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TEXTILE SALES DIVE 50% ON CASH CRUNCH

With a steep fall in sales of nearly 50% over the past 45 days due to the cash crunch in the market, demonetisation has left the financial health of the textiles industry in tatters,  according to Nagesh Rajanna, CEO (retail) of the Nusli Wadia-run textile major Bombay Dyeing.  “There has been a big impact as textiles industry is a largely cash driven.  It is the homemaker who actually buys our products, so a large part of our business too is cash driven and it has been hurt badly over the last 45 days. I think the whole industry (sales) has got hit by over 50% plus as compared to October,” says Rajanna.  He was however also quick to add that the industry is showing signs of recovery and is hopeful of sales normalising in the next 60-90 days.  The market size of the bed and bath category, in which Bombay Dyeing is seen as a prominent player, is pegged at INR 1,000 cr in the country. The company, which clocked a turnover of INR 303 cr last fiscal, expects demonetization to impact its sales this fiscal too.  The company, which is eyeing revenues of INR 1,000 cr by 2020, has put in place a strategy to revamp its brand, make investments in technology, expand its offline presence and also go online by March to reach out to the youth and has lined up investments of around INR 100 cr on branding activities alone till 2020.  The 137-year-old company has quit manufacturing to focus on the retail front and has tied up with over 60 textile manufacturers in the country, primarily in the north and west, that manufacture its products.  On the retail front, the company will take the total number of its franchise outlets from 200 to 500 by 2020, of which Andhra Pradesh and Telangana will have 75.

RELIANCE JIO’S USERS MAY HIT 100 MN BY MARCH 2017

Riding on the free voice and data offers, Reliance Jio Infocomm’s subscriber may touch 100 million by the end of March 2017 said, Nitin Soni, Director at Fitch Ratings and he further added it may even shrink once the telecom operator starts charging its customers. Currently Jio is having around 52-55 million subscribers and it could well increase to 100 million by end of March, but we will need to remember that these are free services. “So as long as it is free, even a customer who is a customer of Airtel or Idea will still take a free Jio SIM to enjoy free services for the next three months. But I think there will be some churn when Jio will start charging from April 1 and that churn may well reduce the subscriber base by 5-10 per cent,” he added.Launched in September, Jio was offering its customers free voice and data till December 31, 2016, which it has now extended till March 31, 2017.

AMAZON PANTRY SERVICES TO BE INTRODUCED IN 6 MORE CITIES

Amazon recently announced that it will expand its pantry services to six more cities. Earlier Amazon launched its grocery and household products service in Hyderabad and Bengaluru. After the success witnessed in Hyderabad and Bengaluru the expansion of its grocery and household service to six more cities across the country, namely Delhi, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Mysuru and Pune, the company announced.

Amazon Pantry offers essentials ranging across staples including regional brands specific for the relevant cities, categories like snack foods and biscuits to home needs like detergents and shampoo, child care products such as diapers and baby food to even pet products.

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