Daily News Digest- 15th Sept'14

Thought of the Day:

Today in History:

Following made the Headlines:

India:

• Sitting in India, These Bosses have the World at Their Feet: Late last year, soon after Atul Singh was elevated as Coca-Cola's group president for Asia, he remarked at a celebratory party to friends and family: “This is not my farewell from India. China is barely five hours away.“ Singh's new role meant he was overseeing 21 markets, including China. But Singh didn't have to go through the tedious process of relocating bag and baggage to another country. Meanwhile, ad man Prasoon Joshi's decision to continue operating out of Mumbai isn't just because of his “love for the country“. “Diversity in management is becoming very important for global firms,“ said Joshi, who was named chairman of ad agency network McCann Worldgroup's Asia-Pacific region, which includes Greater China and Australia, late last week. “I have learnt and continue to learn so much from the cultural nuances of small-town India ¬ I would want my clients and team to continue to benefit from that,“ he said. Singh and Joshi are not alone. The growing league of highfliers choosing to stay put in India after landing plum global roles include Reckitt Benckiser's Chander M Sethi, Abheek Singhi of Boston Consulting Group, Group M's Vikram Sakhuja, Whirlpool's Arvind Uppal, Adobe's Naresh Gupta and Dheeraj Sinha of Grey. Their reasons range from personal ones to India being a key emerging growth hub and geographical convenience. For Singhi, senior partner and director, Boston Consulting Group, and leader of its consumer and retail practice in Asia Pacific, it was a mix of professional and personal reasons that kept him back. Singhi was elevated to the new role one and a half years ago. His travel schedule is packed with monthly trips to Hong Kong, Bangkok, Seoul and Japan. “You need to get used to doing calls across different time zones ¬ installing video equipment and soundproofing a room in the house would help,“ he said with a smile. Four-hour sleep cycles, going to meetings straight from the airport and queuing up for a new passport when the pages run out because of all the visa stamps are a small price to pay for him. The other compelling reason is the importance India commands on the global business map. “With India and China emerging as nodal points of the world economy and almost half the world's population centred in Asia, India offers a great vantage point as an operational hub for global CEOs,“ said CocaCola vice president for human resources, Sameer Wadhawan.

• Hotels Go All Out to Woo Bizwomen: Businesswomen are one of the fastest-growing traveller segments. With this potential, hotel chains are leaving no stone unturned to attract and retain the loyalty of female business travellers who are moving up the career ladder and now travel more often. While luxury chain ITC Hotels was the first to conceptualise Eva rooms exclusively for women travellers in the 1990s, the concept has evolved from being just a room category at ITC Maurya in New Delhi to a dedicated wing and floor in ITC hotels across the country. Early this year, ITC Maratha in Mumbai revamped the women-only floor to incorporate new design elements and introduced workout options such as Steppers within these rooms. “The endeavour is aimed at going beyond the expected and ordinary to cater to the ‘unspoken needs’ of this segment,” says Dipak Haksar, chief operating officer of ITC Hotels. The hotel chain’s upcoming property, ITC Grand Bharat at Manesar near Gurgaon, has special packages on golf, yoga, spa, beauty treatments and culinary classes crafted for women travellers. Other hotel chains are now also adopting the trend of women-only floors and introducing newer and customised services for this segment. “Travel packages for women have been there for years and it's the same everywhere. But those can't work anymore as the female travellers have evolved and their needs are changing,“ says Louis Sailer, general manager of The Leela Palace New Delhi. The luxury hotel has crafted a new package for single lady travellers, which includes an array of services such as dedicated female housekeepers, butlers, concierges and personal shopping assistants and tour guides along with access to a personal chef who curates personalised menus during their stay. “We spent months to refine our offerings and came up with the new one, which includes preferences of women travellers from across the globe,“ says Sailer. With business from women travellers growing by 50% every year, hotels say this segment cannot be ignored. “Once a single lady traveller stays at the hotel and is comfortable with the personalisation and environment, then she is a 100% repeat customer to the hotel,“ says Saji Joseph, general manager at the Le Meridien in Kochi. Some hotels are designing areas specifically for women travellers.

