Category: Companies

Tata Motors’ retail offtake plays catchup with booking demand which company sees only accelerating ahead

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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A year after Tata Motors first displayed the Tata Gravitas to the world at the Auto Expo 2020, the SUV is now officially launched in the market, named after the iconic Safari. Thanks to its product offensive, the New Forever range, Tata Motors has managed to double its passenger vehicle sales volumes from last year, and with the launch of the Safari, the sixth product in Tata Motors’ passenger vehicle lineup, the automaker says volumes can only grow.

However, the retail offtake continues to lag behind demand, as it is supply and ultimately what the company can retail to the consumer that counts, Tata Motors says. “In the second quarter of FY21 we were doing 18,000 units a month on average,  the third quarter was 23,000 units a month, and in the first quarter, January alone saw sales of 27,000 units. So there is still a lag between demand and supply, with demand outpacing supply”, Shailesh Chandra, President of the Passenger Vehicles’ business at Tata Motors told CNBC-TV18.

He added, “there would be a gap of 60-70 basis points between the booking market share we have and the off-take market share. So that shows there is still a gap to be addressed in meeting demand and being at the rightful level of our market position”.

Chandra said that Tata Motors’ channel inventory continues to be at very low levels, which isn’t helpful considering the unfulfilled demand that leads to, but it is a sign of intrinsic demand. Additionally, Tata Motors has possibly the highest number of days in terms of bookings available in the industry, which Chandra also reads as a sign of demand which will not only sustain but also grow.

“While we have more than doubled volumes compared to where we were last year, our profits have swung significantly too. Our EBITDA margin was at positive 3.8 percent in Q3 [for TML], up from about negative 9.4 percent. The significant swing in profitability shows the focus is not only to grow and scale, but scale also helps profitability. We have a mix of products which deliver both volumes and profitability”, Chanda told CNBC-TV18.

Semiconductor shortage to persist for next 4-5 months

The global shortage of semiconductors for the automotive industry has constrained production lines across OEMs. Tata Motors says the issue will persist for the next 4-5 months, but the OEM is trying to manage the supply chain avoiding the loss in supply. Chandra told CNBC-TV18 that the company had to make alternate arrangements to mitigate this risk, including going to tier-two level suppliers directly to buy semi-conductors, and giving advanced schedules to suppliers for 12 months ahead, instead of the usual practice of 6 months.

However, the company has pre-planned production for the Safari and says it hopes it will be able to service the demand for the new vehicle, although there will certainly be a waiting period for buyers after they book the product. The extent of the waiting period can be gauged after two weeks of assessing booking levels, Chandra said.

Price hikes likely in FY22

Although Tata Motors, like every major OEM has taken a price hike across its portfolio in January, another hike in prices cannot be ruled out in the next fiscal years, as commodity prices continue to be inflated.

Chandra cited a 5-7 percent impact on the cost side, which the company will offset by taking price hikes and also by undertaking a sharp cost reduction program. As the automaker anticipates steel prices to remain high in Q4, along with the constrained supply of semi-conductors which will bring a cost impact, Chandra says there will be a residual recovery that the company will still have to do despite January’s round of price revisions.

Since demand is not a very certain path, Chandra says, the timing and the quantum of the price hikes will be decided in a “balanced manner”, given the precarious demand situation.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Amazon vs Future case: Supreme Court restrains NCLT from finalising orders sanctioning Future Retail scheme

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Supreme Court has allowed National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to proceed with the hearing but has asked it not to pass any final order for sanctioning the scheme in Amazon vs Future case.

The apex court has allowed Future Retail to proceed with the plea for a nod before the NCLT. It has also issued notice to Future Retail on Amazon’s plea seeking status quo.

Earlier this month, e-commerce Amazon moved Supreme Court against Future-Reliance Retail deal, challenging the lifting of “status quo” orders by the division bench of Delhi High Court.

Amazon, locked in legal disputes with Future, alleged that the Indian firm violated contracts by agreeing to sell its retail assets to Reliance Industries last year. Future, however, denied any wrongdoing.

In August 2020, Future Group signed an agreement to sell its retail, wholesale and logistics business to Reliance Retail by way of a slump sale for Rs 24,713 crore.

Three months after the deal, Amazon approached the Singapore Arbitration Centre (SIAC) against the deal in October and won an interim award in its favour. A final ruling by the arbitrator in the matter is pending.

