The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Govt to examine complaints on Flipkart’s mega sale: Sitharaman
Traders’ body CAIT seeks probe into business model of e-commerce retailers
Sanjeev Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 8
Following traders’ protests on Flipkart’s massive discount sale, the government today said it will look into the concerns and take a call on whether more clarity is required on e-commerce retail business.

Flipkart’s Big Billion Day sale on Monday, which offered steep discounts on various products, has raised concerns among small and big traders that such schemes would hurt players in the brick and mortar business.

“We have received many inputs. A lot of concerns have been expressed. We will look into it,” Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said today.

When asked whether the government is considering any policy for e-commerce retailing, she said the matter would be looked into.

Though initially Flipkart’s sale was hailed as a success, following glitches, Flipkart founders, Sachin and Binny Bansal, had to issue an apology to consumers for a less than pleasant experience due to price changes, out of stock products, cancellations and website problems.

“We did not live up to the promises we made and for that we are really and truly sorry. And though we saw unprecedented interest in our products and traffic like never before, we realised that we were not adequately prepared for the sheer scale of the event. We didn’t source enough products and deals in advance to cater to your requirements. To add to this, the load on our server led to intermittent outages, further impacting your shopping experience on our site”, Flipkart said in an email to customers.

“An unprecedented 1.5 million people shopped at Flipkart yesterday. While we stand humbled by the sheer faith that such a large number of customers have shown in us, we are unhappy that we were unable to live up to the expectations of millions more who wanted to buy from us yesterday. And this is not acceptable to us,” the company said.

Earlier this week, traders body CAIT had demanded the Commerce and Industry Ministry to take steps to monitor and regulate online businesses. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has also sought a probe into the business model and trade practices of e-commerce companies to find out how they are offering huge discounts during the ongoing festive season.

Online shopping may increase by 350% during Diwali. As a result, shopping malls have started feeling jittery as the footfalls in malls is likely to go down by 50-55%, reveals a survey by Assocham.

As per the survey, there is more than a five-fold increase in revenue generated through e-commerce as compared to last year with all branded apparel, accessories, jewellery, gifts, footwear available at cheaper rates and delivered at the doorstep within two to three days.

Online shopping a boon or bane?

* Flipkart’s Big Billion Day sale on Monday has raised concerns among traders that such schemes would hurt players in the brick and mortar business

* An unprecedented 1.5 million people shopped at Flipkart on Monday

* Though initially Flipkart’s sale was hailed as a success, following glitches, the company’s founders had to issue an apology for price changes, out of stock products, cancellations and website problems

* Earlier this week, traders’ body CAIT had demanded the Commerce and Industry Ministry to take steps to monitor and regulate online businesses

* As per Assocham survey, online shopping may increase by 350% during Diwali and the footfall in malls is likely to go down by 50-55%.

India, Germany to work on skill development
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 8
German Ambassador to India Michael Steiner today called for changes in the law on apprentices and giving incentives such as tax reduction to private companies coming forward to make skilled programmes a success.

As India and Germany decided to move forward in their cooperation in the field of vocational education and training and skilled development, Steiner said although vocational training was a success in Germany, the model would not work in India due to its size and other complexities.

He said parts of the German programme could be picked up and tailor-made to suit India’s needs. He said this after inaugurating an Indo-German conference on “Skilled Germany-Skilled India-The Dual System: State and Business”, being held as part of the meeting of the joint working group, which was formed during the visit of former PM Manmohan Singh in 2007.

Rs 2.50 per litre cut in diesel prices likely after state elections

New Delhi, October 8
A Rs 2.50 per litre cut in diesel prices and a little less than Re 1 a litre on petrol is in offing as international oil rates fell to a 27-month low.

Prices may be cut after Maharashtra and Haryana assembly elections are completed on October 15, sources privy to the development said.

Benchmark Brent crude today slid by as much as $1.35 to $90.76 a barrel, its lowest level since June 2012. Prices have declined 18% this year.

The drop in rates will result in profit on sale of diesel expand from Rs 1.90 a litre calculated based on average rate prevailing in the second half of September.

