Reliance’s fuel retail operations to bleed
Despite decontrol of petrol cialis 2.5 prices, Reliance Industries’ retail fuel business continues to make losses and is likely to do so until diesel prices are also deregulated, a top official of the company said…… Read More.
“Our (fuel) retail operations will not breakeven till diesel is deregulated,” he said. The company’s seven year-old fuel retail operations continue to make losses even on petrol sold at its domestic retail outlets, despite price decontrol, the official said. “Petrol prices are still not market-driven,” the official said. In the last week of June, government announced decontrol of petrol prices following which Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum raised prices by Rs 3.50 per litre and are currently selling petrol at Rs 55.88 in Mumbai. Reliance Industries continues to make losses of Re 0.50-1 per litre on petrol and up to Rs 3 per litre on diesel, depending upon location of the retail outlets from the refinery, he said. Sales volume of fuel products sold by Reliance Industries through its retail outlets could not be verified.
Oil marketing companies (OMCs) are cross-subsidising petrol prices with other petroleum products. Prior to decontrol of petrol prices, OMCs were selling the fuel at lower prices and were compensated by the government. This compelled private sector refiners to shut their retail outlets. According to the official, overall volume sold at retail outlets is insignificant considering overall sales volume of the company. In April-June, the company said its export volumes of fuel products were 9.5 million tonne and accounted for revenue of $6.3 billion while domestic sales volume including captive consumption accounted for 42%.Of the 1,400 retail fuel outlets set up, only over 660 outlets are currently cialis sale in operation. However, going forward, as refinery capacity is seen in excess of demand, the company considers it prudent to develop its presence in the domestic market. By 2020, India is likely to have 40-50 million tonne of surplus refining capacity.
Source: Financial Express
India testing ways to access BlackBerry emails
India’s security agencies are testing ways to access corporate email on BlackBerry devices by obtaining encrypted data in a readable format. “There have been a number of suggestions offered and this is one of them. A technical team will check those suggestions over the next few days,” said a senior government source……. Read More.
Research In Motion (RIM) faces an 31 August deadline to give Indian authorities the means to track and read BlackBerry enterprise email and its separate BlackBerry messenger service. The government, concerned about the potential for militants to use the secure BlackBerry network to carry out attacks, has vowed to shut the services if RIM fails to comply, cutting it out of one of the world’s fastest-growing telecom market. A RIM technical team in New Delhi has cialis canadian pharmacy been working with the Department of Telecom (DoT) and security agencies to find a way out.
RIM uses powerful codes to scramble, or encrypt, email messages as they travel between a BlackBerry device and a computer known as a BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) that is designed to secure those emails. Indian telecom officials said they had been told by RIM the only way an email could be intercepted is when it temporarily stores itself in an Enterprise server in a decrypted form while travelling between two BlackBerry devices. Indian agencies are now checking if they have the technology to monitor emails when they get briefly stored in an Enterprise server. India is one of the number of countries putting pressure on RIM, which has built the reputation of the BlackBerry, popular with business professionals generic cialis forum and politicians, around confidentiality. A shutdown would affect about 1 million users in India out of a total 41 million BlackBerry users worldwide, allowing them to use the devices only for calls and Internet browsing.
Source: Live Mint
Jewellery Sector:India Shining
August glittered for India’s gems and jewellery sector, with demand from domestic as well as foreign markets rising sharply ahead of the festival season. Indications of revival in the global economy ensured robust jewellery demand in the US market. Experts believe the trend will continue for the rest of the financial year, on stable gold prices and positive global economic indicators.
