Written By DEBOJYOTI GHOSH From leader to challenger, Rupa & Company is shifting gears to reclaim its disruptor tag in India’s innerwear market. Around the time Kolkata-headquartered innerwear and outerwear clothing manufacturer Rupa & Company set up shop, in 1968, the Indian hosiery market was dominated by unorganised players, barring a few strong local brands such as Dora, Asli Hira and Asli Sona. So much so that “everyone in the hosiery business then was talking about hira (diamond) and sona (gold),” Prahlad Rai Agarwala, the company’s 80-year-old chair - man and executive director, tells Fortune India. “So we decided to…
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Written By ABHIK SEN AND SHISHIR BEHERA, Despite the stress in the telecom space, call drops, and a sputtering economy, it’s been mostly smooth sailing for the upper end of the smartphone industry in 2019. Delhi-based senior school teacher Jyotsna Varma, 46, has been using her iPhone 7 since Diwali 2018. Its all-in-one capabilities, friendly user interface, and robust performance continue to work for her so a handset upgrade is not imminent. But when it does happen, it will be to an iPhone 11, she says. Bengaluru-based Romit Dasgupta, 28, a senior analyst at an American bank, bought his OnePlus…
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Written By Anchita Ghosh Now that many areas are out of bounds for big retailers for various reasons, is there an opportunity for local kiranas? People queueing up outside a a kirana store Tom Abraham, who runs a grocery retail outlet at HSR Layout in Bengaluru, thought of shutting it down as his shop attendants went back to their native place in Bihar after the lockdown was first announced. Plus he was facing problems in sourcing inventory. Samir Wagadwala, who owns a kirana shop in the Mumbai suburbs of Andheri (East), didn’t find it viable to deliver just one or…
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Written By Alnoor Peermohamed, ETtech More sellers are signing up on e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Snapdeal, anticipating recovery in offline demand to take longer in view of the nationwide lockdown being extended to May 3. The government said e-commerce platforms would be allowed to sell both essential and non-essential items starting April 20. There has been a spike in the number of signups and queries from new sellers in the run-up to and during the lockdown that began from March 24, the online retailers told ET. “We now have 6 lakh sellers on our marketplace, up from 5.5…
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The MHA has come up with fresh guidelines allowing e-commerce companies to operate, ensuring strict social distancing without any restriction on their timing and closure, after April 20 Written By Peerzada Abrar, Samreen Ahmad & Neha Alawadhi The main problems e-commerce firms are facing on the ground include absenteeism of delivery people and difficulties in getting curfew passes E-commerce companies such as Amazon and Flipkart, and sellers, have reached out to the government seeking clarity on whether they would be allowed to sell non-essential items under the fresh guidelines. On Wednesday, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in the fresh…
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