Hindustan Motors sells Ambassador to Peugeot for Rs 80 crore

Source: SnS124 No.1 website - February 11, 2017

The iconic brand Ambassador, which used to be a symbol of the high and mighty in power corridors, has changed hands, with Hindustan Motors selling it to European auto major Peugeot for Rs 80 crore.

The C K Birla group firm has inked an agreement with Peugeot SA to this effect.

As things stand, the manufacturing of Ambassador car has been discontinued.

“Hindustan Motors has executed an agreement with Peugeot SA for the sale of the Ambassador brand, including the trademarks, for a consideration of Rs 80 crore,” Hindustan Motors on Saturday said in a regulatory filing.

Last month, the PSA Group had inked a partnership with the CK Birla group to re-enter the Indian market and earmarked an initial investment of 100 million euros (around Rs 700 crore) to set up vehicle and powertrain manufacturing in Tamil Nadu.

The tie-up entails two joint venture agreements between the companies of the two groups.

The initial manufacturing capacity will be set at about 1,00,000 vehicles per year and followed by incremental investment to support a progressive ramp-up of the long-term project.

The manufacturing capacity for powertrains will cater to the domestic market requirements and global OEMs. The performance of the industrial set-up will be supported by a significant level of localisation in order to attain necessary cost competitiveness, the company had said last month.

The long-term partnership will allow both companies to participate in the growth of the Indian automotive market, which is expected to reach 8-10 million cars by 2025, from the current 3 million in 2016.

The PSA group, which sells three brands -- Peugeot, Citroen and DS -- is no stranger to India, having entered into a partnership with the erstwhile Premier family, resulting in joint venture Peugeot PAL India. However, it pulled out of the JV in 2001.

The group had made repeated attempts to return to the Indian market. In 2009, it decided to go slow on plans to kick off operations in India due to a global economic slowdown.

Later, in 2011, it announced plans to re-enter the Indian market with a mid-sized sedan, 10 years after it had exited the country. The plan, however, did not materialise.

The CK Birla group is better known for the now discontinued iconic Ambassador car that was manufactured by group firm Hindustan Motors.

It has presence in technology automotive, home and building, healthcare and education.

Luxury brand Faberge enters India

Source: SnS124 No.1 website : February 10, 2017 

New Delhi: It defined elegance at Russia’s last imperial court, added sheen to museums in continental Europe with its Easter eggs, and has long been at Her Majesty’s service. That bespoke service is now available in India, the latest market for London’s ultra-luxury jeweler for the super-rich, Faberge.

Owned by the world’s top emeralds and rubies-miner Gemfields Plc., Faberge is the latest in a swelling list of global luxury brands such as Burberry and Rolex to enter India, where economic expansion is spawning more billionaires than in Japan, the traditional bastion of ultra-rich in Asia. Delhi and Mumbai, India’s economic hotspots, will be Faberge’s beachhead in the country, where the jeweler will sell its products by select trunk shows for the uber-rich.

“India and other Asian markets have tremendous potential going by the reactions we got in the last few days. The relationship with Gemfields gives us a leg-up in our ability to deliver wonderful pieces. Asia has largely been an unexplored area for us and expect the next phase of growth to come from the region,” said Sean Gilbertson, CEO of Faberge.

The jeweler, which retails through 39 multi-brand outlets including Mayfair and Harrods will hold more such trunk shows in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Products sold in India include a selection of coloured gemstones, emeralds rubies, and sapphires, and timepieces including the award-winning Lady Compliquee peacock watch. Prices range from $5000 to $3 million.

Founded in 1842, Fabergé has been one of the most reknowned brands in the world of jewelry since Peter Carl Fabergé became the official goldsmith to the Russian Imperial Court.

In its quarterly report for the period ending December, Gemfields stated Faberge’s sales transactions for the period ending 31st December 2016 increased by 48% compared to the same period in 2015, while the average selling price per piece increased by 12% over the same period.

Faberge will open two new outlets this year. Gilbertson said the brand has not been as affected by the overall slowdown in the luxury market as it deals with a smaller clientele, and its average selling price is extraordinarily high compared with most other brands.

AccorHotels plans to add close to 550 rooms in eastern India

Source: SnS124 no.1 Website

Kolkata: AccorHotels plans to add close to 550 rooms in eastern India as the company expands its footprint in Guwahati and Kolkata. The expansion is likely to take place over the next three years.

To start with, Novotel, a sub-brand of the company , will debut with its Guwahati property. Targeting a mid-year launch, it is likely to have 122 rooms. This would be followed by IBIS and Formule1 in Kolkata by 2018.

