Now, Cial makes ‘aviation history’ with a museum
The long overdue aviation museum was inaugurated at the Cochin International Airport Ltd (Cial) on Monday. The facility is close to the CIAL Academy and the newly-constructed international terminal. The Polish jet, PZL TS-11 Iskra, used by the Indian Air Force to train pilots is one of the highlights at the 1.2 lakh sq ft museum. The aircraft has been specially brought from the air force base in Secunderabad. “The aviation museum has been a cherished dream. It’s a little-known fact that Cial was planned, built and run on public-private partnership (PPP). The airport is a novel idea in infrastructure development. The entire history of the airport can be found in ‘CIAL Pavilion’ on the lower level of the museum,” said V J Kurian, managing director, Cial, after inaugurating the museum. The pavilion has panels on the history and construction of the airport, a model of a GSLV satellite, provided by the ISRO, among other showpieces. The ISRO pavilion on the museum’s upper level includes models of aircraft, from the Wright Brothers’ first craft to ‘Kitty Hawk’, and an aerospace section with an audio-visual gallery. Peyton Manning Jersey
3 bidders get security nod for new Mumbai airport: Government
The Home Ministry has given security clearance to three bidders for new Mumbai airport and denied two others, Lok Sabha was told today. The Ministry of Home Affairs has conveyed security clearance in respect of GMR Airports Limited, MIA Infrastructure Pvt Ltd and (iii) Mumbai International Airport Private Limited for the new Mumbai airport, Minister of State for Home Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary said in Lok Sabha. It denied security clearance in respect of consortium of Voluptas Developers Pvt Ltd and Zurich Airport International AG, Switzerland, he said in his reply to a written question. Chaudhary said while conveying security clearance for the new Mumbai airport, the Home Ministry has raised some doubts and issues in respect of GMR Airports Limited and Mumbai International Airports Private Limited and had shared certain inputs, having no bearing on national security, with the Ministry of Civil .. Herman Edwards Womens Jersey
Oil & gas fields auction this month to be on simpler terms: Sources
After more than a 4-year break, India will this month launch auction of discovered oil and gas fields on simpler contractual terms together with pricing and marketing freedom. Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will on May 25 launch the Discovered Small Fields Bid Round, official sources said. Last exploration licensing round concluded in March 2012. That was the Ninth round of bidding under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP). A total of 256 block were awarded in the nine rounds of NELP. Now in the new round, as many as 67 idle discoveries of state-owned ONGC and Oil India Ltd have been clubbed into 46 fields for offer in the international bidding round. Of these, 28 discoveries are in Mumbai offshore and another 14 are in the prolific Krishna Godavari basin. As many as 10 discoveries in the Assam shelf. Sources said the government took away these discoveries from ONGC as it could not develop them because of small size and unviable price. But in the bidding round, the government is offering complete pricing freedom and ONGC too can bid to get back its discoveries. The discoveries were given up by the state run as late as 2012-13. In-place reserves in these identified discoveries/ fields is about 88 million tons of oil and oil equivalent gas. The biggest discovery among the lot is the D-18 in Mumbai Offshore that alone holds 14.78 million tons of in-place oil reserves. Among the gas discoveries, the largest is ONGC’s B-9 find in the offshore Kutch basin that has an in-place reserve of 14.67 bcm. Spelling out salient features of the Marginal Field Policy, sources said the auction will be done on a new revenue sharing model where bidders will be asked to quote the revenue they will share with the government at low and high end of price and production band. The new revenue sharing regime will replace the controversial Production Sharing Contract (PSC) model where oil and gas blocks are awarded to those firms which show they will do maximum work on a block. The PSC regime allowed all their investments to be recovered from sale of oil and gas before profits are shared with the government. This model was criticised by CAG which said it encouraged companies to keep raising cost so as to postpone higher share of profits to the government. Also, single licence for exploration and exploitation of conventional and non-conventional hydrocarbons will be issued and operators will have freedom to sell oil and gas on arms on arms length market price, he said, adding that there would be no cess on crude oil. Joe Schobert Womens Jersey
Nagarjuna Oil in talks with Saudi royal family to revive refinery
