Daily News Digest- 25th Sep'14

Thought of the Day:

Today in History:

Following made the Headlines:

India:

• India enters super exclusive Mars club: India woke up a prouder nation on Wednesday as its space scientists heralded a new dawn of Martian conquest. At 7.47am, when the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft entered the red planet's orbit, India became the first country to do so in its maiden attempt. The others, the US and Russia, had done it after repeated attempts. The European Space Agency got it right in 2003 as a collective effort of 17 countries. Two days ago, Nasa's MAVEN space craft reached Mars orbit. When the news reached mission control in Bangalore around 8am -because of the delay in radio signals travelling millions of kilometres from the spacecraft -PM Narendra Modi joined the scientists at Isro Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network in Bangalore who erupted in joy .“Aaj MOM ka Mangal se milan ho gaya, aur Mangal ko MOM mil gayi,“ Modi said, before switching to English on a serious note: “History has been created. We've dared to reach out into the unknown and achieved the near impossible.“ There was also a fascinating exchange between Nasa's Curiosity Rover and Mars Or biter. The twitter handle of Nasa's Mars mission said “Namaste, @MarsOrbiter! Congratulations to @ISRO and India's first interplanetary mission upon achieving Mars orbit”. Mars Orbiter quickly responded: “Howdy @MarsCuriosity? Keep in touch. I’ll be around”.

• Ikea to Open Store in Hyderabad: Media: Swedish furniture retailer Ikea signed an agreement with Telangana to open its first store in Hyderabad, the media reported. Ikea India Chief Executive Juvencio Maeztu met Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and sought help to get a location near one of the Metro retail stores in the city for their store, Press Trust of India reported, citing a release from the government. The Telangana government has appointed the Commissioner of Industries as a contact point to ensure necessary clearances for the company's operations. Ikea is one of the first companies to get approval for 100 percent foreign direct investment in India. The world's biggest furniture retailer reportedly said last week it was planning to invest $500 million in India to set up 25 stores in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore over the next decade.

• GroupM, Google to Unveil Mega Diwali Sales Online: Top media buying house GroupM has joined hands with Internet giant Google to launch a virtual Diwali shopping and entertainment festival called the Grand Diwali Mela through a dedicated website. They are now in talks to rope in a top e-commerce company to partner the event and provide logistics support, officials of the two firms said. While GroupM will bring in the brands that will sell their products on the website, Google will help with the technology for the shopping festival that will run for three weeks starting October 1. “Grand Diwali Mela is taking offline festive experiences online,“ CVL Srinivas, chief executive officer at GroupM South Asia, said. “It will allow users to window shop, browse merchandise and, in some cases, sample products as well, just like your local mela,“ he added. Rajan Anandan, country head at Google India, said people can join the festival through their mobile phones. “This will be first of its kind initiative to kick off the festive season in India. Our teams are very excited about this and we are sponsoring the effort that will be accessible across all kinds of devices, including mobile phones,“ he said. The festival site will have all kinds of categories including real estate, automobiles, consumer durables, electronics, FMCG products, music and entertainment. A number of FMCG brands will sample their new food and beverage products through the website, officials said.

• Unilever Elevates Manish Tiwary as MD in Gulf; Misra to Head HUL Sales: Manish Tiwary, sales head of Hindustan Unilever, has been promoted as managing director of parent Unilever's business in the Gulf. Punit Misra, vice president (customer development) for global route to market and traditional trade at Unilever, will replace Tiwary as HUL executive director and vice president, sales and customer development. He will be part of the firm's management committee. A HUL spokesperson confirmed the change will be effective November, 2014. In recent times Unilever has promoted several Indian executives to take up global roles. A few months ago, Hemant Bakshi, who oversaw home and personal care segment at HUL, moved to Unilever Indonesia as executive vice president.Last year, Unilever promoted its India MD Nitin Paranjpe as global head of home care business.