“Demand from the Americas have rebounded, with the 40 per cent growth we have witnessed in jewellery sales there,” said Mehul Choksi, chairman of Gitanjali Gems, which runs a chain of 130 retail shops in the world’s largest jewellery consuming market, contributing 13 per cent of the company’s turnover. Since the US alone constitutes nearly 40 per cent of global retail jewellery sales, the rebound in the country’s overall sales is good news for us, Choksi added. The strength of the jewellery industry, one of the country’s leading foreign exchange earners, was seen over the last year, when cialis to buy it continued with plans of penetrating newer markets. According to Gems & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), India’s cut and polished diamond exports reported 74 per cent rise in rupee terms to Rs 27,149.7 crore during the first quarter of the current financial year. In dollar terms, generic cialis 10mg the growth was even higher, at 85.4 per cent, to $5,946.6 million.
India’s diamond share in the world market also witnessed an increase in this period in value terms, increasing from 60 per cent to 70 per cent Every 9 out of 11 diamonds worldwide are processed in India. “Jewellery sales started recovering since April and continued until now. But demand, especially from the US, Europe and Asian countries grew faster than expected on stabilisation of gold prices and beginning of buying seasons,” said Vishal Doshi, Group Executive Director of Shrenuj & Company Ltd.In India, post-monsoon seasonal demand begins with the onset of the festival season, which is starting with Raksha Bandhan on August 24, followed by the Ganapati festival on September 11 and continues until May next year.
Source: Business Standards
At least 49 pc FDI: Bharti Walmart
The government has taken a tentative step to open the multi-brand retail sector, which employs 34 million people, to global players cialis soft tablets with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) releasing a discussion paper on the issue. Bharti Walmart has its fingers crossed over the issue…. Read More.
In its comment on the industry department’s discussion paper on foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail, Bharti Walmart, the joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and Walmart, said though 100 per cent FDI should be allowed in the sector, it would endorse a measured opening of the sector. “Bharti Walmart recognises…the political sensitivity around the retail sector. Recognising the government’s stand to adopt a calibrated approach, we would endorse a position where as a first step, multi-brand retail is opened up at 49 per cent,” the company said. “Should the government pursue this option, there should be a clear path towards 100 per cent FDI in near future,” it said, adding foreign investment without any restrictions would create the conditions for the greatest flow of investment to the back-end with related benefit for farmers, small businesses and consumers.
On the DIPP’s query of who should be allowed to bring in FDI in the sector, Bharti-Walmart said it was “fairly easy” to identify genuine global players. The firm also suggested that global players entering the sector should source more than 50 per cent of their goods locally to develop India’s industry. Bharti Walmart currently runs wholesale cash and carry stores in India under the ‘Best Price Modern Wholesale’ brand. As per estimates, India loses fruits and vegetables worth thousands of crores of rupees annually due to lack of proper cold chains and back-end buy cialis 10mg infrastructure. This problem is expected to be fixed by allowing foreign investment and technology in the retail sector.
Source: Economic Times
Mall Management in India
The Mall management module as a concept and as a practice is yet to emerge in India though Malls have become common in Urban India. And while sales in the traditional markets in the city is on the rise, its not so bright in the organized retail… Read More.
“Trained cialis buy on line manpower is the biggest challenge. While in some areas like engineering services, there is relatively better trained manpower, specialized skills like visual merchandising, fit-outs and even leasing getting the competent candidates is certainly a challenge…These skills can make or break a shopping mall,” laments Arindam Kunar, vice president of DLF Place, an upmarket mall in South Delhi. Retail experts say mall management is the route to maximizing profitability and reducing expenditure.
Naturally, the prevalent curriculum for formal training designed for mall management is also evolving. Prof Tapan K Panda of IIM Kozhikode says “These courses start right from the supply generic cialis buy online chain management to how to bring customer, also the internal and external environment of a mall and specific aspects of retail chain and mall management.” Col Ashutosh Beri, managing director, property and assets management, at Jones Lang LaSalle, a global property consultant sums it all up when he says, “Beyond a doubt, skilled manpower will spur retail business growth at large. Indian retail must gear up in order to be ready for the next level. One cannot go global without adopting global best practices, and mall management is definitely a part of it.”
Source: Economic Times
FDI in multi-brand retail
Government of India floated a discussion paper on the entry of FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in the country. The discussion intends to gather opinions of the stakeholders regarding the feasibility of the proposal before any step in the direction is buy cialis online usa taken…..Read More.
