Daily News Digest- 2nd Jan'15

Thought of the Day:

Today in History:

Following made the Headlines:

India:

• Amazon Set to Bring the Movie Hall into your Living Room: Amazon India may start offering music, movie and video streaming services later this year besides debuting its Prime subscription service as it looks to expand offerings in the country, key to its global expansion strategy. The Jeff Bezos-led company is currently evaluating the feasibility of such services while building up a content library, which would be a critical element of Amazon Prime. The Indian unit of the Seattle-based ecommerce company has tasked Nitesh Kripalani, former executive vicepresident at Multi Screen Media — which runs Sony Entertainment Channels — to get access to “digital content”, according to a person familiar with the development. “We are working towards it... difficult to say by when as Nitesh has just been brought in... but he will soon start talks with content providers,“ said a second executive aware of the discussions.“The biggest limitation is the slow Internet speeds.So, we are looking at how we can bridge this. Hopefully, we should have some of these offerings available sometime in the second half of the year.“ Amazon India's push into the entertainment space marks an important step in the fiercely competitive ecommerce space where participants are looking to position themselves as a central gateway for customers — from everyday purchases such as grocery and diapers to music, books and movies.

• Top management changes in Samsung India; Zutshi retires: Korean consumer electronics major Samsung today announced top management changes in its Indian arm following the retirement of its deputy managing director Ravinder Zutshi after serving the company for 19 years. Zutshi had retired on yesterday from Samsung India Pvt Ltd. As per the changes, Sanjay Bali, senior vice-president-human resources has been transferred to manage relations with different departments and ministries, including human resources, education, environment, women, child development and culture. He will also manage the operational affairs of Samsung Advisory Board, the company said in a statement. 

• Carmakers End Year on a High as Sales Pick Up: Car sales grew at a healthy pace in December, as manufactures produced more vehicles ahead of an excise duty benefit lapsed and customers advanced purchase anticipating an increase in prices in the New Year. The coming months are, however, likely to be sluggish for auto makers as prices would go up by ₹ 25,000 for popular models like the Maruti WagonR and Hyundai i10 to as much as ₹ 5 lakh for luxury models such as the Mercedes Benz S Class or Audi AL8 due to the higher excise duty rate. The price hike may prevent many otherwise prospective buyers to shelve or delay purchase. The duty reduction -up to 6% based on the segment of the car -was announced in February to help an industry that had been continuously posting lower sales. This kept auto makers from raising prices for a long period and drove up car sales by 3% in the first nine months of this fiscal year that started on April 1, 2014. The government left the benefit to lapse on December 31. While customers anticipated it and advanced purchases, companies also produced more vehicles as the excise duty is levied on factory dispatches. All major manufacturers posted strong sales in the past month. Usually, the year-end is a lean period for auto makers as buyers wait to purchase new model year vehicles.

• Lite Bite Plans Indian Cuisine Restaurant Chain in US: Dabur scion Amit Burman's Lite Bite Foods plans to launch a premium dining brand American Tandoor. The restaurant chain, which will serve Indian cui sine in an American way, will debut in June next year and the first outlet will be a 250 seater, spread over 5,500 square feet, in one of the biggest malls in Washington DC -Tysons Corner Centre -with an investment of around . 10 crore.Lite Bite Foods will ` invest over `. 100 crore in the next two-three years through internal accruals to grow its existing portfolio of brands in India and overseas. “It's a big-ticket investment for us and we plan to expand the brand in America as it has a lot of potential and their food consumption habit is incredible,“ Rohit Aggarwal, direc tor of Lite Bite Foods, told ET.“If the concept does well, it's easy to open even 200 outlets there, as the market provides easy scalability.“ Lite Bite already operates restaurant chains such as Punjab Grill, Bakers Street and Street Foods by Punjab Grill in India.

