Daily News Digest- 26th Aug'14

Thought of the Day:

Today in History:

Following made the Headlines:

India:

• Digital India Plan Lacks Specifics, says Khullar: Telecom regulator Rahul Khullar has faulted the Centre's Digital India initiative for lacking specifics, especially on the critical aspect of content development, and called the 2019 deadline to implement the project “ambitious“. “Is it possible to get a birth or a death certificate online in Delhi? If not, what sorts of applications are we really talking about? A lot more thinking and resources must be devoted to flesh out these applications instead of simply calling them e-health or e-education,“ Khullar, chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), said in an interview. If the government doesn't put more thought into content, the private sector, which has raced ahead in developing applications, will in all likelihood “end up being leaders in delivering content to end-consumers“ using the government's broadband network, he said. 1.13 lakh-crore Digital India initiative aims to deliver government services to the common man mainly through applications on mobile phones. The initial announcements, which came after the Cabinet ratified the project last week, spoke about the government delivering health, education, judicial, banking and other social services over a mobile device, but didn't specify who will be responsible for developing content for the applications on various services. Khullar said just announcing a plan wasn't enough as it wasn't an infrastructure project like a Bhakra Nangal Dam for which a team of engineers and architects could draw up a blueprint and execute a plan. “The government needs to set up expert panels across areas of education, medicine, public services, and in whichever field it wants to deliver content. This will have to be a wide-ranging consultative process, without that quality of applications will be in doubt. That, in turn, will affect actual pickup of the service by the end consumer,“ Khullar said. Also, the content has to be in multiple languages to ensure wide adoption. Khullar's comments come just over a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about his vision of a digitally connected India through the Digital India initiative, while delivering his maiden Independence Day speech at Red Fort. The Trai chairman doubted if the government will be able to meet the 2019 timeline, given that backbone for the venture – the National Optic Fibre Network project – is running over three years behind schedule, since being launched under the previous UPA-II government. 

• Warburg Pincus to Invest $200 m in Kalyan Jewellers: |Warburg Pincus is set to invest $200 million in Kalyan Jewellers for a minority stake in Kalyan Jewellers as the appetite for retail gold jewellery franchisee among private equity investors remains undiminished despite regulatory controls and higher import duties. Kalyan Jewellers, one of the largest jewellers in the country, could also become one of the most valued as the deal is likely to value its business at $1.2¬ 1.4 billion. Warburg is set to outbid Singapore-based Temasek, which is the only other PE firm left in the race, a person close to the situation said. TPG Capital, Apax Partners, Blackstone and Bain Capital had dropped out after initial interest. “The negotiation with Warburg Pincus is in final stage and is likely to consummate early next month,“ said a person familiar with the development. “Singapore based Temasek is the only other PE firm left in the race for minority stake in Kalyan Jewellers. However, the US giant has offered better pricing and is set to clinch the deal,“ he added “As a policy Kalyan jewellers does not comment on any market rumours, Ramesh Kalyanaraman, executive director of Kalyan Jewellers, said in response to ET's queries “Warburg Pincus cannot comment,“ said the PE firm spokesperson. “As a matter of policy, Temasek does not comment on market speculation and rumours,“ the Temasek spokesperson said in reply to ET queries. “In this sector, the profit is primarily driven from the making charges, which varies between 5% and 10% of the overall cost of the gold,“ said a person familiar with discussion. “Despite a bull run of over three months, no jewellers listed on Indian bourses are valued above their turnover,“ he added. In the last two years, two leading jewelers, PC Jewellers and Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri, were listed on the Indian bourses. The two company are currently trading at about 60% of their turnover. Kalyan Jewellers has reported a turnover of about 9,400 crore in the last fiscal ending and expects to reach about 15,000 crore in the current fiscal, ending March 2015. The company runs 52 retail stores across the country while six stores are operated in the United Arab Emirates. The private placement will be precursor to its listing on Indian bourses. It plans to expand into Malaysia and Singapore next year in anticipation of a potential listing in 2-3 years. It plans to add 19 more stores in India and in West Asia in the current fiscal.

• SpiceJet Announces Special Limited-period Offers: Rolling out yet another limited period special fares offer, no-frill carrier SpiceJet on Monday announced discounts on one-way all-inclusive fares starting as low as 1,888. The catch is you will have to book your flight by August 27 and travel between September 25 and January 15, an airline spokesperson said, adding the offer is applicable on all direct, via and onward flights on SpiceJet's domestic network. There would be “limited inventory under the offer which will be available on first-come-first served basis and is not applicable on group bookings,“ he said. The airline has also waived off the convenience fee for customers using Internet banking to make payments on its website. The fares charged under the offer would be “nonrefundable and non-changeable, barring the taxes and fees which are refundable, the spokesperson said. 

