Mumbai: The air of confidence that the attendant at the Worli outlet of Swarovski wears sums up the mood at the Austrian company, leaders in precision-cut luxury crystal ware. A delicate piece of Swarovski crystal replete with intricate work would cost nothing less than Rs 1 lakh. Despite the steep tag, the attendant says it has been doing brisk business in the last six months. "On an average I land up having about 75 to 100 customers a month. This is higher during the festive and wedding seasons when gifting goes up. There is no slowdown that I see," he says candidly.
Swarovski is not the only luxury brand to buck the slowdown that has hit consumer spending in other segments of the Rs 1.8 lakh crore FMCG industry. At a Gucci store located at the upscale Palladium Mall in Mumbai, the sales executive says its star products - leather handbags with bamboo handles and clutches in anaconda skin - have been flying off the shelf. The average ticket size of these products is more than Rs 1.3 lakh. "I have walk-ins everyday, and more often than not, we manage converting quite a few of them into sales," he says, choosing not to reveal the number of bags he sells per month.
A similar refrain is heard at a nearby Jimmy Choo outlet. The average ticket size of a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes is Rs 35,000-40,000. Star products and limited-edition collections easily cost a few lakhs, but the sales executive says customers have hardly deserted her store. "While the rupee has depreciated against the dollar and even the pound in the last three months, customers still prefer buying their products from here rather than London or Dubai because the ticket size is steeper there," she says.
Since May, the rupee is down over 20 per cent to the dollar. Last week, it came close to touching Rs 70-a-dollar, but inched up following some timely intervention by the Reserve Bank of India. The British pound has already breached the Rs 100-mark. But the rupee rout as well as the sagging health of the economy matters little to the ultra-luxe shopper. These high networth individuals have an annual income of Rs 4 crore and above.
A recent Kotak-Crisil study says that the number of ultra-high networth households grew 24 per cent in 2012-13 to 100,900 from 81,000 the year before, with the number expected to triple in five years. This happened even as India's economic growth hit a 10-year low of 5 per cent in 2012-13.
Luxury retail has a field day
Executives at Genesis Luxury, which retails luxury brands such as Armani, Canali, Jimmy Choo, Bottega Veneta in India, says topline growth has been nearly 35 per cent year-on-year. Same-store-sales growth of its exclusive brand outlets were 10-15 per cent, says Sanjay Kapoor, managing director, Genesis Luxury, refering to growth in outlets in business for more than a year.
"Slowdown as a result of the depreciation of the rupee has marginally affected the luxury and premium goods business. Short-term changes in the economic scenario usually do not affect luxury spending as the consumer in this segment has a high disposable income," Kapoor says.
Darshan Mehta, chief executive of Reliance Brands, which retails high-end apparel brands such as Ermenegildo Zegna and Paul & Shark, where the median price-point is Rs 15,000, as well as brands such as Diesel and Thomas Pink in the affordable luxury segment, says the company has not seen the impact of the consumer slowdown yet.
While Mehta declined to put a number to the growth he was seeing in his business, industry sources say the company's same-store-sales growth was over 30 per cent in the last few quarters for most of its exclusive brand outlets.
Uber-luxe lifestyle breezes through
The real estate and automobile markets too have seen the luxe-effect. Super-car Lamborghini, which comes for a hefty Rs 3.5 crore and more, continues to sell nearly 20 units a year, with company executives claiming they have not felt the slowdown. The BMW-owned Rolls Royce, which comes for Rs 2 crore a unit is on its way to achieving the 100-car sales target this calendar year. Aston Martin, another ultra-luxe coveted brand has been comfortably cruising with sales of over 30 units a year.
Herfried Hasenoehrl, general manager, emerging markets - Asia, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars says, "While there is a tendency to hold back purchases in a slowdown, we have not experienced a demand slump for our products. Our products are aspirational. We continue to remain on course to achieving our sales targets in India."
It is no secret that realty developers have been paying greater attention to luxury homes as buyers defer purchases in the lower- and mid-end of the market. "Luxury is a unique market. Even in current market conditions, there is good demand for these homes," says Kruti Jain, director, Kumar Urban Development, a Mumbai-Pune developer. He recently launched a luxury project in Worli named Kumar Coutore priced at Rs 14-16 crore. The project has just 40 apartments. "The response is good. We are looking at selling 20 apartments now and the remaining later," Jain said.
Gaurav Gupta, director at Mumbai-based developer Omkar Realtors said the company has sold properties of 225,000 sq-ft since pre-launch in February in its super-premium project '1973' in Worli, against the annual target of 250,000 sq-ft. The prices are between Rs 15-100 crore for apartments ranging from 2,500-18,000 sq-ft.
Says R Karthik, chief marketing officer, Lodha Group, developers of high-end projects such as The Park, endorsed by actor Aishwarya Rai in Mumbai: "In the luxury residential segment, the response from our customers is extremely encouraging and reinforces our strategy. The interest in luxury housing continues from HNIs in Mumbai and NRIs who are keenly looking for differentiated real estate in the city."
Success in my Habit
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
ACC plans Rs 3,000-cr capacity expansion in eastern region
Purulia: Cement major ACC Ltd is planning to invest Rs 3,000 crore to expand its capacity by nearly four million tonnes a year in three eastern region States in the next three years.According to Vivek Chawla, Chief Executive of East, ACC Ltd, while plans are afoot for expanding capacities at two existing plants – Jamul in Chhattisgarh and Sindri in Jharkhand - the company expects to start construction of a 1.5-million-tonne grinding unit at Kharagpur by next January next.
“We will increase our capacity 10 mt a year from the existing 6 mt a year in three years in the East. This will entail an investment of about Rs 3,000 crore,” Chawla told Business Line here.
The projects will be financed through internal accrual. He was speaking to newspersons to announce launch of a new product line at the company’s only (0.6 mt a year) facility in Madhukunda, located near the Asansol-Durgapur industrial belt, in West Bengal.
ACC acquired the sick facility in the middle of the last decade in a bid to enhance its grip on the regional market.
While Damodar Cement still serves as the company’s only facility in West Bengal, Chawla said, the company is now in discussion with the State Government for setting up a Rs 600-crore grinding unit near Kharagpur.
Discussions are also on with the State Government for acquiring about 150 acres for the proposed project.
“We expect to begin work on the project by January 2014. It will take us at least two years to commission the plant,” Chawla added.
The company today also launched its premium cement brand ACC Plus+ in West Bengal. ACC currently manufactures 30 million tonnes of cement from 17 factories in India.
The company posted a 36 per cent decline in net profit to Rs 262 crore during the April-June 2013 quarter against the same period last year.
The shares of ACC closed 0.75 per cent lower at Rs 954.60 on the BSE on Monday.
NSIC inks tech transfer pact with Mauritius counterpart
New Delhi: The National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) on Monday signed a pact with Mauritius-based Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority for technology transfer, marketing and finance and training exchange programmes.The pact, aimed at modernising small and medium industries in both the countries is for a period of three years, the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), K.H. Muniyappa, told reporters here.
“The pact will also include technology transfers from India to Mauritius, implementation of strategy for development of incubation centres in Mauritius, exchange of business missions, facilitate fairs and to carry out industrial surveys between,” MSME Secretary, Madhav Lal, said.
The MSME sector in India, which provides employment to about 8 crore people, contributes 8 per cent to gross domestic product and its share in total exports is 36 per cent.
TCS bags deal from Saudi Arabia
Mumbai: The country’s largest software exporter Tata Consultancy Services is said to have bagged a deal to implement its core banking platform at Saudi Arabia’s National Commercial Bank.International media reports suggest that the contract, which is valid for two years, is part of the Jeddah-based institutions’ strategy to develop electronic services and provide technology-based banking solutions.
A spokesperson for TCS did not the comment on the development. Financial details of the engagement could not be ascertained.