• Lenskart Eyes Growth with Rs 135-Crore Funds: In one of the rare instances of a private equity investment in e-commerce space, TPG Growth is leading a ₹135 crore round in Valyoo Technologies, which owns and operates a number of single category online portals, including the eyewear-focused LensKart. The deal would give the four-year-old startup a post money valuation of nearly $100 million, said multiple sources familiar with the development. The transaction will also see the entry of Hong Kong-based TR Capital, which specialises in secondary transactions besides participation from existing investor IDG Ventures India. The company has also received board approval for the investment, according to latest filings with the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) last month. The latest transaction, which values the Delhi-based venture at $80 million pre money, is the first round of funding raised by the multi-vertical e-commerce company since February 2013, when it raised $10 million from Ronnie Screwvala’s Unilazer Ventures and IDG Ventures. Email and text messages sent to Valyoo founder Peyush Bansal did not elicit any response at the time of going to press.

• PE Cos Team Up for Slice of Creamline Dairy: Tata Capital, the private equity unit of the Tata Group, and Motilal Oswal Private Equity have teamed up to bid for around 60% stake in Hyderabad-based Creamline Dairy Products and a deal could be struck in the ₹380-crore to ₹420-crore range, thus valuing the 28-year-old diary maker anywhere between ₹650 crore and ₹700 crore, three people with direct knowledge of the development said. Godrej Agrovet, which bought a 26% stake in 2005 and the promoters of the company — four families and their associates who own the rest — will each sell a part of their holdings. “The two funds are jointly bidding for a controlling stake in Creamline,” says one of the three persons quoted above. “The deal is currently at the due diligence stage.” A final decision will be taken at a meeting in Hyderabad scheduled next week between the potential investors and the promoters.

• Sensitive Toothpaste Cos Just Have to Grin & Bear It: The sensitive toothpaste segment, which grew at a breakneck pace of over 50% until two years ago, seems to have slowed down considerably and has remained flat so far in FY15 as consumers have opted for multi-benefit toothpaste brands with lower price tags. While oral care giant Colgate Palmolive had been selling its Sensitive brand in India for almost a decade now, the category gained real traction only since 2010 when GlaxoSmithkline Consumer launched its global brand Sensodyne. But now, growth of sensitive toothpaste segment has fallen to just 2.5% during April-November, 2014, a stark contrast from 10% in FY14 and over 30% in 2012, according to officials quoting Nielsen data. Despite its low base, market share of the category at 3.9% has remained unchanged since a year, even as herbal and whitening segment grew by 100 basis points each. Experts feel sensitive toothpaste segment hit the mark initially but consumers switched to regular ones after early trials. “Since it is a problem-solving segment, people generally use it only when a problem arises and might not continue it as regular toothpaste. Also, consumers are looking to buy brands that have multiple benefits including addressing the sensitivity issue,” said Praveen Jaipuriar, marketing head — personal care at Dabur. The company owns Dabur Red toothpaste, the fastest-growing brand within the category at over 25%.

• Ban on Uber to Stay, Co Told to Meet Taxi Norms: Delhi government on Thursday decided to continue with the ban on app-based cab booking company Uber and has asked it to fulfil the conditions for taxi operations in the national capital before seeking revocation of punitive action. Transport department had given a hearing to the US-based cab service provider following a directive from the Delhi High Court. “Transport department has decided to continue the ban on Uber till they fulfil the conditions laid down in recently modified Radio Taxi-2006 and under which, taxi service providers must need to register themselves with transport department,“ said a source. Sources said Uber wanted to operate its taxis in the national capital without going for registration, but the transport department ruled it out. According to the transport department, all taxi aggregators, including app-based cab service, will have to register themselves with the de partment and will also be responsible for their driver's behaviour.