• Delhi Company Gets NOC to Launch Cargo Airline: At least three food companies are introducing chocolate bread spreads in the domestic market, in what could be a sign of urban India’s desire for change on the breakfast table. Mapro, Dukes and Finetti will bring out their own line of Ferrero India’s Nutellalike chocolate spreads this month, challenging the dominance of fruit preserves that have found favor with consumers for ages. “Consumption growth of jams is on a decline and chocolate spread, although on a small base, is rising steadily,” said Mapro Foods director Nikunj Vora. “The trigger to launch the product has been customer or demand driven, instead of the usual trend of companies bringing out products and expecting it to sell.” Food marketers, however, will not be touting any health benefits of chocolate spreads; they will only be hoping to cash in on the growing use of chocolate as an accompaniment. “While chocolates have always been liked by kids, it has now found accept segment by creating the necessary infrastructure. “There should be infrastructure in place to allow swift movement of cargo at airports across the country and last-mile connectivity for these goods,“ said Vishwas Udgirkar, senior director for Deloitte in India. There are many companies in India that are dealing in high-value and low-weight products like mobile phones and they would prefer to transport their products through air cargo, he said. “These companies are ready to pay a premium, if it assures quicker transport of their goods.“ The aviation ministry official said civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati believes that Indian carriers do not have much of a say in the air-cargo segment in the country. “The minister wants the Indian carriers to carry a large amount of cargo from India and wants more and more cargo airlines to start and this approval is a step towards that direction,“ said the official. Indian operators do not have a strong presence in carrying cargo from India. International carriers account for about 80% of the cargo business out of India.

• Airbus to Maintain Vistara Fleet; AirWorks May Get MRO: The Tata-Singapore Airlines venture Vistara has outsourced its engineering support services to original equipment maker Airbus and is also negotiating with homegrown AirWorks for maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) of its fleet, sources close to the development said on Sunday. The full service carrier, which was earlier expected to take wings by the middle of next month, may now take a couple of months to launch its operations due to pending technical regulatory approvals.

• Taxi Cos Escalate Price War, Customers Win: The fight to win over the Indian taxi passenger has intensified with aggregator Olacabs and cab hailing app Uber slashing prices by a fourth in Delhi--a development that is likely to force rivals to follow suit. While Ola has cut rates in its lower-end car business--Ola mini--to 10 km, Uber has cut prices for its premium segment Uber BLACK. Separately, the San Francisco-based taxi hailing app also announced that it will be launching its affordable ride service UberX in three more Indian cities: Mumbai, Chennai and Pune. “We are pushing our efficiency system to the maximum,“ said Shailesh Sawlani, general manager of Uber in Mumbai. “We see this as a daily commute option for our riders and plan to maintain these prices if customers ride with us as much as we anticipate.“ UberX Mumbai fares are 15 km with a minimum base fare of 50 and total minimum fare of 125. The latest moves come after Uber cut its prices in Bangalore by 25% last month. Ola also reduced fares to Rs10km for its Ola Mini service in the Garden City. “We have been able to optimise our inventory,“ said Pranay Jivrajka, vice president of operations at Olacabs. According to industry estimates, taxi companies are struggling to keep pace with the rising demand and on average cannot accommodate a fifth of the bookings. To address this problem Ola said it will increase the number of cabs available on its mobile app by about 35% to 3,200 in Delhi alone. Ola's total fleet size is about 15,000. “These price cuts are just a starting point to acquire customers and establishing the brand image till the time you hit a critical mass,“ said Arvind Singhal, chairman of Technopak. “At 10km Ola is making losses on each Ola Mini ride,“ said a source directly familiar with the matter. Same is the case with Uber, according to another source. Uber's price drop in Bangalore is, however, for a limited duration. The company has not specified the timeframe. Other competitors like TaxiForSure are focussing on discount codes to expand the customer base instead of cutting prices. “We keep doing event-related promotions and offer discount vouchers from time to time,“ said Aprameya Radhakrishna, founder and chief executive of TaxiForSure.