• Microsoft Ventures Ties Up with Deshpande Foundation: Microsoft Ventures in India on Monday said it has part nered with Deshpande Foundation to launch Sandbox Startups, an incubator focused on nurturing startups in tier two and three cities of India. The Deshpande Foundation, founded by global business leader and philanthropist Gururaj “Desh“ Deshpande and Jaishree Deshpande, has operations in India, Canada and the US. It is focusing its efforts in India on “building an ecosystem“ to nurture Innovative Social Entrepreneurs. The three-year collaboration was formalised with the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding here on August 23, Microsoft Ventures in India said in a release today. Sandbox Startups is aimed at providing a launch pad for aspiring entrepreneurs in tier II and III cities so that they can validate their business ideas, sharpen business acumen and develop products.

• Restaurants at Five-star Hotels Find Few Takers: Restaurants at five-star hotels are no more the big draws they once used to be. Top hotels in India are now opening fewer in-house eating houses, as specialty restaurants mushrooming all across towns, are luring away diners and eating into their revenues. Hotels such as Starwood and Marriott say they are setting up not more than two restaurants each in their upcoming hotels since it’s no longer viable to have more. Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Pune city centre closed its Asian restaurant ‘Red Zen’ recently. For builders like Duet Hotels, which has a tie-up with Intercontinental Hotel Group (IHG) to build Holiday Inn Express hotels in India, banqueting space is much more the need of the hour than a restaurant. “With the proliferation of free-standing restaurants, footfall are much lower for high-end hotels,” says Uttam Dave, a hospitality industry expert. Earlier, it wasn’t uncommon to have five to seven restaurants in five-star hotels. But today, that concept isn’t feasible, he adds. Step out anywhere in South Mumbai or Delhi and you will find a slew of new, high-end restaurants. Non-resident guests who form the back-bone of a hotels’ restaurants (especially specialty restaurants) now find them cumbersome in terms of accessibility, security arrangements, and even, ambience. While hotel chains such as Taj say that footfall at their restaurants such as Machan, Rick’s, House of Ming haven’t gone down, several others say the threat from high-quality standalone restaurants outside is real. Among some of the successful standalone restaurants in India are the Smoke House chain, with presence in Delhi, Mumbai and Chandigarh, Hakkasan, BBar and the Mamagoto chain that operates in Delhi, NCR and Mumbai. Rahul Khanna, co-founder of pan-Asian casual dining chain Mamagoto, sees this as a natural progression as more people get into the restaurant business, including talented chefs who are now willing to take risks with investors backing them. “People are also realising how expensive hotels are and hotels are less imaginative with ideas as they cater to more a generic taste. People want constant novelty and affordable experiences,” he says.In the end though it boils down to viability. “While the cost of operations is very high, the pricing in the hotel restaurant needs to be aligned with standalone restaurants and hence owners are questioning the investment rationale,” says Ashish Jakhanwala, managing director, SAMHI Hotels which builds and owns hotels like Hyatt Place Hotel in Gurgaon and Four Points By Sheraton in Ahmedabad. For these hotels, a single restaurant in addition to a coffee shop is all that is required. Concept restaurants are going out of style for most hotels as younger guests want to go out and try something new. “Local high-quality restaurants are making us reconsider the number of outlets we need to have in our own hotels.

• Premji set to buy 10% in Manipal Edu for Rs.900cr: Shilpa Phadnis & Boby Kurian India's richest tech billionaire and Wipro boss Azim Premji is set to invest Rs 900 crore ($150 million) for over 10% stake in Manipal Global Education Services, people directly familiar with the matter said. PremjiInvest, the proprietary investment fund of the Wipro chairman, is in the final lap of deal making, which could be announced soon.This will be the single largest investment by Premji, 69, with estimated net worth of $16 billion and broader interests in the education sector. Manipal Global, the forprofit education arm of the Bangalore-based Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG), operates a string of overseas campuses stretching from the Caribbean to Malaysia. India's largest education services company also operates test and assessment centres, skills development platforms and employment exchanges. Ranjan Pai-led MEMG consists of Manipal Global Education Services, Manipal Hospitals, stem cell company Stempeutics Research and Manipal Servicecorp Facility Management. PremjiInvest, with a corpus of nearly $1.6 billion, invests in both public and private equity, structured instruments and in real estate, which is typical of the large family offices globally .Three years ago, Premji pledged to donate $2 billion to improve universal education in India. He transferred part of his Wipro shares to Azim Premji Trust, which runs a foundation and a university. Interestingly, this will be Premji's return to Manipal Global after the promoter bought back shares from him and three other investors -IDFC, Capital International and Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy's Catamaran Ventures -for Rs 1,450 crore some 18 months ago. Sources cited earlier said Premji was not a seller but exited along with other investors who wanted to cash out with an 18% annualized return. Senior officials at Manipal Global and Premji Invest declined comment on the story citing a policy of not confirming or denying market speculation. An emailed query to PremjiInvest chief investment officer Prakash Parthasarathy remained unanswered. Manipal Global had a consolidated revenue of Rs 1,170 crore and operating profit of Rs 351 crore in FY13. The financial numbers for the last fiscal could not be obtained immediately. The company operates a string of foreign university campuses in Antigua, Dubai, Malaysia and Nepal. Antigua is among the biggest campuses in the Caribbean.

