Kochi Trade, Technology, Engineering & Industry

[Malayaali]

More changes lined up at DDB Mudra Group

The DDB Mudra Group network in India has adopted a new structure, brand identity, colours and brand architecture. The logo and the structure clearly bear strong DDB presence.

After the restructure, the group will now comprise eight branded agencies, namely DDB Mudra, DDB MudraMax, Mudra, Water, DDB Health & Lifestyle, Maatra, RAPP and Tribal DDB India.

The agency DDB Mudra shall be the influence and behavioural change agency with a pan India presence across Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Kochi, Kolkata and Mumbai. The second agency, Mudra, shall function as the partnership firm for entrepreneurs, with a pan-India presence across Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Kochi, Kolkata and Mumbai (earlier, Ignite Mudra, which worked under the leadership of Sudarshan Banerjee as a partnership firm for entrepreneurs, was rolled back into Mudra). The two agencies have been created with a possible intent of being able to work with competing brands.

DDB MudraMax, formerly known as MudraMax, shall be the experience and engagement arm which offers media, out of home, retail and experiential services.

[mohammedirshad06]

Joy Alukkas to focus more in other business

Sluggish jewellery sales seems to be worrying Joyalukkas; the gold retailer is now diversifying

Joyalukkas Money Exchange was launched in 2006, but has remained dormant during the past few years due to licence issues in Dubai. Now the company has become active with five centres in the UAE and 10 centres coming up in other parts of the Gulf — Qatar, Muscat, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The company is also launching its first Indian money exchange centre at Kochi next month.

“The jewellery market has become saturated and the consumption too has been sluggish last year. This made us focus on other businesses. We are strengthening the money exchange business and have set a target to have 100 centres in three years. The centers will come up in markets where the Joyalukkas brand is strong. In each country, the centers will provide money exchange related services that are legally permissible,” Joy Alukkas, chairman of Joyalukkas told Financial Chronicle.

Apart from money exchange, the centers will also retail gold coins, purchase old gold jewellery and provide travel related services. “The key business of Joyalukkas will remain jewellery retail and the centers will augment the business,” he said.

Further, Joyalukkas also is in the process of providing air charter service. The company has bought an Embraer Phenom 100 business jet and plans to add a long-range business jet and helicopter soon. The service will mainly target corporate clients. The company will invest Rs 100 crore in the charter service branded Joy Jet.

The wedding centers, hypermarkets that house both jewellery and textiles, would be re-branded as Jolly Silks and the focus of the stores will be more on textile retail.

Its good, as we can see more and more Kochi based trade options from Joy Alukkas.... Joy Jet can really revolutionize Kochi's Private Jet dreams up and increase more competition here.......

[Malayaali]

OmniActive Health to set up R&D centre, Mfg facility in Canada

Mumbai based OmniActive Health Technologies today announced its latest international foray by setting up an advanced research and development centre in Prince Edward Island (PEI) in Canada, a senior company official said. "We are setting up a R&D centre in Canada. We will invest USD 1.5 million in the first year and USD 2.2 million in the second year. The Government of Canada is also investing USD 1.1 million in the project," OmniActive Chief Technology Officer Jayant Deshpande told PTI here. The company is also setting up a nutrition supplement manufacturing facility in Canada at an investment of USD 5 million in 2014, he said. The setting up of advanced facility at the Biocommons Research Park at Charlotte town opens up an exciting world of opportunities for OmniActive. Utilising this advanced facility, Omniactive will develop new products and technology for their customers, Deshpande said. OmniActive Health Technologies, supplies a range of proprietary active ingredients and advanced delivery platforms for ingredients used in healthcare, food, and personal care applications and conducts operations from its manufacturing, R&D and corporate facilities at Pune, Mumbai, Thane and Cochin. The leading provider of ingredients also has a subsidiary in Morristown, New Jersey, USA and an international distribution network which covers Europe, Asia and South America. Among other facilities, Prince Edward Island offers highly competitive business costs for investor companies and a positive tax environment besides a highly skilled labour pool and strategic infrastructure.

[Malayaali]

New branch of ICICI Bank at Thevara

ICICI Bank has announced the inauguration of its new branch at Thevara in Kochi. The branch was inaugurated by Dr P. Mohamed Ali, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Galfar, and Chairman of Mfar Group. The branch will remain open for customer transactions on Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Saturdays.

The branch will offer entire range of ICICI Bank products including a comprehensive range of deposits, home loans, personal loans, mutual fund and demat services to cater to different customer profiles and needs, press release said.

[Malayaali]

Olympus looks for a creative agency

Olympus Imaging India is looking for a creative agency in Mumbai. As a part of the mandate, the selected creative agency will take care of the digital camera business of Olympus.

Sources from the industry have confirmed the news to afaqs!.

The size of the business or the annual media spend could not be ascertained at the time of filing this report. However, it is learnt that the company plans to increase its spend on on-ground activities, and digital and social media.

The Olympus Camera business moved to Mudra (now DDB Mudra) in 2004 as a result of DDB's global alignment.

For the record, Olympus Corporation was established in Tokyo, Japan in 1919. The company has its Indian head office in Mumbai. The India office of Olympus is principally involved in the marketing of digital still cameras, Olympus pen, DSLRs, accessories, binoculars and voice recorders. Olympus stores are already functional in Bengaluru, Kochi, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Noida and Pune.

[mohammedirshad06]

Kitex plans Rs 200-cr capacity rise

Kitex Garments, a fully export-oriented clothing manufacturer based in Aluva, is planning to invest Rs 200 crore next year to increase capacity at its Kizhakkambalam plant.

Kitex Garments MD Sabu M Jacob said that capacity at the plant would be increased to 5.75 million units per day from the current rate of 1.1 million units per day by fiscal 2015. Jacob was talking to reporters after receiving Vendor of the Year 2011 award from Toysrus, the largest infant wear retailer in the world, headquartered in New Jersey, USA.

"We plan to achieve revenues of Rs 1,300 crore by fiscal year 2015," revealed Jacob. "Currently, we supply kidswear to Toysrus, Carter's, Gerber, and Little Me in the US and Mothercare and Tesco in the UK. This year, we will add six US companies and one UK firm to our client base to reduce the risk of client concentration," he said.

"We rank third among dedicated baby clothing manufacturers in the world, and with increased production capacity we will reach prime position by 2015," he added. UK-based retail giant Tesco Plc has started sourcing directly from Kitex through its international sourcing arm Tesco International Sourcing, based in Hong Kong. "Mothercare a chain of infant wear stores in the UK is also sourcing from Kitex and we will be adding H&M, another UK-based retail chain to our European clientele," Jacob said. At present, Kitex exports 80% of its product output to the US market and the remainder to the UK.

The company currently has 7,800 employees which it plans to increase to 9,500 by fiscal 2015, Jacob said. "Ninety per cent of our workforce is from Kerala, but this will come down to 50-60% next year. We are getting workers from Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Mizoram and West Bengal," he said.

[Malayaali]

Tamanna bridal couture store to open in Kochi

A bridal couture store in the city with a wide range of wedding wardrobe options, Tamanna retails over fifty of India’s leading young designers as well as their in-store collection of clothes for every marriage ceremony. Lokesh Pandya, Director of Tamanna speaks to Vyas Sivanand about his collection, the demand and his expansion plans.

Tamanna is almost 25 years old. What sets it apart from others?
The first Tamanna store came up on Dispensary road in 1987, which I started with my wife, Dhanya Pandya. From the beginning, we have ensured that the collection which we have at our store is exclusive and not available in any other store.
We source the fabric from Benaras, Lucknow, Dubai and Milan. These fabrics are then given to our designers who design exclusively according to our requirements.

Who are your designers?
Our designers include Gourav Chabra, Shashank Devsarey, Mohit Kapoor, Sulakshana and Style Guru brand.

What is your price range?
The price range for grooms is between Rs 15,000 to Rs 2 lakhs while for the bride, it is between Rs 12,000 to Rs 2.5 lakhs.

