Daily News Digest- 2nd Dec'14

Thought of the Day:

Today in History:

Following made the Headlines:

India:

• On Your Mark, Zuckerberg: Facebook Signs up IIT Grads for Rs 1.55 Crore: A spectacular initial burst ­ at least 15-20% more jobs, 10-20% higher average salaries and 30% increase in global offers ­ set the pace for this year's placement season at Indian Institutes of Technology which kicked off on Monday. Sources from eight campuses that ET spoke to said hiring and salaries will shoot up this year, after a relatively slow 3-4 years. In the first twenty hours, online social networking giant Facebook ruled the roost with a `. 1.55 crore ($250,000) salary offer including bonus and Esops for a US posting.This is the probably the highest ever offer across IITs in recent years. Facebook made the offer for software engineer profiles based out of California to three students at IITKharagpur and to an unknown number at IIT Bombay, sources at the two institutes revealed. The company did not respond to an email sent by Overall, big-ticket offers were back with a bang as other top paymasters, according to campus sources, included Samsung $150,000 (Rs 93 lakh), Microsoft $129,000 (Rs 80 lakh), Oracle $125,000 plus Esops (Rs 78 lakh plus Esops), Google $125,000 (Rs 78 lakh) and Visa $140,000 (Rs 87 lakh). At IIT-BHU, Varanasi, the top package from a multinational was Rs 77.5 lakh ($100,000 base salary, $15,000 sign-on bonus and $10,000 relocation and stock options), an over 19% jump over the top offer last year. At IIT-Kanpur, it went up over 36% from $110,000 last year to $150,000 this time. “If this momentum continues, we will place 1,200 students in the first 20 days compared to 1,000 last year,“ a placement team member of IIT-Kharagpur said.

• When it's Ferrari, Who Cares if it's Second Hand: Are you one of those longing for a supercar but is held back by import duty that equals the vehicle's price? Checking out the used-car market may solve the problem. The steep tax, which was raised to 100% from 60% some years ago for vehicles imported as fully built units, and the rupee's depreciation over the period have swelled the cost of acquiring a supercar by 75-100%, giving rise to a thriving used-car market in India for cars like the Lamborghini, Ferrari, Rolls-Royce and Bentley . It's a win-win for both buyers and sellers. These cars, usually rarely driven, are available in immaculate condition and prices that are much cheaper than a brand new one. The seller who bought it when the local currency was stronger and import tax lower, can usually get the price he paid for buying it, or at times, even more. “I had a budget of ₹ 2 crore, but I didn't mind spending an extra ₹ 50 lakh,“ said a real-estate businessman in Mumbai, who bought a secondhand Lamborghini Gallardo for ₹ 2.5 crore. A brand new Gallardo would have cost ₹ 1 crore more, he said, asking not to be named. The Lamborghini Gallardo he bought was as good as new. It was driven for merely 3,000 km and impeccably maintained.

• eCommerce Firms Use Stock to Lure High-level Executives: With their ever-increasing valuation, pay packets that ecommerce companies offer to senior hires are getting fatter, too.And, they are sweetening up the offers with irresistible stock option plans to lure people from traditional retailers and sectors such as consumer goods and telecom, as supply of talent becomes scarce. Online retailers are scaling up quickly as foreign investors pump in money and, to drive growth, these companies need senior executives at key positions. The scramble for talent is giving candidates an opportunity to call the shots. “As it is getting tougher to find talent for vice president or CXO level for ecommerce companies, the new hires negotiate for equity upfront unlike a year ago, when decision regarding equity to employees was totally at the discretion of management and promoters,“ said Vikram Chhachhi, principal for global consumer markets at executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles. According to him, number of stocks given to new hires for critical roles would have doubled over the past year. Offering ownership in the company through employee stock option plans (Esops) is a time-tested tactic to retain staff, and local ecommerce firms such as Flipkart, Snapdeal, CaratLane, MobiKwik, ibiboGroup, Pepperfry, Urban Ladder and Cbazaar have been using it as a retention tool as well as a bait to attract talent. What makes these offers sweeter is the enormous growth in the valuations of these companies ­ within a few years, value of Flipkart and Snapdeal has grown to billions of dollars.

• Startups Bank on Senior Execs for Expertise to Get a Headstart: The young and the restless with the urge to kick off something big are fuelling India’s startup ecosystem. But if the idea takes off, such ventures need more experienced hands to nurture dreams into businesses with respectable valuations. Corporate executives typically come to the rescue of such infant companies with domain knowledge, managerial expertise and networks, along with experience of scale, structure, systems and processes from large companies which they apply to accelerate the growth curve of startups. CommonFloor.com, Ola Cabs, Housing.com and Wingify are among companies that have hired senior executives.