• Ambani, Premji & Adani part of PM's biz delegation to Japan: The who's who of India Inc will accompany Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his maiden visit to Japan on Saturday. While Modi has visited Brazil for a BRICs summit and neighboring countries like Bhutan and Nepal, this will be his first official visit to a frontline, industrialized nation with which he shares a warm rapport. According to sources, the Prime Minister personally handpicked the dozen-odd industrialists and senior business executives from a list of 50 that had been submitted to him by his office. Forming part of the business delegation are: Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries; Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani Group; Dilip Shanghvi, chairman and managing director of Sun Pharmaceuticals; Azim Premji, chairman of Wipro; Chanda Kochhar, managing director and CEO of ICICI Bank; Shashi Ruia, chairman of Essar Group; S Ramadorai, vicechairman of TCS and an adviser to the Prime Minister in the National Council on Skill Development; Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairman and managing director of Biocon; K Venkataramanan, chief executive officer and managing director of Larsen & Toubro; D K Sarraf, chairman and managing director of ONGC; and Sunil Mittal, chairman and group CEO of Bharti Enterprises. They represent a mix of manufacturing and services with significant representation being given to the technology sector. Modi, who in his Independence Day speech had exhorted the world to come manufacture in India, is obviously keen on attracting serious Japanese investment dollars to the country. The big Japanese car and electronics makers are heavy investors in China and it wouldn't hurt India at all if some of those bulgebracket investments could be persuaded to flow into India.

• Despite bumpy ride, FMCG companies like Dabur, Marico perform well in India compared to outside: Have FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) companies managed to make up for the lacklustre business in India with their presence in international markets? An ET analysis of five leading FMCG companies which have expanded in markets outside India shows that profitability in most cases remains lower abroad than in the country. The Indian market continues to generate higher Ebitda margins despite the ongoing slowdown and high inflation. The companies selected for the analysis include Dabur, Asian Paints, Godrej Consumer Products, Marico and Tata Global Beverages, and the performance of their international business has been derived by isolating the numbers of the standalone business from the total consolidated results. "While international business is not as profitable as the domestic business of Indian FMCG companies, it gives them the much-needed topline growth and also acts as a hedge in the case of any real slowdown in the Indian business," said Suruchi Jain, research analyst with Morningstar Inc. Since the international businesses are acquired in most cases, the inevitable change in the management and strategy leads to some delay in increasing the margins, she added. Marico, in recent quarters, and Dabur, in the quarter to June, have been able to increase the profitability of their international businesses. However, the international businesses of Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL), Asian Paints and Tata Global Beverages have continued to earn lower margins than their domestic businesses. While Marico has managed to improve the profitability of its international business, it has not succeeded in delivering on the topline front. The company plans to reinvest part of the margin expansion into the business by cross-pollinating products across locations. It plans to maintain margins at 14-15% in the long run. Dabur, which earns one-third of its revenues from its overseas business, expects 15% constant currency sales growth (that was seen in the quarter to June) in the international business to continue. Analysts expect the sales traction and profitability of its US based Namaste Labs to improve in second half of the current fiscal.

• PepsiCo chief Indra Nooyi meets Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman: PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi today met Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Officials in the Ministry and spokesperson of the company declined to comment on the agenda of the meeting, which is widely seen as a courtesy call. Nooyi is also expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley during her India visit. Various global corporate biggies have called on Modi and other ministers of the BJP-led NDA government in the recent past. These include Mitsubishi Corp's President and CEO Ken Kobayashi, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Japanese retail giant Uniglo's chairman and CEO Tadashi Yanai and Suzuki Motor Corporation's Chairman and CEO Osamu Suzuki. PepsiCo has been focusing to enhance its presence in India. Last year the company had announced to invest Rs 33,000 crore in India by 2020 to ramp up operations. The company, which has so far invested $2 billion in India since its entry in 1989, plans to strengthen its capability in various strategic areas including innovation, manufacturing, infrastructure and agriculture. India has been one of the top five markets of PepsiCo and it has eight brands which clock turnover of over Rs 1,000 crore in the market. The company has 42 plants across India and apart from cold drinks like Pepsi, 7UP, Mirinda and Mountain Dew, it sells snacks under Lehar, Uncle Chipps and Kurkure brands, among others.

