Adani Logistics to buy ICD Tumb for ₹835 crore

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August 16, 2022

Adani Logistics announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire ICD Tumb (Vapi) from Navkar Corporation for ₹835 crores.

In a statement, Adani Logistics, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd, stated that the deal includes the purchase of the operating ICD with a handling capacity of 0.5 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit).

As more industrial corridors and logistic parks are built along these DFC (Dedicated Freight Corridor) routes, it was noticed that the associated 129 acres of land offer a further extension path to enhance capacity and cargo soon.

ICD Tumb has a private freight terminal with four rail handling lines connecting it to Western DFC, custom-notified land, and bonded warehouse facilities, the statement claims.

Tumb’s strategic location along the Western DFC, bordered by industrial facilities owned by the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) and the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation, services both the Hazira port and the Nhava Sheva port (MIDC).

APSEZ CEO and Whole-Time Director Karan Adani said, “This acquisition fits well with our transformation strategy towards becoming a transport utility as well as move us closer to our objective of providing economical door-to-door services to our customers”.

ALL has developed and operates Multi-Modal Logistics Parks (MMLP) at Patli, Kishangarh, Kilaraipur, Malur, Mundra, Nagpur and Taloja.

APSEZ is part of the globally diversified Adani Group.

Realty tech companies help increase productivity in hybrid mode

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BRL Editor

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August 16, 2022

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As the focus turns from sanitization to enhancing workplace efficiency, organizations are looking to real estate tech companies for assistance, according to Sandeep Dave, Global Head-Digital & Technology, CBRE.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is another tool businesses use to determine how to make employees’ days more productive.

“Now it is very much about how a company can ensure that when an employee decides to go to the office, he will be productive,” said Dave.

Corporates are now using data to increase the efficiency of employees.

“We have a product that ensures that employees’ calendars are the same, so they can figure out who is going to the office that day. People in the office can also see occupancy in real time. They can see that social distancing is being maintained, among other things,” Dave said.

According to CBRE’s “2022 India Office Occupier Survey,” around 73% of occupiers in India are considering implementing hybrid working arrangements in the future.

The Covid-19 outbreak prompted businesses to choose flexible working arrangements, which is how the trend started.

Office applications became a communication tool soon after the pandemic, and during the second wave, it was employed to maintain employee safety. After that, it was all about monitoring sanitization and getting actual occupancy information.

“Over the last five or six years, this used to be a very manual industry, whereas technology and automation have become a part of the industry even before Covid19. Post covid, it got accelerated,” said Dave.

Corporates are also using technology to achieve a net zero target.

“Most of the solutions available on the market are good for getting data for one building. But if you want to do it on a portfolio scale, which is what is required to achieve Net Zero targets, the company needs information on energy efficiency and workplace experience,” said Dave.

And clients are also asking for deeper insights.

“Commercial real estate is a siloed data environment, where data comes from various places, it doesn’t merge together. There’s a property record in 15 different locations,” Dave said.

Businesses use data to evaluate various factors, including operational effectiveness, energy usage, health and safety records, and occupancy levels.

According to experts, coming back to work is a global issue, and everyone is attempting to predict the future of employment.

“The future of work is going to be distributed. A workspace is not only a place where people come in to get work done, but more so to collaborate. So now the design of the space is not just a row of workstations, but also an agile room, wellness rooms, and collaboration rooms,” Dave said.

YouTube plans to begin streaming video service: Report

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August 13, 2022

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The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that YouTube, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., plans to open an online store for streaming video services.

According to the report, which cited people familiar with the recent discussions, the company has renewed talks with entertainment companies about participating in the platform, which it refers to internally as a “channel store.”

According to the report, the platform has been in development for at least 18 months and may launch this fall.

The upcoming launch would enable YouTube to join companies like Roku Inc. and Apple to get a portion of the already crowded streaming market as more consumers cut the cord on cable or satellite TV and switch to subscription-based streaming services.

The New York Times reported that Walmart Inc. had discussions with media companies about incorporating streaming entertainment into its membership service earlier this week.

Taj outlines expansion plans, rides travel revival

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August 13, 2022

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Taj Hotels will aggressively expand its footprint in the next two to three years due to a strong travel industry recovery. Although domestic tourism will account for most of this development, North America, Europe, and the Middle East are among the places where there is a sizable Indian diaspora and other countries where desi travellers frequently travel.

The Tata Group company now operates two hotels, each in the US, UK, and Africa, three in the UAE, and eight in India’s immediate neighbourhood.

The Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), the parent company of Taj, has a portfolio of 242 hotels under its various brands, with 63 now under construction in more than 100 sites on four continents. By 2025, 300 hotels will be in operation.

While remaining a debt-free company, IHCL MD-CEO Puneet Chhatwal is planning a shift in the ownership management contract properties. “IHCL will focus on re-structuring its portfolio to achieve a 50:50 mix between its owned/leased and managed hotels, which currently stands at 54:46,” he said.