TCS provides a range of retail banking solutions under BaNCS, a suit of core banking suite.
“It has been our endeavour to provide the highest levels of service to customers through the provision of advanced and technically sophisticated service channels with the highest standards of security providing them with more reassurance,” NCB said in a statement to Arab News.
NCB was the first Saudi bank to be licensed and the biggest in the Kingdom. It is said to be one of the pioneers in the Islamic banking and finance space.
Indo-Australian science projects get funding
Hyderabad: Using robotic tools, Indo-Australian scientists will undertake an in-depth study to assess the changing features of the Indian Ocean — which has a bearing on the Indian monsoon as well as its marine life and vegetation.
Similarly, they will model environmental changes in the world that is getting warmer, especially in semi-arid areas.
These are a few of the 15 innovative research projects that will be launched soon jointly by Indian and Australian scientists, under the Australia-India Strategic Research Fund (AISRF).
Out of a total Australian commitment of Rs 365.5 crore (AUD 64 million), the Australian Government has given Rs 28.1 crore (AUD 5.06 million) to these initiatives. The Government of India will fund the Indian teams’ participation.
Participating institutions from India include the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; IIT Bombay; National Institute of Oceanography; Punjab Agricultural University; International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology; and Christian Medical College, Vellore.
From the Australian side, the partner institutions include the University of New South Wales; The University of Melbourne; The University of Sydney; Macquarie University; Queensland University of Technology; CSIRO; and Deakin University.
Patrick Suckling, Australia’s High Commissioner to India, says “We are supporting a diverse array of work — from using new diving robots to better understand the Indian Ocean — to research on a hybrid canola crop to increase yields; we are also supporting a project on using cloud computing to help with disaster management.”
Under the AISRF, the other projects supported are in fields of renewable energy, food and water security, biomedical devices and implants, nanotechnology, bioremediation and astronomy and astrophysics.
Similarly, they will model environmental changes in the world that is getting warmer, especially in semi-arid areas.
These are a few of the 15 innovative research projects that will be launched soon jointly by Indian and Australian scientists, under the Australia-India Strategic Research Fund (AISRF).
Out of a total Australian commitment of Rs 365.5 crore (AUD 64 million), the Australian Government has given Rs 28.1 crore (AUD 5.06 million) to these initiatives. The Government of India will fund the Indian teams’ participation.
Participating institutions from India include the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; IIT Bombay; National Institute of Oceanography; Punjab Agricultural University; International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology; and Christian Medical College, Vellore.
From the Australian side, the partner institutions include the University of New South Wales; The University of Melbourne; The University of Sydney; Macquarie University; Queensland University of Technology; CSIRO; and Deakin University.
Patrick Suckling, Australia’s High Commissioner to India, says “We are supporting a diverse array of work — from using new diving robots to better understand the Indian Ocean — to research on a hybrid canola crop to increase yields; we are also supporting a project on using cloud computing to help with disaster management.”
Under the AISRF, the other projects supported are in fields of renewable energy, food and water security, biomedical devices and implants, nanotechnology, bioremediation and astronomy and astrophysics.
Monday, September 2, 2013
L&T Hydrocarbon Bags orders worth over Rs 807 crore
Mumbai: Larsen & Toubro's hydrocarbon business has bagged orders worth Rs 807 crore for petrochemical complexes of oil companies in India, the engineering major said in a statement Friday.
The orders includes jobs for supply of cracking furnace modules and parts, supply of equipment, engineering, procurement and construction execution of cryogenic ethylene package, civil, structural, mechanical, electrical and instrumentation for petrochemical complexes of oil companies in India. Fabrication and assembly work for all the modules and equipment will be done at L&T's modular fabrication facility at Hazira near Surat, the company said.
L&T's recently initiated the process to set up a separate subsidiary, L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering, for hydrocarbon business is aimed at scaling up the business internationally and listing the company subsequently. The company aims to increase the subsidiary's sales to $ 5 billion over the next five years from $2 billion now and subsequently list the subsidiary to enhance shareholders' value.