Talking about the eastern India hospitality scenario, Arif Patel, vice-president of sales, marketing, distribution and loyalty at AccorHotels India, said: "The potential in the east India market remained untapped for years and it has just started getting its share of branded hotels. Accor is attempting to give the east an option to choose from a chain of luxuryHOTEL to branded budget rooms." The company is likely to double its Kolkata portfolio to four hotels.

Accor is likely to launch subbrands IBIS and Formule1 in Kolkata, adding to the 500 rooms in the city from Novotel and Swiss Hotel. The entry of these brands into the eastern market will add another 316 keys to the city. The 129-room Formule1, according to Patel, would be the cording to Patel, would be the first new-generation hotel from the sub-brand in the country.

"Travellers are getting younger and hence new products constantly need to be added to the offerings one has.The new generation Formule1 would be targeting a younger crowd between the 22 years and 35 years age group, and will be having an all new décor as well as food and beverage offerings.Everything will be designed according the tastes and pockets of the age group," said Patel.

Accor is expecting an 8-10% growth in average room rentals and 4-5% growth in occupancy. The company is bullish on the wedding market.

"There is a lot of demand for high budget weddings in the east and due to lack of branded options a lot of them move abroad to locations like Thailand and Singapore. The city can now get back these businesses lost to such locations for weddings," said Patel. Another set of customers for the group would be medical tourists, mostly from Bangladesh.

ACCORHOTELS that has 46 hotels in India across various categories, is targeting to touch 10,000 keys from its present inventory of 8,000 keys. The group also plans to expand its presence to 25 other cities across India.

China's top auditor says $2.6 bn environment funds not effectively used

Source: SnS124 No1 website

Beijing, Jan 31: China's top auditor has found that 17.6 billion yuan (about $2.56 billion) of fiscal funds earmarked in 2016 for pollution control and resource management was not used effectively.

The finding was part of the results released after the National Audit Office (NAO) sent inspection teams to 18 provincial regions to review the use of fiscal funds for water pollution prevention and control, Xinhua news agency reported.

The NAO inspectors also found that a total of 397 water pollution protection projects had failed to achieve desired effect and some environment funds were not distributed in accordance with special protection plans.

The NAO noted increasing pressure from regional water environment protection, adding that in some regions, environment protection laws were not enforced strictly.

In response to the audit, local authorities in the 18 provincial regions have improved the distribution and use of more than 3 billion yuan of environment funds, and pushed forward the progress of 77 water pollution control projects.

Meanwhile, the NAO urged local auditors in 31 provincial regions to audit the funds meant for water pollution prevention.

Chinese authorities have punished 3,229 government officials for fiscal violations found when auditing the central government's 2015 budget.

H&M looks to set up its first warehousing hub in Bhiwandi

source: SnS124.com / 27-January-2017

Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) is in advanced discussions with Mumbai-based Prakhhyat Infraprojects, which operates the 150-acre K. Square Industrial Park at Bhiwandi

 At present, H&M operates a warehouse in Delhi through third-party logistics firm Geodis. 

Mumbai: Swedish clothing retail firm Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) is close to leasing around 2.75 lakh square feet of space at Bhiwandi in Maharashtra to set up its first warehousing hub in India that would be directly operated by the company, according to two people aware of the development who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The company, which entered India in 2015, is in advanced discussions with Mumbai-based Prakhhyat Infraprojects Pvt. Ltd, which operates the 150-acre K. Square Industrial Park at Bhiwandi, said one of the persons cited above.

The monthly rental has been pegged at Rs29 per sq. ft with a five-year lock-in period and the option to renew the lease for another five years, the person added.

The upcoming warehouse at Bhiwandi would be a built-to-suit facility and is expected to start operations next year, the second person cited above said.

According to property consultants, the rental is on the higher side as it comes with a premium since the warehouse would be developed as per the requirements of the company which is leasing it. The normal monthly rent particularly around Bhiwandi stands at around Rs10-15 per sq ft.

Other big companies which have warehouses in the vicinity include e-commerce firms Flipkart, Amazon and logistics firm DHL Express. “H&M has been wanting to come up with a better warehouse of its own,” the person said.

At present, the company operates a warehouse in Delhi through third-party logistics firm Geodis.

A spokesperson with H&M declined to comment on the development while Prakhhyat Infraprojects did not respond to emailed queries .

The deal is part of the larger trend where most manufacturing firms and retailers are already on the look-out for bigger warehousing spaces in the country given that good and services tax (GST) is expected to be rolled out soon. The demand is only likely to grow after GST as a unified tax structure makes bigger warehouses economically viable, said consultants.

