Daily News Digest- 24th March'14

Thought of the Day:

“Consensus is the absence of leadership”
Margaret Thatcher

Did you know?

Caterpillars have about four thousand muscles

India:

Shoppers Stop, Infinity Chief Bag Top Honours at ET Retail Awards : The fourth Economic Times Retail Awards, celebrating the best of global retail, were held last week in Mumbai in partnership with the Retailers Association of India (RAI) and the glittering evening brought together over 100 leaders from the retail industry to recognise the brightest, best and the most innovative. Ajit Joshi, CEO and MD of Infiniti Retail, won the coveted ‘Retail Personality of the Year’ award, and Cafe Coffee Day’s founder VG Siddhartha was awarded retail’s ‘Hall of Fame award’. Department store chain Shoppers Stop won the ‘Most Trusted Retailer’ as well as ‘Customer Loyalty Initiative’ award. India had a few years of astronomical growth in retail that turned out to be unsustainable, leading to bottlenecks and created inflation. Despite the Indian retail market being one of the top five retail markets globally, it is plagued with inadequate physical infrastructure, inefficiencies in supply chain, complex regulatory environment and shortage of skilled manpower. In fact, while retail accounts for14% of the country’s GDP and employs over 7% of the total workforce, the sector hasn’t got an industry status yet. Through this award, ET attempts to recognise the role of retailers whose innovation and confidence serve as examples for other sectors in the consumer service industry. In the emerging retailer category, the accolade went to Kalyan Jewellers for aggressively building a pan-India operations despite a slowing market. Infiniti Mall was feted for its success as a ‘Retail Destination’ while The Big Door won the ‘Retail Launch’ of the year award. The awards were also given on how well the retailers have embedded alternate channels into their business practices. The award for Marketing Concept of the year went to Puma and Omni-channel retailer of the year was given to Croma. ‘Etailer of the year’ award was presented to MakeMyTrip.

Trent spurts after announcing JV with Tesco: Trent jumped 7.87% to Rs 1074 at 11:34 IST on BSE after the company formally announced a joint venture with British retail giant Tesco to set up a supermarket in India. The company made the announcement after market hours on Friday, 21 March 2014. Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 11.70 points, or 0.05%, to 21,765.45. On BSE, so far 9,994 shares were traded in the counter, compared with an average volume of 4,304 shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 1,095 and a low of Rs 1,040 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 1,339.80 on 31 December 2013. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 902 on 1 November 2013. The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 21 March 2014, sliding 2.63% compared with the Sensex's 5.09% rise. The scrip had also underperformed the market in past one quarter, falling 17.60% as against Sensex's 3.20% rise. The mid-cap company has an equity capital of Rs 33.23 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10. Trent announced that it has approved definitive agreements with regard to investment by Tesco PLC, UK (Tesco) in Trent Hypermarket (THL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Trent.

FMCG product launches hit a halt: Tank to 5% last year from 35%in 2012: Consumer product companies drastically cut down on product launches in 2013 to avoid additional cost pressures in a year when sales growth slipped to a decade low. Growth in product launches in the fast moving consumer products (FMCG) segment dropped to just 5 per cent last year from 35 per cent in 2012, according to data shared by research firm IMRB. Consumer product companies confirmed the slowdown in product launches and said they will bring out new variants and products once overall market improves."This is not the best time to launch new products. We are waiting for consumer sentiment to improve, which we believe will be in the second quarter of the next financial year," Sunil Duggal, chief executive officer at Dabur India, said. Dabur restricted its new products, Real drinking yogurt and premium chyawanprash Ratanprash, to select markets instead of a national rollout. Companies want to keep their expenses low even as they increase ad spends to protect existing brands and roll out higher promotional offers or price cuts to mop up volume growth. "Any FMCG company will have to take into consideration the high expense of taking a new launch national. The second half last year was bad in terms of cost perspective," said Anil Chugh, senior VP at Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting.

Aishwarya Rai launches jewellery showrooms in capital: Actress Aishwarya Rai, the face of Kalyan Jewellers, has inaugurated three showrooms of the brand here. Kalyan Jewellers, directly owned jewellery retail chain, has set up three showrooms located in Pritampura, Defence Colony and Karol Bagh in the capital and the "Guzaarish" star inaugurated them on Saturday. "The launch of our stores in Delhi underlines the importance of this dynamic market. We are hopeful that Kalyan Jewellers' tryst with Delhi will make more jewellery aficionados appreciate the brand and its unparalleled collection of jewellery," T.S. Kalyanaraman, managing director, Kalyan Jewellers, said in a statement. From everyday wear pieces like pendants, earrings or bangles to more occasion related jewellery like gold and diamond sets, ethnic and bridal wear, the showrooms house numerous glittering pieces.

