Baked Mess in the

All the
Presidents’
Gourmet
into Comes Home
History p.18
Melt p.12
Slogans p.10 p.16

www.economictimes.com | New Delhi | 20 pages | `10

November 01-07, 2020

IT’s Shopping Time

The pandemic has seen India’s IT
industry go shopping for capabilities
and market access around the
world. A slew of
technological and
political shifts are
fuelling the
trend
p.04-06

Race to the Top

Marquee global brands have joined the race
for India’s premium motorcycle segment with
a range of exciting models. Market leader
Royal Enfield must defend its turf p.08-09
 02 what’s news
NOVEMBER 01-07, 2020

ICICI Bank Pulwama Truth

Reports Highest
Quarterly Profit
Future Retail is Misleading Accepted in Pak
Parliament: Modi
at `4,251 crore
Mumbai: Private lender ICICI
Public: Amazon Tells Sebi Kevadiya: Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi on Saturday said the
truth of last year’s Pulwama ter-

Bank reported an all-time high
quarterly net pr ofit of `4,251
crore on the back of a stake sale in
its subsidiary and sequential fall
in provisions in the quarter end-
ed September. It had r eported
profits of `655 crore a year ago. A
Bloomberg poll of analysts had
estimated the pr ofit at `2,868
crore.
The bank reported a 16% rise in
its net interest income at`9,366.1
crore versus `8,057 crore a year
ago. T he b ank e arned `309.8
crore for a 2% stake sale in ICICI
Securities.
“The economy has been open-
ing up. If you see manufacturing,
it is back to pre-Covid levels, we
are focusing on better rated bor-
rowers both on the corporate s
and retail side,” said Sandeep Ba-
tra, president, ICICI Bank. “We
have front-loaded expected loss-
es in the Mar ch and June quar-
ters, and believe that additional
provisions made by the bank will
completely cushion the balance
sheet against any credit losses.”
Batra added that the bank had
received a small pipeline of loans
which were seeking restructuring
but the quantum was very small.
The bank reported provisions
and contingencies of `2,995 crore
versus `2,507 crore a year ago.
This includes provision of `497
crore made on a prudent basi s for
loans not classified as NPAs due to
A
mazon.com Inc has complained to the mar-
ket regulator that its local partner Future
Retail Ltd misled shareholders by incorrect-
ly saying it was complying with its contractual obli-
gations to the US ecommerce giant, a letter seen by
Reuters shows.
Amazon is locked in a bitter legal dispute with Fu-
ture Group, which in August sold its retail assets to
Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd for $3.4
billion. The deal, Amazon alleges, breaches 2019
agreements by Future. The tussle has strained Ama-
zon’s ties not just with Future Retail but also with
Ambani, Asia’s richest man, and his Reliance group,
which is fast expanding its ecommerce business
and threatening companies like Amazon.
Amazon last Sunday won an injunction to halt
Future’s deal with Reliance from a Singapore arbi-
trator both sides had agreed to use in case of dis-
putes. The Indian retailer then said in a news re-
lease it had complied with all agreements and “can-
not be held back” b y the arbitration
proceedings.
In the letter to the Securities & Ex-
change Board of India Chairman
Ajay Tyagi on Wednesday, Ama-
zon said Future’s news release
and stock exchange disclosures
violated Indian regulations, urg-
ing the regulator to investigate
the matter and not approve the
deal. “Such a di sclosure i s
against public interest, misleads
public shareholders ... as well as
perpetuates a fraud for the ben-
efit of the Biyanis alone,”
Amazon’s letter said, referring to Future’s promoter ror attack, in which 40 CRPF per-
family led by Kishore Biyani. sonnel were killed, has been ac-
A spokesman for Future Group and the Biyani cepted in Pakistan Parliament.
family declined to comment. A Future group source His statement comes two days
denied Amazon’s allegations, saying there was no after Paki stan’s Sc ience and
question of any fraud or misleading the public or Technology Mini ster F awad
shareholders, without elaborating. Amazon de - Chaudhry admit-
clined to comment on its letter , the contents of ted to hi s coun-
which have not previously been reported. Reliance try’s role in the
and Sebi did not respond to requests for comment. Pulwama att ack
Amazon says the 2019 deal, in which it invested during a debate
nearly $200 million in a Future unit, had clauses in their National
saying the Indian group could not sell its retail as- A s s e m b l y. H e
sets to anyone on a “restricted persons” list, which was speaking at Kevadiya in Gu-
included R eliance. R eliance, w hich in A ugust jarat’s Narmada district. — PTI
bought Future’s retail, wholesale and some other
businesses, has said it plans to “enforce its rights
and complete the (Future) transaction ... without Took VRS Because
any delay.”
The faceoff comes as Jeff Bezos-led Amazon has
of Poor Ties with
already been battling tighter foreign investment Minister: Garg
rules and antitrust cases in India, which is one of its
key growth markets where it has New Delhi: Former finance secre-
committed investments of $6.5 tary SC Garg has said differ ences
billion. with FM Nirmala Sitharaman was
Some Indian la wyers one of the reasons he resigned from
have argued the Singapore the IAS and q uit the government
arbitrator’s order in favour one year before his superannua-
of Amazon is not automat- tion. In a blog post on Saturday, he
ically enfor ceable and said the reason he took voluntary
would need ratification retirement “quite frankly, was that I
by an Indian court. But did not share a good and productive
Amazon believes the order working relationship with the new
is binding, it told SEBI. Finance Minister and I did not want
—Reuters/New Delhi to work anywhere outside the Min-
istry of Finance.”
The senior most bureaucrat in
the finance mini stry at the time,
Garg was transferred to the power

