News Axis

SEZs to have duty-free shops

SPECIAL economic zones (SEZs) are getting another cap on their feather: Duty - free shopping. The government has agreed to allow duty-free outlets in SEZs and a dozen applications filed by Fiemin-go Duty free Shop Ltd which runs duty-free outlets across the country’s major international airports are under consideration now.

Since SEZs are still going through teething troubles, setting up duty-free outlets in these zones was a grey area till now and there was no clarity on allowing foreign investment in such out-lets. Therefore, the issue was discussed by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) recently and it has been decided that such outlets can be allowed with prior permission from the department of commerce.

It is understood that rules will be framed for such outlets by the department in consultation with revenue officials. To avoid confusion, the government would specify the categories of people who would be eligible for purchase from these outlets and the value ceiling on such transactions. SEZ units and SEZ developers are entitled to duty-free inputs but not all purchase of consumer goods might be covered by this concession.

Apart from SEZs, Flemingo had sought permission for opening duty-free outlets at Wagah border with Pakistan and the Paradeep port. The foreign investor had also suggested that an ‘omnibus’ clearance should be given instead of approving new outlets one by one.

After discussing the ‘omnibus’ clearance suggested by the foreign investor, FIPB decided that permission should be granted only with the approval of the nodal authorities — commerce & industry ministry in the case of SEZs, the civil aviation ministry in the case of airports and the ministry of shipping in the case of ports.

Retail war cry echoes globally

AS the noisy tug-of-war for retail talent gains momentum in India, it’s echoes are being heard abroad. A steep demand-supply gap is increasingly forcing new entrants in retailing to go on a global hunt. Local poaching is just not sufficient as they have discovered. Several head hunters confirm, they have international mandate to head hunt in the developed markets that offer the same complexity and scale as is being envisaged by the fresh retail ventures back home.

Reliance Retail, which mopped up the market to fill its top positions early this year, is now looking overseas to fill vacancies in the core areas in its retail venture. So is the AV Birla Group, which has roped in ex - Shoppers Stop honcho Vijay Kashyap to help it hand-pick key people. Ebony Retail Holdings, which is on an overdrive, too, is bringing key executives from global retail chains who have worked in large, complex and more mature markets such as China and Japan. Seeing all this, it doesn’t surprise many when sources say, Bharti has brought in a Tesco honcho, an expat, as CEO for its retail venture.

Much of the head hunting overseas is meant to bring in professionals especially in operations and merchandising. “There is no option but to scour global markets for talent in the retail sector considering the modem retail has a short history,” says B S Nagesh, CEO, Shoppers Stop. Yet he feels that people, who come on board, will have to go through a complicated learning curve.

The crunch is so acute that even abroad, companies are looking at professionals who have retired from global retail chains. And this is going to stay for some time, say analysts. “There’s a huge market for what they call interim executives in the US, which include people who may have retired and would be happy doing trouble shooting or work on a project basis.

This is being seen as a potential talent pool now,” says Atul Vohra, managing partner, Transearch, which has just helped a client get a key executive for a hyper market venture in India. Adds Arun Das Mahapatra, managing partner, Heidrick & Struggles: “We are focusing on talent mapping of Indians abroad with the objective of repatriating them for specialised sectors that lack competency in India.” Meanwhile, locally, the retail brigade is hunting for talent from outside of retail as there’s little to poach from within, says K Sudarshan, managing partner, EMA Partners. “For now, any hiring exercise for retail ventures is looking at sectors beyond retail such as those which are mass market and operations led, but many have started going overseas for talent hunt.”

Tug-of-war
The retail war for staff has entered global turf. Several head hunters confirm they have international mandate to head hunt in the developed markets that offer the same complexity and scale as is being envisaged by the fresh retail ventures back home.

Source : ET

Nita Ambani to look after Reliance Retail

For the first time in the Ambani’s Reliance History, the other half of Mukesh Ambani; Nita Ambani has been seen in the recent consultations of the Reliance Retail venture. The 25000 Crore project will come up with its first Reliance retail outlet in Hyderabad. There is no formal confirmation for the company that what would be the actual involvement of the Ambani Lady but sources says that Nita will be actively involved in the ‘people out reach’ program led by the company. Since reliance is targeting the rural sector first, so it will be important for the company get involved in the rural constituencies of the country. At the moment, Nita Mukesh Ambani has been seen involved with the architects in designing the Dhirubhai Ambani knowledge city.

Vivah 2006: Wedding Exhibition Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai

A wedding exhibition at Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai will be held at the following schedule at these cities.

1 – 4th September 2006: At Taj Palace Hotel Delhi, timing 10 to 8 PM
23rd – 26th September 2006: At JW Marriot Mumbai, timing 10 to 8 PM
11th – 14th January 2007 : At Le Royal Meridien, timing 10 to 8 PM

The exhibition will consist of wide range of wedding wear, trousseau, precious jewelry, designer menswear, lifestyle refinements, luxury watches and honeymoon destination packages.

Reliance Retail: First store in Hyderabad in September

With the mega 25000 crore project in the news from June onwards this year, the company has now announced to open its first store in the Hi-tech city of Hyderabad. The store will be a specialty store of vegetable and food. “We will be opening our first store in Hyderabad in September and this will be a very large store with food, vegetables and staples,” Reliance Retail president and chief executive (operations and strategy) Raghu Pillai said.

The company was in news with the governments and cooperative chains for alliances in the sector. There was a news some days back that the Reliance is looking for real estate in different states. The company had plans to spread to other parts of the country soon, though refusing to divulge details on the number of stores it hoped to close this fiscal year with.

Our Review: With growing retail sector in the country and specially the ongoing foreign investments in the retail sector, the future of this sector is definitely bright. With Reliance getting into this sector with a blast, it is definitely going to hurt the existing big B’s like Vishal Megamart, Super Bazaars and Big Bazaars.