• Nitesh Estates to buy Pune mall for Rs 300cr: Southern developer Nitesh Estates, which built India's first Ritz Carlton hotel, has bought Israeli billionaire Mordechai Zisser's 1million-sq-ft Plaza Centre Mall in Pune for Rs 300 crore, according to at least three sources aware of the matter. Zisser's diversified conglomerate Elbit Imaging Group, through its subsidiary Plaza Centers, operates a global portfolio of 37 retail assets in Central and Eastern Europe and India, under the same brand. The acquisition of the Pune project, spread over 6.5 acres in Koregoan Park, by Nitesh Estates marks Elbit's exit from retail in India after having invested in prime land parcels prior to the 2008 meltdown. Global consultancy firm JLL India was the adviser to the deal, which also included a 100,000-sqft commercial space and land for future development. Amar chand Mangaldas and J Sagar were the legal advisers to the transaction, which will be formally announced in the coming weeks. Nitesh Shetty, the 37-yearold founder of the Bangalore-based property firm, muscled out other bidders Panchshil Realty and global investor Xander's retail arm Virtuous Retail.

• Reliance Brands to partner luxury fashion brands: Darshan Mehta, CEO: Reliance Brands, a unit of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries, plans to bring in more international fashion brands into the country through alliances and will focus on all things fashion except jewellery, Darshan Mehta, its president and CEO, says. The company, which currently has partnerships with 14 premium brands including Steve Madden, Paul and Shark and the recent BCBG Max Azaria, will leverage its strength and expertise in IT, human resources and real estate to bring in more brands to cater to the country's rising appetite for premium products. Reliance Brands next plans to take up the beauty products segment where it still has no partner

• ISL finds it difficult to score with advertisers: The Indian Super League (ISL) football tournament that gets off the ground on 12 October is struggling to close sponsorship deals owing to high rates. The private league with 8 franchises is owned by IMG Reliance—a joint venture between Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd and IMG, a global sports, fashion and media business—and Rupert Murdoch’s Star India Pvt. Ltd. For the first season, IMG Reliance is offering the property for a premium—at between Rs.8 crore and Rs.10 crore for associate sponsorships. Although two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp Ltd has signed up as the title sponsor for ISL, most of the associate sponsorship slots are still vacant. According to a person familiar with the advertising deal, Hero has paid Rs.60-65 crore for a three-year period. The person declined to be named. There are six associate sponsorships up for grabs for a price of Rs.8-10 crore each, said two people involved with the management of the league. So far, German sportswear maker Puma Sports India Pvt. Ltd has confirmed its association with the tournament. Finance company Muthoot Finance Ltd and beverage firm Coca-Cola India are also said to be negotiating for associate sponsorship deals, one of the two people familiar with the development said. While Coca-Cola confirmed it was in talks with ISL, Muthoot’s interest in the league could not be independently verified.

International:

• LVMH's TAG Heuer has plans for smartwatch: French luxury group LVMH's watch brand TAG Heuer has plans to launch its own smartwatch, the head of its watch business told a Swiss newspaper. "We want to launch a smartwatch at TAG Heuer, but it must not copy the Apple Watch," Jean-Claude Biver told a Sunday newspaper. Switzerland's watch industry is facing competition from smartwatches that allow its wearers to make calls, receive messages or monitor their fitness by connecting to their smartphone. "We cannot afford to just follow in sombody else's footsteps," Biver said, adding the Swiss watch industry would present smartwatches at the latest at the Basel watch fair next spring. He did not give further details on the planned smartwatch. Biver and TAG Heuer could not immediately be reached for comment. Apple which has so far been absent from the smartwatch market, unveiled its Apple Watch last week. LVMH's biggest watch brand, TAG Heuer, which also makes the luxury smartphone Meridiist, said last year it had made a one-off smartwatch for members of the Oracle sailing team.

