-->

Friday 19 April 2019

NEWSLETTER, 20-IV-2019











DELHI, 20th April 2019
Index of this Newsletter


INDIA

– GENERAL POLICY, INFRASTRUCTURES, COUNTRY FINANCES, ETC. 


1.1. Ambedkar and the right to vote
1.2. After ADB & RBI, IMF cuts India GDP growth forecast to 7.3% for 2019-20
2.1. Azim Premji raises philanthropy bar with $21 billion total pledge
2.2. Telecom subscriber base crosses 1.200 million; Jio, BSNL, Airtel add customers
3.1. Opinion | Is India really making better use of productive resources?
3.2. New investments in India remain in a slump in January-March 2019
4.1. Tata enters airports business with stake in GMR Infrastructure
4.2. India, US agree to build six nuclear power plants in India
5.1. India develops pan nation electricity mobile app for ensuring 24X7 supply
5.2. ADB to extend US$ 750-millon loan to push railways' electrification drive


– AGRICULTURE, FISHING & RURAL DEVELOPMENT


6.1. FMCG sales at organized retail stores grew 22% in 2018: Nielsen India report
6.2. Walmart opens 24th outlet at Karimnagar in Telangana
7.1. Over half of telecom user base now has mobile broadband, thanks to Reliance Jio
7.2. Khadi’s haul of fame
8.1. Opinion | Night-time commerce offers India a growth opportunity
8.2. It's a prolonged winter for India's consumption story
9.1. Millennials in Rural India shaping consumption patterns in the hinterland
9.2. India's share in consumer goods consumption to double by 2030
10.1. Expect US$ 28-bn FDI in food processing this year: Harsimrat Kaur Badal
10.2. Cold storage capacity expands, Rs 21,000 crore investment lined up by 2023


– INDUSTRY, MANUFACTURE


11.1. India's education technology startup bags USD 25,000 global tech prize
11.2. Wait for many more local innovations in India: Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey
12.1. L’Oreal eyeing acquisitions in India's cosmetics market
12.2. Automakers invest around US$ 491 million in Indian start-ups in 2018
13.1. ADB to invest USD 50 mn in solar project developer Avaada
13.2. India highest recipient of remittances at USD 79 billion in 2018: World Bank
14.1. Logistics market seen growing 10.5% a year, to reach US$ 215 bn by 2020: Study
14.2. Logistics firm Delhivery raises USD 413 mn in funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund
15.1. AC makers expect a double-digit sales growth this summer
15.2. Road building in India second cheapest in Asia, says AIIB study


– SERVICES (IT, R&D, Tourism, Healthcare, etc.) 


16.1. L&T launches strategic unit L&T-Nxt to focus on AI, Internet of Things
16.2. IBM to train over 1 million female students in India in 3 years
17.1. TCS, Google join hands to build industry-specific cloud solutions
17.2. Riding on 5G tech, Tech Mahindra aims to boost communications revenues
18.1. Paytm Mall on hiring spree, eyes Rs 10,000-crore business in a year
18.2. Wipro, IIT-Kharagpur partner for advanced research in 5G and AI
19.1. SpiceJet becomes first Indian low-cost airline to join IATA
19.2. Oyo books $200 million funding from Airbnb
20.1. Cipla signs US$ 22 mn pact with Pulmatrix Inc for new asthma drug
20.2. Facebook eyeing investments in content startups in India


INDIA & THE WORLD 

21.1. Unilever's global leadership team now has 3 Indians for the first time
21.2. India becomes second largest market for Marks & Spencer after UK
22.1. Karnad’s ‘Indian Story’ gets him Windham-Campbell Prize in UK
22.2. How to live more with less technology
23.1. Indian Cinema's cult classics now up for remakes for millennial audiences
23.2. Dance Movement Therapy allies de-stressing with a great workout
24.1. PSLV-C45 successfully launches EMISAT and 28 customer satellites
24.2. Prospects of global economy slowdown to keep policy uncertainty elevated
25.1. Lanka breaks ground for oil refinery with investments from Indian firm & Oman
25.2. India's goods, services export to touch about USD 540 bn this fiscal: Prabhu


* * *

DELHI, 20th April 2019

NEWSLETTER, 20-IV-2019



INDIA

– GENERAL POLICY, INFRASTRUCTURES, COUNTRY FINANCES, ETC. 



1.1. Ambedkar and the right to vote 
Livemint, 12 Apr. 2019, Gautam Bhatia
  • BR Ambedkar, as the chairman of the Constitution’s drafting committee, played a crucial role in ensuring that India got universal adult franchise after Independence 
  • Ambedkar’s argument that voting was essential to citizenship and that voting served as a means of political education for the historically deprived sections was key to India’s voting rights 
We think of the right to vote as one of the most basic elements of a democratic citizenship: both essential and universal. But it wasn’t always like this. In the course of democratic evolution across the world, the right to vote was often withheld by political elites, who saw it as a weapon that could be used to bring about large-scale social reconstruction. For large parts of history, women, racial minorities, and property-less or poor people were routinely denied the vote, on the grounds that they could not be trusted to exercise it responsibly. As the historian Alexander Keyssar demonstrates in his magisterial book, The Right To Vote: The Contested History Of Democracy In The United States, universal adult suffrage in the US (for example) was gained incrementally, and after protracted (and often violent) political struggle. The story was the same in other Western democracies.

India, however, chose a very different path. The framing of the Constitution ushered in the principle of universal adult franchise in one swoop. From a situation where, under the colonial regime, only around 15% of Indians had (limited) voting rights, every adult was granted the right to vote. In a country that suffered from grinding levels of poverty and illiteracy, and continued to be riddled with caste, class and gender hierarchies, this was a truly radical move, and a leap of faith by the framers of the Constitution: no more the “waiting room of history" for Indians, who had been told repeatedly by the British that they were not mature enough to handle self-governance. India was to be a full-blooded democracy from the moment of its birth.

What was it that enabled such a transformative change to come about, as though it was the most natural thing in the world? From the very beginning, the protagonists of the freedom struggle, and the leaders of the Indian National Congress, had been clear that independent India would be founded on the principles of universal adult franchise: It was enshrined, for example, in the 1931 Karachi Resolution, a proto-constitutional document drafted by the Congress. But the responsibility for ensuring that the pledge of universal adult franchise was converted into constitutional reality was placed upon the shoulders of B.R. Ambedkar, the head of the Constitution’s drafting committee, and it is his role that proved to be crucial.

Early on in his political career, Ambedkar had recognized the importance of the right to vote. In 1919, he had been asked to give evidence before the Southborough committee, which was looking into designing representative institutions for (what was then) the Indian Dominion. In the course of his written submissions, Ambedkar observed that “the right of representation and the right to hold office under the State are the two most important rights that make up citizenship". He then went on to address the argument that the franchise granted to the “Untouchables" should be restricted because of their degraded status in society. While admitting the fact, Ambedkar turned the argument on its head: It was precisely because of what had been done to them that “it would be better to pitch the franchise so low as to educate into political life as many untouchables as possible".

Ambedkar’s arguments, therefore, were based on two principles: First, that voting was essential to citizenship and to equal moral membership of the polity; and second, that voting could serve as a means of political education for those who had been denied any part of political and social life for all these years, and as a tool to “remove the evil conditions" that existed.

It was these two principles that formed the backbone of universal adult franchise becoming part of the Constitution. As the chairman of the drafting committee, it was Ambedkar who inserted Article 326 into the Constitution, which provided that elections would be held on the basis of universal adult franchise. It was also Ambedkar who drafted a narrowly-defined set of qualifications and disqualifications for standing for electoral office, which were carefully restricted to procedural restrictions such as a minimum age, or restrictions concerned with maintaining the integrity of the electoral process, such as soundness of mind. When these provisions were debated, Ambedkar made it clear that they did not contemplate the kinds of invidious discrimination that had hitherto excluded individuals from voting or standing, such as property qualifications.

The decision to enshrine universal adult franchise into the Constitution was not free from controversy. H.V. Kamath, a member of the constituent assembly, expressed the view that in a country with such high levels of illiteracy, universal franchise was a dangerous thing and ought to be restricted. Other members of the assembly supported him. Kamath, however, was unable to carry the House, which was keenly aware of the historical nature of what it was attempting.

As constituent assembly member Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar observed: “...in spite of the ignorance and illiteracy of the large mass of the Indian people, the Assembly has adopted the principle of adult franchise with an abundant faith in the common man and the ultimate success of democratic rule and in the full belief that the introduction of democratic government on the basis of adult suffrage will bring enlightenment and promote the well-being, the standard of life, the comfort and the decent living of the common man.... This Assembly deserves to be congratulated on adopting the principle of adult suffrage and it may be stated that never before in the history of the world has such an experiment been so boldly undertaken."

Underlying these words were, of course, the principles that Ambedkar had voiced before the Southborough committee a few decades ago: that ultimately, democratic government was inseparable from the right to vote, and it was voting that would prove to be (one of) the harbinger(s) of political education.

As we approach yet another general election, the disquieting news of mass deletions from voter rolls that have disproportionately affected the most vulnerable and marginalized of society, presents a grave threat to the “bold experiment" that we embarked upon seven decades ago. In this time, we would do well to remember Ambedkar’s principles.

Gautam Bhatia is a Delhi-based lawyer. His most recent book is The Transformative Constitution: A Radical Biography In Nine Acts.


1.2. After ADB & RBI, IMF cuts India GDP growth forecast to 7.3% for 2019-20 
Livemint, 10 Apr 2019, Asit Ranjan Mishra
  • India GDP growth seen at 7.3% in 2019-20 and 7.5% in 2020-21, 20 basis points lower than earlier IMF estimates 
  • Continued economic reforms, with efforts to reduce public debt, is essential to Indian economy’s growth, says IMF 

Apart from India, IMF has cut the global growth forecast for 2019 by 20bps to 3.3%—the slowest since the 2008 financial crisis. (Sarvesh Kumar Sharma/Mint)

New Delhi: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday cut India’s GDP growth forecast for 2019-20, following similar action by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

“In India, growth is projected to pick up to 7.3% in 2019 (2019-20) and 7.5% in 2020, supported by the continued recovery of investment and robust consumption amid a more expansionary stance of monetary policy and some expected impetus from fiscal policy," IMF said in its World Economic Outlook reportreleased on Tuesday.

IMF’s downward revisions in India’s growth forecasts are 20 basis points each in 2019-20 and 2020-21 from its outlook released in January.

One basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.

Both ADB and RBI last week cut their 2019-20 growth projection for India to 7.2% from 7.4% earlier, blaming rising risks to global economic growth as well as weakening domestic investment activity.

The Indian economy grew 6.6% in the December quarter, the slowest in five quarters. That prompted the Central Statistics Office (CSO) to trim its 2018-19 forecast to 7% in February from 7.2% estimated in the previous month.

With the Indian economy projected to slow down further in the fiscal fourth quarter, the central bank’s focus has shifted from inflationary concerns to sustaining the growth momentum. RBI effected two back-to-back rate cuts of 25 basis points each to boost growth.

Of the high-frequency indicators of industry, growth in the manufacturing component of the index of industrial production slowed to 1.3% in January. Growth of eight core industries remained sluggish at 2.1% in February. Data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers on Monday signalled a slowdown in urban demand as car sales grew 2.7% in 2018-19, the worst performance in five financial years.

Agenda for the next government

Setting the agenda for the next government, to be formed after general election results are declared on 23 May, IMF said continued implementation of structural and financial sector reforms with efforts to reduce public debt remain essential to secure the Indian economy’s growth prospects.

“In the near term, continued fiscal consolidation is needed to bring down India’s elevated public debt. This should be supported by strengthening goods and services tax compliance and further reducing subsidies," IMF said in its World Economic Outlook.

The report emphasized enhancing governance of public sector banks and reforms to hiring and dismissal regulations that would incentivize job creation and absorb the country’s large demographic dividend. “Efforts should also be enhanced on land reform to facilitate and expedite infrastructure development," the report stated.

IMF commended the government for taking steps to strengthen financial sector balance sheets through accelerated resolution of non-performing assets (NPAs) under a simplified bankruptcy framework.

Global Risks

IMF also cut its global growth forecast for 2019 by 20 basis points to 3.3%—the lowest since the financial crisis in 2008—blaming trade tensions between the US and China, loss of momentum in Europe and uncertainty surrounding Brexit. It, however, raised China’s GDP growth outlook by 10 basis points to 6.3% for 2019.

Beyond 2020, the report said global growth would be sustained at about 3.6% because of the increase in the relative size of economies such as China and India, which are projected to have robust growth.


2.1. Azim Premji raises philanthropy bar with $21 billion total pledge 
Livemint, 13 Mar. 2019, Kalpana Pathak

  • Azim Premji gave away 34% of his shares in Wipro, valued at about $7.5 billion, to charitable causes on Wednesday 
  • The shares given away by Premji—a man known for his frugal ways—are valued at about $7.5 billion 
MUMBAI: Azim Premji, India’s second-richest man, on Wednesday gave away 34% of his shares in Wipro Ltd to charitable causes, confirming his status as the most philanthropic Indian.

The shares given away by Premji—a man known for his frugal ways—are valued at about $7.5 billion.

With the latest contribution, the total value of funds committed by the billionaire to Azim Premji Foundation’s philanthropic activities is ₹1.45 trillion ($21 billion). This includes a 67% economic ownership of Wipro, the foundation said on Wednesday.

Premji inherited his father’s vegetable oil company and transformed it into a global software powerhouse. One of the world’s richest men, Premji still flies economy class, avoids costly cars and ostentatious displays of wealth.

In terms of philanthropic contributions in the country, Premji is ahead of others by a distance. Although India has seen a rise in individual donations of late, contributions of ₹10 crore or more account for more than half of individual philanthropy and Premji’s donations alone account for more than 80% of this.

The Premji foundation, set up in 2010, works to improve access to primary education in India, including some of its most disadvantaged parts. Premji’s philanthropic initiatives also help in improving the lives of street children and the disabled. The foundation also runs the Azim Premji University in Bengaluru.

“Azim Premji’s philanthropic activities have an overarching vision to contribute to developing a just, equitable, humane and sustainable society in India. To enable this vision, the Azim Premji Foundation works directly in education and supports other not-for-profits working in some specific areas through multi-year financial grants," the foundation said in a press statement.

India’s super wealthy households, or those with a net worth of over $50 million in India, are expected to double in both volume and wealth from 160,600 households with a total net worth of ₹1.53 trillion in 2017, to 330,400 households with a combined net worth of ₹3.52 trillion in 2022. But a vast majority of them inherit their wealth and prefer to leave their money to family.


2.2. Telecom subscriber base crosses 1.200 million; Jio, BSNL, Airtel add customers
PTI, Mar. 22, 2019

New Delhi: The country's telecom subscriber base for the third time crossed 120-crore mark with Reliance Jio, BSNL and Airtel adding new customers in January, according to a report released by telecom regulator Trai.

"The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 1,197.87 million at the end of December 2018 to 1,203.77 million at the end of January 2019, thereby showing a monthly growth rate of 0.49 per cent," the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said in monthly subscriber report for January 2019.

Earlier, the subscriber base crossed the 120-crore mark in July 2017 and May 2018.

The mobile customer base grew to 118 crore in January from 117 crore in December. The wireline connection in the country slid to 2.17 crore in January from 2.18 crore in December.

Reliance Jio dominated growth by adding over 93 lakh new mobile customers. State-run telecom firm BSNL followed Jio by adding 9.82 lakh mobile subscribers. Bharti Airtel returned to growth track, after losing mobile customer in December, by adding over 1 lakh new customers.

The net increase of telecom subscriber in January was 59 lakh, compared to over 1 crore subscribers added by the three players. However, Vodafone Idea and Tata Teleservices jointly lost close to 44 lakh mobile customers.

The country's biggest telecom operator Vodafone Idea lost 35.8 lakh mobile customers, Tata Teleservices 8.4 lakh and state-run MTNL 4,927 mobile customers.

The wireline connections declined mainly because of BSNL losing 90 thousand connections. Private operators Bharti Airtel and Vodafone added 29,930 and 6,386 connections.

Broadband connections in the country grew 4.15 per cent to 54 crore in January from 51.8 crore in December. The mobile devices-based broadband connections accounted for over 96 per cent of total base with over 52.1 crore subscribers while wireline connections reached 1.82 crore.

Top-five service providers constituted 98.63 per cent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of January. Reliance Jio led the market with 28.94 crore broadband subscribers. It was followed by Bharti Airtel with 11 crore connections, Vodafone Idea 10.98 crore, BSNL 2 crore and and Tata Teleservices Group 22.6 lakh connections.

BSNL maintained lead in the wireline broadband segment with 91.7 lakh connection. It was followed by Airtel with 23 lakh connections, Atria Convergence 14 lakh, Hathway Cable & Datacom 7.9 connection and MTNL 7.7 lakh connections.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same. 


3.1. Opinion | Is India really making better use of productive resources? 
Livemint, 26 Mar. 2019, V. Anantha Nageswaran

Sluggish investment demand in India is more likely a result of idle capacity than capital efficiency

There has been a controversial yet useful and important debate going on between economists and chartered accountants (CAs) in the country. A total of 108 economists and social scientists raised concerns about frequent and inexplicable revisions to gross domestic product (GDP) growth numbers and over the withholding of data on employment generation. Meanwhile, 131 CAs defended the GDP growth revisions as inevitable consequences of adopting methodologies followed elsewhere in the world. Over the weekend, veteran journalist T.N. Ninan stirred the pot with his column in Business Standard which raised the tantalizing prospect of India having achieved capital efficiency nirvana already.

Capital efficiency is an alluring explanation because it can explain weak employment generation, sluggish capital formation, and yet decent economic growth rates. At the same time, oodles of idle capacity can also explain all the three phenomena. So, are we simply going through a long disinflationary phase of modest growth because far too much capacity has been created than can be put to use—given regulatory and policy tangles as well as the weak underlying demand caused, among other things, by tepid credit growth? Available evidence points to the possibility that there is excess capacity rather than capital efficiency.

The first place to look for evidence of a productivity boom is profits.On this score, data on productivity in India is notoriously difficult to find. The Conference Board, an American research group-cum-think tank, produces international labour and productivity comparisons. India’s total factor productivity (TFP) growth has not been bad in recent years. But, the country had experienced higher TFP growth in the boom years preceding 2008. Indeed, there is nothing in the near-three decade long data on TFP growth for India available from the Conference Board to suggest it is anything other than cyclical.

Let us turn to profits. In January, The Economic Times published a report on the profit-to-GDP ratio of Nifty 500 companies having hit a 15-year low, citing research by Motilal Oswal. Of course, this would have included the financial sector—both of the banking and of the non-banking variety.

The Reserve Bank of India publishes quarterly and annual data on the financial parameters of non-government and non-financial companies. Data for the last five years suggests that the top-line and bottom-line of non-financial private corporations have grown steadily, but there is nothing in the data to suggest that a new, structurally better growth path for corporate profits and sales lies ahead. Profit margins are steady and not spectacular.

If capital efficiency and productivity were underpinning growth, then corporate sentiment should be buoyant. The quarterly surveys conducted by the RBI on industrial outlook (covering over 1,200 manufacturing companies) shows that their assessments are rather subdued in comparison to the ebullience felt before 2008. The same survey asks the companies about their capacity utilization levels compared to the average of the previous four quarters. The response is negative. That is, capacity utilization levels are below the average of the previous four quarters. In the years before 2008, this was strongly positive.

IHS Markit India Business Outlook for February published on 12 March shows that optimism among Indian businesses—both manufacturing and services included—is stuck at low levels. The net balance of sentiment is near the one-and-half year low observed in October 2018. In sum, several datasets and sources point to the possibility that India is experiencing economic uncertainty rather than economic efficiency.

In general, one must place a higher burden of proof on those claiming the dawn of a new era, because the costs of policy decisions based on such a premise can be substantial and incurred over a longer period if the premise turns out to be false, as the developed world learnt in 2008 and has unlearnt since.

Textbook economics would suggest that the time is ripe for a fiscal stimulus. Private sector credit demand and supply are weak and there is spare capacity. But, India’s fiscal policy is not exactly tight, even if it may appear so based on official data. Much of the fiscal deficit has been farmed out to the books of government enterprises rather than being reflected in the accounts of the government.

State governments, on their part, might have pulled back on their expansive spending of the last few years in 2018-19. The combined fiscal deficit of the Union and state governments has been steady in the last several years. India’s economy has not exactly suffered from fiscal retrenchment in the last three years. Calls for further fiscal stimulus must be laced with caution.

That said, the economy is in need of intervention, not of the fiscal variety but of the leadership variety. Post elections, it needs leadership that can quickly assess the costs and benefits of procrastination versus swift action, and move to act decisively with the long-term national interest in mind rather than the next set of state polls or the Lok Sabha elections due in 2024.

*These are the author’s personal views. V. Anantha Nageswaran is the dean of IFMR Graduate School of Business (KREA University)


3.2. New investments in India remain in a slump in January-March 2019 
Livemint, 02 Apr. 2019, Arjun Srinivas

Project announcements declined in the quarter ending March even as the number of stalled private projects reached a record high of 25.4%, shows CMIE data

New Delhi: Economic activity remains subdued in India, with overall investment in new projects on the decline and private sector projects stalling, fresh data from the project-tracking database of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) shows.

Indian companies, both public and private sector, announced projects worth ₹1.99 trillion in the quarter ending March 2019, 16% lower than what was announced in the quarter ending December 2018, and 46% lower than the year-ago period. These are provisional figures that come with a lag and may even be revised upwards by CMIE. However, they still paint a gloomy picture of the Indian economy.

As in the December 2018 quarter, the fall in overall capex announcements was driven by a slump in new project announcements by the private sector. New private sector projects fell 25% in the just-ended March quarter compared with the previous quarter, and 34% compared with the same period last year.

However, investment in new public sector projects increased in the March quarter, rising by 5.25% compared with the December 2018 quarter. This could be a cyclical effect with governments looking to complete projects by the end of the fiscal year. Over the last two years, there has been a similar spike in public sector project investments in the final fiscal quarter. This quarter’s public sector investment ( ₹738.4 billion) in the March quarter is significantly lower than last year’s value (a year-on-year decline of 62%), even after the increase over the December quarter.

Investment in the manufacturing, mining and real estate sectors have all declined significantly. The decline in construction and real estate investment is especially stark, falling by nearly 80% compared to the December quarter and the same period last year.

Manufacturing has also fallen by 54% compared to the December quarter and 46% over the previous year. The only positives are investments in electricity and services sectors, which have shown a large increase, almost doubling from the December quarter.

The prolonged effects of non-performing assets (NPAs), power sector distress, and election-induced policy uncertainty could be curtailing investment activity in the Indian economy. The CMIE data reveals that private sector projects are being stalled at near-unprecedented rates in India.

Stalling rate is calculated as a percentage of the total projects under implementation so that the values are comparable across time. In the March quarter, the stalling rate of the private sector stood at a record high of 25.4%. The overall stalling rate in both public and private sector projects is lower at 11.08%, because of a decreased stalling rate in public sector projects.

The services (excluding financial services) and manufacturing sectors remain the worst affected by stalling. Services sector projects accounted for 35% of all stalled projects, while manufacturing accounted for nearly 24% of stalled projects.

Lack of funds has emerged as the biggest reason for stalling in recent quarters, suggesting that under-financed banks and stressed corporations are finding it increasingly difficult to finance their projects.

The revised guidelines announced recently by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on the resolution of stressed assets and bad loans will likely impact the availability of bank credit. This might lead to a further disruption of investment activity in the economy.

With Lok Sabha elections beginning this month, there is unlikely to be a resurgence in investment, as investors could adopt a wait-and-watch approach.

The announcement of populist schemes, such as farm loan waivers and farmer income support, has already compelled the government to cut back on capex spending. An inconclusive mandate in the upcoming elections might lead to further uncertainty in the investment climate. The dovish stance adopted by the RBI in February may lead to a longer term uptick in investments, but the outlook for the shorter term remains bleak.


4.1. Tata enters airports business with stake in GMR Infrastructure
Livemint, 27 Mar. 2019, Tanya Thomas

  • Tata Group, GIC, SSG Capital to co-invest ₹8,000 crore GMR airports business in the ratio of 44:33:22 
  • The ₹8,000 crore deal values GMR airports business at ₹18,000 crore, proceeds will be used to pare debt 
Mumbai: Tata Group and two foreign entities have agreed to invest ₹8,000 crore in GMR Infrastructure Ltd’s airports business, bypassing an unwritten industry practice that discourages companies owning airlines from operating airports.

On Wednesday, GMR announced that Tata Group, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte Ltd and Hong Kong-based SSG Capital Management will co-invest in its airports business in the ratio of 44:33:22. Out of the total investment, ₹1,000 crore will come as equity infusion into GMR Airports Ltd, which will be used to retire the airport operator’s debt. The three investors will use the remaining ₹7,000 crore to buy GMR Airports shares from parent GMR Infrastructure and its units, which will also be used to pare debt.

After this, total debt of GMR Infrastructure will reduce to₹12,000 crore, Sushil Kumar Modi, GMR’s group chief financial officer (strategic finance), said at a news conference in Mumbai.

Post the deal, GMR Infrastructure and its units will hold about 54% stake in the airports business, while the company’s Employee Welfare Trust will own 2%. Tata will hold about 20%, with GIC and SSG holding stakes of about 15% and 10%, respectively.

The deal values GMR’s airports business at ₹18,000 crore and allows for an earn-out of ₹4,475 crore—linked to achievement of certain milestones and performance metrics over the next five years. This will boost GMR’s stake to 62% once they are achieved. The pact will also include a non-compete clause between GMR and Tata Group in the airports business.

While the investment is a lifeline to the debt-laden GMR Infrastructure, it is also a strategic entry point for the Tata Group into the airport infrastructure business, which has seen heightened investor interest lately. Tata, however, has investments in two domestic airlines, AirAsia India and Vistara. In the aviation industry, it is rare for an airline operator to also own a majority stake in an airport.

A senior official at an airline said airport slots in India tend to be “influenced by a lot of lobbying". “Owning both an airport and an airline could lead to a conflict of interest and raise questions of antitrust and could attract attention from the Competition Commission of India," the official said, requesting anonymity.

A GMR official said as part of the agreement, AirAsia and Vistara would have to compete on a level playing field at GMR-run airports.

“This is a minority stake for Tata Sons and a strategic stake in a fast-growing infrastructure sector. There is a rule that if you are in the aviation sector, then you cannot have majority stake in an airport," said a spokesperson for Tata Sons Ltd, the group’s holding company. “We’re still working out which Tata entity will own this stake." Tata might own the stake through Tata Realty and Infrastructure (TRIL), a wholly owned unit of Tata Sons, said two industry experts.

Grandhi Kiran Kumar, managing director and chief executive of GMR Infrastructure, said the “proposed investment endorses the strength of the unparalleled airport platform created by GMR Group and will reduce our debt substantially, strengthening our balance sheet".

GMR, which runs the Delhi and Hyderabad airports and is developing new airports at Mopa in Goa, Nagpur, Cebu in the Philippines and Crete in Greece will retain management control of GMR Airports. GMR has also emerged as the highest bidder for a greenfield airport at Bhogapuram, near Visakhapatnam.

GMR Infrastructure’s airports business contributed ₹5,433 crore to the company, accounting for the highest chunk of operating revenue of ₹8,721 crore in FY18 among its various business verticals, including power and roads projects. After the completion of the deal, GMR has proposed to demerge its energy, highways, urban infrastructure and transportation businesses from the airports business. This plan is subject to board and regulatory approvals.

In 2016, Mint reported that TRIL planned to invest up to₹10,000 crore in light-rail urban transport, airports, highways and roads, and ropeway projects. At the time, MIA Infrastructure, promoted by TRIL and French group Vinci Airports SA, was one of three shortlisted bidders for the proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport, which was later won by the GVK group.

“We’ve seen the Tatas getting into businesses aligned to where they already have a presence. The long-term cash flow visibility has been improving in airports. Passenger movement has been growing exponentially. If you take a 10-15 year call, prospects are bright," said Sandeep Upadhyay, managing director and CEO of Centrum Infrastructure Advisory.

“There are very few large airport operators in India and the entry of a credible group like the Tatas is a positive," Upadhyay said. “The government’s recent auctioning of operating rights to six airports is just the start of airport privatization. If you look at the pipeline, it has about 100 projects. So, it’s a great opportunity."


4.2. India, US agree to build six nuclear power plants in India
PTI, Mar. 14, 2019

Washington: India and the US said they have agreed to build six American nuclear power plants in India, in a boost to bilateral civil nuclear energy cooperation.

The two countries said this in a joint statement issued at the conclusion of the 9th round of India-US Strategic Security Dialogue, co-chaired by Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale and Andrea Thompson, the US under secretary of state for arms control and international security, on Wednesday.

"They committed to strengthen bilateral security and civil nuclear cooperation, including the establishment of six U.S. nuclear power plants in India," the joint statement said.

India and the US signed a historic agreement to cooperate in civil nuclear energy sector in October 2008. The deal gave a fillip to bilateral ties, which have been on an upswing since.

A major aspect of the deal was the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), that gave a special waiver to India enabling it to sign cooperation agreements with a dozen countries.

Post-waiver, India signed civil nuclear cooperation agreements with the US, France, Russia, Canada, Argentina, Australia, Sri Lanka, the UK, Japan, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan and South Korea.

On Wednesday, the United States also reaffirmed its strong support to India's early membership in the 48-member NSG. Notably, China has blocked India's pending membership to the elite grouping that seeks to prevent proliferation of nuclear weapons.

During the meeting, the two sides exchanged views on a wide range of global security and non-proliferation challenges and reaffirmed their commitment to work together to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems and to deny access to such weapons by terrorists and non-state actors.

On March 12, Indra Mani Pandey, India's additional secretary for disarmament and international security affairs, and Yleem D. S. Poblete, US assistant secretary of state for arms control, verification and compliance, co-chaired the third round of India-US Space Dialogue.

The two delegations discussed trends in space threats; respective national space priorities; and opportunities for cooperation bilaterally and in multilateral fora.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.


5.1. India develops pan nation electricity mobile app for ensuring 24X7 supply
Livemint, Apr. 11, 2019

New Delhi: In what will help ensure round-the-clock electricity across India, the union government has developed a crowd sourcing mobile app for accessing real time consumer feedback on quality and availability of power from across the country.

This comes in the backdrop of a need for data integrity, with many a states claiming to have achieved 24X7 power for all, despite outages. Electricity availability has been a contentious issue as India goes to polls for the 17th Lok Sabha.

The app named Jagruk or ‘aware’ developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) will also have an automatic mode wherein electricity supply data will be collected during the charging of the phone. The pilot project for the app will shortly be launched in all the union territories and the states such as Odisha, Uttarakhand, Assam and Bihar.

“This is a huge step. A meeting was held on 5 April wherein it was decided to work towards the roll-out of the pilot project. Some states did express some reservations but finally came around to the idea," said a government official requesting anonymity.

According to documents reviewed by Mint, through the app the consumers will be able to report power outages and its location, with the information being shared with the state electricity utilities, state and union governments and the even the district magistrate for follow-up action. The plan also involves incentivising Common Service Centres (CSCs), Asha workers, Bank Mitra’s and Gram Panchayats for providing feedback from the rural areas.

“Given that there may be a problem of crowd sourcing in the rural areas, the plan may also involve CSCs, Asha workers, Bank Mitra’s and Gram Panchayats by incentivising them for providing feedback," said the government official quoted above.

With electricity being on the concurrent list, it is for states to ensure quality, reliable and affordable electricity to consumers. All states and union territories had inked memorandum of understandings providing details of the ‘Power for All’ road map. Interestingly, of India’s installed capacity of 349 gigawatts (GW), the peak demand is only 177GW.

“Many states/UTs have now claimed to have achieved Power for All 24X7 to all consumers. In the absence of any specified monitoring mechanism for 24X7 power supply to all consumers, it is felt that the general public being the ultimate consumers of electricity, their feedback through crowd sourcing mobile app for getting real time feedback from the consumers for improving availability and quality of 24X7 power supply," said a document reviewed by Mint.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government’s plan to provide “24X7 clean and affordable power for all" by March 2019 has been a mixed bag. While all states claim to be providing round-the-clock electricity to urban consumers, the same is not the case for rural consumers.

A power ministry spokesperson declined comment.

According to the union government, the hours of power supplied to agriculture sector will be as per state’s policies to reduce water wastage and prevent over exploitation ground water resources.

Mint reported on 26 February about 13 states supplying round-the-clock electricity to consumers citing indicative feeder monitoring data. These states include Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, West Bengal, Punjab, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tripura and Uttarakhand. Also all union territories have been supplying 24x7 power to urban and rural consumers. In addition, nine states have been supplying 24x7 power to urban consumers.

Electricity has always been a poll issue as is the case in these elections.

“Now, we will work towards: Ensuring a right mix of energy which leads towards a cleaner environment, Supplying quality electricity to all consumers, Making the state electricity entities financially sound and administratively more efficient," the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said in its election manifesto.

“Congress promises to enhance availability of, and access to, electricity in rural areas by encouraging investment in off-grid renewable power generation with ownership and revenues vesting in local bodies," the Congress party’s manifesto promised.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.


5.2. ADB to extend US$ 750-millon loan to push railways' electrification drive
Business Standard, Apr. 01, 2019

New Delhi: The Indian Railways will raise a $750-million loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) through Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) to finance part of its electrification drive.

The national transporter has lined up an electrification drive covering 28,000 km in the next three financial years — 7,000 km in 2019-20 and 10,500 km each in 2020-21 and 2021-22, respectively.

This will entail an expenditure of $6-7 billion. The ADB loan will be used for electrifying around 3,378 km, involving at least 16 sub-projects in 13 states.

The national transporter has approached the Election Commission to get the clearance on this. “In a week we are expected to sign a final deal with the ADB for a non-sovereign project finance loan for the ongoing electrification process. Based on the ongoing talks, the interest rates are likely to be 1.25 basis points (bps) higher than the acquiring rate of the ADB,” said a government official.

IRFC is the wholly owned financial arm of the Indian Railways.

The government’s plan to opt for divesting its stake in IRFC failed to take off last year after the World Bank’s agency Multi-Lateral Investment Guarantee (MIGA) backed out of providing an investment guarantee for raising at least $500 million from international private sector investors and lenders. Following this, the listing plan was put on hold.

The ADB debt financing is likely to be structured as a standard secured project finance loan for a tenor of 20 years, comprising a four-year availability period and a 16-year repayment period.

In March last year the ADB and the Indian Railways signed a loan agreement for availing the third tranche of $120 million in a multi tranche financing facility of $500 million for developing five projects.

This included Daund-Gulbarga Doubling (224 km), Sambalpur-Titlagarh Doubling (182 km), Raipur-Titlagarh Doubling (203 km), Hospet-Tinaighat Doubling (201 km) and Pune-Wadi Guntakal Electrification (641 km).

“The current loan of $750 million will be used for new electrification projects only. We have written to the Election Commission for clearance,” the official added.

For electrification, the Ministry of Railways has entrusted its in-house agencies like Central Organisation for Railway Electrification (CORE), Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd, and railways zonal offices.

Following the launch of the Mission Electrification program in November 2016 with the intention to electrify 38,000 route km by FY22, the Indian Railway Construction Company Ltd, Rail India Techno Economic Service Ltd and the Power Grid Corporation of India were also roped in to speed up the process.

ADB-funded electrification works are expected to create around 4,500 additional jobs annually. Based on an estimate, at least 24,100 million passenger gross tonnage km (GTKM) and 32,200 million freight GTKM may be provided annually by electric traction on the newly electrified routes funded by the ADB.

The move for 100 per cent electrification of Indian tracks is expected to save at least Rs 13,000 crore on the national transporter's fuel bill.

Despite carrying 65 per cent of all freight and 51 per cent of the passenger load of the Indian Railways, electric traction accounts for only 36 per cent of the energy bill, with diesel accounting for the balance.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same. 


- AGRICULTURE, FISHING & RURAL DEVELOPMENT 


6.1. FMCG sales at organized retail stores grew 22% in 2018: Nielsen India report
Livemint, Mar. 12, 2019

New Delhi: The switch to goods and services tax (GST), acceptance of digital payments, and a consumer shift to convenience have helped push the sale of cheese, biscuits, hair conditioners, and packaged rice in modern retail stores in India for the year ended 31 August 2018. This has helped the country’s organized grocery stores register a strong 22% growth in sales, according to a report titled Reformatting Retail in India by insights firm Nielsen India released in March.

The market for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sold through modern retail stores in India stood at 41,416 crore as of August 2018, Nielsen said.

The report measured the growth of such stores from August 2017 to August 2018, factoring in the impact of events such as demonetisation and the transition to GST in 2017. “Demonetization and the introduction of GST became tailwinds for the sector by triggering the mass adoption of digital modes of payment by consumers," the report said.

However, the overall contribution of supermarkets and organized grocery stores still remains 10% of overall FMCG sales “with a greater concentration in urban areas, particularly the top 17 metro cities".

The last two years have been beneficial for large retail chains, as traditional retail dominated by small mom-pop or kirana stores were affected by policy changes. In 2017, the government’s move to implement the GST impacted small and medium wholesalers, which were already reeling under the impact of the government’s move to ban high currency notes in November 2016. These stores struggled to keep up with the lengthy compliance procedure required under the new tax system. As a result, supermarkets and grocery stores saw higher footfalls and reported better sales.

“Advance setting of systems, across both buying and selling, helped modern trade gain sizeable growth advantage over general trade during the implementation of GST," the report said. In the same period, the number of organized grocery stores that Nielsen defines as “shops enabled with shopping aisles, a shopping cart, and have at least two such shops" stood at 18,197. In 2018, supermarkets grew 25%, while hypermarkets grew by 15%. Nielsen defines supermarkets as chain and stand-alone stores that have an area of less than 15,000 sq. ft and not more than nine point-of-sale counters. The rest, Nielsen defines as hypermarkets.

“In modern trade, per say, we’ve been seeing growth, be it in store count, be it in penetration, be it in footfall, as well as, what’s happening with the consumer," said Ajay Macaden, head, retail, Nielsen India.

Such stores in smaller markets grew at a faster clip, Nielsen data suggests. Small and large organized stores in cities with a population of 100,000 to 500,000 grew three times compared with those in metros. “In smaller towns, it is more the case of small mom-pop stores trying to reinvent themselves," Macaden said.

For large FMCG firms, the modern retail stores have been steadily improving and helping them sell more premium and valued-added products.

For Bengaluru-based packaged food firm Britannia Industries Ltd, which fetches 8-10% of its sales from organised grocery stores, “modern trade has most certainly picked up and is fuelling the company’s growth," said Gunjan Shah, VP, sales, of the firm, which makes Good Day and Marie Gold biscuits.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same. 


6.2. Walmart opens 24th outlet at Karimnagar in Telangana
PTI, Mar. 14, 2019

Mumbai: Walmart said Wednesday that it has inaugurated its 24th cash and carry outlet in the country at at Karimnagar in Telangana.
Called the Best Price Cash & Carry Store, this is the second store for the American retail giant in the state.
At present, foreign multi-brand retailers are not allowed to go the public directly and operate as wholesellers, or the cash and carry format.

GE T&D India has bagged a Rs 150 crore contract from Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Prasaran Nigam to carry out technology-driven grid modernisation as a part of the utility's roadmap to implement grid initiatives and augmenting renewable energy in Rajasthan.
GE's advanced energy management system will serve as a foundation for the project and enable the utility to alter production levels based on demand, the company said in a statement Wednesday.

Shapoorji Pallonji launches premium housing project in Thane 
Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate has launched a premium residential project in Thane, marking its foray into this upscale suburban market.
Spread across 4.8 acres, the project will offer unit configurations of 2 BHK premium homes, it said Wednesday.

Essel group takes delivery of first cruise ship 
Cash-strapped Subhash Chandra's cruise shipping business has taken delivery of its first vessel in Singapore.
The vessel Karnika will undergo refurbishment at a dry dock in Singapore and reach the financial capital on April 17, an official statement said Wednesday.

75% of domestic cos victims of cyber-attacks 
Over three quarters of domestic businesses have reported to have been victims of cyber-attacks in a survey commissioned by a security firm.
The survey polled over 3,100 infotech decision makers from mid-sized businesses, with a total of 300 organisations surveyed, the survey by Sophos said Wednesday.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.


7.1. Over half of telecom user base now has mobile broadband, thanks to Reliance Jio
Livemint, 26 Mar. 2019

  • Before Reliance Jio, only one-sixth of all mobile internet users had broadband. 30 months later, over half of them are broadband users 
  • In January 2019, the telecom industry added 21 million broadband subscribers with Bharti Airtel leading the growth 

In absolute terms, the number of wireless broadband users has risen from 154 million in August 2016 to 521.8 million in January 2019. (Vipul Sharma/Mint)

Before Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd came on the scene, only one-sixth of all active wireless subscribers had broadband connections on their mobile devices. In January 2019, or less than 30 months since Reliance Jio’s launch, over half of all active telecom subscribers were broadband users, shows data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Reliance Jio, of course, offered only broadband connections, forcing competitors to follow suit.

Lower tariffs have also resulted in growing adoption of smartphones. In absolute terms, the number of wireless broadband users has risen from 154 million in August 2016 to 521.8 million in January 2019.

In January itself, the industry added 21 million broadband subscribers, the highest in more than a year. Bharti Airtel Ltd led the growth, adding 10 million subscribers. Additions at Reliance Jio slowed from a high of 13 million in September 2018 to 9.3 million in January 2019, points out a report by Motilal Oswal Securities Ltd. Even so, Reliance Jio continues to hold the lion’s share (55.5%) of the wireless broadband market.

According to Ravi Menon, analyst at Elara Securities (India) Pvt. Ltd, two factors are driving the broadband subscriber base. One is the bundled plans. The second is the network effect where growing usage of internet applications (such as apps) pulls in more users.

This works well for the telecom industry, as bundled packages are generally priced higher than plain vanilla voice plans. But encouraging high data usage also entails high capex, which is why all telcos have been burning a lot of cash. Unless tariffs rise from current levels, the situation is unlikely to improve.


7.2. Khadi’s haul of fame
Livemint, 15 Mar. 2019, Jahnabee Borah

  • Khadi, a fabric historically championed as the swadeshi fabric is back in the spotlight as home-grown design and slow fashion gain prominence 
  • Designer Raghavendra Rathore, multi-designer platform Ikkivi and brands like Tulsi, Metapho Racha and Buna Studio are weaving Khadi’s contemporary story 
What is the latest update on Khadi, a fabric historically championed as the swadeshi fabric? It’s a trifecta of sustainable, simple and slow fashion. While brands such as Fabindia and Jaypore offer affordable designs in Khadi, others, like Good Earth, péro and Akaaro, cater to a premium clientele. Among Indian couturiers, Sabyasachi Mukherjee dressed Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in Khadi for movies like Guzaarish and Raavan, and now fashions bridal lehngas from the cotton fabric. In February, the “Khadi Goes Global" event in Delhi saw top designers, including Rohit Bal and Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla, showcasing Khadi designs. As home-grown design and slow fashion gain prominence, how do modern wardrobes embrace the humble fabric in its understated elegance? Here are five brands weaving Khadi’s contemporary story. 

RAGHAVENDRA RATHORE 

Designer Raghavendra Rathore is best known for making the bandhgala covetable, but his recent menswear collection is a nod to sustainability. Crafted from Khadi, the shirts, kurtas and waistcoats are subtly embellished with tonal dori handwork and tailored with the brand’s sartorial stamp—inspired by Jodhpur’s heritage with a modern twist.Available at Raghavendra Rathore stores across India; price on request





METAPHOR RACHA

Entrepreneur Ravi Kiran founded Metaphor Racha in 2011, with a focus on Khadi. He works with artisans who spin on ambar charkhas. “We are driven by two objectives—how to cut a garment with less wastage and how it can be worn in multiple ways while extending its longevity," he says. The proof lies in the hand-dyed collections of blouses, dresses and saris. For Kiran and his team, design is about “solving a problem", a sensibility that has appealed to the brand’s loyal buyers for a decade.

Available at Metaphorracha.com; ₹5,000 onwards



IKKIVI

Multi-vendor platform Ikkivi puts the spotlight on slow fashion, including a number of brands that work with handwoven textiles. Khadi enthusiasts will find new updates on the fabric, with pleated culottes, knotted crop tops, dresses and effortlessly stylish sari-trouser sets. Choose from emerging home-grown brands like Mishé, Sillage and Mati that extensively use Khadi as well as linen and jute for their creations. Available at Ikkivi.com;

₹5,000 onward



TULSI

The brand has worked on Khadi since the early 1990s to develop it as a contemporary fabric for menswear and womenswear in fusion silhouettes. “For our collections, the weight of Khadi ranges from the fine 100s to the coarser 20s and 30s count, making it suitable for seasonal requirements," says creative director Sakshi Kumar. Available at Tulsionline.in; ₹3,500 onwards




BUNA STUDIO

“Our process involves pre-washing Khadi for a soft and fluid feel. We also work with raw and unbleached mulmul Khadi. These are then tailored into relaxed and contemporary garments," says Pallavi Shantam, founder of Buna Studio. Her current collection, titled Time Whisperer, captures the nostalgia of handwritten notes and laid-back afternoons. It is bohemian in spirit and quintessentially feminine, with dresses, tops and trousers in a palette of dusty pinks, charcoal and ecru.Available at Bunastudio.com; ₹4,800 onwards


8.1. Opinion | Night-time commerce offers India a growth opportunity
Livemint, 18 Mar. 2019, Nitin Pai

The after-dark economy is grossly neglected as a generator of value. It’s about time the government helped kick-start it

With Future Retail signed up as its master franchise, the 7-Eleven convenience store chain will open its iconic shops in many Indian cities this year. Unlike in almost all the 18 other countries where it is “always close, but never closed", it won’t be able to operate round the clock in India. As Kishore Biyani says, “We will be open 24 hours wherever we can."

That is because India ignores and often looks down on its night-time economy. Mention the phrase and the first thing that comes to most people’s mind is not just nightlife, but the seedy side of it, involving dance bars, prostitution, drunken driving, gang fights and other crime. Police commissioners will refuse permission for retail establishments to stay open late because of “law and order" problems, some community leaders will complain of the evils that go with nocturnal activities and civic groups will protest noise, traffic and rowdyism. In most cities, after-dark economic activity starts slowing down at 10pm, though restaurants and bars in a few big cities remain open until 1.30am.

Gurcharan Das argued that “India grows at night" in a book by the same name. He is right only in a metaphorical sense—that economic growth happens despite the government. In reality, most of India sleeps at night. The economy does not grow much after dark.

It doesn’t help that we have both a policy environment and a conventional wisdom that do not see the night-time economy as an opportunity to create economic growth and generate jobs. If cities are engines of growth, we’re operating them, at best, only three-quarters of the time.

While nightlife and entertainment are certainly drivers of the night-time economy, they need not be the only ones. According to a report released by the London mayor’s office, 1.6 million people in London—constituting more than a third of the workforce—worked at night in 2017. Of these, 191,000 worked in health and 178,000 in professional services, with nightlife coming in third at 168,000. These were closely followed by transport, automotive, IT and education.

In other words, the city’s nighttime economy is not merely bars and restaurants, but an extension of its day-time economic activities as well. It is estimated that the night component comprises 6-8% of the city’s economy and contributes £18-23 billion in gross value added to the British economy. The figures are approximations but significant enough for Mayor Sadiq Khan to champion the night-time economy and appoint a “Night Czar" to manage it.

It’s not just the post-industrial cities of the West that are focussing on the night economy to extract growth. Singapore has long had a vibrant night economy, and this year, China decided to wake up to the opportunity too. Looking for new ways to increase consumption and drive growth, the mayor of Beijing has announced that the city will “urge malls, supermarkets and convenience stores to stay open later at night", and the government wants “more than half of convenience stores in Beijing to run 24 hours a day in 2022".

Here’s a rough calculation. The top 10 cities in India contribute about $400 billion of the country’s $3 trillion gross domestic product (GDP). If we assume that the night-time economy will add 6% to the urban output, this amounts to $24 billion or an additional 0.8% of GDP. According to my rule of thumb, each percentage pointof GDP growth pulls 2 million people out of poverty.

We need to change the way we view the nighttime economy: not as a concession to decadence and hedonism, but as an important solution to our jobs crisis. We need to think beyond all-night dance bars. Think of street vendors who canoperate an extra hour or two, the people who can make a living driving cabs at night, and shops, banks, clinics, public transport and, yes, government offices that operate round the clock.

If the economy develops a night shift, some of the daytime demand will shift to the night; for instance, when you decide to shop for groceries at1am on a weeknight instead of Saturday morning. This is substitution and does not add to the overall output, but is still a good thing because it will decongest daytime traffic.

Additional output will come from new economic activities that could otherwise have not taken place, such as factories that add an extra shift, and through the creation of new businesses and business models.

However, the night-time economy is highly dependent on government, which not only has to permit it but, more importantly, enable it. Without effective policing, pervasive street lighting, public transport, as well as careful zoning, it will be impossible to sustain the night-time economy.

The usual response is to declare that a night-time economy is ruled out because we don’t have these provisions. We must no longer accept this Procrustean mindset. Things don’t have to change overnight, but policing, street lights, public transport and zoning are things our cities must sort out anyway.

Indeed, to the extent that such investments are made to ensure safety at night, they contribute to overall improvement in law and order. The upshot is that the night-time economy can help improve urban governance during both day and night.

No longer fearing the dark, India too must awake to life and freedom.

Nitin Pai is co-founder and director of The Takshashila Institution, an independent centre for research and education in public policy.


8.2. It's a prolonged winter for India's consumption story
Livemint, 25 Mar. 2019, Pallavi Pengonda, Harsha Jethmalani

  • Fitch has cut India GDP growth forecast for FY20 to 6.8%—a mere reflection of the slowdown in auto and FMCG sectors 
  • Heavyweights in both the industries—Maruti Suzuki and Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) have a lacklustre outlook on sales 
"No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn," said Hal Borland, a US writer and naturalist. But as far as the Indian economy’s prospects go, it seems to be a prolonged winter this time around, with spring nowhere in sight.

Fitch Ratings has cut India GDP growth forecast for FY20 to 6.8% from 7% in December.

Of course, India isn’t alone. Fitch has lowered growth forecasts for 15 countries, and has cut its global growth forecast for 2019 to 2.8% from 3.1% earlier.

For India, the revision in GDP growth forecast is a mere reflection of the slowdown in several industries such as automobiles and consumer goods. What’s more, there have already been telltale signs of weakness in consumption demand in India.

“A consumption slowdown is underway and a part of it was led by the liquidity crunch in the NBFC (non-banking financial company) space and its impact has been lingering," said Tanvee Gupta Jain, chief India economist at UBS Securities India Pvt. Ltd. “The UBS India-Financial Conditions Index suggests growth momentum could remain sluggish in the March quarter and real GDP growth could range from 6.2% to 6.5% year-on-year, versus 6.6% in the December 2018 quarter."

For instance, carmaker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd reported flat sales for February compared to those a year earlier. News reports suggest Maruti Suzuki has cut production for this month by as much as 27% year-on-year.

Sales of tractors and two-wheelers have been weak, too.

Likewise, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) major Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) recently put a check on analysts’ expectations.

“There is some concern on demand as industry growth rates are moderating. This is in contrast to the earlier quarter, where commentary was that demand conditions are stable," CLSA analysts said in a note to clients on 15 March, based on their interaction with the HUL management. Analysts at Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd say their research suggests sustained demand weakness across the consumer durables space, with increased cashback schemes resulting in some volume offtake.

“The data suggests this cyclical slowdown could extend until the June 2019 quarter, before it starts to recover," said Jain. Economists at Nomura concur. “The latest prints of concurrent indicators seem to suggest that the March quarter will mimic the December quarter, but with deterioration also spreading to services, industrial and investment demand. This is also corroborated by Nomura’s proprietary leading indicator, which points to a continued moderation," economists at Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities (India) Pvt. Ltd said in a note on 21 March.

The hope, of course, is that the situation will improve after the general election results are out and the new government takes charge. “Consumption-linked data might get worse in the interim before it improves. We may be in the last two quarters of a consumption slowdown," said Sahil Kapoor, chief market strategist at Edelweiss Professional Investor Research.

As pointed out earlier, one of the main reasons for the slowdown in consumption demand is the liquidity crisis at NBFCs that started when Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS) defaulted last year.

“The flow of funds from the corporate bond and commercial paper market into the NBFC space is slowing down decisively from around 25% per annum CAGR (compound annual growth rate) over FY14-18 to an expected rate of around 8% per annum over FY18-21," said Ritika Mankar Mukherjee, senior economist at Ambit Capital Pvt. Ltd. This means NBFCs are lending at a slower pace and that too at higher rates, as they pass on the increase in their cost of funding.

To be sure, the Reserve Bank of India is expected to do its bit to boost consumption. UBS’s Jain foresees a cumulative repo rate cut of 75-100 basis points (bps) in this cycle. This includes the 25 bps easing announced in February. But then, transmission of reduced rates by banks is easier said than done, as pointed out in a Mark to Market column. One basis point is one hundredth of a percentage point.

Also, as Nomura’s economists point out, “Fiscal and monetary policies are turning expansionary but are unlikely to change the near-term trajectory."

Apart from domestic growth concerns, the Indian economy has to contend with the global slowdown, which is hurting exports.

Again, the farm income support scheme of ₹6,000 a year for around 120 million households could help increase rural consumption, but only to a limited extent. In short, there’s no magic wand. It could be a few quarters for this measure to yield the desired results.

Despite this, consumption-focused stocks, especially FMCG, continue to trade at expensive valuations. But sooner or later, a cocktail of these heady mixes will prove to be nauseous, at the least giving valuations a reality check.


9.1. Millennials in Rural India shaping consumption patterns in the hinterland
Livemint, 20 Mar. 2019, Suneera Tandon

  • Millennials in Rural India could influence $220 billion worth of annual spending, with $177 of this being discretionary 
  • Migration to urban areas and deeper internet penetration are fueling aspirations of rural millennials in India 
New Delhi: Millennials in rural India could influence $220 billion worth of annual spending, with over $177 billion of this in discretionary expenditure, as migration to urban areas and the internet fuel their aspirations, according to researcher Kantar IMRB and Dialogue Factory.

India is home to the world’s largest population of millennials—typically defined as those aged 18-35. At 450 million, these millennials are influencing the way Indians eat, shop, commute and buy, much like their global counterparts.

However, a bulk of these millennials lives in India’s hinterland—home to 300 million rural millennials, or 36% of the rural population, according to the report.

And this demographic is shaping consumption at the bottom of the pyramid.

“Rural millennials are increasingly shaping the bottom of the pyramid with increased rural-to-urban migration, particularly among the aspirational and ambitious millennials," says the research.

Rural India, home to more than 66% of the country’s population, represent an important consumer base for large companies. They draw anywhere between 30% and 40% of their revenue from selling to rural households—albeit products at lower price points.

And as India’s millennial population has emerged as a sizeable demographic, marketers across the board are relooking at how they can serve them better. The urban Indian millennial, for instance, is well exposed to global trends and continues to seek similar experiences closer home. For rural Indians, higher aspirations and growing access to the world are driving their purchases.

According to IMRB, search for better employment, spending on better education for their children, ownership of land, and government jobs continue to be the driving values among these households. “Monetary concerns rule and education is a key route to changing their status," notes the research paper.

This also reflects in higher instances of migration among rural millennials, who are moving to bigger cities in search of better job opportunities.

India's internet base crosses 500 million mark, driven by Rural India
According to the research, while 73% of Gen Z (those aged below 15) live in rural India, only 67% of millennials continue to stay there.
“If we look at the distribution of Millennials vs Gen Z, we find a distinct pattern pointing to migration of millennials from rural India perhaps in search of employment. Clearly, the desire to improve their economic status is a key driver for rural millennials regardless of personal costs such as staying away from their children. This is true for both male and female milliennials," it adds.

How millennials in India invest their money
“The trend of migration has accelerated with the millennials; it was there earlier, but there is a higher instance of migration in rural millennials," said Puneet Avasthi, senior executive director of Kantar IMRB.

Mumbai-based consumer goods firm Godrej Consumer Products Ltd, the maker of Cinthol soaps, has been studying the rural millennial population closely. “The way some millennials in rural India are emerging as trendsetters who are displaying the ability to access, absorb and store information—that’s in the way they are linked to the new world, which is emerging thanks to increased mobility," said Sunil Kataria, chief executive officer of India and SAARC at Godrej Consumer. 


9.2. India's share in consumer goods consumption to double by 2030
PTI, Mar. 26, 2019

Mumbai: India's share in the final consumption of consumer goods is expected to double by 2030 and the favourable demographics will soon take it ahead of China in regional market dynamics, a report said Monday.

However, India is at a comparative disadvantage vis-a-vis China because of factors like less urbanisation, high concentration of urban pockets and lower enrolments in higher education.

"Demographics favour India over China in the long run," Swiss brokerage Credit Suisse said in a global report released Monday, pointing out India's strengths like population growth being ahead of China till 2045, when the quantum of working class population will be higher.

It said in 2015, China had 150 million more people in working age than India, while by 2045, the northern neighbour will have 300 million less people than India in the bracket.

Additionally, China will also have to grapple with ageing related issues by 2045, it said, pointing out that the Communist country will have 350 million people aged over 65 as against 200 million in India.

It marked out the apparel and meat sectors as the ones with 'high' growth potential as the per capital income of the country grows, followed by beverages, cars, cereals, personal computers, smart phones and education with 'medium' growth potential, while healthcare, consumer credit and tourism were the ones with 'low' potential.

The two neighbours will account for 15 percent of the overall final consumption of products in the world by 2030, it said, adding that India's share will double to nearly 6 percent from the 3 percent levels in 2016.

From a consumption perspective, the Chinese prefer more of travel and entertainment-related options, it is staples that dominate the Indian story, the brokerage said.

India scores over China when it comes to spending intentions, the brokerage said, pointing out that the desire to spend is declining "more broadly" in China.

Interestingly, it is the home-grown brands like watchmaker Titan, hosiery company Rupa and another watchmaker Sonata which are gaining the most out of this propensity to spend in India, it said, adding that foreign brands count lower from this perspective.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same. 


10.1. Expect US$ 28-bn FDI in food processing this year: Harsimrat Kaur Badal
Business Standard, Mar. 14, 2019

New Delhi: Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal expects more than $28 billion worth of foreign direct investments (FDI) in the food processing sector in 2019.

The ministry is eyeing the next edition of its flagship investment show World Food India, set to take place in November, 2019, to reach that level.

“At the first edition of World Food India last year, we had investment proposals of more than $14 billion, of which ground has been broken for projects worth $11 billion. So, next year, we are targeting to at least double the figure, as investments,” Badal said.
Of the 11 companies that had signed agreements, eight have started on-ground investments. These are set to open a couple of hundred outlets shortly, Badal said.

“When I took over in 2014, FDI in the sector was $500 million, which we brought up to $905 million till the last financial year,” Badal said.

The greater part of the investment was a $500-million investment by US e-commerce major Amazon in retailing of food products in the country.

At present, 100 per cent FDI in food processing sector is allowed through automatic route. In 2016, the Centre allowed 100 per cent FDI through approval route for retail trading, including through e-commerce, in respect of food products manufactured and produced in India.

“We have increased the number of mega food parks from the two to 22 since 2014. If the earlier two created 5,000 jobs, the number is now close to 300,000,” Badal said.

However, Badal complained that access to credit remains a major problem as banks are unwilling to provide loans to an industry that has remained investment heavy.

Her push for a separate non-banking finance company dedicated to the sector has run into problems with the Prime Minister’s Office, which has questioned the idea. “PMO has said there are already a large number of NBFCs. It wants us to engage with Nabard, despite it being a non-starter earlier as well,” the minister said.

We wanted the NBFC not only for lending purposes, but also for creating an environment where risk assessment, sensitisation would be at play, she said. We had also made it clear that it was going to be run as a proper business that will create the capacity to understand the challenges of funding, Badal added.

Kartarpur corridor talks still on Badal said the upswing of violence at the international border will not affect talks on the Kartarpur corridor in Punjab. Senior officials from the Ministry of Home and External Affairs will be meeting on Thursday at the Attari-Wagah border to discuss early operationalisation of the Gurudwara as an international religious destination.

“Pakistan has said the entry will be only for Sikhs. But our party’s position has been that entry should not be restricted for anyone since Guru Nanak ji belonged to all of humanity,” Badal said. India has acquired a 50-acre plot to build a state-of-the-art passenger terminal to transport at least 5,000 pilgrims each day from Dera Baba Nanak, Punjab, to Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib, Pakistan.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has said the current system proposes an extremely limited window of travel and would remain restrictive. While he has demanded “passport and visa free ‘khule darshan’, Badal did not confirm if India would officially demand for it.

“Getting in through visas may be a hassle, but visiting Kartarpur should be as easy as visiting the Golden Temple,” she said.

“The Kartarpur Corridor will be ready before the next Gurpurab (12 November) and I’m proud that for the first time a government in the country has been able to do this. The government had committed to it and will be going forward on it despite current tensions,” Badal said.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.


10.2. Cold storage capacity expands, Rs 21,000 crore investment lined up by 2023
Business Standard, Mar. 25, 2019

Lucknow: In next 4-5 years Rs 21,000 crore will be invested in setting up or upgrading cold storages to address the problem of stockpiling of perishable commodities. There has been an urgent need to upgrade existing cold storage plant and machinery, and technology. An under-developed food processing value chain is another issue that needs to be resolved.

Currently 68 per cent of the existing cold storage capacity is used for storing potato and yet farmers are not getting the right price. The situation in other commodities no better.

Crisil Research has estimated that investment of Rs 16,000-21,000 crore is being lined up in the sector between 2019 and 2023 for optimising the domestic post-harvest value chain and to feed the downstream food processing industry.

According to Crisil Research director Hetal Gandhi, fresh investment was expected from private players, while the government typically supported the sector through subsidies. For instance, the union ministry of food processing offered subsidy at 50 per cent of the project cost with a cap of Rs 10 crore.

To set up a multi-commodity cold storage of 10,000 tonnes capacity, investment of around Rs 20 crore is needed with a payback period of 6-7 years.

Undoubtedly, cold storage forms the most vital post-harvest horticultural value chain for the downstream food processing industry. The current cold storage capacity in India is pegged at 37-39 million tonnes (MT). According to official statistics, there are about 7,645 cold storages in the country with 68 per cent of the capacity being used for potato, while 30 per cent is multi-commodity cold storage.

Top potato producers of Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal make up 55-60 per cent of the overall domestic cold storage capacity.

Apart from potato, the multi commodity cold storages cater to meat & poultry, seafood, dairy products, fruits & vegetables and pharmaceuticals. She informed typically, EXIM-focused commodities occupied 65-70% of cold storage across the country. “This is due to stringent quality requirements in the countries they are exported to, which necessitates temperature-controlled storages and use of reefers across the value chain. Occupancy across commodities also varies by season and location.”

Crisil also expects the cold storage industry to grow at a CAGR of 13-15% over fiscals 2019-23, mainly driven by rising demand for processed food, fresh fruits & vegetables, seafood and bio-pharmaceuticals in exports markets.

Considering that potato produce in the current 2018-19 season alone is estimated at more than 52 MT, the sub-optimum capacity of cold storages only gets magnified. Another highly perishable horticultural commodity tomato is estimated to touch almost 20 MT in production this season, thus further dwarfing the cold storage capacity.

Currently, 95% of the cold storages are owned by the private sector, 3% by cooperatives and the remaining 2% by the public sector undertakings. Since, bulk of the capacity is owned by the private sector, there is greater need for the central and state governments to rise up to the occasion and support the beleaguered industry.

Kolkata-based potato trader and cold storage owner Patit Paban Dey told Business Standard there was an urgent need to ramp up domestic capacity. “The government should provide sops, such as capital subsidy for the upgradation and setting up of cold storages, which are currently facing financial difficulties.”

UP has nearly 2,000 cold storages with combined capacity of nearly 15 MT, followed by Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Haryana etc. The rising agricultural production, including horticultural crops, over the past several years has not only put added strain on the governments to keep the prices remunerative for farmers even during glut but also keep a balance over retail inflation.

According to experts, the long term solution for higher farm income and farmers’ prosperity is the growth of a viable food processing industry being fed by a robust network of cold storages and transport infrastructure to keep the farm produce remunerative, keep moderate retail food inflation and maintaining the food security of the nation.

“Majority of the cold storages in UP are either sick or on the verge of getting sick owing to the lack of capital to upgrade and subdued outlook, since the staple crop of potato which we stock has itself been facing uncertain and fluctuating market situations over the past several years. Unless, potato value chain is fortified with food processing, there is not much hope for our survival,” Agra-based Rajesh Goyal, who is also the acting president of the Federation of Cold Storage Associations of India lamented.



Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same. 


- INDUSTRY, MANUFACTURE 


11.1. India's education technology startup bags USD 25,000 global tech prize
PTI, Apr. 10, 2019

London: India's education technology startup 'Dost Education' has bagged a USD 25,000 tech prize along with two other winners from Tanzania and Egypt.

The Next Billion Edtech Prize 2019, run by UK-based Varkey Foundation, recognises the most innovative technology destined to have a radical impact on education in low income and emerging world countries. 

Dost was awarded for its ability to empower parents to take charge of their child's early education by creating short, friendly audio content that is sent to them via their mobile phones.

"Dost software, audio content, and toolkits make it easy, fun and addictive for parents to boost their child's early development, so low-income families need no longer send their children to primary school behind and without a chance to catch up, noted the Global Education and Skills Forum (GESF), where the award was announced in Dubai last month.

"It's really exciting to bring Dost to the global stage at GESF and be one of the three winners of the prize, it motivates us even more to keep working on our mission to help parents to unlock their child's full potential, said Dost CEO Sneha Sheth.

Six finalists were chosen to pitch on the main GESF plenary stage in front of over 1,500 delegates. Besides India's Dost, the other winners to also receive USD 25,000 each included Ubongo from Tanzania and PraxiLabs from Egypt.

Sunny Varkey, Founder of the Varkey Foundation and the Next Billion Prize said: "We use the Next Billion Prize' to highlight technology's potential to tackle the problems that have proven too difficult for successive generations of politicians to solve. 

Our fervent hope is that the prize inspires practical and persistent entrepreneurs the world over to come forward with fresh tech ideas. 

The winners were selected by an expert panel of judges made up of venture capitalists, philanthropic investors, experts in Edtech and learning sciences, and senior education policy makers, led by TechCrunch' Editor-at-Large Mike Butcher.

Vikas Pota, Group Chief Executive of Tmrw Digital and Board Chairman of the Varkey Foundation, noted: The EdTech prize joins some of most important players from the spheres of education and technology together.

Startups will have access to every type of stakeholder from Silicon Valley venture capitalists to former and current education ministers, foundations, academics and the world's best teachers. They can draw on their expertise and support to build products that will work as well in the classroom as they do in a pitch. 

From the three winners, delegates then voted for Ubongo to be crowned as the overall winner and take home the Next Billion Prize trophy for its ability to leverage the power of entertainment, the reach of mass media, and the connectivity of mobile devices, to deliver effective, localised learning to African families at low cost and massive scale. 

PraxiLabs, the third winner, provides virtual laboratories for schools and learning organisations in the Middle East and beyond. 

As many as 30 startups were selected to pitch over three days for the Next Billion Edtech Prize, which focuses on low income and emerging economies. 

The Next Billion Prize was named to remind the world of a billion young people a number growing every day that are being denied an education, the organisers said. Its aim is to identify, spotlight and celebrate the world's leading EdTech startups that have shown through ingenuity and innovation that they can improve learning in parts of the world where there is limited access to good quality teaching.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same. 


11.2. Wait for many more local innovations in India: Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey
Business Standard, Mar. 12, 2019

New Delhi: In 2018, Coca-Cola, the largest beverage company in the world, made some bold bets in India, acquiring Costa Coffee and bidding for Horlicks and Complan. James Qincey, the 54-year-old president and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, told Viveat Susan Pinto & Niraj Bhatt that his firm can reconcile fizzy drinks with good-for-you drinks to cater to changing consumer preferences. Edited excerpts: Do you see a consumption uptick with elections falling in summer this year? Will beverage sales get a boost?

Summer is the biggest factor for beverage consumption. Elections do inject activity into the economy. So, it does matter.

At a broader level, elections also determine the direction of the economy in terms of who comes to power and the slant they will take vis-a-vis the industry. So, like most other businesses, the beverage market will also be affected.

Coca-Cola committed ~11,000 crore to develop what it called a “fruit circular economy” in India between 2017 and 2023. How much of this corpus has been invested so far?

We have been making steady progress in this area. We have already invested ~2,200 crore towards setting up infrastructure to process fruits, along with our partner Jain Irrigation and bottlers. We have also bought raw material worth ~1,350 crore. If all this is put together, till the end of 2018, we had spent ~3,550 crore from the total amount committed. The rest will follow.

Globally, Coca-Cola has set a target recently of taking the India business into its top three markets. But, the previous target of making India the fifth market has not been achieved yet. Aren’t you being too ambitious?

I am bullish about the prospects for India. There is a strong underlying economic performance here, which is good for the business.

The Coca-Cola system has also stabilized, following disruptions (the roll out of the goods and services tax in 2017). The bottlers are investing in execution capacity. There is focus on innovation as far as categories and brands are concerned. I believe we are set for an extended period of growth. And, the team here is working to get India into the fifth position from sixth by the end of 2019. As far as moving India into the top three markets is concerned, that will take time.

How is personalisation as a theme playing out in India?
One of the ways that personalisation is coming to light in India is via local fruits and flavours that are going into beverages. Our Minute Maid portfolio, for instance, has seen a lot of attention, whether it is getting local flavours such as mosambi or launching a grape-flavoured drink called Colour in Tamil Nadu last month.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.


12.1. L’Oreal eyeing acquisitions in India's cosmetics market
Livemint, Apr. 09, 2019

New Delhi: The local arm of the world’s largest cosmetics company, L’Oréal, is scouting for acquisitions in the skin and make-up market in India, said a top company executive, adding that it seeks to capitalize on the country’s rising demand for beauty products.

L’Oréal is eyeing companies with a range of make-up and skin care products to fill gaps in its existing portfolio, which comprises Garnier, Maybelline, NYX and L’Oréal Professional, Amit Jain, who took over as the managing director of the French company’s India business last year, said in an interview.

“What’s of great interest to us is skin and make-up. These are two areas that are still nascent in India, where we believe there are a lot of opportunities," he said.

While Jain declined to share details of the companies that L’Oréal is eyeing, he said the company’s global M&A team has been talking with companies in India. “If in the next one year we haven’t got something, then we would have missed an opportunity," Jain said.

While L’Oréal has a large portfolio of global brands, Jain said it is looking for brands that meet specific needs of Indian consumers. “We are looking for good strong formulations for Indian consumers, and high quality manufacturing. For us, it is also about getting in products that are close to the Indian consumers both from a brand and product type."

Brands offering a natural proposition “will be interesting for us," he added.

L’Oréal’s interest in Indian companies comes as the market for beauty products in India is growing.

As of 2018, India’s beauty and personal care market stood at ₹ 97,100 crore. Of this, coloured cosmetics is estimated at ₹ 8,000 crore, while skincare is estimated at ₹ 12,500 crore, according to data from research firm Euromonitor. Coloured cosmetics is expected to grow at an annual average growth rate of 17.4% through 2022, and skincare is estimated to grow at 10.4%.

Overall, the market for beauty and personal care products will grow at 10% during the same period.

India’s growing youth population is contributing to the exponential sales growth of grooming products, more so as the smartphone-wielding millennials are in know of the latest beauty and fashion trends the world over and are seeking more variety at lower price points.

The popularity of e-commerce companies, such as Nykaa and Amazon, has also helped the youth get access to the latest products. This has prompted major brands, including Hindustan Unilever-owned Lakme and L’Oréal’s Maybelline to spruce up new product launches.

While globally, L’Oréal has built a sizeable business through acquisitions, including popular brands such as The Body Shop, Vichy, Kiehl’s, Shu Uemura, IT cosmetics, Maybelline, Nyx and Urban Decay, its India business is still small compared to fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) major Hindustan Unilever, which has a large portfolio of hair care, personal care and beauty products under Sunsilk, Dove, and Lakme brands.

In India, L’Oréal made its first acquisition in 2013 with the purchase of Mumbai-based skin care brand Cheryl’s Cosmeceuticals.

“We acquired Cheryl and spent the last three years in completely homogenizing, formulating, and bringing them up to L’oreal standards. Now, we have upgraded the products and formulations to a level where it can travel across markets," Jain said.

L’Oréal started business in India 1994. It sells a range of products including mass-market brands L’Oréal Paris, Garnier, Maybelline New-York, professional hair products under the Matrix, Kérastase brands, and premium beauty products under Lancôme, Kiehl’s, Vichy and La Roche-Posay.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.


12.2. Automakers invest around US$ 491 million in Indian start-ups in 2018
Business Standard, Mar. 20, 2019

Chennai: Automobile manufacturers have invested around $491 million in 2018 in Indian automobile industry start-ups, led by Essel Green Mobility's investment of $300 million into Bengaluru-based on-demand AC bus service provider Zipgo, according to market intelligence firm Venture Intelligence.

There were 13 investments during the year. In 2018, Taiwanese two-wheeler manufacturer Kwang Yang Motor, known as Kymco, invested $65 million in Gurugram-based electric two-wheeler maker Twenty Two Motors, while auto major Mahindra and Mahindra invested $40 million in self-drive car company Zoomcar.

Toyota Tsusho Corporation, the trading arm of Toyota Group, invested around $30 million in Droom Technology, the operator of India's largest online automobile marketplace by co-leading Series D fundraising of the company. The firms also concluded a pact on the overseas expansion of the used car and motorcycle marketplace business.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.


13.1. ADB to invest USD 50 mn in solar project developer Avaada
PTI, Mar. 20, 2019

New Delhi: Asian Development Bank (ADB) Tuesday said it has inked an agreement to invest USD 50 million in solar energy project developer Avaada Energy Pvt Ltd to help the company scale up rapidly.
The investment will come equally from ADB's Ordinary Capital Resources and Leading Asia's Private Infrastructure Fund (LEAP).
LEAP is a funding arrangement provided by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) which is administered by ADB.
The agreement was signed Tuesday by Chair of AEPL Vineet Mittal and ADB Principal Investment Specialist Mayank Choudhary, ADB said in a release.
"Supporting renewable energy capacity enhancement by way of debt and equity is a key focus area of ADB's private sector strategy," said Choudhary.

He said the investment in Avaada will enable the company to expand its renewable energy capacity and send positive signals to global investors to continue supporting the growth of renewable energy in India.
The project will contribute to the strategy of the government to increase the share of renewable energy generation capacity from about 20 per cent in 2018 to 40 per cent by 2030.
It will also help to reduce India's emission intensity of its gross domestic product by 33-35 per cent by 2030.
"These recent investments by global financial giants reinforce India's prominence in the global clean energy sector. This investment by ADB validates Avaada's execution track record and commitment in creating a cleaner and sustainable India," Mittal said.

The Manila-headquartered multi-lateral funding agency said the investment contributes to ADB's goal to provide cumulative climate finance of USD 80 billion from 2019 to 2030.
Operational since 2017, AEPL is a developer of solar energy projects in India offering clean energy products, including utility scale, rooftop, and off-grid solar projects.
The company has secured power purchase agreements of about 1,700 megawatts. With the current equity investment, the company is well funded to exceed capacity of 2 gigawatts, ADB said.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.


13.2. India highest recipient of remittances at USD 79 billion in 2018: World Bank
PTI, Apr. 09, 2019

Washington: India retained its position as the world's top recipient of remittances with its diaspora sending a whopping USD 79 billion back home in 2018, the World Bank said in a report Monday.
India was followed by China (USD 67 billion), Mexico (USD 36 billion), the Philippines (USD 34 billion), and Egypt (USD 29 billion), the global lender said.
With this, India has retained its top spot on remittances, according to the latest edition of the World Bank's Migration and Development Brief. 
Over the last three years, India has registered a significant flow of remittances from USD 62.7 billion in 2016 to USD 65.3 billion 2017.
"Remittances grew by more than 14 percent in India, where a flooding disaster in Kerala likely boosted the financial help that migrants sent to families, the Bank said.

In Pakistan, remittance growth was moderate (seven per cent), due to significant declines in inflows from Saudi Arabia, its largest remittance source. In Bangladesh, remittances showed a brisk uptick in 2018 (15 per cent).
According to the report, remittances to low-and middle-income countries reached a record high of USD 529 billion in 2018, an increase of 9.6 per cent over the previous record high of USD 483 billion in 2017.
Global remittances, which include flows to high-income countries, reached USD 689 billion in 2018, up from USD 633 billion in 2017, it said.
The Bank said, remittances to South Asia grew 12 per cent to USD 131 billion in 2018, outpacing the six per cent growth in 2017.
"The upsurge was driven by stronger economic conditions in the United States and a pick-up in oil prices, which had a positive impact on outward remittances from some GCC countries," it said.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is a regional inter-governmental political and economic bloc of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

However, the Bank in its report rued that the global average cost of sending USD 200 remained high, at around seven per cent in the first quarter of 2019.
Reducing remittance costs to three per cent by 2030 is a global target under Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10.7. Remittance costs across many African corridors and small islands in the Pacific remain above 10 per cent.
On ways to lower remittance costs, Dilip Ratha, lead author of the Brief and head of KNOMAD, said, "Remittances are on track to become the largest source of external financing in developing countries. The high costs of money transfers reduce the benefits of migration. Renegotiating exclusive partnerships and letting new players operate through national post offices, banks, and telecommunications companies will increase competition and lower remittance prices.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.


14.1. Logistics market seen growing 10.5% a year, to reach US$ 215 bn by 2020: Study
Business Standard, Mar. 19, 2019

Bhubaneswar: The market size of the logistics sector is seen climbing to $215 billion by 2020, logging 10.5 per cent compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) over 2017.

The logistics sector earned the 'infrastructure' status in 2017 when its market size was estimated at $160 billion. A study by the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) pegs annual investments in the logistics sector to reach $500 billion by 2025. Between 2018 and 2020, the warehousing segment is poised to receive Rs 50,000 crore investments. The logistics and warehousing sector will get a fillip with the foray of Hiranandani Group, pledging Rs 2,500 crore investments on two projects in 2019.

In 2017, the logistics sector absorbed 22 million people. Employment is expected to surge to 40 million by 2020.

Traditionally, steep logistics costs are a grave concern in India. By the end of 2017-18, logistics expenses accounted for 14 per cent of the GDP. The share is set to shrink to 10 per cent by 2022.

Logistics costs in India exceed those in other countries. The figure is higher compared to 10-11 per cent for BRIC countries and eight to nine per cent for developing nations. USA spends 9.5 per cent of the GDP on logistics while Germany is even more competitive with a share of eight per cent. Higher logistics costs in India could be ascribed to the lack of efficient inter-modal and multi-modal traditional systems,

As of now, the logistics sector is dominated by transportation which has over 85 per cent share in value terms- its share is set to remain high for the next few years. The rest 15 per cent share is borne by storage. The sector is employment intensive, absorbing 22 million people.

Logistics costs have a significant bearing on exports. It is estimated that slashing logistics costs by 10 per cent could widen exports by five to eight per cent.

Currently, the Indian logistics industry is highly fragmented and unorganized. Owing to the presence of numerous unorganised players in the industry, it remains fragmented with the organized players accounting for approximately 10 per cent of the total market share. With the consumer base of the sector encompassing a wide range of industries including retail, automobile, telecom, pharmaceuticals and heavy industries, logistics industry has been increasingly attracting investments in the last decade.

Also, the logistics industry faces challenges such as under-developed material handling infrastructure, fragmented warehousing, multiple regulatory & policy making bodies, lack of seamless movement of goods across modes, minimal integrated IT infrastructure. In order to develop this sector focus on new technology, improved investment, skilling, removing bottlenecks, improving inter-modal transportation, automation, single window system for giving clearances, and simplifying processes would be required.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.


14.2. Logistics firm Delhivery raises USD 413 mn in funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund
PTI, Mar. 25, 2019

New Delhi: Logistics company Delhivery Sunday said it has raised more than USD 400 million (Rs 2,766.82 crore) in a financing round led by the SoftBank Vision Fund.
Carlyle and Fosun, both existing investors in Delhivery, have also participated in this round of financing, the company said in a statement.
"With these funds, Delhivery plans to rapidly scale up its reach from 15,000 to 20,000 pin codes by first quarter of financial year 2019-20, aggressively grow e-commerce market share investment, and expand its end-to-end supply chain platform to enterprise customers and SMEs (small and medium enterprises)," the company added.
"We are glad to add SoftBank as a key partner, and further expand our partnership with Carlyle and Fosun as we build out our vision of creating the operating system for commerce in India.

"We will be scaling up our newer warehousing and freight services through large investments in infrastructure and technology and global partnerships in addition to improving the reach, reliability and efficiency of our transportation operations and sharing these benefits with our customers and partners," Delhivery Chief Executive Officer Sahil Barua said.
SoftBank Investment Advisers Partner Munish Varma said Delhivery has demonstrated industry-leading growth and emerged as the one-stop solution for e-commerce logistics.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.


15.1. AC makers expect a double-digit sales growth this summer
PTI, Apr. 08, 2019

New Delhi: Air-conditioner makers like Voltas, LG, Daikin, Panasonic, Blue Star, Hitachi and Haier are witnessing some green shoots in sales this year after two successive years of weak growth and expect a double-digit rise in their sales this season. 
Also, the companies are expecting higher adoption of superior technology and power efficient range of inverter airconditioners (ACs) by consumers, with northern India being seen as a bigger demand driver in the market as usual.
AC makers also hope that slightly higher temperatures this summer, as predicted by the Met department, will push sales in the coming months. Consumers are being lured by companies with several offers that include easy finance, extended warranty and free service etc. 

Daikin India MD and CEO Kanwaljeet Jawa looks at this season as "very promising" for the residential AC segment and believes that fundamentals are in place and intact.
"The industry is poised at an inflection penetration of 7-8 per cent, and I see it exploding over 10 per cent. The developed nations like Japan, the US, Australia and China are all above 90 per cent penetration. India has a huge potential. I predict the industry growing at 14-15 per cent during FY2019-20," he added.
Besides, companies are expecting higher rural electrification and rise in disposable income and aspiration levels to help ramp up sales figures this year.
They are investing substantially on branding and market to reach consumers in tier III places and rural areas. 
"This year the IMD has predicted strong summers, and some of the green shoots are already visible with temperatures rising in southern India in March itself, and markets showing buoyancy in parts of east and west India," Voltas MD and CEO Pradeep Bakshi told PTI.

Panasonic India President and CEO Manish Sharma said there is a progressive shift in the consumer demand for upgraded technologies and energy-efficient range of ACs.
"The progressive shift in the consumer demand for upgraded technologies, energy-efficiency and health and lifestyle value offerings has had a positive rub-off on the air conditioners segment and driving growth of the industry. This coupled with improvement in consumer's discretionary income and rapid electrification are other factors that would contribute to the growth in the industry," said Sharma. 
According to him, last year the AC industry saw a slow growth in volume sales while the value sales witnessed marginal increase of around 5 per cent driven by the demand shift towards inverter AC.

Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning India CMD Gurmeet Singh said: "Yes, the air conditioning industry in the last couple of years has seen a weak growth but we expect that trend to turnaround this year. Given the timely onset of summer and the prediction of below normal monsoon this year, we expect that the industry would see a double-digit growth over last year." 
LG Electronics India VP Home Appliances and Air Conditioners Vijay Babu said that in the January-March quarter, the company has already witnessed around 38 per cent increase in sales (by value) and expect this to be over 40 per cent in the current April-June quarter.
"Now the farthest corner of the country has been electrified and there would be a definite rise in demand from tier III and IV places this season," Babu added. 

According to Haier Appliances President Eric Braganza, with changing preferences, AC is no longer a luxury goods and is gradually becoming a necessary appliances.
Haier, which had witnessed a 40 per cent growth in residential AC segment and 50 per cent in commercial AC business in 2018, expects to "continue with the same momentum" with locally relevant product portfolio, Braganza added.
Blue Star Managing Director B Thiagarajan said, "We continue to make significant investment in product development, after sales service, as well as brand building and are confident of enhancing our market share." 
The Indian room AC industry market is expected to be of around 4.5 million units with more than 20 companies competing in the space.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.


15.2. Road building in India second cheapest in Asia, says AIIB study
Business Standard, Apr. 02, 2019

Road building in India is cheapest in Asia after the Philippines, a study by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has noted.
The result holds despite making allowances for cross-currency differences as well as variations in local cost due to labour and others, AIIB has noted. The other countries compared to India in the exercise are China, Indonesia, Turkey, Russia, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Bangladesh.
The reasons for zeroing in on these countries, according to the AIIB, are because they are expected to be the largest infrastructure builders among its 93 member-countries of the bank. The results are likely to please the Indian government, which has been trying to impress on domestic and foreign investors about its efforts to improve the ease of doing business. In two years since it came into operation in January 2016, the AIIB has developed a purse of $11.5 billion (as of 2019) to finance mostly infrastructure projects among its member-countries. The bank is concerned that the cost of financing those projects will rise sharply because central banks around the world would raise interest rates from 2019 onwards. It has, therefore, sought to evaluate how efficiently countries are building their infrastructure.

The AIIB has created a “roadBLOC benchmark” for this purpose. It is the cost to build a four-lane urban arterial road, including traffic-controlled intersections in select cities. The AIIB has noted it evaluated various road types and “a four-lane urban road with controlled intersections was found to be the most suitable for cross-country comparison because of its lower coefficient of variation in the data collected”.
As the table shows, the data can be broadly extended to the country for reference purposes.
The Beijing-based multilateral institution has come up with the unique comparison in its first Asian Infrastructure Finance 2019 report. While the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and various United Nations bodies have indices on human development-related indicators, they have done no comparable exercise to build an infrastructure index. The AIIB results are based on the data analysis it has conducted in collaboration with Thomson Reuters and The Economist Intelligence Unit, between August and October 2018, supplementing those with interviews with cross-country infrastructure experts.

The AIIB says “having selected this representative road types, the cost per meter data were obtained in local currency. As pointed out, a direct conversion to USD would not give an accurate picture of local performance due to currency fluctuations (unless all inputs are imported). A better alternative is to convert the data into an index that is insensitive to macroeconomic influences”.
Vinayak Chatterjee, chairman of Feedback Infra, however, differed in evaluating the importance of the index. “The road ýbusiness is mostly national. It is difficult to expect learning from an Indian project to apply to other Asian countries, no matter how country-agnostic such an index is.” Having created a standard “basket” (or BLOC) of labour, material and plant inputs to typical road construction projects globally, the bank economists proceeded to divide it by the local cost of the standard basket to determine a currency-agnostic benchmark cost for international comparison.
However, as the AIIB itself notes, the exercise would not be strictly comparable to account for differences in taxes and subsides that affect the construction sectors across various economies.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.


- SERVICES (Education, Healthcare, IT, R&D, Tourism, etc.) 


16.1. L&T launches strategic unit L&T-Nxt to focus on AI, Internet of Things
Business Standard, Apr. 01, 2019

New Delhi: Construction to engineering major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has announced a five-year strategic initiative — L&T-Nxt —that will focus on artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), geo-spatial enterprises, and cyber security.
The announcement comes at a time when L&T is trying to expand its technology footprint through a sweet and sour takeover of Mindtree.
“Disruption has become the new order as we embrace frontier technologies, and our businesses are leapfrogging into entirely new realms powered by the tremendous benefits of digitalisation and analytics,” said S N Subrahmanyan, chief executive officer and managing director, L&T, referring to the efforts of the company to embrace digitalisation.

L&T, through its current construction, EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) and manufacturing businesses, has made one of the largest deployments of IoT, analytics and AI in the industrial sector in areas such as finance, human resources, labour, and plant material among others. The company is shifting its focus to accelerating top line and bottom line growth while at the same time expanding its potential for value creation by adopting a fresh mindset and building a new structure from the ground up.
L&T-Nxt will at present be driven by J D Patil, a senior executive vice-president (defence business) and member of the board. “L&T-Nxt has been honed and utilised in-house for over three years now and we felt that it was a good time to take this capacity to our customers across the industries,” he said.
Patil said there would be little overlap between the kind of services catered by L&T-Nxt with that of the group’s existing software and technology arms, L&T Infotech (LTI) and L&T Technology Services (LTTS). He did not foresee any immediate plans to list the entity.

The idea, he said, was to provide existing and new engineering customers higher efficiency and digital-led value addition to services. The L&T-Nxt team currently comprises a few hundred employees and will grow further as the business vertical develops. “We see new technology businesses and sunrise enterprises as prime constituents with the latent upside for rapid and substantial value creation.”
Both LTI and LTTS are among the better favoured technology providers in the mid-cap IT space. Analysts are not entirely sure how L&T group’s technology ambition is intended to pan out if they seek to keep these two companies (which also address a number of group clients) separate from this new initiative. Last week, Subrahmanyan had said even if Mindtree didn’t come into the its fold, the group wouldn’t have any immediate plans of consolidation among its IT companies.
After acquiring 20.3 per cent from Mindtree’s key shareholder V G Siddhartha, L&T on Tuesday said its open offer for Mindtree would open in May. L&T will spend an additional Rs 5,030 crore in the open offer to acquire another 31 per cent from Mindtree’s shareholders to take majority control in the company. It plans to buy 15 per cent additional shares from the market at the same price.


L&T-NXT: Getting future-ready 

  • L&T-Nxt will focus on artificial intelligence, internet of things, virtual reality, augmented reality, geo-spatial enterprises, and cyber security 
  • L&T-Nxt’s team comprises a few hundred employees 
  • There would be little overlap between the kind of services catered by L&T Infotech and L&T Technology Services 
  • The idea is to provide customers higher efficiency and digital-led value addition to services 
Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.


16.2. IBM to train over 1 million female students in India in 3 years
PTI, Mar. 12, 2019

New Delhi: IT company IBM Monday said it will collaborate with Central and state governments to up-skill around one million female students in science technology, engineering and maths fields over a period of three years.
"We can see 100 per cent jobs are going to change. You need more women in workforce. We are announcing for 200,000 from grade eight to twelve, we are going to prepare them for STEM over a three year period," IBM Chairman, President and CEO Ginni Rometty said at a company event.
She said the program is not about conducting technical training session, but to focus on basics of critical thinking, life skills, among others.
"All of us are capable of teaching our employees sort of hardskills. It is softskill, in technology world that we have to learn. Collectively our programs are doing one million in numbers and helping four million teachers," Rometty said.

The company will collaborate with seven state governments across India to prepare over 200,000 girls and women in government schools over the next three years for "new collar" jobs through the exploration and study of STEM subjects in classrooms and online, a company official said.
As part of its ongoing engagement with the government, around 4,000 mentors and 6 lakh mentees will benefit from IBM's AI-powered mentor platform which will include 5 lakh women students.
Rometty announced IBM's collaboration with Kendriya Vidyalaya school network to support maths teachers across India with its artificial intelligence platform 'Teacher Advisor With Watson' that will cater to around 3 lakh female students.
IBM also announced a two-year Advanced Diploma Programme in emerging technologies created in collaboration with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship which will be available to 100 Industrial Training Institutes (ITI), including 50 all-women ITIs, over the next three years.

The company will also offer internships of up to five months to some students under the program.
Under the skills and educational program, IBM will offer science training resources to four million teachers in the Indian Open Educational Resources community for STEM.
Niti Ayog CEO Amitabh Kant, who was also present at the occasion, said women in India have performed exceptionally well whenever they are given opportunities.
"It is not possible for India to grow at 9-10 per cent without focussing on women. Every single place where we have given opportunity to women, they have performed better than men. Government has to play the role of facilitator, but it's the men who have to change their mindset that women should get place in organisations," Kant said.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.


17.1. TCS, Google join hands to build industry-specific cloud solutions
PTI, April 11, 2019

New Delhi: India's largest software services firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Wednesday said it has collaborated with tech giant Google to build industry-specific cloud solutions.
These solutions will help organisations accelerate their digital transformation and leverage data-driven insights that power superior customer experiences, a statement said.
"TCS' solutions on Google cloud platform (GCP) will help enterprises build secure, cloud-native analytics platforms that enable high levels of personalisation, and are cost effective, easy to maintain, and future ready," it added.

In addition, TCS is a primary partner of Google Anthos - a platform that simplifies building, running and managing services both on-premises and in the cloud.
"TCS has been leveraging its deep domain knowledge across multiple industries to build custom cloud solutions that help businesses accelerate their Business 4.0 transformation initiatives," TCS Global Head (Alliances and Technology Unit) Raman Venkatraman said.
The collaboration will enable TCS to deliver the right mix of technology and value accelerators that will help customers differentiate themselves and become more agile, he added.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.


17.2. Riding on 5G tech, Tech Mahindra aims to boost communications revenues
PTI, Mar. 25, 2019

Mumbai: After years of slow growth in the telecommunication segment, Tech Mahindra is expecting to get back to strong growth mode in this business, primarily driven by fifth-generation (5G) cellular mobile technologies.
According to Manish Vyas, president of communications business and chief executive officer of Network Services at Tech Mahindra, the company is making sure it is ready to tap some of these opportunities by investing in technology, grooming internal talents, and forging partnerships with the external ecosystem.
At the Mobile World Congress last month, the firm showcased a host of communications and 5G solutions, including Netops.ai, a 5G-ready software platform, with partners like Juniper Networks, AltioStar, Affirmed Networks, F5, Intel and Red Hat, among many others. While globally telecom service providers are waiting for 5G clearances, TechM says this is where the future lies.

“5G services will be all about speed, and our Netops.ai platform will enable that by helping build, deliver and deploy the services through a pre-integrated framework within the shortest time,” Vyas said. “The deployments that take service providers up to two years can be done within months with such framework,” he added. The target consumers of these services will be both enterprise service providers as well end customers.
“While 80 per cent of the services will be for the service providers, the business will also cater for enterprises dealing with private networks (internet-based services).”
Intel has predicted by 2028 media and entertainment companies will be competing for wireless revenue opportunities worth $1.3 trillion, courtesy 5G networks. Sports, says Vyas, will be among the top ways for consumers to experience this as live streaming of major events like the National Football League and Indian Premier League will utilise a host of network intelligent services. From offering users snippets of their favourite sportsperson's best shots on the go to customised usage-based data plans, service providers will need intelligent network slicing and performance capacity like Netops.ai to support 5G speed.

Tech Mahindra is building 5G use cases with US-based hospitals to help manage devices remotely and eventually manage remote surgeries that will require seamless network connectivity. Similar mission critical remote service opportunities exist across multiple sectors like automobile, manufacturing and consumer tech.
Recent telecom reports have noted that India will adopt 5G at par with China although it was two-three years behind in 4G adoption. Vyas sees the market for two sets of product lines — one which will cater to consumers and another for telecom service providers themselves.
Last month, Rakuten Mobile Network, the subsidiary of Japanese e-commerce-to-telecom giant Rakuten Group, opened the Rakuten Cloud Innovation Laboratory, a next generation (4G and 5G) software-defined network lab. TechM helped it set it up in record time of less than four months since the tie-up was announced using the frameworks developed in the company.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.


18.1. Paytm Mall on hiring spree, eyes Rs 10,000-crore business in a year
Business Standard, Apr. 08, 2019

Bengaluru: Putting speculation to rest and eyeing a comeback, Paytm Mall, the online marketplace firm of Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led One97 Communications, is planning to hire as many as 500 back-end tech team members. The company is targeting Rs 10,000 crore in business over the next 12 months.
The news comes amid reports that the company was planning to scale down its online marketplace business and eventually exit it. The company, however, has been through some internal reshuffle as well as changes so that it can revamp and reboot. According to sources, while Amit Sinha, chief operating officer (COO) at Paytm Mall, is still overseeing the business, he might be given another role in the company.
The company on Sunday said that it was on the fast track to expand its online to offline (O2O) platform across the country and has witnessed growth of over 200 per cent in the last six months.

In past few weeks, the company has hired 200 people across various verticals to bolster back-end processes and plans to add another 300 on the rolls in the next few months.
“We are observing strong traction for O2O with the business growing over 200 per cent in the last six months and have therefore doubled down on this business model. To support this growth, we have re-aligned some of our teams and have added 200 more people for the business. We further plan to add an additional workforce of 300 people across business, technology, and product in the next few months,” said Srinivas Mothey, SVP – Paytm Mall.
The company is planning to make a splash in the grocery space over the next few months. It would soon go big on hyperlocal grocery delivery and would also get into the fresh produce space. Over the past few months, it has been increasing its merchant-base, which will help in creating traction in the grocery segment, a vertical which if tapped, ensures repeat customers and daily transactions.

“The idea is to do a business of around Rs 10,000 crore in the next 12 months. For this reason the company has been on a rapid expansion mode. It is very serious about the online marketplace space and that has been made clear amply by the founder of the company as well,” said a source close to the firm.
The company has also partnered with large format retail stores, including Croma, Reliance Digital, and Big Bazaar; Brand-exclusive stores such as Samsung, Asus, Dell, Lenovo; and large format retail stores to ensure a strong offline presence in all major tier-II, and tier-III cities.
For the Alibaba-backed online marketplace, the going has been tough. The company had reported net loss of Rs 1,787 crore on sales of Rs 774.8 crore in FY18, nearly 150 times the losses reported in 2016-17. Competing with Amazon India and Flipkart, the company has not been able to make strong in-roads into the e-commerce market unlike Paytm Wallet, which is the market leader in its segment.
Sharma, during an interview to media some time back had, however, made it clear that they would be expanding Paytm Mall and grocery would be one of the target |verticals.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same. 


18.2. Wipro, IIT-Kharagpur partner for advanced research in 5G and AI
PTI, Mar. 29, 2019

New Delhi: IT services major Wipro Thursday said it has partnered with IIT Kharagpur to collaborate on industry-focused applied research in the areas of 5G and artificial intelligence (AI).
Research outcomes from this partnership will be leveraged by Wipro to develop solutions for its customers, across industry verticals, Wipro said in a statement.
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur on the other hand will benefit from the commercialisation of the joint research insights and Wipro's industry expertise.

"Wipro and IIT Kharagpur will jointly take up applied research projects on industry challenges related to the design, planning and operations of 5G networks and cognitive information processing for the automation of these processes and 5G use cases," the statement said.

The two organisations will focus on AI research applicable in the healthcare, education and retail sectors as well as in domains such as climate change and cybersecurity.
In addition, subject matter experts from Wipro and IIT-Kharagpur will promote knowledge sharing through guest lectures, workshops and seminars on 5G and AI, it added.
"We hope to bring together the synergies of Wipro's rich industry technology expertise and understanding of domain-specific business challenges with IIT Kharagpur's distinguished research capabilities to co-innovate and develop next generation AI and 5G solutions that will benefit both our clients as well as the industry at large," Wipro Chief Technology Officer K R Sanjiv said.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.


19.1. SpiceJet becomes first Indian low-cost airline to join IATA
PTI, Mar. 20, 2019

Mumbai/ New Delhi: SpiceJet has joined global airlines' grouping IATA as a member, becoming the first Indian low-cost carrier to get the membership.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) represents more than 290 airlines, including Air India, Jet Airways and Vistara.
The membership would help SpiceJet, which has ambitious expansion plans, to have codeshares and agreements with other carriers, the domestic airline said in a statement Tuesday.
SpiceJet has become the first Indian low-cost carrier to join the IATA as a member, it added.
"We are delighted to welcome SpiceJet as part of the 290 airlines in the IATA family. SpiceJet is the first Indian low-cost carrier to be an IATA member, and our fifth member in India," IATA Regional Vice-President for Asia Pacific Conrad Clifford said.

According to the statement, the IATA membership is significant on account of SpiceJet's plans for rapidly expanding its international footprint.
The membership allows the airline to "explore and grow its collaborations with international member airlines of IATA through interlining and code shares, enabling SpiceJet to seamlessly expand the network options for its passengers in future," it added.
"The membership will further enable us to inculcate global best practices and innovations... IATA also provides us a platform to closely work and collaborate with other airline members and expand our network through code shares and agreements with partner airlines," SpiceJet Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh said.
In December 2018, IATA Director-General and Chief Executive Officer Alexandre de Juniac told PTI that SpiceJet had requested to be a member of the grouping.
Recently, SpiceJet received IATA's Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certificate.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

Airbnb and Oyo, competitors for the longest time, will now become strategic partners.


19.2. Oyo books $200 million funding from Airbnb
Livemint, 01 Apr. 2019, Varsha Bansal

  • The Oyo-Airbnb deal deal will immediately allow Oyo’s 10,000 villas and homes in India, Dubai and other markets to be listed on Airbnb 
  • The Airbnb-Oyo deal is seen as bolstering the US company's hotel-booking business ahead of a planned IPO 
Bengaluru: Airbnb Inc., the world’s largest home-sharing platform, on Monday said it has invested an undisclosed amount in India’s budget hotel startup, Oyo (Oravel Stays Pvt. Ltd), as the US company seeks to bolster its hotel-booking business ahead of a planned IPO. Two people familiar with the matter said Airbnb has invested between $150 million and $200 million in Oyo as part of the Indian startup’s Series E funding round.

The Oyo-Airbnb deal will immediately allow Oyo’s 10,000 villas and homes in India, Dubai and other markets to be listed on the Airbnb platform, expanding Oyo’s international reach and strengthening Airbnb’s presence in Asia, one of the two people cited above said, on condition of anonymity.

“Both will explore opportunities to collaborate on a range of projects," said the person cited above. “The key one is going to be making Oyo accommodation available on the Airbnb platform."

The home-renting company is adding hotels to its listings inventory as part of a strategy to attract travellers who find renting a home from a stranger risky.

The investment also underscores a growing trend of companies in the travel and hospitality segment exploring ways to leverage each other’s strengths.

On 8 March, Airbnb bought HotelTonight, an app for finding hotel rooms at a discount, ahead of its proposed initial public offering (IPO). In 2018, online travel operator Cleartrip acquired Saudi Arabia’s leading travel aggregator Flyin.

“A lot of these markets have evolved independent of each other and 1-2 players have built dominance in a local market or single country market or a local product market," said Aditya Agarwal, head of corporate strategy at Cleartrip. “And when you’re trying to enter these markets, it would be inefficient to compete with each other rather than collaborate with each other."

Analysts say that Airbnb is increasingly becoming a broad-based travel company rather than just a home rental platform. This deal further reinforces that perception which would be good for the company ahead of its public offering.

Since it entered the country almost three years ago, India has become an important market for Airbnb. While the home-rental platform has about 47,000 properties listed in India, globally Airbnb has almost 6 million listings across 81,000 cities in 191 countries.

“Emerging markets like India and China are some of Airbnb’s fastest-growing, with our growth increasingly powered by tourism to and from these markets," said Greg Greeley, president of homes at Airbnb.

Oyo has also been aggressively expanding its global footprint over the past one year by entering markets such as China, the US, United Arab Emirates and the Philippines, among others.

“Airbnb’s strong global footprints and access to local communities will open up new opportunities for OYO Hotels & Homes," said Maninder Gulati, global chief strategy officer at OYO Hotels & Homes.

In India, Oyo is present in more than 259 cities, with more than 8,700 buildings and over 173,000 rooms, the hotel startup claims.

Oyo raised around $800 million from Japan's SoftBank Group Corp. last year as part of the Series E funding, which was followed by infusions from Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing and Asian ride-hailing giant Grab. This round valued the company at around $5 billion.

Reuters contributed to this story.


20.1. Cipla signs US$ 22 mn pact with Pulmatrix Inc for new asthma drug
PTI, Apr. 02, 2019

New Delhi: Domestic pharma major Cipla Monday said it has signed a binding agreement with Pulmatrix Inc for co-development and licensing opportunity for a new drug under development for an upfront consideration of USD 22 million.
The agreement has been signed between the company's wholly-owned subsidiary in the US, Cipla Technologies LLC with Pulmatrix Inc for an investment in phase 2 ready Pulmazole (inhaled ltraconazole).
Pulmazole is an inhaled anti-fungal formulation of itraconazole aimed at treating allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA) in asthma patients.
Cipla said, "Entry into a definitive agreement is contingent upon Pulmatrix raising additional funds from the market".
Upon signing the definitive agreement, the co-development cost towards development and the total free cash flow in relation to commercialisation of Pulmazole will be further shared by both the parties in a phased manner, it added.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.


20.2. Facebook eyeing investments in content startups in India
Livemint, 20 Mar. 2019, Varsha Bansal

  • Facebook is in early-stage talks with several content startups, including PoPXo for potential investments 
  • Any startup funding would also be a departure from Facebook’s usual strategy of buying companies outright 
Bengaluru: After tapping into online payments through WhatsApp and e-commerce through its marketplace, Facebook is now eyeing the regional content space in India. The social media giant is in early-stage talks with several content startups, including PopXo, a digital community for women, for potential investments, said two people familiar with the matter.

“Over the last one month, Facebook has started meeting content startups—vertical content and news," said the first person cited above. “This is the first time Facebook is meeting content startups for investments. They met a few earlier in the month and some more later this month."

Facebook is also trying to figure out on how to structure investments in India, said the second person cited above.

2019 is a crucial year for Facebook owing to the forthcoming general elections in India, which is one of the largest markets for the tech giant. Mint reported earlier this month that Facebook plans to start an operations centre in Delhi in a bid to prevent the spread of fake news ahead of the Lok Sabha Elections 2019.

Several experts Mint spoke with believe that Facebook’s interest in investing in vertical content and news content startups could be because the company needs strong partners who will continue to build on its ecosystem and will also make Facebook a “trusted source of information".

“Facebook hasn’t been able to crack the vernacular content space," said a person familiar with Facebook’s strategy, requesting anonymity. “They are looking at more sources of content and are also looking at moderating and controlling fake news, which is why they would want to look at more credible sources of content through these startups."

Several digital publishers are hugely dependent on Facebook for traffic, which takes a hit whenever the social media giant changes its algorithm, forcing publishers to seek alternative growth routes. The reduction of dependency by such firms could be a possible threat to Facebook.

If any of the talks with content startups fructify into an investment for Facebook, it would also be a departure from the social media giant’s usual strategy of buying companies outright. Globally, Facebook has made over 50 acquisitions, the biggest among of them being photo sharing platform Instagram and messaging platform WhatsApp.

A Facebook spokesperson said the company works “with the entire content ecosystem in the country, including a wide variety of partners from movie studios, to TV networks and publishers to celebrities and creators and from large organizations to startups". The spokesperson did not comment on any potential investment plans in content startups.

“All major social media platforms engage with other digital platforms and publishers on a regular basis," said Priyanka Gill, founder and chief executive of PopXo. “We are not in any specific talks at the present."



INDIA AND THE WORLD


21.1. Unilever's global leadership team now has 3 Indians for the first time
Livemint, Mar. 15, 2019

Mumbai: Indian executives continue to work their way up Unilever Plc's leadership ladder, with the Anglo-Dutch company on Thursday elevating Nitin Paranjpe, 56, who heads its foods and refreshments business, as its chief operating officer (COO), the second Indian after Harish Manwani to hold the position.
Simultaneously, the company included Sanjiv Mehta, chairman and managing director of Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), into its Unilever Leadership Executive team (ULE), making him the third Indian in the exclusive 11-member body that runs the €51 billion consumer goods maker.
Mehta will join Leena Nair, chief human resource officer, and Paranjpe. In addition to being part of the Unilever leadership team and CMD of Hindustan Unilever, Mehta will be the president of the company’s South Asia operations.
ULE is Unilever’s top executive team and includes C-Suite executives such as heads of finance, human resources, research and development, marketing and supply chain, besides chiefs of key markets such as Europe, North America and North Asia.
The latest promotions are a continuation of a decades-long trend of executives from its successful Indian operation taking up top leadership roles at its parent. Prior to Manwani, Manvinder Singh Banga served as president for global foods, home and personal care. Banga, a former HUL chairman, was also part of ULE.
Manwani, the longest serving non-executive chairman of India’s largest household goods maker, retired in 2018 after being in that position for 13 years. He was also the first ever COO of Unilever.
Prior to his current elevation, Paranjpe was managing director and chief executive of HUL from 2008 to 2013, before becoming president of Unilever’s foods and refreshments division. Hanneke Faber, president of Europe, will replace Paranjpe as president of foods and refreshment.

“Today’s increasingly fragmented consumer, channel and media environment requires us to operate with more speed and agility than ever before. With his deep knowledge and experience of our markets, Nitin is ideally placed to work with me and the Unilever Leadership Executive to drive our performance and help deliver our growth ambitions," Unilever CEO Alan Jope said in a statement.
Sandip Ghose, a former managing director of Nepal Lever, a unit of Hindustan Unilever, and now executive president of Birla Corp., remembers Paranjpe as a people’s person.

“He has been a very mature professional. I remember there was a massive protest in Kerala against HUL products and he happened to be working there. The way he handled the situation showed his ability to be level-headed during a crisis. When it comes to working with people, he is not someone who would be brash," Ghose said in a phone interview.
In his role as president, Paranjpe led the company’s investments in the foods business and was responsible for growing its ice cream, tea and foods categories. He also divested Unilever’s spreads business last year.
Today, the foods segment accounts for 40% of Unilever’s business. However, though its revenue has dropped from €22.44 billion in 2017 to €20.22 billion in 2018, its operating income from the segment has risen from €8.85 billion to €12.53 billion.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same. 


21.2. India becomes second largest market for Marks & Spencer after UK
PTI, Mar. 27, 2019

New Delhi: India has emerged as the second largest market after the UK for Marks & Spencer, and the British retailer is looking at a double digit growth in terms of store addition in the next fiscal, said a top company official.
M&S has opened one store each in Chennai and Hyderabad on Tuesday.
As part of expansion, M&S is now looking at the fast emerging tier II & III cities and also plans to increase the products range with more local relevance.
"India has now the largest market for us outside UK," Marks & Spencer India MD James Munson told PTI.
For M&S, India is a "strategic market", where there is acceptance of international brands and has space to grow.

After recent openings, M&S now has 76 stores across 32 cities and is expanding its presence.
As part of its expansion drive, M&S has opened six stores in last 48 days.
"We are really excited to be reaching the landmark of our 75th store opening, as well as continuing to improve the online experience for our customers," he added.
The company clocked a turnover of Rs 908 crore in India in FY 2017-18 and expects to continue its growth momentum further in the next fiscal.
Besides, the company would also continue to add more stores to maintain the pace of expansion of its sales network.
"In FY 2019-20, we would continue double digit growth in terms of store addition on like-to-like basis," Munson added.

Presently, M&S sources around 30 per cent material locally and rest is from imports, and will increase more products "which are relevant to customers, he said.
The company is also present on the fast growing online sales through its several channel partners.
Although, the present contribution of online sales is in single digit but Munson expects it to grow further.
M&S opened its first store in India in 2001 and in April 2008 signed a JV with Reliance Retail to form Marks & Spencer Reliance India Pvt Ltd.
Established in 1884, M&S is one of the UK's leading retailers and trades in 57 markets, with over 400 stores and online presence in 33 markets.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same. 


22.1. Karnad’s ‘Indian Story’ gets him Windham-Campbell Prize in UK
Livemint, 14 Mar. 2019, Somak Ghoshal

  • Raghu Karnad is the second Indian to receive the prestigious Windham-Campbell Prize 
  • Raghu Karnad is one of the eight winners chosen across four categories—fiction, non-fiction, drama and poetry—this year 
Bengaluru: Journalist and writer Raghu Karnad won the $165,000 Windham-Campbell Prize in the non-fiction category for his debut book, The Farthest Field: An Indian Story Of The Second World War. The announcement was made early Thursday (IST) in a ceremony in London. In terms of prize money, it is one of the richest literary awards in the world.
Karnad is the second Indian to receive the prestigious prize, since Jerry Pinto won it for his novel, Em And The Big Hoom, in 2016. Karnad is one of the eight winners chosen across four categories—fiction, non-fiction, drama and poetry—this year. American writer Rebecca Solnit is the other awardee in the non-fiction category for the diverse body of work she has produced over her career.
Administered by the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University in the US, the Windham-Campbell Prize was established in 2013 with a generous gift from writer Donald Windham in memory of his partner of 40 years, Sandy Campbell.

“Even though we are based at Yale, this is an international prize, and we want to celebrate this in the heart of one of the great multicultural cities of the world," Michael Kelleher, director of the prize, said about the decision to announce it from London during the week of the London Book Fair.
Instead of a submission process, the Windham-Campbell prize solicits nominations from experts from across the world. Finally, an anonymous panel of juries selects two winners in each category--one writer for a body of work spanning their career and the other for showing early promise.
“While it’s still hard for me to believe I have won this prize, I am excited that an unlikely and obscure slice of history, which might seem remote to readers in the US, has found resonance there," Karnad said to Mint.
“The Windham-Campbell Prize does not put authors into a gladiatorial situation by placing them in a shortlist," Pinto added. Unlike a grant, the prize simply enables writers to work without any pressure. “It allows you the time to write," he said.

Karnad, who is bureau chief and editor-at-large of the independent news portal Wire.in, won the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar in 2016 for The Farthest Field. Published by HarperCollins India (HCI), the book follows the intertwined lives of five people (one of whom was Karnad’s grandfather) during World War II. Based on fragmented evidence—culled from oral sources, diaries, letters and archival research—Karnad creates a riveting narrative, executed with literary flair.
“I realised when I started reading the manuscript how little I knew about the period Raghu was writing about because everything I had read until then was from a non-Indian perspective," says Karthika V.K., who edited the book when she was publisher of HCI and is currently publisher at Amazon-Westland.
“Raghu’s is one of the most refreshing new voices in Indian non-fiction and this award is very well-deserved," added Ananth Padmanabhan, chief executive officer of HCI.


22.2. How to live more with less technology
Livemint, 15 Mar. 2019, Somak Ghoshal

  • A new book by tech expert Cal Newport preaches the benefits of ‘digital minimalism’ 
  • In his previous book, Deep Work (2016), Newport charted ways of focusing our attention in an era of ceaseless distractions 
For a computer scientist and best-selling author, Cal Newport keeps a low profile on the internet. “You won’t find him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram," says the bio on the flap of his recent book, Digital Minimalism: On Living Better With Less Technology. This “outsider status", as Newport calls it, hasn’t stopped him from giving advice to those addicted to social media. “By approaching our tech culture from a fresh perspective, I’m perhaps better able to distinguish assumption from truth...meaningful use from manipulation," he writes. His conviction isn’t misplaced. If you are jaded with ennui induced by social media, or suffocated by the stranglehold of the internet, you are likely to come away from this book armed with compelling arguments and practical tips to cut yourself from the iron grip of the World Wide Web.

