The expansion into smaller towns is coming at a time when the online retail space has not only seen consolidation but is actually looking to collaborate with physical stores. Abhineet Kumar reports.
Sanjib Jha, CEO, Coverfox Insurance Broking, lists 5 important things to look out for when buying a health insurance policy.
...or just a Covid-era practice, asks Ajit Balakrishnan.
Which one of these expectations do you think will actually materialise, come February 1?
The top 5 cities of India made up about 60 per cent of the online smartphone sales in India.
India has been consistently objecting to the methodology adopted by the WHO to project excess mortality estimates based on mathematical models, the Union Health Ministry said in a statement.
'There is definitely a skill war, or a talent war going on.'
NPS is a cost-effective instrument with low fund management and other fees. Unlike in mutual funds, investors get the benefit of tax-free rebalancing here.
E-commerce platform Snapdeal is looking at filing its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) in the next few weeks to launch an initial public offering in first half of next year, according to sources. Sources close to the development said the company is looking at a $250 million (around Rs 1,870 crore) IPO that could value Snapdeal at about $1.5-1.7 billion. Snapdeal is looking at filing the DRHP in December-January time frame, and launch the IPO in the first half of 2022 after the necessary approvals, they added. One of the sources said the founders will not be selling shares as part of the IPO, and major shareholders are also expected to hold onto their shares.
Quick commerce startups hope to race towards better days. Can they crack the execution code?
'But we are much better than what we all had expected and planned, and what all the prophets of doom had predicted.'
Company to help dealers build secondary income sources like insurance, finance, after-sales, accessories
Amid the ongoing festival season in the country, the hiring of gig workers has zoomed across sectors as the businesses have begun opening up leading to an uptick in consumer sentiments and rising pent-up demand, according to experts. "In the third quarter, with the onset of festive season, we are witnessing a 400 per cent spike in the hiring for gig workers. Earlier, in the first quarter of this year, as many businesses and companies were not operating at full strength, growth was muted. "However, things began picking up and became more promising from the second quarter, as the demand for gig workers across sectors grew," Taskmo, a subsidiary of Quess Corp, co-founder Prashant Janadri told PTI.
Hiring activity witnessed a 6 per cent year-on-year growth in March this year, supported by a rebound in economic activities and led by sectors such as banking and telecom, according to a report. However, there was a marginal dip of 2.4 per cent in hiring activity as compared to February, owing to the appraisal season, according to the Monster Employment Index (MEI). "Two years into the pandemic, it is heartening to see that the Indian economy has overcome setbacks and challenges with hiring momentum exceeding pre-COVID levels by 6 per cent this year compared to 2020," Monster.com, a Quess company, CEO Sekhar Garisa noted.
The tier II cities' story continues to thrive.
Healthcare has become one of the largest sectors of the Indian economy and is expected to reach $372 billion in 2022, according to a report by Niti Aayog released on Tuesday. The report outlined a range of investment opportunities in the country's healthcare sector across hospitals, pharmaceuticals and medical devices. The report, titled 'Investment Opportunities in India's Healthcare Sector', also said India's healthcare sector has the potential to generate 27 lakh jobs in India between 2017 and 2022 -- over 5 lakh new jobs per year.
Software major Infosys was eyeing Tier-II cities like Tiruchirapalli and Madurai in Tamil Nadu for its expansion once the global economy recovered from the current recession, a top company official has said.
As promised, Domino's 20-minute delivery started across 170 stores in Bengaluru on Tuesday. But, as the day progressed, some teething issues came to the fore. If delivery partners' accounts are anything to go by, these are unlikely to go away anytime soon.
From a location perspective, the last quarter saw Kolkata and Gurgaon as top regions for employment in these sectors and among roles, sales and office services stood out.
Tier-II and tier-III towns have a reason to rejoice.
The industry is expecting double-digit growth on a year-on-year basis, helped by a possible price correction after softening of raw material inputs and factors such as positive sentiments, pent up demand and improving economic conditions. Besides, a shift in consumer behaviour from price consciousness towards technologically advanced premium products with quality, value proposition and safety aspects leading to a rise in demand for home automation products is making the industry upbeat. With the government's production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for white goods, which has witnessed a committed investment of Rs 4,614 crore, in place, many manufacturers are gearing up to make the most out of the opportunity as well as take steps towards reducing their dependency on imports and make products more affordable.