• Jet Airways Works on Short Haul Plan with More Gulf Flights: Jet Airways is enhancing connectivity to the Gulf, with flights to Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi as part of its strategy to focus on short haul international destinations and building its network through its strategic partner Etihad's hub. India's second biggest carrier by marketshare Wednesday said it will introduce a new direct flight to Dubai from Kochi in November and a second one connecting Mumbai and Doha. That will be followed in December by flights to Doha from Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram. The airline had on Tuesday announced flights to Abu Dhabi from Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Goa and Pune from November. Kozhikode will be the second destination in Kerala after Kochi to have a daily service to Doha.Jet Airways currently operates a daily flight to Doha from Delhi, Kochi and Mumbai. Dubai is currently linked with four flights from Mumbai and two services from Delhi. Jet Airways will also commence an additional daily service between Mumbai and Dubai--its 5th daily service--by October 14. This is part of a network rationalisation plan suggested US consultant Seabury that was appointed by Etihad and Jet last year. The consultant suggested at least 15 new routes for Jet.

• Reliance to Raise $800 M from Korea Exim for Funding RJio: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), is raising $800 million from Korea Exim (K-Exim) in order to finance purchase of telecom equipment from Korean vendors such as Samsung by Reliance Jio (RJio), the telecom arm of the retail to petroleum giant, indicating that the much awaited rollout of telecom services by India's largest private company is gathering pace. The company may launch services in the first quarter of 2015, according to analysts. This will be the first international financing for RJio, after a $1.5 billion overseas borrowing (ECB) raised in 2010 for spectrum payments. RIL is expected to soon refinance that funding as well.“ The new tenor will be for 5.25 years for $1 billion and 6.5 years for $500 million. These will be at spreads lower than the previous loan.“ K-Exim will be funding 60% of the amount while standing guarantees for the remaining amount. A number of global banks -three each from Japan and Korea along with ANZ and HSBC, would bankroll the rest. The agreements are expected to be signed within the next 2 days, according to people directly involved in the matter.

• Modi Fruit Cola Advice May not Bear Fruit: Coca-Cola offers a product called Fruitwater in some markets Splenda-sweetened, fruit-flavoured, carbonated, zero calorie drink. But `Fruitcola'? Say, 95% Coca-Cola or Pepsi plus 5% mango or pineapple juice -how will that taste? We may never find out, at least not any time soon. Soft-drink giants Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, used to receiving plenty of advice on products, got one on Wednesday that takes the cake -or, rather, the fruit. Mix your fizzy drink with real fruit juice, the prime minister advised. The industry respectfully responded this may be a fruitless quest. “We drink Pepsi, Coca-Cola... and I do not know how many similar beverages are available...The trade runs into billions of rupees. I have asked the companies if the can blend 5% natural fruit juice in the beverages they make,“ Narendra Modi said inaugurating India's first integrated food park in an area near Tumkur, Karnataka. Blending fruit juice with sweet fizzy drinks can prove to be a bigger challenge than successfully completing a low-cost and hi-tech mission to Mars, an event the PM presided an event the PM presided over at Indian Space Research Organisation earlier in the day . Veterans of the . 12,000 crore fizzy drink industry in India ` were unanimous in questioning the feasibility of the fruit juice-spiked cola concept. These executives spoke on the condition they not be identified. “Changing original formulations of beverages is impossible. It's impractical,“ said a top beverage industry official. “Changing formulation doesn't happen just like that, “another cola veteran said. Modi had said using natural fruit in cola drinks will help India's fruit growers and save waste. Globally, the second-largest fruit grower, India's poor cold storage facilities mean thousands of crores worth of produce being wasted every year. The PM also said government research bodies have been asked to find ways to blend cola drinks with fruit juice. But that assurance of sarkari scientific back up did not seem to convince fizzy drink makers.