• Indian funds, HNIs eye slice of Alibaba mega IPO: High-net worth individuals and domestic funds from India are eyeing a slice of the much- touted mega IPO of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, which looking to raise an eye-popping $21.1 billion. Alibaba, founded by Chinese entrepreneur Jack Ma in his apartment, has garnered huge investor interest and appears set to exceed Visa Inc's $19.7 billion IPO in 2008, the biggest US initial offering to date. HNIs and fund managers in India have sounded out homegrown brokers to place orders with foreign financial partners to enable transactions when the IPO opens which could be as soon as next week, senior executives at various investment banking and brokerage firms said. Alibaba and shareholders are offering over 32 crore American depositary shares, valuing the company at more than $160 billion. While US underwriters for a big issue give priority to large clients, many HNIs and funds are making all efforts to get some shares in the IPO. The highly anticipated IPO of Alibaba, which runs Internet-based e-commerce businesses including B2B online web portals, is seeing robust global interest in line with Facebook Inc's IPO -- the biggest tech public offering so far. Alibaba stock will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BABA. With most big IPOs seeing a decent pop on debut, investors are keen on getting some shares of Alibaba even if at higher end of price band ($66/share). Indian investors can invest in Alibaba IPO via overseas trading accounts and some brokerages offer the facility to invest in various stocks that are traded on US exchanges, added market sources.

• Tesco seeks ingredient to be Britain's best-loved grocer again: Standing with bags of groceries outside discount store Lidl in Thetford, eastern England, Jodie McGloughlin explains simply why she turned her back on Britain's biggest retailer - its high prices. "With Tesco.. all them pounds add up," the 22-year-old mum says. "I think that's what people notice." Tesco has issued three profit warnings in two and a half years as McGloughlin and other former customers depart for discount rivals Aldi and Lidl. It has spent more than 1 billion pounds ($1.62 billion) to try to win them back with better-looking stores and product promotions but industry experts say the nation's former favorite has a more fundamental problem to fix - that of shoppers' emotional response to it. "People no longer feel that Tesco is on their side," said Marc Cave, who worked with the retailer for nearly ten years during its heyday. "We, the British public, just don't like it anymore. It's a cold, commercial monolith." The world's third largest retailer is in part a victim of its own success. Founded in 1919 as a market stall in London's East End where Jack Cohen could "pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap", Tesco grew fast in the 1990s by expanding its range from basic food products at one end to "Finest" top of the range meals at the other - in the process more than doubling its market share.

• Heineken rejects takeover offer from SABMiller: Dutch brewing giant Heineken has rejected a takeover offer from London brewer SABMiller saying the proposal is "non-actionable". Heineken said it had "consulted with its majority shareholder" before rejecting the approach. It said the Heineken family, the founding family which still owns half of the firm, wanted to preserve the firm as "an independent company". Heineken said it was confident it would continue to grow. "The Heineken family and Heineken N.V.'s management are confident that the company will continue to deliver growth and shareholder value," it added. The founding Heineken family owns just over 50% of the brewer via Heineken Holding. A further 12% is owned by Mexico's FEMSA.

• US retail sales driven by car buying and health spending: US retail sales rose by 0.6% in August, compared with the previous month, driven by car purchases, the US Commerce Department said. On a yearly basis, they rose by 5%. Increases in spending came from car sales, up 9.5% from August 2013, and healthcare stores, up 8.1% from last year. Retail sales account for 70% of the US economy and analysts said the figures pointed to stronger overall economic growth. "With further jobs gains, rises in income growth and a loosening in credit conditions in the pipeline, consumption growth should strengthen in the fourth quarter and in to next year too," said Paul Dales, US economist at Capital Economics. July's figure was revised upwards to a 0.3% rise.

