Xiaomi India migrating its local data to India cloud infrastructure

Chinese handset maker Xiaomi Friday said that it is migrating its Indian data to cloud service providers Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure with infrastructure in India. The migration will be completed by the end of 2018. All new Indian user data since July 1 is already being stored in local servers and all existing user data on mi.com/in/ will be fully migrated to servers in India by mid-September 2018, the company said, adding that the migration will result in a jump in access speed.The data migration would cover all Indian user data across Xiaomi e-commerce platform, Mi Community (in.c.mi.com), Mi Cloud, MIUI (Xiaomi Market, feed, Mi Video, advertising, Mi Messaging, push notifications, etc) and Mi TV.Prior to this, all Indian user data used was stored in AWS servers across Singapore and the United States.Manu Jain, Vice President, Xiaomi and Managing Director, Xiaomi India: “At Xiaomi, data privacy and security are of utmost importance to us. We are taking one more step towards user data security and privacy by bringing our cloud services to India for all local data needs. It’s something our teams have been working tirelessly on and I am glad we have been able to turn this around for our India users. With the data stored locally and encrypted end to end, users will be able to enjoy greater access speeds.” He continued, “Xiaomi is committed to India and data protection and using cloud servers in India is another step in that direction for us. We will continue to work on this aspect and ensure a heightened user experience for all our users in India.”

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A jail gets ready for the king of good times

For most of this month, two cells in Barrack No 12 of Arthur Road jail have been getting a major face-lift - the flooring has been changed, tiles replaced, walls painted and bathroom refurbished. Fugitive Vijay Mallya has been resisting extradition and possible lodging in the Arthur Road jail citing poor conditions of prisons in the country. A video of the new and improved cell has been shot by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is the agency coordinating Mallya’s extradition. The top-secret video has been sent to the Ministry of External Affairs to aid in the extradition process.The work was carried out by a contractor of the Public Works Department (PWD), Pramesh constructions. Shivkumar Patil, the contractor, confirmed to Mirror that he had worked on barrack no 12, which had been constructed to house 26/11 terrorist Ajmal Kasab. “I have been instructed not to speak much on the issue. My workers did the job. We painted the cell and also paved the path leading to barrack no 12. We renovated the toilet and flooring too. We also painted the exteriors,” Patil told Mirror. Mallya’s defence team has argued in a London court that there is no natural light in Arthur Road jail. Patil added that a black wall in the cell has been painted white to reflect sunlight.A PWD official said that CBI officers who had come to shoot the video on August 10 were not happy with the work and so some more sprucing up was done by August 13 and another video shot by CBI officers on August 16. “Two cells were refurbished – one in which Chhagan Bhujbal stayed and another one adjoining it. The flooring was done along with tiling of the wall. Even the bathroom fittings were changed with a new commode and a jet spray. Around 45 workers were put on the job,” he said.PWD’s section engineer in charge of Arthur Road jail Shailesh Pol said that they had only cleaned up the place and asked us to get in touch with the executive engineer of Worli area for further details.When Mirror contacted PWD’s executive engineer of Worli division, Sushma Gaikwad, she was not very forthcoming about the purpose of the refurbishment. “It is an administrative manner. We do lots of work for Arthur road jail as part of our job,” she said, before adding, “Who is going to stay there is not your concern.”Rajvardhan Sinha, Special Inspector General (Prisons), South Mumbai, insisted that the work was part of standard upgradation of jails. “If you check with PWD, you will find that the government has given funds for entire renovation of prisons, wherever it is required. Under that requirement, painting of all barracks has started. Wherever ceilings had been falling, plasters have been put up. Toilets are changed. New drains are being put in many prisons like Taloja, 120 toilets are being put in Thane prison. I don’t know why only Barrack no 12 is being projected as having been spruced up. If you want to link this with a certain special purpose, then I can’t say more.”Mallya’s complaintMallya is wanted in India for allegedly defaulting on Rs 9,000 crore taken from banks by his nowdefunct Kingfisher Airlines. His bail has been extended till September 12. The issue of prison conditions in India in general and that of Arthur Road jail in particular has witnessed a lot of heated arguments and counter-arguments ever since the trial began in the case in in December 2017.

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Maggi maker, Nestle wants your DNA

The company that brought you milk chocolate, Maggi instant noodles and Rocky Road ice cream is worried about your health.Nestle SA, the world’s largest food company, has joined the trend for personalized nutrition with a blend of artificial intelligence, DNA testing and the modern obsession with Instagramming food. The program, begun in aging Japan, could provide the Swiss company with a wealth of data about customers’ wellness and diet as it pivots toward consumers who are seeking to improve their health and longevity.In Japan, some 100,000 users of the “Nestle Wellness Ambassador” program send pictures of their food via the popular Line app that then recommends lifestyle changes and specially formulated supplements. The program can cost $600 a year for capsules that make nutrient-rich teas, smoothies and other products such as vitamin-fortified snacks. A home kit to provide samples for blood and DNA testing helps identify susceptibility to common ailments like high cholesterol or diabetes.“Most of the personalized approach is driven by smaller companies, that’s why it was fairly limited,” said Ray Fujii, a partner at L.E.K. Consulting in Japan. “Nestle is taking a further step. They’re trying to figure out the algorithm between the test results and the genetic information and what they recommend as a solution. If they could do it, it’s a very big step.”Snacks to SupplementsNestle’s program is part of a change in direction for the 152-year-old company, which sold off its U.S. candy unit this year amid falling demand for sugary treats. Nestle has made a spate of investments targeted at healthier options including vegetarian meal maker Sweet Earth Foods and meal-delivery service Freshly. The company bought Canadian dietary supplements maker Atrium Innovations in March for $2.3 billion, its biggest medical-nutrition purchase in more than a decade.“Health problems associated with food and nutrition have become a big issue,” said Kozo Takaoka, head of the company’s business in Japan, in an interview in Tokyo. “Nestle must address that on a global basis and make it our mission for the 21st century.” He said the wellness segment could eventually account for half of Nestle’s sales in Japan.65603191 The investments come with the burgeoning interest in so-called nutraceuticals -- food-derived ingredients that are processed and packaged as medicine or wellness aids -- among consumers that are increasingly skeptical about mass products. Nestle employs more than a hundred scientists in areas including cell biology, gastrointestinal medicine and genomics at the Nestle Institute of Health Sciences and has been developing tools to analyze and measure people’s nutrient levels.“Decades in the future, all companies will probably have to be doing it,” said Jon Cox, an analyst at Kepler Cheuvreux. “The industry has probably had a setback as consumers also want natural and less processed products while adding supplements is seen as artificial or creating Frankenstein food.”Some nutritionists are skeptical that tailored diet plans based around supplements are useful and that they may have more of a psychological effect than a medical one.“Nestle’s program is designed to personalize diets in ways unlikely to be necessary,” said Marion Nestle, a nutrition professor at New York University who isn’t linked to the KitKat maker. “If we think something will make us healthier, we are likely to feel healthier.”Genetics and AIOne of the early adopters among the food companies was Campbell Soup Co., which invested $32 million in 2016 in San Francisco-based startup Habit, which uses DNA and blood profiles to make diet recommendations, as well as offering nutritional coaching and tailored meal-kits.Big Food is tapping expertise in AI and genetics to navigate a sea change in the way consumers make choices, which has upended businesses from transportation to television.“In the 21st century, innovation is using the internet and AI to solve problems that our customers didn’t realize they had, or problems they had given up on,” said Takaoka, who is famous in Japan for making the KitKat chocolate wafer an iconic local snack by adding green tea and other flavors.He said big consumer companies can no longer rely on the power of their brands to woo a generation that grew up with e-commerce.“They just search for things, they don’t pick the brand,” he said. “When people talk about brand marketing, I’m just thinking ‘what’s that?’”Kale SmoothiesHitomi Kasuda, a 47-year-old freelance writer, says drinking Nestle’s kale smoothie and other health drinks as much as four times a week helps her feel better about not eating enough vegetables. She gave up using the chat function on the app, but said she’s keen to get the DNA test.“There’s probably a lot of things I don’t realize about my health that I can discover in a blood and genetics test,” said Kasuda, who lives south of Tokyo in Yokohama. “Even if I feel healthy, I’d like to know more about the quality of my health.”In his 2016 book “Nutrition for a Better Life,” former Nestle chief Peter Brabeck-Letmathe proposed that personalized diet and health programs were the future of nutrition. “Using a capsule similar to a Nespresso, people will be able to take individual nutrient cocktails or prepare their food via 3-D printers according to electronically recorded health recommendations,” he wrote.Two years later, Japanese subscribers in the wellness program now drink nutrient-fortified teas dispensed in capsules using a product similar to Nespresso, Nestle’s trademark coffee machine.“We’re getting consumer buy-in because we live in a hedonistic, me-first kind of world,” said Peter Jones, a nutritional scientist at the University of Manitoba in Canada. “This is going to be the manifestation of the future. The one-size-fits-all platform is a thing of the past.”