• Compact Hatchbacks Lure First-time Buyers: First-time buyers are returning to the car market and lapping up more premium hatchbacks like the Swift, Celerio and i10 Grand than the entry-level models they preferred in the past. Sales of entry-level or mini cars, a segment ruled by Maruti Suzuki's Alto, and premium or compact hatchbacks have together expanded as much as 40% in August from the previous month, according to model-wise numbers for the month released recently. The compact segment has in fact grown more than 50% sequentially, compared with a 20% increase in the sales of entrylevel cars. “The growth in mini and compact segments show that the first-time buyers are coming back,“ said Subhrata Ray, senior group vice president at ICRA Rating. The numbers also indicate changing consumer preference towards better engineered and comfortable vehicles with higher safety features than the bare four-wheeler they bought as their first car for years. “Previously it used to be that the first-time buyer would buy a mini car first, then graduate to compact.But now the case has changed; a first time buyer can directly buy a compact hatchback also,“ said Abdul Majeed, partner automotive practices at PwC. The return of first-time buyers in large numbers indicates the recovery that the Indian car market has been witnessing for a few months now is going to gain strength, say industry experts. Jnaneswar Sen, senior vice president, sales & marketing, Honda Cars India, said increased sales in rural areas and small towns also augur well for the industry and “is a significant ele ment which establishes the return of recovery“. Rakesh Srivastava, senior vice president of marketing and sales at Hyundai India, credits the government's decision to continue with a cut in excise duty, as well as stable interest and inflation rates, for the pickup in the automo tive industry. “We expect this festive period growth to be in the range of 15%-20% over last year,“ Srivastava said.

• Frozen shrimp now accounts for 78% of the total seafood consignments from India: Global shortage of farmed shrimp continues to boost India's seafood export prospects. After crossing the Rs30,000-crore mark last year, the shipments have shown nearly 30% rise till the end of July with vannamei shrimp bringing in a significant part of the revenue. Frozen shrimp now accounts for 78% of the total seafood consignments from India, up from 71% in the same period last year. Another notable feature is that exports to the European Union and Middle East have increased during four months. Seafood exports from India totalled 2,41,600 tonne valued at Rs9,345 crore during the period April-July 2014. Though there is only a marginal increase in quantity, the value is up by 29%, indicating good prices for Indian shrimps.

• Realty portal CommonFloor.com raises $30mn from Tiger Global: Property listing website CommonFloor.com said on Wednesday that it has raised $30 million from its existing investor—American hedge fund Tiger Global Management Llc. This is the biggest round of funding for the Bangalore-based company. “With the latest funds, we will continue investing towards products, technology and marketing and bring innovation in all these areas,” Sumit Jain, co-founder and chief executive officer, CommonFloor.com, said over the phone. The company will continue to scale up its marketing and operations in the 18 cities where it has its offices, for the next six to 12 months, and by the end of the next fiscal, it hopes to open its offices in 22 cities, Jain added. CommonFloor.com will also invest in its data research team that provides research on properties across cities. “We want to provide better information to the user so that he can take informed decisions while buying property,” said Jain. CommonFloor.com, which launched its first TV ad campaign last month, is now looking to have a “healthy mix of all forms of marketing—traditional, online and multimedia,” said Jain.

International:

• Air France offers to scrap low-cost Transavia expansion plan: Air France has offered to scrap plans to expand its Transavia low-cost airline in Europe, in return for pilots returning to work immediately. In a statement, it said the proposal would help "find an immediate outcome to this destructive conflict". The company also offered "a renewed guarantee that there will be no relocation" of jobs. Pilots have been on strike for 10 days and have grounded about half of the airline's flights. They are unhappy at the lower rates of pay offered by the expanding budget operation compared with core Air France services, threatening to strike indefinitely unless the European expansion is scrapped. The strike has been costing the airline up to 15m euros (£11.8m) a day. Air France said it would instead develop its Transavia France project. "Our Transavia project is a 100% pro-France project. It is about developing Transavia to encourage growth in France and quickly create more than 1,000 jobs in France (including 250 pilot jobs)," said the chief executives of Air France-KLM, Alexandre de Juniac, and Air France, Frederic Gagey in a joint statement. "With the withdrawal of the Transavia Europe project, there is now no reason to strike because there are no longer any concerns about relocation. "We therefore call on the striking pilots to return to work immediately," they said.