Reliance Industries invested Rs 30,000 crore (around $3.76 billion) in its retail business and added 2,500 stores, taking the total store count to 15,196 in FY22. Besides, Reliance Retail added 11.1 million square feet of warehousing space during the year, nearly doubling the warehousing space to 22.7 million square feet, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) said in the annual report for FY22. In FY22, Reliance Retail added over 1.50 lakh jobs, taking its total headcount to 3.61 lakh.
Retailers such as Future Axiom and Vmart have decided to consolidate their business by reaching out to unexplored markets outside major cities, believing them to have been relatively unaffected by the downturn. Future Axiom's mobile bazaar CEO, Ashy Sehgal said, "Instead of spending heavily on attracting more customers in overreached metropolitan markets, we can target the unheeded customer waiting for us in smaller cities."
'As our per capita income increases and various demographic segments emerge, the need for various kinds of protection and risk covers will become even more explicit.'
Most players are looking to invest anywhere between $500 million and $1 billion in new ventures in the next couple of years, said experts on this segment.
PSBs are rushing through bond issuances to report healthy capital adequacy ratios by the year-end in anticipation of a healthy credit growth for the quarter ending March 31. These banks are seeking to maintain the 12 per cent capital adequacy ratio to follow international guidelines. While most investors have lapped up the Tier-II and subordinate bond issues, with some of them closing well ahead of the scheduled closing date, perpetual bonds are languishing.
Infiniti Retail, which sells electronic goods of around 180 brands in its Croma stores, today launched its small format store 'Croma Zip' at the Delhi International Airport. Infiniti Retail is a 100 per cent subsidiary of Tata Sons.
E-commerce platform Snapdeal has filed preliminary documents with markets regulator Sebi to raise funds through an initial public offer (IPO), joining the league of internet-led businesses looking to list on domestic stock exchanges. The public issue comprises fresh issuance of equity shares worth Rs 1,250 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of 3.07 crore equity shares, according to the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP). According to market sources, potential listing could value Snapdeal at about $1.5-1.7 billion.
German luxury carmaker BMW is stepping up its network expansion in India, specially in Tier II cities like Coimbatore, Jaipur and Lucknow, in its bid to claim the top spot in the luxury car market by 2010.
In 2020, retail and e-commerce sector will lead the table and is expected to generate 112,000 jobs followed by IT & ITeS (105,500), FMCG (87,500), manufacturing (68,900), BFSI (59,700) and healthcare (98,300), the survey said.
In order to offer a level playing field to co-operative banks, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may allow them to use new products for raising funds from the debt market. The co-operative banks could come out with subordinate debt structures like tier-II bonds, tier-III bonds and upper tier-II or perpetual bonds to raise finance.
Home interiors company HomeLane on Monday said it has entered into a three-year strategic partnership with ace cricketer, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, as an equity partner and brand ambassador. As part of the partnership, Dhoni will own equity in HomeLane and will be its first brand ambassador, a statement said. Details of Dhoni's investment were, however, not disclosed.
The Domina Hotel Group, Italy's largest hotel and resort operator, will start operations in India in the next two years.
Apart from physical stores, the company operates 2,700 digital touch points in the form of web pages, which is gaining good traction from tier-II and III centres.
ICICI Bank said on Thursday it will push hard to take its card business further in tier-II and tier-III cities over the next one and a half years.
They are virtually assured of the Tier II title in the Premier Hockey League, barring an upset by lowly Rangers in their last league match.
Real estate firm Ansal Housing and Construction Ltd plans to invest Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) in the next four years to develop various projects, which include seven townships in Tier II cities.
Young drag flicker Raghunath converted three penalty-corners as Chennai Veerans beat Lucknow Nawabs 5-1 in Tier II of the Premier Hockey League.
Aiming to expand its presence in Tier-II and Tier III cities, real estate company Ansal Housing and Construction plans to invest Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) in the next three to four years for developing seven townships across seven cities.