• Chill & Mist May Welcome Obama on Republic Day: US President Barack Obama, who will be the chief guest at the 66th Republic day celebrations, should expect a chilly and foggy morning with overcast sky on January 26 as that has mostly been the case in the last 10 years. “It (January 26 in the past 10 years) has never been a clear morning and has either been hazy or misty morning,“ said GP Sharma, vice president of meteorology at private weather forecaster Skymet Weather Services. During this period, on three occasions -2009, 2010 and 2014 -there was dense fog with almost zero visibility in the morning hours when contingents of smartly turned out troops, latest weaponry, state tableaux and dancers performed the Republic Day parade. Thick fog with visibility of 400-500 metres was recorded in 2007 and 2008. While the day has not recorded any rain, the weather was cloudy on four occasions. “Fog usually remains till 9:30-10 am and finds gradual clearance thereafter,“ said Sharma. “If it is a windy day the fog get dispersed earlier.“ Meteorologists, however, said accurate weather forecast for January 26 will be generated 3-4 days in advance. Normally the Republic Day Parade gets underway by 9.30 am after flag hoisting at 9 in the morning.People usually start arriving ahead of sunrise, which is usually by 7.10 am, to watch the parade. “People have braved cold weather on many occasions, like in 2008, when minimum temperature was 4.1 °C,“ Sharma said. The minimum temperature was 4.8 °C in 2006 and below 7 °C in 2005 and 2013.

• Jet fuel prices cut 12.5%, but slash in airfares unlikely: In possibly the sharpest-ever cut in the country , oil companies have slashed aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices by 12.5%.This four-year low in ATF prices, now Rs 52.4 a litre in Delhi, will help airlines as jet fuel accounts for 40-50% of an airline's operating cost in the country , but is unlikely to bring cheer to flyers as airlines are unlikely to cut fares proportionately. The reason: cash-strapped SpiceJet has cancelled 115 flights a day as many of its Boeing 737s have been repossessed by leasers due to nonpayment of rentals. Cashing in on the resultant seat crunch, other airlines have sent their fares zooming this peak travel season. Such is the situation, the aviation ministry proposed a fare cap of Rs 20,000 on domestic sectors. “Fares here have never gone hand-in-hand with oil prices and overall costs.That is why most Indian carriers are struggling to avoid a shutdown,“ said an airline official. Embattled SpiceJet COO Sanjiv Kapoor tweeted: “ATF rate per KL in Delhi today reduced 12.5%, or by approx Rs 7,500 per KL. Much needed relief given high cost of operations in India.“ Other airline officials say that fare cut can be considered only if jet fuel or ATF prices remain consistently low.

• Promotions on Twitter catching on in India; still lag other markets: Industrialist Gautam Singhania has close to 8,80,000 followers on Twitter, yet he has opted for aservice that “ promotes” his tweets by displaying them to a wider audience beyond his own followers. The tweet can include an inspirational picture or a video of his comments on any raging topic of the day. Singhania, who is the chairman and managing director of Raymond Ltd, is one of the most prominent users of the service offered by the microblogging site and underlines the rising popularity of promotions on Twitter in the country. Twitter currently has five advertising products in India, which include promoted tweets, accounts, trends, video and mobile applications. For the company, which booked revenues of $ 361 million during the September quarter, $320 million arose from advertising. Promotions are the largest revenue earner for Twitter in India and globally.

International:

• Snapchat raises $485.6 million to close out big fund-raising year: Snapchat Inc., among a pack of elite technology start-ups that has attained a valuation of $10 billion or more, capped the year with a filing that disclosed it raised $485.6 million. The Los Angeles-based company, which makes a mobile application for sending annotated photos that disappear within seconds, said in the filing that it raised the money from 23 investors. Snapchat, led by chief executive officer Evan Spiegel, didn’t disclose the investor names or the company’s valuation. The filing is the first disclosure by Snapchat about its fundraising, which has been in process for months. Bloomberg News reported earlier this year that the start-up had been in discussions with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd to raise money at a $10 billion valuation. While the talks with Alibaba ended, Snapchat has drawn other investors into the fundraising, including Yahoo Inc. and venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers.

