An offer by Indian vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra to take over Pininfarina has fallen through due to opposition from some of the Italian car designer's creditor banks, newspaper Il Messaggero said on Saturday. Expectations of a sale have recently fuelled gains in the shares of the loss-making Pininfarina group, famous for designing Ferraris and other luxury cars. But three or four banks have rejected Mahindra's offer because it envisaged writing off half of Pininfarina's debts of 87 million euros ($97 million), the newspaper said. Pininfarina declined to comment. It was not immediately possible to contact Mahindra. Pininfarina will now seek to agree a new debt restructuring, Il Messaggero said. (Reuters)
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InstaShop believes in direct connect between seller and buyer, writes Mayank GargBrick and mortar shops in the locality markets are still the backbone of the retail industry of India, accounting for more than 90% of the total retail market of more than $ 600 billion. India has the highest density of these local stores, and these stores backed by a very thick network of distributors, are best suited to serve the customers in the most sustainable way.The e-commerce models copied from the western countries have seen a significant growth in the last few years in the India, but their sustainability is still to be tested. InstaShop, a Noida-based startup founded by three IIT Delhi alumni, wants to become the technology enabler for the existing supply chain to provide a better and sustainable alternative to the current e commerce model. The company believes that the existing supply chain fronted by the brick and mortar stores is the most sustainable retail commerce model in India, and will remain as relevant in future as it is today, provided that it is supported by technology to meet the changing buying behavior of customers.InstaShop is creating a hyper local mobile marketplace, where buyers and sellers in a locality can connect directly and transact effortlessly, assisted by InstaChat. The possibility of connecting directly with the seller and chat with them for any clarification, customisation and bargains is quite unique. “The local commerce in India works exhaustively on a trust coupled by the personal touch extended by the retailers. In all existing local commerce marketplace this element is missing, InstaShop helps to retain the very same shopping experience as shopping by physically visiting the store .Another unique feature of InstaShop is that the customer can request quotes from multiple shops in one go, which is replication of the same behavior of customer for best price discovery when shopping from the local market.Buyer can search for any product, category or their favourite store. They can browse through the catalogue and place order, through the catalogue itself or by just taking picture of the buying list, prescription, or the product of their interest. Buyer can also add any of the store as their favorite store from which they want to shop on regular basis, and remain updated on the deals and offers from these stores. Also the customer loyalty programmes offered by sellers can easily be managed through InstaShop.There is always a possibility of finding the product of your interest in your locality at a better price in comparison to the major e-commerce platform, which can be delivered instantly. But because this information about local stores and their prices is not readily available to customer, the local merchants are losing out business. With InstaShop we want to organize this information and make it available to customer on his smartphone.Merchant registration process on InstaShop is very simple. Merchants can get mobile presence of their business in just few minutes, and start organising and expanding their business with the merchant application, InstaSell. InstaShop does not charge any subscription fees from merchants to register with InstaShop, nor does any commission is charged on the sale of any good or service.InstaShop believes in direct connect between seller and buyer, and allowing seller to sell good at their own price directly to the buyer, this provides a very strong feeling of ownership for InstaShop by the merchants, and they help in promoting InstaShop even with their existing customers to provide them hassle free shopping experience.The seller directly processes any order placed on InstaShop, InstaShop is not into the operations of fulfillment of order directly, but manages it with tight service level agreement with the sellers, rating and ranking of seller and the incentives on number and timely delivery of orders. “While most of the startups focus on creating delivery networks for hyper local needs, we believe that in India, the distributed existing infrastructure by the local merchants is the most cost effective and manageable solution to make the delivery of the hyper local needs. Creating own delivery workforce to make short time and distance deliveries will face challenge in scaling and covering a wider reach.The company has opend its shops in Ghaizabad and Noida, and aims to cover entire NCR by end of July. As the company do not need any operations setup in the new localities where they are expanding, and further they do not charge anything from the merchants, InstaShop is aiming a very aggressive growth and plans to have hundred cities under their coverage within one year.(Mayank Garg, founder of InstaShop has extensive experience in strategy, business development and corporate planning, and has previously served as group head, Strategy and Corporate Planning at Tata Power. Gaurav and Rachit, co-founders have more than a decade of experience in founding technology companies and scaling them.)
