It should be noted that Wal-mart is not a new entrant they are already in India with Bharti, they have already set up easy day and running successfully. Big Bazar is already doing great business. Have we done any study of impact of these retail giant on local shopkeepers or say farmers ? No. why ? Not required. reason : There have been no impact on these sections at all !

In multi-brand we are already having players like, Big Bazar, Spencers, Vishal Mega Mart, Ritu wears, shoppers stop etc.

This is time of making mature decisions for BJP. UP is up and BJP believe it , following Anna because people follow him need not to be replicated in FDI, oppose FDI because Mayawati, Jaylalita, Mamta Banrejee oppose it.

Movie dekho

The Mobile store has launched ‘mobile pe movie free offer’. To avail this offer consumer need to purchase a handset worth rs. 3000 or more. He shall be eligible for offer. As per offer he may get up to 12 movie tickets. consumer shall not be denied offer he shall get minimum two movie tickets.

TMS is very exciting with this offer. They said they are not giving pre-booking tickets. Tickets shall be open for all multiplex across India. So customer can choose his showtime, his move and his theater. All Major multiplex has been enrolled for this say PVR, Satyam, wave cinema, Galaxy.

This is unparalleled offer in industry and those who are looking to buy handset this weekend will be double bonanza as TMS says ‘ Mobile pe Movie Free.

“We are planning to add 25-30 stores on the Big Bazaar front. Our target for this year is 30 stores for Fashion at Big Bazaar and we already have 13 stores, so real estate provided we should be able to achieve our target,” Future Value Retail Joint CEO (East & South) Sadashiv Nayak told PTI.

The Future group currently owns 152 Big Bazaar stores in the country. “We will be investing Rs 300 crore for Big Bazaar and for the stand-alone (Fashion) it should be another Rs 70-80 crore,” he said on the sidelines of Amar Chitra Katha (ACK Media) scholarship event.

The first food park in Karnataka will be equally divided for processing fresh produce such as tomatoes and mangoes that are perishable in nature and farm produce such as ragi, maize and rice, which have a longer shelf life.

The Karnataka park, expected to come up at Kolar/Tumkur, has a project cost of Rs 144 crore and it is expected to be ready in 18 months. The company is also setting up a food park at Khelgaon in Bhagalpur district of Bihar in association with Keventer Agro. Spread over 125 acres, the food park, which will have other individual investors, is estimated to cost between Rs 153-200 crore.

As per consumerdayy study http://www.consumerdaddy.com/consumer-reviews-for-spice-hotspot-electronics-dealers-p-15554.htm Spice hotspot just scored 5 out of 10 for consumer satisfation.

Spice Retail Limited, New Delhi is a multi-brand mobile and technology retail chain. They deal with a wide range of mobile phones, phone accessories, laptops, cameras, etc. Brands offered by them include Spice, Blackberry, Nokia, LG, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, HTC, Fly, Micromax, Lava, etc. Phone accessories offered by them include hands free, Bluetooth headset, bike charger, battery, Bluetooth speaker, decal, audio adapter, screen guard, travel charger, boom headset, car kit, card reader, carrying case, disc organiser, digital speaker, face place, mobile applications, gaming kit, head phone, stereo headset, etc. Spice Retail has branches across Andhra Pradesh, NCR, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarkhand, West Bengal, etc. spice retail is run by Sanjeev mahajan, Global CEO.

The committee is also likely to lay down stringent norms for back-end infrastructure such as cold storage, soil testing labs and seed farming.

The clearance will be subject to tough riders as there are apprehensions about the impact on local grocers, sources said.

On July 22, the Committee of Secretaries (CoS), headed by cabinet secretary Ajit Kumar Seth, will try to resolve inter-ministerial differences and then prepare a cabinet note for clearance.

Differences persist between the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and the Ministry of Consumer Affairs (MCA) over the FDI cap. While the department favours 51 per cent FDI, the MCA is pitching for a ceiling of 49 per cent to ensure that the control resides in the hands of Indians.

At present, the government does not allow FDI in retail, which employs 33 million people and is dominated by local grocers. However, 51 per cent FDI are permitted in single brand retail, and global chains such as Nike and Louis Vuitton have set up shops. There are no restrictions on foreign investments in wholesale cash and carry format business.

Global multi-brand retail chains have been pushing India to open up the sector to FDI. Walmart, Carrefour and Metro have opened cash-and-carry stores to tap the market.

The other difference that the secretaries have to sort out is the quantum of investment that retail chains have to earmark for back-end infrastructure.

Of the $100-million minimum investment proposed, the DIPP feels at least 50 per cent have to be earmarked for back-end infrastructure. However, the consumer affairs ministry wants a larger share of 75 per cent of FDI to be invested in back-end supply chains.