Online retailing on the rise in North East India: India's North East is quietly becoming one of the fastest-growing markets for online retailers with an increasing number of youngsters from the region logging on to buy mobiles, accessories and much more. Portals such as Myntra, Jabong and Snapdeal are finding good traction for orders from the region as the number of customers looking to buy the best brands at affordable prices is on the rise. "Youngsters today are extremely fashion conscious and tech savvy and online shopping gives them a platform to access the best brands at affordable prices with the convenience of shopping from anywhere. North Eastern markets behave similarly," Myntra co-founder Ashutosh Lawania told PTI. "From a geographic reach and availability perspective, perhaps more so - we are seeing a steady increase in business from this region," he added. The North Eastern states -- Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura -- generate about 8 per cent of traffic and business for Myntra and the company expects further growth in the coming quarters, Lawania said, without disclosing absolute numbers.

'Working empowers you, makes you confident': Dipali Goenka, MD, Welspun Retail: Dipali Goenka is one of those who walked the rare path of getting married and raising children before making a career debut. She was 32 years old and a mother of two daughters, then aged 10 and 7, when she decided to step out from her cushioned living room and into the competitive board room. It wasn't easy for Goenka, even though she was the wife of the $4-billion Welspun Group's chairman. Her husband had told her, "This can't be a hobby as business will be at stake. You will have to show what you can do and prove your worth." A determined Goenka started from scratch, handling various roles in different departments from purchase to HR to design and worked her way up. Today, the 44-year-old heads the group's home textile business. "Women should work. They should go beyond clothes, bags and jewellery," says Goenka, adding, "Working empowers you, it makes you confident and in charge of yourself." She says that work helps women understand their partners' professional commitments and hence build an "evolved" relationship, keeping them on a par. Nothing in life, however, comes free. Even as she juggled with the new routine, trying to take time out for her girls, Goenka missed out on her social life and in the bargain lost a few friends. "The price I paid was nothing compared to what I have learnt and continue to learn. But there were times I was tugged in all directions." She narrates an incident when she was away at Harvard for a course and her daughter got typhoid. The disturbed mother wanted to come back but her husband comforted her and told her that she should stay put as she had gone all the way.

International:

Turkish PM vows to 'eradicate' Twitter : Hours after Turkey's prime minister vowed to "eradicate" Twitter, Turkish Internet users began to experience widespread disruptions Thursday while trying to access the popular social networking website. Outrage and fury erupted online. Within an hour the hashtags "#TwitterisblockedinTurkey,""#DictatorErdogan" and "TurkeyBlockedTwitter" surged to the service's top worldwide trends. Meanwhile, Twitter swiftly offered subscribers a work-around via its verified policy account by advertising an alternative way to send out tweets using cell-phone instant messaging. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan first vowed to shut Twitter down at a campaign rally on Thursday in the city of Bursa. "Now there is a court order. Twitter, mwitter, we will eradicate it all," Erdogan said, using a Turkish expression that mocked the name of the social networking site. "The international community will say this and that, and it doesn't concern me one bit," Erdogan added, apparently anticipating the subsequent uproar. "They will see the power of the Turkish Republic. This has nothing to do with freedom-shmeedom. Freedom is not invading someone's privacy." Several hours later, the prime ministry released a statement accusing Twitter's management of ignoring court orders calling for the removal of web links from the website. "Twitter officials remained indifferent to these demands," the prime ministry announced, according to the semiofficial Anadolu news agency.

China's factory activity show further contraction: China's manufacturing sector showed further contraction in March, according to a new report which mainly tracks activity in smaller factories. The HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) gave a reading of 48.1 for March, compared to 48.5 in February. A reading below 50 indicates contraction, while one above 50 shows expansion. The HSBC survey focuses on smaller companies in the private sector. China's official PMI survey, weighted more towards bigger and state-owned enterprises, will be released later this month. China's official PMI came in at 50.2 in February - an eight-month low, reinforcing signs of a modest slowdown in the world's second biggest economy. China's exports also dropped 18% from a year earlier in February, leading to a trade deficit of $23bn (£14bn) for the month. At China's annual National People's Congress earlier this month, Premier Li Keqiang set a growth target of 7.5% this year - the same rate as last year. But he added that there was some flexibility on that target for 2014 and that the Chinese government's main concern was jobs.