Are you planning to expand with more stores?
We are opening another showroom at Orion Mall, Rajajinagar, which will be our third store.
We have plans to open more stores in Jayanagar, JP Nagar, Koramangala and Whitefield.
We might also look at other cities like Cochin, Chennai and Hyderabad.
Even the tier-II and tier-III cities are showing potential, but all these plans will materialise only after 2015-16.

Are you looking at franchisees?
If somebody is enthusiastic about taking up a franchise route for our store and is willing to invest, then we are also open to explore the option.

Demand must have changed over the years. What is in vogue?
There used to be good demand for artificial georgette, artificial satin, etc. Many fabrics have come and gone in these few years.
Today, the demand is more for nets, chanderi silk, pure chiffon and pure georgette. Benarasi fabric as an add-on is also in great demand.

[Malayaali]

Havells opens exclusive showroom in Kochi

Havells India Ltd has opened its first exclusive showroom — Havells Galaxy — here on Tuesday. This is the fifth galaxy of the company in Kerala.

Havells Galaxy offers a wide range in stylish and high quality low voltage electrical equipments including industrial switchgears, cables, fans, CFLs, lighting fixtures, electrical water heaters, crabtree switches and domestic appliances.

The company has been operating and marketing its products in the State for several, years and the business has shown an upward trend in terms of turnover in a short span of time. The opening of the new showroom is yet another initiative by the company targeted at end users, architects and consultants to showcase Havells products.

At present, there are 127 such display centres across the country, and the company plans to open more by the end of this financial year, a press release said.

[mohammedirshad06]

GAC International Moving Services extend to India

GAC has extended its International Moving Service to the Indian Subcontinent with the opening of a new office in Mumbai.

The office opening marks the expansion of the service beyond the Middle East, where GAC has been providing a portfolio of packing and moving services for more than three decades.

It comes at a time when the Indian economy is continuing to grow, and demand for moving services for personnel being transferred into and out of the country is on the rise.

Paul Haegeman, GAC India’s managing director, said it made sense to add to the services offered to clients they deal with on a daily basis, many of whom move for professional reasons to the Middle East or back to India.

“GAC India already has an experienced team of logistics professionals throughout our network of 25 offices nationwide, as well as an in-house customs broker (CHA) license, which has enabled us to fit smoothly into the group’s International Moving network,” he added.

The new Indian operation will be fully equipped with packing crews, equipment and warehouses. The team is headed by Rashid Batliwalla, an industry veteran with 18 years experience, who takes up the position of general manager.

In addition to Mumbai, teams are being established in Cochin, Delhi and Chennai manned with personnel from throughout GAC to serve the Indian market.

[Malayaali]

CCIL to hire 25,000 people by April

Six-month-old Chemmanur Credits and Investments Ltd (CCIL), a non-banking finance company (NBFC), is planning to hire 25,000 people at its nascent sales division within a month to market its products aggressively in the state.

The new sales vertical will be inaugurated on March 10 by Kerala minister for labour Baby John, said Boby Chemmanur, chairman of the Boby Chemmanur International Group in Kochi on Wednesday.

The company has thus far recruited 1,200 sales managers. The new sales officers will work under the sales managers for a training period extending to six months on a commission basis.

"We will review their performance after the training period and promote them as sales managers on the basis of merit. The new sales vertical of CCIL will primarily help us market two products of the company - Bhadram, a loan for buying gold, and loans granted against mortgaged gold," said T K Thomas, CEO of the company.

"Sixty branches are already functional and 100 more locations in Kerala have been earmarked for new branches in MarchWe will expand our branch network all over India and provide more employment opportunities in the process," Thomas said.

CCIL has achieved revenues of Rs 250 crore till date, and is targeting a top line of Rs 2,000 crore in its first year of its operations.

[Malayaali]

Federal Bank announces expansion, hiring spree

Ernakulam zone contributes 17.5% of the total business of India's 4th largest private bank

Kochi-based private lender Federal Bank will open 100 new branches on Saturday, said P C John, executive director of the bank. He was talking to reporters in Kochi on Thursday about the bank's branch expansion plans. The new openings will increase the bank's branch network in the country to 938.