• Samsung laptops to be pulled from sale in Europe: Samsung has announced that it is ending sales of its laptop computers in Europe. The move includes its Chromebook model, which had previously been one of the category's best-sellers. The South Korean company's decision follows Sony's announcement earlier this year that it was selling its Vaio division and pulling out of PC sales altogether. However, other firms have recently reported growth in the sector. Samsung signalled it might consider similar action in other parts of the globe. "We quickly adapt to market needs and demands," said the company in a statement. "In Europe, we will be discontinuing sales of laptops including Chromebooks for now. "This is specific to the region - and is not necessarily reflective of conditions in other markets. "We will continue to thoroughly evaluate market conditions and will make further adjustments to maintain our competitiveness in emerging PC categories."

• Roger Farah Joins Tory Burch as Co-CEO: Roger Farah didn’t wait long to make his next move. After stepping down as vice chairman at Ralph Lauren Corp. in May, Farah planned to take the summer off and think about new opportunities in the fall. On Wednesday, he made good on that promise — the second full day of fall. Farah, 61, has been named co-chief executive officer of Tory Burch, the privately held sportswear and accessories company, a new post. He was also appointed to the company’s board and took an equity stake in the business. He will report to Tory Burch, who is chairman and co-ceo. He and Burch will also establish an executive directors office, or EDO, a management group comprised of four executives: Burch, Farah, Brigitte Kleine, president, and Robert Isen, board member, president of business development and chief legal officer. Kleine was also named to the company’s board.

• Woolrich Opens First U.S. Store: It took more than 180 years, but Woolrich finally has a New York City flagship. This past weekend, the company, which was founded in 1830, quietly opened a 1,900-square-foot, two-level store at 125 Wooster Street in SoHo here. The store carries men’s, women’s and children’s apparel and accessories under the Woolrich John Rich & Bros. label, the company’s more contemporary offering that has been designed in partnership with WP Lavori in Corso for 16 years. In June, the Woolrich, Pa.-based Woolrich and the Bologna, Italy-based WP Lavori expanded their 35-year-long licensing deal. Under the terms of the new, long-term international distribution agreement, WP Lavori will manage the European, Japanese and Korean markets, while Woolrich Inc. will oversee operations in North America and handle logistics and distribution. The companies will work together to coordinate activities in China and support the growth of Woolrich’s historic woolen mill in Pennsylvania, including investing in new machinery and working with new fibers, such as cashmere, mohair and cotton blends.

• Victoria Beckham Unveils First London Store: Victoria Beckham has built a dream space on Dover Street in London, her first store and “second home” in Mayfair, where she can express her vision on the shop floor. The 6,040-square-foot space spans three floors, and has more in common with a contemporary art gallery than a typical London luxury flagship. Designed by the architect Farshid Moussavi, a Harvard professor whose past works include the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland, Ohio, the first Victoria Beckham flagship was always meant to be a democratic space. “I wanted a space that was conceptual — but also warm and welcoming,” said Beckham, who was filled with excitement during a recent tour of the store, which opens Thursday. “There are a lot of people — the general public — who’ve continued on this journey with me, and I want everybody to feel welcome, whether they’re going to buy something, or whether they just want to come and check out the architecture. And I really wanted people to get a sense of me the minute they walked through the door,” said Beckham.

Tech:

• Motorola announces Moto X (second gen) India pricing, starts at Rs 31,999: Motorola India has announced the pricing of Moto X (second generation) in India. The smartphone will go on sale on e-commerce website Flipkart at midnight today at a starting price of Rs 31,999. The wood finish and leather back panel versions of the phone have been priced at Rs 33,999. The phone is available at $499 (nearly Rs 30,000) in the US. The Motorola Moto X sports a 5.2-inch full-HD (1080x1920p) AMOLED display. It features a curved metal frame. Powered by a 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor and 2GB RAM, the phone comes with 16GB internal storage. The phone is 9.9mm thick and weighs 144gram. Moto X also runs Android 4.4 KitKat and comes with Motorola's own suite of apps.