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Copper production dips 47%, imports surge 233%

The closure of Sterlite’s copper smelter in Tuticorin has resulted in a steep fall in refined copper production in the country during the first quarter (Q1) of 2018-19 (FY19). Production slumped 47.1% year-on-year (y-o-y) to 109 kilo tonnes (KT) during the quarter. The sharp decrease in production has led to a domino effect — a strong increase in the country’s copper imports and a fall in exports.Import of copper has surged 233% to 10 KT (one kilo tonne equals 1000 tonnes) during the quarter. Incidentally, India used to be a net exporter of refined copper. Exports plunged 91.6% y-o-y to a mere 7 KT during Q1 of 2018-19. Interestingly, exports had increased by 70.1% in Q1 of 2017-18 when imports fell by 69.9%.India imported refined copper from Japan (66% share), Congo (22%), Switzerland (5%), Tanzania (5%), South American countries (1%) and UAE (1%) and exported refined copper to China (58%), South Korea (30%), Bangladesh (6%) and Malaysia (6%) during Q1 of FY19.Global copper prices have risen by 21.6% y-o-y during Q1 of FY19. LME (London Metal Exchange) prices of copper were volatile during the quarter due to trade tensions between China and the US. Prices of copper had risen during the first week of June when the verdict — of permanent closure of Vedanta’s Sterlite smelter — was announced.65603796 The share of India’s copper exports to China has decreased — from 63% during Q1 of FY18 to 58% in Q1 of FY19. The share of imports from Japan has increased from 33% to 66% during the timeframe.Sterlite’s Tuticorin smelter, with a production capacity of 4 lakh tonnes per annum, accounted for nearly 40% of the country’s copper smelting capacity.Production in Hindustan Copper (HCL) and Hindalco’s copper smelting arm, the other copper producing units in the country, was also restrained in Q1 of FY19 due to the shutdown of their smelters for maintenance purposes. India’s refined copper production stood at 843 KT during FY18. The production is estimated to touch 510 KT in FY19.

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India Inc seeks more rural salesmen

It’s the ‘Great Hinterland Rush’. As companies push ahead with their expansion into tier-2 and -3 cities, demand for experienced sales and consumer-facing personnel is going through the roof. Such professionals — at all experience levels — are suddenly the most sought after by non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), retail and e-commerce entities, which are in expansion mode beyond urban India.Companies and recruitment professionals add that as purchasing power improves among tier-2 customers, sale of consumer durables — and, hence, their financing — is seeing an uptick in these markets. Peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform Faircent’s CEO Rajat Gandhi said, “There is an immediate demand for sales roles and we face challenges in finding people who are at ease in transitioning into a new sector.”Specialist staffing firm Xpheno sees a demand of 2,000-4,000 sales professionals in each sector every month. Xpheno CEO Kamal Karanth said, “Besides expansion, companies must also take into account the high attrition levels among consumer-facing sales personnel. As a result, even sectors like pharma see an increased demand for sales staff. And requirement is expected to go up, especially during the upcoming festive season.”Recruiters add that the attrition rate among sales professionals is as high as 40%, owing to employees riding the expansion mode of finance and retail companies to hop jobs in search of growth and better salaries. Those with experience of two years or more are in demand. Management consultant services firm Kelly Services’ MD B N Thammaiah said, “There is a 15% increase in the money sales professionals can make in the new pockets. While fixed costs remain pretty much the same, incentives are higher. Those with an acumen for sales and knowledge of the topography of different cities are in demand.”65603689 “But not all urban professionals can work in a tier-2 set-up,” added Thammaiah.

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For next 10 years, big players to come from small town India