Russian UK tourist spending sees sharp fall in February: UK hotels and shops saw income from Russians fall 17% in February compared with a year ago as visitor numbers fell back amid political unrest in Ukraine. It said the unrest exacerbated the effects of a weakening economy, leaving Russians disinclined to travel. The findings come from tax-free shopping specialists, Global Blue, which processes the vast majority of tax-free spending by overseas visitors. Russians are among the top five biggest-spending tourists in the UK. Global Blue, which processes 80% of all tax-free shopping in the UK, said they spend an average of almost £700 per transaction. Non-EU nationals can shop "tax-free" by claiming back the VAT - worth 20% - on spending above £30 at shops and hotels, basically by filling in a form.

Visa and MasterCard block Russian bank customers: Visa and MasterCard have blocked credit card services to some Russian bank customers as a result of US sanctions. Four banks are so far affected, all of which have links to Russians blacklisted by the US. Visa and MasterCard, both US-based companies, are forbidden from having any dealings with those targeted by the sanctions. The banks, which said card services stopped without warning, have described the move as unlawful.

Microsoft admits reading Hotmail inbox of blogger: Microsoft is caught up in a privacy storm after it admitted it read the Hotmail inbox of a blogger while pursuing a software leak investigation. On Thursday, the firm acknowledged it read the anonymous blogger's emails in order to identify an employee it suspected of leaking information. Microsoft owns Hotmail, a free email service now called Outlook.com. John Frank, deputy general counsel for Microsoft, said it took "extraordinary actions in this case". While the search was technically legal, he added Microsoft would consult outside counsel in the future.

Dita von Teese Does Bloomingdale's: The intimate apparel department at the Bloomingdale’s flagship was filled Thursday evening with a mix of curiosity seekers, devotees of retro and fetish-inspired lingerie, and a crush of fans of the boudoir queen of glam, Dita Von Teese. The celebrated burlesque dancer was on hand to launch her first luxury line of lingerie inspired by the Golden Age of Hollywood at Bloomingdale’s, as well as pose with fans for an autographed photo. Von Teese stepped out in a custom-made black evening gown with a cut-out bodice that Zac Posen had designed three days earlier for the occasion. The idea, said Von Teese, was to have a carved out bodice on the gown so she could show off her favorite bra for everyone to see called Her Sexellency — a vintage-looking overwire bra encrusted with elaborate jet beading. “I have an obsession with overwire bras and I collect them. My very first bra was an overwire and I was obsessed about making a modern version of it for my collection,” Von Teese told WWD before the presentation with four retro-styled models. Von Teese said the idea for Posen’s gown for the Bloomingdale’s affair was hatched at a party for Academy Award-winning actor Jared Leto at the Oscars.

Fashion 2.0 Awards Honor Marc Jacobs, ASOS: A full house turned out to fete the industry’s digital leaders at Style Coalition’s fifth annual Fashion 2.0 awards, hosted in partnership with Fashion GPS. “We are at the frontier of a new universe where we're able to communicate and be voyeurs,”Zac Posen said during his keynote speech, adding that he’s “addicted” to social media. “It's up to all of us in the fashion arena to be responsible for how we create the voice and language and how we work in this new universe.” Marc Jacobs and Asos each took home two awards: the former for Best Twitter and Best Instagram and the latter for Best Facebook and biggest honor of the night, Top Innovator. Other winners included Nordstrom for Best Pinterest; Net-a-Porter for Best E-commerce Experience; Chanel for Best Online Video; DKNY draft by DKNY for Best Online Campaign; A custom Apparel for Best Fashion Startup and Nike FuelBand for Best Wearable Tech. Warby Parker co-founders Neil Blumenthal and David Gilboa were presented with the Visionary award and Eva Chen received the Digital Navigator award. The ceremony was held at the Merkin Concert Hall on New York’s Upper West Side.

Currency:

· 1 USD= ₹ 60.822

· 1 EUR= ₹ 83.926

· 1 GBP= ₹ 100.278

· 1 AUD= ₹ 55.185

Glitter Meter: India

	Gold (INR/10g)		Silver (INR/kg)
City	Current	Change	Current	Change
Chennai	29960.00	-60	44615.00	0
Mumbai	29480.00	-60	44615.00	0
Delhi	29240.00	-60	44615.00	0
Kolkata	29360.00	-60	44615.00	0

World Indices:

Exchange	Last	Change
DJIA	16302.77	-28.28
FTSE 100	6557.17	14.73
CAC 40	4335.28	7.37
DAX	9342.94	46.82
Nikkei	14484.06	259.53
Hang Seng	21674.37	237.67
Sensex	21827.50	72.18
NASDAQ	4276.79	-42.50

*Disclaimer:
World One Consulting Pvt Ltd will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information contained within this newsletter including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals.