Archive: June 30, 2022

New launches back at 2015 levels, sales sustain momentum in Q2 amid increased residential demand: PropTiger report

National, 30th June 2022: As economic stability provides homebuyers with more confidence in their financial state, residential demand has picked up across the top eight cities, with both housing sales and new supply registering positive growth trend in the quarter ending April-June 2022 (Q2 CY2022).

According to Real Insight Residential – April-June 2022 report, a quarterly analysis of India’s top eight residential markets by REA backed PropTiger.com, the recent spike in property prices has had little impact on homebuyer sentiment as outlook towards overall economic scenario and income stability improve in the post-coronavirus pandemic phase.

The markets covered in the report include Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Delhi-National Capital Region, and Pune.

“Even though the RBI increased the repo rate twice during the quarter to bring it to 4.90%, home loans remained largely affordable for the period analysed. The biggest booster to housing demand has been the increased importance of owning a property which has been further backed by the consumer confidence in the overall economic scenario and impending income stability,” said Mr. Vikas Wadhawan, Group CFO, Housing.com, PropTiger.com & Makaan.com.

Ahmedabad, Hyderabad shows highest sales growth

According to the report, housing sales during the quarter ending June 30th, registered a sequential 5% uptick when compared to the previous quarter (Q1 CY2022). According to the report 74,330 units were sold across the top eight in Q22022 as compared to 70,620 units sold in Q12022. The sharpest sequential increase in sales was witnessed in end-user driven markets of Ahmedabad at 30% and Hyderabad, at 21%, respectively.

Source: Real Insight Residential – April-June 2022, PropTiger Research 

 New launches double in Kolkata

Growth in new supply   superseded sales numbers, registering a quarter-on-quarter growth of 28% with. 1,02,130 units launched in the second quarter as against 79,530 in the preceding quarter across India’s eight prime residential markets. New supply doubled in Kolkata on a quarterly basis, as per the report.

*Units converted to nearest thousands

Source: Real Insight Residential – April-June 2022, PropTiger Research

Property values spike across cities

At the same time, average values of new and available properties in the top cities registered an upward price movement ranging between 5% to 9% in this period. Rise in input costs, inflationary pressures and premium attached with ready-to-move-in inventory. The price rally for the analysis period was sharpest for Pune and Chennai, at 9% (YoY) each respectively.

*Weighted average prices as per new supply and inventory

Source: Real Insight Residential – April-June 2022, PropTiger Research

Inventory overhang at 34 months

The report highlights the current unsold stock in the country is at 7,63,650 units during this period, which will take approximately 34 months (2.8 years) to at the current sales velocity of the top eight cities.

Locomotive Global Media strengthens leadership team in India with new appointments

30th June, 2022; Mumbai, India: In an endeavour to further expand its business horizon and add further to existing momentum in the Indian market, Locomotive Global Media LLP today announced the appointment of Anup Thanvi as Coordinating Producer and Pearl Gill as Head of Production. The announcement comes at a time when the company is gearing up for the next level of growth and aims to become a blue-chip content producer in India. Their appointments are with immediate effect.

In his new role, Anup Thanvi will be responsible for developing a strong creative vision for the company’s upcoming projects. As Coordinating Producer, Thanvi will contribute to LGM’s overall growth by scouting for new ideas and creative talent, analysing and developing scripts into successful series and films, creating pitch material for projects, and cultivating creative relationships within the media and entertainment industry.

Thanvi brings to LGM 8 years of industry experience, with an expertise in fiction and non-fiction content production. Prior to joining LGM, he worked as a creative producer at The Story Ink. In his previous roles, Thanvi also worked as a producer for leading media channels and streaming platforms including Channel V, Disney+Hotstar, and AltBalaji.

As LGM’s Head of Production, Gill will be responsible for building out the company’s production expertise, culminating in launching LGM’s line production services offerings for outside producers. She will be leading and managing all aspects of production for LGM projects, beginning with development and carrying all the way through to project delivery. With an aim to build LGM into a leading production partner in the industry, she will be tasked with setting benchmarks for the company in terms of production the achievement of which will take LGM to the next level of corporate growth.

Gill brings with her 10 years of industry experience. She has worked as an Executive Producer, Line Producer, and Production Executive for films and series including Shakuntala Devi, Kaun Banegi Shekharwati, and Bajrangi Bhaijaan.

Speaking on the new appointments, Sunder Aaron, Co-founder, and principal of Locomotive Global Inc., said, “The announcement is a strategic step towards preparing LGM for its next phase of growth. We are delighted to welcome Anup and Pearl to our leadership team. I expect them both to play key roles in the company’s future as we continue to build scale and quality.”

BIRKENSTOCK India launches its newest store at The Orion Mall, Bengaluru

30th June 2022: BIRKENSTOCK, the global German lifestyle brand with a long-standing heritage for iconic footwear is expanding its retail presence across the country with its second store in Bengaluru by opening in the prestigious Orion Mall.

BIRKENSTOCK has a consistent plan of expanding the brand’s retail presence across India and Orion Mall opening will be the 2nd store to be owned & operated by the brand in India. Recent openings in the South of India have included Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, Lulu Mall, Kochi and Express Avenue Mall, Chennai.

The second Bengaluru store will house collections offering both – core classics and the seasonal collections. The store will feature timeless classics, such as Arizona, Gizeh or Madrid, along with the new collection and an abundance of other styles in trendy materials and colours which are available in all sizes for adults and kids, ensuring it is a favourite premium lifestyle footwear destination for the entire family.

“Birkenstock is proud of our growing presence in the Indian market and are glad to introduce yet another store in the South of India. Our brand has seen a phenomenal growth in the past year, hence excited to bring to life our plans and achieve new milestones with the brand’s expansion across India” says Jens Hattab Regional Managing Director Middle East Africa India at BIRKENSTOCK. 

“Birkenstock India is elated to announce the opening of our newest store in the South of India and the second one in Bengaluru. Having expanded our presence across various states, Birkenstock India is excited to tap further into the Indian market. Having received a great response with our recent openings; we look to enhance and curate an experience that takes the brand BIRKENSTOCK forward across India”, says Vinay Bansal, Managing Director, Birkenstock India. 

The 2nd BIRKENSTOCK store in Bengaluru, located on the ground floor in Orion Mall was long awaited by brand loyalists of the region and the expansion comes as a testimony to the surging demand of our loyal and new customers across India with further openings planned later in the year.

Being the inventor of the iconic and instantly recognizable sandals and anatomically footbed, BIRKENSTOCK’s history can be traced as far back as 1774. The brand is popularly known around the globe for its exceptional comfort, high functionality and for being ever-so fashionably versatile.

Store Information – The Orion Mall, Bengaluru

Store Name:

BIRKENSTOCK Brand Store – The Orion Mall, Bengaluru

Address:

G-37 Dr Rajkumar Rd, Rajajinagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560055

Opening Hours:

10:30 AM – 09:30 PM

Venture catalysts invests in packaged food brand NOTO

National, June 30th, 2022: Venture Catalysts, India’s first and largest integrated incubator and accelerator, has invested an undisclosed amount in the Pre-Series A round of NOTO, a packaged food brand for the health-conscious millennial Indian with an incurable sweet tooth. The company will utilize the funds to scale up its operations and venture into new product categories.

Co-Founded by chef and serial entrepreneur, Varun Sheth, Ashni Shah and Samoneh Ettehad, NOTO provides alternative sweets with Vegan, Low Calorie, Gluten Free and High Protein & Keto Friendly Options. The second time entrepreneurs aim at taking the company pan-India while adding to the range of dessert alternatives that are healthy without compromising on taste.

Backed by key investors like John Abraham, Titan Capital, Rockstud Capital and WEH Ventures, NOTO offers a range of ice creams that are less than 95 Calories and 5 grams Protein per serving and popsicles which is 45 calories or less. Noto has also released a Vegan range to target the ever-growing plant based and lactose free consumer segment.

Varun Sheth, Co-Founder & CEO, NOTO commented, ‘Desserts, are considered unhealthy due to preservatives and calories, however NOTO aims to change this narrative. We want to revolutionize the way today health-conscious people consume ice creams and sweets by offering them a low-calorie dessert that does not faulter on taste. We are excited that Venture catalysts has backed us on this journey and will help us scale our business to greater heights.

Dr Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, President & Co-Founder Venture Catalysts said, ‘The market opportunity for healthy sweets is currently huge. Since the pandemic, there has been a conscious shift towards a healthy lifestyle. Consumers are moving towards permissible indulgences and are looking to strike a balance between health and desserts. NOTO focuses on quality and transparency, flexibility and convenience, while ensuring it products are both healthy and tasty’

However, the market of healthy desserts is still small and niche and offers a great opportunity for new start-ups.

Residential rentals surge in Pune as employees return to office

With the impact of the pandemic ebbing, the corporates are inviting their employees back to office as the situation has improved a lot now. The floating population of the city is slowly crawling its way back; however, they are facing the heat as they have to shell out more for everything including the house rent.

The return of the floating population has directly impacted the rental rates in the city.

Describing the current scenario, Mr. Ram Naik, Director, The Guardians Real Estate Advisory said, “The rentals across Pune have increased around 10%. We have witnessed a significant price hike in the areas where the college students and IT professionals stay. The rents will rise steadily as the young urban population returns back to the city. The pandemic too had encouraged the need for owning a home. Therefore we will not be surprised if there is a transition from rented to owned apartments soon.”

“The prices have increased because of the demand-supply chain. The property prices too have increased in the last two months because of several factors. The home loan rates too have gone up which have forced the property owners to pass on the burden to the tenants,” said, Mr. Rajendra Pate, President, NAREDCO Pune.