• InMobi Raises $5 M from SoftBank, Looks to Woo More Investors: Mobile ad network InMobi has raised $5 million (₹ 31 crore) from its high-profile investor SoftBank, with the Japanese company promising another $25 million if new investors come on board, three people familiar with the matter said. The focus for the Bangalore-based company is to become profitable to attract new investors, as it also aims to make an initial public offering in the next two years. “Talks with new investors are on, but the company is looking to hit profitability in two months,“ said one of the people. Manish Dugar, who heads the finance and legal division at InMobi, said SoftBank's investment had come four months ago and the amount was “significantly higher“ than $5 million. “SoftBank has said that if new investors come in, they would like to make a pro-rata investment to maintain their stake,“ said Dugar, even as he denied any specific conditions that the Internet and telecom giant has put in to invest more money. “It is for us to decide whether we want the money or not from SoftBank,“ he said, adding that the company would go for an initial public offering in oneand-half to two years.

• Maruti starts ‘ service campaign’ for Ciaz: Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL), the country’s largest car maker, has initiated a service campaign to inspect a probable fault and replace a part of the clutch operation system in the Ciaz, its mid- size sedan. The campaign will affect 3,796 Ciaz units (manual transmission) that Maruti Suzuki made till November 7 this year, the company said. The inspection and replacement will be done free of cost to the customer. The company said it will undertake a service campaign for these cars in the interest of customers and dealers have started communicating with owners of the impacted vehicles. A company spokesperson clarified, “Kindly note that the initiative for the Ciaz is not a recall. It is a Service Campaign, undertaken in the interest of customers to minimise any future inconvenience. Service Campaigns are undertaken globally by automobile companies to rectify faults that may potentially cause inconvenience to customers.” MSIL launched the Ciaz with an introductory price starting at ₹ 6.99 lakh (exshowroom Delhi) in October this year. The petrol variants are priced between ₹ 6.99 lakh and ₹ 9.34 lakh, while the diesel models are priced between ₹ 8.04 lakh and ₹ 9.8 lakh ( ex- showroom Delhi).

International:

• Tesco CEO Dave Lewis to lead UK business: Tesco, the British grocer reeling from an accounting scandal, has announced a new management structure that will see new group chief executive Dave Lewis take over the day to day leadership of its main UK operation on a temporary basis. Former Unilever executive Lewis became Tesco CEO on Sept. 1 and three weeks later revealed the firm had overstated expected first half profit. That led to the suspension of eight senior members of staff, including UK managing director Chris Bush, and sparked a series of investigations, including by Britain's Serious Fraud Office. Tesco said on Monday that one of the eight, Matt Simister, will return to his role as group food sourcing director. "We asked Matt to step aside to facilitate our recent investigation into commercial income recognition," said Lewis.

• Amazon rolls out Kiva robots for holiday season onslaught: Amazon.com Inc. has installed more than 15,000 robots across 10 US warehouses, a move that promises to cut operating costs by one-fifth and get packages out the door more quickly in the run-up to Christmas. The orange 320-pound (145 kg) robots, which scoot around the floor on wheels, show how Amazon has adopted technology developed by Kiva Systems, a robotics company it bought for $775 million in 2012. Amazon showcased to media on Sunday ahead of Cyber Monday, the biggest online shopping day of the year. The robots are designed to help the leading US online retailer speed the time it takes to deliver items to customers and better compete with brick-and-mortar stores, where the bulk of Americans still do their shopping. The robots also may help Amazon avoid the mishaps of last year’s holiday season, when a surge of packages overwhelmed shipping and logistics company UPS and delayed the arrival of Christmas presents around the globe. Amazon offered shipping refunds and $20 gift cards to compensate customers. Amazon deployed the robots this summer, ahead of the key holiday quarter, when the company typically books about one-third of its annual revenue. The updated warehouses are in five states—California, Texas, Florida, New Jersey and Washington.