• Karbonn Mobiles expects to go public by 2016: Karbonn Mobiles, the third-largest smartphone maker in India, expects to go public by 2016 as it bets on sales of Android devices made in partnership with Google Inc to boost revenue growth. “Frankly, I’ve been delaying it for the last couple of years because I wanted to know my valuation ... and now my valuation has gone much higher in the last few years,” chairman Sudhir Hasija told Reuters. Hasija said he is waiting for the Android One launch in September—timed with the start of India’s holiday shopping season—to boost revenue growth. The company expects revenue to grow to Rs.80 billionRs.s ($1.32 billion) in the year ending March 2015 from Rs.45 billion a year earlier. “I am almost looking at 20% revenue in two years now from exports to Europe, South Africa and Russia ...,” Hasija said. “Google is also supporting us ... Probably this gives us a very very big leap.” Karbonn currently gets 5-7% of its revenue from exports largely to South Asian markets such as Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Google said in June it was working with three Indian manufacturers to develop a sub-$100 smartphone for the Indian market this fall, getting Android software into the world’s third-largest and fastest-growing mobile markets. As prices fall, manufacturers see huge opportunities for growth as most buyers in India use feature phones and first-time buyers often opt for sub-$200 smartphones. Apart from Karbonn, Google is partnering Micromax Informatics Ltd and Spice Group. Karbonn’s Android phones retail between Rs.2,699 and Rs.14,990.

• Bus Fares to Go Up by Rs. 1 in West Bengal: The Mamata Banerjee government has reluctantly decided to hike bus fares in Bengal. The fares will go up by Rs. 1 at every stage. The minimum fare will now be Rs. 6. The date of implementation of the new fare will be known in the next couple of days. Banerjee, both as a union minister (for railways) and a chief minister, has been unwilling to hike the fare for public transport. It was the threat of a three-day strike by bus-owners from August 20 that forced her hand this time. A strike would have pulled 41,000 buses and mini buses off the roads. Five state transport corporations operate a fleet of just under 2,000 buses in West Bengal. Taxi operators have already been holding wild-cat strikes demanding a fare revision. Bus fares were last raised in 2012.

• AirAsia India starts with a Rs 26 crore loss: AirAsia India, the joint venture of AirAsia Bhd and Tata Sons Ltd, lost Rs.26 crore in quarter ended June and is expected to widen its losses as it expands, according to consulting firm Capa. AirAsia started its first flights in June this year with a Bangalore-Goa-Chennai operations. “The AirAsia Group recorded a MYR13.8 million ($4.3 million) loss in 2Q2014 for AirAsia India, which started operating in June-2014 and currently operates three routes with one A320,” Capa said in a report on Monday. “Larger losses are expected in 2H2014 and in 2015 as the new airline spools up and faces intense competition from the incumbents.” SpiceJet Ltd announced a Rs.124 crore loss in three months ended June. Jet Airways (India) Ltd lost Rs.217.6 crore in the same period. In July, AirAsia chief executive officer Mittu Chandilya had said the airline plans to break even in December. Chandilya didn’t reply to an email seeking comments on Monday.

International:

• Pacific Brands passes Hard Yakka to Wesfarmers after heavy loss: Pacific Brands will offload its workwear division, including King Gee, Stubbies and Hard Yakka, following another year of heavy losses. The troubled group has plunged back into the red with a $224.5 million loss after last year's $73.8 million profit, forcing the company to suspend its full-year dividend. Once an industrial powerhouse, the rapidly shrinking group's results were well received, given its history of underperformance and surprise losses, and investors pushed the stock up 1.75 per cent to 58 cents. The loss was largely in line with a trading update in June, and followed further heavy impairment charges and restructuring costs. But even without those significant items, earnings slid sharply, with profit before interest and tax down 25 per cent to $91.2 million and after tax earnings off 28 per cent to $53 million. In an effort to lift performance, the company will sell its workwear division to Wesfarmers for $180 million, subject to approval from the competition regulator. Given the division is valued in the books at $140 million, the company said it would turn a profit of approximately $35 million on the transaction.