On global expansion, Chhatwal said, “We are exploring strategic partnership opportunities in key global markets across the UK, the US and Europe, among others, which have substantial customer crossover with India. The Middle East, with locations such as Makkah — where IHCL has a Taj hotel in the pipeline, will continue to be a strong focus area for us in the next couple of years for developing our brand.”

IHCL is looking to explore new destinations and will open hotels in Lakshadweep and Diu in light of how domestic tourism is affected by the pandemic.

Brand and experience design studio ShopTalk joins Dept

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August 12, 2022

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ShopTalk, a brand and experience design studio, has joined Dept, a digital agency.

The London-based agency will expand the studio’s existing clients while supporting the digital agency’s creative practice in the UK.

Paul Ferry, director and co-founder of ShopTalk, said, “We’re passionate about using brand and creative as powerful commercial tools for companies large and small, lifting them to great things.”

“What really resonated with us at the agency was the boutique level of service that they offer their clients, but with the talent, expertise and scale to provide brand experiences akin to that of a global network agency,” he added.

James Wood, creative director, and co-founder, of ShopTalk, said, “The agency has been making waves in the creative industry for some time now.”

“It was inspiring to spend time with their teams across Europe to witness how they combine marketing, technology and creativity to deliver next-level brand experiences. We’re so excited about this next step for our company,” he added.

Dimi Albers, global chief executive officer of Dept, said, “Ferry, Wood and their team have built an awesome team culture and deliver premium brand experiences and top-notch creativity, while staying fast and flexible.”

“The team has tons of experience and will bring our branding and experience design work to the next-level,” he added.

Meesho adds 8 new regional languages to serve 377 million potential customers

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August 12, 2022

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Meesho, an e-commerce company backed by Softbank, announced on Friday that it had expanded its platform to add eight new vernacular languages to reach its target market of 377 million people worldwide. In addition, Meesho has introduced Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, and Odia to its platform to attract customers from the region.

This allows Meesho customers to place and track orders in their chosen language, pay for items using an Android phone, and access account and product information.

“It is important to note that around 50% of our users are new to e-commerce and have probably never transacted on such platforms before. By introducing vernacular languages on the platform, Meesho aims to eliminate language barriers. This is a natural step in our journey of becoming the single shopping destination for the next billion users in India,” Meesho chief technology officer Sanjeev Barnwal said in a statement.

Last year, Meesho introduced Hindi as a language option on the platform, which has seen a high adoption rate of 20% to date.

“The company aims to target a potential user base of around 377 million, as per data shared by Kantar ICUBE 2021. The majority of Meesho customers come from tier 2 and beyond cities like Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Jamshedpur and non-Hindi-speaking states, where English or Hindi may not always be the language of choice,” the statement said.

Meesho claims that since March 2021, the number of users transacted on its platform has increased roughly 5.5 times, and the number of products available has increased nearly 9 times to about 72 million.

Meesho stated that customers from tier 2 and above markets, who make up about 80% of all customers, had been a critical factor in the company’s success.

Banks may not require special treatment to strengthen bond portfolios

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August 12, 2022

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Banks are looking for a specific dispensation for their bond portfolios since they depreciate due to rising interest rates. This makes sense that this is impacting their profitability and share prices. Spreading provisioning obligations, computing treasury losses after determining operating earnings, and extending the deadline for decreasing the cap on the percentage of bonds they can keep until maturity are some options being considered.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given banks more than a year to increase the proportion of their gilt holdings that must be marked to market, so the first course of action has precedent.

A special treatment for treasury losses during tightening liquidity may not be in the shareholder’s best interest. Banks have made sizable treasury profits while bond yields have been low.

Additionally, since inflation peaked in the first quarter, the central bank’s subsequent interest rate measures might be less aggressive. Banks may have suffered the worst in terms of the notional hit to their bond portfolios.

As lending rates have increased nearly twice as quickly as term deposit rates, demand for bank credit has outpaced supply. As a result of the central bank’s expanded balance sheet, banks are supplying the credit demand with additional liquidity. Banks will need to raise their capital to adapt to the normalisation of policy, as Shaktikanta Das has noted.

As it drains liquidity, the central bank prods the market to revalue credit risk. This is crucial for policy normalisation, which calls for adding liquidity management to interest rate changes. Systemic liquidity should move toward a little surplus as it nears the terminal interest rate.

With fiscal support against supply shocks, the RBI must achieve core inflation goals. For monetary contraction to occur, a responsive transmission mechanism is required. Quantitative easing is more likely to make financial markets adapt than tightening. This strange behaviour needs to be fixed by central banks.

Cloud kitchen startup Bigspoon raises ₹100-cr for brand expansion

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BRL Editor

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August 11, 2022

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Bigspoon, a cloud kitchen startup with headquarters in Ahmedabad, has raised INR 100 crore in a funding round from IAN, along with NB Ventures, Go-Ventures, Lets Venture, Grip Invest, and Anicut Capital, and was joined by famous investor Mouni Roy. Roy will also be associated with brand incubation and endorsements.

Creedcap Asia advised Bigspoon on the funding round.

The company plans to use the funds to hire for key leadership positions, expand to more than 250 kitchens across 75 locations nationwide, add brands in popular categories, invest in client technology, and backwards-integrate its supply chain and manufacturing processes.

Bigspoon serves more than 150,000 diners every month from its 80 kitchens, which are spread over 16 states and 35+ cities. It is home to 9 brands with a variety of menu items and cuisines, including Mehfil Biryani by Zakir Khan, Makhni Brothers, Thali Central, and Meals101.

Bigspoon is a multi-brand, omnichannel cloud kitchen startup with a focus on Tier-2 cities that was founded in 2019 by Kapil Mathrani and Poojan Thakkar. Due to the neglected and underpenetrated cloud kitchen markets, the startup aims to democratize the available meal delivery options in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. To minimize the gap between the fine-dine and delivered food experiences, the company has also implemented innovation in the manufacturing of food, the selection of menu options, and packaging.

Commenting on the new funding, Kapil Mathrani, CEO and co-founder of Bigspoon, said, “Our journey has been phenomenal, and till now, we have served over 3 million customers. With the current infusion of funds, we would look at investing across various verticals, expanding our footprint and adding brands in leading categories. Our incoming and existing investors have faith in our strategy to scale.”

Sanjiv Bajaj, an IAN lead investor, said, “The concept of cloud kitchen in India is still nascent and Bigspoon, with its expertise, possesses the right knowledge to revolutionize the sector. It will be filling the gap in the underpenetrated Tier-2 & 3 markets which are still underserved. The funds will serve as a catalyst to boost Bigspoon’s aim to expand its network across India. We are pleased to be a part of this innovative journey. The company has shown explosive growth since inception and we feel these funds will help them achieve next level.”

Aptos plans to double its workforce in India

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BRL Editor

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August 11, 2022

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Global provider of retail IT solutions, Aptos plans to double its workforce in India during the following 18 months, according to CEO Pete Sinisgalli.

The company, which is owned by Goldman Sachs, just opened its first innovation centre in Bengaluru and has hired 150 staff members so far. By the end of 2022, it aims to have over 200 employees working there. Based on the various projects and teams that are going to grow out of India, it expects a growth of roughly 50% for the year 2023. Additionally, it is funding development centres around the world as well as research and development facilities in Bengaluru.

The company claims that during the previous fiscal year of 2021–2022, its total sales was $300 million.

Sinisgalli said, “We offer unified commerce solutions to large retailers with USD 100 million revenue or more”.

The company provides solutions to businesses in a wide range of industries, including fast food, supermarket, convenience stores, speciality retail, hard goods, general merchandise, and apparel and footwear.

The company offers retailers a variety of choices to sell their goods on offline and online channels and improve customer experience through an omnichannel approach, taking into account constantly changing consumer expectations.

Applications for point of sale, order management, merchandise management, warehouse management, and other services are currently offered by the provider of unified commerce solutions, and they aid retailers in enhancing the omnichannel customer experience and achieving more effective and profitable retail operations.

Also, it helps merchants to understand the supply and demand requirements for moving their goods, but it is unable to assist manufacturers in planning their product providing or setting prices.

At the moment, Aptos serves over 1,000 retail brands across 65 nations, including Skechers, Coach, and Adidas. Around 1,600 people work for it globally.

Seven in 10 startup founders optimistic on near-term business growth: survey

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August 10, 2022

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According to a recent survey, Indian startup founders are optimistic about raising capital and bullish on the growth of their businesses shortly, despite the ongoing funding winter.

The third edition of the “India Sentiment Outlook Survey” by venture capital firm 100X.VC indicated that 76% of founders were optimistic about business growth soon, while 52% stated they wanted to raise money in the next three months. Only two founders out of 10 expressed a negative outlook on business growth.

According to the survey, the preferred direct funding sources were venture capital funds, angel networks, and angel investors.

Nearly half (49%) of the founders surveyed claimed that fundraising had significantly improved in the post-pandemic scenario. About 23% of respondents claimed that future fund-raising would be challenging, while 28% predicted that little would change from pre-pandemic levels.

Ninad Karpe, partner at 100X.VC said, “The Indian startup ecosystem had 44 unicorns in the past year, and we’ve already witnessed 17 unicorns emerge in 2022. Given the economic conditions, the survey result indicates a mixed reaction from founders and investors to the current market landscape. However, we are optimistic that there is still room for early-stage funding with credible and large investment deal flow.”

Investors agreed, with about 45% predicting that India will have 100–200 more unicorns by 2025. However, more than half (52%) said they plan to invest in fewer than five companies during the following 12 months, 37% said they plan to do the same with five to 15, and only roughly 10% said they would do the same with more than 15.

With 23% of investors stating they were actively watching the sector, SaaS startups appeared to be the most likely to raise capital. Deep-tech startups (21%) and fintech startups (22%) were next. According to the survey, investors placed little priority on agritech, web3, and edtech startups.

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