"Our branch network will grow to 1,000 by June 2012. Our strategy is to focus on Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Punjab," John said. "These are places with more potential for small and medium enterprises and NRI business. Of the new branches opening on March 10, 26 will be located in Kerala, 19 in Tamil Nadu, nine in Punjab and eight in GujaratTwenty-one of these branches will be in metro towns, 17 in urban areas and 57 in semi-urban areas," he added.

As part of the outlet expansion plan, the bank is also on a recruitment drive.

"For each new branch, we need three or four employees and are hiring locally to avoid the language problem while expanding to other states. We recruited 1,000 people this fiscal and will add another 1,500 people in fiscal 2013," John said. "The Ernakulam zone of the bank has huge potential for growth, contributing 17.5% of the bank's total business, with deposits of Rs 8,000 crore and advances of Rs 6,025 crore. With the addition of six new branches, the total branches in the zone will reach 160," said GM T Oommen Benajamin. The new branches will be at Bharananganam, Kurichi, Manimala, Kottaramattom in Pala, Vannappuram and Mangattukavala in Thodupuzha. "The bank will also be adding six new ATMs in the Ernakulam zone on March 10," he added.

The bank has also witnessed a spurt in NRI deposits since last April, authorities said. "This was the offshoot of rupee depreciation and removal of the interest rate cap on rupee term deposits by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)," said John.

[Malayaali]

BINANI Zinc to invest Rs 300 Crore for upgradation

To increase production from 38,000 TPA to 50,000 TPA in next 3 years
Target turnover of Rs 2000 crore from Rs 500 crore currently, in 5 years
500 people including chemical engineers are employed directly


cc: Manorama

[e_arunsid]

Most of the large and medium scale industries are in the process of expansion..This will help to increase the GDP of the state and city.

[mohammedirshad06]

Its great to hear about upgradation. Hope even TCC will follow and will enlarge the local economy....

[Malayaali]

Rs.100 crore for development of basic industrial infrastructure

The entire focus of industrial development is going to be on making ‘Emerging Kerala Global Meet,' slated for September, a grand success, with Finance Minister K.M. Mani allocating Rs.100 crore in his 2012-13 Budget for development of basic infrastructure and land acquisition for various projects that would come in through this route.

Mr. Mani said in his Budget speech that part of the basic infrastructure for projects presented at the Emerging Kerala meet would be related to establishing trade and commercial zones in the three cities of Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, and Kozhikode. The steps to identify suitable land had already been taken and such plots would be notified as commercial zones under which all activities related to industry and commerce would be permitted. The Rs.100 crore allocated for this purpose would be made available to Kinfra over and above its customary Budget allocation. Commercial zones would also be set up at district headquarters, important towns and municipalities.

MANUFACTURING ZONES

The Finance Minister said he was allocating Rs.20 crore for establishing a special purpose vehicle that would set up industrial manufacturing zones under the national manufacturing policy. These zones would be concentrated on the Kochi-Coimbatore industrial corridor.

In addition, an electronics manufacturing hub would be set up at Ambanellore. He also allocated Rs.50 crore for setting up a petrochemical industrial zone that would promote large number of small-scale industries. The allocation, he said, had been made in the context of the mega plan of the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd's to increase the production capacity of the Kochi Refineries and set up other petrochemical-related units in Kochi at a total cost of Rs.18,000 crore. Considering the fact that this would be a huge investment in Kerala's industrial sector, the State government had already announced tax sops for BPCL, he said.

NATURAL GAS

With a view to cash in on the natural gas distribution in cities, the Finance Minister allocated Rs.12 crore for the proposed supplementary gas infrastructure project under the auspices of Kerala GAIL Gas Ltd, a joint venture of the Gas Authority of India Ltd. and the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation.

The Finance Minister has made another hefty allocation of Rs.12 crore for setting up a company to operate seaplane services. However, he has not elaborated on the proposed project, except that the services have been proposed in the light of the traffic bottlenecks and for reducing travel time.

