It is the season of cooking and baking, but with Amul Butter in short supply, consumers aren't like the cat that got the cream. A shortage only means market shelves without butter on them. "There is a supply-side deficit. "We are now able to procure only two packs of butter a day, as opposed to three packs (each containing 30 packets of butter) in a day," says a salesman at Modern Bazaar, a departmental store in New Delhi's Greater Kailash.
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.
Faadu: A Love Story looks like one of those old movies with a socialist bent that glorified honest poverty and looked down upon ambition and enterprise, notes Deepa Gahlot.
Online grocery platform BigBasket is looking at hiring 10,000 people for its warehouses and last-mile delivery to clear pending orders quickly and meet the spike in orders on account of the nationwide lockdown. "We are looking to hire 10,000 people for our warehouses and last-mile delivery. This hiring will happen across all 26 cities that we are present in," bigbasket Vice President-Human Resources Tanuja Tewari told PTI.
Ajit Balakrishnan offers a thinking man's guide to the state of ecom in a nation of shopkeepers.
Ordering groceries, vegetables and daily essentials is just a WhatsApp away as billionaire Mukesh Ambani's e-commerce platform JioMart taps into the popular messaging app to scale up online business in its fight for dominance in the giant Indian retail market with Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart. Ambani's twin children, Akash and Isha gave a preview of the ordering at Meta's second edition of the Fuel for India event on Wednesday. A new 'tap and chat' option allows users to order groceries through WhatsApp.
'In investing, you have to first make sure you don't make big mistakes.' 'I would advise small investors to be systematic, don't be arbitrary; don't be on either end of the risk spectrum.' 'Don't go from fixed deposit to option trading or crypto trading.'
'The finance ministry and the RBI will never admit to the difficulties in the economy because if they do so, it will adversely impact the financial markets, etc.' 'They like to present a rosy picture that everything is fine and under control.'
Instead of making the sellers bleed, experts say, e-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart have roped in banks to offer discounts to buyers.
'We're seeing major Bollywood celebrities, fashion icons, and even movie studios all wanting to build Metaverse experiences'
The issue is set to be discussed early next week as the commerce department meets with industry bodies to discuss the widening supply gap for key imports.
Salary increments in India will touch a five-year high of 9.9 per cent in 2022 as organisations are planning to invest in new-age capabilities to build a resilient workforce amid strong economic recovery and positive business sentiment, a survey said on Wednesday. According to leading global professional services firm Aon's 26th Salary Increase Survey in India, organizations across industries project a 9.9 per cent salary increase in 2022, compared to 9.3 per cent in 2021. The study that analysed data across 1,500 companies from more than 40 industries, noted that the industries with the highest projected salary increases are e-commerce and venture capital, hitech/IT and IT enabled services (ITeS) and life sciences.
Falling private sector investment and farm distress are problems that call for immediate attention, says T N C Rajagopalan.
'People will say a lot of things -- ignore the noise.'
'RCB is a natural choice for us, mainly due to our long-standing association with Virat Kohli.'
'The spurt in demand for Ayurvedic products has exhausted our production capacity.'
A long and bitter funding winter in the start-up world is beginning to take its toll on start-up advertising across properties. Earlier this week, Mastercard replaced Paytm as the title sponsor for all international and domestic cricket matches organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). But this is just one part of the story. The other side is that organisers of high-impact shows and events on Hindi general entertainment channels, too, are feeling the winter chill.
BharatPe co-founder and managing director Ashneer Grover, who was recently embroiled in a controversy over purportedly using abusive language against Kotak Mahindra Bank staff, has taken a voluntary leave till March-end. Grover informed the company's Board about his decision to proceed on leave earlier in the day, as per a statement issued by the fintech company on Wednesday. "For now, the Board has accepted Ashneer's decision which we agree is in the best interests of the company, our employees and investors, and the millions of merchants we support each day," it said. It added that the company will continue to be led by its CEO Suhail Sameer and its management team.
With Bharatpe's co-founder Ashneer Grover launching an offensive against the firm's investors after facing a probe over alleged fraud, abrasive behaviour and corporate governance issues, the company on Friday said questioning the integrity of board members and misrepresentation of facts is painful. "The (company) board in all its actions has followed due process in the best interest of the company. We would urge that the confidentiality and integrity of the governance review and board meetings is maintained by all," BharatPe said in a statement. The statement followed Grover, who was sent on a three-month leave following allegations of using abusive language against Kotak Mahindra Bank staff and for fraudulent practices, reportedly saying he was "arm-twisted" by the company's investors into going on leave and that he had lost confidence in CEO Sameer Suhail.
'We want to look at very strong entrepreneurial teams.' 'I want to focus on a full team and not just the entrepreneur, which is building innovative and amazing differentiated businesses in large markets.' 'We also look at business models that are proven and have reasonably good gross margins, which show that this is where a lot of value is getting built.'
