Students will regret their decision to join you, IIM-A says in the letter that sparked Flipkart row
In a new twist to the Flipkart-IIM-A controversy, the Ahmedabad institute has claimed that students from other campuses were also affected by the online retailer’s move to defer joining dates for recruits. While IIM-A claimed that it expected a conference call with Flipkart to resolve the matter, Flipkart has reportedly denied any such move, adding that it was not going to increase compensation for students as pushed by the institute. Here is the full text of the email that IIM-A had sent to Flipkart, which kicked off the row: From: IIM A chairperson To: Binny Bansal and Nitin Seth CC: Flipkart directors, placement head and placecom representatives of all colleges Subject: 7 months delay in joining of management trainees at Flipkart Dear Binny and Nitin, It really saddened me to read an email (please see below) sent by Flipkart campus team on Friday night. You had earlier promised to give joining in July to our students but now it has been delayed till December 2016. Let me assure you that not only students of IIM-A but all the other students from the different campuses are in shock to see such a mail from a well established name like Flipkart. This sudden decision will bring below changes: 1. A strong brand attracts the best of talent on any campus, anywhere in the world. Most of the students had chosen Flipkart over other well reputed recruiters on campus because of the strength of the brand Flipkart. Your decision to defer the date of joining, comes as it does so close to the earlier promised date of July 2016, is sure to make this talent pool regret their well thought out decision. Talented students fresh out of campus, on the eve of starting successful careers, feel cheated out of multiple opportunities that the campus had to offer, through no fault of their own, just because they chose Flipkart. With campus perception of recruiters trickling down from one batch to the next, this can significantly hurt the brand Flipkart on campus during subsequent rounds of campus hiring in the years to come. 2. With the need to service heavy educational loans that most of the students have taken, it stands to reason that the Flipkart’s decision of deferring joining by seven months puts a lot of personal finances (and by extension careers) in jeopardy and is bound to cause a lot of duress for the students and their families. The amount of 1.5 lakhs offered as joining bonus hardly qualifies as compensation for seven months of forced unemployment. 3. Future engagement of Flipkart with b-school campuses is bound to get affected as a relationship based on mistrust and lack of transparency can never be mutually beneficial. While we understand that restructuring calls for tough decisions in an organisation, the matter of campus hiring could have been handled much better with campuses forewarned well in advance and engaged as partners in this decision making. Rude shocks due to unilateral decision making does little to help strengthen relationships with the campus. All of these points only summarise that this decision is going to impact Flipkart, b-schools and most importantly talented students and their families in a very negative manner. Hence all placement heads and placement committees of all colleges have decided to come forward in support of our students and would like to have a common conference call with you so that we can find a more amicable solution. We request you to consider the following options: 1. An undertaking signed by the CEO guaranteeing that every one of these students will be absorbed when the date of joining is finalised no later than December 2. Either the period of deferment needs to be scaled down or the quantum of compensation for deferment needs to be ramped up (Rs 1.5 lakh for a period of seven months is, to put it mildly, utterly unacceptable) to reflect x% of package. 3. The payment of the compensation shall commence on a monthly basis starting July and not as a lump sum amount as joining bonus or arrears. As previously mentioned, we would appreciate a speedy response from your side regarding scheduling a conference call in the next couple of days, where all the relevant stakeholders (Flipkart management, placement chairpersons of the campuses, Placecom representatives from the campuses, representatives from Flipkart new joinees) can engage to reach a mutually acceptable solution. We hope that working together, we can keep the matter from escalating to a wider audience. Our only objective is to protect the careers of our students. Alex Cappa Womens Jersey
It’s the season of handshakes at startup Inc with Flipkart & Snapdeal seeking to make strategic purchases