A property owner in the Koregaon Park area said, “During the pandemic, I had no tenants and my family income suffered. Now that the demand has increased, I have increased the rate of one room by Rs 2,000 per month.”

The floating population which includes students and working professionals are struggling in the city to find flats since the last few months. An IT professional claimed, “With companies calling employees back, the demand for rental property is soaring. I have contacted 13 brokers, but in vain. Many are moving to the outskirts as they cannot afford rent in the city.”

A student of Indology at Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth said, “Most college students rent flats in peth and Kothrud areas. The rents for flats and PG accommodation have doubled. Some of us have started living together so that the cost can be divided.”

As the prices of rental flats soar, the floating population bears the brunt.

Micro Focus Announces New SaaS Capabilities for Network Operations Management (NOM)

BENGALURU, INDIA – June 2022 – Micro Focus (LSE: MCRO; NYSE: MFGP) today announced the availability of the latest version of its comprehensive Network Operations Management (NOM) solution for enterprises, managed service providers (MSPs) and government agencies. Micro Focus NOM 2022.05 has several new features and capabilities, including an offering that provides powerful troubleshooting, dashboards and reporting capabilities of the OPTIC Data Lake with the ease of a software-as-a-service (SaaS) based delivery.

The latest release also includes updates to the Performance Troubleshooting module, which has technology that is exclusive to Micro Focus NOM.

“Micro Focus is committed to delivering SaaS-based solutions across our products,” said Travis Greene, Sr. Director of ITOM Product Marketing. “The latest release of NOM exemplifies that effort with a convenient SaaS-based reporting solution for flexible and interactive troubleshooting, metric reporting and Business Value Dashboards that deliver network data with a business lens – allowing network managers to correlate network performance with broader IT service level agreements and overall business goals.”

The innovative Performance Troubleshooting module is built on a high-performance HTML-5 user interface and enables the identification of what went wrong by comparing data on what has changed. This module uses diagnostic data from network devices to identify slowdowns on the network due to configuration changes with the added context of performance metrics. Performance Troubleshooting’s new features include grouping, enhanced scheduling and export, as well as the addition of multiple objects for a selected metric. Operations Bridge customers receive the added benefit of cross-domain reporting capabilities when sharing an OPTIC Data Lake deployment with NOM.

A recent report by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) lauded NOM for its new capabilities. Per Shamus McGillicuddy, EMA’s VP of Research for Network Management, “The Micro Focus NOM solution is a long-standing industry leader in network management and was included in the leadership segment in our recent Network Performance Monitoring analysis. The addition of NOM Reporting – SaaS is a great example of Micro Focus flexing to meet the new demands of a dynamic industry and allowing Network Operations Management customers to gain new capabilities without the hassle of new infrastructure deployment.”

Micro Focus NOM customers can take advantage of these new capabilities in the NOM 2022.05 release through Micro Focus’ streamlined integration process with existing versions of released software.

Detailed information about Micro Focus NOM 2022.05 is available at microfocus.com/nom or by contacting Ask-NOM@microfocus.com.

In addition to Micro Focus NOM 2022.05, the company released updated versions of Network Node Manager i and Network Automation.

Volopay partners with SBM Bank to provide easily- accessible corporate credit cards in India

India, June 2022: Volopay, a Y Combinator-backed corporate cards, and payable management company has partnered with the State Bank of Mauritius (SBM) to provide corporate credit cards to businesses in India. These cards will be easy to use and compliant with all local laws and standards, making them versatile and usable across the globe, both online and offline.

In the partnership, SBM will provide the issuance of licensed Visa and Rupay credit cards and Volopay will act as the originator, distributor, and servicing agent of the Bank. This allows Volopay to offer ready-made card capabilities in the ever-growing commercial card market in India. This card will be very much like other co-branded cards, with other control options and user settings reflected in the Volopay interface and platform.

Commenting on the development, Mr. Rohit Bhageria, Founding Member, Volopay, said, “It is a natural partnership as we see it is a marriage of one of the best fintech friendly banks in India and one of the fastest-growing financial management platforms of Asia-pacific. We are hopeful that this partnership may fundamentally alter the ever-growing landscape of B2B platform businesses and significantly help the growing and modern businesses in properly managing their receivables and payables in India.”

The partnership is mutually beneficial for Volopay as well as the Bank. While SBM lends its card-issuing capabilities to Volopay, the latter helps the bank in expanding its market pool in India by providing access to funded start-up companies, scale-up businesses, and midsize enterprise-grade clients.

Globally, Volopay is already offering similar programs of card issuing with leading organizations including NIUM Pte Ltd in Singapore; Airwallex & ANZ bank financial stack in Australia among others.

Recently, Volopay also partnered with Visa for their Fintech Fast Track Program to offer financial management solutions in APAC. Volopay is the all-in-one, unified, receivable and payable platform to streamline and automate the financial management of accounting and finance teams. The platform provides various products and propositions including invoice management, accounting automation, integrations, and corporate cards among others.