Page 479 - Business Finance

India could be third largest market for Amway in a decade

India could become the third largest market for Amway in a decade, as the direct selling major embarks on a new omnichannel strategy later this year, a top company official said. China tops Amway's global market with USD 2.5 billion in annual revenues, while India ranks seventh below Korea, the US, Japan, Thailand and Taiwan. "India is already a key market, but holds a lot more potential to grow. We think it can become the third largest market for us in a decade," Amway global COO Michael J Cazer told PTI in an interview. This was Cazer's first visit to West Bengal, a key market for Amway India. The USD-8.6 billion company will roll-out its omnichannel platform in the second half of 2019, with growing emphasis on the digital platform to fuel the next leg of growth. "The forthcoming e-commerce platform (part of the omnichannel and digital strategy) will give an experience similar to etailers like Flipkart and Amazon," he said. Cazer, however, said despite the emerging ...

FPIs stay bullish on India for third consecutive month; invest Rs 17,219 cr in Apr

Foreign investors were net buyers in the Indian capital markets for the third straight month in April, pouring in Rs 17,219 crore on favourable macroeconomic conditions and ample liquidity. India has been one of the top recipients of foreign fund flows among emerging markets since February 2019 on the back of positive global sentiment, improving growth outlook, supportive macros and dovish stance taken by the RBI, experts said. Overseas investors had put in a net sum of Rs 45,981 crore in March and Rs 11,182 crore in February in the capital markets (both equity and debt). According to the latest depositories data, foreign portfolio investors (FPI) pumped in a net sum of Rs 21,032.04 crore into equities but pulled out a net amount of Rs 3,812.94 crore from the debt market during April 1-26, taking the total net investment to Rs 17,219.10 crore. "Expectation of a slowdown in the global economy led several central banks to adopt a dovish stance towards interest rates in order to provide .

Services delayed on Delhi Metro's Airport Express Line, ops resume

Services were briefly delayed on the Dwarka Sector 21-New Delhi section of the Airport Express Line on Sunday due to a technical snag, after which operations resumed.The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) announced that there was a delay in service from Delhi Aerocity to Dwarka Sector 21."Airport Line Update -- Delay in service from Aerocity to Dwarka Sector 21. Normal service on all other lines," the DMRC wrote on their Twitter handle.However, after a few minutes, the mass transit agency said that normal services were restored on the line."Airport Line Update -- Normal service has resumed," read another tweet by DMRC.On April 24, services on Airport Express Line was briefly affected due to the slow movement of trains from Dwarka Sector 21 to New Delhi.The 22.7 km Airport Express Line, also known as the Orange Line, connects New Delhi Railway Station with Dwarka Sector 21. It crosses T3 terminal of Indira Gandhi International Airport and Delhi Aerocity, where a feeder bus connects it

China's vast investment in Africa hits a snag in Congo

China's investment strategy of throwing money at developing countries appears to have hit a snag in the Republic of Congo as the central African nation is seeking an IMF bailout. While the funding it provided to Congo wasn't part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which China was promoting this week, it serves as a cautionary tale of the trouble Beijing could face with its plan for massive investments in maritime, road and rail projects across 65 countries from Asia to Europe and Africa. When the plunge of global oil prices in 2014 blew a hole in the Congolese government's finances, it was China that stepped in to help. But despite the recovery of oil prices, the country, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, has had trouble getting back on top of its finances and has asked the International Monetary Fund for help. The IMF places conditions on its loans to force governments to take measures to boost their finances. In addition, as the IMF can only lend if it judges that a country's ...

ISB launches Centre for Business Markets

The Indian School of Business (ISB) here has tied up with US-based Institute for Study of Business Markets (ISBM) under which Indian corporates will get access to state-of-the-art research in business-to-Business (B2B) Marketing, Sales and Purchasing. According to a release from ISB, it has launched a Centre for Business Markets (CBM) in collaboration ISBM. The objective of the CBM is to bring the best practices of B2B marketing, including those proven in developed markets, as well as those that are unique to the realities of emerging markets to address the various challenges being faced by business market firms in growth markets, it said Sunday. This will be done through a blend of theory and practice, to radically enhance the performance, competence and capabilities of the companies. "The CBMs faculty comprises academics and consultants in B2B marketing, as well as those at the intersection of both. They bring real-world experience and practical business expertise to ..

Coal India's supply to power sector up 7% at 488 mn tonne in FY19

Public sector mining giant Coal India Ltd supplied 488 million tonne (MT) of fuel to the power sector in the 2018-19 fiscal, registering an increase of 7.4 per cent over the previous year. The world's largest coal miner had dispatched 454.2 MT of coal to the power sector in 2017-18, as per the latest government data. Coal India Ltd (CIL) supplied 46.1 million tonne coal to the power sector in March as against 42.7 MT in the same month of the previous fiscal, the data showed. The supply of fuel by Singareni Collieries Co Ltd (SCCL) to the sector in 2018-19 went up to 55.4 MT, from 53.5 MT in the previous year. SCCL is a government coal mining company jointly owned by the Centre and Telangana. The March supply was almost flat at 5.4 MT, against 5.3 MT in the year-ago month. Union Coal Minister Piyush Goyal had said that no power plant was facing fuel shortages. The minister had also claimed that none of the thermal power plants have reported any loss of generation due to supply ...

Bajaj Consumer ropes in Bain & Company to push growth of hair oil brands

FMCG firm Bajaj Consumer Care has roped in global management consultancy Bain & Company to speed up the growth of its hair oil brands. Bajaj Consumer Care Ltd, which was earlier known as Bajaj Corp Ltd, said Bain will help it control costs and form strategies to push growth of its hair oil business. The company's hair oil brands include Bajaj Almond Drops, Bajaj Kailash Parbat and Bajaj Brahmi Amla. "Bain & Company will help our company plan to grow our hair oil brands faster. They will be using their well respected BBA or Bain Brand Accelerator model to guide us towards faster growth," Bajaj Consumer Care Managing Director Sumit Malhotra told analysts in a conference call. Malhotra said Bain & Company, which has come on board from April 1, has been mandated to look at the hair care business and it may or may not be engaged for the overall company strategy. "The first part that we have set out is only on hair oil, further we may and may not engage with the overall company .

'Relaxed norms for setting up firms, other steps to help improve India's ease of biz ranking'

The government's initiatives such as relaxed norms for company incorporation, and removing requirement of a bank account for GST registration will help India further improve its ease of doing business ranking of the World Bank this year, a senior official has said. "Several steps have been initiated by the government this year on all the ten parameters. It will significantly help improve India's ranking this year," the official said. In its annual 'Doing Business' report, the World Bank ranks nations based on 10 parameters relating to starting and doing business in a country. These parameters include ease of starting a business, construction permits, getting electricity, getting credit, paying taxes, trade across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. The next report is expected to be released in October 2019. India improved its ranking by 23 places to the 77th position in the 2018 report. Other steps, which the government has taken, include clubbing of several forms ..

MCA likely to debar Deloitte for 5 years (IANS Exclusive)

Even as Deloitte Haskins and Sells remains perched precariously on the high wire over its questionable role in the IL&FS audit process, it appears that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs may invoke section 140 (5) of the Companies Act to debar the firm for alleged malpractice in IL&FS accounts. This extreme action is being warranted after Deloitte's alleged misdemeanours and conduct in the IL&FS case.

Xiaomi's Manu Jain learning offline game from Samsung

Xiaomi and Samsung are the arch rivals in the India smartphone market but it doesn't mean they do not have anything to learn from each other. Ask Xiaomi's India Managing Director Manu Kumar Jain and you have the answer.

NatGeo hails Disney JV, to work with Hotstar (IANS Interview)

National Geographic is "thrilled" at its joint venture with Disney and the opportunity it presents to grow on a global scale. It will also closely work with Hotstar in India, according to a top company honcho.