India annually loses more than Rs 1 lakh crore in farm products, including fruits and vegetables, because of a lack of proper infrastructure such as cold chain storage and warehousing

Essar Retail has a combined turnover of $1.5 billion (Rs 6,750 crore), over half of which is contributed by steel retail followed by retail business in mobile and consumer durables, and information technology products and oil retailing.

Essar has brought all its retailing arms — The MobileStore (TMS) and The ElectronicStore — which retail mobile and consumer durables and information technology products, and Essar Hypermart, which retails steel and fuel retail operations of Essar Oil, under Essar Retail to draw synergies. Alok Gupta, the former director of Café Coffee Day, who recently moved job and city to join the group, is heading Essar Retail as its chief executive officer.

“This allows us to operate across the geographies — from metros, mini metros to rural India. We can talk across SECs (socio-economic classifications), age groups and consumers with diverse needs. We can offer life-time value for consumers, who use mobiles, energy and steel needs and keep coming to us for their needs,” Gupta said in an exclusive interaction with Business Standard.

He, however, ruled out venturing into any new segment of retail in the immediate future.

“For the next 12-24 months, we will continue to focus on our current verticals and within each vertical, we need to put new channels of retail, we have to explore the whole e-retailing and digital space,” Gupta added.

Essar Hypermart has 616 steel retail outlets and plans to increase the number to 750 by the end of this year. TMS, Essar’s telecom retail chain, has 1,000 stores and has 50 per cent share of the organised market . In the current financial year, TMS plans to add 250 stores, of which 75 per cent would be via the franchisee route. In fuel retail, Essar Oil runs 1,381 outlets, and an additional 254 are under various stages of construction.

Gupta says all the retail formats are Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) positive and he expects Essar Hypermart and TMS, its major retail ventures, to break-even by 2012-13. He did not give break-ups for the verticals.

Steel retailing business is getting readied for the second phase of growth.

Essar is collaborating with designers and fabricators to bring out better quality designs in products and sell these in its hypermarkets.

“If you look at steel products we use in our daily lives, their designs have not changed in the last 20-25 years. We believe there lies an opportunity. We are looking at pre-fabricated doors, equipment which we use in day to day life,” says Gupta. He says the company does not mind local retailers selling the products as long as they are produced by its manufacturing partners who tap designs provided by Essar and make everything with the steel made by the company.

Essar Retail also plans to make its steel outlets as a one-stop shop for construction-related products. Through Essar Hypermart and other formats such as Expressmart and Expresspoint (both are dealer-owned and dealer-run) it will sell cement, paints and other hardware under one roof.

Mobiles and IT products

Gupta says the company plans to aggressively sell consumer durables and IT products through TMS. It has already started selling durables and IT products in 50-odd stores in NCR and plans to take it to other cities.

He believes display and catalogue sales is possible in 40 per cent of TMS stores and the rest through catalogue sales.

“We believe the market is moving towards small-box formats, where consumer wants easy access. On an average, we do seven and eight million transactions in TMS across the categories. Our objective is to work with footfall and try and fit into consumer durables and IT,” he adds.

TMS has kept the assortment fairly tight and displays LCD televisions, laptops and cameras on display and rest like washing machines, refrigerators and so on are sold through catalogue.

But how confident is Essar of retailing durables through TMS work when a host of chains such as Croma, Reliance Digital and Next offer wide range of products at competitive prices?

“We offer sheer convenience, value and credibility customers do not mind buying a high value item in small box store. It is a matter of leveraging our current relationship and provide right value,” he added.

The company is also looking at retailing consumer durables and IT products through Essar Oil outlets

Commenting on the company’s performance, Mehul Choksi, CMD, Gitanjali Gems Ltd, said, “In full year 2011, the group has achieved outstanding results in sales, and, even more in profitability. Further the continued focus towards jewellery business as well as expansion in India will drive the future growth and earnings.” The company’s net sales of Rs. 9,456 crore for the year ended 31st March, 2011, as compared to Rs. 6,527 crore in corresponding fiscal year, registering a growth of 44.9 per cent.

The company has developed about 20 different retail formats to expand its brands – Nakshatra, Asmi, Gili, D’Damas and Sangini – in the form of EBOs and MBOs.

In FY’ 11, the company added nearly 3,00,000 sq.ft of retail space, primarily through company-owned stores and franchising route. Gitanjali group has reached to over 3,300 points-of-sale with about 300 additions in FY’11.

In a bid to counter possible political opposition to the move, the proposal gives state governments the final say on whether they wish to have front-end retail stores in their states.