< Back Phone, car, and FMCG sales rise ahead of the festive season Ishita Nigam 2 Oct 2023 FMCG sales grew by up to 12%, car sales by 5%, and smartphone sales by 2% in July and August. Continuing the annual trend, FMCG, phone, and car sales rose in the quarter ending September 2023. FMCG sales, which experienced a major decline since the second half of 2021 due to pandemic related demand and high inflation, rose by up to 12% by value and by 15% by volume in the last quarter. Rural India has been a steady contributor to this growth. Eatables and washing products, like detergents, sold well, while personal care products weren’t far behind. Mid to premium range electronics drove sales growth in India. High valued items like TVs and washing machines saw a jump in sales, while entry level products didn’t budge. Vijay Sales and Reliance Retail reported sales growth in double digits. Consumer demand for SUVs, combined with enhanced availability of semiconductors, pushed the growth figures past 5% for the auto industry. Among them, Maruti Suzuki alone witnessed an uptick of 24% around Onam. Previous Next

< Back Madhya Pradesh launches intrastate air taxi service 14 Jun 2024 The service, called PM Shri Paryatan Vayu Seva, is available at 50% off for 30 days from June 13th. On June 13, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav launched the first PM Shri Paryatan Vayu Seva from Bhopal to Jabalpur. The one-way trip will take 55 minutes compared to four hours by road. The service will connect eight cities in Madhya Pradesh- Bhopal, Jabalpur, Indore, Gwalior, Singrauli, Ujjain, Khajuraho, Panchmarhi, and Rewa. The state government partnered with a private firm, Jet Serv Aviation Private Limited (Flyola), to launch this service. Passengers can book the service digitally or via the booking counter at Indore, Bhopal, and Jabalpur airports. Twin-engine planes will have a capacity of six passengers. Depending on the response, the capacity will be increased to 11-seater and 20-seater aircraft. Ticket prices are kept at ₹9,000 from Bhopal to Jabalpur and ₹15,000 from Bhopal to Khajuraho. Passengers can book the entire private charter or on a seat-sharing basis. The CM will inaugurate this service in Ujjain on June 16th. Previous Next

< Back New aviation bill to reduce aircraft leasing cost and maybe airfares 20 Mar 2025 The Cape Town Convention-Centric Bill 2025 aims to reduce aircraft leasing costs by 10%, which may ultimately reduce airfares. The Aviation Ministry presented the Cape Town Convention-Centric Bill, legally known as the Protection of Interests in Aircraft Objects Bill, 2025, in Parliament on February 10th. The bill facilitates quicker aircraft repossession in case of defaults, reduces leasing, financing and operational costs for airlines, and promotes domestic leasing and financing options through GIFT City, Gujarat. It will implement the Cape Town Convention and Protocol provisions and boost the Indian aircraft financing industry. The bill allows aircraft owners to reclaim their planes within two months of airline default or bankruptcy. It empowers the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) to supervise the implementation. Axis Bank became the first Indian bank to offer aircraft financing through GIFT City. It cleared a long-term USD loan for Air India’s leasing subsidiary, AI Fleet Services, to purchase 34 training aircraft. Air India is discussing a multi-billion-dollar order of 30-50 widebody aircraft with Boeing and Airbus. Never miss another post from SalestorrsNews150. Follow Salestorrs on WhatsApp , LinkedIn , Facebook , X , and Instagram . Previous Next

< Back Fintechs offering credit card distribution to grow revenues 21 Nov 2023 Cred has already tied up with Axis Bank, and PhonePe is about to partner to provide Axis Bank’s credit cards on its platform. Several fintechs like Cred are partnering with banks to diversify their portfolio, boost user engagement, and expand into other revenue generation modes. Cred is already offering Axis Bank credit cards on its platforms. Walmart-backed PhonePe is in the process of tying up with Axis Bank to take the plunge. Such associations allow banks to access potential customers without spending much on lead generation and marketing. This trend could also pave the way for future co-branded card partnerships and enhanced options for credit card customers. A fintech platform can earn a commission fee between ₹500 and ₹2,500 for every customer sourced. Banks intend to leverage platforms’ user engagement levels to generate quality leads. However, the new dynamics are expected to transform the commission-based models to trail incomes, which translate as additional income earned by fintech platforms according to the credit card usage and interest paid. Previous Next

< Back Int’l car sunroof makers planning investments in India 7 Oct 2024 Now, around 27.5% of the cars sold in India have a sunroof, higher than 12.7% five years ago. One in four cars sold in India offers a sunroof, which has drawn the attention of global sunroof makers to India. Germany-based Webasto plans to invest €115 million to double its production capacity in India from 500,000 units annually to 950,000 units by 2027. Inalfa Gabriel Sunroof Systems (IGSS), the partnership between the Dutch company, Inalfa Roof Systems and Gabriel India, will double its capacity by next year. Their Chennai plant, which opened in 2024, can presently roll out 200,000 sunroof units yearly. It began operations by supplying sunroofs to Kia and Hyundai and expects to record a ₹1,000 crore revenue by 2030. In August, Uno Minda signed a license agreement with Japanese Aisin Corp to make and sell sunroofs. The market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17.6% till 2029, Sunroofs are a status symbol despite their limited utility in the extreme weather conditions in Indian metros. Previous Next

< Back Reliance Retail begins superfast deliveries within an hour 26 Jun 2024 The company has started a pilot program to offer quick deliveries of groceries and FMCG products in some parts of Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. Reliance Retail launched a pilot program via its Jiomart mobile app, offering hyperlocal delivery in some parts of Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. With the addition of more stores and expansion into other markets, it will reduce the delivery time to 30-45 minutes. However, Reliance Retail will fulfil the quick delivery demand from its stores and warehouses. In areas without its own stores, Reliance will utilise the Kirana stores associated with the Jiomart Partner Initiative. These Kirana stores are connected to Reliance Retail’s backend and source products from its wholesale arms. Reliance is using tech solutions like FYND and Locus to optimise fulfilment and delivery routes. Currently, Reliance Retail delivers goods in between twelve hours and up to three days. Earlier, JioMart catered to online orders via WhatsApp in partnership with Meta Inc, launched in 2020. It started offering quick delivery via JioMart Express in 2021 and shut it down in early 2023. Previous Next

< Back Accor to open 30 hotels in India within 5 years 3 Apr 2024 Luxury hotel brands like Fairmont, Sofitel, and Raffles planned. Accor may consider launching luxury brands like Orient Express, too. European hospitality chain, Accor plans to launch 30 more luxury hotels in India within three to five years, and one hotel every week in Asia this year. In India, it currently operates 62 hotels under 9 brand names from its portfolio of 40 brands worldwide. It will open Raffles in Jaipur this year. The other cities on its radar are New Delhi, Mohali, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Bhubaneswar among others. Novotel, Ibis, and Pullman make up 70% of its entire business. It develops Ibis hotels in India in partnership with InterGlobe Aviation, the owner of IndiGo Airlines. IndiGo's aircraft order last year fueled its plans for expansion in India. Accor launched its luxury and lifestyle division a year and a half ago, offering 24 brands like Delano, Mama Shelter, Mondrian, 25hours, and MGallery. It already offers hotels, trains, and yatchs under Orient Express and is considering launching it in India. Previous Next

S’abattant sur les côtes au début du festival de la mi-automne, Bebinca est la deuxième tempête à perturber la chine en plusieurs semaines. < Back Le typhon le plus forte depuis sept décennies s’abat sur Shanghai S’abattant sur les côtes au début du festival de la mi-automne, Bebinca est la deuxième tempête à perturber la chine en plusieurs semaines. Quelques semaines après le passage du super typhon Yagi sur l’ile de Hainan, un autre orage s’est attaque la capitale financière du chine, Shanghai. Plus tard, la tempête a procédé vers le nord du Viêt Nam et la Thaïlande. De violents coups de vent d’une vitesse de 120 kilomètres par heure se sont abattus sur Shanghai lundi matin. C’était un ouragan de catégorie 1 sur l’échelle de Saffir Simpson a cinq niveaux, la plus forte tempête depuis 1949, selon le Centre conjoint d’alerte aux typhons. Shanghai compte 25 millions d’habitants. Il a déclenché dimanche une intervention d’urgence hautement prioritaire et a entrainé l’arrêt des ports, des trains, de 1400 vols, et des routes, ce qui a eu un impact sur la logistique mondiale et l’a retardée. La production et le transport de marchandises ont été affectés, ce qui a eu un impact sur les prix mondiaux des produits de base. Previous Next

< Back Reliance to form a JV to absorb Disney’s India operations 14 Dec 2023 RIL will take a 51% stake in the upcoming unit under Viacom18 and merge Star India’s media operations. Reliance Industries will likely pick up a 51% stake in a new unit coming up under Viacom18 in possibly an all cash deal; Disney will hold a 49% stake in the new entity. The new unit will absorb Disney’s Star India media operations through a share swap deal. Disney’s India assets include the Disney+Hotstar OTT platform and Star India. Viacom18 currently runs the JioCinema streaming platform. Earlier, Reliance battled Disney to offer free streaming of IPL 2023. This move catapulted JioCinema to the #1 position as the most downloaded app in the country by May 2023, compared to the 13th rank in May 2022. Reliance also bought the rights to various movies and shows by global networks like HBO, NBC, and Warner Bros. It aims to build a platform with audience volumes bigger than television. It wants to become India’s foremost digital group and is not competing with other OTTs. Previous Next

< Back Third Wave Coffee engages in a price war with Starbucks Ishita Nigam 10 Oct 2023 The Bengaluru-based coffee startup, which started operations in 2016, offers locally sourced special coffee at affordable prices. If the tea-drinking audience wasn’t enough, Starbucks faces stiff competition from Indian rivals like Third Wave and Blue Tokai Coffee. Blue Tokai is still a Minicorn with a funding of $46 million, while Third Wave Coffee now has a valuation of $150 million. Canadian Tim Hortons and British Pret a Manger also entered the Indian market this year. For every three Starbucks outlets, one Third Wave Coffee is luring their customers away with cheaper pricing for a brilliant cup of coffee. The startup is also present in Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Mumbai, Pune, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, and Coonoor. In Bengaluru alone, Third Wave Coffee operates 40 outlets compared to Starbucks’ 35. It has led Starbucks to sign a lease with a Bengaluru Mall with a ‘Café Exclusivity’ clause to be the only café on the floor. Starbucks introduced the Indian Chai for ₹185 to lure the 91% tea-drinking Indian population. Previous Next

< Back Eight US newspapers sue OpenAI, Microsoft over illegal content usage 1 May 2024 They accused the two companies of illegally using news articles to power their AI chatbots. Alden Global Capital’s eight newspapers in the US sued OpenAI and Microsoft over allegations that the two companies illegally used their content to fuel their AI chatbots. The dailies The New York Daily News, The Denver Post, The Chicago Tribune, The San Jose Mercury News, The Orlando Sentinel, The Sun Sentinel of Florida, The St. Paul Pioneer Press, and The Orange County Register filed the case in the Federal Court of the US Southern District of New York. The complaint mentions Microsoft and OpenAI used millions of copyrighted news articles without seeking permission from the newspapers to train their AI tools ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot. The chatbots often display text from subscription-only articles without a backlink to the source. The publications are seeking a jury trial and fair compensation for using their news articles. Some companies have struck a deal with OpenAI and Microsoft to allow paid access to their content. Previous Next

Son smartphone Mate 70, présenté la semaine dernière, fonctionnera sous le propre OS. < Back Huawei lance son système d’exploitation (OS) HarmonyOS Next Son smartphone Mate 70, présenté la semaine dernière, fonctionnera sous le propre OS. Considéré comme un tournant pour les relations entre les États-Unis et le Chine, le Huawei introduit son propre système d’exploration, HarmonyOS Next. Elle vise à concurrent Google et Apple. Elle utilisait auparavant Android OpenSource Project (AOSP) jusqu’à ce que l’administration américaine prenne des sanctions à l’encontre du géant chinois des télécommunications. Les experts estiment qu’il s’agit d’une déclaration ferme de la Chine indiquant qu’elle n’est pas dépendante des sanctions américaines. Cette décision montre la puissance de la Chine dans le développement de ses propres puces. Les États-Unis imposent des sanctions à la Chine depuis 2017. En 2018, l’administration Trump a interdit au ministère de la défense d’acheter des systèmes de télécommunication a Huawei. En 2020, le gouvernement américain a interdit aux entreprises américaines de vendre de semi-conducteurs à Huawei. Huawei comptait parmi les plus gros clients de Qualcomm. En 2023, ses bénéfices ont chuté de 70 %. Previous Next