Disclaimer: Network18, the parent company of CNBCTV18.com, is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Matter bets on Indian EV market, targets $1 bn turnover by 2025

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Bullish on the growth of the electric vehicles (EV) market in India, EV and energy storage technology startup, Matter expects to clock a turnover of  $1 billion (over Rs 7,250 crore) by 2025, according to a top company official. The Ahmedabad-based company, which has so far invested $3 million (over Rs 20 crore), will be launching its lithium-ion batteries for solar and renewable management by April, which will be followed by its first electric motorcycle closer to Diwali this year.

”2021 is the year of the electric, according to Matter… The industry as a whole would be much larger in five years’ time than even the best of estimates. ”We are expecting the same thing that happened with 4G, the rate of adoption of 4G exploded above everyone’s expectations, and that is what we are expecting with EVs as well,” Matter Founder and CEO Mohal Lalbhai told PTI.

Explaining the rationale, he said with India wanting to become a $5 trillion economy and its commitment to the Paris Climate Change Agreement, the country has no option but to switch to EVs, eco-friendly newer energies and energy solutions.

On why the sector has not been able to grow in the past, Lalbhai said, ”Electric (vehicles) fundamentally in India have either been overpriced products or under-delivering products. There has never been a true value for money fit.” Stating that customers understand internal combustion engine vehicle and its value proposition, he further said, ”But in electrics, there are some companies who are 100 percent more expensive than the comparable internal combustion, some who are 20 percent cheaper, but they don’t really deliver”.

He said inferior quality Chinese product kits are brought in and assembled in India, and then and sold at much cheaper prices. However, he noted, that’s changing with new players coming in and focusing on developing their own products in India, investing on R&D and attempting to offer the right value proposition in EVs. The matter has been focussing on developing an electric motor that would have a performance similar to the internal combustion vehicles, he added.

When asked about the company’s own ambitions, Lalbhai said, ”would like to do close to 50,000 vehicles and including battery and vehicle, we would like to do about $100 million (about Rs 700 crore) in terms of topline and by 2025-26 (target) is a billion dollars combined revenue from vehicles and batteries.” In order to achieve this target, Matter has lined up its product launch and market expansion plans in place, he said. ”We are branching out into two separate business lines. One is batteries, which we would be rolling out in April 2021 and then vehicles closer to Diwali 2021,” Lalbhai said, adding EVs will be under the Matter brand and batteries under Matter Energy.

In the battery segment, the company is focusing more on grid-level solutions such as 400 kilowatts to a megawatt level lithium-ion batteries for solar and renewable management in large-scale projects on a pure B2B business basis. ”And EVs as a product, the motorcycle coming out in November, that’s going to be our B2C side of the business,” he said adding, as far as EV products are concerned, the company’s primary focus is going to be high-performance motorcycles.

Elaborating on the company’s product plans for the short to medium term, he said, ”We would have two motorcycles in the market and from the battery side, we are working on a few specialty applications and then there would be a lot of UPS inverter-driven business also in that segment there.”

In the EV segment, he said the first product will not have a detachable battery but the second product onwards the battery packs will be relatively smaller, more or less the size of a tiffin, which can be taken out for charging.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Azim Premji says CSR should not be legally mandated, philanthropy must come from within

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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IT czar and philanthropist Azim Premji on Saturday said companies should not be legally mandated to engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR) as such contributions to society need to “come from within”.

Premji, who donated Rs 7,904 crore in donations last year (Rs 22 crore a day), also highlighted that the COVID-19 crisis was a “wake up call” to look at fundamental issues like the need to improve public systems like health, and changing the structure of society to become more equal and just.

“I do not think we should have a legal mandate for companies to do CSR. Philanthropy or charity or contribution to society must come from within, and it cannot be mandated from outside. But that’s my personal view. As of now, this is the law and all companies must follow it, Premji said.

He added that it is important that individual and personal philanthropy is separated from a company’s CSR efforts. “When I travel in the field and meet our teams and our partners’ teams who have single-mindedly dedicated their lives to helping the country improve, that is about the biggest satisfaction one can derive,” he said during an AIMA event.

All India Management Association (AIMA) presented Premji with the AIMA Life Time Achievement Award for Management at the event. Premji noted that the pandemic has had a very unequal impact with the disadvantaged having suffered “exponentially more” and inequality widening significantly, while advising that one needs to start on the path of philanthropy early.

“Start right away, even if you start small. Try to help build institutions and support programs. We must have a strong set of civil society institutions that you can contribute to. Your experience in business has eminently qualified you to build scale, this is an integral part of nation building,” he added. Premji transformed Wipro from a company making vegetable oil to a diversified conglomerate including a multi-billion dollar IT services giant. He is one of the richest men in India and has donated a large part of his wealth to philanthropic causes.

In 2019, Azim Premji stepped down as Wipro chairman and managing director, handing over the company’s reins to his son, Rishad. The septuagenarian currently holds the position of Wipro founder chairman and non-executive director. Talking about people who have influenced his outlook towards philanthropy, Premji said his mother and Mahatma Gandhi’s views had played a major role in shaping his perspective on the subject.

He narrated how his mother, Gulbanoo MH Hasham Premji, spent a lifetime helping a children’s orthopaedic hospital despite facing a number of challenges. “All because she wanted to serve. Nothing fazed her, she was amazing. This is my core inspiration. This is what I saw while growing up and that really inspired me to look at philanthropy very seriously. “And then there was Mahatma Gandhi’s idea of trusteeship of wealth that the wealthy must act as custodians of wealth for the benefit of society, and not as owners of wealth. That influenced me a great deal later,” he explained.

Premji also spoke about the efforts of Azim Premji Foundation in the field of education, and that the intention is to set up four more universities in the next 10 years. “A lot of our education commitment is towards encouraging our students to finally join the social sector. Be it in education, community development, public health, livelihoods, sustainability and more. Equally, there is a requirement for relevant research on the key issues facing our society across these different themes of human development,” he said.

Premji added while the direct focus is on education, the foundation is also supporting other organisations to scale up their work for the most disadvantaged and marginalised people in the society.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

BOTTOMLINE: Can digital push lift eClerx’s fortunes?

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Businesses often go through phases of struggle. Some recover and grow much stronger and bigger. Others fall by the wayside.

In my February 6 piece “There’s value beyond the catch-up trade”, I’d put the spotlight on companies that had fared well in the nine months of the current fiscal and were attractively valued on a free-cash-flow to market capitalization basis.

While some top IT players like HCL Technologies and TechMahindra made their way to the list, the clear topper was eClerx. However, as I had said then, more study was needed to get a better sense of why the stock was available at the deep value.

Turns out this is because of the high risk to future earnings. That’s not to say it isn’t worth a wager. Here’s something to chew on.

The digital push

In a recent interaction with CNBC-TV18, Genpact CEO Tiger Tyagarajan said that the digital transformation across industries will expand the total addressable market for outsourcing.

He went on to add: “The trends that we are seeing are a reflection of change being driven by almost every enterprise across the globe, across industries and that change is around attempting to embrace digital technologies and analytical technologies to transform themselves and the way they run. While that was a change that we were all seeing in the world prior to the pandemic, the pandemic has only accelerated it, compressed timelines. We think it is going to last for quite a few years, there is a lot of change that is expected, there is opportunity to drive that change, there is a lot of technology embracing and the pandemic has changed a number of paradigms.”

Sounds very familiar to what all the IT Services majors have been saying, doesn’t it? Well, digital is being seen as a big tailwind for IT Enabled Services (ITES) too. And if there are a few good years ahead for the industry, one wonders if that is enough time for companies like eClerx who are emerging from a difficult period to get their business back on track.

Recent estimates suggest that the Indian IT-ITES industry could grow to about $350 billion by 2025 from near $190 billion at the end of fiscal ended March 2020 (FY20). Of this, ITES is expected to account for $50-55 billion by 2025.

A rough patch

It hasn’t been all hunky dory for eClerx the past few years. After posting a record profit of Rs 350 crore in 2017 it has seen a steady decline in profits to just over Rs 200 crore in FY20. Expectedly, its return on equity has also plunged from a high of 49.9 percent to 15.8 percent.

Revenues too have been largely flat. The reason, we learn is that the company lost 3 of its top clients due to them being acquired or opting for in-sourcing—not necessarily a reflection on its quality of services. Some clients also renegotiated rates, trimming margins. Its onshore consulting gambit also failed.

Following this, eClerx embarked on an effort to build capabilities in managed services, analytics and automation. It also set up an R&D centre precisely towards this end.

