Archive: October 1, 2022

Forbes India felicitates the high-flyers in business, entrepreneurship & entertainment at its flagship event ‘Tycoons of Tomorrow 2022’

Mumbai, 1^st October 2022: Prodigies come from all walks of life. Combining grit with foresight, these personalities make it large early on and set precedents for aspirants countrywide. Keeping their sheer dedication in mind, Forbes India – India’s leading magazine in identifying emerging talents across entrepreneurship, business, corporates & innovation recently hosted Tycoons of Tomorrow 2022. Presented by NEOM and powered by Reliance Industries, this gala event was successfully organized on 30^th September, at Four Seasons, Worli, Mumbai.

The ceremony included four insightful discussions among the business chiefs and stars on the trend-setting topics of today’s time. While Alia Bhatt shared her entrepreneurial journey and gave insights on her stint as a producer, she said, “When I was younger, my relationship with money was restricted. I got pocket money from Mom and I would have to carefully save and then spend.” Harping more on her investment acumen today, she shared an interesting instance of facing a gap of individual style in her wardrobe, which led to the creation of her maternal line, Edamamma.

The evening went on with the first-panel discussion titled ‘What will it take India’s unicorn club to become profitable?’ comprising Varun & Ghazal Alagh of Mamaearth and Aditya Sharda & Souvik Sengupta of Infra. Market. “Strong fundamentals of business are necessary for sustainability,” said Varun Alagh, adding that to make a mark in the beauty care industry, one must provide personal solutions to consumers. “Every Indian manufacturing company is sitting on cross-border opportunities,” said Souvik Sengupta.

The next panel titled ‘First-gen founder or next-gen entrepreneur—what would you choose?’ comprised Kairav Engineer, VP- Business Development of Astral Pipes, Sudhakar Adapa, founder of Commerzify, and Ashwin Damera, founder, Emeritus. The speakers dissected the differentiators between the challenges and opportunities of first-generation founders and second-generation entrepreneurs in equal measure.

Spilling the beans on work-life balance for a second-generation entrepreneur, Kairav Engineer said, “When there are several family members involved in the business, there are bound to be arguments. You need to leave your differences at the door before you come home,” Mentioning about the benefits of a start-up entrepreneur, Ashwin Damera said, “The founder of a fifth-gen conglomerate offered Rs 2,500 crore to build their edtech business. I declined but I wish someone had offered me that when I started out.”

Echoing Ashwin’s concern, Sudhakar Adapa said, “The ecosystem hasn’t evolved much since I started over a decade ago. That is the biggest challenge.” Concluding the session by demystifying the perception of ‘easy runs’ by second-gen scions, Kairav Engineer said, “There are two types of second-gen founders; one who are born into a legacy and the other who have seen their parents grow the business. I’m a part of the latter and I call this group ‘Generation 1.5’.”

The final session for the evening, titled ‘How OTT is redefining the entertainment, talent, and creativity featured notable OTT stars Rasika Dugal, Pratik Gandhi, and Mithila Palkar. When asked about popularity during and post-pandemic, the three actors stated unanimously that OTT has broadened the scope of actors to taste success with sheer talent. “Scam 1992 gave me national and global recognition,” said Pratik Gandhi, adding how the virtual alternative to theatres gave birth to different forms of storytelling.

Adding to Pratik’s viewpoint was Rasika Dugal, who tasted national success with the hit web series Mirzapur. “My Indie film Kissa, a project very close to my heart, released in only two theatres in Mumbai in 2013. I had to carry its DVD to every interview until Mirzapur happened. OTT also proved that the audience has always had versatile preferences,” she said.

Commenting on her stardom initially as a YouTuber, Mithila Palkar, the IT-girl of hit web series Little Things, said, “‘Little Things’ released its finale season last year, but has stuck on with its audience for the refreshing content it brought to the fore. Although OTT tried to compensate with entertainment during lockdown, I believe that there are always films and projects meant solely for the big screen and the ecosystem will level out now that the world has opened up.”

Sharing his happiness about the success of the event, Brian Carvalho, editor, Forbes India said, “Tycoons of Tomorrow explores a realm way vast than personal net wealth. It highlights the indomitable spark and passion of luminaries who have revolutionised entrepreneurship, thus leading the country towards a better tomorrow. I’d like to thank our sponsors, guests, and awardees for making this night brilliant.”

Talking about the thorough discussions witnessed at the event, Preeti Sahni, COO, Forbes India, said, “It was a delight to see every panellist and speaker uphold the spirit of entrepreneurship and business acumen. This is what Tycoons of Tomorrow stands for, and the amazing response from participants and guests prove Forbes India’s legacy of providing an empowering narrative for entrepreneurs of tomorrow.”

The awardees for this eminent event included 26 influential leaders from the business and entertainment industries. The list of winners is as under:

RBI Policy Review: Hikes by 50bps amidst a global storm

The RBI policy announcement today came with no major surprises and was broadly in line with our expectations. The central bank raised the repo rate by 50bps, aligning itself with aggressive monetary policy action globally. The decision was consistent with elevated inflationary risks and domestic growth that continues to hold up.

Policy rate announcement: The RBI raised the policy rate to 5.90% and the SDF rate was accordingly raised to 5.65%. The policy rate announcement was not unanimous, with MPC member Ashima Goyal voting for a 35bps rate hike. On stance, all members voted for an unchanged stance, except for MPC member Jayant Verma who dissented.

Inflation and Growth: The RBI kept its inflation forecast unchanged at 6.7% for FY23, sounding cautious about the uncertainty around inflationary pressures, despite the recent moderation in global crude oil, stemming from higher food inflation and continued pressure on services inflation. On growth, the RBI revised down its GDP forecast by 20bps to 7% for FY23 — largely reflecting the lower-than-expected Q1 GDP numbers. The commentary on growth remained upbeat as the RBI highlighted the continued improvement in domestic fundamentals while recognizing that there are global headwinds that could present downside risks going forward.

Stance: The central bank did little to remove the ambiguity and perceived deviation around its stance, keeping it unchanged at “withdrawal of accommodation”, contrary to our expectations that a move to neutral was on the cards. The RBI justified its stance by emphasizing that liquidity conditions remain in surplus mode and that the nominal policy rate continues to trail inflation. This contrasts with 2019 – when the stance was last neutral –liquidity was in deficit and the policy rate was higher than inflation leading to positive real rates in the economy. However, in the post-policy press conference, Governor Das abstained from committing to a definitive marker (or any forward guidance) either in the form of the liquidity level, the operating rate, or the level of real interest rate that would trigger a change in stance at this stage.

Liquidity: The central bank said that it will continue to undertake two-way operations to manage liquidity conditions. With moderation in liquidity surplus, the RBI has decided to merge the 28-day VRR auctions with the fortnightly 14-day main auction. Going forward, from now on only 14-day VRRR auctions will be conducted. In the post-policy press conference, Governor Das re-iterated that the central bank would continue to keep liquidity conditions comfortable and as the impact of advance tax flows fades, there is drawn down excess SLR and CRR by banks, and government spending increases, liquidity conditions are likely to improve. System liquidity surplus stood at INR 0.68 lakh cr as of 29th September 2022 (as compared to INR 2 lakh crore in August 2022 end). We expect average liquidity in the system to remain in surplus in Q3, supported by RBI’s fine-tuning operations. That said, the level of systemic liquidity as seen by the balances under the LAF window is likely to average lower than what has been recorded in Q2 FY23 (average: INR 2.16 lakh crore in Q2).

External resilience and the rupee: The central bank re-iterated the resilience of India’s external balances compared to our peers in today’s policy announcement. On the rupee, as we have argued before, the RBI emphasized that their strategy would be focused on maintaining investor confidence and anchoring expectations — signaling that FX interventions are likely to continue and be focused on defending any extreme volatility in the rupee. The absence of any additional measures in order to shore up reserves and attract capital (like was done in 2013) signals RBI’s comfort with the current level of foreign exchange reserves as well as the level of the rupee. Given the continued dollar rally and elevated global risks, the USD/INR pair is likely to witness continued depreciation pressures and we expect a range of 81-82 in the near term. In extreme risk-off, we continue to expect the central bank to provide support and curtail the quantum of fall in the currency.

Policy outlook: The central bank refrained from providing forward guidance on terminal rates and kept the window open for the quantum and pace of rate action in response to the evolving global and domestic conditions. We expect the RBI to continue with its rate hikes in the upcoming policies taking rates up to 6.5% (terminal rate) by the end of the fiscal year.

Bond yields & FX update: The 10-year yield was largely flattish at 7.343% (post the policy announcement) vs. yesterday’s closing level of 7.34% as the policy was on expected lines. The 10-year yield is trading at 7.355% at the time of writing. We expect the 10-year paper to trade closer to 7.3-7.4% by the end of the quarter. On the FX front, the USD/INR strengthened post the policy announcement to 81.55 vs. yesterday’s closing level of 81.86.

Škoda Auto India Records Double-Digit Sales Growth In September

Mumbai, October 1, 2022 – On the heels of its Biggest Year in India, ŠKODA AUTO India achieved sales of 3,543 units in September 2022. Compared to the 3,027 cars it sold in September 2021, the Czech-based company with high levels of localization and manufacturing, recorded a 17% rise year-on-year.

Petr Šolc, Brand Director, ŠKODA AUTO India, said, “We are absolutely delighted to continue the success story of ŠKODA’s Biggest Year in India. This is an excellent result and a great recognition of all the hard work of our team and our dealer partners. The KUSHAQ and SLAVIA models have been successfully established in the market and drive the sales impetus. In addition, our D-Segment products like the OCTAVIA and SUPERB are leading their respective categories. Our focus is now on further enhancing customer satisfaction and increasing ŠKODA customer touchpoints across India.”