• BlackBerry launches square phone in push for business users: BlackBerry is making its latest bid to regain its once trusted place in the pockets of the business user with a square-shaped smartphone designed for reading spreadsheets and documents. Unveiled on Wednesday at events in Toronto, London and Dubai, the $599 Passport is the company’s first global phone launch since John Chen took over as chief executive in November. High quality global journalism requires investment. The company hopes to win back its once loyal following among office workers with a 4.5-inch square screen for viewing and creating content, such as emails and business documents. The much-loved tap keyboard is also back, but this time with a second use as a touch pad, while a digital assistant can help organise meetings and manage apps. The phone met with broadly positive reviews, even if some analysts warned that it could be a niche product within its target market of the “regulated industries” of finance and healthcare, and government. “Mobile professionals” make up to 30 per cent of the market, according to BlackBerry, but the company’s share of the global enterprise sector has already fallen from 10 per cent to under 3 per cent in the past year, according to research group IDC.

• Directi Founder to Roll Out Biz Messaging App: A little over a year after announcing sale of domain registration firm Directi's web business, its founder Bhavin Turakhia is busy entering the communication market with his new startup Riva. The startup is launching a messaging application for enterprises, which aims to be the WhatsApp for business users. Called Flock, the application is expected to be launched later this week and will compete with the likes of Skype, Yammer and Slack. “While everyone seems to be focused on consumer messaging, there are very few companies innovating in this space.Email does not allow for a dialogue, it is slow, bulky, takes time to compose, send, receive replies, etc,“ said 34year-old Turakhia, who started Directi in 1998 when he was still a teenager and bootstrapped the business. Turakhia had agreed to sell Directi's businesses like BigRock and Resellerclub to Nasdaq-listed Endurance International Group for over ` . 600 crore in August last year. Flock is expected to be launched across platforms like iOS, Android, Windows PC, Mac and Linux. The application will be free for unlimited users. It allows employees to sign in using their work email and syncs the entire office directory to every employee's device. It will also have features like file and image sharing, group chats, secure encrypted messaging and ability to bring clients into your conversations.

• Infosys’ new CEO allows staff to use Twitter, Facebook at work: Infosys’ new chief executive officer (CEO) has come up with a novel approach to reviving the financial fortunes of India’s trailblasing outsourcing firm: use Facebook at work, tweet, but get the job done. Infosys has long been run as a conservative company known for keeping strict tabs on work hours and sometimes fining employees for not wearing ties on specific days. Such cheerless self- regard could not have come at a more challenging time, analysts say. his sights on employees first. “These changes might not look big or material, but hes trying to tell people this is a start, bigger things are on their way," said Shreya Bajaj, a Bangalore- based head hunter who helps IT companies recruit senior level executives. As the companys fortunes decline, attrition rates have increased, employee morale flagged and members of top management headed for the exits. To retain talent, Sikka hopes to create a more employee- friendly workplace. Come October, the companys 160,000 employees will be gradually allowed to tweet from their personal devices at work. Human resources are vital to Indias $ 108 billion outsourcing sector. The bulk of IT engineers work to remotely manage clients technology networks, provide business solutions and help write and service software that run their business.

• Google Now for Android updated to notify you when the price drops for a flight: Google today updated the Google Search for Android app with yet another travel feature: price drop notifications. If you’ve been looking at a flight on Google’s Flight Search, and the price drops, you may get see a Google Now card letting you know. You can download the new version of the app now directly from Google Play. The feature is currently only available on Android (no mention of an iOS release) and is limited to US residents. Google didn’t say when it would expand it outside its home country, nor whether it was considering integrating other travel sites. Just last month, Google Now for Android was updated to help users book alternate flights when theirs is delayed or canceled.

• DHL will do delivery-by-drone, but only for one tiny European island: While Netflix laughs, Amazon petitions and Google runs tests in New Zealand, DHL is about to actually launch drone delivery for its customers -- sort of. Of course, it's a rather limited launch, since the only eligible recipients are residents of Juist, a German island in the North Sea. DHL has been testing its PaketKopter system since late last year. Now, in partnership with the German government, it's established a flight path for its UAVs to take off and fly themselves 12km from a harbor in Norddeich to the island at a height of about 50m (164 feet) and up to 18 m/s (about 40mph). There's still no plans to use these for regular service, but you can get a peek at the drone in action by checking out the video after the break.