• BWW invests in Rusty Taco: Buffalo Wild Wings said Monday that it has made a majority investment in Dallas-based Rusty Taco Inc., a second foray into diversification beyond the sports-themed chain’s core concept. Golden Valley-based Wild Wings has been wildly successful with its wings, beer and sports format. Indeed, it’s one of the fastest-growing U.S. restaurant companies, this year surpassing the 1,000-outlet mark. Rusty Taco is a tiny chain with nine outlets, including three in the Twin Cities. The taco firm represents a small investment for Wild Wings, and the deal’s price wasn’t disclosed. But Rusty Taco fits right into one of Wild Wings’ key long-term strategies: investing in niche restaurant companies with big potential. “We want to invest in small emerging brands, companies with the desire to grow but maybe not the financial means or expertise to do so,” Wild Wings CEO Sally Smith said in an interview with the Star Tribune. “We are really more of a strategic partner for them.” Wild Wings’ strategy is a low-risk way to diversify, since the company isn’t shelling out big bucks for an established brand. Such deals often present big integration challenges and can lead an acquirer to become distracted from its core brand. Wild Wings’ criteria for its investment candidates include: Their concepts must work nationally, not just regionally, and they should have a fresh and healthy theme. Smith said Wild Wings has “probably looked at 200-plus” restaurant concepts, and plans to invest in up to seven over the next five years or so. The first came last year with a minority investment in Southern California-based PizzaRev. The company is targeting restaurants in the “casual dining” or “fast casual space,” the former referring to chains like Buffalo Wild Wings itself, the latter to concepts like Chipotle or Panera. PizzaRev and Rusty Taco are both fast-casual chains. Rusty Taco has a relatively simple menu of what it calls “street-style tacos” and also serves beer and margaritas. 

• Amazon buys video-game streaming site Twitch: In a surprise move, Amazon has bought video-game streaming service Twitch for $970m (£585m). Earlier in the year, Google's YouTube had been reported to be in late-stage acquisition talks for a similar amount. Founded in 2011, Twitch - formerly known as Twitch.tv - allows users to watch other people play video games. As of July of this year, the service had over 55 million unique monthly viewers. "Broadcasting and watching gameplay is a global phenomenon and Twitch has built a platform that brings together tens of millions of people who watch billions of minutes of games each month," said Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos in a statement. "We look forward to learning from them and helping them move even faster to build new services for the gaming community," he added.

• Australian airlines approve phone use on flights: Travellers on Qantas and Virgin Australia will be able to use their mobile phones and other electronic devices during flights from today. The new rule applies to international and domestic passengers flying the two Australian airlines. It will affect tablets, e-readers and small game consoles, as well as smartphones. Passengers were previously asked to switch off these types of devices during flights for safety reasons. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) said it approved applications from both Australian airlines late on Monday. Some airlines in the United States, Europe and New Zealand already allow passengers to keep their phones on during flights

• Burger King in takeover talks with Tim Hortons: Burger King has said it is in takeover talks with Tim Hortons, the Canadian coffee and doughnut chain. A merger would create the world's third-largest fast-food combine, one with a stock market value of about $18bn (£10.9bn; 13.6bn euros). In early US stock market trading on Monday, Burger King's shares were up by 15%, and those in Tim Hortons by 19%. The firms have said that any new group would have its HQ in Canada, where corporate taxes are lower. These so-called "tax inversion" deals are attracting increasing criticism in the US, where President Barack Obama is understood to be looking at how they can be prevented in future. The US corporate tax rate is 35%, but 26.5% in Ontario, Canada, where Tim Hortons is based.

• Special Report: Boomers, the Neglected Market: Ignore the Baby Boomers at your peril. Just look at the numbers: The demographic covers 77 million people in the U.S. alone; an American turns 50 every seven seconds, which is equivalent to more than 12,500 people every day, and the senior age group is, for the first time, the largest in terms of size and percent of the population — and by the year 2015, those age 50 and up will account for 45 percent of the U.S. population, according to statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau and AARP. The amount of money this age group controls is staggering: 

1. The 55-plus age group controls over three-fourths of America’s wealth, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers. Baby Boomers outspend other generations by approximately $400 billion each year on consumer goods and services, according to the U.S. Government Consumer Expenditure Survey. 
2. Baby Boomers account for about $230 billion, or 55 percent, of consumer packaged goods sales, according to Nielsen. 
3. Boomers outspend younger adults online 2 to 1 on a per-capita basis, according to Forrester Research. 
4. Women over 50 spend $21 billion on clothes annually, according to the U.S. Government Consumer Expenditure Survey. 
5. With all that wealth, why are so many brands and retailers ignoring them to focus on Millennials — the children of the Boomers who are ages 18 to 33? “There’s no question that brands tend to focus on young people,” said Tim Calkins, clinical professor of marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. “Fashion is so much about the new and the young.There are a huge number of people who have a lot of money to spend, but the brands aren’t talking to them directly. Brands sometime get nervous that if they reach out to middle-aged people, people will think they’re a middle-aged brand.” So brands aggressively target young people — even though they don’t have significant disposable income. “It’s one of the great branding puzzles,” he said. “How do you reach Baby Boomers without seeming like an aging brand? The sweet spot is to feel like a young brand, while at the same time being relevant for a Baby Boomer target. But it’s a real challenge.”