From 175 touchpoints in December 2021, ŠKODA AUTO India has widened its reach to 205+ touchpoints with the aim of hitting 250 by the end of 2022. One key reason for the consistent year-on-year growth for the company is the 95% localization of the MQB-A0-IN platform that the KUSHAQ SUV and the SLAVIA sedans are based on. The local components and local research and development of the products have enabled an ownership cost as low as Rs 0.46 per kilometer, attracting new buyers to the brand and enhancing sales.

Currently, India stands as the third largest market for ŠKODA AUTO globally after Germany and ŠKODA’s home market, the Czech Republic. Through the first three quarters of 2022, the company also comprehensively modernized all its showrooms to fully digitalized ones with interactive features, further enhancing the decision journey and buying experience for customers.

Fashionpreneur Sangeeta Rajesh brings Fashion TV’s F Salon to Hyderabad

Hyderabad …. Hyderabad and International benchmark beauty services in the salon industry come to Hyderabad.

Fashionpreneur Sangeetha Rajesh, brings Fashion TV Salon Franchise to Hyderabad.

Ms Sangeetha Rajesh Fashion Entrepreneur Sangeetha Rajesh is an academician turned self-taught Fashion Designer, Entrepreneur, a Kalamkari art revivalist. She is an ISB Alumni and a graduate under Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Entrepreneurs Certificate Program. She worked in Euro Kids, Meridian School, DRS Kids, Educom Solutions and others She is a remedial instruction expert(special children teaching expert). She is a curriculum designer, trainer and consultant. She is a revivalist of long-forgotten Indian traditional childhood games. She is an avid Social Media influencer. She has 8,00,000 (eight lakh) followers on her Facebook page. She is now forayed into Grooming, Styling.

It is the first Franchise Store of Fashion TV Salon in Hyderabad. It will be the destination for Grooming and Styling in the city.

F Salon is the flagship beauty salon brand from Fashion TV, the International fashion and lifestyle brand.

Addressing media at the soft launch Sangeetha said F Salon will get the latest international trends of styles and fashion to hyderabad. Thanks to FTVand it’s reach in the international fashion platform hyderabad will have now access to all and same thanks to the arrival of the F salon in hyderabad.

For both men and women, smooth skin, excellent facial symmetry and shiny hair are the most praised features

How we look affects our self-confidence.

Regular facials have lasting benefits for the body and mind. Wellness affects personal appearance and beauty enhances wellness, said Sangeetha.

Located in Banjara Hills, Road No 12, the F Salon in Hyderabad is spread over a lavish 3500 sq ft area with 8 hair cutting stations, 3 facial rooms, Spa rooms, one bridal room and one VIP room.

The qualified and certified staff will provide high-end beauty services such as luxurious facial and body therapy; haircuts, perms, hair colouring, highlights, waxing, manicures, pedicures and it also specialises in pre-wedding and bridal make-up.

PFRDA to observe NPS Diwas on Oct 1

Hyderabad, 30th September 2022- The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has kick started a campaign under ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’. The Pension Regulator will be observing 1st October as the National Pension System Diwas (NPS Diwas) to promote pension and retirement planning among the citizens of India, and enjoy financial independence post retirement. PFRDA is promoting this campaign on its social media platforms.

The pension regulator aims to encourage every citizen (working professionals and self-employed professionals) to plan towards creating a pension corpus to ensure for onself a financially sound future after retirement. NPS subscribers will enjoy the benefits of tax deduction on contribution, power of compounding and reap the benefits of regular income after retirement.

PFRDA Chairperson Shri Supratim Bandyopadhyay said: “We are happy to continue our celebration of October 1st as “NPS Diwas – A Day for Pension Planning”. Through this campaign, we reiterate our commitment towards creating awareness about pension planning among the public. As a regulatory body, our foremost aim is to cover all eligible citizens under a pension scheme to fulfil the vision of a pensioned society for India.”

As on 24th September, 2022, total number of subscribers under NPS is 571.86 lakhs (5.72 crores) and total Assets Under Management (AUM) is 7,99,467 crore (7.99 trillion).

Gillco Group celebrates Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh Ji Diwas

Gillco International School in Kharar organised a cultural event in memory of Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh Ji. The Gillconians got an opportunity to participate in a cultural event organised by Municipal Corporation, where they presented a patriotic medley to pay tribute to the brave soul. The event was sponsored by Gillco Group, taking yet another initiative to contribute their bit to society.

“They may kill me, but they cannot kill my ideas. They can crush my body, but they will not be able to crush my spirit.” To celebrate the spirit and resonance of these marvellous words by Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh Ji, Gillco International School celebrates the birth anniversary with full enthusiasm and respect by MC Kharar. They received a memento as a token of appreciation for their performance. This was followed by a warm and heart-touching celebration at school where all the staff members bowed their heads in reverence and remembered the prodigious thoughts of the legend.

MS. Ruchi Sharma, Principal, Gillco International School, congratulated the students and added that Bhagat Singh’s personality attracted youth as an ideal leader and a hero. He had envisioned a post-independence society sans any difference and discrimination, where every citizen has an equal opportunity to grow. She commented that it is the need of the hour to make the youth aware of his sacrifices and his vision and encourage them to extract the ideals from his life and lead an honest and respectful life ahead.