Daily Pulse India: More Bad Press For Mallya, The Surge Price Drama, Dhoni’s Endorsement Mistake
Ramya Venugopal
#StrategicCommunications #StrategicPartnerships #Communities. Ex-Meta. Former LinkedIn editor, also ex-Reuters, Bloomberg, Dow Jones and Economic Times
Mallya: As if all the bad press over his defaults and alleged abscondment weren’t enough, here’s more outrageous news from Vijay Mallya. A debt ridden Californian brewery he owns paid him $140,000 last year as fees for promoting the beer outside the country. The company is running accumulated losses of $17 million and is looking out for a buyer. Meanwhile, the ED, which is investigating a case of loan fraud against him, has alleged that he siphoned off the money he raised as loans (of nearly $1 billion) to buy property overseas, a charge the UB group strenuously denied. Meanwhile, the authorities are trying their level best to get him back to the country to face legal charges, a wasted effort, if Lalit Modi’s case in an example.
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Reality Bites: After hypergrowth comes the lull…. and layoffs. The startup industry which witnessed hyper growth, hyper hiring and even hyper funding in the last couple of years, is now in consolidation mode. At least four companies have announced layoffs in the last few months and analysts say many more are in the pipeline. It started with Zomato, Grofers, Snapdeal, Foodpanda and Tiny Owl (interesting to note that four out of the five are in foodtech). In fact Tiny Owl’s attempt to layoff people at its Pune office even resulted in a “hostage drama.” Funding is drying up, competition is beginning to bite and in some cases, companies have realized the value of high-cost skills to scale up the business - all of which have led to this reality check.
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Surge Price: Attempts by Uber and Ola to engage the government and even their customers to keep surge pricing going don’t seem to have worked. The Karnataka government is determined to end surge pricing, going to the extent of seizing vehicles that charge more than its stipulated 19.5 rupees/km. This is already in effect in Bangalore (the biggest market for both companies) and won’t take long for other states to follow suit - a very real worry for both companies.
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#QuoteOfTheDay
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan was asked for his views on the theory that India is one bright spot amid the global gloom. His response:
“I think we have still to get to a place where we feel satisfied. We have this saying — 'In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king'. We are a little bit that way."
Simply put: Yes, things are better here than in some other countries, but a lot more needs to be done. Here’s the full interview.
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Bharat Versus India: Or rural versus urban. As far as consumer companies are concerned, it’s the rural Bharat that’s the winner, beating city consumers in demand growth last year. It’s commendable, given that village economies are ravaged by three years of drought (analysts put it down to optimism of good rains) and it remains to be seen if the trend continues this year. Here’s a chart, compiled by Business Standard:
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Lenskart: Yet another startup that counts Ratan Tata among its investors. Lenskart, an online seller of spectacles, lenses and sunglasses has raised money from India’s most active angel investor. Tata’s investment is less than the 4 billion rupees that Lenskart was looking to raise, but having him on board raises its prestige quotient considerably.
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When an endorsement comes back to bite: The Maggi endorsers found out to their dismay that associating with a brand which is in the bad books of either regulators or customers does put you in an unflattering light. Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni learnt this the hard way. He was the brand ambassador of a real estate company in Noida which is facing customer ire for delayed completion of its project and this weekend led to outrage on Twitter. Dhoni will no longer endorse the brand and his wife will quit from the board.
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Cover Image: Empty roads as the Delhi government, in its attempts to control pollution, has implemented its Odd-Even rule for a second time. The first three days were easy, as schools and offices were closed for a long weekend. The real test is today, when everyone gets back to work and school.
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Agency Channel Partner - Life Insurance
8 年Mallya is unfortunately targeted - those in the industry knows who is behind !!! Trying to get him to India - Our Political system is quite till they get out of the country n then do all unwanted things to get him to India. What is our Govt doing who ever the ruling party is - old wine in a new bottle !!! we have to blame our selves .God save India and need new gen Ravana to punish the so called politicians.
Masters In Healthcare Administration
8 年“And God spake all these words, saying, I am Jehovah thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them, for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing lovingkindness unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy God in vain; for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is a sabbath unto Jehovah thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore Jehovah blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s. And all the people perceived the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the voice of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they trembled, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before you, that ye sin not. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. And Jehovah said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. Ye shall not make other gods with me; gods of silver, or gods of gold, ye shall not make unto you. An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt-offerings, and thy peace-offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in every place where I record my name I will come unto thee and I will bless thee. And if thou make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones; for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not uncovered thereon.” ??Exodus? ?20:1-26? ?ASV?? https://bible.com/12/exo.20.1-26.asv