Shares of L&T closed flat on Friday at Rs 722.25 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. BSE's benchmark Sensex ended up 1.2% at 18619.72.
The orders includes jobs for supply of cracking furnace modules and parts, supply of equipment, engineering, procurement and construction execution of cryogenic ethylene package, civil, structural, mechanical, electrical and instrumentation for petrochemical complexes of oil companies in India. Fabrication and assembly work for all the modules and equipment will be done at L&T's modular fabrication facility at Hazira near Surat, the company said.
L&T's recently initiated the process to set up a separate subsidiary, L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering, for hydrocarbon business is aimed at scaling up the business internationally and listing the company subsequently. The company aims to increase the subsidiary's sales to $ 5 billion over the next five years from $2 billion now and subsequently list the subsidiary to enhance shareholders' value.
Shares of L&T closed flat on Friday at Rs 722.25 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. BSE's benchmark Sensex ended up 1.2% at 18619.72.
Three electronics clusters get Govt nod
New Delhi: The Government on Friday approved three projects worth Rs 200 crore under the Electronic Manufacturing Clusters (EMC) scheme.
The proposals were sent by the Electronic Industries Association of India (ELCINA) and the Madhya Pradesh State Electronics Corporation (MPSEDC).
While ELCINA had sent an application for a greenfield cluster at a projected cost of Rs 104.48 crore at Khushkhera in Bhiwadi (Rajasthan), the MPSEDC had submitted applications for two projects estimated at Rs 46.46 crore and Rs 42.92 crore, respectively, at Bhopal and Jabalpur.
Assistance
As per the Government’s scheme, the assistance will be restricted to 50 per cent of the project cost, subject to a ceiling of Rs 50 crore for every 100 acres of land.
Accordingly, ELCINA has sought assistance of Rs 47.41 crore over an area of 100.7 acre of land. The project is supported by the Rajasthan Government through Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation , according to a Government note seen by Business Line.
Similarly, MPSEDC, a Government of Madhya Pradesh undertaking proposes to develop a greenfield EMC in Badwai, Bhopal, over an area of 50 acres at an estimated project cost of Rs 46.46 crore, and has sought for Rs 22.26 crore in assistance from the Central Government.
It has also sought for a grant of Rs 24.63 crore from the Central Government for a greenfield EMC in Purva village, Jabalpur (for a project at total estimated cost of Rs 42.92 crore) over an area of 40 acres.
The ELCINA project is like to be completed by March 2015 with commercial operations starting from April 2015 onwards. The project is expected to directly employ 14,000 people, and 19,700 people indirectly.
It is also expected that companies may invest around Rs 1,200 crore in this project .
The project timeline for MPSEDC is to start within three months of final approval (after formation of special purpose vehicles) and are expected to start operating in three years.
Both the projects in Madhya Pradesh are expected to give direct employment to around 4,500 people, and to around 13,000 people indirectly.
The EMC is part of the Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme under the National Policy on Electronics 2012. One of the important objectives of the NPE is to achieve a turnover of around $400 billion by 2020, involving investment of around $100 billion and employment to around 28 million by 2020.
The three applications were discussed at the Steering Committee for Clusters held on Friday under the chairmanship of J. Satyanarayana, Secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) and members included secretaries of the Planning Commission, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Civil Aviation and Department of Telecommunications.
Our Mangalore Bureau reports: India must encourage growth of the electronics manufacturing sector to cut dependence on imported components, said Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman of the Karnataka Vision Group on IT and President of CII while delivering the keynote address at a conference on ‘Future of IT and electronics’, in Mangalore on Friday.
He said the country was importing around $100 billion worth of electronics components, and this was likely to touch $400 billion by 2018. So, developing the domestic sector should be a national priority, he said. He suggested that the Government should make it easy and affordable for investors to fund the sector in India.