The country's exports in December surged 37 per cent on an annual basis to $37.29 billion, the highest-ever monthly figure, government data showed on Monday.
'Aquaponics can effectively cushion the impact of a calamity like COVID.'
Investments by private equity and venture capital funds declined by 22 per cent to $5.4 billion in June, as compared to the $6.9 billion in the year-ago period, a report said on Monday. However, if compared with May's $4 billion, the investments were higher by 33 per cent, the monthly report by industry lobby group IVCA and consultancy firm EY said. If one were to compare the inflows into companies in the first half of 2021, the investments were 45 per cent higher at $26.9 billion.
Sharad Pawar reckons that the NCP has value as a united, going concern, not as a gaggle of leaders in search of followers, notes Shreekant Sambrani.
Tech giant Microsoft on Wednesday launched a new programme Microsoft AI Innovate for nurturing and scaling start-ups that are leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI). The 10-week initiative will support start-ups in India leveraging AI technologies, helping them scale operations, drive innovation, and build industry expertise. Both B2B and B2C start-ups from various industries, including financial services, healthcare, education, agriculture, space, manufacturing and logistics, retail, and e-commerce can participate in the quarterly cohorts of this programme.
This makes it the most valued fintech company in the country after Paytm and Walmart-owned PhonePe.
During the review, the prime minister also stressed the need to sensitise states so that the speed of vaccination against COVID-19 doesn't come down and was briefed that around 31 per cent of the eligible population over the age of 45 has been given at least one dose, according to a statement issued by the Prima Minister's Office.
The school was run on strict Gandhian lines, with stress on students doing things themselves. Physical comforts were minimal, in keeping with the relatively backward geographical area. But it had a staff of teachers dedicated to educating their students, not just imparting them book-learning, remembers Shreekant Sambrani.
Swiggy, a Bengaluru-based food ordering and delivery start-up, says it aims to revolutionise this segment.
With a revival in demand and consumption, FMCG companies are looking forward to 2022 with positivity and hopes of sustaining a healthy growth trend across both rural and urban markets while gearing up to cater to the ever-increasing digitally active consumers and tackle the challenge of higher commodity prices. Health and wellness and convenience are going to remain key trends and FMCG companies are strengthening their core brands, driving premiumisation across their portfolios with targeted innovations as consumers are gravitating towards trusted brands looking for quality, purity and hygiene, in continuation of the trend that started since the pandemic last year. FMCG makers are accelerating digitalisation and are investing in building capability in e-commerce and Direct-to-Consumer channels, identifying it as a key vector of their growth as the threat of a possible third wave is still not away.
'Do not get into the calculations that you see on television...Oh if you are looking at $5 trillion economy, the country will have to grow at 12 per cent, today it is growing at 6-7 per cent'
IT and ITeS companies accounted for $28.1 billion of the total investment pie during the first nine months of 2021.
Having grown swiftly since the acquisition of Flipkart by Walmart in 2018, it was looking at a valuation of $10 billion. However, factors such as lack of diversification, new e-commerce and data policies, as well as the overall investment environment, have slowed the process.
Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) K V Subramanian on Tuesday exuded confidence that India would achieve double-digit growth in the current financial year on the back of policy initiatives and continuing reforms. He also said the country is well poised to meet the fiscal deficit target of 6.8 per cent of GDP. "At this stage, I can say confidently that we should be able to achieve that fiscal deficit number. "Any shortfalls that might happen on the disinvestment side will also be accompanied by positive surprises that have happened on tax revenue," he told reporters.
Unacademy may see a funding dry spell for at least next 12-18 months and even last till 24 months and will cut costs to weather the lean period, said the chief executive of the education technology unicorn that recently laid off more than 600 employees. "This is a test for all of us. We must learn to work under constraints and focus on profitability at all costs. We must survive the winter," said Unacademy's co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal in a letter to the employees. "Winter is here. We are looking at a time when the funding will dry up for at least 12-18 months.
Besides Jeff Bezos-led Amazon, Walmart-owned Flipkart is also facing a threat from Asia's richest man and RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani, who is also betting big to grab a share of the country's e-commerce market.
Infibeam appointed Kothari as president, strategy, corporate development, international operations, and investor relations.
Wang arrived in Delhi on Thursday evening in the highest-level visit between the two countries after the ties came under severe strain following the military standoff in eastern Ladakh that began nearly two years ago.
For months, offline retailers and traders have been lobbying hard for a national retail policy to protect their business from the growing influx of e-commerce.
This will boost availability of these items as well as make them cheaper, it said, adding that Modi also directed the revenue department to ensure seamless and quick custom clearance of such equipment.