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According to Weed, a balance is required between creativity and effectiveness, says Noor Fathima WarsiaFor Keith Weed, the Chief Marketing & Communications Officer of Unilever, the growth of technology does not take away from the basic fundamental approach of placing people at the centre of all initiatives. He outlines three elements that matter when the conversation is centered on people – the idea, the trust and the transformation. Idea attracts an overwhelming response – a quality that no technology can mirror. The growth of programmatic cannot be disputed. Mr Weed reminded that 50 per cent of display ads, that form a large portion of online advertising, is already managed through programmatic trading. “In United Kingdom, 40 per cent teens are on SnapChat. Globally YouTube is exploding with videos views across markets. There are more than 414 million new handsets, leading to increased mobile traffic and brand are looking at mobile for personal and geo-targetting,” Mr Weed observed. The future for Unilever is mobile. At the same time, attention and engagement is very important. “This is a challenge for creative minds. They need to grasp and retain attention in such a manner that audiences not only view the creative work but they also share and care about the work,” Mr Weed stated. Replying to how this can be achieved, he said that a balance was required between creativity and effectiveness. “The size of the budget does not matter but the size of the idea does. We are an industry of ideas and nothing can replace that,” he said. Mr Weed reiterated that trust was not just between brands and consumers but also within different players in the industry. The business is in chaos at present. “It is a complete mess that needs an overall re-ogranisation. We need to have trust to bring the business together. There is fragmentation all around today. When we are at our best, we can be brilliant,” commented Mr Weed. Get what you pay forUnilever has taken various initiatives to ensure that its online initiatives reap tangible and real results. One of the issues concerning the industry in context to online videos is viewability. Commenting on the subject, Mr Weed cautioned, “A Nielsen study shows that 40 per cent of digital activities are not meeting marketing objectives. We should get what we pay for and we need a solution for 100 per cent viewability, failing which the industry will lose faith in digital videos.” As is known, at present, 29 per cent of online traffic is ‘bot’ traffic and not real human traffic. Industry players and associations are working towards seeking a solution but there is still some time to go before a solution is achieved. As often as it may be quoted, the need to think differently is crucial at the moment. Unilever has set up Unilever Foundry that offers ‘pitch-to-pilot’ which essentially is the corporate funding promising start ups. The company does put a premium on how these companies can scale up their overall to impact marketing. In the state of chaos that the business is in, transformation has to be achieved by thinking differently and engaging different kind of people. Mr Weed’s advice to the creative fraternity is that while the time is right for new businesses to flourish, it is also the time for the industry’s key players to get together to bring some order in this chaos and create a brighter future.
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Besides the Grand Prix, India has won a total of 11 Lions this year, with five Silvers, five Bronze and one Glass Lion, says Hita GuptaIndian agencies were missing from winner lists across all Cannes Lions categories that were announced on day three - Cyber Lions, Radio Lions, Product Design, and Design Lions. India didn’t make it to the shortlist for Cyber, Radio, and Product Design among 330 entries, 179 entries and 23 entries respectively that were shortlisted globally. McCann was shortlisted in the Design Lions category for its Gastrina campaign for Dabur, but it failed to secure a metal. The only major win this year has been the Grand Prix in the Glass Lions category by BBDO India for its ‘Touch the Pickle’ campaign. Besides the Grand Prix, India has won a total of 11 Lions this year, with five Silvers, five Bronze and one Glass Lion. Indian agencies have not won a single Gold Lion. So far, Indian agencies have witnessed a disappointing performance largely in new media categories such as Mobile, Cyber and PR, among others. “We are missing out on the new media which is Cyber, Media, Promo & Activation, Product Design, Titanium and Creative Effectiveness etc. as the categories are also expanding at Cannes, year after year,” said KV Sridhar, Chief Creative Officer (India) of Sapient Nitro. “For the last seven-eight years India has dominated in Print, but to dominate in new media we are still lagging behind in terms of use of new technology and the new media,” he added.
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Accenture Plc raised its full-year revenue forecast for the third time, reflecting continued strong demand for the company's consulting and outsourcing services. The company also reported third-quarter profit and revenue above analysts' estimates, helped by growth in its North America business, sending its shares 2.3 percent higher to $99.99 in premarket trading. Accenture raised its full-year revenue growth forecast to 9-10 percent on a local currency basis. In March, the company said it had expected revenue to grow 8-10 percent in the year ending August. Accenture raised its revenue growth forecast to 5-8 percent in December from 4-7 percent. The company's net revenue increased to $7.77 billion from $7.74 billion in the third quarter ended May 31, beating analysts' average expectation of $7.45 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Revenue in the outsourcing business rose 10 percent in local currency, while consulting business revenue rose 11 percent. The consulting business accounts for a little more than half of Accenture's total revenue, with its outsourcing unit contributing the rest. Accenture's business in North America rose 11 percent to $3.64 billion. New York-based Accenture's rivals include India's Infosys Ltd and Tata Consultancy Services in the outsourcing business and Hewlett-Packard Co and IBM Corp in the consulting business. The company's net income fell to $1.24 per share in the three months ended May 31, from $1.26 per share a year earlier. Excluding items, the company earned $1.30 per share, above the average analyst estimate of $1.23 per share.(Reuters)