• Billabong Rebuilds Brick-and-Mortar After Closing 215 Stores: Billabong International Ltd., the surfwear brand that lost 99 percent of its market value after taking on debt to build a store network, plans to start opening new outlets again as it tries to reignite profits. Billabong is ready to open new stores “right now,” Chief Executive Officer Neil Fiske said. The company based in Gold Coast, Australia, closed or sold about 34 percent of its locations over the past three years as it slashed debt by A$394 million ($333 million). “Stores are key to a brand’s health over time,” Fiske said in an interview in Sydney. “The thing you can do in a store that you can’t really do on the Web is connect directly to that customer. You can make it come to life.” Physical sales are still showing signs of resilience amid the growth of online retailers. Online spending during the U.S. Black Friday retail peak fell relative to brick-and-mortar sales to 42 percent of the total this year, from 44 percent a year earlier, the National Retail Federation said yesterday. Amazon.com Inc. is opening its first physical store in Manhattan to catch holiday shopping, and British sales of vinyl records will hit their highest level this year since 1996, according to industry forecasts. 

• Yoox Group Posts Record Sales on Thanksgiving and Black Friday: Yoox Group posted record sales on two consecutive days, on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. During the latter, the Italian e-tailer recorded 1.5 million shoppers visiting its 40 online stores. It received an order every 3.5 seconds from customers all over the world. The group’s multibrand business includes stores Yoox.com, Thecorner.com and Shoescribe.com. The e-tailer also sets up and manages online stores for leading global fashion and luxury goods brands from Giorgio Armani to Ermenegildo Zegna. North America contributed the lion’s share of sales, but Europe also added to the growth, driven by the U.K., Italy, Germany and Russia. Asia was fueled by China, where sales increased by nearly fourfold, and Hong Kong more than doubled last year’s purchases.

• Marie France Van Damme Opens in London: Marie France Van Damme is the latest label to bow in London’s tony Brompton Cross area. Late last month, Van Damme unveiled a 500-square-foot boutique on Draycott Avenue, which she’s done out with white marble floors and fittings in dark wood, gold and bronze, to reflect the colors in her resort wear designs. The store carries Hong Kong-based Van Damme’s full collection, which the designer has created to be worn for the evening as much as the beach, such as silk shirt dresses, jersey column dresses; silk kaftans and swimwear in colors that run from black to rich metallic fabrics and animal prints. The store stands nearby to Joseph, Bamford and Robert Clergerie on the street, and near to Stella McCartney and Chanel in the area. Van Damme said she believes the store appeals to the neighborhood’s peripatetic residents.

Tech:

• BlackBerry Dials Samsung to Help Grow Enterprise Business in India: Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry has said that its mobile device management security partnership with South Korean conglomerate Samsung will help it increase its enterprise customer base in India. Samsung's significant presence in the Indian market, including in the Bring Your Own Device or BYOD segment, will help expand BlackBerry's reach in the country, Sunil Lalvani, Blackberry India's managing director Sunil Lalvani told ET.“In the BYOD space, a lot of Android devices are coming, of which a majority of devices happen to be made by Samsung,“ he said. BlackBerry can now sell BES 12 server licences to corporate clients that are on Samsung devices with Knox solution. The partnership also allows the Samsung sales team to resell BES 12 server licences to Samsung users who have Knox deployed. Knox is Samsung's enterprise mobile solution, embedded in some Galaxy devices, providing additional security layer on the Android operating system (OS). With this partnership, Lalvani said, Samsung will get a higher level of security and manageability through the combination of BES 12 and Knox on Android devices since there are vulnerabilities attached to the Google's Android OS. “It's a win-win for both Blackberry and Samsung.“ The BlackBerry-Samsung partnership that allows both companies to sell each other's mobile security technology was announced a few weeks ago, along with six other announcements that include the Canadian company's primary offering BES 12, BlackBerry Blend, WorkLife, Enterprise Identity, VPN Authentication, BBM Meetings and Secure Voice Solutions.

• Samsung Readies Its First Tizen Smartphone for Launch in India: Electronics giant Samsung is set to unveil its first Tizen OS-based smartphone, the Z1, in India on Dec 10. The device is expected to be priced below $100, so as to compete with Android One devices in the market, reports Reuters. After having announced plans to launch Tizen-powered smartphones back in 2013, earlier this year in April and more recently in Russia last quarter, it seems like Samsung is finally ready to bring the new OS in all its glory to the masses, packaged in a low-priced mobile device. Tizen is Samsung’s own open-source operating system, that’s built on Linux with multiple profiles to work with mobile devices, TVs, wearables and vehicles. It’s already available on Samsung’s Gear smartwatches. Specs for the Z1 haven’t been released yet. However, given its price point and the competition it’s up against in the form of Android One devices from Spice, Karbonn and Micromax, it will likely feature a sub-5 inch screen, 1.3-1.6 GHz quad-core processor, up to 1GB RAM and a 5 megapixel camera. Additionally, the Tizen device slated to launch in Russia this year was delayed because Samsung wanted to bolster the cocsystem behind the OS — so maybe we’ll also seem some quality apps and services on board too. We’ll have to wait until next week to find out what Samsung really has up its sleeve.