For startups with deep ambitions to become fodder for bigger fish, this financial year could be the one granting them closure. In the fiscal year ended March 31, the number of mergers and acquisitions involving technology startups more than doubled to 146 transactions from 69 in 2014-15, according to data tracker Venture Intelligence. Experts are forecasting that startup acquisition activity in 2016-17 will surpass last year’s numbers, propelled, in part, by large and better-funded companies such as Flipkart and Snapdeal that are actively seeking to make strategic purchases. “We definitely expect to see more consolidation this year driven by a few factors acquisitions that are complementary and synergistic; consolidation to take out competition; consolidation of cap tables; and acqui-hires,” said Aashish Bhinde, head of digital and technology at investment bank Avendus Capital. Investors and experts tracking India’s rapidly growing startup industry have been predicting a wave of mergers and acquisitions for several months now. Their primary reasons: The funding winter that has dawned on maturing companies; hyper-competition fueled by investor money; and the hasty floundering of some hugely hyped sectors because of weak business fundamentals. On-demand delivery startups emerged an investor favourite in the first half of 2015 before imploding in the latter part of the year and either shuttering or becoming takeover targets. Le’Veon Bell Jersey
US probes e-commerce giant Alibaba over accounting practices
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba says it is under investigation by US regulators in connection with its accounting practices. The company is the world’s biggest e-commerce platform, with more than 420 million people buying $485 billion worth of goods last year on its sites. Its digital platforms, including Taobao and Tmall, make up 80% of Chinese e-commerce. Alibaba said in a regulatory filing Tuesday that the US Securities and Exchange Commission has requested documents and information related to its policies and practices for consolidating earnings and for related party transactions, among other things. The company said it is cooperating with the investigation. Alibaba said it was told by the SEC that the request for information shouldn’t be interpreted as an indication by the agency that the company has violated securities laws. Alibaba Group Holding went public in the US in September 2014. Investors, seeking to tap into the rapidly growing Chinese middle-class, scrambled to buy shares. The offering raised $25 billion, making it the largest in the history of the New York Stock Exchange. Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms cater to both Chinese and global consumers. At its heart is Taobao, a Chinese consumer-to-consumer website similar to eBay. Tmall offers merchants official storefronts to consumers in China. As sales growth has slowed in China with a weakening economy, Alibaba has reached abroad to spur sales, both from US companies selling goods on its platforms in China and Chinese sellers catering to international customers. US investors, worried about the state of the Chinese economy, have been wary of any possible signs of weakness in Alibaba’s performance. The company in January reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter, as mobile shopping continued to grow and Chinese customers snapped up goods during the holidays. Alibaba said the SEC’s request also included information on accounting for its Cainiao Network and its reporting of operating data from Singles Day, the popular Chinese shopping holiday on Nov. 11. Uchenna Nwosu Jersey
IITs may strip Flipkart of its ‘Day One’ status in campus placements for delaying joining dates
Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) are likely to strip Flipkart of its Day One status in their campus placement programs. This is a fallout of the ecommerce giant’s recent decision to defer the joining date for its most recent batch of campus recruits from June this year to December. According to multiple sources across IITs, Flipkart is almost certain to be bumped down from the prestigious Day One slot at the top institutes. The All-IITs Placement Committee (AIPC), comprising placement cell heads across all IITs, will be meeting in the next few days to take a stand on the Flipkart issue. Also read: IIM-A asks Flipkart to guarantee jobs of recruits, says Rs 1.5 lakh compensation for late joining unaccepatable “Flipkart’s Day One slot at IITs will be affected for sure,” said an AIPC member. “Our next AIPC meeting was scheduled for October, but we are planning to have a video conference in the next few days to decide on how to sort out the problem.” The Day One slot across IITs is normally reserved for the most reputed companies, including technology giants such as Google and Microsoft. Given the intense competition to get topflight talent, companies vie for this slot to be able to hire the cream of the graduating students first. Flipkart has so far enjoyed a Day One slot across almost all IITs, barring a couple of campuses such as IIT-Bombay. “It is a delicate situation. Many of our alumni are still at Flipkart and it would be unwise to have a kneejerk reaction,” said a placement head who declined to be named. Flipkart though is unlikely to get blacklisted unlike Zomato. Last year, Zomato was insistent that it be included in the Day One slot at IIT-Delhi. It was turned down and its CEO Deepinder Goyal expressed his displeasure in an outburst on Twitter. IITs subsequently blacklisted Zomato and did not allow it to hire on campus. The pressure on Flipkart is intensifying, with IIT-Bombay – where seven students have been hired by Flipkart – also planning to send out an email to the company, asking them to reduce the deferment period or else increase the compensation amount which is currently at Rs 1.5 lakh. They have also