Rajasthan Introduces Bill to

the Supreme Court order.
At the end of September, the
bank held Covid-19 related provi-
sions of `8,772 crore. The bank
said collection efficiencies have
returned to the pre-Covid levels
while credit costs would normal-
ise next fiscal year. Asset quality
parameters improved over last
year. The gross non-performing
asset ratio at the end of the Sep-
tember quarter stood at 5 .17%
versus 6.37% a year ago. Its net
NPA stood at 1% against 1.6% in
the year-ago period.
— Our Bureau
Amend New Commodities Act
Jaipur: Aiming at pr otecting “consumers fr om
hoarding and black marketing of agricultural pro-
duce”, Rajasthan government on Saturday intro-
duced the Essential Commodities (Special Provisions
and Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2020, in the state
Legislative Assembly. The discussion on the Bill will
take place from Monday.
An official document read the Bill will“amend and
add special provisions in the Essential Commodities
Act, 1955, and the Essential Commodities (Amend-
ment) Act, 2020, in their application to the State of
Rajasthan, with a view to protecting consumers from
hoarding and black marketing of agricultural pro-
duce and to secure and protect the interests and live-
lihood of farmers and farm labourers as also all oth-
ers engaged in agriculture and related activities.”
This is an attempt by the Congress-run state gov-
ernment tomodify one of the three farm laws, passed
in the last monsoon session of Parliament.
—ANI
ministry in July last year. He opted
for VRS barely a day later.
Garg added: “Serious difference
also developed on some key issues
like economic capital framework of
RBI, package for dealing with prob-
lems of non-banks, resolution of
non-banks, partial credit guarantee
scheme, capitalisation of non-
banks like IIFCL and other financial
entities and the like.”
“Mrs Sitharaman asked for and
insisted on m y transfer fr om the
Ministry of Finance in June 2019 it-
self, within one month of her taking
over as FM,” hewrote. —Our Bureau

Sean Connery, Who Shone as James Bond, Dies at 90

London: Sean Connery, the Scottish-born actor who
was the first to utter the famous mo vie line, “the
name’s Bond, James Bond,” has died. He was 90.
His death was confirmed by his family, the BBC re-
ported.
Though he made more than 60 films, winning an
Academy Award for his supporting role as an incor-
ruptible lawman on the trail of Al Capone inThe Un-
touchables (1987), Connery was most closely affiliat-
ed with the debonair fictional British spy he portrayed
seven times. He introduced Bond and his trademark
greeting in Dr. No (1962), which turned Connery into
an international star. He would go on to play the wom-
anizing, dinner-suited, martini-quaffing spy, created
by Ian Fleming, in From Russia With Love (1963),
Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965),You Only Live
Twice (1967) and Diamonds Are Forever (1971). In
1983, Connery starred in one more Bond movie, Nev-
er Say Never Again.
People magazine named Connery its sexiest man
alive for 1989. In 1997, the magazine hailed him for
remaining “a man’s man of action who still leaves
women as shaken as any of Bond’s martinis.”
Peter Rainer, a former Bloomberg News critic, in
2006 called Connery “the rare example of a perform-
er who became a versatile actor after being identified
with a famous role.” The Guardian reported in 2004
that, when asked if he would ever escape his identifi-
cation with Bond, Connery replied, “Not yet. It’s with
me ‘til I go in the box.”
Thomas Sean Connery was born on A ugust 25,
1930, in the working-class Fountainbridge district of
western Edinburgh. He left school at 14 and began
working a range of jobs. At 16, he joined the Royal
Navy for three years before a stomach ulcer prompt-
ed his return to civilian life. At 19, he posed as a model
at the Edinburgh Art School. Bodybuilding and a shot
at the Mr. Universe title (he came in third) ultimately
led to a career in acting. —Agencies
 perspective 03
NOVEMBER 01-07, 2020

If Biden Wins
A Biden presidency will be less transactional and competitive than Trump’s vis-à-vis
America’s traditional partners and allies. India should try to make the most of it

:: Sreeram Chaulia

W
ith emotions running high as the US Biden is also a professed believer in a
presidential election climaxes, India multilateral US foreign policy, he will
needs to adopt a cool and consid- be all ears to ideas for New Delhi and
ered attitude to further the bilateral Washington to team up with other
relationship. Irrespective of wheth- China-wary countries and form a
er one hates or loves President Don- united front.
ald Trump or former vice-president Unlike Trump, Biden will not be as
Joe Biden, raison d’etat requires In- tight-fisted when it comes to financ-
dia to plan and strategise to deal ing infrastructure and connectivity
with whoever American voters will projects in the Indo-Pacific, which
send to the White House. are as important as a collective mili-
Should Trump remain in office, it tary pushback to rein in the Chinese
will be less of an adjustment for In- dragon. W ith a r eceptive Biden
dia because the momentum that has around, India and the US can identi-
already been generated will carry fy a number of poorer countries in
on. The remarkable timing of an in- South Asia and the Indo-Pacific and
person India-US 2+2 dialogue, which jointly implement economically
was held barely one week before beneficial projects as a trustworthy
Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa
election day, showed what the pa- and safe alternative to China’s “debt
rameters and potential are if Trump trap” diplomacy.
secures four more years at the helm. Of course, India must temper its
The Narendra Modi government has figured out a Plan A solutely negative public perception of China in American expectations on how far the US of today can go
with Trump and it just has to be x eecuted smoothly. society, a Biden presidency cannot afford to lift the mas- in opening its purse strings and carrying out a
But in the event of a Biden win, India has to have a Plan sive Trump-era tariffs on China. In contrast, India is not proactive foreign policy. Should Biden be the
B based on understanding where he comes from, what a “red meat” political issue in Washington. If Biden is in next president, his foremost priority will be
he stands for and how he can be harnessed to advance the Oval Office, an ear ly and amicable closure to the overcoming the domestic challeng es of the
India’s national interests. Broadly speaking, a Biden trade war with India i s possible and worth following pandemic and pulling America out of its socio-
presidency will remain committed to the India-US c“om- through. It will be a booster for India’s post-Covid eco- economic crises. Even if he personally wants a
prehensive global strategic partnership”. But in the light nomic recovery. reinvigorated US role in the international are-
of extreme policy volatility that has befallen the US in In the geopolitical sphere, Biden has vowed to revive na, the era of American interventionism and
recent times, Biden will self -con- the Iran nuclear deal that had been power projection in faraway parts of the planet
sciously look to repudiate many of the signature Middle East initiative of is gone.
Trump’s actions and approaches to the Barack Obama administration. India must be rational and try to make the
world affairs. This is a favourable stance for India most of a possible Biden presidency, but we
Therein lie opportunities which In- because Trump’s “maximum pres- should also be clear-eyed that the US is not the
dia s hould c apitalise on. A Biden If Biden is in the Oval sure” campaign against Iran had the be-all and end-all for achieving our strategic
presidency will be less transactional Office, an early and unintended effect of limiting India’s goals. Smart forward planning with lowered
and competitive than Trump’s vis-à- investment and development of the expectations will serve us well. „
vis the US’s traditional partners and
amicable closure to strategic Chabahar port — a crucial The writer is a professor and deanat the Jindal School of
allies. If Trump’s populist world view the trade war with venture to keep Pakistan under check International Affairs
deemed every single nation on earth India is possible and and prevent Chinese encirclement on
an economic rival that is taking ad- our western flank. If there is a fresh
vantage o f t he U S t hrough u nfair
worth following Iran-US thaw, India will also get more
rules, Biden’s track is going to be the through. It will be a options and space to counter jihadist
liberal one of distinguishing friends booster for India’s extremism and ensure Afghanistan’s
(especially democracies) from foes
(authoritarian countries), and being
post-Covid economic stability. The Indo -Pacific i s the ultimate
generous to the former. recovery touchstone of the India-US partner-
A low-hanging fruit India must pur- ship. While Trump moved during the
sue if a Biden administration comes latter part of his first term to aggres-
in is to settle trade disputes that had sively consolidate ties with a range of
raged on despite several rounds of partners ther e and pus hed back
negotiations under Trump. The eco- against China, the regional architec-
nomic nationalism spearheaded by Trump caused bil- ture is still not solid enough to deter Chinese offensive
lions of dollars of export losses to India and denied us the behaviour. Part of the problem has been Trump’s disin-
Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) privileges that terest in formulating an identifiable formal policy toward
we deserve as a developing country. the Indo-Pacific, except to insist that the US wants a
Trump’s mocking of India as a “tariff king” and his un- “rules-based” order and freedom of the sea lanes of com-
willingness to conclude even a mini trade deal unless In- munication.
dia made more concessions belied the simple reality that If Biden is in charge, India must nudge him on the Oba-
