Pia Heikkila, The National 8 July 2012 The Swedish company Ikea's furniture is well known across the world for being inexpensive and flat-packed, and featuring functional Scandinavian design. People either love it or hate it - Ikea's DIY furniture that looks oh-so-simple in the picture but often needs several hours of careful assembling. Now the Nordic giant wants to bring its collapsible furniture to India and plans to conquer the country with a massive plan that includes a nearly US$1.8 billion investment drive. "Ikea has a long-term vision for India. The investment plans as outlined in the application are estimations…
Sapna Agarwal, MINT Mumbai, 6 July 2012 Indian women may take a bit of convincing, but there seems to be strong evidence to suggest that their urban male compatriots are getting fitter. Or, at the very least, they’re squeezing themselves into closer-fitting shirts, regardless of muscle tone or the lack thereof. While the picture this conveys may not be entirely wholesome, it does mean that companies have had to change the kind of fits they offer on shirt racks. More seriously, the slim, super-slim and skinny fits that are gaining ground among the young urban male demographic are cut to…
Anjali Mathai, Channel News Asia New Delhi, 6 July 2012 India's recent policy change to allow foreign companies to wholly own their businesses has relieved some pressure off the government, which is seen as being unable to boost growth. Two major international brands, IKEA and Coca-Cola, have announced plans to invest billions of dollars in the country. Swedish furniture and home décor giant IKEA is setting up shop in India. It will invest about US$1.9 billion, opening 25 stores in the country over the next 15 to 20 years. Devangshu Dutta, Chief Executive of Third Eyesight, said: "If you look…
Fashionunited Mumbai, 27 June 2012 Global brands are betting big on India, this despite no clarity on FDI in multibrand retail. In fact, statistics from Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) the nodal agency that clears such foreign investments reveal that a number of top brands have put forth their proposals of either increasing stake in JV or expanding their presence in India. American apparel-maker Tommy Hilfiger is one of them. The brand plans to open 500 stores in India over the next five years to capitalize on the brand’s increasing popularity in the country. It has informed the…
(This piece appeared in 'The Strategist' supplement of the Business Standard newspaper, on 2 July 2012.) Modern retail is equated with a more structured and systematised organisation, hence the term “organised retail”. This term is weighted with expectations of greater capability, better competitiveness and greater benefits for industry and society. However, if we take organised to mean better for the consumer then, often, our age-old corner shop and the local cloth-merchant-turned-fashion-retailer appear more organised and better at delivering more relevant products to us at lower prices with superior services than most of the new corporate chains. Over the last two…
Geopolitical friction has again sparked renewed concerns over inflation and rising input costs for FMCG companies as @itmeansjustice @whysnavi write. @devangshu commented.