We learn that the big risk today for traditional outsourcing enterprises today is the emergence of RPA (Robotic Process Automation)—use of bots and AI to complete tasks faster and cheaply. So, this investment should prove useful.

Glimmers of hope

COVID seems to have given a fillip to the company. In the 9 months of the current fiscal, it has seen revenues grow 3 percent and operating profit jump 31 percent. While some of this is due to transitory savings—lower travel costs, smaller bench and sharply lower attrition—there also seems to be a genuine pick-up in business. We learn that business with several of its top clients is expanding following the pandemic, and these are better paying clients (read higher margins). So, while this may not look pretty from a client concentration point of view (top 10 clients contribute 64 percent)—a key risk given its history—it is good for business.

The other positive outcome of COVID is the greater client confidence in their services being managed offshore. This is expected to see the share of offshore increase from the present 75 percent, which is good for profitability across its business segments—customer support, digital and financial markets.

A key concern for the ITES industry has been the high attrition rates ranging from 30-to-60 percent. And while some had predicted doomsday for the industry in the early 2000s seeing this, the industry has grown and flourished. This peculiar phenomenon, that most baulk at is due to the nature of the beast.

ITES players hire mostly fresh graduates and walk-ins—there isn’t a high bar. The base of the organization pyramid in the industry is very wide and flat, but the funnel narrows sharply as you move up the ladder.

This is also why the most common angst among staffers—we found on ITES industry employee rating sites—are low pay hikes and few promotions. And this leads to movements within the industry or out of it every couple of years by the workers.

Inorganic fillip

Late last year, eClerx acquired Personiv, a deal it had been working on for months that got delayed due to COVID, for $34 million (~Rs 250 crore). The Austin, Texas based company with about 2000 employees a strong accounting services practice and call centre in the Philippines is a good fit for the company.

The traditional BPO nature of the organization, 100 percent offshore and no managed services, offers eClerx an opportunity to enhance value and grow the business by leveraging its capabilities in automation and analytics. The business is also expected to be value accretive and is seen adding over $30 million (~Rs 220 crore) to revenues in FY21, resulting in over 14 percent growth in its topline.

But don’t expect any more acquisitions in the near term. At least none are planned. The company would like to focus on generating more value from Personiv in the near future.

Confidence boosters

The way things stand at present, there does seem to be promise in eClerx, even though the risks are evident. What gives confidence beyond the numbers are a few other facts.

The company is owned and managed to by industry professionals, Priyadarshan Mundhra and Anjan Malik, both of whom own a 26.8 percent stake each. It counts noted foreign portfolio investors (18.6 percent stake) and mutual funds (12.8 percent) among its shareholders.

Also, like several IT services players it has been giving money back to shareholders—it completed its last Rs 110 crore buyback in July 2020 at Rs 550 per share.

eClerx is also a global organization with 11,500 employees. It has presence across US, UK, Germany, Italy, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and India, and draws bulk of its revenues from North America and Europe, like many in the industry.

But what gives the most confidence is the deep value at which the business quotes: at the current market capitalization of Rs 3,400 crore the company’s FY20 free-cash-flow yield is 8.7 percent.

That might tilt the scales for a business that has traditionally seen a significant discount in valuations to its IT services peers. There’s multi-bagger potential here, but also be well aware that any failure to deliver can see value erode equally swiftly.

Want to bet on the BPO space? It isn’t for the weak hearted.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

SBI Payments to launch YONO Merchant App

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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SBI Payments, a subsidiary of India’s largest lender State Bank of India, will launch YONO Merchant App to provide low-cost digital payments infrastructure to merchants, the bank said on Saturday. YONO Merchant App will expand digitization of merchant payments in the country, SBI said in a release.

“Aiming to enable millions of merchants through mobile-led technology to accept digital payments, SBI plan to deploy low-cost acceptance infrastructure across India over the next two years targeting 20 million potential merchants across India in retail and enterprise segment.”

This will help boost digital payments acceptance infrastructure in tier 3, 4 as well as northeastern cities. YONO SBI Merchant will act as a soft PoS (point of sale) solution for which it has partnered with global payments technology major Visa to enable Tap to Phone feature.