• Ness Tech to Scale up in India: Israel-based software firm Ness Technologies is planning to increase its India staff strength by 1,000 in the next one year, adding to the 2,000 currently in the country, as it looks to tap the growing demand for software product engineering services. “We see product and platform engineering as a significant growth opportunity. We are growing very significantly in India. India is a significant part of our delivery strategy,” said Paul Lombardo, CEO of Ness Software Engineering Services, a division of Ness Technologies. The company will hire 1,000 employees in India in the next year, said Satyajit Bandyopadhyay, president and managing director at Ness Technologies India. Ness Technologies, which is owned by US asset management firm Rohatyn Group, hived off its IT services business earlier this year. Given the need for high technology specialisation, a majority of Ness’ hires are lateral hires, according to Lombardo. But the company also has a relatively easier time at campuses when it comes to hiring freshers. “We aren’t offering them commoditised work but the ability to innovate. We have one guy working in Chennai who has his name on six patents,” Lombardo said. 

• OnePlus Plans R&D Unit in India Ahead of Phone Launch: OnePlus is considering a research and development unit in India, on lines of rival Xiaomi, even as the Chinese smartphone maker prepares to take its unique invite-only model to a larger audience. On Tuesday, it will begin selling the OnePlus One smartphone in two variants on Amazon, with a widely expected price tag of under ₹ 25,000. “We're exploring the idea of building an R&D centre in India to take advantage of the local talent and burgeoning tech ecosystem, and also better meet the demands of local users,“ OnePlus cofounder Carl Pei told ET.The Shenzhen-based company has set up a local team which will help optimising hardware and software for the Indian market. The latest entrant in India's surging smartphone market may even consider manufacturing locally. “If India had the right conditions for us in the future, why not,“ Pei said. OnePlus launched its only smartphone ­ the OnePlus One ­ globally in April and it has become one of the most-sought-after phones for tech enthusiasts, geeks and a host of smartphone addicts who swear by its quality and their ability to customise it. The company expects to launch the OnePlus 2 mid-2015.

• Twitter to tap Chinese market from its Hong Kong office: Microblogging site Twitter would set up an office in Hong Kong early next year to serve Chinese users and advertisers, the company said last week. The move would be aimed at tapping the world’s largest internet population, even as the censors in Mainland China have shut out the American company from that market since 2009. Twitter is bullish on China, and it has reasons to be so. Despite the ban, a little more than 95 million Chinese internet users — a sixth of the country’s total internet population —visited Twitter in November, revealed a GlobalWebIndex study. Twitter, however, said the Hong Kong office would mainly house its sales business, and hoped to “ help advertisers reach the global market”. The decision came within months of Twitter Chief Executive Officer Dick Costolo’s first visit to China — a “personal” trip — in March. Though Twitter is not present in China at present, it gets advertisements from Chinese firms like Lenovo for other markets.

• PayPal to soon start incubation centre in Karnataka: Paypal plans to open its incubation centre Start Tank in Bengaluru next year as the online payments' service seeks to nurture startups in the country's IT capital. Start Tank is already present in Chennai, Boston and London. "Our future destination for Start Tank is Bengaluru as we have a development centre there," said Anupam Pahuja, general manager at PayPal Development Centres India. "We also plan to help the startup ecosystem in Shanghai and Singapore." Start Tank was launched in Chennai in October last year under a partnership with The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE). It currently houses six technology start-upsDoPartTimes, Kobster, Fantain, Hey Feedback, Clockwork Interviews and Demach Software. Start Tank incubates earlystage tech-centric start-ups for an average 12 months. It provides them with access to mentors, investors and venture capitalists.

• Microsoft Replaces Clip Art with Bing Images: When was the last time you used Clip Art? If you can’t remember, you’re not alone: Microsoft’s Office team today announced it is doing away with Clip Art’s online image library and replacing it with Bing Image Search. Microsoft’s Clip Art has long been a staple of using office products, but in today’s world, most people would rather just run a quick image search online. Compound this with the fact that images on Bing are simply more up to date than Clip Art’s old photos, and the reasoning behind the change become obvious. Of course, you can’t always use every photo you find online. so Office will automatically apply a filter to only show Bing results under the Creative Commons license. This may result in the end of an era of poorly designed posters and fliers, but should at least make it easier for users to access a varied set of stock images for their documents.