Present across 62 countries, H&M is the world’s second largest apparel retail chain after Spanish clothing company Inditex, the parent firm of Zara.

“H&M has been aggressively looking for a lot of retail spaces across all regions of India. Considering that all the floor sizes are large , they would sure have big warehousing requirements as well. The overall warehousing requirement from retailers is high and most firms are aggressively looking at certain belts in India because of the upcoming goods and services tax (GST),” said Aditya Sachdeva, director (retail) at Knight Frank, a property consultant.

As per Knight Frank estimates, the total requirement of warehousing space in the country’s top seven markets is expected to grow from 621 million sq. ft in 2016 to 839 million sq. ft by 2020.

At present, the demand for warehouses is driven by the manufacturing sector, followed by brick and mortar retailers and e-commerce firms.

IFC plans to invest US$ 10 mn in Zinka Logistics

Source: SnS124.com 27-January-2017 

Chennai: International Finance Corporation (IFC) is planning to invest around $10 million as equity in Bengaluru-based Zinka Logistics Pvt Ltd (Blackbuck), a technology platform for long-haul trucking. The company’s existing investors include Accel Partners, Tiger Global, Apoletto and Flipkart Logistics.

IFC’s proposed investment will be in the form of equity for a minority stake to support the expansion of the company’s service offerings and further technology development. The company will use IFC’s funding to expand it’s service offerings and further technology development, said IFC.

The company was founded by Rajesh Yabaji, Chanakya Hridaya and Bala Ramasubramania in April 2015 and launched in July 2016. Blackbuck is a leading technology platform in India for long-haul trucking.Blackbuck connects large and small shippers with small truck owner/operators to book full-truck-load (FTL) freight for inter-city transportation through its mobile app interface.

IFC said Blackbuck is helping to bring transparency and efficiency to this market through its technology platform.

This allows transporters, truck owners, and enterprise clients to more efficiently locate, price, transport freight and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Company is asset-light and by matching truckers with shippers through its online platform, it is able to minimise downtime for trucks and maximise utility of the asset for the truck owners/operators.

It is the leading load board in India with around 80,000 verified trucks on its platform and more than 100,000 transactions year-to-date (YTD). The company does not provide services for transportation of hazardous or dangerous goods.

The company has two different models including organised contracted freight – formal contracts with shippers (a number of big companies including multi-national companies) to move freight for predetermined routes at pre-negotiated price; auctions of freight just-in-time through the app marketplace and unorganised spot market freight where shippers use app to source truckers for immediate needs.

The company is also providing support in using ancillary services (like toll cards and fuel cards) to drivers with some partners like non-banking finance company and petroleum retailers so that truck drivers do not need to carry a lot of cash.

The long-haul, full-truck-load (FTL) trucking market in India is currently estimated to be around $70 billion and is largely offline and informal. Trucks in India on average have 33% utilisation, meaning they are either sitting/travelling empty or partially filled a majority of the time.

India 10th largest business travel market: Report

article Source: SnS124.com / 19-Jan-2017

Mumbai: India is the world’s tenth largest business travel market and is likely to clock the fastest growth in this segment in the next five years. Business travel spending is expected to treble until 2030 from $30 billion in 2015, a report by consultancy KPMG and FCM Travel Solutions said.

“In 2015, India saw a 15% increase in business travel spending, which will grow by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12% through 2020 to 6% by 2030. This increase in all possibility will be greater than the increases in business travel growth in the next three largest countries combined, including South Korea, Italy and Brazil. Thirteen years from now (by 2030), India will likely be amongst the top five in business travel spending,” the report said.

The report attributed the growth to “political, economic and demographic factors”. It said macro-economic growth, an evolution in the regulatory environment, increased growth and expansion in industrial activity, coupled with fast digitisation of travel booking tools has and will continue to lead to the growth.

India has in a decade climbed the ranks from one of the world’s twenty largest business travel markets to be among the top ten. In the list compiled from a World Travel and Tourism Council Report, India follows China, US, Germany, Japan, UK, France, South Korea, Italy and Brazil.

List topper China’s business travel market size is $291 billion, close to ten times that of India. India is estimated to overtake Brazil, Italy and South Korea and take seventh place by 2020.

India’s business travel spend is roughly a fourth of its total annual travel expenditure as travellers still spend the bigger chunk on leisure, an executive at KPMG told ET.

About 80% of the business travel transactions are domestic, rest international, FCM managing director Rakshit Desai told ET. Revenuewise, the split is 50:50, he added. About 77% of the total spend is on air travel, the report said.