In his previous book, Deep Work (2016), Newport charted ways of focusing our attention in an era of ceaseless distractions. Taking the idea forward, he homes in on a specific component in his latest work—the digital media conglomerate, made up of the unholy trinity of the internet, social media and smartphones—and the strategies its users can employ to resist its all-pervasive influence. Newport minces no words about the pernicious business model followed by social media outlets like Facebook, where time spent by users equals revenue. “You can’t...build a billion-dollar empire like Facebook if you’re wasting hours every day using a service like Facebook," he writes, highlighting the exploitative premise of such services.

The key to reclaiming our attention, along with our life, time and money, is in becoming a digital minimalist, Newport says, following a few core principles that may resonate with followers of the KonMari Method, introduced by Japanese tidiness expert Marie Kondo. Digital minimalism, Newport argues, is as much a practice that can actively improve the quality of life as “a philosophy of technology use". Yet, while asking people to abjure the compulsive pull of technology, Newport is careful not to come across as a technophobe. His conception of digital minimalism is based on the conscious and productive use of technology as a means to enhance our everyday experiences, one that facilitates “structured social interactions" instead of isolating us from the physical world. “Digital minimalists see new technologies as tools to be used to support things they deeply value," Newport writes, “not as sources of value themselves."

“Value" is the operative word here. Kondo invokes a more sentimental cognate of it when she asks her clients to hold on to only those objects that “spark joy".

Newport’s advice is never offered in absolute terms. If your work depends on using social media, or surfing the internet, he doesn’t ask you to get a new job, but rather build pockets of “high quality leisure" into your daily routine that don’t involve reaching out for the nearest available screen. Creating space for solitary reflection, undisturbed by society or technology, ranks high on his list of such immersive pursuits.

Newport also doesn’t deny that the human brain is wired to seek out company. But electronic screens, he argues, don’t teach us, or improve, our social skills. A like, comment or retweet allows us to build a superficial connection at best, as opposed to the gratification that comes from a conversation in the real world. Instead of lazy online interactions, he demands that we make the effort to at least get on a Skype call and have a face-to-face interaction in real time. Instead of trawling YouTube for mindless stimulation, Newport suggests we pick up a new skill by watching a tutorial—a DIY video to build something or to play a song on the guitar. Instead of passively binge-watching shows on video-streaming platforms, he urges us to indulge in such consumption only with friends and families. Less technology, as well as its intelligent use, can enrich our lives more than we expect.


23.1. Indian Cinema's cult classics now up for remakes for millennial audiences
Livemint, 12 Apr. 2019, Lata Jha

  • 'Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyun Aata Hai', Kartik Aaryan's 'Pati Patni Aur Woh' are among the upcoming spate of Hindi movie remakes 
  • The concept of movie remakes is not new, but films such as 'Don' (2006) and 'Agneepath' (2012) have been few and far between 
New Delhi: Old is gold and there is nobody better than Indian filmmakers to testify to this. Even as bold narratives and new storytelling techniques find acceptance, Indian cinema is turning to old, iconic stories to find new audiences this year.
Director Soumitra Ranade’s Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyun Aata Hai that releases this Friday is evidently a remake of the 1980 comedy drama helmed by Saeed Akhtar Mirza.
The movie, however, is not the first or the only cult classic up for a rehash this season.
Filmmaker Mudassar Aziz will cast Kartik Aaryan, Bhumi Pednekar and Ananya Pandey in a remake of the 1978 Sanjeev Kumar-starrer Pati Patni Aur Woh, while Abhishek Kapoor will direct a remake of Amitabh Bachchan’s 1984 comedy drama Sharaabi.
Bollywood is not the only industry keen on remakes or reboots.

Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar will present a Bengali film titled Avijatrik that will take Satyajit Ray’s iconic Apu trilogy forward. Goopi Gawaiya Bagha Bajaiya, an animation film inspired by Ray’s Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, was released in March.
The concept of remakes is not new, but films such as Don(2006) and Agneepath (2012) have been few and far between, and there has hardly ever been such a spate of Hindi movie remakes slated for release together.
The track record mostly reads well though, Don ( ₹50.34 crore) and Agneepath ( ₹119.98 crore) sit alongside Umrao Jaan ( ₹7.42 crore) and Karzzz ( ₹10.33 crore).
Filmmakers admit the appeal of these cult classics remains unmatched. The challenge is to present them in a new avatar to millennial audiences, who not just make up the majority of theatre-going viewers but also drive crowds in the opening weekend, which often contributes 40-50% of a movie’s overall earnings.

“The idea of remaking these films comes from the fact that we, as filmmakers, are influenced by films that we have seen while growing up," said Aziz. “We realize that we are dealing with millennials who may have not seen the film before. So the idea is to come up with our own unique takes and have a go at the same plot to tell a millennial story," he said.
“There is a certain borrowing of innocent plot setting from the bygone era. I think these stories allow us to revisit simpler plots instead of creating shock value, which has become so common," Aziz said.
The new films will not be exactly like the originals, but tailored to suit millennial outlook and tastes. Pati Patni Aur Woh, for instance, is a comical take on extramarital affairs.
“The 2019 version of Pati Patni Aur Woh will not take any of the liberties that the Pati Patni Aur Woh of 1978 did because the way we look at marriages and relationships has changed, the way a woman looks at relationships and what she wants from marriage has changed. Hence, my film will be nothing like the original but will be very respectful to the original plot where this whole drama began," Aziz said.

A remake should neither be a copy nor a bigger, snazzier version of an old film but cognisant of its basic soul and spirit, Ranade said. “The story in itself has appeal for every generation," Ranade said.
However, while the new film addresses the same issues of a common man’s anger, the lead here is a middle-class educated professional unlike the mechanic in 1980.
Independent trade analyst Sreedhar Pillai said the brand name and curiosity value attached to the remake of a classic is undeniable but expectations are high too, especially when the narratives have become part of textbooks and the actors are revered figures.
“We have a certain standard to live up to but I guess you have to man up to the responsibility and try and tell the story in your way and be respectful and mindful of an audience that has loved the original and at the same time be open and accepting towards an audience that we are targeting the film towards now," Aziz said.


23.2. Dance Movement Therapy allies de-stressing with a great workout
Livemint, 22 Mar. 2019, Divya Kandukuri

  • Dance Movement Therapy has become a part of professional counselling programmes 
  • It can be used by anybody to heal, explore themselves and negotiate trauma 
As I stood in the room filled with the scent of aromatic candles and watched the participants move to music, a feeling of calm swept over me. It was my first dance movement therapy (DMT) session in Mumbai. DMT encourages individuals to focus on being in the present, thus improving their health and well-being. The 2-hour session that I attended, organized by the medical wellness centre Vedary, had 12 participants, among them nine women, ranging in age from the early 20s to the late 50s.
The focus during the session was on a form of DMT called five rhythms. “During this, we go through a wave that consists of five different rhythms of music that allow us to experience healing," said Irma Bättig, the session facilitator. “It is empowering, as you heal yourself with movement and music without any external help. It is fun, meditative and a great workout."

Each participant was there for a different reason, be it stress or a desire to reconnect with their inner selves. Some of them had tried other therapies. Shailendra (who uses one name), Vedary’s medical director, explained: “DMT is a medium through which a lot of suppressed emotions can be released. We are in this age where we are not able to be ourselves and DMT gives you an opportunity to be yourself. People from different age groups and diverse backgrounds register for these therapy sessions and that is what makes it beautiful." The sessions usually take place in small groups, though there are individual classes as well. “I was moved by the session. At some point, I was in tears, as it brought back some really sharp memories of my childhood. I realized today how easy it is to connect to oneself," said Reshma Jain, a 41-year-old writer who hoped the session would put her in the right frame of mind for creative work.

Arushi, 28, a Mumbai-based yoga trainer who was attending her first DMT session and did not want to disclose her last name, said: “I felt so relieved, and so free while I was dancing and moving around. It worked like magic in terms of relieving my month-long work stress. I am going to come here more often."
This form of dance therapy was pioneered in the early 1990s by Delhi-based Tripura Kashyap, who has documented her experiences and vision in her book My Body, My Wisdom: A Handbook Of Creative Dance Therapy (2005). DMT, which has become part of professional counselling programmes, emerged after other art therapies but is now used even in prisons, schools and child development centres.
The need has perhaps never been greater. A survey by Cigna TTK Health Insurance, a health insurance firm, in 2018 revealed that 89% of Indians suffer from stress. The survey also revealed that 75% of the respondents did not feel comfortable talking to a medical professional about it. Sneha Janaki, a Mumbai-based counselling psychologist and DMT practitioner, said: “Dance Movement Therapy is seen as an alternate space to general talk therapy. But it is a holistic practice in itself. People find dance and movement a more comfortable and non-threatening medium of expression."

There continue to be a few misconceptions about it—that it is only for those with physical coordination difficulties, that one needs to be a dancer, or that it is just a form of physiotherapy. But it can be used by anybody to heal, explore themselves and navigate trauma, according to Dance Movement Therapy: Theory And Practice, edited by Helen Payne. The 1992 book was the first to document DMT in a variety of settings.
When the session at Vedary ended, there was a pleasant silence—and a sense of emotional safety. I left with feelings of joy, and, perhaps most importantly, serenity.


24.1. PSLV-C45 successfully launches EMISAT and 28 customer satellites
Press Information Bureau, Apr. 02, 2019

New Delhi: India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C45) today successfully launched EMISAT and 28 international customer satellites from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR in Sriharikota. This flight marked the first mission of PSLV-QL, a new variant of PSLV with four strap-on motors.
PSLV-C45 lifted off at 9:27 Hrs (IST) from the Second Launch Pad and injected India’s EMISAT into a 748 km sun-synchronous polar orbit, 17 minutes and 12 seconds after liftoff. After separation, the two solar arrays of EMISAT were deployed automatically and the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network at Bengaluru assumed control of the satellite. In the coming days, the satellite will be brought to its final operational configuration.
Following the separation of EMISAT, the vehicle’s fourth stage engines were restarted twice to place the 28 international customer satellites precisely into a sun-synchronous orbit of 504 km height. The last customer satellite was placed into its designated orbit 1 hour and 55 minutes after lift-off.

About 3 hours after lift-off, the fourth stage (PS4) of the vehicle was moved to a lower circular orbit of 485 km after two restarts to establish it as an orbital platform for carrying out experiments with its three payloads.
EMISAT is a satellite built around ISRO’s Mini Satellite-2 bus weighing about 436 kg. The satellite is intended for electromagnetic spectrum measurement.
The 28 international customer satellites, together weighing about 220 kg, are from four countries, namely, Lithuania (2), Spain (1), Switzerland (1) and USA (24). These foreign satellites were launched as part of commercial arrangements.
The payloads carried by PS4 are Automatic Identification System from ISRO, Automatic Packet Repeating System from AMSAT, India and Advanced Retarding Potential Analyzer for ionospheric studies from Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology.

ISRO Chairman Dr K Sivan congratulated the launch vehicle and satellite teams involved in the mission.
“Today’s PSLV mission was unique in several ways. It was a four strap-on new variant, the vehicle achieved three different orbits and for the first the PS4 stage is powered by solar panels,” Dr Sivan said. He added that a new PSLV team executed today’s mission.
Dr Sivan also placed on record the significant involvement of the industry in this mission.
So far, PSLV has launched 46 national satellites, 10 satellites built by students from Indian Universities and 297 international customer satellites, including the satellites launched today.
In its next mission, PSLV-C46 will launch RISAT-2B in May 2019.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.


24.2. Prospects of global economy slowdown to keep policy uncertainty elevated
Livemint, 12 Apr. 2019, Harsha Jethmalani

  • The weakness in the Indian economy would impact corporate profitability, but Indian equities seem to be ignoring the signs 
  • Analysts say the renewed interest of foreign investors in India is keeping the mood upbeat despite macro-concerns 
Ongoing worries of a consumption slowdown and muted capex add to the pain for India. (Sarvesh Kumar Sharma/Mint)

Mumbai: The global economy is faltering, courtesy of a heady cocktail of factors including escalating US-China trade war and Brexit concerns. Against this backdrop, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) further trimming its 2019 global growth forecast isn’t surprising.
Economists caution that continuing weakness in the world economy would keep global economic policy uncertainty elevated, hurting the investment climate. As IMF pointed out, a common influence on sentiment across advanced and emerging markets and developing economies has been high policy uncertainty. Clearly, the Global Economic Policy Uncertainty Index mirrors these concerns regarding difficulties in resolving contentious issues (see chart).
The Baker-Bloom-Davis index of Global Economic Policy Uncertainty is a gross domestic product (GDP)-weighted average of national economic policy uncertainty indices of 20 countries including China, Germany, India, Japan, the UK and the US.

IMF expects the world economy to grow 3.3% this year. That’s 20 basis points down from its previous outlook of 3.5%, which was also a downgrade.
One basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.
India is not spared. The spate of downgrades continues in the country as well. Following the footsteps of the Asian Development Bank and the Reserve Bank of India, IMF cut its India GDP growth forecast for 2020 to 7.3%, from 7.5% earlier.
Of course, the weakness in the Indian economy would impact corporate profitability, but Indian equities seem to be ignoring the signs.
“The Indian market has largely ignored the recent economic growth deceleration, rebound in crude prices and deterioration in India’s fiscal position," Kotak Institutional Equities said in a report on 9 April.

Analysts say the renewed interest of foreign investors is keeping the mood upbeat despite macro-concerns. “While one cannot guesstimate how long these flows will continue, as long as the interest rate scenario is soft abroad, money will keep coming into emerging market equities, including India," said Deepak Jasani, head of retail research at HDFC Securities Ltd.
High-frequency data, such as automobile sales, presents a dismal picture of India’s demand scenario. For instance, an Economic Activity Index compiled by brokerage house Jefferies India Pvt. Ltd slipped below 3% in February, the lowest in two years. The index consists of a number of indicators, such as passenger and commercial vehicle sales, electricity demand, cement production, exports, railway freight and credit growth.
That said, demand increase and private capex would need to improve, and so would the elusive investment push. If not, achieving the lower 7.3% growth forecast, too, could be a tough ask. The nail biting continues.


25.1. Lanka breaks ground for oil refinery with investments from Indian firm & Oman
PTI, Mar. 25, 2019

Colombo: Sri Lanka on Sunday began construction of a USD 3.85 billion oil refinery next to a Chinese-run port as part of a joint venture between India's Accord Group and Oman's oil ministry, the island nation's biggest foreign direct investment ever.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, whose 70th birthday coincided with the ground-breaking ceremony, said that with investments coming from India, China and Oman, Hambantota is set to become a multinational investment zone.
Oman and Sri Lanka have centuries-old relationships, Oman's Oil and Gas Minister Mohammed Hamad Al Rumhy said at the ceremony.
The USD 3.85 billion project is the single largest foreign direct investment in the island nation's history.

The refinery project, expected to complete in four years, came under criticism last week when a media report claimed that the government of Oman had rejected any knowledge of the project.
China has acquired the Hambantota port for a 99-year lease as a debt swap.
Beijing on Thursday said that it is "not narrow minded" to oppose the Indian investments in Sri Lanka, as it reacted guardedly to the USD 3.85 billion joint venture between India's Accord Group and Oman's oil ministry.
Chinese investments over the years in Sri Lanka amounted to over USD eight billion adding pressure to Colombo's external debt burden.
China's acquisition of Hambantota port as a debt swap has raised concerns about Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which US has cautioned as debt trap specially for smaller countries. 
The Belt and Road Initiative is a multi-billion-dollar initiative launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping when he came to power in 2013. It aims to link Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Gulf region, Africa and Europe with a network of land and sea route.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same. 


25.2. India's goods, services export to touch about USD 540 bn this fiscal: Prabhu
PTI, Mar. 29, 2019

New Delhi: India's merchandise and services export would touch USD 540-billion mark this fiscal, Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu said Thursday.
He said exports are growing at a healthy pace and shipments of goods would reach over USD 330 billion.
Similarly, services exports would touch about USD 200 billion, according to Prabhu.
In total, both "merchandise and services exports put together will reach about USD 540 billion" by the end of this fiscal, the minister said here at a function.
During April-February 2018-19, the goods exports grew by 8.85 per cent to USD 298.47 billion.

Talking about the stalled negotiations for a free trade agreement between India and European Union, the minister said India is keen to resume the talks.
"We are really keen to have this FTA with EU. India will work to find a workable deal," he said.
The negotiations for the pact, officially dubbed as the Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA), have been held up since May 2013 and have witnessed many hurdles.
The negotiations for the pact were launched in 2007.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same. 

* * *