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Billionaire Sunil Mittal-backed Bharti Enterprises said on Thursday (25 June) it had bought a minority stake in privately owned OneWeb Ltd, which plans to offer high-speed, space-based Internet access across the world. Bharti has participated in a $500 million Series A funding round and Mittal will get a seat on the board of OneWeb, which aims to initially have a constellation of 648 satellites that will help provide broadband access to rural and underdeveloped locations, the companies said in separate statements. Bankrolled in part by Richard Branson's London-based Virgin Group and chipmaker Qualcomm Inc, OneWeb plans to develop spacecrafts which will weigh less than 300 pounds (136 kg) and be positioned in orbits roughly 750 miles (1,207 km) above the earth. OneWeb, based in Britain's Channel Islands, plans to launch services in 2019. Other companies investing in the funding round include Coca-Cola Co, Intelsat SA and Europe's Airbus Group, which earlier this month said it would build and design about 900 satellites for the venture. Bharti will be a preferred distributor of the service in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Africa with a focus on rural markets, it said in a statement.(Reuters)
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The scheme of arrangement submitted by the company said the proposed merger will also provide stability and enhancement in earnings and cash flow, says C H UnnikrishnanThe proposed merger of oil and gas subsidiary Cairn India into the parent Vedanta Ltd will enable an enhanced diversification of the group as a global natural resources player, says Vedanta in its scheme of arrangement submission to Indian stock exchanges. The company has on Thursday (25 June) filed the details and the related documents of its scheme of arrangement for the merger to BSE and NSE seeking the exchanges’ approval of the merger. The scheme of arrangement submitted by the company said the proposed merger will also provide stability and enhancement in earnings and cash flow besides operational effectiveness and cost optimisation. Apart from simplifying the structure of the group, the merger with Cairn will also result in improved allocation of capital at lower cost and also a broader access to capital market as the consolidated group will have a stronger balance sheet, Vedanta said in the scheme of arrangement documents, reviewed by BW|Businessworld. Vedanta had in the second week of June announced its proposal to merge its majority owned subsidiary Cairn in to itself. Under the merger offer, the shareholders of Cairn India will receive one Vedanta share for every Cairn India share they hold and one preference share with a coupon of 7.5 per cent. Vedanta, the flagship of UK-based a metal and mining conglomerate Vedanta Resources Plc, currently holds 59.9 per cent stake in Cairn. The amalgamation of these companies engaged in two different areas such as metals and energy will combine their business activities and operations under one single company. Vedanta is currently a metals and mining company with business interests in copper, iron, aluminium and zinc, besides power generation. While Cairn focuses on oil and gas exploration, development and production. The merger requires approvals from the shareholders of both the companies apart from regulatory and judiciary approvals from Securities and Exchange Board of India (SebiI) and the High Court respectively. Shortly after the announcement of the merger plan, investor community including large minority holders in Cairn—Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and Cairn Energy, had raised concerns about the valuation of Cairn and the share swap ratio for the merger. LIC currently owns 9.06 per cent stake in Cairn making it the second largest minority shareholder in the oil and gas company after Cairn Energy, which owns 9.82 per cent. For the proposed merger to go through, at least 50 per cent of the minority shareholders have to vote in favour of the deal.
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India has ranked number one in its outlook to adopt automated processes revealed the Grant Thornton International Business Report. A whopping 83 per cent of Indian companies surveyed said that they are either already automating business practices or may do over the next 12 months. These companies are switching to automation to lower costs and have greater accuracy and increased flexibility to increase or decrease production.The survey also revealed that Indian companies are willing to try a combination of buying and renting the machines or technologies for automating processes. As per the report, 43% Indian companies would like to buy the machine while 49 per cent would like to try a combination of rent and buy. Further research conducted by Grant Thornton uncovered increasing business spend on research and development – underpinning the growth in automation. In 2011, 23 per cent of businesses globally said they were planning to boost R&D spend; that increased to 26 per cent in 2014 and so far in 2015 it stands at a five-year high of 29 per cent.A survey of 2,571 executives in 36 economies, unveiled the scale of technology’s influence on business with the majority of firms now planning to automate operations and practices. The findings suggest that some jobs will go as a result, with the manufacturing, cleantech and food & beverage sectors in particular reporting upheaval. With capital costs low as labour costs rise, the findings pose fundamental questions about the extent to which machines will eventually replace humans.Mexico and Ireland ranked No. 2 and No. 3 respectively, showing great signs of approving automation for day to day operations. China has also shown eagerness in embracing the new trend with 59 per cent of firms planning to utilise automated processes to perform tasks previously done by people.Globally, over half (56 per cent) of firms surveyed are planning to switch to automation. By industry, 43 per cent of manufacturing firms said they expect this to eventually replace at least 5 per cent of their workforce. Cleantech was in second place on 39 per cent, followed by the technology and food & beverage sectors on 35 per cent. At the other end of the spectrum, just 9 per cent of hospitality, education and healthcare firms expect 5 per cent or more of workers to be replaced.Grant Thornton’s findings also suggest that opportunities will arise for workers to assume new roles and responsibilities created by an increased use of technology. Globally over half of automating firms (54 per cent) expect to redeploy workers in other areas, with 28 per cent saying that workers will be trained to operate new machinery. Even in manufacturing, 44 per cent of firms plan to redeploy rather than remove staff. In India, 26 per cent of the firms said 5% of their workforce would eventually be replaced by automation.
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