The big story lies in firms like La Opala, Astral Poly, Greenlam and Kajaria transforming themselves from Rs 150-200 crore to Rs 3,000-10,000 65603155 65594704 65593550 crore companies over 10 years and they are going to change the construction of BSE 500, Saurabh Mukherjea, Founder, Marcellus Investment Managers, tells ET Now. Edited excerpts:The choice of the firm’s name is very interesting. It is Muhammad Ali’s middle name so you so he was Cassius Marcellus Clay and Marcellus also means little warrior. I may not be little anymore but I thought it is a good name to begin a new career with. But investing is all about keeping patience in long term and a boxer slugs out for about three-four minutes in the ring. It is smash and grab. But Muhammad Ali was the only man to win back the world title five times over the course of 15 years. So, a long, very successful career. What is happening in the market? It is not that all the concerns in the world are over. It is rare to see a record high on the Nifty and a new low on rupee! In a way, the divergence is helping. It is clear that a weaker rupee has helped the IT sector and it is now helping the pharma sector. If you look at Q1 results, the sector which produced the biggest earnings surprises was pharma. If you look at the last four quarters, IT was the sector which is consistently surprised in the upside with earnings. And this will carry on as the rupee heads from 71 to 75 type mark.IT and pharma are big winners. Auto ancillaries with export franchises, firms like Balkrishna which I saw you guys flashed up or an MM Forgings, have 60-70% of the earnings coming from abroad. Auto ancillaries will also benefit. So, a weaker rupee is good for the market. It will help companies with big export franchises benefit. But more generally, the economy is chugging along reasonably well. Consumption, even the lighter end of capital goods such as cement spending is picking up and that will continue till election. The main concern for me remains the BFSI sector. Valuations are stratospheric. Whether it is the banks or housing finance. These are unbelievable valuations in a rising interest rate, rising inflation environment. It is a very worrisome combination for BFSI. That is 40% of the market. Absolutely. Which means 40% of the market is not looking good. If the heart of the market is not pumping or beating, that means there is trouble. The index does look overvalued because BFSI is a good 20-30% overvalued. And the history is very clear. Every time monetary policy in America tightens – 2006, 2008, 2013 – the cost of money in America goes up, Bankex corrects 30% to 35% in six to seven months. So the writing is on the wall . With oil rising, inflation picking up, another two rate hikes from the RBI this side of the election looking likely, it is high time for people to think about their exposure to BFSI, particularly housing finance companies. It is the sharp end of the BFSI conundrum. You in your latest note talked about creative destruction in the Indian market and rightly so, taking a leaf out of your own note -- be it roads, phones, internet companies, low cost flights, destruction is just about everywhere. But where is that undiscovered destruction which is either waiting to take place or has not been discovered fully by the market? One of the most interesting stories in India in the last decade has been the rise of smaller towns in India. Cities like Ludhiana, Coimbatore, Pune have grown enormously. They have become very prosperous and the more I go into that world, I realise that the rise in connectivity, better roads, telecom, electricity is helping small town India boom.What you are getting is a whole slug of regional players who are expanding their ambit, and they are gradually becoming national players. Three examples would be La Opala, Astral Poly and Greenlam. If I go back 10 years, market cap of firms like La Opala or Astral Poly would be Rs 150-200 crore. Now La Opala m-cap is Rs 3,000 crore, Astral Poly is Rs 9,000-10,000 crore. You can throw Kajaria in the mix as well. These firms which were Rs 150-200 crore 10 years ago now have market cap anywhere between Rs 3,000-10,000 crore, driven by their ability to transform from regional players to national players. That is the story I am seeing getting replicated across numerous sectors whether it is in B2C or in B2B. That is going to be the big story of the next 10 years. Half the firms on BSE 500 that we see today, will not be there anymore and a new bunch 250 to 300 new firms will come into that.That is the churn to play for. The change in a way is not so much in Mumbai or Delhi or Bangalore. The change is a little far away and that is where the really exciting opportunities are. The markets are at record high and typically at a time like this there is usually a slew of IPOs hitting the market. But you are talking about the IPO pipeline drying up at a time when the markets are at record highs or rupee at a record low. So I am not so sure that the IPO pipeline itself will be the big source of opportunities. If I look back the IPO of the last couple of years, really good IPOs. But burgeoning IPO market reflects that the markets in general are moving towards froth and that may not be the case this time. The IPO market in a way has peaked. The IPO frenzy peaked around six-seven months ago. We are tapering out. Private equity is the main driver of IPOs. It is not so much promoters saying we need to run to the stock market and cash out at the top, it is more private equity which is driving it. The classic sign of a market top is a very narrow market which we have for better or for worst today. There is a narrow market driven by six or seven stocks. And, so you have got BFSI at full throttle, making up for 40% of the market. No sector in India has been so much in the Nifty. A narrow range of leaders and monetary policy tightening both at home and abroad would suggest that the overall market looks toppy but underneath that toppy market, is creative destruction where well run small companies are coming through very strongly. Take a company like MM Forgings. It is not a front-line auto ancillary player but steady 10- year numbers, a solid franchise in forgings, two-thirds of the revenues coming from exports, rupee weakening -- those firms should be the things to look out for. You say you are excited about owning small companies which could become big companies in the B2C segment. Give me an example of disruption in the B2C segment. For example, there is a firm called Amrutanjan which makes balm. It is a great company. They are very strong in Odisha, Bengal and south India. They are so strong that the Zandus and the Vicks of the world have not been able to dislodge them. Market cap is about Rs 800-900 crore. The land that they own itself is around a third to half of the market cap. ROCEs are 20-21% or 15-20% growth and have, steady regional franchise. Now, will the promoters scale it up and build a pan-India franchise? I have not got an unequivocal yes from him at the moment but a brand like Amrutanjan in the new networked India has several opportunities. Whether it is because of organic growth or because say a cash generative FMCG major says I need to expand my south India franchise, whichever way you cut it, these sorts of firms look very tasty to me. There is very little debt on the balance sheet and so you are not dealing with indebted, high debt equity stories. You are dealing with cash generatives, a mini version of coffee can. Firms who have good five-six years and who look to have the potential to give you 10-20X over the next 10 years. They have moved into juices and female hygiene. You are very well informed. What they are doing is they are taking the same channel that they have built and they are selling more through their channel. My reckoning is they both will try to take a leaf out of Vicks and Zandu’s playbook plus they will try to pump more through the channel. Now small firms like this will make one or two mistakes along the way. But if the underlying capital allocation is sensible and ROCE is strong, you got a very powerful earnings engine there which can create wealth. That is why I cited firms like La Opala, Astral and Kajaria as examples of just how much wealth a well-run small company can generate. But tell me a little bit more about your coffee can style of investing. How is it that you pick out these emerging champions? Is there a methodology to it? There are two anomalies in the Indian market which allow you to make money consistently. One is the coffee can and sitting in this chair, I explained how we look back at the last 10 years look for 10% revenue growth and 15% ROC. But when you go into the world below the BSE 500, you do not really have small companies with such stellar track records. What you are looking for is over five-six years have these firms grown the business whether it is in revenues or business they have over the last five-six years. Has the growth been profitable? Have profit margins improved as the businesses scaled up? And has the growth come from internal funding rather than having to rely on QIPs and bank debt? If these three criteria are met -- consistent growth, self-funded growth and growth accompanied by margin expansion and profitability expansion I tend to get very interested. There was a bunch of meetings with management. I tracked people who know the company, distributors, dealers and got a fix on the quality of the management. At any given point in time, there are around 15 to 30 companies who comfortably fit into this slot and interestingly very few of them come to Mumbai for broker conferences or for TV studio interviews. This means people like me can discover them and quietly build a position.What do you like about Page Industries at these levels? Page continues to be a coffee can counter. It was my first book four years ago. It has given about 30X in 10 years and perpetually there is this concern that it is overvalued and tomorrow morning it will correct and we will lose our shirts. It may not even correct. It is just like why would I go in for Page Industries? It is the classic story of a firm which came out of nowhere 25 years ago and built a pan India brand and in the undergarment space, it is not obvious to me if anybody else is remotely close to this company. They started with women innerwear, men innerwear, kids and now lounge wear. They are consistently growing the business into adjacencies and ROCE are approaching 50%. It remains a holding for me. I have a remained a steadfast fan. I know it is expensive but coffee can franchises have this ability to give you 200X over 20 years and I would rather hold out for that than cash in early.

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Hotel companies may draw investors with earnings looking up

ET Intelligence Group: Hotel stocks have not been able to earn meaningful returns over the past year. That, however, may change given the early signs of a turnaround in the form of rising occupancy and higher room rates, which may bring these stocks back on the investors’ radar.The occupancy rate and average room rates (ARR) are rising once again after stagnation in Q3 and Q4 of FY18. Occupancy rates improved by 65-70 per cent year-on-year in Q1 of the current financial year from levels of 58-65 per cent over the past three years. ARR improved by 5-7 per cent.According to analysts’ estimates, this raised the revenue per available room by Rs 6,152-6,200. As a result, majority of the hotel companies recorded double-digit revenue growth in Q1.In addition, demand looks upbeat. According to the research firm STR Global, demand for hotels grew by 4.8 per cent in the past six months year-onyear, faster than the 3 per cent growth in the room supply.65602989 Rajiv Bharati, hotels analyst at IndiaNivesh Institutional Equities said, “Now, price hike is a key factor for earnings’ growth of hotels. Hotels across sizes are reaping good business as demand cycle is improving. Today, we are seeing sustainable, well-negotiated and almost guaranteed business from the corporate sector, which is ensuring high revenue growth for hotels.”ICICI Securities expects a boost to room rates due to higher domestic travel spends and tourism initiatives by the government. “We expect occupancy levels to improve further due to rise in spending by domestic travellers. In addition, with improved tourism measures by the government, we expect the sector to see a better growth trajectory and healthy pricing in the next 3-4 years, “ it said in a report.The premium hotels category will also benefit from the change in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime where tax will be charged on actual rates rather than the tariff rate range set by the GST Council.It is estimated that every 1 per cent rise in room rates translates into 5 per cent rise in operating profit before depreciation (EBITDA. To capture this early phase of improving demand cycle, it makes sense for investors to look at hotel companies that are focused on Mumbai and Delhi as these two cities capture the improving demand situation better. These are Indian Hotels, EIH, and Asian Hotels (West).

