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Wal-Mart to expand business in India
IMF forecasts India’s GDP growth at 5.4% this year
Not getting right talent costing Indian economy
Rs 53,000 crore: Study
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Trouble brewing again in Air India over pilots' pay cut
Maruti likely to recall 1 lakh units of Dzire
Nokia partners Airtel to market ‘Nokia X’
MTN, Airtel launch mobile money transfer service in Africa
Indian banks strong enough to cope with tapering: Moody's
Facebook user base crosses 100m in India
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Wal-Mart to expand business in India
New Delhi, April 8 After facing corruption allegations in India, Wal-Mart also said it would strengthen its systems. It will also launch an online platform to sell to traders. Wal-Mart is now going solo in India after its joint venture with Bharti Enterprises broke six months ago. Wal-Mart India will continue to invest and expand this established business of cash and carry. As part of the growth plans, it plans to open 50 cash-and-carry outlets in the next four to five years even as it continues to invest in its supply chain infrastructure and supplier development. Wal-Mart India is also extending the B2B e-commerce platform to its Best Price Modern Wholesale store members, providing them with a convenient online shopping opportunity. As an exclusive virtual store for its members, the e-commerce platform will provide a similar assortment of products, as well as special items. Scott Price, president & CEO, Wal-Mart Asia, said, “Wal-Mart is committed to India and we are excited about our growth plans. We will continue to focus on the Cash and Carry format as we are very happy with the way it has shaped up in the past few years. The format is also poised to grow in India and we would like to serve the growing customer base by opening 50 new cash-and-carry stores over the next four-five years and extend the e-commerce platform to our Cash and Carry members with a virtual shopping opportunity”. Wal-Mart, which had investigated violations of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in its Indian arm, is ensuring they are not repeated. Price emphasised that Wal-Mart was committed to follow compliance norms. “Along with our growth, we are taking a number of important steps to strengthen compliance so that we do the right thing everyday. We are evaluating and reinforcing procedures and programs relating to all compliance areas, including licensing and permits, food safety, and responsible sourcing among others”, he said. In expansion mode
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IMF forecasts India’s GDP growth at 5.4% this year
Washington, April 8 "A pick-up in exports in recent months and measures to curb gold imports have contributed to lowering the current account deficit. "Policy measures to bolster capital flows have further helped reduce external vulnerabilities," the IMF said. Overall growth is expected to firm up on policies supporting investment and a confidence boost from recent policy actions, but will remain below trend, it added. "Consumer price inflation is expected to remain an important challenge, but should continue to move onto a downward trajectory," the IMF report said. The outlook also projected India's growth rate to increase to 6.4% in 2015. In 2012, India’s growth rate stood at 4.7%. "For India, real GDP growth is projected to strengthen to 5.4% in 2014 and 6.4% in 2015, assuming that government efforts to revive investment growth succeed and export growth strengthens after the recent rupee depreciation," the report said. The forecast for China is that growth will remain broadly unchanged at about 7.5% in 2014-15, only a modest decline from 2012-13. This projection is predicated on the assumption that the authorities gradually rein in rapid credit growth and make progress in implementing their reform blueprint so as to put the economy on a more balanced and sustainable growth path, the report said. In India, the IMF report said, further tightening of the monetary stance might be needed for a durable reduction in inflation and inflation expectations. "Continued fiscal consolidation will be essential to lower macroeconomic imbalances," it said. Policymakers in India must also concentrate on structural reforms to support investment, which has slowed markedly, the IMF said. "Priorities include market-based pricing of natural resources to boost investment, addressing delays in the implementation of infrastructure projects, improving policy frameworks in the power and mining sectors, reforming the extensive network of subsidies, and securing passage of the new goods and services tax to underpin medium-term fiscal consolidation," the IMF said. According to the World Economic Outlook, in addition to tackling near-term vulnerabilities, Asia should also continue to push ahead with structural reforms to enhance medium-term prospects. Generally, reforms should focus on removing structural impediments to growth in India and across the ASEAN economies through higher public and private investment (particularly in infrastructure).
— PTI |
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Not getting right talent costing Indian economy
Rs 53,000 crore: Study
New Delhi, April 8 Done jointly by professional networking site LinkedIn and consultancy PwC, the study said: "If India was better at matching talent with the right opportunities, this could unlock as much as Rs 508 billion (Rs 50,800 crore) in increased productivity." This is resulting in lost opportunity to generate Rs 508 billion in additional productivity, it added. The study further said: "Longer time taken to find the right candidates combined with the increased likelihood of mismatched talent leaving jobs sooner are costing Indian companies Rs 22.3 billion (Rs 2,230 crore) in avoidable recruitment cost..." Together these costs are resulting in India "likely losing approximately Rs 530.31 billion from its economy", it noted. The study, which is based on analysis of 11 countries, has placed India at the bottom two with a score of 34, just above China (with a score of 23), in terms of talent adaptability. Netherland emerged at the top on this parameter followed by UK (2nd), Canada (3rd), Singapore (4th), US (5th), Australia (6th), France (7th), Germany (8th) and Brazil (9th). "Emerging markets such as India and China have lower scores because they have fewer mature sectors and their geographic size limits talent mobility," the study said. PwC India leader People and Change Consulting Padmaja Alaganandan said: "Factors such as low sector diversity, sub-optimal investment in personal skill building, policy hurdles and development rates have held down India's actual talent adaptability threshold. "The loss, quantified for the first time underlines the importance we should be placing on driving flexibility, skills training and ensuring a more thoughtful approach to hiring." As per LinkedIn India's director, Talent Solutions, Irfan Abdulla "raising the level of talent adaptability in a market will go a long towards enabling economic success for everyone, from job-seekers to recruiters and the economy". The analysis is based on interactions from LinkedIn's network of 277 million professionals, including 24 million in India.