• Neiman Marcus Acquires Mytheresa.com: In a rare acquisition move and a bold expansion into global retailing, the Neiman Marcus Group has agreed to purchase the Munich-based Mytheresa.com online luxury business from founders Christoph and Susanne Botschen and Acton Capital Partners, WWD has learned. In addition, NMG will acquire the Theresa flagship store, located in the heart of Munich, from the Botschen family. Neiman’s declined to disclose the purchase price, though it’s expected to be revealed Wednesday, when the retailer reports its fiscal year-end results. “We are beyond excited about this,” Karen Katz, the president and chief executive officer of the Neiman Marcus Group, told WWD. “This acquisition is an important component of our long-range strategy to more broadly serve affluent customers around the world. Mytheresa has a very nice foothold in Europe and a developing foothold in Asia. We’ll probably close the deal at the end of October.” The acquisition is the second big growth maneuver unveiled by Neiman’s in two weeks, following the disclosure that the company will open, in 2018, its first Manhattan store, being developed on the West Side in Hudson Yards.  The Mytheresa.com deal happened fast, in just about four months, and was signed last Friday. In agreeing to acquire the company, NMG will now go head-to-head with similar global online retailers, such as Net-a-Porter, Matchesfashion.com and The Corner, the full-price designer online business of Yoox Group.

• Cherokee Q2 Grows Despite Weakness at Target: Growth in international markets and from the acquisition of the Tony Hawk brand helped Cherokee Inc. offset declines in business with Target Corp.’s U.S. stores and post double-digit increases in profits and sales in the second quarter. Sales of Cherokee products at Target’s U.S. stores fell 6.8 percent during the second quarter and were down 4.6 percent during the first half. Henry Stupp, chief executive officer of the Sherman Oaks, Calif.-based brand management firm, said Target in the U.S. “continues to experience some lingering effects of the data breach that occurred during December of 2013. While foot traffic is improving, it has not yet returned to prior levels.” However, he said that much of the decrease in the last quarter was caused by a planned reduction of inventory at Target’s U.S. stores and that sales results have improved recently as inventory levels have risen. Meanwhile, the company is seeing growth in its Cherokee business with Target’s Canadian stores, and Stupp said he was optimistic about the strategies recently outlined by new management, both corporate ceo Brian Cornell and Mark Schindele, who last month was named president of Target Canada. Stupp said Cornell’s recent endorsement of an emphasis on nongrocery businesses, including apparel and maternity, was a promising development for Cherokee’s business with the retailer, as were recent moves at Target Canada to lower prices, fine-tune inventory systems and expand assortments. “Overall, we’re confident Target is going to have a strong back half of the year,” he told analysts during a conference call to discuss the results. “I think they’ve made a lot of positive changes.” Cherokee’s sales in Target’s Canadian stores rose 48 percent during the second quarter and have more than doubled year-to-date.

• Kimberly Ross Stepping Down as Avon CFO: Kimberly Ross has resigned as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Avon Products Inc. after three years with the direct-marketing beauty firm. Her resignation is effective Oct. 2, at which time Robert Loughran, vice president and corporate controller of the company, will become acting cfo while the company searches for a new permanent cfo. Ross joined Avon in 2011 in her current post after 10 years at Royal Ahold, the Netherlands-based operator of supermarkets and other retail stores. She was executive vice president and cfo of Royal Ahold at the time of her departure for Avon. “Kimberly has been a strong leader for Avon over the past three years,” Sheri McCoy, Avon’s chief executive officer, said. “I appreciate her partnership as we’ve worked together on Avon’s turnaround journey.” Ross’s tenure began just prior to the April 2012 arrival of McCoy as ceo of Avon. McCoy, a 30-year veteran of Johnson & Johnson who served as its vice chairman, succeeded Andrea Jung as ceo. In late July, Avon reported that, in the three months ended June 30, its profits declined 40.4 percent, to $19 million, or 4 cents a diluted share, as revenues slid 12.8 percent, to $2.18 billion. McCoy said that, while revenues in North America remained challenging, Avon’s business “is making good progress on cost management and landed where we expected.” Loughran joined Avon as assistant controller in 2004 and was promoted to vice president and controller in 2012.