asked the company to provide surety that it plans to onboard all students once Flipkart’s restructuring is done with. When ET spoke to the institute in the evening, it said it was planning to send the letter to the company’s campus team later that night. ET had on Wednesday reported about a similar email sent out by IIM-Ahmedabad. Flipkart had responded saying while it would be taking on all the students it has hired, it wouldn’t be able to increase the Rs 1.5 lakh compensation for the six-month delay. “We had been kept in the dark till just a few days ago. Now it means forced unemployment for six months for students who’ve been hired by Flipkart,” said a peeved IIT-Bombay student. IITs say that some smaller startups have also been deferring or even withdrawing offers of late. But this latest development from a recruiter of Flipkart’s standing has been the biggest shock yet. “We are looking to rethink our strategy about this entire space as a whole,” said the placement chairperson of an older IIT. “We are seeing more interest in big MNCs and more stable companies.” Meanwhile, some B-schools – Flipkart has deferred offers made here too – say they will help students find alternative employment should they not want to wait till December to join Flipkart. “Flipkart’s reputation has definitely taken a big hit,” said an IIM placement head. “The decision to defer joining for 6 months has been taken after due evaluation of all possibilities and keeping in mind the timelines to complete the organisational restructuring at Flipkart. We are committed and absolutely confident of having all our trainees on board in December 2016,” Flipkart said in a clarification it posted on its website on Wednesday. Mark Messier Jersey
Zomato losses up 262% to Rs 492.3 crore in FY16; revenue doubles to Rs 185 crore
Online restaurant discovery and food ordering service Zomato’s losses are shooting up significantly as it invests heavily on online food delivery services amid the struggling food-tech category in the country. Zomato’s loss before tax has shot up by 262% to Rs 492.3 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2016, from Rs 136 crore loss in the previous year, the company’s majority investor Info Edge has disclosed in its earnings results. The Gurugram-based company’s operating revenues has also nearly doubled to Rs 184.97 crore for the year from Rs 96.7 crore in the previous year. Info Edge currently owns 50.1% stake in Zomato which has raised around $225 million till now. We’ve written to Zomato on this revenue numbers and will update once we hear back. In February, Zomato had claimed to have achieved operational break even in six countries including India, the UAE, Lebanon, Qatar, the Philippines and Indonesia. Earlier this month, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal had also claimed “they are profitable in the order business at a unit economics level, and the overall online ordering business will hit profitability when they hit an average of 40,000 orders a day”. He further noted that they are are generating 33,000 online orders as of May 8, and claimed to be the “largest player and only profitable players on a unit economics level by GMV” That being said, Zomato has had a tough past one year. It laid off about 10% of its workforce in October 2015, with majority of them in the United States that accounts for 50% of its listings. It also rolled back online ordering in four cities in January and shifted its strategy to focus more on its enterprise products in newer markets. This was in the backdrop of the entire food-tech category struggling with funding slowdown, resulting in several companies shutting or scaling down its business or getting acquired by larger companies. Rival TinyOwl is merging with hyperlocal logistics player Roadrunnr to build a combined product called Runnr while Rocket Internet-backed FoodPanda is reportedly struggling to find a buyer for its troubled India operations even at a lowly price tag of $10-15 million. That being said, online food-ordering startup Swiggy raised $35 million led by existing investors SAIF Partners, Accel Partners and Norwest Venture Partners in January while online first restaurant FreshMenu raised $17 million led by Zodius Capital in the same month. Earlier this month, HSBC’s brokerage arm HSBC Securities and Capital Markets had also slashed the valuation of Zomato by half to $500 million, raised concerns around Zomato’s ad-heavy business model, its international operations and growing competition in the online food ordering segment. Goyal however had disputed this markdown saying that “nobody who knows our business has marked down our valuations” and their existing investors have categorically stated that the company’s valuations are justified. “Our existing investors are bullish about us, and are willing to back us further, if needed. Especially because we are more than doubling year on year, and the next year looks even more exciting for us” Goyal said. Jackie Bradley Jr Jersey
Your Rajdhani ticket not confirmed, book on Air India