The other proposals for the industrial sector are Industrial park in Brahmapuram on the land owned by the Kochi Corporation; Edu-Health City on the 240 acres of land owned by Inkel in Malappuram, Botanical garden in Thonakcal for which the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation has already acquired 36 acres; multi-storey industrial estates at Kochuveli, Manjeri and Kottaikkal for which the Finance Minister earmarked Rs.20 crore.

The Finance Minister also proposed the setting up of a Seaport Airport Area Development Authority to provide connectivity between seaports and airports in the State. The Nedumbassery-Vallarpadom, Karipur-Beypore, Mattannur-Azheekal and Vizhinjam-Shanghumughom belt would come under the authority.

[Malayaali]

Entrepreneurs call for a new culture of enterprise

Small and medium sector entrepreneurs in Kerala's industrial capital have warmly welcomed the general tone of the State Budget 2012-13 providing a new roadmap for industrial development and for its focus on new generation industries employing emerging technologies.

At the same time, they have also called for a new culture of enterprise that will imbibe the spirit of the budget proposals.

Industrial clusters using bio-technology; value-added products from rice and coconut; technology-aided agriculture and new electronics park have the potential to take the State into a new trajectory of growth, said Thomas Xavier Kondody of the Kerala State Small Industries Association (KSSIA). He said that entrepreneurs in the State should orient themselves to take on the new challenges as we build a new culture.

Director of the city-based Institute of Small Enterprises Development P.M. Mathew said that the budget emphasis on new technology industries was a point of take-off for Kerala. He, however, felt that some of the budget proposals tended to dissipate the resources over a large geographical area and he questioned the rationale behind giving too much of a political orientation to development projects.

An industry insider in the city said that the government should provide an enabling environment as he pointed out that technology-driven enterprises suited Kerala given its natural endowments.

The proposal for developing an industrial estate on 100 acres at Brahmapuram is a welcome step, said an office-bearer of KSSIA. The proposal for setting up a 1,200-MW gas-based power plant in Kochi; additional skill development programmes for students and the State innovation mission are all steps in the right direction that spell good news for Kochi and its hinterland.

[Malayaali]

Josco to opens new outlets at Lulu Mall and MG Road

Manorama

[Malayaali]

Videocon to add 625 Digiworld stores in a year

Digiworld, the electronic multi-brand retail store from Value Industries, a listed company of Videocon Group, is expanding its footprint and plans to launch a total of 1,000 stores by the end of next financial year.

“We are targeting tier II and III cities for growth by opening 625 new stores as these markets are exploding,” Anirudh Dhoot, director, Videocon Industries, told Financial Chronicle.

“We want to take the total tally to over 1,000 stores by the end of financial year 2012-13,” he said. The tier II and III towns and cities were growing rapidly with a taste for good consumer durables and electronic goods and the company wanted to aggressively tap this segment offering top quality brands, Dhoot said.

At present, the company retails consumer durable brands like Videocon, Philips, Hitachi, Panasonic, Sansui, Electrolux, Kenstar, Usha and Kelvinator, Kenstar, Toshiba, Sony, mobile brands like Apple, Blackberry, Nokia, Samsung, HTC, Videocon mobile handsets and services and D2H services and Canon and Nikon range of cameras.

Dhoot said, at present 60 per cent of the existing 375 Digiworld stores in 65 cities were owned by the company and 40 per cent by the franchises. “We will follow the same ratio in expanding our foot print pan India this financial year,” he said.

On Wednesday, it opened one of its largest 10,000 sq ft franchise-owned stores at Boisar town in Thane district, near Mumbai. The company said Boisar being a booming industrial town with a population of about 6 lakh would generate a business of Rs 50 lakh per month.

“Four more Digiworld stores are lined up in New Bombay, Cochin, Pune and in Punjab next month,” Dhoot said. The size of the stores ranges from 1,200 sq ft to 12,000 sq ft depending on the location, he said.

