Source
– Mint
Volkswagen recalls over 384,000 cars in
China
(By Arpit Aggarwal)
·
China’s largest foreign carmaker, will recall
384,181 cars in China to fix a long-standing gearbox problem, China’s quality
watchdog said on Wednesday.
·
The recall will be effective from 2 April, the
General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of
China said in a statement on its website.
·
The recall comes after the German automaker was
named in state-run China Central Television’s annual investigative special on
corporate malpractice aired on Friday.
·
The TV show, one of the most widely watched in
China, said that the direct shift gearbox (DSG) transmission, a long-standing
issue for Volkswagen, was causing cars to speed up or slow down during driving.
·
VW, which makes cars in China in partnership with
SAIC Motor Corp. and FAW Group, sold 2.81 million cars in the country last
year. It plans to almost double production capacity in the country to 4 million
in the next five years.
Kingfisher
may not fly again, says Capa ’s South Asia CEO Kapil Kaul
(By
Anirudh Seshadri)
·
The revival of Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher
Airlines Ltd is not feasible, consulting firm Capa-Centre for Aviation has
said, downgrading its October estimate of flight resumption if $1 billion is
infused.
·
The airline owes $1.5 billion to banks
and dozens of other creditors
·
Kaul said that the decision to start
recovery by banks is likely to take the Kingfisher case to its logical
conclusion, but he continues to believe that recovery will be a long-drawn
process and will require a big hair cut.
·
He also added that no time frame can be
set and to expect Kingfisher to pay some of the employees dues and clear all
statutory dues.
·
In October, Capa had estimated that
atleast $1 billion would be required to restart the airline on a viable basis.
Sales and discounts
fail to attract consumers
(By Ruchika shrivastava)
·
Sales and
promotions used to be confined to end-of-season sales, at the most twice a
year, that allowed retailers to dispose of inventory and restock stores. Now,
they take place through the year as retailers attempt to attract reluctant
consumers to open up their wallets.
·
Retail
price inflation that rose to a record high of 10.91% in February and economic
growth forecast by the government at 5% this fiscal year to March, the slowest
in 10 years, has forced consumers in Asia’s third largest economy to watch
their spending.
·
Luxury
Italian menswear brand Hugo Boss is
offering a 60% discount; fast food restaurant chain McDonald’s is running a promotion in which
consumers can double the burger patties in their order and effectively gain a
20-25% discount.
·
Retailers
have had to resort to such discounts to attract shoppers in an economy where
growth in inflation-adjusted household spending, or real private final
consumption expenditure (PFCE), is set to fall sharply in 2012-13, according to
advance estimates from the Central Statistics Office.
·
At
constant (2004-05) prices, PFCE is estimated to expand only 4.1% in the year to
31 March fromRs.34.73 trillion in 2012-13. The growth rate was 6.5% in
2011-12 and 8.1% in 2010-11, according to a report by industry lobby Federation
of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) and consultancy KPMG
released on Tuesday.
·
Retail
inflation moved up for the fifth consecutive month in February on rising prices
of household essentials such as vegetables, edible oil, cereals and
protein-based items. Clothing and footwear prices increased 10.87% in the
month, according to the consumer price index (CPI) report published on Tuesday.
·
Consumers
are not only cutting back on large or discretionary spending, but also on daily
essentials. It has prompted consumer packaged goods makers like Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), Godrej Consumer Products Ltd, Wipro Ltd’s consumer arm Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting to offer
discounts on soaps, shampoos and conditioners.
·
Be it 0%
interest finance schemes, forfeiting of processing fees or retailers offering
freebies and discounts, there is always something on offer for consumers when
they walk into a retail showroom..
·
Likewise,
growth in the food, restaurant and hotel industry is slowing. According to
the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India,
an umbrella group, the hotel industry grew at a compounded average growth rate
of 5-8% in 2011 and 2012, lower than the projected 12% growth rate for the
period.
·
Similarly,
the restaurant sector grew three percentage points lower than the projected 20%
compounded average growth rate for 2011 and 2012, said M.D. Kapoor, secretary general of the federation.
·
To be
sure, retailers are exploring new ways to win consumers and improve stressed
cash flows, apart from taking recourse to sales and promotions.
·
Big Bazaar, the supermarket chain of India’s largest listed
retail company Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd, is
piloting a loyalty programme in which consumers can pay in advance for their
yearly groceries and ensure the prices of important staples remain stable
regardless of inflation.
·
Sahara group, which launched its own private label
and retail venture Q Shop in November, is looking at a mix of different
business models. The group is offering consumers a loyalty programme in which
they pay an advance deposit to avail of its benefits like bonus points on
purchases which can be redeemed against Q Shop merchandise, discounts on
medical test from associates, and on rooms and beverages in Sahara Hotels.
·
The consumer is completely battered by inflation
and is uncertain about the future. Whatever purchases they can defer, delay,
they are doing that,” said Arvind Singhal,
chairman, Technopak Advisors Pvt. Ltd, a
Gurgaon-based retail consultancy firm.
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