Union minister for commerce and industry, Nirmala Sitharaman, has stated that the ministry will now engage more with states and businesses in communicating the measures to ensure that the ‘Ease of doing business’ reforms go in the system of the World Bank. Sitharaman was reacting to the latest World Bank’s ‘Doing Business’ 2017 report, wherein India has moved only one rank up to the 130th position from last year’s original ranking among the 190 economies that were assessed. She felt that certain reforms like setting up of commercial courts may not have gone into the systems of the World Bank as it has happened on different dates in every state.“I am a bit disappointed. Not only the Government of India, but every state is so actively engaged and wants to ease the situation. But for whatever reason, it has not been adequately captured in the ranking. Collectively, Team India has been doing quite a lot of work,” Sitharaman has stated. However, she was quick to add that she is not criticising the report and now the government will work with renewed focus and speed to improve India’s ranking. She added that the target fixed by the Prime Minister, to get within the 50th spot is intact.
Chief Executive Charles Scharf, who orchestrated the company’s reunion with its European affiliate stepped down and will be succeeded by former American Express co-President Alfred Kelly. Kelly, who already sits on Visa’s board of directors, will take over as CEO following Scharf’s resignation, from December 1, 2016. “Got a front row seat to the various opportunities and issues the company faces as a Visa board member since January 2014,” said Kelly said while talking to the media. “I don’t come in here expecting to make a lot of big changes,” he added.
Paytm announced the appointment of Madhur Deora as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Senior Vice President. Formerly with Citigroup Investment Banking as Managing Director, Deora brings experience in identifying new opportunities. At Paytm, he will also be responsible for building and managing the company’s newly formed financial services business. Deora has over 17 years of investment banking experience. An economics student from Wharton School, he has led several transactions in the internet space. “Deora has been a long-term friend and partner of Paytm. I am extremely happy to welcome him onboard. His expertise will help us to build our newly formed financial services business into one of the largest from India,” said Founder and CEO Paytm, Vijay Shekhar Sharma. “I am looking forward to my journey with Paytm. This is going to be a phenomenal learning experience for me. I have great respect for what the company is building and look forward to using my experience and skills to further support this incredible growth,” said Madhur Deora.
Sushil Chandra will replace Rani Singh Nair as the chairperson of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). His appointment, cleared by a Cabinet panel, came at a time when the department will be monitoring the payment of taxes by declarants of black money through a four month long window. The appointment was officially announced through a press note by the Department of Personnel as Nair retired. Chandra, a 1980 batch officer of the Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax cadre), is currently Member (Investigation) of the CBDT. IIT graduate Chandra’s tenure will last till May next year, according to official sources. The CBDT is headed by a chairman and can have a maximum of six members.
Riding from the middle of an ocean to fetch Thums Up has become history, as Coca Cola India has dropped Bollywood superstar Salman Khan as brand ambassador for its soft drink Thumps Up, ending the beverage’s four year association. The tag of brand ambassador for this beverage has been taken over by young star Ranveer Singh who has replaced Salman Khan whose contract the company chose not to renew. According to sources, the company’s decision to not to renew the contract with the 50-year-old actor is more to do with the image of Coca Cola, which is seen as a young brand. “That explains why Coca Cola is talking to a much younger star like Ranveer Singh,” the source added. Khan has been among the top celebrity endorsers reportedly charging Rs.5 crore per year per brand. Recently, he had courted controversy when he supported Pakistani artists, saying, “they were not terrorists” in the wake of a debate on whether they should be allowed to work in Indian movies after the Uri attack. Coca Cola India had roped in Khan as its brand ambassador for the second time in October 2012 replacing another Bollywood star Akshay Kumar. He had earlier endorsed the brand in the early 2000s. At that time, Coca-Cola India had also signed an agreement with Being Human, The Salman Khan Foundation, to jointly promote, conceive and execute charitable and social activities.
Aashish Bhinde, India’s top internet deal maker bid farewell to Avendus Capital, the investment bank which has advised most number of fund raising by the country’s digital startups. This is because Bhinde plans to take a long sabbatical and dabble in what he calls personal explorations as he turned 45. He will leave Avendus by March 2017. Avendus co-founder Gaurav Deepak will step in to lead the digital and technology practice at the Mumbai headquartered firm. “It’s been 21 years of working and 11 years at Avendus. I really wanted to explore different facets of life, and realised that staying on with investment banking wouldn’t give me enough time to think about it all. I am not joining a rival firm and if I ever do something in financial services, I hope to do it with an Avendus connection,” said Bhinde while talking to media about the decision. Bhinde has worked with most poster boys of the consumer internet story in India, which included managing multiple fund-raises for BookMyShow, Quikr, Lenskart and managing M&A deals such as Naspers acquisition of RedBus, Ola’s takeover of TaxiForSure, and Flipkart’s recent buyout of Jabong.
If the reports in a section of the press are to be believed, Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Japan’s Nissan Motor, will become chairman of Mitsubishi Motors. The Brazilian-born Frenchman, who already heads Nissan and Renault, planned to meet media along with Mitsubishi’s current chairman and CEO, Osamu Masuko. Nissan plans to take a 34 percent stake in Mitsubishi, maker of the Outlander sport-utility vehicle and the i-MiEV electric car, becoming its largest shareholder. The Japanese financial daily Nikkei and other news outlets have reported, without naming sources, that Ghosn would become Mitsubishi’s chairman. Nissan agreed to take charge after Tokyo-based Mitsubishi acknowledged in April that it cheated to inflate mileage for two of its mini car models, the eK wagon and eK Space, and mini-vehicles it made for Nissan. Earlier, Ghosn said the two companies will maintain separate identities, brands and dealerships after the deal. Mitsubishi’s vehicle sales in Japan have nosedived, falling 35 percent, recently compared to the same month last year. The company also faces costs of compensating tens of thousands of vehicle owners in Japan.