• Saks Says No Breach of Systems in Credit Theft Scheme: Saks Fifth Avenue said Friday that its network and systems weren’t compromised when six employees at its Fifth Avenue flagship here allegedly stole customers’ credit-card information and used it to purchase more than $400,000 worth of shoes, handbags and other merchandise. “All customers have been notified, and their accounts have been restored,” Saks said. “The incident involved several retailers, and there was no compromise to the security of Saks Fifth Avenue’s networks or systems.” Saks said it was cooperating with authorities handling the matter and would have no further comment. The six employees, led by so-called “ring leader” Tamara Williams, were arrested earlier this week. According to the complaint obtained from the Manhattan district attorney’s office, the defendants used the credit-card information of 22 Saks customers to make purchases, beginning in mid-May and stretching until Sept 5. The amounts charged ranged from more than $1,000 to, on Aug. 29, a charge of more than $44,000 that included over 90 transactions. On several occasions, the complaint said, the suspects, who haven’t yet been charged, returned to the store merchandise purchased under the fraudulent scheme and had amounts credited to the stolen accounts. Williams and Kris Rockson face charges including second- and fourth-degree grand larceny and first- and second-degree identity theft. Four other Saks associates — Jason Chance, Alaia Harrison, Michael Knight and Michael Assante — were charged separately. According to the complaint, when executing a search warrant at a location in Queens where Williams was present, the police recovered more than 100 boxes of shoes “as well as many boxes of handbags and other merchandise, some of which was packaged in containers bearing the logo and/or tags of Saks Fifth Avenue.” At least 34 of the items seized contained product information, such as sku numbers, matching transactions made on the hacked accounts.

• Jimmy Choo Opens Flagship in London: Jimmy Choo has expanded — in all directions — on New Bond Street with the opening of its biggest flagship worldwide on the site of its former store at No. 27. David Collins Studio designed the interiors of the 2,160-square-foot unit, which is spread over three levels and showcases the full range of Choo merchandise, including fragrance and eyewear. Unique to the space is a made-to-measure area in the basement and a bridal salon — with a skylight and a fully stocked marble-topped bar — on the upper floor. “For me, this is ‘version one’ of Jimmy Choo — the rest were prototypes,” said Pierre Denis, the brand’s chief executive officer. “For me, it brings a sense of luxury — but it’s not cold. And it still keeps Jimmy Choo’s soft side,” he added during a walk-through. The ground floor stocks the fashion collection — handbags, gifts, fragrance and eyewear — while the downstairs is home to the classic 24:7 collection and made-to-measure. Next to the bridal salon upstairs is the Choo.08 collection. Later this year, a large-scale work by the Iranian-born artist Shirazeh Houshiary will be installed by the staircase, and will be visible from all three floors. It’s a helix shape from empty aluminum bricks and meant to recall the heel of a shoe. The decor is luxe but warm, with gold mesh panels on walls and cabinet doors, a chandelier at the entrance dripping with burnished gold hoops and raw crystals, and gray-pink walls.