• Store Design in Focus on Rodeo Drive: Rodeo Drive is revving up. The three-block-long thoroughfare now boasts more new tenants and storefronts than ever, a visible indication that luxury’s faith in the Golden State remains as strong as its love affair with Hollywood and its current fascination with Los Angeles. Rent for 2,000-square-foot or larger retail spaces on Rodeo is at an all-time high, two or three times what it was a decade ago: the going rate is $600 to $700 a square foot per year (or $50 to $58 a month), quickly heading into $800-a-year, or $67 a month, territory. When long-term leases, which are for 10 years or more, have been signed or renewed, it’s usually go-time for pricey renovations, such as Gucci’s, or splashy debuts such as Burberry, Saint Laurent, Tory Burch, Vera Wang and Dsquared2, all in the past 12 months. Louis Vuitton is undergoing a massive facelift and expansion.

• Kuala Lumpur Transit Hubs Open Malls: This city, the largest in Malaysia, has unveiled sprawling shopping complexes at two of its prime transportation hubs: the Nu Sentral Mall at the Central Train Station and the “Mall With the Gates” at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2. Malaysians, many of them self-declared shopping addicts, are now boasting that while many airports and train stations all over the world may contain numerous boutiques and even some department stores, Kuala Lumpur has achieved something new: It has built entire shopping malls. Sentral is one of the biggest train stations in Southeast Asia, but it is also quickly becoming the new center of the capital, boasting large office buildings that rub shoulders with the Hilton, Aloft, Le Méridien and (still under construction) St. Regis hotels, as well as the Nu Sentral Mall and the national museum. It is part of the biggest commercial development project in the city: CBD, or “commercial business district,” a 1.4 billion ringgit, or $418 million, city-within-a-city concept encompassing Nu Sentral Mall and the 32-story office tower Perdana Sentral and designed by Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa.

• Boston Sees Uptick in Retail Development: Boston developers are confident shoppers will keep spending long past the holidays, given the number of projects in development. The Shops at the Prudential Center are about to get a major overhaul complements of Boston Properties. Executives there declined to name any of the incoming tenants just yet, but vowed to identify the retailer that has been secured for a nearly 9,000-square-foot space in the mall in the next few months. A Boston Properties spokeswoman denied that Bloomingdale’s will take that location, which housed a Legal Sea Foods for years, and the retailer’s Anne Keating said, “There is nothing to report at all and we don’t comment on potential new stores.” The Pru’s food atrium is said to be getting a serious makeover and Boston Properties reportedly will build a grand-scale new building for office space, luxury condos and retail nearby at 888 Boylston Street near Gucci’s current location. As reported, the first Primark store will bow in Boston later this year at Downtown Crossing as part of the multi-million dollar Millenium Tower and Burnham Building development project. Millenium Partners plans to build a 60-story glass tower near where the original Filene’s once stood.

• Abercrombie Settlement Wins Court Approval After Earlier Rejection: Federal judge on Tuesday recommended approval of a revised settlement of a lawsuit challenging former Abercrombie & Fitch Co Chief Executive Michael Jeffries' pay, three months after another judge rejected a version that appeared to offer few benefits and release too many potential claims. U.S. Magistrate Judge Norah McCann King in Columbus, Ohio said the revised terms "confer a substantial benefit" upon the apparel retailer and its shareholders as it better aligns pay with performance, tightens conflict of interest rules, and provides for a new chief ethics officer. No money is changing hands. On Sept. 26, U.S. District Judge James Graham had rejected the original accord, saying it "broadly released shareholders' claims" while offering little benefit to the company. But King said the revised settlement released only derivative claims, brought on Abercrombie's behalf against officers and directors, and not direct claims that shareholders can bring.

Tech:

• Airtel Opens Bookings for Redmi Note to Give Boost to its 4G Services: To give a fillip to its super fast fourth-generation mobile services, Bharti Airtel has tied up with Chinese handset maker Xiaomi to provide 4G de vice Redmi Note at a price of ₹ 9,999 in six cities, including the National Capital. The operator provides 4G services in 16 cities but Airtel will provide Redmi Note at 133 stores across Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi-NCR and Kolkata. Devices will be sold at select stores on first-come-first-serve basis.

• Machines will Talk, but who’ll Track their SIM Cards? Policy is in Works: The Department of Telecom (DoT) is working on a policy to regulate the usage of SIM cards in machines, as distinct from usage by individuals, in projects such as smart buildings, smart cars and smart electricity meters, two people with direct knowledge of the matter told ET. DoT is holding consultations with the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India, telecom providers such as Vodafone and Airtel, and telecom equipment manufacturers such as Ericsson, to frame the machine-to-machine or M2M policy and build security standards around it. The policy, the first draft of which is expected to be out by March, will come in handy for companies which are currently unsure about the documentation required for procurement of SIM cards used by machines. It will include details on whether machines with international SIM cards can be allowed to operate in India and whether roaming costs should be attached to machines being transported to different states within the country.

• Samsung Electronics' new smart TVs in 2015 to run Tizen platform: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Thursday that all its new smart television products launched in 2015 will be powered by the Tizen operating system, marking a fresh effort by the company to increase the usage of the software platform. Smart TVs offer additional software and connectivity functions, such as video streaming and web browsing capabilities. Samsung demonstrated TV sets powered by Tizen at developer conferences last year. "We are focusing our efforts on Tizen right now," Kim Hyun-suk, Samsung's president of visual display business, told Reuters in an interview. "We hope that other TV makers will also use it and help build an ecosystem that will help the platform grow."

• China's Xiaomi becomes most valuable tech start-up: Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has become the world's most valuable technology start-up just four years after it was founded. The firm raised $1.1bn (£708m) in its latest round of funding, giving it a valuation of $45bn, which surpassed the $40bn value of taxi booking app Uber. It has quickly risen to the ranks of the world's biggest smartphone makers, behind Samsung and Apple in sales. The company is also set to unveil a new flagship device in January. Xiaomi's investors include private equity funds All-Stars Investment, DST Global, Hopu Investment Management, Yunfeng Capital, and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, said co-founder and president Bin Lin in a Facebook post. "This is an affirmation of Xiaomi's stellar results in four years, and heralds a new phase for the company," Mr Bin said.

• Twitter’s new ‘While You Were Away’ recaps have been spotted on users’ timelines: One of the features Twitter revealed at its November analyst day has started rolling out. ‘While You Were Away’ recaps notable tweets that have been published since you last opened up your timeline. As TechCrunch notes, a number of users have spotted the feature in recent days. Of course, some of us spend all day glued to Twitter anyway, so maybe we’ll never actually see it. Others are hoping for more substantial product updates in 2015, not just ways of boosting engagement with the current product.

• 32 Sites Blocked in India Over Content from ISIS: Following an order issued by the Department of Telecom in India, ISPs have blocked 32 sites including Vimeo, Dailymotion, GitHub and Pastebin across the country. Users across India have complained about being unable to access the aforementioned sites and many others. Today, Centre for Internet & Society director Pranesh Prakash was among the first to share the circular that went round to local ISPs on Dec 17 demanding that they block access to multiple sites. The availability of these sites is currently varied across the country, depending on whether the ISPs that operate in different service areas have taken action to comply with the order. Indian ruling party BJP’s National Head Arvind Gupta confirmed the block order via Twitter, citing ‘anti-India content’ hosted on those sites from terrorist outfit ISIS. While Gupta claims that those sites which remove the objectionable content in question will be unblocked, the block order is problematic for a number of reasons: it doesn’t clearly state to ISPs why they have to block these sites and for how long; furthermore, the blocks are site-wide and affect users who depend on these online services for work.