“The company and the franchisees invest a total of Rs 30 lakh-Rs 5 crore per store,” Dhoot said. He said it takes about six to 12 months to break even.

Dhoot said look wise all Digiworld stores flaunted a uniform format for branding for which the company invested Rs 5 lakh-Rs 25 lakh for exterior and interior decor.

[Malayaali]

Frederique Constant to open outlet in Kochi

Swiss “affordable luxury” watch maker Frederique Constant will continue to focus on the corporate executive segment in India. This, even as it expands its offerings to cover multiple segments and expand retail presence.

The company re-entered the Indian market in December 2010, after a failed attempt to enter the market through a distributor-led model in 2007.

“Senior executives in the corporate sector are a key segment, but most brands have not targeted them specifically. So we decided to put in efforts focused on them, with sponsorship of Golf tournaments, business television shows and the like,” said Mr Arun D'Silva, India Representative for Frederique Constant Geneve.

The company is present in 20 outlets currently. Highest sales are at the Ethos outlets at the Delhi and Bengaluru international airports, according to the spokesperson.

“There are not more than 40 outlets where a brand of Frederique Constant's stature can be sold in, in India. In comparison, there would 300 outlets in France or 250 in Portugal. That is a constraint. But the brand is well known to the well-travelled connoisseurs. So we must make the watches available,” D'Silva added.

Most sales are currently from the metros.

The brand will expand its presence to 10 more outlets, including those in Raipur and Cochin in 2012.

In terms of price points, Frederique Constant retails in India between Rs 45,000 and Rs 2.25 lakh. Maximum sales are in the Rs 45,000 to Rs 1.25 lakh bracket in India. The entry price point for the brand has gone up from Rs 29,000 at the time of launch.

[Malayaali]

Geojit BNP Paribas gears up for expansion with Brocade switching infrastructure

Kochi: Geojit BNP Paribas, one of India's leading financial services providers has deployed a new networking infrastructure supplied by Brocade at its Kochi headquarters. The new network provides the firm with more than 1,100 wire-speed Gigabit Ethernet access ports, more carrying power, and a low-latency core that is both scalable and resilient, providing a strong foundation for business expansion and new service offerings.

A Balakrishnan, CTO, Geojit BNP Paribas said, “The network is obviously the operational backbone of our business and after several years of strong growth, we were beginning to experience constraints in our existing infrastructure. Brocade was able to offer us a very compelling value proposition with its campus and data centre networking solutions. It provided a scalable foundation, with low-latency performance for our continued development of services delivered through Internet, mobile, call centre and branch office channels.”

Geojit BNP Paribas selected Brocade's BigIron RX-8 Ethernet switch, designed for non-stop operation, as the heart of its new network. The RX-8 provides up to 384 non-blocking Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) or 128 10-GbE ports in a compact chassis with 1.92 Tbps of total switching capacity. This high capacity and port-density enables Geojit BNP Paribas to connect all access switches directly to the network core, reducing it total cost-of-ownership and eliminating latency caused by having an aggregation layer.

Brocade 48-port FastIron Workgroup switches have been deployed to provide network access and power-over-Ethernet within Geojit BNP Paribas' head office and call centre while 48-port Brocade FastIron LS switches are used for server connectivity within the data centre. Both these platforms provide wire-speed Gigabit Ethernet performance, with FastIron LS switches to the core upgradeable to 10-GbE.

Rajesh Kaul, Regional Sales Director, Brocade India said, “Geojit BNP Paribas has established itself as a leader among the thousands of stockbrokers operating in India. With the implementation of the new Brocade switching infrastructure, it now has a superior networking foundation with which to drive quality-based competitive advantage and scale its operations while maintaining a low network management overhead.”

An affiliate of the one of the world's largest financial groups, Geojit BNP Paribas pioneered on-line securities trading in India. Geojit BNP Paribas first offered its Internet trading system in 2000.Today, it is the country's third largest retail stockbroker with more than 633,000 clients, Rs.11,027 crores (USD2 billion) worth of assets under management and a national network of over 540 offices.