Coal shipments at major ports rise 11 pc to 161 MT in FY19

Coal shipments handled by India's 12 major ports saw a 10.81 per cent rise to 161.34 million tonne (MT) in the previous financial year, according to ports' body IPA. These top ports under the control of the Centre had handled 145.59 MT of coal cargo in 2017-18. Shipments of thermal or steam coal and coking coal rose 9 per cent and 14.25 per cent, respectively, during 2018-19. The Indian Ports Association (IPA) said the major ports handled 103.84 MT of thermal or steam coal during the financial year, compared with 95.26 MT in the previous fiscal. IPA in its latest report said the major ports handled shipments of 57.50 MT of coking coal during 2018-19, against 50.33 MT in the previous fiscal. Thermal coal is the mainstay of the country's energy programme as 70 per cent of power generation is dependent on the dry fuel, while coking coal is used mainly for steel-making. India is the third-largest producer of coal after China and the US and has 299 billion tonne of resources and 123 ...

Trade tensions may impede global investment growth: IMF

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that trade tensions and sluggish productivity growth can slow the decline in relative prices of machinery and equipment, which may hold back investment growth worldwide.More broadly, the empirical analysis shows that for average emerging markets and developing economies, about one-third increase in real investment rate in machinery and equipment over the past three decades can be attributed to the cheapening of capital goods relative to consumption.Stronger macroeconomic policies and other factors contributed the rest. However, prices of machinery and equipment have been falling relative to overall prices for decades, largely due to rising trade and sweeping technological improvements that led to the more efficient production of capital goods.This has helped countries around the world raise real investment and improve living standard, said economists at IMF's Research Department Weicheng Lian, Natalija Novta and Petia Topalova."But this ..

IMF says rise in real investment coincided with large drops in price of machinery and equipment

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that trade tensions and sluggish productivity growth can slow the decline in relative prices of machinery and equipment, which may hold back investment growth worldwide.More broadly, the empirical analysis shows that for average emerging markets and developing economies, about one-third increase in real investment rate in machinery and equipment over the past three decades can be attributed to the cheapening of capital goods relative to consumption.Stronger macroeconomic policies and other factors contributed the rest. However, prices of machinery and equipment have been falling relative to overall prices for decades, largely due to rising trade and sweeping technological improvements that led to the more efficient production of capital goods.This has helped countries around the world raise real investment and improve living standard, said economists at IMF's Research Department Weicheng Lian, Natalija Novta and Petia Topalova."But this ..

Government stake to fall below 51 pc in bluechip PSUs to boost disnvestment

Government proposes to offload substantial portion of its stake in select blue chip companies this year to meet higher disinvestment target even though the exercise will bring down its holding below 51 per cent level, the minimum holding required for an entity to qualify as a central public sector enterprise (CPSE).

Reliance Home Finance, Reliance Commercial Finance seek investors

Reliance Home Finance Ltd (RHFL) and Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd (RCFL) on Saturday said they have commenced discussions with several parties for equity infusion accompanied by acquisition of complete management control.

Global gaming peripherals market to grow 10 per cent by 2024: Research

As gaming becomes even more popular with the coming of immersive technology and e-sports, the peripherals market is expected to see positive growth in the next five years.According to the latest report by Research and Markets, titled 'Gaming Peripherals Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2019-2024,' the peripherals market will grow at a CAGR of 10 per cent during 2019-2024.Factors such as augmented reality, virtual reality, high-definition displays, and so on are expected to contribute to the growth of peripherals, and also leading to the development of specialised gaming keyboards and gamepads that are customisable.

ICRA Ratings revision of short-term debt arbitrary: Reliance Capital

The Anil Ambani-led Reliance Capital Ltd on Saturday said its long-term ratings by CARE Ratings stands at 'A', and termed ICRA Ratings revision of short-term debt programme as unjustified, unwarranted and arbitrary.

BJP's Poonam Mahajan is wilful defaulter: Congress

In a shocking pre-poll development, the Maharashtra Congress on Saturday alleged that Poonam Mahajan, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Mumbai North-Central was "a wilful bank defaulter" and had reportedly concealed this fact in her affidavit submitted to the Election Commission of India.

After salary delays, Jet staff face uncertainty over Mediclaim

Staff of now grounded Jet Airways are a worried lot -- after months of salary delays they are facing uncertainty over extension of their group Mediclaim provided by the company.