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Cognizant expands operations in Texas

Cognizant said it has opened an new delivery centre in the US state of Texas that will create 1,100 jobs.The Teaneck, New Jersey-headquartered company said it invested more than $8 million on its current expansion in Irving and qualified fora$2 million grant from the Texas Enterprise Fund."Our latest expansion is the result of Texas' business-friendly environment, the Texas Enterprise Fund, and the location of our many other partners in the Irving and Dallas region. As one of the largest technology recruiters and employers in the United States, Cognizant cares deeply about our country's workers and their sustained ability to keep pace globally as technology races ahead,” Karen McLoughlin, Chief Financial Officer, Cognizant.The new centre will also house a training facility and Cognizant said it expects to train 1,000 people over the next 36 months.

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Pre-placement offers at IITs set for record high this year

KOLKATA: There seems to be a rush to snap up the brightest talent much before competition heats up among recruiters during final placements, going by a spike in pre-placement offers across Indian Institutes of Technology — the offers are set to hit an all-time high this year.It’s early days yet — pre-placement offers (PPOs) continue coming in till November before the start of final placements — but IITs such as Kharagpur, Delhi, Bombay and BHU (Varanasi) have already attracted upwards of 100 job offers each, campus officials said. At other IITs, including Patna and Gandhinagar, the PPO numbers are up to 50% higher than the same time last year, they said. Pre-placement offers — given by companies to students who have completed two-month internship with them — mark a great start to the upcoming placement season, officials said.“It looks like we will have a good placement season,” said Manu Santhanam, advisor, training and placement, at IIT Madras. Amarnath Hegde, professor-incharge of training and placements at IIT Patna, said that after an “overwhelming” response from industry, “we are very optimistic about the hiring trends in 2018-19”. IIT-BHU, with113 offers so far, has already crossed last year’s total tally of 101 PPOs. IIT Gandhinagar, too, has crossed last year’s total tally with 50% jump in number of PPOs so far.IIT Kharagpur had attracted 102-plus offers till Monday while the number stands at 108-plus in the case of IIT Delhi. IIT Madras has so far bagged 91 offers, up 34% from the same time last year. Several multinationals and Indian companies, including Microsoft, Walmart, Nutanix, Tower Research, Texas Instruments, Goldman Sachs, Qualcomm, DE Shaw, Fidelity, Citi Corp, Bajaj, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and Wipro, have already made pre-placement offers across institutes. Wipro made pre-placement offers to half the IIT students who did their summer internship at the company. “This is a better process of selecting the right talent,” said Ayaskant Sarangi, senior vice-president, HR at the Bengaluru-based IT services company. “Internships allow us to observe them over a 2-3 month time-frame as compared to a 30-minute campus interview,” he said.Several companies made early offers in some campuses for the first time. Walmart, Bajaj and OYO have offered PPOs for the first time at IIT-BHU, while GE Digital, NVIDIA, Salesforce, Mercari Japan and CodeNation have made their PPO debut at IIT Kharagpur. Mercari and Yes Bank made their first pre-placement offers at IIT Madras; Samsung R&D, Mathworks and Fujifilm Software did it at IIT Patna; and JSW at IIT Gandhinagar. Startups, too, are in the market. IIT Delhi, for instance, has got 14 PPOs from eight startup companies till now. CodeNation — which has offered a package of Rs 31 lakh at some campuses — said it has made offers to 15 of the 17 students who interned with it. “We wish to have 25-30 interns for the summer of 2019 and convert them into PPOs,” said a spokesperson for the company.Abhay Raj Singh Gautam, head, career development services at IIT Gandhinagar, said the institute expects “more PPOs this year than any year in the past” in a testimony to the fact that it’s not just the older IITs, but also the newer ones, that are seeing the surge. Many companies prefer PPOs to final campus placements, because in this process interns get adequate time of 6-8 weeks to work in the company offices, understanding the work environment and culture. “This means more time for the company to understand the student from a cultural compatibility and capability perspective,” said Sameer Wadhawan, head, HR, Samsung India.“It also gives time to students to understand the work environment and the people around. This leads to more successful hiring and larger offer acceptance as it is an informed decision by both stakeholders.”

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Johnson & Johnson’s India case could be just hip of the iceberg

Former Maharashtra Food & Drug Administration Commissioner Mahesh Zagade, who first initiated investigations into Johnson & Johnson’s faulty hip implants in 2011, has accused the office of the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) of dragging its feet in taking action against the company despite enough evidence.In a telephonic interview to ET, Zagade also questioned the basis on which the drug controller’s office re-issued the import licence for the articular surface replacement (ASR) hip implants even though the company had voluntarily recalled the product in 2010.Documents on the drug controller’s website show the DCGI’s office issued a recall notice in India in December 2013, three years after the official withdrawal by the company.The former Maharashtra FDA commissioner’s assertion comes when the health ministry said it is “deliberating” findings of an expert committee, which found J&J had provided misleading information about faults of its hip replacement products. 65584548 “If the product was recalled all over the world, how did the licensing authorities give the import licence for the product in India? The government machinery was also responsible,” said Zagade.During several consultative meetings in 2012 and 2013, Zagade explained to the then DCGI, GN Singh, both informally and formally, about the seriousness of the matter, which had already led J&J to pay compensation to patients who experienced adverse effects after the replacement.“I told the DCGI at least patients here should be found and sent for re-surgery. But the response of DCGI was not forthcoming,” Zagade said.An email sent to the DCGI office on their role in issuing import licence to the company remained unanswered.The controversy dates back to 2010, when DePuy Orthopaedics, a J&J subsidiary, withdrew all ASR hip implants that it had imported since 2003, after a UK study found the device had a high failure rate.In India, it was the Maharashtra FDA that first asked J&J to find the patients and refer them for revision surgery. When the company said it couldn’t find the patients, the FDA filed a criminal case against it and later recommended that the case be taken up by the central investigative agencies considering the seriousness of the issue.Given that the role of government bodies including the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation and other state FDA and licensing authorities needed to be probed, Zagade had sought the involvement of larger investigative authorities.His sentiments were echoed by some patients who received the implants and had either suffered disabilities or had to undergo revision surgeries.J&J had “immediately informed the DCGI about the voluntary recall,” the company had said last week in response to ET’s queries.In an response to ET, J&J said it does not, have access to data on patients who have received an ASR hip implant due to patient confidentiality regulations."As ASR patient data is maintained by surgeons and hospitals, DePuy has been actively requesting that surgeons and hospitals reach out to their ASR patients to ensure awareness. Efforts to support ASR patients and their surgeons have been a top priority for us, and we have sent several communications to surgeons who implanted ASR hips, informing them of the recall, available support, clinical and scientific support information and the reimbursement process". a J&J spokesperson said in an response to ET. Zagade, who headed the state FDA from September 2011to August 2014, said the re-emergence of the issue, which his office initially took up for investigation, makes him feel vindicated. The fresh furore over the hip implants broke out after an expert committee is said to have found that J&J deliberately misled the authorities.Zagade had another word of caution: he said the formation of the committee does not have a legal mandate and the government may not have any power to enforce its recommendations. This is dilly-dallying by the government, he claimed, adding that there are enough provisions under the drugs and cosmetics laws to prosecute the offenders.The committee's report was made available late on Tuesday, following a letter to health minister JP Nadda on Monday by five patients and their families seeking access to the executive committee’s report. They demanded participation in “any further deliberations” on action that the government plans to take in this matter.“In spite of our attempts over several years to draw attention to the serious safety concerns with the ASR hip implant device... the response from the government for years was one of apathy and dismissiveness,” according to the letter, which ET has reviewed.The committee’s proposed compensation of up to Rs 20 lakh per patient, based on the degree of their disability, is insufficient and would only add “insult to serious injury,” according to the five patients.“We have suffered severe consequences – medical, financial and personal – because of the hip implant and have been forced to lead severely compromised lives,” they told the minister.

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How Paytm won Buffett's love on V-Day

BENGALURU: It was in the first week of February that Vijay Shekhar Sharma, who was at Paytm’s technology development office in Toronto, got a call from Mark Schwartz, Goldman Sachs Asia chairman and an independent director on his company’s board. Schwartz told him he had just met Todd Combs, one of the top investment managers at Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, and that Combs was keen to know more about Paytm. “Are you in this part of the world anytime soon?” Schwartz asked Sharma. The Paytm CEO did not skip a beat. A meeting was fixed in Omaha on Valentine’s Day, February 14.Sharma brought along Schwartz and another board member, SAIF Partners’ Ravi Adusumalli. Adusumalli’s firm has been an investor in Paytm for over a decade, from when it was a mobile valued-added services company. Sharma describes Adusumalli as “as much a cofounder” of Paytm as him. Schwartz, who is also vice chairman of Goldman Sachs, was critical in building the trust between Paytm and Berkshire.The meeting lasted about two hours. The four discussed what was happening in India, how payment networks across the world work, how mobile was winning in China and India, and how mobile-led payment networks will become bigger than traditional networks. But no presentation was made and no laptop was opened during the conversation.“We also told him that we are an old company, and how we transitioned from a telecom operator-led company to a consumer-focused company,” 40-year-old Sharma told ET about the meeting. Paytm-owner One97 Communications was founded in 2000. “We also told him about how the (core) team has remained the same… Our company has always believed that it is people whom you trust and who are hardworking who pull off things, not the domain experts.”Combs asked Sharma to send all the annual reports of One97 Communications, which launched Paytm in 2010, to him. A few weeks later, in March, Combs called back.This time, he had specific questions about the landscape, competitors, risks and challenges, and even profitability. This was followed by another call, after which the investment size and valuation were finalised. Paytm’s numbers must have been compelling: For the next 12 months, the company’s target is to double its gross transaction value to $100 billion on an annualised basis. It is also looking to double its merchant base to 16 million.A DIFFERENT KIND OF BETThe deal has caught many by surprise, as until a few years ago Berkshire had stayed away from technology companies. This changed with its huge bet on Apple, a highly profitable and listed company. While Berkshire did try to invest in Uber earlier this year, it has stayed away from private technology companies or Unicorns, which typically spend investor capital to gain market share at the cost of profitability.Many feel Berkshire’s Paytm investment is a different kind of a bet. “This is not a bet on cash flows but on growth. Money transfer is a critical network business and as India grows, Paytm will grow faster than the market,” said Anand Lunia, managing partner at venture capital firm India Quotient. Berkshire is familiar with this model as it is a shareholder in payment companies like American Express, Mastercard, and Visa besides banks like Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs.“This investment validates the fact that India is a great market and discounting and losses as a strategy are ok in the early life of a company.”After sealing the deal terms, Sharma started informing other key shareholders, first updating Joseph Tsai of Alibaba and then Eric Jing of Ant Financial, both of whom collectively hold over 40% in One97 Communications. SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son heard about the deal first from Buffett himself at the exclusive Sun Valley conference in the US in July. “Masa was smiling when I met him,” recalled Sharma.As ET reported on Monday, Berkshire is picking up a 3-4% stake in Paytm for ?2,000-2,500 crore at a valuation of $10 billion. Sharma declined to share specifics of the transaction.“It brings to our capitalisation table the best breed of investors in the world, while at the same we also have a very small set of shareholders. This allows us to run a company tightly towards the mission… there is no IPO pressure,” he said.NO TOKEN INVESTMENTCombs, who was instrumental in putting together a healthcare joint venture between Berkshire, Amazon and JP Morgan, will join the eight-member Paytm board, replacing Amit Singhal. An MBA from Columbia Business School, Comb has been with Berkshire since 2010 and is also a director in JP Morgan and Duracell.Venture capital investors said Combs joining Paytm’s board underlines that this is not a token investment for Berkshire and that it will want a bigger piece as Paytm does better.Berkshire’s entry makes it clear that Paytm is looking to chart a longterm path as an independent company and is not seeking an acquisition exit, while also making sure it is not dependent on one investor, said a venture capital investor.“This changes the nature of the company. Regulatory concerns will go away because as a financial institution there is no better shareholder than Warren Buffett. The narrative of (Paytm being a) Chinese company will go away as these are American board members,” said this investor, requesting anonymity.The Reserve Bank of India recently asked Paytm Payments Bank to stop adding new customers due to issues with its e-KYC process. The company is also looking for a third CEO for its payments bank, after Shinjini Kumar quit last year and Renu Satti was moved to another unit in Paytm last month.While Paytm continues to be the market leader in the payments space, it faces competition from well-funded rivals including Flipkart-owned Phonepe, Amazon Pay, and Google Pay.This is expected to get exacerbated with the entry of Reliance Jio and WhatsApp Pay. Sharma has been vocal against WhatsApp Pay, saying it has got favourable treatment.“His biggest problem was WhatsApp. Unless they get a truly get a CEO who can make a difference I feel that this whole battle will be won by Paytm,” said the founder of a company in the payments space who did not want to be named. “Some of the newer services (Sharma) has launched, like Paytm Money, have started seeing results.”Vijay Shekhar Sharma, meanwhile, has another goal in mind: To put together a board meeting that includes Alibaba’s Jack Ma, SoftBank’s Son and, of course, Buffett, whom he is yet to meet.

