Shakti Bhog, the Rs 1,600-crore company and a leading wheat flour brand, could not keep its hands off the domestic ready-to-eat market which is growing at 20 per cent, according to Ernst &amp; Young. It is actually not a total stranger to this category as it has exported similar products under its own brand name to over 40 countries in the last six months, while its atta, rice and besan have found their way onto shelves abroad in the last four years.

Shakti Bhog: Quick and healthy

Business Standard

Mobile retail is not an easy business. Customers drive hard bargains and consequently the profit margins are thin as a wafer. In this scenario, Planet M, bought two years ago by Videocon from the Times Group, wants to create a USP: It is ready to negotiate on the add-ons, though not on the phone. Its latest TVC depicts how customers ask shopkeepers &lsquo;kitna&rsquo; (how much does it cost?) just before they begin to bargain.

Planet M: Bargain add-ons

It's eyeing significant growth focusing on fewer product categories - without targeting the mass market.

Why Sony's like no other

Skoda hasn&rsquo;t indicated its intention of bringing in a Laura 1.8 TSI with a DSG gearbox just yet, since the overlap with the Superb in terms of product positioning would be too strong for the company to ignore. It would mean a loss in sales of the Superb, which it wouldn&rsquo;t want at this point in time.

Geared up

Trying out exotic new cuisines &mdash; often laden with so-called &ldquo;luxury&rdquo; ingredients &mdash; can turn into a rivetting game of upmanship for the snobs among foodies; rivetting for them, boring for the rest of humanity. And you don&rsquo;t need me to tell you how such snobbery is only increasing by the day.

Food from Himachal

Guzzlers of Black Label don't really know their aperitifs. Anoothi Vishal suggests some fun - and lighter - spirits to make your evenings livelier and much more stylish.

Drinks before dinner

Sharon Prabhakar says that she loves living life on a &ldquo;12-lane road&rdquo;. &ldquo;I love straddling different careers, be it singing, acting, theatre or other stuff. I simply can&rsquo;t imagine leading a monotonous life,&rdquo; she chirps.

On the move, in style

The 42nd Biel International saw Maxime Vachier-Lagrave notch the biggest victory of his career. The 19-year-old French GM stayed undefeated in scoring 6 points from 10 games. He was followed by Morozevich and Ivanchuk, both on 5.5. Moro was his usual unstable self with four wins and three losses including a brilliancy turned sour against Vachier-Lagrave in a key encounter.

CHESS #599

Lodhi Gardens in Delhi is a lovely place, full of trees and birds and squirrels. It is one of Delhi&rsquo;s many &ldquo;green lungs&rdquo;, and in my view one of the prettiest, which is why I stepped off the walking track the other day, trying to get a better look at the pink water lilies growing beside the fountain.

Fractured verdict

She threw extravagant parties but could be miserly with the servants, loved polo and also champagne, was autocratic and mercurial. Kishore Singh, who worked closely with Gayatri Devi, remembers the beguiling maharani.

A Princess remembered

What does a Taylor guitar worth $3,500 have in common with a pornographic comic-strip Indian bhabhi? The curves, sure, but they both also have songs protesting their mistreatment. In the process, they&rsquo;ve got the Net buzzing.

Don't get mad, get musical

Iran in its &quot;axis of evil&quot; days, the memoirs of a woman MP from Afghanistan, an American observer in Pakistan, and a cricket coach who takes potshots: books of the times.

Great games, Travel, Travails

Three things that happened recently are a reminder of how much we still are a land-bound civilisation. The Indian navy floated its first nuclear sub. Lionel Casson, a well-known historian who wrote books on ancient mariners, shipping and sea warfare, died in New York. And I read a not very good adventure novel called The Tiger Warrior, by a Canadian marine archaeologist named David Gibbins.

Being sea-sure

I guess Suzuki has had enough of its reputation of building dinky, value-for-money cars. Keeping costs low can be quite a task, especially if you have to do it day in, day out. The Japanese carmaker is a past master of frugal engineering, and perhaps they are the best in the world when it comes to battling costs without compromising on key product issues. Which is why a car like the Nano should have ideally worn the &lsquo;S&rsquo; badge.

A bit Grander

There they were, their bodies all brown with wet mud, twisting and pitching, making a new path where none existed before. Yet these machines made it unscathed, and were ready for the next challenge to be thrown before them.

Mud Bath

Affordable hi-tech accessories can enhance safety, convenience and ease of driving.

Riding on the tech wave

Every motorcyclist who&rsquo;s ridden in a pack knows the pains it takes to communicate with other riders in the gang. For instance, articulate hand signals of a biker during drives with his fellow riders may often lead to confusion.

Talk the ride, safely

Creative is no newcomer in the consumer electronics market &mdash; they have been making audio and video products for ages &mdash; but it still doesn&rsquo;t take an expert eye to conclude that Creative&rsquo;s Vado, a pocket-size camcorder, is strikingly similar to the popular Flip camcorder from Pure Digital.

Pocket your camcorder

For 29-year-old VV Raju, now the chief executive officer of Hyderabad-based free messaging portal www.way2sms.

SMSing his way to glory

Google Inc's Android OS comes calling for smart-phone attack

Regional players have hit Hindustan Unilever (HUL) where it hurts the most.

From India to Bharat

- Find Specials News, Features, Analysis and more at Business Standard. Full coverage of Goafest 2014

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