Tech:

• Microsoft to Rejig Handset Biz with Sub- Rs 2,400 Phone: Microsoft is reshaping its handset strategy as Google introduces its Android One phones. Microsoft is dropping the iconic Nokia brand name from some models, culling the popular Asha range and looking to aggressively cut prices of smartphones, apart from launching its ‘First' category of feature phones priced under $40 (2,400) in a bid to target the billion first-time buyers in emerging markets such as India. This aggressive pricing strategy is aimed at reviving the handset maker's share in key markets and bridging the gap between its Windows operating system (2.5% market share, as per IDC) with market leader Android (84.7%) and No. 2 iOS from Apple (11.7%) worldwide. The strategy rejig comes as Google launches Android One devices in collaboration with top Indian handset makers Micromax, Karbonn and Spice, which between themselves had about 30% of the country's fast-growing smartphone market at the end of June, according to IDC. “We're just beginning a refresh of the entire portfolio,“ Chris Weber, vice president of mobile device sales at Microsoft, told ET. “We aim to push the price point of Windows phones significantly lower we certainly see that happening on the Android ecosystem without impacting quality and experience.“ Microsoft, which bought Nokia in April for $7.5 billion, has made several changes to the strategy of selling devices, including shutting down Nokia X smartphones and the Asha range, which was split between feature phones and smartphones and also competed on price points. While customers who bought these devices will still get aftersales and service support, Microsoft will not launch any further products under these banners. At the same time, Nokia X designs that were on its roadmap will be converted into Windows Phones. Over the next 12-18 months, Weber said, Microsoft will work on pushing the price points of Windows smartphones lower than those available in the market. At the same time, it will drive innovation in the affordable flagship area and combine design, software and services from Microsoft at the high-end, which will trickle down the portfolio. Jo Harlow, corporate vice president for phones at Microsoft, said that there are still a billion people globally who don't have mobile devices and 2 billion who don't have access to the Internet on mobile devices, which is what the company intends to target. “On the `First' side, we will continue to introduce new devices ¬ First Bing, First Internet devices, First mobile phone devices,“ Harlow added. Microsoft launched the `First' set of ultra-affordable mobile phones in early August with Nokia 130 priced at Euro 19 or 1,498, which will be soon brought to India, and recently added the Nokia 225 Inter net-enabled feature phone. These devices run on the Symbian 30+ operating system.

• Indian Cos Rejecting Applicants Due to Social Media Posts: Social media has emerged as a major background check tool for employers and nearly 68% of them decide against hiring a person after finding negative details about the candidates, a survey has found. According to a survey by job site CareerBuilder India, as many as 59% employers are currently using social media to research on job candidates, while another 33% are planning to access the platform soon. Interestingly, the survey said that 68% employers who research job candidates on social media have found 'content' that caused them not to hire the individual.

• Air Travellers in India Take to Mobile Apps to Get the Best Out of Flash Sales: Air travellers are increasingly shifting to mobile applications from the desktop to book tickets, a trend that underlines the growing demand for smartphones and mobile Internet and, interestingly, is driven by the growing number of flash sales offered by airlines. “Right now, there are 8,500 to 10,000 tickets sold via mobile applications every day. Two years back, the number was zero,“ said Samyukth Sridharan, president and chief operating officer of Cleartrip. “This shows the increasing number of customers who have access to the Internet via mobiles. It also in a way shows we are getting tech-savvy and that there is a growing faith on the powers of the Internet. Compare this to a few years earlier when our biggest worry was doing credit card transactions online,“ Sridharan added. Cleartrip gets 30% of its total searches on its mobile while the rest comes from desktop. Last year, the ratio was 12: 88. Similarly, actual transactions on mobile have risen to 35% from 20% last year. Cleartrip gets 3 million searches every month, or 100,000 a day. As of last week, roughly 2.2 million consumers had downloaded its mobile application. For others, the story is similar. Makemytrip, India's biggest online portal, said in its latest annual report that its mobile customers soared more than 14 times in two years to 327,892 till March 2014. It had a total of 2.5 million users of its mobile application as of end March. Yatra.com receives 25% of its bookings on its mobile application now, against a mere 10% last year, said a spokesperson. According to data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the total number of mobile phone users in India as of July end was 918.72 million. Of that number, 28% were smartphone users, said a separate report by market research firm IDC. In a report last year, the firm had said that India is poised to become the third biggest smartphone market in the world by 2017. Prices of phones have fallen almost by a fourth to $50 in the last two years, said a recent Morgan Stanley report. Other reports say that the revenue from mobile broadband services will grow at a compounded rate of over 30% in the next three years, while that from fixed broadband services will go up by only about 7%.