Train passengers, who could not take their journey because of unconfirmed ticket, will now be able to fly Air India flights at the fare that will be similar to AC first class fares of trains. Air India Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani today said that the airline has entered into an agreement with IRCTC, which will sell those tickets. “Any passenger, who could not get a confirmed ticket, will be given option of booking in Air India flights over the next twenty four hours. The fares will be AC first fares for AC first class passengers and AC II passengers will be charged AC II fares plus Rs 1,500,” Lohani said. He added that the facility is, as of now, being launched for Rajdhani trains. According to Indian railways website, an AC I ticket on Mumbai Rajdhani would cost Rs 4,750 one way. A passenger booked in AC II of Rajdhani express will have to pay the fare – one-way fare for the AC II cabin cost Rs 2,865 – plus Rs 1,500 for the flight ticket on Air India. Allen Robinson Authentic Jersey
Bonanaza for flyers: Domestic airfares 25-35% cheaper; international tickets down 15-20%
Fare wars are still on, much to flyers’ delight. Airfares are now 25-35% cheaper from a year earlier on domestic routes and 15-20% to international destinations, despite this being the peak travel season. Executives at carriers such as Vistara, SpiceJet and Air India said IndiGo had taken the lead in dropping fares this time, forcing competition to follow. If true, this would be a clear shift from the nofrills airline’s usual strategy of staying away from fare wars. IndiGo, though, denied any change in its pricing policy. The average domestic fares in the April-June quarter have decreased by up to 35% on certain domestic routes and up to 16% on international routes,” said Diwakar Pareek, vice-president of online revenue at travel portal MakeMyTrip. The fares have dropped even for last-minute bookings, said John Nair, head of business travel at travel agency Cox & Kings. Derek MacKenzie Womens Jersey
New civil aviation policy faces delay over auction proposal
The new civil aviation policy that seeks to ease the rules for airlines to fly overseas and radically increase regional air connectivity will have to wait, as the Prime Minister’s Office has ordered to go slow on it. The civil aviation ministry had discussed the new policy with other ministries such as finance, home, external affairs and commerce and even prepared a note to be presented before the Cabinet to seek its approval. But lack of consensus between the two civil aviation ministers and among senior officials of the ministry over a key proposal — auction of rights for foreign airlines to fly into India — has probably led the PMO to throw the spanner in its works, people in the know said. “Our Cabinet note is ready and we were about to send it when the PMO asked us not to send it till further orders,” said a senior aviation ministry official, who did not want to be named. A section of the aviation ministry, including Cabinet minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, wants auction of bilateral rights to bring in transparency in the allocation, the official said. “The other section that includes junior minister Mahesh Sharma and officials are, however, opposed to any kind of auctioning of bilateral rights, as no other country in the world does it,” the official added. Currently, bilateral rights are negotiated between two countries and the increase in allocation is decided on the basis of demands made by the airlines from both negotiating countries. Government officials in the know of the matter said the external affairs ministry, which has a major say on bilateral traffic rights as the policy involves foreign governments, has approved the aviation ministry’s proposal to conduct auction. When asked, aviation secretary RN Choubey said the ministry had not sent the Cabinet note on the policy yet as “internal discussion are continuing”. But, he denied any involvement of the PMO. “No instructions have been given by (the) PMO,” Choubey said in an SMS response. The information officer for the PMO, Sharat Chander, didn’t respond to SMSes sent to him. When called, Chander said he will get back but didn’t respond until press time on Wednesday. While the differences are over whether or not to auction the bilateral rights, the delay in clearance of the new aviation policy would also affect the government’s plan to abolish the so-called 5/20 foreign flying rule. According to this rule, an Indian carrier will have to fly in the domestic sector for at least five years and have a fleet of 20 aircraft to fly international. The aviation industry is divided on the issue of its abolition, with airlines like Jet Airways, IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir — they got permits to fly overseas after operating five years in the domestic sector — opposing the proposal and newer carriers Vistara and AirAsia India favouring its abolition. According to the new rule that proposes to replace 5/20, airlines must allocate 20 aircraft or 20% of their total fleet of aircraft, whichever is higher, to the domestic sector if they wish to fly overseas, ET had reported first on March 9, 2016. The draft of the aviation policy released late last year also sought to make millions more fly by limiting airfares to.`2,500 per hour on short routes and making hundreds of mostly unused airports and airstrips in small cities and towns operational. Chris Hubbard Womens Jersey
Mumbai airport Customs better than global counterparts: Survey
