The European Union on Friday asked India to further open its economy for foreign investments even as the country has taken tentative steps towards liberalising FDI in sensitive defence and multi-brand retail sectors.
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma along with officials from his ministry were in the Nordic country for a two-day visit. They were accompanied by Indian industrialists led by the Confederation of Indian Industry.
The publisher of the world's largest-circulated magazine, Reader's Digest-sold across dozens of countries including India, has decided to file for bankruptcy in the US, but its operations in rest of the world would remain unaffected.
Foreign investment cannot enter India through a circuitous route in sectors like multi-brand retail, atomic energy and the lottery business and will need to operate within the sectoral caps, according to new guidelines.
Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday night tweeted that her party was opposed to the ordinance approved by the union cabinet and "we request the President not to sign this ordinance".
>Gadgets that make kitchen work easier and faster have gained momentum in the lockdown.
Carnation, the multi-brand car servicing major, has announced plans to roll out its own brand of auto spare parts by mid-2010. "We'll be launching our own brand of genuine car spare parts," said Jagdish Khattar, CMD of Carnation, at the formal launch of nine service outlets.
Retail companies in the organised sector want the government to take a series of initiatives in the forthcoming Budget that would boost consumption, and have sought 'industry status' as well as abolition of the service tax to beat back the slowdown.
Senior cabinet minister Kamal Nath on Monday said 'new things would be thrown up' as the government fine-tunes the foreign direct investment policy. India attracted about $25 billion for April-February 2008-09. The government had announced changes in the FDI policy in February which led to confusion among investors.
Jagdish Khattar-promoted Carnation, a multi-brand car sales and servicing network, and the Dilip Chhabria-owned car design boutique DC Design have entered into a joint venture that will help the design studio offer its services to the mass segment at lower price points. Before this, DC's services were restricted to high net worth clients.
Based on the report of the expert committee set up to formulate the state's lockdown exit strategy and the inputs received from various sections of the society, the chief minister said it was necessary to continue with the lockdown restrictions for some more time.
In the first nine months of 2009, FDI dipped by 26 per cent to $21.4 billion from $29 billion a year ago. The total FDI inflow into India since 2001 crossed the $100 billion mark.
The Titan and Fastrack brands fared well and also saw their margins expand. Watches accounted for 1 per cent of the Gitanjali Group's total turnover. The watch industry is estimated to be a Rs 2,500 crore market, growing at 5 per cent per annum. The premium-to-luxury market is close to being a Rs 300-500 crore market and will grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 30-35 per cent to be a Rs 1,500-2,000 crore market in the next six to seven years.
The new products provide Indian consumers with the unmatched combination of unprecedented technology, style, service, information and insight across lifestyle and business computing segments.
Instead of announcing new schemes, focus will be on those already announced and key sectors.
Apart from a new brand ambassador, the apparel maker has gone in for aggressive store expansionProvogue has done it again. It has switched its brand ambassador, this time from Saif Ali Khan to Hrithik Roshan, for its new campaign.
Devaunshi Mehta shows her drop-dead gorgeous collection.
Bharti Retail, a subsidiary of Bharti Enterprises, on Monday said it will increase the head count to 60,000 by 2015 from 2,000 now as it has set a target to become a $1-billion company by then.
IT major Wipro's promoter Azim Premji is investing Rs 80 crore (Rs 800 million) to acquire a significant minority stake in a company floated by Jagdish Khattar, former managing director of Maruti Suzuki India who has recently turned entrepreneur.
India is now a biz friendly nations, say Arun Jaitley.
Anand Sharma, who took charge of the nodal ministry for FDI on May 29, said there is no need for a relook at the policy amended in February by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. While the policy does not allow overseas inflow into this sector, the changes in February were perceived to be opening the sector to FDI up to 49 per cent in an Indian firm that has a downstream subsidiary firm in retailing.
Though end-of-season sale is common in the first week of February, what is interesting this time around is the quantum and timing of the offers. Retailers are giving away 20-25 per cent additional discounts, compared to the last year. Also, they began giving discounts at least three weeks before the ususal timing.
Finance ministry officials are of the view that current restrictions that prohibit FDI in multi-brand retail cannot be extended to franchise agreements between an Indian company and an overseas partner.
The reports by ICRIER on impact of organised retail on neighbourhood stores and NCAER on FDI in multi-brand retail were originally expected to be submitted by February, but were later postponed to April. "We are expecting the two reports to be given to us soon, they (ICRIER and NCAER) have asked for time extension. I think they have asked time till July," Minister of State for Industry Ashwini Kumar told reporters on the sidelines of a CII seminar in.
Taking advantage of the absence of Nestl's Maggi noodles, Patanjali launched its own atta noodles last month.
The $250-million group recently announced its foray into the multi-brand digital retail segment, with an investment of around Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion). The investment would be made by the group's retail arm, Salora Retail Ventures Ltd.
Spice Group's multi-brand technology retail chain 'Hot Spot Retails' said on Wednesday it will invest Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) over the next two years in setting up 1,500 outlets.
The consumer durable companies such as Videocon, Samsung and Godrej may be aggressively expanding their own brand outlets
The new jobs - created both directly and indirectly - will be across industries, including IT, skill development, content creation, retail, logistics, and manufacturing.
The joint-venture's first wholesale store is expected to be opened by the end of 2008, Wal-Mart India President (Operations) Raj Jain had said.
According to its promoter, Hirji Kanji Patel, this would be equivalent to the Pentium 4 technology but will be ultra low on voltage. The company also plans to start 20 level 3 multi-brand chip-level laptop service centres across India by April 2008.
Indus Clothing will manufacture branded jeans and fashion accessories in India.
Government to examine whether rules and regulations were adhered to in the Bharti-Wal-Mart retail deal, says Commerce Minister Kamal Nath.
As Indians increasingly take to yoga, apparel brands are seeking to cash in on the opportunity to make a few bucks.
US retail chain Walmart is awaiting a decision by its board decision on its India strategy, including its partnership with the Bharti group.
Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Retail is planning a second-hand car market venture on the lines of Maruti's True Value and Mahindra's Automart.
Essar Telecom Retail Ltd will be introducing a pan-Indian network of retail telecom outlets called TheMobileStore, which will offer state-of-the-art technology in telecom solutions besides several value-added services.
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The Veere Di Wedding actor is giving us so much wedding inspo.