The partnerships aim to give the necessary boost to scale up acceptance infrastructure across the country, SBI said. “It gives me immense pleasure to announce the launch of YONO SBI Merchant app by our digital payments subsidiary SBI Payments. The Bank launched the YONO Platform three years ago, YONO, has 35.8 million registered users. YONO Merchant is a brand extension of this platform aiming to improve user experience and bringing convenience to our merchants,” Dinesh Kumar Khara, the Chairman of SBI, said.

Khara said in the next 2-3 years, SBI is aiming to digitize millions of merchants by upgrading their mobile phones into a PoS device accepting all form factors, accessing Value Added Services such as loyalty, GST invoicing, inventory management, among others and connecting into an interface to avail other banking products at a click of a button.

“We are aiming to grow our merchant touch points multi-fold crossing 5-10 million within 2-3 years. YONO SBI Merchant is a great enabler for retail and enterprise merchants offering a holistic product proposition to improve merchant engagement, user experience and convenience,” Giri Kumar Nair, MD& CEO, SBI Payments said.

SBI said the launch of YONO Merchant is in line with RBI’s recent announcement of creating a Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) to encourage acquirers to deploy Point of Sale (PoS) infrastructure (both physical and digital) in lesser penetrated areas of the country. Merchants will now be able to turn their NFC enabled Android smartphones into payment acceptance devices through a simple mobile app, it said.

“Our partnership with SBI is aimed at empowering more merchants with low-cost, innovative, simple and secure ways of accepting digital payments and forms an important part of our global commitment to digitally empower 50 million small businesses. We are confident that with SBI’s presence around the length and breadth of the country, millions of consumers in smaller cities will be able to pay digitally and conveniently at their nearby stores,” TR Ramachandran, Group Country Manager, India and South Asia, Visa said.

He said as the number of consumers and merchants coming online goes up, seamless and secure digital payment experiences are essential to ensure they continue using digital payments and Visa continues to simplify payments with products like tokenization.

“With India’s smartphone base expected to reach 820 million in the next two years, both SBI and Visa firmly believe there is a tremendous opportunity to augment them as payment acceptance devices,” said the release. After the deployment of the service, merchants will also be able to access details of transactions, generate reports, upload transactions for processing etc through SBI’s mobile application besides accepting payments on their mobile device.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

New public sector enterprises policy envisages at most 4 PSUs in strategic sectors: DPE Secy

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The new public sector enterprises policy envisages that the strategic sectors have a limited number of players restricting it to maximum of four public sector enterprises of the holding nature, a top official said on Friday.

Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) Secretary Sailesh said the remaining enterprises will be rationalised in terms of mergers, amalgamations and privatisation if feasible.

As part of the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ package, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had in May announced that there will be a maximum of four public sector companies in strategic sectors, and state-owned firms in other segments will eventually be privatised. The DPE secretary was addressing a webinar organised by PHDCCI.

Sailesh said, “We need to build our capabilities and emphasise our domestic production for global and domestic outreach at a globally competitive cost.” The new paradigm framework in which the government is working on will make PSU a pivotal part and there is a strength towards asset monetisation in the brownfield project, he added.

“We need to ensure that the desired results are achieved in the collaborative effect of the private sector to enhance wealth, improve R&D, and growth of the economy.” The secretary also said that with the announcements of the new PSU policy, the govt wishes to have a strong and impactful public sector in a strategic sector.

“MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) have the potential in the sectors such as defence, infrastructure, manufacturing, power, petroleum, coal, mining, ports, airports, and many more, which will help to create better running of government assets,” he said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

OIL, EIL to bid for BPCL’s 61.65% stake in Numaligarh Refinery

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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As the government is looking to divest stake in Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) there is some positive news for the company. Oil India (OIL) and Engineers India (EIL) will be forming a consortium to bid for BPCL’s 61.65 percent stake in Numaligarh Refinery.

Oil India already has 26 percent stake in the refinery, so it will be increasing it further and EIL will have a minority stake for now. To what extent they will be investing in the refinery depends on what the Assam government does, as at present they have 12.50 percent stake in Numaligarh Refinery.

Watch the video to know more about the consortium and the stake they would acquire from BPCL.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Marico forays into instant noodles space, launches ‘Saffola Oodles’

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Consumer goods major Marico has forayed into the instant noodles segment with the launch of ‘Saffola Oodles’. With the launch of this product, Marico says it is looking to strengthen its presence in the healthy, ready-to-cook snacking category under the Saffola brand.