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A ripoff is giving Starbucks hard time in India

NEW DELHI: Ever been to a Sardarbuksh for a coffee? Now’s the time if you haven’t because if the Delhi High Court rules against New Delhi-based entrepreneurs being sued by Starbucks, the Sardarbuksh brand will be history. But maybe, you can have your coffee at Sardarji-Buksh.Starbucks, the US-headquartered global coffee chain that reinvented coffee branding, was not amused when Sardarbuksh opened for business in five outlets in Delhi, with not just a name that the Seattle-based company found to be “deceptively similar” to its own but also a logo that it felt was too close to its globally famous brand image.Suit was duly filed in Delhi High Court, and the court in its interim order on August 1asked the local defendants to change their chain’s brand name to Sardarji-Buksh, and change its logo as well. “We will address any infringement to our brand, including trademarks,” a Starbucks spokesperson said in an emailed response to ET’s queries. “We always prefer to resolve trademark disputes informally and amicably whenever possible, and to prevent confusion among customers.” Starbucks entered India through a joint venture with Tata Group in 2012.The local company’s upcoming 30 outlets will sport the new branding, while the five older outlets will carry the Sardarbuksh branding till the court’s final verdict. The next hearing is on September 18.Sandeep Singh Kalra, one of the two partners of Sardarbuksh, told ET his company had changed its logo last year after it got a legal notice from Starbucks objecting to it.SUIT FILED IN JULYHe said an internal team had designed the new logo. Then in July, the Seattle coffee chain giant filed the suit. Rohit Kamboj, the other partner, said his brand name has nothing to do with that of Starbucks. Kamboj said he and his partner have never been to a Starbucks outlet before naming his firm. He insists the name is a simple amalgamation of Sardar and Buksh.Starbucks runs 28,000 outlets in 70 countries. There are 125 Starbucks-branded outlets in the country. And if India produced Sardarbuksh, can Pakistan be far behind? Indeed, Pakistan was there earlier — in 2013, a Pakistani businessman opened a Sattarbucks café with logo that was different from that of Starbucks and in that a bearded gentleman replaced the lady.Local entrepreneurs with a seemingly flexible notion of trademarks, have encountered big company action in other occasions, too. In 2015, Ludhiana-based street vendor Ravinder Pal Singh Babbar, who operated Mr Singh Burger King, changed the brand to Mr Singh Food King after US-based Burger King dragged the street vendor to court.But the Sardarbuksh v Starbucks battle may be tougher. Kalra said his company is prepared to fight it out for the brand name in the court. Law firm SS Rana is handling the Starbucks case, while a battery of senior lawyers are appearing for Sardarbuksh. There’s more storm in this coffee mug.

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Rupee hits record low of 70.42 against US dollar

NEW DELHI: The domestic currency plunged to an all-time low of 70.52 against the greenback on Wednesday. the domestic unit has emerged as the worst performing Asian currency in 2018, with a fall of 9.82 per cent YTD.It had opened 22 paise lower at 70.32 against the US dollar. The domestic currency on Tuesday bounced back in tepid fashion from record closing low, gaining 6 paise to end at 70.10, largely tracking bearish dollar cues overseas.Official data showed foreign direct investment in India grew by 23 per cent to $12.75 billion during the April-June quarter of 2018-19. A report said that the foreign fund inflows would help finance the current account deficit (CAD) which is expected to widen to 2.8 per cent of the GDP in 2018-19, PTI reported. The 10-year benchmark bond yield on Tuesday ended at 7.90 per cent.In the cross-currency trade, the rupee recovered against the Japanese yen to finish at 63.10 per 100 yens from 63.16 earlier.On the global front, oil markets were stable on Wednesday, buoyed by falling supplies from Iran ahead of US sanctions but held in check by rising production outside the OPEC countries, Reuters reported.Asian share markets were left in limbo as optimism over the US-Mexico trade deal was quickly replaced by caution ahead of a looming deadline on tariffs with China.

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Glenmark inks licensing pact for generic Tiotropium Bromide dry powder inhaler in Western Europe

NEW DELHI: Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Europe has entered into a strategic, exclusive licensing agreement for marketing generic Tiotropium Bromide dry powder inhaler, used in the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, in Western Europe. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals EVP & Business Head of Europe and Latin America Achin Gupta said, respiratory is a core area of focus for Glenmark and this deal shows our commitment to increase product offerings within this segment. "There is significant opportunity in the inhalers market and we believe that this deal will give further impetus to Glenmark's growth in Europe," he added. This is the second inhalation product in-licensed by Glenmark for the European market after Fluticasone/Salmeterol dry powder inhaler, the company said. Tiotropium Bromide DPI is a generic version of Boehringer Ingelheim's Spiriva Handihaler. Quoting IQVIA data, Glenmark said Boehringer Ingelheim's Spiriva Handihaler recorded sales of USD 724 million in the European Union in the 12 month period ended March 2018. Shares of Glenmark Pharma were trading 0.85 per cent higher at Rs 648.85 on BSE.

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FTA misuse by China hitting us: Stainless steel industry

NEW DELHI: A surge in imports from China and countries with which India has signed free trade agreements (FTAs) is heaping misery on the domestic stainless steel manufacturers, prompting them to seek more permanent measures to stem inflows.Given the scale of the problem, government has attempted several steps such as imposing anti-dumping duties, countervailing duties, quality control and anti-circumvention measures but the problem persists, say steel makers.Studies conducted by the industry have shown that despite the measures undertaken by the government to stem dumping of steel, imports account for nearly 20 per cent of the domestic market. Excess capacity in China and in countries such as Japan and Korea and their attention to the Indian market is posing a stiff challenge to the domestic steel makers.“It has become a huge problem. Jobs are getting lost and causing tremendous disruption. It is being dumped via Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Indonesia using the FTA route,” said Abhyuday Jindal, MD of Jindal Stainless (Hisar). He said earlier around 800-1,000 tonnes used to be dumped, but between January to May this year about 6,000 tonnes have already come in. 65586333 New capacities in Indonesia riding on the back of Chinese investments also pose a threat to the domestic market.Domestic manufacturers say the market for stainless steel is limited in Indonesia and the new capacity that is being added could be headed for India. The ongoing trade war between the US and China has also added an element of uncertainty. They are now demanding that steel should be excluded from FTAs that India has signed.State-run SAIL is also confronting the challenge from a surge in imports and sources said the global trade spat has witnessed diversion of products in the mild steel segment.Domestic players also say that the investment of nearly Rs 35,000 crore could be in jeopardy due to “dumping, subsidised imports and tariff benefits under FTAs.” The stainless steel sector also has a large chunk in the unorganised sector. Trade experts said the problem is significant but doubted the theory that Chinese steel was being dumped through countries with whom India has FTAs as there are adequate rules of origin built in within FTA agreements.Rules of origin are the criteria needed to determine the national source of a product, according to WTO definition. It says that their importance is derived from the fact that duties and restrictions in several cases depend upon the source of imports.“The yuan has depreciated more than the rupee and the Chinese are past masters in manipulating the currency and that’s why the imports are going up,” said Biswajit Dhar, professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, when asked about the sharp surge in Chinese and other steel imports.He said the government needs to adopt a medium term strategy to deal with the issue rather than resorting to short term measures such as imposing different duties. Dhar said the government should set up a forum to address the problems of the industry.Chinese players also enjoy several advantages compared to Indian industry in terms of lower power, logistics and interest costs and access to better grade of coking coal, domestic steel players say.Domestic players say that there should be no tariff concessions for China at least on steel and want the government to have a re-look at the FTAs with Korea and Japan.They also want the government to accelerate the process of imposing anti-dumping duties, which now takes two years from filing the application to imposition of duty.

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4 must-buy stock ideas from Amit Khurana of Dolat Capital

Two high conviction themes that Amit Khurana, Director, Research, Dolat Capital, suggests to ET Now are corporate banks and consumer 65587127 65576375 65572145 durables. Khurana is bullish on Balkrishna, ACC, ITC and Tech Mahindra.Edited excerpts: When it comes to pharma we are programmed to think of generics and within generics, we tend to connect the dots with US markets. But at a time when there is a raging bull run in consumption dominated themes, does it make sense to align with MNC pharma companies? For example, a Pfizer has certain advantage in certain drug categories, Abbot has a huge advantage in thyroid medicine, Glaxo has a big advantage in skincare and other products.No doubt, these companies have their own product advantages and own niche areas but I am not very confident of saying that they would be the preferred business models that I would like to suggest versus some of the other Indian players which have reasonably good distribution.If the choice is between Indian pharma companies catering to domestic markets and the MNC pharma companies, it has got to be a basket approach depending upon the strength of the business model. Some of the MNC pharma companies are not cheap, in spite of their underperformance over the last few years. Even at lower levels, they were not cheap models and they have their own challenges. Therefore one has got to be very stock specific when one looks at MNC pharma as a space. The takeaway is that the growth of the domestic market looks better from here onwards. For the pharma companies, the volume trajectory should be relatively better off and hopefully the pricing pressure should not be as much as we have seen because of the regulation or other factors. To that extent, the market is probably readjusting its valuations and outlook and we are seeing this kind of an uptick of late.How are you positioning yourself on IT stocks right now, especially the largecaps?We have been fairly positive on IT for the last few months. The trajectory is supportive both on the currency front as well as the business environment front. While we remain positive on largecap IT, we feel HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra will be the two stocks which would post relatively better returns and better earnings trajectory from here onwards. This is not to say that we are negative about others but a fair amount of optimism and performance which is likely to play out is captured in valuations and therefore our preferred picks in largecap IT space are HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra. We feel that their business trajectory will be relatively better off. For HCL in particular, the concerns around the core business which have played out over the last few quarters will dissipate from here onwards and the trajectory for earnings should be relatively better. Similarly, for Tech Mahindra, concerns about the operating margin being under pressure, has played out reasonably well and from here onwards, the trajectory should be far better. Both these stocks are at reasonable discounts to the leaders and we see a significant headroom for these to rerate over next three to four quarters.Give me a list of your top two or three ideas that you would like your clients to buy?Balkrishna is one of our top picks for the next one year. The capacity expansion will play out reasonably well. Their distribution network is expanding into the key markets of the US and Europe. That is one name which I wanted to highlight and we are extremely bullish about that going forward. Of course, being a net exporter, the rupee depreciation going forward definitely is a very big tailwind for this company.The other thing I wanted to highlight is that we have gone in favour of pan India mode and north and other region focussed companies versus south cement companies. Over the next three to four quarters, the trajectory for companies outside of south looks far better considering the pricing environment will be a little more supportive and therefore we are recommending ACC as one of the new additions to our preferred picks list. The other one which I already mentioned was on IT services where we have increased our weightage of Tech Mahindra as the new entrant. Most of the other names have been similar in the latest note that we have put out. We still like ITC as a real value play and hopefully if the cess rate hike does not play out as aggressive as the market is anticipating, we believe there is a strong rerating potential from here onwards or ITC for the next one year. We like the radio space still, even though it has been an underperformer for the last few quarters. We still believe that they are now at an inflection point and the next three to four quarters will be significantly better as a model to play out for.Stepping into trade this morning, what are your top two, three high conviction ideas at this juncture.From a technical perspective, we still believe there is a lot of strength in some of the corporate banks, in particular ICICI Bank and Axis Bank. This is a high conviction call that we are putting from the derivatives desk last few days and that continues to be the stance for the next series as well. The other new theme which I may want to highlight is that we are now saying that versus consumer staples, it is better to play the consumer durables cycle in the consumption theme for India for the next couple of years. The reason is the GST duty rate cuts can be expected to spur domestic consumption growth for the durables due to a very meaningful 7-8% cut, the push towards Make in India campaign and as well as import duty hikes which will encourage domestic production.Very importantly, we see a lot of Indian brands are now expanding their distribution reach. In our channel checks, we have seriously seen some of the tier-2, tier-3 cities being now expanded into by the Indian brands versus some of the foreign brands that we have seen in the last few years. We believe that some of the Indian brands will emerge as very strong contenders to take market share on this consumption theme over the next few years. That is the other one which I would like to highlight.If I put a gun to your head and I insist on an idea from consumer staples, which is one consumer staple stock you would like to buy?ITC is a name that I have already mentioned. We are quite positive on that, given the valuation discount that it quotes at and the volume growth from here onwards for the core cigarette business should be relatively better off. If the cess duty hike does not come out as aggressively as the market is expecting then I think that will be a strong rerating candidate because most of the other names are now very expensive. Therefore, we are still recommending ITC from the consumer staple theme and saying that from consumer staples, it is better to look at consumer durables with a medium-term perspective. That is the stance we are making.

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Worst definitely over for midcaps, smallcaps: Girish Nadkarni

Financials and consumer companies will continue to dominate in terms of capital market fund raising, said Girish Nadkarni, managing director, 65576375 65574691 65572145 Motilal Oswal Investment Banking. In an interview with Sanam Mirchandani on the sidelines of Motilal Oswal Annual Global Investor Conference, Nadkarni said there could be some slowdown on the capital markets side in terms of deal execution, but that would be only because of shortterm uncertainty in the run-up to elections. Edited excerpts:2017 was a blockbuster year for IPOs, but this year we have not seen the same momentum. What are your thoughts?The larger issuances have happened in the first half of the calendar year. There have been a fair bit of IPOs which have happened in the first six months. Towards the end of the year, there could be some slowdown in the capital markets side in terms of deal execution largely because of market volatility and uncertainty. But this should pick up in the next five-six months because the appetite for capital raising is increasing. There isn’t a shortage of capital on the demand side. Mutual funds which were collecting about ₹20,000-odd crore a month at the peak, their monthly collections are about ₹8,000 crore to ₹9,000 crore now, but they are still positive collections and the SIPs (systematic investment plans) are growing. For good-quality IPOs or goodquality transactions, there is no dearth of supply. The domestic mutual funds and the insurance companies overtaken the FIIs in terms of investments in capital markets and in fresh issuances, but we are now seeing them come back. The sovereign funds, global funds and long-only funds are looking at select investments both through issuances in IPOs and QIPs as well as through preferential route.What is your reading of the market sentiment with benchmarks being at an all-time high levels?We have seen a divergence in the market. The large-cap stocks have been going up consistently while midcaps have fallen almost between 30% and 35% from the peaks. The earnings growth in fact this quarter has been by and large very good. The slowdown because of GST transition is almost over. The performance of companies continues, and the stocks’ valuations are down. Because there was volatility the sentiment was hit a little, but it is coming back reasonably well now. We have seen interest spreading from large caps to midcaps again.Is the worst over for midcaps and small caps?The worst is definitely over. The volatility should definitely ease over the next six months because there will be clarity. State elections will be over. We are almost in September now. By March next year, we should have got over most of the volatility in the market. There are people who seek value and who can ride out volatility. Elections is a constant process. Indian companies have grown throughout this. The fall that we had seen is now stabilised. Earnings are coming back. Things are much brighter. Maybe expectations had moved up ahead of earnings, but they are getting tempered now. Demand for credit is strong. Monsoons are by and large good this year. Post-harvest, we expect demand to be strong. Auto demand continues to be good and it is the case for industrial consumers and financials as well. Domestic formulation companies are doing well. Demand for healthcare is improving. There will be some sectors which will have the volatility but by and large earnings should be pretty good.Is the period till elections going to be very sparse in terms of IPOs?The only thing which can throw this thing off gear is the interest rates. We have seen two hikes in this year itself. Although the impact is with a lag, interest rates definitely tend to temper down demand. The number of issuances might reduce in the next three to six months, but the size of the offerings could be larger. A lot of the money that is waiting is waiting to be put into quality companies. Once the confidence comes back on the midcaps, which already is underway, we should see offerings. Two months ahead of that people would not want to get into the thick of things because they can be caught the wrong way on volatility. So, to that extent, there could be fewer offerings. You could probably see more preferential allotments and placements and those kinds of deals because those are oneon-one deals, not going to the larger market. Fund-raising this year will definitely be lesser than last year, probably by a factor of 25-30% but I think the overall interest, it will get compensated to a large extent by either private equity investments, PE deals going up. That’s only because of short-term uncertainties.Which sectors will continue to dominate in terms of raising money from the primary market?Financials and consumer companies will continue to be the highest percentage in terms of the deals. Last year, for example, financials were the largest. In technology, a lot of the action is in the consumer internet companies.The market regulator is looking to reduce the time between IPO closing and listing. Are investment banks prepared to deal with this?It is a fairly tight process, but regulations have evolved to make it easier in terms of getting access to data on the closure etc. It is a part of continuous evaluation. We now have T-plus-2 on the trading side. At one point 20 years back, it used to be 30 days. There is a point up to which you can probably crunch it. T- plus-6 is a fairly tight process right now and it is reasonably quick. If it is shorter, then they may have to maybe change some of the processes of application in IPOs etc. If it completely moves to e-application, then the days can be cut.