A Finance Ministry-sponsored survey has revealed that 69 per cent respondents at the Mumbai airport Customs rated their experience as “better or somewhat better” than other international airports. In a first of its kind survey, CBEC had engaged L N Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai (WE School), to conduct a survey of ‘passenger satisfaction’ levels of Customs clearance process at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai, one of the largest in terms of international passenger traffic in India. Asked to rate their experience, “69 per cent rated their experience with the Mumbai airport Customs as better or somewhat better than other international airports, 15 per cent rated on par and about 16 per cent felt it was worse”, the ministry said. The sample size of the survey was 731, duly representing demographics, nationalities and profession, among others. The study found that passengers are sensitive to the time they spend on the entire Customs clearance process. In the case of Green Channel passengers, threshold time is ‘up to 15 minutes’ while in the case of Red Channel passengers, threshold time appeared to be in between 15-29 minutes. Pre-arrival self-calculation/assessment and payment of Customs duty levied, dedicated Customs clearance channel for those international passengers who have connecting domestic flights to board, ease of Customs clearance process at the airport are some of the important recommendations. Among findings, the respondents appreciated the improvement in Customs clearance process over the years. Thirty five per cent mentioned that the clearance process has drastically improved while 37 per cent felt that there is a marginal improvement. According to the passengers, three areas that require major improvement are access and availability of information, speed of process and greater transparency of duty assessment process. “Customs assessment for TV and jewellery appeared to be less widely known and are two commodities causing maximum discord,” the survey found out. Roman Josi Womens Jersey
Infra companies keen on investment trusts, but want more clarity
Infrastructures developers such as IRB, GMR and IL&FS are keen to launch their infrastructure investment trusts after Sebi announced guidelines last week, but may hold their plans for more clarity on disclosure and accounting norms. An infrastructure investment trust (InvITs) offers an opportunity to promoters of projects to sell their stake in completed projects to the trust, which in turn can raise longterm and tax-free funds from unit holders. Markets regulator Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) issued the norms for public issue of units of these InvITs which are likely to pump in liquidity into an otherwise cash-strapped infrastructure sector. “We are keen to tap this route for fundraising but until we have more clarity on accounting standards, disclosure and prospectus norms, we cannot go ahead with it. We expect Sebi to come out with guidelines on that soon so that this fund raising option can be exercised,” said IRB InfrastructureBSE 2.08 % Developers’ promoter and Chairman Virendra Mhaiskar. IRB and GMR InfrastructureBSE 1.07 % have already received the regulator’s approval for the trust while others such as Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services have sought the regulators nod. L&T is also considering this route for fundraising. “We will look at it if we have the comfort that it will get long term investors since it is a product modelled for institutional and long term investors. Investors looking for short term gain may get frustrated if they invest in it,” L&T Chief Financial Officer R Shankar Raman said. The guidelines announced by Sebi last week give these developers more flexibility by allowing sponsors to reduce their holding in the trust to 10% from 25% mandated earlier. It also allows them to invest in two-level special purpose vehicle structure and increase the number of sponsors to 5 from 3. But companies may have to tweak their plans and may be able to raise less than what they had planned initially after Sebi detailed the eligibility criteria for projects that can be included. “We were earlier hoping to put all 12-15 of our projects into a trust, which would have had an enterprise value of Rs 15,000 crore. But according to the guidelines, only 6 of our projects are eligible which have a total enterprise value of Rs 7,000-8,000 crore,” said Mhaiskar. Most infrastructure developers are struggling with low cash flows and have heavily leveraged balance sheets, which constraints their ability to bid for new projects. Several projects, and even holding companies, are on the block but there have been far too few deals. “Very few deals are going through in the secondary Market even though a lot of projects are looking for equity investments as there’s a valuation mismatch. We will have to see what kind of valuation these trusts can fetch as it is a new route and there could be some teething issues,” said Shubham Jain, vice president at the rating agency ICRA. Infrastructure developers are refraining from bidding for new projects given their financial constraints with a number of bids for Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) road project falling to 3-5 from about 20 during 2011-12. Timo Meier Womens Jersey