Nagarjuna Oil Corporation, which is setting up a refinery in Tamil Nadu, has initiated talks with the royal family of Saudi Arabia for a possible strategic investment as it attempts to complete the project that has been held up for over four years now. In addition, public sector oil companies, led by IndianOil, are also being nudged by the government to look at possible equity investment. Sources said talks with the Saudi royal family were initiated earlier and the lenders and the PM’s Office, which began monitoring the project a few months back, were informed about the discussions around six weeks ago. In fact, the government has taken it up with some Saudi officials and the promoters have been advised to pursue the issue. A source said equity infusion from the Saudi royal family would depend on discussions at the bilateral level. Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan recently visited Saudi Arabia and oil was clearly the main item on the agenda. The Nagarjuna Oil refinery, which will have an annual capacity of six million tonnes in the first phase, is nearly 60% complete but has been held up since a cyclone hit Cuddalore in December 2011. It has been identified as one of the projects that the PMO is pushing for completion. Last September, the lenders had got a due diligence done and were targeting completion in 24-26 months. The exercise showed that an additional funding of over Rs 11,600 crore was required, with around Rs 3,800-crore equity required and the remaining Rs 7,800 crore coming in the form of loans. The overall project cost was pegged at just under Rs 20,000 crore. Sources said that the project has received environmental clearance, financial assistance through VAT refunds and has access to port to import crude and ship out refined products. “It is a question of arranging funds, which is possible, and we are willing to undertake some restructuring to ensure that the project is completed,” said a banker. Sources said that a consortium of lenders led by IDBI Bank was willing to provide additional funding, extend the repayment period and also convert a part of the interest component into equity or preference shares to ease the repayment burden. Chandler Catanzaro Authentic Jersey
Iran cuts crude prices vs Saudis, Iraq in market share fight
Iran has set its June official selling prices (OSPs) for heavier crude grades it sells to Asia at the biggest discounts to Saudi and Iraqi oil since 2007-2008, raising the stakes in its fight to regain market share. This is third time Iran has changed price formulas since January, underscoring its need for competitive pricing to push more exports into Asia after international sanctions against it were lifted early in the year. In contrast, top OPEC producer Saudi Arabia raised its June OSPs for all grades to multi-month highs, outstripping forecasts. Saudi Aramco’s chief executive has said demand for the kingdom’s oil is increasing. Iran on Tuesday set the June OSP for Iranian Heavy crude at $1.60 a barrel below the Oman/Dubai average, up $1 from the previous month, an industry source with direct knowledge of the matter said. This still puts Iranian Heavy at 30 cents a barrel below Saudi’s Arab Medium grade, the biggest discount between the two crudes since 2007, trade data showed. Against Iraq’s flagship Basra Light, Iranian Heavy is 20 cents a barrel cheaper, the widest gap since 2012, the year that sanctions hit Iran’s oil exports. Tehran typically adjusts its crude price formulas to Asia at the beginning of each quarter following negotiations with its clients. However, this year it has changed at least some of its crude pricing formulas in March, April and June. The changes helped to boost its exports to Asia by 50 percent in March from a year ago even though lingering sanctions posed difficulties for buyers in paying for and shipping Iranian oil. The June OSP for Forozan Blend has also fallen to the largest discount against Arab Medium since the fourth quarter of 2008, data showed. Iranian Light remained at 25 cents a barrel above Arab Light in June, or $0.50 above the Oman/Dubai average. Joe Kocur Jersey
Amazon leads move to cloud infrastructure services: Report
The dramatic shift of data center expenditure from on-premises to service provider deployments is continuing in 2016, as use of cloud infrastructure services accelerates. Canalys estimates that worldwide expenditure on cloud infrastructure services reached $8.2 billion in Q1 2016, up 53% year on year. Total spend is forecast to exceed $38 billion in 2016. This includes infrastructure as a service and platform as a service delivered as part of hosted private and public cloud services. “The push by Amazon, Microsoft, Google and IBM SoftLayer to offer data center capacity to businesses is also having a major impact on the IT industry,” said principal analyst Matthew Ball. Over 50% of servers in 2016 will be shipped to data centers providing cloud infrastructure services. But these are typically low-margin and increasingly white box deals, which is affecting vendors and channel partners that sell compute and storage. “These data centers are scaling rapidly and operated by an increasingly consolidated number of providers,” Ball added. “The top four providers accounted for nearly 60% of the total market in Q1, up from just over 45% two years ago, with Amazon leading the way with 30%. This move is supported by virtually every software company prioritizing the development of their offerings for the cloud.” “Business adoption is