• Hudson's Bay Co. Appoints John Caplice: Hudson’s Bay Co. on Monday named John Caplice senior vice president, treasury and investor relations. Caplice succeeds Lucas Evans, who has been appointed senior vice president of corporate development. From 2000 to 2014, Caplice was senior vice president, treasurer and investor relations at Shoppers Drug Mart Corp., Canada’s largest retail drugstore chain. “With his strong track record of success and experience in the retail sector, John will be an integral part of our senior management team as we continue to expand in North America and drive forward our goals for continued growth and innovation,” said Richard Baker, HBC’s chairman and chief executive officer. Caplice will be based in Toronto, where HBC is headquartered, and will report to Paul Beesley, chief financial officer.

• Auchan Donates $1.5 million to Rana Plaza: Sixteen months after the collapse of Rana Plaza, French retail group Auchan has decided to contribute $1.5 million to the Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund. Although the group insists that it never commissioned any work from the ill-fated commercial building, a spokesman for the brand said: “We have been present in Bangladesh for many years. The donation is a way for us to show our solidarity with the victims and their families.” The building, built on swampy ground outside of Dhaka, collapsed on April 24, 2013, killing more than 1,130 people and injuring more than 1,800. The Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund was established in January and is managed by the International Labor Organization. Among the companies that have already contributed to the fund are H&M Conscious Foundation, Mango, Primark and El Corte Inglés.

Tech:

• No Longer Classified: Online Ads Pop up on Rival Sites: If you have posted an online ad to sell a used teak cot or rent out a property recently, you may be among the many surprised to find it appear mysteriously on other classifieds portals. This is because players in the fast-growing online classifieds industry are freely `borrowing' listings from rival sites in a bid to become the largest in their categories and attract funding. Only a few take consent of advertisers. Players in the 2,400-crore Indian online classifieds market confirm this trend. “Not only small classifieds but large online classifieds players are also resorting to this practice. Our users are often called by other websites and have complained to us of the same,“ said Kamayani Singh, communications and social media manager for OLX India, which is 100% owned by South Africa's Naspers Group. ET verified this trend by posting a real estate ad on a platform. Soon it was contacted by at least two startups seeking more information. One was Zamoona, a young real-estate classifieds startup. “We do take consent from people before posting ads online on our platform which caters to only premium listings across Delhi NCR,“ said Anant Goel, an INSEAD graduate who cofounded Zamoona last year. Zamoona doesn't have on-ground sales staff. It has a four-member tele-calling team which scouts for premium listings across other platforms. “However, our USP is that we never share contact information of either buyer or seller. We connect them on calls via our cloud technologies,“ said Goel. The trend of replicating advertiser information is rampant across industries. According to IAMAI, jobs is the largest category in online classifieds market constituting about 60% of the market share followed by matrimony (22%), B2B classifieds (13%) and real estate 7%. “Startups should certainly verify with an advertiser if she wants her ad to be placed on their website,“ said Sumit Jain, cofounder and CEO of CommonFloor.com, a property portal funded by Tiger Global and Accel Partners.

• Android One Set for India Debut in Sept: Android One, the Google project that promises rich smartphone experience on low-cost devices, faces its first big test when Micromax, Karbonn and Spice launch products based on it in India early next month. The three Indian manufactures are set to price the handsets between 7,000 and 10,000, which is higher than the initially expected sub-$100 6,000) tag. At this price, these devices ¬ at least one each initially from the vendors¬ would give the same experience of using products in the mid-to-high price range, people familiar with the products told ET. Google is expected to roll out similar handsets in other emerging markets depending on consumer response in India. The success of Android One is critical for Google as it would help the company bring in new users to its Android platform, especially at a time when the market share of the most popular mobile operating system could hit a plateau globally. Google didn't respond to emailed questions. Micromax, Karbonn and Spice declined comment. One of the people directly involved in the development of the smartphones said the prices have gone higher than the initially planned sub-$100 because Google intends to offer better features and apps. “Android One is setting minimum hard ware and software standards for the three vendors, who are adding or improving upon them in future devices under the Android One umbrella,“ this person said. The decision on final pricing of the devices is left to the local handset makers who can choose their addressable market segments while competing in the thriving Indian smartphone market which is set to double to more than 80 million devices this year. To ensure product quality and final consumer experience, Google is working closely with the companies to develop the handsets and specify compatible components that local handset makers would have to incorporate from original design manufacturers in China, according to people privy to the contours of the talks between the vendors and the US company.

• Land Rover to Develop Intelligent Self-learning Car: Researchers at Tata group's flagship Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) are pioneering a cutting-edge technology to develop an intelligent self-learning vehicle that will offer a personalised driving experience and help prevent accidents by reducing driver distraction.Using artificial intelligence techniques, Jaguar Land Rover self-learning car will offer a comprehensive array of services to the driver, courtesy of a new learning algorithm that recognises who is in the car and learns their preferences and driving style, the company said.The software then applies this learning by using a range of variables including a personalised calendar, the time of day, traffic conditions, and the weather to predict driver behaviour and take over multiple daily driving chores, subsequently allowing the driver to better concentrate on the road ahead, it added.The features of the self-learning car comprises of vehicle personalisation, destination prediction, fuel assist, predictive call, passenger awareness, intelligent notifications, and auto adaptive cruise control, among others.