FDI in multi-brand retailing is prohibited in India. Government floated the idea of FDI in multi-brand retail to streamline the supply chain system which lacks transparency and efficiency. The opposition to FDI is the claim that millions of small retailers will be cornered by the foreign selling brands. However there has been a lack of investment in the logistics of the retail chain, leading to an inefficient market mechanism.
The commerce ministry is keen to permit FDI in retail of food grain as well as other essential commodities to create a parallel network to the public. The government will have cialis sales online to keep a close watch on the impact on employment especially in the small retail sector. If FDI contributes towards the infrastructure development through polished foreign technology the decision may prove to be a boon to the trade of India.
Source: FNB news
Indian Oil registers Rs.3,388 crore loss
State-run oil marketing firm, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) Saturday reported a loss of Rs.3,388.39 crore for the quarter ended June 30 on account of selling fuel below cost.
The company had logged a profit of Rs.3,682.83 crore in the like period 2009-10.
‘Consequent to non-revision of retail selling prices in line with international prices, the company has suffered net under-realization (loss) of Rs.7,342.59 crore on sales acomplia medicine of MS (petrol), HSD (diesel), kerosene and LPG (domestic cooking gas)
The loss is also being attributed to the non-issuance of bonds to the oil firm by the government for revenue loss on selling fuel below its original cost. The petrochemical major’s net sales for the first quarter increased by 23 percent to Rs.71,275.07 crore in the quarter under review buying generic cialis as against Rs.57,945.27 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.
During the April-June quarter, the company sold 17.254 million tonnes of petroleum products domestically as compared to 16.703 million tonnes in the like period of 2009-10.
Exports of the petroleum products, however, marginally declined to 1.058 million tonnes in the first quarter as against 1.077 million tonnes in the year-ago period. The oil giant processed 13.278 million tonnes of crude oil in the first quarter as compared to 12.466 million tonnes in the corresponding period last year.
Source:[Economic Times]
Retail players aim big at the new airports
With a host of swanky new airports coming up across large Indian cities, conventional malls and high streets have competition at their doorstep. In reference, the new domestic-cum-international IGI terminal (T3), which would be thrown open by the month-end, and have a retail area larger than most malls.
Flyers, now, will not only get to shop for globally renowned brands like Versace, WH Smith, Hugo Boss and Swarovski, but shop 24×7 in an environment more suitable to the showcasing of such premium brands, some of which have over the years preferred to operate out of the refined environs of five star hotels. For Delhi’s new T3 terminal, with an annual passenger handling capacity of 3.5 crore at T3, the expected footfalls are, no doubt, going to be huge.
The terminal boasts of India’s biggest airport retail area spread over 30,000 sq mt, with 247 outlets under the shopping area. It will house a range of top brands in categories like liquor, tobacco, personal care and cosmetics, food and beverages, apparel and acomplia price accessories.
At Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) at Shamshabad, Hyderabad, the objective is to plan a bigger retail thrust. GMR, the airport operator, is working on plans to redo the entire retailing concept at RGIA, which currently has an area of around 5,000 sq mt under retail at the domestic and international terminals put together.
Today, every premium brand in India is keen on participating in airport retailing primarily because airports across India have transformed. Marks & Spencer is opening its first store in an airport terminal anywhere in the world at Delhi’s T3.
With modernisation and an ever-rising volume of passenger traffic (read footfalls), airports are becoming attractive destinations for many premium retail brands. So what does this mean to modern retailers who are busy chalking out expansion strategies in travel retail for Airports are being recognised as hot spots for retail. An increase in travel and urbanisation has led cialis usa to more focus and the concept gives opportunities to brands to reach out to a wider audience pan-India.
With the emergence of airports as retailing destinations, companies are catering to not only the domestic traveller, but also the international passenger. Indian brands/retailers would go global without having to set up shop around the world.
Source:[Times of India]