• Desi dating apps woo young Indians: Their parents may be scouring matrimonial websites but young Indians with smartphones are spoilt for choice when it comes to desi dating apps. Homegrown free apps such as Thrill, Woo, DesiCrush, Truly Madly and more, and are available on both Android and iOS. Woo claims to have made 12,000 matches on the app since July. Thrill, that started beta testing about a year ago, claims to have nearly 50,000 users, while Desicrush, also active in the US and the UK, has about 60,000 from India alone. This is how they work: a user signs up with a picture, and basic details. The account is more often than not linked to the person's Facebook profile for authenticity. A person can define certain parameters and is then shown different profiles which she can then either like or reject. It is only when two people like each others' profile are they notified and can begin chatting within the app. If they wish, they can meet offline. The apps take cue from international dating app Tinder which enjoys an explosive popularity in the US. Globally, they make 12 million new matches every day. The app entered the Indian market last year. “India is still a new market for us, but our user base in India is growing by over 1% per day,“ says Tinder's vice president of communication Rosette Pambakian. Woo founder Sumesh Menon says the acceptance of such apps shows confidence in the way young people want to conduct relationships today . “People in the 25-30 age group are financially independent and don't want to outsource their life decisions,“ says Menon.

• Flipkart 'leaks' Google's Android One smartphone: Two days ahead of its official debut, one of Google's Android One smartphones has been leaked online, courtesy leading Indian e-commerce marketplace, Flipkart. It looks like the phone will be sold exclusively on the e-commerce website. Spice Android One Dream UNO Mi-498 phone, priced at Rs 6,999, was listed on the website for a few hours. Flipkart later removed the listing. Spice is one of the three Android One OEM partners, announced at the Google IO conference in June. Prior to the listing, AndroidOS.in had also published the detailed specifications of the phone. Spice Android One Dream UNO Mi-498 sports a 4.5-inch IPS FWVGA (480x854p) display. The hardware specifications don't seem to ground breaking but Google's backing could surely make a difference when it comes to software experience.

• Oracle Buys Front Porch Digital to Boost Media Storage Business: Oracle said on Sunday that it has acquired Front Porch Digital, which makes content storage management solutions for TV and other large-scale media. Hundreds of media businesses use Front Porch’s technology, including A&E Television, BBC, Discovery Communications and Nascar, as well as government agencies including the Library of Congress and Voice of America. Front Porch is also used for medical imaging and real-time video security monitoring. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Facebook testing disappearing posts: If you want to use Facebook a little more like Snapchat, you might soon get your chance. The social-media giant is testing a feature that would let users set a time for their status updates to disappear. A Facebook spokesman said the feature is part of a "small pilot" and is available only for certain people using Facebook's iOS app. Several users reported noticing the test on their iPhones. One post on Twitter showed a list of expiration options ranging from one hour to seven days. I t's not the first time Facebook has tried to emulate emerging social media services designed to be used in the moment without leaving a permanent digital mark. In 2012, Facebook toyed with the concept with a standalone app, Poke. Apparently coded in part by CEO Mark Zuckerberg himself, the effort was described as something of a lark over a holiday weekend. It was shut down this year and replaced by Slingshot, a similar app on which short-lived messages show up only once two users have sent them to each other. The ephemeral has become increasingly alluring in the social-media world, particularly among younger users, in the past couple of years. The runaway success of Snapchat, which lets you send photos, texts or videos that disappear in a matter of seconds, has led the way. The scheduled deletions on Facebook, as being considered, obviously have a longer shelf life than a few seconds. Users might also want to delete updates that would no longer be of use after a short time, i.e. "I'll be in Atlanta until noon tomorrow" or "I have two tickets for tonight's concert. Who wants to go?"