• Intex Plans to Launch More Affordable Devices in a Year: Intex Technologies, which launched India's and possibly the world's cheapest smartphone on Monday, will introduce three more devices on the Firefox platform within the next 12 months, including a 3G Firefox phone by December. Intex, US-headquartered Mozilla Corp's second Indian partner in mobile phones, will launch a 3G Firefox device for under 4,000 by December, said its business head for mobile phones, Sanjay Kumar Kalirona. Other models with bigger screens will follow, he added. Separately, Jane Hsu, director of product marketing at Mozilla's mobile devices group, told ET that the company will increase its reach in the Indian market through tie-ups with larger local brands such as Micromax, Karbonn and Lava. Mozilla expects one such deal to close by mid-September. “We're launching more devices... See if we can close the deal before midSeptember,“ Hsu said. “We're open to working with all brands willing to work with Firefox OS“. The Intex Cloud FX, priced 1,999, is available on snapdeal.com. It follows handset maker Spice's launch of a Firefox-based smartphone for 2,299 in the domestic market last week. Spice's device goes on sale on the same website on August 29. Hsu said Mozilla will have to adopt a different strategy in India, where consumers prefer purchasing phones, calling plans and data plans separately. A year ago, the company had launched Firefoxbased devices in Latin America, eastern and southern Europe, where phones are sold bundled with calling plans. In India, Mozilla is banking on firsttime smartphone users--who account for 70% of the country's 900 million mobile phone subscriber base--for sales of its Firefox-based phones. “It's harder to convince users who are already using smartphones,“ Hsu said. The company is touting pricing and simplicity of its operating system as the attractive selling points.

• Evernote Scouts for Indian Tech Partners: Silicon Valley start-up Evernote is scouting for partnerships in India as the note-taking app maker prepares to open its first office in its third fastest growing market after the US and China. On his maiden India visit, Evernote chief strategy officer Ken Gullicksen told ET that the company is in talks with Indian software makers to forge strategic alliances. “We are looking at increasing our investment in India,“ Gullicksen said. “We are doing a lot of research into looking at the best way to increase our investment in India.“ The company said it could follow its global model of telecom operator tie-ups in India along with partnerships with app developers.“In India, we are also looking at some non-conventional partnerships,“ Gullicksen told ET. “We are working on a couple of ideas in India, which would be first launched in India and where people would be like `oh wow we never thought of that',“ he said. In September last year, the company partnered with 3M to turn handwritten Post-It Notes into digital notes that can be saved, shared or viewed from anywhere. Gullicksen said the company is looking at similar unconventional partnerships in India. Evernote already has OEM partnerships with Spice Mobile, Micromax and Panasonic in India. With this partnership, certain devices manufactured by these companies come bundled with three months free subscription of Evernote, which costs about $15. The company has also partnered with Bangalore-based Innoz technology, which lets users access the web apps using just SMS and CloudMagic, a cloud-based offline search engine.

• Textiles Ministry, Flipkart Join Hands to set up Weaver Platform: The textiles ministry on Monday inked a pact with e-retailing major Flipkart to provide an online marketing platform to handloom weavers, an initiative to boost the handloom sector, empower the weavers and uplift manufacturing in the country. Textiles secretary SK Panda said, “What we are starting now is only on a pilot basis, nobody is compelled to sell only to a particular agency. Our aim is to eliminate middlemen, assist the master weaver... After three to six months we will go for bidding”. Textiles minister Santosh Gangwar, who was present on the occasion, emphasised that the focus of this association should be to help weavers and weaver entrepreneurs to produce products in tune with the buyer requirements and grow them significantly so that they may become manufacturers not only at a local but also at a national level.

• Ecomm still alien concept in Pakistan, says Ahmed H Khan, MD, Rocket Internet: Germany-based Rocket Internet is becoming active in Asia's ecommerce industry. While in India, it runs its fashion e-tailing brand Jabong, from Pakistan it operates Kaymu, which also serves countries such as Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Myanmar. Ecommerce is still a relatively alien concept in Pakistan, but the idea is catching on now. When we launched our venture Kaymu.pk in Pakistan a year ago, awareness was a significant challenge as very few online platforms were operating. Lack of trust while shopping online is a major factor. Most people do not have access to credit or debit cards or do not want to use plastic money for shopping online. Owing to security concerns, majority of ecommerce companies like Kaymu have adopted the 'cash on delivery' model here.