increasing fast, but it is the growth of consumer-centric services, such as video streaming, content storage, gaming and social networking services, that has been the main driver,” said research analyst Daniel Liu. “Use will continue to grow as smartphone penetration increases, high-speed connectivity becomes pervasive, bandwidth restrictions ease and new content-driven apps emerge,” Liu added. “The combination of cloud and mobile has enabled new business models and tech startups to emerge, giving instant access to billions of customers via online marketplaces. By 2020, the value of the cloud infrastructure services market is expected to reach $190 billion.” But challenges remain. The massive capital investment required to sustain cloud data centers will see many providers leave the market – consolidation will be rapid. These investments are possible in an environment when capital is plentiful, and interest rates are incredibly low, but this will not always be the case. A significant chunk of cloud use is driven by loss-making, venture-backed Silicon Valley startups, whose future looks questionable as investors become more cautious. And the ongoing uncertainty as to whether data in the cloud can be kept hidden from the US and other government agencies will keep many enterprises wary of storing data in the public cloud. Brenden Dillon Authentic Jersey
Retailers seek ED probe into alleged violation of online marketplace model by Amazon, Paytm and Flipkart
The country’s top retailers’ lobby said it will soon seek an Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe into the alleged violation of the online ‘marketplace’ model by e-tailers like Amazon, Paytm and Flipkart. The Retailers Association of India said online sellers are offering discounts that influence the pricing of goods, which is a violation of the model. According to a press note issued on March 29 by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), a marketplace-based model of e-commerce means providing of an IT platform by an e-commerce entity on a digital and electronic network to act as a facilitator between the buyer and the seller. “We are asking for an early investigation by the ED into the matter and we are going to take up this matter with the finance minister soon,” Kumar Rajagopalan, chief executive officer at the association, told ET. The retailers’ lobby had recently approached DIPP saying that e-commerce companies were engaging in business-to-consumer trade by selling their own brands and, thus, flouting the FDI rules. The government has allowed 100% FDI under the automatic route in business-to-business e-commerce but no FDI is permitted in business-to-consumer e-commerce. “You cannot call yourself a marketplace to qualify for 100% FDI and then indulge in retail business. Some action has to be taken in this matter,” Rajagopalan said. DIPP, though, has the mandate to only draft the FDI policy and any alleged violation of the policy comes under the purview of regulatory agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate. Earlier, the All India Footwear Manufacturers and Retailers Association had also dragged the ecommerce companies to court over this matter. The delhi High Court had then asked DIPP to clarify the e-commerce policy and to put in place a clear definition for the marketplace model. By restricting online portals from influencing the prices, the government wants to protect the small and medium enterprises from deep online discounting. The March 29 DIPP press note clarified that an e-commerce marketplace may provide support services to sellers in respect of warehousing, logistics, call centre and payment collection under B2B e-commerce. Ben Gedeon Authentic Jersey
Amazon in discussions with government on ecommerce rules; seeks clause allowing promotions
Amazon India is in discussions with the government on recently framed ecommerce rules and the company’s top executives have told senior officials that a clause allowing marketplaces to do their own promotions must be worked in if the sector has to grow. Two people directly aware of the development, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told ET that Amazon India executives have expressed concern to officials of the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion that the rules on marketplace do not provide enough clarity on whether an ecommerce firm can advertise sellers’ discounted products under the firm’s banner. Since the new rules were announced on March 29, Amazon India has not advertised deals and discounts on its platforms. Amazon India did not respond to ET’s questions. The rules do not explicitly ban advertising by ecommerce firms that follow the marketplace model. But there’s a strong proscription against “directly or indirectly influencing the price of goods”. The people quoted earlier said Amazon’s apprehension is that this rule is ambiguous enough for complaints to be made against ecommerce firms’ advertisements on sellers’ discounted products. “Anyone can accuse an ecommerce firm of indirectly influencing prices if that firm carries an ad on discounts offered by sellers and brands,” one of the persons said, pointing out that as an America-headquartered company, Amazon was