International coffee chain Starbucks will send a revised application to the department of industrial policy and promotion for an entry into the Indian market.
Confrontational advertising has become the order of the day in India with corporate houses taking on rivals head-on.
The Supreme Court made it clear on Thursday it will not allow stalling of the arbitral proceedings pending before the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) pertaining to the ongoing legal tussle between US e-commerce major Amazon and the Future Group, saying the sanctity of such proceedings needed to be maintained. "You (Future group and others) cannot keep stultifying the proceeding before the arbitral tribunal and this is just a ploy to delay the proceeding. "These are all ploys by well-heeled parties to delay the arbitration proceeding.
At a time when most retail firms have either gone slow in opening new stores or closed down some to beat the ongoing slump, the Future Group has opened nearly 150 stores across all its formats over the past three months. This month alone, Biyani is opening 15 stores, mainly selling electronic and lifestyle goods.
The potential of India's retail sector may be huge and growing, but soaring rentals, salaries and interest rates could make the journey a bumpy ride for retailers in the near term.
Kishore Biyani-promoted Future Capital Holdings' initial share sale, which closed its IPO on Wednesday, was subscribed nearly 131 times, as investors shrugged off shaky secondary market sentiment after the benchmark Sensex tumbled nearly 860 points in the last two days.
Delhi Airport has reduced the minimum annual guarantee paid by duty-free operator, Alpha Future.
Kishore Biyani-promoted Future Capital Holdings has received the regulatory go-ahead from Sebi for its initial public offer, estimated to raise between Rs 400-500 crore (Rs 4-5 billion).
Reliance Power is being touted as India's biggest ever IPO with an estimated size of over $3 billion, surpassing just over $2 billion raised by DLF. This would be the first ever IPO from Anil Ambani group after being carved out from the erstwhile Reliance empire in 2005.
The group, which employs nearly 26,000 employees, plans to cut employee costs by one per cent, or Rs 65 crore (Rs 650 million), in the current year by redeploying people in its various businesses and reducing new hirings. "Instead of external hiring, we have redeployed a part of our people resources from our mature businesses to the new ventures," Future Group CEO Kishore Biyani said.
US e-commerce giant Amazon has written to the independent directors of Future Retail Limited (FRL), including Gagan Singh, Ravindra Dhariwal and Jacob Mathew, and its audit committee, providing data and alleging that there have been significant financial irregularities to the prejudice of public shareholders, banks, creditors, and third-party suppliers. Amazon has said this warrants a thorough and independent examination of all relevant facts and related-party transactions, including of past financial years, by an independent agency. Separately, Amazon has written to Securities and Exchange Board of India Chairman Ajay Tyagi, seeking the withdrawal of the regulator's conditional approval granted to FRL related to the merger deal between the Future group and Reliance.
According to estimates, entry into India would enable Starbucks to triple its stores to 40,000 worldwide by expanding into emerging markets.
Global retail major Wal-Mart's entry into India through an alliance with Bharti Enterprises could change the market dynamics, but domestic player Pantaloon Retail India Ltd appears game to take on the competition.
The facility will be available at four of Future Group's Big Bazaar outlets in Mumbai. Cleartrip will soon extend this tie-up to other Big Bazaar outlets in the city as well as other metros.
Kishore Biyani, managing director, said the initial public offer would raise around Rs 2000 crore (Rs 2 billion), but refused to comment on the nature of the new company.
Future Media, the media company of Kishore Biyani's Future group, announced the acquisition of on-screen media rights of all Inox Leisure multiplexes in the country for the next two and half years.
Ravi Shankar mulls taking his products, available at 600 outlets, to 2,500 stores by 2017; others have plans, too.
As organised retailers try to squeeze margins, Kishore Biyani-promoted Future Group has replaced PepsiCo's Frito Lay snacks with ITC's Bingo at its Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar stores.
The issue will carry a small price band to make it affordable to the retail investor. The company will issue 3,736.15 million shares.
Future Cap's IPO was subscribed 8 times over on the second day of is issue.
Future Capital IPO was fully subscribed within four hours of its opening. The company is expected to raise Rs 490 crore through the IPO.
Amazon has also signed a term sheet with Kishore Biyani-led Future group to invest $600 million to $700 million for a 12 to 15 per cent stake in the retail giant, it is learnt.
Making its entry into the last mile retail space, Kishore Biyani promoted Future Group on Wednesday said it will set up 1,500 new format fairprice shops over the next two years.
Money is not a problem for us but we have to raise it judiciously in view of our aggressive plans.
The stores will sell products under the Fashion at Big Bazaar brand.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday took note of the consent of US e-commerce major Amazon and Future group and ordered the resumption of arbitral proceedings before the SIAC tribunal over Future Retail's merger deal to the tune of Rs 24,500 crore with Reliance Retail Ltd.
Venturing into the outdoor media business, Kishore Biyani's Future group, with retail brands such as Pantaloon, Big Bazaar
Future Capital will be the first company to hit capital market as it is set to release its IPO at a fixed price band of Rs 700-765 per share.
Kishore Biyani's Indivision Capital, the private equity arm of Future Capital, announced that it would buy 4.9 per cent in Subhash Chandra's direct-to-home (DTH) business Dish TV for Rs 250 crore (Rs 2.5 billion).
US e-commerce giant Amazon has written to Ajay Tyagi, chairman of market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), to take action as is necessary to comply with the Supreme Court Judgment, related to the $3.4-billion merger deal between Future Group and Reliance. Amazon has requested Sebi to direct the Indian stock exchanges to withdraw the Observation Letters related to this deal with immediate effect. In January this year, Sebi had given a go-ahead onto Future Group's scheme of arrangement and sale of assets to Reliance, based on which the Bombay Stock Exchange also granted its "no adverse observation" report to the Rs 24,713-crore ($3.4 billion) deal.
Days after billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led group took some of the stores of Future Group, whose lease had expired due to the non-payment of rent, Amazon.com Inc on Tuesday accused the two of 'fraud' and said such 'contumacious' transfer will be liable to legal action.