The proposals were sent by the Electronic Industries Association of India (ELCINA) and the Madhya Pradesh State Electronics Corporation (MPSEDC).
While ELCINA had sent an application for a greenfield cluster at a projected cost of Rs 104.48 crore at Khushkhera in Bhiwadi (Rajasthan), the MPSEDC had submitted applications for two projects estimated at Rs 46.46 crore and Rs 42.92 crore, respectively, at Bhopal and Jabalpur.
Assistance
As per the Government’s scheme, the assistance will be restricted to 50 per cent of the project cost, subject to a ceiling of Rs 50 crore for every 100 acres of land.
Accordingly, ELCINA has sought assistance of Rs 47.41 crore over an area of 100.7 acre of land. The project is supported by the Rajasthan Government through Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation , according to a Government note seen by Business Line.
Similarly, MPSEDC, a Government of Madhya Pradesh undertaking proposes to develop a greenfield EMC in Badwai, Bhopal, over an area of 50 acres at an estimated project cost of Rs 46.46 crore, and has sought for Rs 22.26 crore in assistance from the Central Government.
It has also sought for a grant of Rs 24.63 crore from the Central Government for a greenfield EMC in Purva village, Jabalpur (for a project at total estimated cost of Rs 42.92 crore) over an area of 40 acres.
The ELCINA project is like to be completed by March 2015 with commercial operations starting from April 2015 onwards. The project is expected to directly employ 14,000 people, and 19,700 people indirectly.
It is also expected that companies may invest around Rs 1,200 crore in this project .
The project timeline for MPSEDC is to start within three months of final approval (after formation of special purpose vehicles) and are expected to start operating in three years.
Both the projects in Madhya Pradesh are expected to give direct employment to around 4,500 people, and to around 13,000 people indirectly.
The EMC is part of the Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme under the National Policy on Electronics 2012. One of the important objectives of the NPE is to achieve a turnover of around $400 billion by 2020, involving investment of around $100 billion and employment to around 28 million by 2020.
The three applications were discussed at the Steering Committee for Clusters held on Friday under the chairmanship of J. Satyanarayana, Secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) and members included secretaries of the Planning Commission, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Civil Aviation and Department of Telecommunications.
Our Mangalore Bureau reports: India must encourage growth of the electronics manufacturing sector to cut dependence on imported components, said Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman of the Karnataka Vision Group on IT and President of CII while delivering the keynote address at a conference on ‘Future of IT and electronics’, in Mangalore on Friday.
He said the country was importing around $100 billion worth of electronics components, and this was likely to touch $400 billion by 2018. So, developing the domestic sector should be a national priority, he said. He suggested that the Government should make it easy and affordable for investors to fund the sector in India.
Govt allots Rs 700 crore for technical textiles
Mumbai: The government has allotted Rs 700 crore in the next five year plan for the development of technical textiles.
In 2012-13, technical textiles reached Rs 7.48 lakh crore at an annual growth rate of 3.5%.
"Even the high level committee on manufacturing, chaired by the Prime Minister, recognised the importance of technical textiles sector in the national economy, as well as the potential for increasing production and exports in this sector," said Panabaaka Lakshmi, minister of state for textiles at curtain raiser of Technotex 2014.
Employment in technical textile industry industry has been estimated to grow from 8.8 lakh in 2009-10 to 11 lakh in 2010-11.
Based on the projected growth of this sector, empl
In 2012-13, technical textiles reached Rs 7.48 lakh crore at an annual growth rate of 3.5%.
"Even the high level committee on manufacturing, chaired by the Prime Minister, recognised the importance of technical textiles sector in the national economy, as well as the potential for increasing production and exports in this sector," said Panabaaka Lakshmi, minister of state for textiles at curtain raiser of Technotex 2014.
Employment in technical textile industry industry has been estimated to grow from 8.8 lakh in 2009-10 to 11 lakh in 2010-11.