seeking complete clarity on a regulatory issue. Amazon, listed on Nasdaq, faces high compliance standards on foreign investmentrelated issues under US law. According to the other person familiar with the Amazon-DIPP interactions, executives of the company asked the department several questions. The company has asked DIPP: “How do we grow in India? Whatever we do on our platform can be brought under the ambiguous definition of ‘indirectly influencing price’.” Amazon executives also made a point on direct interface with customers. “If we are not allowed to interface with customers, then how will we acquire customers and do business?” ‘NORMS WELL-DEFINED’ A senior DIPP official, familiar with these arguments, however told ET that the norms are well-defined and leave no room for interpretation. “Every player understands what the norms are now…If they are still caught on the wrong side of the law, they will have to pay the penalty,” he added. The government has defined marketplace model of ecommerce as provider of information technology on a digital and electronic network to act as a facilitator between the buyer and the seller besides putting out clear definitions for ecommerce, ecommerce entity and inventory-based model. DIPP has put the inventory-based model as a B2C (business-to-consumer) activity where foreign direct investment is not permitted. As per the latest guidelines, ecommerce companies are neither allowed to influence the price of goods and services directly or indirectly nor accrue more than 25% sales from a single vendor or from their group companies. Not only are ecommerce firms barred from offering discounts under the new policy, they also cannot offer promotional schemes like cashbacks to lure shoppers. The warranty of goods and services and after-sales service too will be provided by sellers and not the ecommerce company. The ecommerce industry in India is expected to grow from $17 billion in 2014 to $60-70 billion by 2019. Lack of clear definitions in the new rules has led to legal disputes between offline and online retailers. Brick-and-mortar retailers have said ecommerce companies are “circumventing” FDI laws by infusing overseas capital into retail, which India does not allow. Eugenio Suarez Jersey
Why senior executives are quitting startups to move back to traditional established companies
The movement back from startups to large established companies has started. Several CXOs from ecommerce and startups are on their way back to large MNCs and established Indian conglomerates and there are several others who are on the lookout, according to six executive search firms specialising in senior-level startup searches. Lack of innovation opportunities, culture misfit, roles becoming redundant are among the reasons that have prompted senior leaders from Flipkart, Jabong, Housing.com, Ola and others to move back to traditional established companies, the search executives said. In November, Peshwa Acharya, Housing. com’s chief of strategy, marketing and franchising, left the startup to join a large travel, holiday and hospitality conglomerate as chief marketing officer. Suvomoy Sarkar from Ola joined Sears Holdings Corporation as head of the India analytics centre last month while Manish Maheshwari joined as CEO of Network 18 digital this month from Flipkart where he was the head of seller business and eco-system. A few months ago, Vikas Ahuja joined The Oberoi Group from Myntra, where he was the chief marketing officer. Among others who have left over the past two years are Aparna Ballakur, who joined PayU as vice president human resources from Flipkart, where she was chief people officer, and Deepak Menon, who joined Microsoft from Jabong, where he was as product advisor and mentor. Others include Vikram Dasu, chief executive officer at Avenue Ecommerce Ltd – Dmart, who moved in from HomeShop18. “Most ecommerce companies like Flipkart, Snapdeal are top-heavy and looking at high cost individuals working with them trying to force exits,” said Kris Lakshmikanth, chairman & managing director at The Head Hunters India. “There are 100 guys in our database who have come out of ecommerce companies at middle to senior level, who are looking for jobs,” he added. Anshuman Das, managing partner at Longhouse Consulting, said about 30% of the senior executives at startups and ecommerce firms are currently contemplating moving back to larger companies. “We get a lot of requests from executives wanting to move back owing to funding issues and uncertainty. People who are not able to adjust to a fastpaced state of change and would like to work on broad, long-term plans are better suited for MNCs,” he added. “There is a fair amount of such movements taking place. Lot of people in startups are feeling jittery and want to move back,” said CK Guruprasad, partner for global technology & services practice at Heidrick & Struggles. “Companies do not have so much money now to burn on people they hired in a frenzy at one time. Also some of them who have moved in from large MNCs and established companies are not able to adjust with the environment prompting many to look at moving to regular jobs,” he added. Indian startups are becoming aggregators of product and services, and