Rashmi Pratap, Hindu BusinessLine New Delhi, 27 June 2014 That Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru was a champion of the co-operative movement is well-known. But a little-known fact is that he extended the concept of co-operatives to not only banking, farming and sugar, but shoes as well. When one such shoe co-operative pioneered by him in Karnal (Haryana) fell on bad times in 1954, two brothers bailed it out. DP and PD Gupta retained the employees and converted the co-operative into a company. As giving customers the freedom to choose was a priority in the newly Independent country, the company was…
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Nikita Garia, Mihir Dalal, MINT (A Wall Street Journal Partner) New Delhi, 26 June 2014 Cab services provider Uber announced the launch of its low-cost cab brand UberX in Bangalore, New Delhi and Hyderabad to directly compete with local rivals such as Meru Cabs, Ola Cabs and others. Uber launched in India last August with its higher priced, luxury car service, UberBLACK that charged a minimum of Rs.250 per ride. Though the company, which accepts payments only through credit cards, reduced fares later, they were still at least 50% higher, on average, than those of rivals such as Meru Cabs…
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Anshul Dhamija, The Times of India Bangalore, 25 June 2014 Tech tycoon and Wipro chairman Azim Premji is a hidden dragon springing out an impressive fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) story in Asia's new tiger economies, knocking close on the heels of global powerhouses Unilever and Proctor & Gamble (P&G). Billionaire Premji's Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting (WCCLG) is now among the top three personal care companies in Malaysia and Vietnam and is gaining ground in China's southern provinces. Sixty-eight-year old Premji -- with personal wealth topping $15 billion -- took the FMCG unit private through a de-merger of non-IT businesses,…
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Raghavendra Kamath, Business Standard Mumbai, June 22, 2014 Aditya Birla Retail, which started operations in 2007 with the brand ‘more’, was looking to break even in FY 2013. The wish remains unfulfilled -- still. Spencer's Retail, part of the Sanjiv Goenka group which started in 1990s and opened stores in the modern format in 2006, was originally looking at a breakeven in financial year 2010-11. After missing two fresh goal posts, the retailer now says it hopes to break even in the next couple of quarters. Birla and Spencer’s are just two of “the many supermarket chains, promoted by big…
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Vikas Kumar, Outlook Business New Delhi, June 21, 2014 On Gurudwara Road in central Delhi’s bustling and crowded Karol Bagh market, it is easy to miss the nondescript, grey four-storey building that houses Aero Group’s corporate office. Entering the reception, you feel as if you have been transported to a trading house from the 1980s. The ageing paint and weathered wood paneling gives the sense of a company steeped in its past, nowhere close to the youthful and vibrant image of Woodland, the popular homegrown adventure brand it represents. That is, until you step into the cramped but modern elevator…
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