Abhibus.com, the ten-year-old online bus ticket booking platform has roped in Telugu film actor Mahesh Babu to promote its brand. The actor will feature in the company’s marketing campaign ‘Har Safar Mein Aapka Hamsafar’ (With you on all your journeys, wherever you go). The popular actor will feature in both online and offline campaigns being launched by the firm. “I am happy to be associated with Abhibus as this is the first brand in the e-commerce sector that I am endorsing. Looking forward to working with them closely,” Mahesh Babu said.
Fifteen-year-old Vaidehi Reddy from India was the sole representative as a ‘web ranger’ at the Google Global Summit. This was after her presentation on web safety which was held recently at the search engine’s headquarters in San Francisco. Vaidehi, a standard XI, Humanities student in Army Public School, Pune, initially thought the invitation from Google was a prank and had to be convinced by the principal that it was for real. The ‘web rangers’ initiative aims to educate young people on responsible online behaviour and safety. “Most of my spare time, I am online and that is when I came to know about this web ranger contest. I entered by making a two-minute video about web safety and was selected. The experience at Google was awesome,” said Vaidehi, whose entire trip along with her mother Gayatri was sponsored by Google. “After the selection of the video, it was mandatory to speak in various educational institutes about web safety. We went to 13 schools to spread awareness on web safety where Vaidehi talked and I acted as her assistant holding up charts for her use,” Gayatri added. “After seeing how amazing a workplace Google is, I want to become their graphic designer,” stated Vaidehi, who likes to paint. “More students should participate in the contest,” she said. The contest is announced by Google in December and is open to all students. Vaidehi’s mother went on to add that the video had to be made by the student without any professional help as Google has means to find out if any help is taken.
The first badminton silver medallist at the Rio Olympics, PV Sindhu will endorse Art of Living Foundation Sri Sri Ayurveda, a product promoted by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. This company has brought on board Sindhu as a brand ambassador for its Ojasvita range, kicking off the association with a new malt flavour in the marketplace. This is only the second endorsement in the baba-led space by a celebrity, after wrestler Sushil Kumar featured in an ad last year for Patanjali Ghee. But, that was just one campaign intended to drive home the point of Patanjali Ghee’s effectiveness through Kumar. Sindhu’s engagement with Ojasvita will be for two years and Sindhu is expected to do everything that a regular brand endorser does, according to Tej Katpitia, chief marketing officer of Sri Sri Ayurveda. This will include not only appearing in advertisements for the brand, but also promoting the product on the ground during special events and occasions. While Katpitia did not indicate the size of the deal, brand experts peg it at Rs. 1.5-2 crore for two years. Sindhu’s asking price is estimated to be Rs. 75 lakh-1 crore per endorsement per year, putting the Ojasvita endorsement in that bracket, experts said. “Ojasvita is a line of health food drinks from us and we wanted a face that could convey this effectively. Sindhu is an upcoming sportsperson and the fit we felt was perfect. She will able to communicate how effective this product is to the masses,” says Katpitia.
MakeMyTrip, better known as MMT has sounded warning bells to players like the Yatra and Cleartrip, as it is set to merge with online travel portal Ibibo, ensuring combined entity’s improved negotiating power and better economies of scale which will witness aggressive pricing. Indian travel market has been growing, both domestically and internationally. There has been a series of deals in the online travel space this year. Indian travel market offers a great growth potential and large foreign capital is flowing in as overseas investors look to benefit from this growth. “The two entities together will become large buying house and can negotiate for better margins due to sheer volumes. This will allow them to offer better prices to consumers. The deal also means MakeMyTrip will remain the market leader for a very long time,” said Ankur Bhatia, executive director of Bird Group, which has interests in hospitality and aviation. Nasdaq-listed MakeMyTrip had raised $180 million from Chinese travel major Ctrip to grow the hotel business. Ibibo secured an investment of $250 million from Naspers, the South African internet and Media Company, now one of its main shareholders, along with Chinese internet firm Tencent. And later, Yatra announced a reverse merger deal with Nasdaq-listed American company Terrapin 3 Acquisition Corporation (TRTL) that valued the Indian entity at $218 million. Yatra will list on Nasdaq.
FMCG major Colgate-Palmolive appointed M S Jacob as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO) during their Board of Directors meeting held recently. It considered the recommendation of the Nomination & Remuneration Committee and approved the appointment of M S Jacob in place of Godfrey Nthunzi, Colgate Palmolive (India) Ltd said in a BSE filing. Nthunzi who is the current whole-time Director & CFO has been elevated and shall consequently move to another Colgate subsidiary. Accordingly, Nthunzi has resigned as the CFO of the company and shall continue to be a whole-time Director on the board of the company. Meanwhile, in a separate filing, Colgate Palmolive said it has signed the MoU for sale/ transfer of Industrial Land & Building located at Waluj, MIDC, Aurangabad on an as-is basis to an undisclosed buyer for an undisclosed sum. The said industrial land and building was earlier used as the toothbrush manufacturing facility which was closed in May 2015,” the company said.
By Joe Williams