lack of cutting-edge innovation is also leading to frustration among several senior-level executives. At a time when there are rising concerns around valuations, many feel going back to established companies is a much better option. “Tech guys have a passion for technology and MNCs believe in giving ownership, identity and freedom whereas for Indian startups cost is a constraint, thus limiting their freedom,” said GC Jayaprakash, executive director at RGF Executive Search. Large ecommerce companies like Flipkart and Snapdeal have recently said they will be more cost effective. “The era of unlimited venture money is over, and they (startups) all have to focus their energies on getting their core businesses in order. This implies some ambitious initiatives must be scaled back, different competencies become more important, etc, which might make the organisations a less good fit for the people who joined in a different environment. Over the long run, this is going to leave the companies stronger,” said Karan Girotra, who is Paul Dubrule Chaired Professor of Sustainable Development at INSEAD and an advisor to some Indian ecommerce companies. Suresh Raina, managing director at Hunt Partners, which received a formal mandate for senior executive talent search from SoftBank last year, said that when a high-profile leader is hired in ecommerce, the process is similar to a boy wooing a girl. “Promises are made, expectations are built, but when the hire eventually joins, the reality is nowhere close to what was promised in terms of innovation opportunities or a high growth path. Companies should be more careful in designing roles and reporting relationships which can turn sour very quickly as they are in a perennial state of change,” he added. Experts feel there are also fundamental differences in the way Indian startups and ecommerce companies operate vis-a-vis their global counterparts. “Prima facie, the business models of Indian ecommerce companies like Flipkart and Ola would look similar to their global counterparts like Amazon and Uber, but the reality is different. The US economy is an API-led economy where professionals can be given autonomy for solving technology problems. Individuals can innovate in the US and can stay focused without causing much disruption,” said Das. Sinosh Panicker, associate principal at Heidrick & Struggles, said Indian ecommerce companies would like to be the next Google or Facebook but it is very difficult to build a culture similar to theirs by simply hiring people from these companies. “It’s important to note that a lot of these evolved companies already have a successful revenue generating business, allowing them to sustain the culture of focusing on doing the right things for customers and having a long-term approach.” James Conner Authentic Jersey
GetMore at affordable rate: Jet woos the Indian customer
“Get More at affordable rates,” is the message that Jet Airways is keen to push among price conscious Indian travellers as it seeks to consolidate its position in the domestic market. The airline is also hoping that its latest campaign which unveils on Tuesday on digital and social media, radio, out of home, print and television will also “convert” more passengers to fly on its aircraft. While emphasising that its fares were competitive, Colin Neubronner, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Jet Airways, said that if fares charged between the various domestic airlines are broken down the difference between them is about ? 200-300 on a one-way ticket. “But the actual monetary value that Jet Airways provides in terms of the food and beverage that we serve is about $3. For those who are members of our privilege miles programme they get miles on flights whether it is long or short haul which gives an adjusted value of $6. Then there is the lounge (the cost of) which has gone up tremendously. If you add up $3 from the food and $ 6 from the miles and $ 11 from the lounge you save $ 20 which is about ? 1,300. What our consumer gets is four times of the ? 200-300 price differential,” Neubronner told BusinessLine. The campaign will focus on almost everything including the fact that the airline offers over 20 special meals, regional and international cuisine, hot beverages, a wide network with over 600 daily flights and a free baggage allowance. Belson Coutinho, Vice President, Marketing, added that the objective of the campaign is not only to reinforce the service message among existing customers but also to target those who are prone to comparing fares before making a decision on which airline to fly. Besides, the airline is also hoping to attract youth, students and other segments. “It is too difficult and too early to say how many will convert,” Coutinho said, when asked how many more passengers does he think will start flying with Jet Airways as a result of the campaign. The latest campaign comes in the back drop of the airline’s December 2014 strategic decision to move away from multiple sub-brands like JetLite and JetKonnect and offer a standardised product offering across its fleet. The move has seen premier and economy cabins being standardised across its Boeing 737 fleet among others changes. Tom Brady Womens Jersey