Based on the projected growth of this sector, empl
India to grow at 5.5%, exports outlook optimistic: Sharma
Mumbai: Commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma on Saturday hoped that India’s gross domestic product (GDP) would grow by 5.5 per cent during the current financial year and that exports would be better despite the global slowdown.
“Regardless of the GDP numbers released yesterday (Friday), I am confident that India’s GDP growth will not be less than 5.5 per cent this year” he said while addressing exporters here after inaugurating the new office of the Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO).
Sharma said the country’s economy was facing strong headwinds, but the fundamentals remained strong. “Higher growth is not an option but an imperative for India.”
The minister added every percentage drop in GDP threatens three million jobs and India cannot simply afford to grow at a slower rate.
India’s growth rate for the April-June quarter slowed down to 4.4 per cent, data released on Friday showed.
“An atmosphere of gloom is being created unnecessarily through speculative hammering and we need to overcome this despondency and negativity,” Sharma said.
The minister based his optimism on the export performance and said despite the worldwide recessionary trends, Indian exports managed to touch $303 billion last financial year, almost double from the $167 billion four years ago. Exports have done well in the first four months of this fiscal and forward bookings of exporters are also encouraging, he added. FIEO members expressed confidence of exports touching $325 billion.
Sharma said the government had taken several measures to push merchandise exports to earn foreign exchange. He said special thrust has been laid on bringing down the transaction cost to boost trade efficiency. The minister observed that the $ 1.2-trillion investment planned in the infrastructure sector will go a long way in boosting export performance of Indian companies.
“Regardless of the GDP numbers released yesterday (Friday), I am confident that India’s GDP growth will not be less than 5.5 per cent this year” he said while addressing exporters here after inaugurating the new office of the Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO).
Sharma said the country’s economy was facing strong headwinds, but the fundamentals remained strong. “Higher growth is not an option but an imperative for India.”
The minister added every percentage drop in GDP threatens three million jobs and India cannot simply afford to grow at a slower rate.
India’s growth rate for the April-June quarter slowed down to 4.4 per cent, data released on Friday showed.
“An atmosphere of gloom is being created unnecessarily through speculative hammering and we need to overcome this despondency and negativity,” Sharma said.
The minister based his optimism on the export performance and said despite the worldwide recessionary trends, Indian exports managed to touch $303 billion last financial year, almost double from the $167 billion four years ago. Exports have done well in the first four months of this fiscal and forward bookings of exporters are also encouraging, he added. FIEO members expressed confidence of exports touching $325 billion.
Sharma said the government had taken several measures to push merchandise exports to earn foreign exchange. He said special thrust has been laid on bringing down the transaction cost to boost trade efficiency. The minister observed that the $ 1.2-trillion investment planned in the infrastructure sector will go a long way in boosting export performance of Indian companies.
Bilateral agreements with countries to promote tourism
The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India has signed Bilateral Agreements/Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with 47 countries, a tripartite agreement between India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA) and a multilateral agreement between India and Member States of Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) for tourism cooperation, interalia, aiming at destination development, management, promotion, marketing and capacity building. During the last three years and the current year the Ministry of Tourism has signed the following Agreements/ MoUs:
Malaysia (MOU) 27.10.2010
ASEAN (MOU) 12.01.2012
Mauritius(MOU) 21.03.2013
Signing of Agreements/ MoUs on cooperation in the field of tourism is an ongoing process. The Ministry regularly takes up the issue of signing of Agreements and MoU’s with the important source markets to enhance mutual cooperation in the field of Tourism.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Tourism (I/C) Dr. K. Chiranjeevi in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
Malaysia (MOU) 27.10.2010
ASEAN (MOU) 12.01.2012
Mauritius(MOU) 21.03.2013
Signing of Agreements/ MoUs on cooperation in the field of tourism is an ongoing process. The Ministry regularly takes up the issue of signing of Agreements and MoU’s with the important source markets to enhance mutual cooperation in the field of Tourism.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Tourism (I/C) Dr. K. Chiranjeevi in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
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