BIZ WORLD

Sunglass Hut launches first retail outlet in Mumbai

Sunglass Hut one of the leading International specialty sunglass retailer launched their first retail outlet in Mumbai. The store will be housed in the luxury wing of the Palladium Mall, Mumbai. The Mumbai store launch will also mark the introduction of luxe eyewear brands like Paul Smith, Tiffany & Co and Oliver's people for the first time in India. Sunglass Hut -the premium eyewear retail brand was introduced in the Indian market by the fashion and lifestyle brand retailer DLF Brands Ltd. in December 2008.

The brand has three stores in Delhi and NCR region and recently launched fourth store In Hyderabad. Apart from introducing hi-end eyewear brands like Paul Smith and Tiffany & Co for the first time in India which will be retailed across its outlets in India.

Going by the response generated it plans to create a chain of 30 outlets in the next 3 years across key cities like Delhi, Kolkata, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai.

Diesel looks at repeating US success story in India
Italian premium brand Diesel wants to replicate its American success story in India. The company, which draws $ 200 million in sales in the US markets, sees a similar potential here in the next 10-15 years.

"It's a nice dream to have: Do in India the kind of sales we do in the US today," says Diesel Founder and President Renzo Rosso. He is in India for the launch of Diesel's second store in Mumbai.

Diesel will keep the pricing and positioning uniform in all markets. Like the West, in India also, Diesel will be a premium brand. "We cannot sell jeans at $100 in one market and $200 in another," Rosso says. Prices of Diesel apparels begin at Rs7,000. According to Rosso, Diesel's first store at the Lower Parel area in Mumbai has crossed its target in the first month itself. "If the same thing continues then we can break even in the first year itself," he says. Almost one and a half year after tying up with Reliance Brands, a unit of Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries, Diesel opened its first store in Mumbai in April this year. Diesel and its earlier partner Arvind Brands parted ways as the tie up could not expand the way both the groups wanted. Rosso says the Diesel-Reliance JV plans to open seven stores this year and a total of 20 in three years. The craze for launching cheaper products in India doesn't excite Rosso. "When we launched jeans at $99 in US, others were selling at $50 but now our jeans have become very popular," he says. The same story will be played out in India too, he hopes.

Barclays bank moving 140 jobs to India

Barclays, one of Britain's biggest banks, is reported l y moving 140 jobs out from Northampton, UK, to India. This follows stricter banking regulations and heavier taxes promised by the previous Labor government - so far endorsed by the new Conservative- Liberal Democrat coalition — in the aftermath of the global economic storm.

John Varley, Barclays chief executive, in an interview said London would be damaged by imposing taxes on the bank. Barclays already has expanding operations in India and has also launched a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) banking service outside India, including Britain.

Barclays, who weathered the international meltdown better than rivals like Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds, expects to considerably reduce outgoings. "Clearly there are some cost savings involved, but our main driving force is to create a global centre of excellence in India," Vikki Williams, head of Card Fraud Operations, was quoted as saying. The unpleasant task of collecting dues will be increasingly carried out by determined call centre agents in India, who buzz customers in the UK incessantly demanding payments.

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Retail goes global, brings international brands to India

Five years after planning to bring most luxury brands into India, Mukesh Ambani is finally walking the talk. No wonder after opening Hamleys and Diesel stores in the last two months, Reliance Retail is now in talks with US fashion brand Kenneth Cole and Italian bag maker Mandarina Duck to open their exclusive outlets in India. Dheeraj Dogra, CMO of Express Inf ras t ructure, said, "Reliance has signed up with T i m b e r l a n d , Diesel, Zegna, a number of international brands and last we heard it is also in talks with Kenneth Cole."

That's almost half a dozen international brands in Reliance kitty so far. But now, the company wants to expand further though experts say it will take a while for these brands to mop up enough revenues.

Dr Reddy's gets the US nod for Prograf generic

Dr Reddy's Laboratories has received U.S. regulator's approval to launch tacrolimus capsules, used to help prevent rejection of kidney and liver transplants. Tacrolimus is a generic version of Prograf, produced by Japan's second- largest drugmaker Astellas Pharma.

Dr Reddy's received the approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and India's second-largest drugmaker by sales plans to launch the drug in its biggest export market next week, the spokesman told Reuters.

Last August, Swiss drugmaker Novartis announced its Sandoz business has launched the first generic version of Prograf capsules after receiving the U.S. approval.

Dr Reddy's lagged analyst expectations in the latest quarterly profit but expects the launch of more than a dozen new drugs in the United States to boost growth in this financial year.

GM India launches Aveo CNG in Gujarat

Backed by the sales growth of 264 per cent of Chevrolet Spark and Chevrolet Beat cars in Gujarat in Jan-April 2010 over the corresponding period last year, General Motors India has launched the alternate fuel version of its mid-sized sedan, Chevrolet Aveo, in the state.

The new CNG version is a bi-fuel vehicle with a full size petrol tank that will offer a fuel efficiency of 18 km/kg. Launched at an inaugural price of Rs 6.26 lakhs, Chevrolet Aveo is touted to carry running cost 54 per cent lower than a similar petrol-powered vehicle and 25 per cent lower than a similar dieselpowered vehicle, said Karl Slym, president and managing director, General Motors India.  

US engineers' body lauds low-cost Indian toilet technology
Atop American engineers' body has recognized the low-cost toilet technology developed by Indian NGO Sulabh International to improve community health, hygiene and environment in the developing world and in the process triggering off social reform, restoring human rights and dignity to millions of downtrodden women involved in manual scavenging.

The World Environment and Water resources Congress, organized by American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) at Providence, Rhodes Island appreciated Sulabh's low cost sanitation technology in India and other developing countries, the NGO said in a news release.

Indian Social innovator, Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, along with his team, has developed an indigenous two-pit toilet technology, which is not only cost effective but can also be used in producing biogas. Recycling and reuse of human excreta for biogas generation is an important way to get rid of health hazards.

His efforts have made a difference in life of millions of people by creating, through technology, a new culture that had restored human rights and dignity to those traditionally known as untouchable by providing a safe and hygienic human waste disposal system, says the Congress citation.

Delivering the key note speech at the Congress, Sulabh founder said that NGO will soon launch its sanitation campaign in 50 countries and appealed to technical experts to join hands with his organization to achieve United Nations' millennium Development goal relating to sanitation and hygiene.

Sulabh International is the pioneering organization in the field of biogas generation from public toilet complexes. After a series of experiments, the organization developed a more efficient design of biogas plant that has been approved by the Indian Ministry of Non-conventional energy.

Pathak's toilets, the design of which he's made available to almost all the towns of India, are used by 10 million people daily, helping push the number of people in rural India with access to a toilet from 27 percent five years ago to 59 percent today. Sulabh technology has also been used to construct over 5,500 public-toilet complexes in cities across south and central Asia, for people who are homeless or who have no sanitation in their houses.

Bill Gates signs health projects with Bihar government

Microsoft chief Bill Gates signed a memorandum on behalf of his foundation with the Bihar government to work on health projects to eradicate polio, kalaazar and tuberculosis from the state. The memorandum was signed in the presence of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and aims to help the state government execute projects in cooperation with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in select districts.

‘The foundation's biggest focus is to improve health condition and we will work for it,' Gates told reporters. Gates said the foundation would also initiate measures to reduce maternal mortality rate (MMR) and infant mortality rate in Bihar. "We have watched Bihar making improvement on the health front. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and I had conversation last July about it," Gates said. State Health Secretary C.K. Mishra said the memorandum of cooperation was signed for five years.

Tata Nano bags gold prize in the 2010 Edison Awards
Tata Nano has won the Gold prize in the Best New Product segment under the Transportation category at the 2010 Edison Awards.

Recognized as America's innovation award, the Edison Awards symbolize the persistence and excellence personified by Thomas Alva Edison, according to a Tata Motors Limited statement. They are judged on marketplace innovation, marketplace success, technological innovation, market structure innovation, societal impact and design innovation, it said.

Bullish on India, Adidas to open 100 stores this year
Adidas India plans to open 100 exclusive style essential stores from the present 30 by the end of this year. Style Essentials is the casual segment of Adidas. Andreas Gellner, managing director, Adidas India, said: "The company has already opened 30 exclusive stores for this brand nationwide and plans to reach 100 exclusive stores by the end of 2010."

Gellner said the firm had also tied up with renowned designer duo, Shantanu and Nikhil to create an exclusive range for the brand, called ‘S&N'. "The exclusive stores present the collection in a trendy and inviting format offering the consumer a highly stylized, young and fresh feel. The S&N line will be positioned independently within select Adidas Style Essentials stand-alone store concepts, giving S&N an exclusive creative positioning," said Gellner.

Indian LPOs set to enter Aussie legal market
After US and Japanese markets, Indian legal process outsourcing (LPO) firms are now gearing up to tap the USD 21-billion Australian legal market.

Pegged at USD 21 billion in terms of industry revenue in 2009, the Australian legal market is projected to grow by about 1 per cent year on year.

While there are many law firms that are operational in the Australian market, it remains largely untapped by off-shore legal outsourcing companies. Market experts state that though there are around 35,000 players in this segment, the market is dominated only by six or seven top ones.

Indian LPOs, such as Pangea3, are set to benefit the most from legal outsourcing in Australia. The Mumbai-based company had recently tied up with Australian law firm Advent Lawyers to set up its base there. "Australia is a tremendous market. In fact, we are among the first legal process outsourcing companies to have entered the Australian market," Pangea3 co-CEO Sanjay Kamlani said.

Solutions offered by the firms range from day-to-day commercial contract drafting, corporate governance, M&A due diligence, risk management and compliance, IPR services and litigation support, and e-discovery.

Almost 40 per cent of the services offered are either administrative, personal or property- based, an official with an LPO firm said. Indian firms are currently helping inhouse counsels in Australia integrate legal technology solutions and off-shore legal talent solutions into their own processes, dramatically enhancing the value-addition to their organizations without burning holes in their pockets.

"Of the total cost incurred by a firm in Australia, about 33 per cent is spent on wages or rent — something that can be greatly minimized by outsourcing to low-cost destinations," Kamlani said.

Stating that there is not much competition from other emerging markets such as Philippines, Kamlani stated that Indian professionals have, through years of experience, developed extensive process expertise that is highly respected by clients in the West as well as Apac.

Indian LPOs have already cornered a sizeable chunk of business in the multi-million US and Japanese markets.
[ By Lavanya Garikina ]