Suparna Goswami, Forbes Bengaluru, 17 January 2017 The past week saw India’s Flipkart appointing a non-founder CEO who is also part of Tiger Global Management, the online marketplace’s largest investor firm. A few days later, Snapdeal, another large Indian online marketplace, brought in real estate firm Housing.com’s CEO Jason Kothari as its chief strategy and investment officer. This news comes on the heels of a recent merger between Housing.com and real estate brokerage firm Prop Tiger, which has raised funds from SoftBank – a major investor in Snapdeal. Are we seeing a pattern of investor overreach into startups in India?…
Suparna Goswami, Forbes Bengaluru, 17 January 2017 The past week saw India’s Flipkart appointing a non-founder CEO who is also part of Tiger Global Management, the online marketplace’s largest investor firm.A few days later, Snapdeal, another large Indian online marketplace, brought in real estate firm Housing.com’s CEO Jason Kothari as its chief strategy and investment officer. This news comes on the heels of a recent merger between Housing.com and real estate brokerage firm Prop Tiger, which has raised funds from SoftBank – a major investor in Snapdeal.Are we seeing a pattern of investor overreach into startups in India?With this…
In this piece I’ll just focus on one aspect of technology – artificial intelligence or AI – that is likely to shape many aspects of the retail business and the consumer’s experience over the coming years. To be able to see the scope of its potential all-pervasive impact we need to go beyond our expectations of humanoid robots. We also need to understand that artificial intelligence works on a cycle of several mutually supportive elements that enable learning and adaptation. The terms “big data” and “analytics” have been bandied about a lot, but have had limited impact so far in…
Sharleen Dsouza, Bloomberg Quint Mumbai, 9 January 2017 As demand for ayurvedic products grows, especially driven by Yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved Ltd., FMCG major Hindustan Unilever Ltd. has relaunched its Lever Ayush brand in southern India, the biggest and most competitive market in the space. The Rs 32,000-crore HUL will offer 20 Lever Ayush products for as low as Rs 30 in the hair, skin and oral care categories across Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka -- the five states are home to several local ayurvedic brands Patanjali, which largely operates in the north, offers products…
Neha Tyagi & Sagar Malviya, The Economic Times Mumbai, 3 January 2017 Leading Indian womenswear brands bucked the slowdown trend on the back of mostly younger consumers shifting from tailor-made to ready-to-wear stylish designs at affordable rates and discounts. Makers of ethnic brands in the country — TCNS Clothing (maker of W and Aurelia brands), BIBA, House of Anita Dongre (AND and Global Desi brands), and Ritu Kumar — all posted 14 per cent-64 per cent year-on-year jump in their revenues last fiscal, even as the overall Indian apparel market slipped to single-digit growth at 8 per cent. Sales of…
Geopolitical friction has again sparked renewed concerns over inflation and rising input costs for FMCG companies as @itmeansjustice @whysnavi write. @devangshu commented.