Despite wiping out of under-recoveries or the difference between retail selling price and its imported cost, on sale of diesel on September 16 and the subsequent resultant over- recovery to Rs 1.90, the government has not cut rates due to election code.

Petrol on the other hand, had been deregulated in June 2010 and rates have since then moved every fortnight in tandem with the cost. Petrol rates were last cut by 54 paise on October 1 in line with international trend.

Sources said a petrol price revision will take place on its due date of October 15 as per the practice of fixing rates on 1st and 16th of every month based on average international prices in the previous fortnight.

It is unclear if diesel price review would also happen on the same day. Though desired diesel prices are also calculated as per the fortnightly formula, the commodity continues to be under government control. — PTI

Market regulator notifies one-time registration system for brokers

Mumbai, October 8
Simplifying procedural requirements in the capital markets, market regulator SEBI today notified new norms that will require stock brokers and clearing entities to have one-time single registration process for operating across different bourses.

The new regulations would replace the current practice of requiring separate registration certificate to trade in each stock exchange.

The new system would ensure cost efficiency, avoidance of multiple due diligence process and prevent duplication of registration process.

The stock brokers and clearing members would be required to have only single certificate of registration issued by SEBI. The new regulation will come into force from today, SEBI said.

The exchanges will develop a mechanism to ensure appropriate due diligence while granting subsequent approvals, coordination and sharing of information among themselves about their members.

The process would also decrease the number of registration applications received by SEBI and in turn help the regulator save costs and utilise resources for better supervision and monitoring of market intermediaries.

These norms were approved by SEBI’s Board in August.

Last year, SEBI had introduced a common registration certificate for stock brokers to function in different market segments within a stock exchange.

Under this system, an entity is issued a certificate with a unique registration number for each stock exchange or clearing corporation, as the case may be, irrespective of the number of market segments. If the entity is already registered with any segment of a stock exchange, then for operating in any other segment it need not apply to SEBI but can directly seek approval from the bourse concerned. — PTI

New guidelines

* New norms will require stock brokers and clearing entities to have one-time single registration process for operating across different bourses

* It would replace the current practice of requiring separate registration certificate to trade in each stock exchange

* It would ensure cost efficiency, avoidance of multiple due diligence process and prevent duplication of registration process

Infosys proud to have passed baton to ‘outsider’
Shubhadeep Choudhury
Tribune News Service

Bangalore, October 8
Former Infosys chairman NR Narayana Murthy today said he was "proud" to have passed the responsibility of leading the company to an outsider (Vishal Sikka) without any hitch.

"We are all very proud of what has happened," Murthy told reporters here today at the farewell function of Kris Gopalakrishnan, non-executive vice-chairman and former CEO of the company.

Murthy and Gopalakrishnan, co-founders of Infosys, had stepped down as executive chairman and executive vice-chairman, respectively, on June 14 after announcing Sikka as the CEO and MD of Infosys. To facilitate a smooth transition of responsibilities, they decided to continue on the board till October 10 as non-executive chairman and non-executive vice-chairman, respectively.

Following the formal exit of the duo on Friday, Infosys will start a new chapter.

Murthy will be designated as chairman emeritus with effect from October 11 in recognition of his contributions to the company.

The company perhaps felt that Gopalakrishnan's contribution, too, needed special recognition so it dedicated today's event exclusively to soft-spoken "Kris".

Six of the seven co-founders were present at today's event with Chicago-based Ashok Arora missing out on the occasion. "We miss Ashok," Murthy said.

On passing the baton to an "outsider", Gopalakrishnan said it was known right from the time of the company's inception that it would be led by an outsider one day. "We had decided that it should not be a family-run company," he said.

Nandan Nilekani, another co-founder said, Infosys was set up by them to set a "standard for middle class to turn into entrepreneurs, to share wealth with employees, to set up a global brand and global standard of corporate governance". "It is not easy to give up positions," he said.

Now, one-time registration system for brokers

The new regulations would replace the practice of requiring separate registration certificate to trade in each stock exchange. The new system would ensure cost efficiency, avoidance of multiple due diligence process and prevent duplication of registration process. The new regulation will come into force from today, SEBI said. — PTI n