• Max Fashions may sign exclusive deal with Flipkart or Amazon: Private label clothing chain Max Fashions is planning to sign an exclusive deal with either Flipkart or Amazon to sell online, becoming the latest brand to tap an increasingly popular channel of shopping. Over the past year, brands in various businesses including fashion, mobile phones and tablets have been signing up with the likes of Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal to boost sales, as shoppers are flocking to e-commerce sites, primarily because of attractive discounts. Clothing brands, especially, are embracing e-commerce. Last week Arvind Ltd, which owns brands such as Flying Machine and Excalibur, said it would launch its own e-commerce site over the next year. Max Fashions will sign a deal within the next month and sell online only through that e-commerce platform, executive director Vasanth Kumar said in an interview. “We will go online through a marketplace, either Flipkart or Amazon. We will have an agreement with one marketplace that will include terms on pricing. I can’t stop them discounting, but I can control it to some extent,” Kumar said. “As long as you are associated with one of the top two you’ll reach most places. If you go to multiple platforms you’re adding more complexity in your business. We are also not interested in opening our own site.” Max Fashions, owned by the Dubai-based Landmark Group, has helped its owner show strong results in India over the past two years despite a drop in sales growth at its Lifestyle department store chain. Slowing economic growth and rising product prices forced shoppers to curb spending on apparel, especially the pricier variety. Many shoppers have shifted some of their apparel spending to cheaper retailers such as Max Fashions and Reliance Trends, which have improved their product assortment and marketed themselves as “affordable fashion” peddlers. Max and Reliance are often referred to as “value fashion” retailers that sell products priced anywhere between Rs.150 to Rs.1,200.

• HubSpot Files For $100 Million IPO: HubSpot, the Massachusetts-based online marketing software company, has filed paperwork to go public in an IPO that could raise up to $100 million. According to HubSpot’s S-1 document, the company currently has more than 11,000 customers in 70+ countries. HubSpot also reports that it has 719 full-time employees, with its headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and additional offices in Dublin and Sydney. HubSpot offers marketing services that are aimed at mid-sized businesses, which it defines as having between 10 and 2,000 employees. It offers marketing tools that include blogging, social media publishing and monitoring, marketing automation and analytics. In a survey that we conducted late last year, HubSpot was the third most-recognized marketing technology brand, behind Google and Moz and ahead of SalesForce, Adobe and others. The S-1 reveals that HubSpot had a net loss of $34.3 million in 2013 and $17.7 million during the first half of this year. The company reports an accumulated deficit of $123.8 million as of June 30, 2014. Total revenue was $77.6 million in 2013. Revenues for the first half of this year were $51.3 million, up from $35.1 million in the first half of 2013. The company plans to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol HUBS. Although the initial S-1 refers to a $100 million offering, the actual size of the IPO could be different. The company was founded in 2006 by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah, currently the company’s CEO and CTO, respectively.

• From Bytes to Bites - Online Grocery Shopping on the Rise in India: The Indian e-commerce space is getting increasingly competitive, as consolidation and huge investments are tying up the mature business verticals like electronics, books, apparel and toys. With Amazon and Flipkart growing rapidly, more and more companies are starting to look in new directions for growth - and this isn't just limited to startups. Tradus, which was regarded as a popular electronics marketplace not too long ago, recently shifted its focus towards food and groceries. After a merger with Myntra was announced, Flipkart raised a record $1 billion in funding. Amazon responded by announcing an additional in India and addedfive new fulfilment centres in India. At the same time, Flipkart has introduced features like scheduled deliveries that could be useful if you are ordering from home and don't want your package to arrive when you're at office, and thanks to tie-ups with brands like Motorola and Xiaomi, the online retailer has secured several exclusive, high profile launches which garnered a lot of attention - even if it was not all positive.

• Nexus X Benchmarks “Confirms” Android L To Be Android 5.0: Android 4.0 was Ice Cream Sandwich and many had expected Google to jump to Android 5.0 with Jelly Bean. Instead Jelly Bean was introduced in Android 4.1, which was then followed by Android KitKat at version 4.4. This undoubtedly threw off some predictions and had us wondering which version of Android will Android L be? Well according to a recent post by TK Tech News, it has been “confirmed” in several screenshots that the next build of Android will be Android 5.0. The screenshots are allegedly that of the upcoming Nexus X handset by Motorola which revealed some of the handset’s hardware as well. According to the screenshots of the benchmark, it shows that the handset will be packing a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 quad-core chipset clocked at 2.7GHz. It will be accompanied by 3GB of RAM and will also feature a 13MP rear-facing camera. However despite the faster and newer processor, its benchmark scores don’t seem particularly high. It has been speculated that this is because of the new build of Android which might not have been fully tweaked and optimized yet. Either way take it with a grain of salt for now (at least as far as the specs are concerned), but what do you guys make of it? Anyone else looking forward to Android 5.0 and the Nexus X?