaomi, six models—Mi 2, Mi 3, Redmi, Redmi Note, Mi 4 and Redmi 2—have so far shipped over 10 million units each.Xiaomi's robust growth has also attracted top talent globally, resulting in a more diverse executive team. On 1 July, former partner of international investment fund DST Shou Zi Chew joined Xiaomi as its new CFO. Earlier on 10 June, former president of Qualcomm Greater China, Wang Xiang, became senior vice president of strategic cooperation at Xiaomi.
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Vodafone, India's second largest telco, said that it will launch national Mobile Number Portability (NMNP) on Friday (03 July), aligning with the government's mandate to roll-out pan-India Mobile Number Portability services. The National Mobile Number Portability service facilitates customers to carry their existing mobile number from one telecom circle to another across India and choose the operator of their choice. NMNP is applicable to all pre-paid and post-paid customers. Customers looking for the convenience of retaining their existing number at the new location can avail the benefits of National MNP service."Customers will be the biggest gainers of the National MNP service as it allows them to carry their existing number across India and also choose the operator of their choice. Vodafone has benefited from the intra-circle MNP that was rolled out in 2011 and we look forward to a similar response this time," Vivek Mathur, Chief Commercial Officer, Vodafone India, said in a statement.Vodafone India has a pan India base of over 184 million customers serviced through a network of over 130,000 sites, of which over 35,000 are 3G sites.
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E-tailers as intrinsically technology companies are supposed to be disruptive, but they are overburdened with large operations teams to acquire sellers and manage inventories, writes Vishal Krishna Why are the “Business-to-Consumer” (B2C) e-commerce companies raising billions of dollars on the one hand and increasing their head count on the other? A technology company needs a minimum number of people. Having a people-run process isn’t disruption and today e-tailers say they are technology companies. E-tailers like Flipkart and Snapdeal combined would be employing nearly 60,000 people. Uber has only 800 people globally. So which one is more disruptive? There are three reasons why these companies employ more people. First of all, half their strength probably consists of delivery boys and warehouse employees. By law they cannot hold inventory. However, because of the nature of the retail (e-tail) market place businesses processes, where products are sorted in a warehouse, we must agree that these delivery boys and warehouse employees are a necessity (subject to laws governing the e-tail business). But what about the rest? The e-commerce market places are employing people like an IT services business and they are increasing their headcount every six months. An IT services business, like Infosys or Wipro, works on the number of clients acquired and adds more people accordingly. But why should e-commerce companies do the same? This brings us to the second reason. Since they work on a self-serve model, where sellers register on the platform without anyone approaching them on behalf of e-commerce companies and are not working for etailers, then surely the majority of the employees must be business development teams. The team must be hustling the idea of a market place from shop to shop, in every Indian city, and getting owners to register with etailers. The technology and analytics team surely must not be more than 1,000, per company, in these etail businesses. No wonder the business has bled more in salaries including Rs 9,774 crore in pure discounting and in managing their reverse logistics cost. The third logical conclusion is that if only 15 per cent of the registered sellers are regular on the platform, then truly this business is not working out in its current form. And no wonder they have these associate distribution companies, like CloudTail and WS Retail, which are exclusively selling products on the platform. Again by law an etailer can source only 25 per cent from an associate company. The government of India must either make these businesses open to retailing or make raising money a level playing field for brick and mortar retailers. Experts that Businessworld spoke to say that investors will continue backing these companies till a reasonable scale is achieved. What is awkward is the fact that sellers get marketing emails, from Snapdeal or Flipkart, saying that they sell uniquely to 4 crore (40 million) Indians on a regular basis. This 40 million is the expected potential of the entire etail basket in India, which includes Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal and several others. Is it the money or rather valuation that makes them talk like that? These valuations are like calculating future free cash flows based on current market conditions. However, being technology companies that they are, Flipkart and Snapdeal should probably add more weight to market uncertainty and consumer behaviour. It is, however, the fault of the media for flag bearing a change that includes for 4 per cent of the Indians. The technology, however, could benefit a larger market if only the political will can add reasonable protection to the modern retail industry, which obviously must include the etailers. T The first steps were taken by an 18-member committee headed by Narayan Murthy, which advised the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to set up an alternate investment forum for startups in India. SEBI has promptly released a set of probable guidelines for start-up listing in India where losses will no longer be a consideration for raising money.The market regulator has cleverly limited the minimum amount of participation to Rs 10 lakh, for retailer investors, therefore protecting the common man from participating in such stocks. The platform promises to be a good exit strategy for Venture Capital money that wants to off load stake. However, it all depends on the tax structure, on capital gains, for this startup investment platform to succeed. The tax rate on short term gains is currently 30 percent in India. Flipkart may actually list in Singapore or in the USA. Sources say that Snapdeal may be the first to take that route after acquiring or consolidating a couple of smaller e-tailers. Like we said in our e-tail bubble story last week, we just hope the e-tail industry does not run out of steam because of of foreign money wanting to pull out too soon.
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Jaguar on Thursday (2 July) has launched its exclusive edition of XF Aero-sport at Rs 52 lakh (Ex-showroom Mumbai, Pre-Octroi).This special edition variant XF Aero-sport is powered by a 2.2 litre diesel engine offers a range of exterior upgrades.Rohit Suri, President, Jaguar Land Rover India, said, “Jaguar XF is known for its dynamic design, impeccable performance, refined drive and effortless power. The unique design enhancements on XF Aero-sport will further endear the hugely popular model to our young and sophisticated customers looking to own an exclusive Jaguar luxury, sports saloon.”The new edition has new features such as the touch-screen, navigation system, front seat away, full size spare wheel and sunroof.Jaguar XF 2.2 Litre Diesel Aero-sport comes equipped with sporty exterior features such as: Rear spoiler, ‘R’ style side sills, a sport-style front bumper and a Black Grille with Chrome Surround. With interiors of perfectly tailored supple leather, contemporary aluminium surfaces and elegant real wood veneers, the XF Aero-sport will be available in Polaris White, Ultimate Black, Sapphire Blue and Odyssey Red exterior colours.The 2.2 Litre Diesel engine with a maximum power output of 140 kW @ 3500 rpm and maximum torque of 450 Nm @ 2000 rpm, delivers performance without compromising on efficiency.
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