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Regulators should understand economic value of seamless data flow: Google's Caesar Sengupta

Google is creating products for India at a rapid scale and payments are a critical part of this bouquet. It says it is on track to get more Indians to transact online, up from 100 million now. Speaking to Pratik Bhakta & Surabhi Agarwal on the sidelines of the ‘Google for India’ event in New Delhi on Tuesday, Caesar Sengupta, vice-president, Next Billion Users and Payments, at Google, said regulators should keep in mind that there is economic value in allowing data to flow seamlessly. Excerpts:Do you view RBI’s data localisation mandate as an impediment to growth?Where data flows seamlessly across jurisdictions, there is economic value. Innovation is encouraged. We have 1.3 billion people in India; 400 million people have used the internet but the reality is only 100 million are transacting online and a vast majority of the country is left out. That section cannot be brought in unless there are deep tech and consumer innovation. My hope is that (regulators) will keep these factors in mind.The deadline for implementing this is a month away and you have such big plans for Google Pay in India. Are you worried?Everything worries me. There is a great quote: Only the paranoid survive. So I think we all collectively stay in a state of worry, but we are also trying to take a step back and we are trying to study this, understand what’s happening.The government wants digital payments companies to set up Indian subsidiaries with separate CEOs. Do you find merit in that?We have been in India since 2004. We have senior leadership in India that is empowered to take decisions. We have a separate entity for payments, which we had way before launch, and we have product managers and engineers… in Bengaluru. Our approach has been to be much closer to India. And regulations or no regulations, we have always followed this approach and built great products.Google is trying to get more people online. How do you monetise these users when they come online?When a user logs into the Google Station app, they will get to see an ad. That is how we are monetising.Now that Google Tez is Google Pay, when can we start buying apps on Play Store through UPI?This will happen very soon. We are designing the best user experience and we think the payment flow can be very simple. UPI provides a lot of the capabilities for microtransactions. We are looking at bringing in all that very soon.What is your next strategy on Google Pay?We will start talking a bit more about Google Pay through marketing. We are not going to do away with all the promotional stuff like scratch cards since that brings the fun element, which is critical for us.

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100% placement for JIM's first batch: Maruti Suzuki India

The country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) today said its skill development initiative Japan India Institute for Manufacturing (JIM) in Gujarat has recorded 100 per cent placement for the first batch of students.All students were offered jobs by reputed organisations in the auto sector, Maruti Suzuki India said in a BSE filing."Indian automobile industry is witnessing expansion of production capacities, sales and service networks that will create demand for skilled youth. Maruti Suzuki undertakes skill development as an important pillar of intervention under Corporate Social Responsibility," it added.JIM was set up by Maruti Suzuki following an agreement between the Governments of Japan and India to create a pool of 30,000 skilled manpower for manufacturing in India, the filing said.The ITI offers courses in eight trades related to automobile manufacturing, maintenance and services, it added.Shares of Maruti Suzuki India today closed at Rs 9,408 per scrip on BSE, up 1.72 per cent from its previous close.

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The things that matter show Modinomics is on the right track

By Anirban NagIndia’s economy is shrugging off global trade wars, relying on domestic consumption to stay on course to becoming the fastest-growing major economy this year. Demand for bank loans remained solid going into the July quarter despite rising interest rates, and so was the case with services and manufactured goods, a cross-section of forward-looking indicators compiled by Bloomberg News show ahead of government data on economic growth due Aug. 31. Foreign investments slowed, highlighting risks to India’s balance of payments position.Other risks loom in the form of higher oil prices, tightening global financial conditions and a shortfall in taxes that can put budget targets out of reach. For now, the economy is showing steady expansion, with the International Monetary Fund forecasting growth of 7.3 percent in the fiscal year through March 2019 and 7.5 percent in the next as reforms initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi pay off.Here are the full details of the dashboard:Business ActivityIndia’s main services index rose at the fastest pace in 21 months in July, the latest purchasing managers survey showed, while manufacturing continued to expand, but at a slower pace. These together pushed the composite index to its highest level since October 2016. The optimism stems from a rise in new orders, giving confidence to businesses to produce more. 65571134 On the price front though there are were mixed signs. Services providers were unable to fully pass on rising costs, while manufacturers increased output charges for the 12th straight month.Data from the central bank also showed an uptick in capacity utilization to above 75 percent. That gain usually drives inflationary pressures and indicates improved pricing power, which eventually provides more incentive to invest. 65571146 ExportsExports grew by a relatively strong 14.3 percent in July from a year earlier, although slower than the 18 percent pace in the previous month. Economists and policy makers are optimistic that the recent weakness in the rupee will help support the recovery in sectors such as textiles. 65571147 Consumer ActivityData from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers show that the industry produced more vehicles in July than a year ago, with the increase led by commercial vehicles and two-wheelers. Total sales were up 8 percent in the latest indicator, underpinning a view that domestic demand is holding up well. 65571155 With more consumption comes more demand for loans. Bank credit rose 12.7 percent in August from a year ago, with most of the loans being made to the services sector. Commercial paper issuances are also on the rise.But those numbers aren’t telling the whole story. Bloomberg Economics’ Abhishek Gupta attributed the rise in bank credit over the past year largely due to favorable base effects. Rising borrowing costs have instead crimped corporate bond issuances, indicating that total credit flowing to the corporate sector is weak, he said. 65571162 The Citi India Financial Conditions Index shows a tightening in markets amid back-to-back interest rate hikes by the Reserve Bank of India. The index incorporates among other indicators, short-term money market rates, government bond yields (short and long tenor), the yield curve, credit and credit default spreads. 65571169 Economic ActivityForeign direct investments fell to their lowest since January, and that could weigh on India’s balance of payments. Already, the current account deficit is expected to widen due to higher oil prices and slowing inflows into the capital markets. With a general election due in early 2019, concerns about policy paralysis and whether Modi will manage to repeat his 2014 landslide-win may keep many investors on the sidelines.Industrial ActivityThe risks notwithstanding, output of infrastructure industries -- which contribute 40 percent to the industrial production index -- lend hope. The 6.7 percent pace of expansion in June from a year earlier was the strongest in seven months.

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