Targeting the healthy foods segment through the launch, Marico said in a statement that Saffola Oodles does not contain maida or artificial preservatives. For starters, Saffola Oodles will be launched only through e-commerce channels and will be available on Saffola Stores, Amazon, BigBasket, Grofers and Flipkart. The company has launched the product in two SKUs – a single pack of 46g for Rs 20 and a multipack (pack of 4) of 184g for Rs 80.

Marico’s foray into instant noodles comes months after the market saw a significant surge during the lockdown. Incumbents such as Nestle’s Maggi and ITC’s Yippee, which are the top two bands in this segment, saw their sales skyrocket during the months of April and May. The market also saw expansion with brands launching several variants of instant noodles, and other companies launching instant noodles offerings.

However, Saugata Gupta, MD of Marico told CNBC-TV18 that under the Saffola brand, the company wants to have a share of the existing wallet of the total addressable market of premium healthy, in-between snack-able meals, and that is what it is addressing through the launch of Oodles.

Marico doesn’t intend to take on incumbents in the instant noodles space. It is only looking to target healthier options in the instant noodles market and doesn’t plan to expand the product portfolio under this segment either.

Commenting on the new launch, Koshy George, Chief Marketing Officer, Marico Limited said, “Since the launch of Saffola Masala Oats, Saffola has become a mainstay in the ready-to-eat snacking market in India. Once again championing the healthy indulgence narrative, we have launched Saffola Oodles in the instant noodles category. Made from wholegrain oats, Saffola Oodles comes in a delicious masala flavour and does not contain maida or artificial preservatives. This new launch seeks to meet the rising consumer need for healthier snacking options that are at the same time delightfully tasty.”

Marico has been expanding its presence in the healthy foods and immunity-boosting category over the past year. It launched Saffola Honey, and also entered the Ayurvedic segment and the plant-based protein segment with the recent launch of Saffola MealMaker Soya Chunks.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Seen digital growth at over 30% in the last quarter, says Infosys CEO Salil Parekh

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The COVID 19 pandemic has tested the resilience of many industries. If one goes by the earnings performance, the Indian IT industry has emerged stronger through the crisis.

TCS has seen its best third-quarter revenue growth in the last 9 years, while Infosys has delivered an 8-year high for the same quarter. Wipro’s EBITDA margin has come in a 22-quarter high, while HCL Technologies has upgraded both its revenue and margin guidance while clocking $ 10 billion in revenue for 2020.

NASSCOM’S CEO survey for 2021-22 holds out confidence for the year ahead with 67 percent CEO’s saying they expect the Indian tech industry to grow significantly higher than 2020.

So on day-two of NASSCOM’s Technology & Leadership Forum, which focuses on shaping the future towards a better normal, if the services model needs redefining and if yes, then what changes need to be made to adapt to the new opportunities.

To discuss this, CNBC-TV18’s  Shereen Bhan spoke to the tech troika of the Indian IT industry, Salil Parekh, CEO of Infosys; Thierry Delaporte, MD & CEO of Wipro; and C Vijayakumar, President & CEO of HCL Technologies.

Salil Parekh said, “The thing that is really changing is all large enterprises are looking at digital and cloud transformation and that for us is the key that is driving all of these growths. What we see today for example in the last quarter we saw digital growing at over 30 percent and that is the critical element for us as we see the enterprises emerging through all over these changes.”

“There is a lot of focus that our large clients are having on their end customers, on the employees, and on their supply chains. To make all of that enable in fact it in a way we are representing that digital enablement is what is driving the growth for us and I think for the IT services business overall.”

C Vijayakumar said, “We need to do a lot more about upskilling and bringing the latest technology focus among the whole education including the work-life that is one. Second, I also think diversity and inclusion is something which all of us are consciously trying to push the envelope but I think we still have a long way to go.”

“The third element is the brand perception, even though the value that we add is significantly changed, the brand is still associated with talent and capabilities and skills. From there the brand perception needs to be changed to business outcomes and kind of reinventing different sectors. I would think these are the three things that we will need to do more work on.”

Thierry Delaporte said, “The pandemic has accelerated the situation to a point now where we do understand technology, we embrace technology, our people love technology. We are now in a world where technology is more important than ever, but what matters the most is business issues, understanding of these issues, and leveraging technology to address those business issues. That is how I see the evolution over the last years.”

For full interview, watch accompanying videos…

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow