The Kashmir valley has 24,000 hotel rooms. On Residency Road of Srinagar, just four rooms in Ahdoo's Hotel are occupied. "This is the peak tourist season. In May and early July, we had full occupancy, and even had to refuse new bookings. Suddenly, everything changed," says its manager. A veteran taxi driver says the Grand Hotel, on the opposite side, hasn't had a single guest over the past few days.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, while being enumerated for Census 2011 last week, said the data from this massive exercise would be a treasure house of information to help the government plan development work.
Senior railway officials feel this interest of the international community came after Banerjee unveiled policies to seek private investment in rail projects.
The Manmohan Singh government may have to take a legislative holiday on at least controversial issues till the next Budget session. Or it needs to get a lot more creative on coalition building. The reason is that the ruling United Progressive Alliance does not have a majority in the Rajya Sabha, and has to depend on an unpredictable opposition for help in passing Bills. In the Lok Sabha, although it is larger, it can face some unpleasant surprises.
The Direct Taxes Code 2009 is now on the back burner. The Union finance ministry has veered round to the view that its bold move to reform direct taxes should be subjected to further scrutiny. Contrary to earlier expectations, therefore, the Direct Taxes Code 2009 will not be presented to Parliament as a Bill along with the Union Budget for 20010-11on February 26.
Though the terms of reference of the committee to look into the creation of a Telangana state may come in the next few days, the Congress is worried about the 'political' price it may have to pay for moving too fast on the statehood issue.
In the turf war between the battered Communist Party of India-Marxist and its arch rival, Trinamool Congress, veteran Congressman and Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has found a new place of prominence.
Over the next month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to review the performance of his ministerial colleagues in their first six months in office. This review exercise could be a precursor to a Cabinet reshuffle, the first since the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government entered its second term in office.
Jyoti Basu, the 95-year-old communist, has lost touch with many of his comrades. But this morning the former chief minister of West Bengal did not forget to call his favourite Congressman to say, "Happy Birthday!"
For instance, two of GSKCH's OTC products -- Eno and Iodex -- command a household penetration of 9 and 10 per cent respectively in metro cities. GSKCH has already drafted a channel strategy for modern trade in collaboration with South African retailer Shoprite, where cross-category and checkout placements were identified as an opportunity to create a shopping occasion through impulse buying.
After beverages and chips, the US major is now betting big on the biscuits market in India.
Both PepsiCo's 'Youngistaan' brand ambassadors -- Virender Sehwag, captain of Delhi Daredevils, and Ishant Sharma, member of Kolkata Knight Riders -- have been formally present at various promotional activities for arch-rival Coca-Cola India, simply because Coca-Cola is the associate sponsor and the official pouring partner for both Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders.
Among the minority who are relieved at the rising heat are consumer durables' companies and retailers. Air conditioner (AC) sales are picking up in anticipation of a hot summer.
Videocon, Philips and Godrej are reworking strategy to grow their small appliance business. Last year, their focus was on high-end products. This shift to the low-end segment, they believe, will help them maintain their sales growth from Tier-II & Tier-III cities, while simultaneously helping them penetrate into rural areas. Home appliances account for over Rs 50 billion of the Rs 320 billion consumer durable business and is growing at a rate of 10-12 per cent.
The company has started using a new composite material for manufacturing refrigerators which will subsequently be rolled out to other product lines. The company has also done away with its regular corrugated boxes for packaging to incorporate stretch-hood film packaging and shrink wrapping. Stretch-hood packaging boasts of benefits such as better load stability, flexible adaptation to load height, width and depth and weather protection (rain, dirt and dust-proof).
High-end brands like Moschino and sports lifestyle brands such as Puma and Levi Strauss are devising strategies to reduce inventories and old stock pile-ups. While so far the thrust was on end-of-season sales, the low offtake due to the slowing economic environment has compelled most branded apparel makers to look at means to reduce stock to almost nil while maintaining margins.
The reasons for the growth of the luxury industry are not hard to find. It is still in a nascent stage in India and is growing at a scorching pace as the aspiration for better products is on the rise. The consumer market in India has shown a high growth trajectory and by 2025 is expected to become the world's fifth biggest consumer market as incomes and living standards are bound to grow, according to an Assocham study.
Colas, by industry estimates, now comprise only 38 per cent of the Rs 7,500 crore domestic market for sparkling drinks, while flavours (clear lime, cloudy lime, orange, apple) command 54 per cent. Until three years ago, cola products had a 46 per cent share of the total soft drinks market, while non-colas had 47 per cent. But the 'per head' consumption is still low, at a yearly nine servings of 200 ml.
Acting finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, who headed the Cabinet meeting on Monday, quickly came in support of Chidambaram and ruled against implementing the new system. Unlike other countries, the headline inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index, which measures the price movements of 435 items, is tracked widely instead of the Consumer Price Index as WPI data are released on a weekly basis.
Consumer goods manufacturers, expecting to see a revival of demand from the nearly Rs 16,500 crore Pay Commission arrears for government employees, are likely to be disappointed.
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