— PTI |
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Trouble brewing again in Air India over pilots' pay cut
New Delhi, April 8 The pilots feel such a cut would be substantial as about 60% of their total pay package comprised various allowances, while airline officials say a 15% slash in allowances was being effected for all sections of employees of the cash-strapped national carrier, including the pilots. Airline officials downplayed the threat of a strike or an agitation by pilots over the issue, saying the final salary structure would be decided only after negotiations with the cockpit crew were over. A few rounds of talks have already taken place between the two sides in the recent past. The officials said there was no proposal to cut salaries which were being brought in tune with the Department of Public Enterprises
(DPE) guidelines for all employees, barring pilots, engineers and cabin crew. It was only the allowances where the reduction was being proposed, they said. Most of the discontented pilots operate narrow-body aircraft like Airbus-320s on domestic and nearby foreign routes and belong to the erstwhile Indian Airlines. The total pay packet for a commander in this category ranges between Rs 4-5 lakh a month, while a co-pilot gets between Rs 2-3 lakh. The largest reduction would be for executive commanders of wide-body aircraft, whose monthly pay packet could fall by close to Rs 1 lakh to around Rs 7.5 lakh. Senior wide-body pilots, who fly on international routes, get around Rs 6-7 lakh, while the co-pilots have a package of Rs 5-6 lakh. While the Indian Commercial Pilots Association
(ICPA) has not accepted the new structure and said it would hold further discussions amongst its cadre, the airline management has asked the pilots to respond in 21 days.
— PTI |
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Maruti likely to recall 1 lakh units of Dzire
New Delhi, April 8 The replacement of the faulty part in unsold inventories of dealers will not per se amount to recall but it could not be ascertained in which year those cars were manufactured. An industry source said around 1 lakh units of Dzire could be affected by the faulty part. The company sold 1,97,685 units of Dzire in 2013-14 fiscal. In the month of March, the company sold 17,237 units of the car in the domestic market. A Maruti Suzuki India spokesperson said: "No comments." In the past Maruti Suzuki India LTd (MSIL) had proactively informed its customers about recalling cars. When contacted, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) officials said they have not been intimated in this regard by the company so far.
— PTI |
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Nokia partners Airtel to market ‘Nokia X’
New Delhi, April 8 "This reinforces Nokia's commitment towards working with our partners within the ecosystem to deliver the best user experiences," Nokia India director marketing Viral Oza said. Post the exhaustion of 500 MB of data, users will be charged 3 paise per 10KB and 10 paise per 10 KB in 2G circles. The offer will be available only on the first SIM inserted in a new Nokia X device by existing or new Airtel customers. The offer is valid on new devices bought until June 30. "India is witnessing a tremendous growth in smartphone adoption. This offer will enable customers to make the most of their new Nokia X device," Bharti Airtel CEO (data and devices) Kartik Sheth said. Nokia has said it will bring the other two devices - X+ and XL - in the Indian market by May in a bid to gain some more market share in the smartphone market. |
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MTN, Airtel launch mobile money transfer service in Africa
New Delhi, April 8 The partnership will enable Mobile Money customers of MTN Ivory Coast and Airtel in Burkina Faso to easily transfer money between the neighbouring countries. Until now, moving money between the two countries was mired by high fee, high usage of informal channels and the lack of proximity to withdraw money. Pointing to this first cross-border mobile to mobile remittance service in West Africa, Airtel Money director Chidi Okpala said it was "the first time that two leading providers of mobile money services are cooperating to offer a service". MTN's mobile money service has nearly 15 million registered users spread over 14 countries, the statement said. |
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Indian banks strong enough to cope with tapering: Moody's
Mumbai, April 8 "The strengths of the banking systems in India and also in the Asean region are currently underpinned by their relatively strong capital buffers, modest levels of problem loans, high recurrent profitability and low reliance on foreign funding," Moody's vice-president and senior credit officer Eugene Tarzimanov said. The US Fed had on May 24 hinted at withdrawing its third round of quantitative easing, or bond buying programme, worth $85 billion each month, which began in the wake of the worst credit crisis in September 2008. However, the Fed started trimming its programme in January. The Moody's report, titled 'Asean and Indian Banks Resilient to US Tapering and Higher Interest Rates,' noted that compared with other emerging markets, Asean and Indian banks are more resilient to the potential adverse impacts associated with tapering.
— PTI |
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PNGRB seeks advisers to set RIL marketing margin
Coal India signs 160 fuel supply agreements Canada woos CIL to explore mining opportunities Swedish court orders Sony to pay $46,000 RBI eases hedging limit for investors Ford recalls nearly 435,000 vehicles Virgin Atlantic promises goodies, upgrades to voters JCT forays into home furnishing segment
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The world’s biggest retailer, Wal-Mart, today announced that it will expand its business of wholesale or cash and carry stores in India but there was no mention of an entry into the multi-brand retail segment.
The Wal-Mart announcement comes just a day after the BJP released its manifesto opposing FDI into multi-brand retail.
"India's growth is expected to recover from 4.4% in 2013 to 5.4% in 2014, supported by slightly stronger global growth, improving export competitiveness and implementation of recently approved investment projects," the latest edition of the World Economic Outlook released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said.