India’s overall trade surplus with the US ($17.42 billion) is ma-era “pivot” or “rebalance” to Asia strategy, which
a pittance compared with the US’s deficits with China, had set specific targets for relocating the US military
Germany or Japan. away from the Middle East and concentrating maximum
Owing to the bipartisan anti-China sentiment and ab- US naval assets to ring-fence China in its backyard. Since
04 cover story
NOVEMBER 01-07, 2020
:: Shelley Singh
O
ctober is typically a busy month for
the giants of India’s $190 billion tech-
nology ser vices sec tor. It’s when
they announce the widely tracked
results for the July-September quarter. But this
year, a steady drum beat of announcements of a different kind
has been forthcoming from the IT behemoths. They have been
on a global shopping spree, buying out technology companies
with an eye on acquiring cutting-edge capabilities and a door-
way into new markets.
The acquisitions are doubtless spurred by the softening of
valuations due to the dampened economic sentiment since the
outbreak of Covid-19 around the world. It’s also a departure
from the norm for India-based firms that ha ve traditionally pre-
ferred to develop capabilities in-house and conserve cash.
In mid-October, Wipro acquired Eximius Design based in San
Jose, US. Tech Mahindra bought out two firms — digital enter-
prise tech provider Momenton based in Australia and New
Zealand-based tech consulting firm Tenzing. Cognizant ac-
quired Bright Wolf, a privately held firm specialising in indus-
trial internet of things (IoT) for Fortune 1000 clients.
And it’s not just October. India’s top tech firms have been
scouting for buyouts since the pandemic br oke out. In all,
Wipro, Infosys, HCL, Tech Mahindra andCognizant have spent
more than $1.5 billion to acq uire assets this year, with Cognizant
alone doing eight acquisitions, compared with just three in
2019. Infosys bought out four firms, three of them in a single
quarter, compared with none in 2019.
“Every sector has today realised that the future of their busi-
ness as an agile or intelligent enterprise is dependent on the
extent of digital transformation they invest in,” says Pawan
Kumar S, partner, technology, media and telecom,Pricewater-
houseCoopers (PwC) India. That transformation capability is
what services companies are chasing through these buyouts.
Market Access
There are two clear themes emerging from the choice of target
companies — cloud, geographical spread and market access.
While a suite of tech capabilities in domains such as artificial
intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and oI T are ostensibly
being acquired, the underlying trend is the pandemic-accelerat-
}
Who Bought What
Pandemic has triggered an
acquisition spree by companies.
They think buying — rather than
building — skills is a strategic
move to accelerate digital
services delivery
The pandemic has seen
India’s IT industry shed its
reticence and go shopping
for companies, capabilities
and market access around
the world. A slew of
technological and political
shifts are fuelling the trend
“We will continue to look to
acquire assets that improve our
digital footprint, help us build
stronger domain capabilities
and enable us to grow
some of our low-
penetrated, but high-
potential geographies”
Anil Raibagi,
senior VP, M&A, Wipro
Infosys
Simplus, Utah Kaleidoscope, Cincinnati
WHEN: March WHEN: September
CAPABILITY: CAPABILITY: Product,
Salesforce partner design & development
ed shift of enterprise applications to the cloud.
Peter Bendor-Samuel, CEO of consultant Ever-
est Group, says: “What legacy firms have discov-
ered is that it is very hard to ‘grow your own digi-
tal’. The legacy mindset and the pace at which you have to de-
velop them have made this a steep hill to climb. Hence, theneed
for acquisitions.”
Acquisitions are also happening in geographies where cli-
ents are present, unlike in the past w hen big acquisitions
would happen in India, such as Wipro’s acquisition of Spectra-
mind BPO or TCS’ purchase of state-run CMC. There are a few
factors at play here. Laws such as the European Union’s Gen-
eral Data Protection Regulation have made it trickier to trans-
fer client data across political borders. The US administra-
tion’s tougher H-1B visa rules have either capped the number
of available visas or restricted them to jobs above a salary
threshold, to prevent low-cost engineers working in the US.
Rise of protectionist voices around the world has placed an
emphasis on employing locals and therefore Indian compa-
nies must perform the difficult balancing act of being vocal for
local at home and abroad. Setting up solution centres in client
geographies, manned by local engineering and sales staff, is
seen to be a politically astute business practice.
These buyouts are also coming at a time of low interest
rates around the world. This has made the attractiveness to
treasury operations wane, making it an easier decision for
companies to spend on acquisitions.
“Deal velocity has increased due to an accelerated adoption
of digital. Valuations are more realistic now,” says Sangeeta
Gupta, senior vice-president, Nasscom.
Structural Shifts
What we are seeing is yet another structural shift in the evolu-
tion of technology, says Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, ex-CMD of
Cognizant India. “With every structural shift in technology, we
have seen an acceleration in the pace of acquisitions. We saw it
during the client-server and ecommerce eras, and we are seeing
it in the context of digital today.”
This structural shift is the greater adoption of a suite of digi-
tal technologies. Cloud computing is a big subset of that, ac-
counting for more than $100 billion of business a year. The
GuideVision, Prague Blue Acorn iCi, Charleston
WHEN: September WHEN: October
CAPABILITY: CAPABILITY: Digital
ServiceNow partner customer experience,
commerce & analytics
 cover story 05
Acquisitions are the NOVEMBER 01-07, 2020

Means to an End Wipro

Cognizant has been the most aggressive among IT
companies in acquiring assets globally. Brian Humphries, IVIA Servicos de 4C, Mechelen, Rational Interaction,
CEO of the tech company, discusses the reasons behind this Informatica, Fortaleza, Brazil Belgium Seattle

strategy, how it adds to Cognizant’s capabilities and more WHEN: July WHEN: July WHEN: February
in an email interview with Shelley Singh. Edited excerpts: CAPABILITY: IT provider for CAPABILITY: CAPABILITY: Digital
retail, financial & Salesforce customer experience
manufacturing clients in Brazil partner

W
hat are the reasons behind Cognizant’s acquisition spree during
the pandemic?
We were well on an aggressive M&A path as we came into the year,
complementing organic investments with targeted acquisitions focused Tech Mahindra
100% on digital, including our key battlegrounds of AI & analytics, cloud,
digital engineering and IoT. In 2020, we have invested more than $1 billion in
digital acquisitions to date. As more clients implement agile digital work-
Momenton Tenzing, NZ Zen3, Seattle
flows, we are determined to enable them to become software-driven enter-
Technology, Melbourne
prises and digital to the core. We look at acquisitions as a means to an end, WHEN: October WHEN: April
and that end is to advance our digital priorities across the globe. WHEN: October
CAPABILITY: CAPABILITY: AI,
After Covid-19, the new normal is more digital, cloud services, et al. Have CAPABILITY: Digital tech Digital tech cloud, DevOps
the acquisitions helped Cognizant accelerate these businesses?
Our focus is on acquisitions that advance our strategic direction and provide
our clients with access to the capabilities they need to transform digitally,
become modern businesses and create business value. For example, as
cloud computing has transformed the way IT is delivered across infrastruc-
ture, applications and platforms, six of the eight acq uisitions we have made
HCL Technologies
to date this year have been cloud-related.
Code Zero, the French operations of EI-Technologies, and Lev have expand- shift from 4G to 5G presents an op- DWS, Melbourne “In growth areas like SaaS and
ed our cloud solutions portfolio and Salesforce expertise. Collaborative Solu- portunity for firms offering tele- cloud infrastruc ture, there’s in-
tions has enhanced our cloud offerings and capabilities in Workday, a critical com solutions, such as Tech Mahi- WHEN: September creased appetite to buy out spe -
enterprise cloud suite that organisations are using to achieve greater resil- ndra, to build c apabilities here. cialist firms,” says Ashwin Mehta,
ience and agility in finance, HR and other functions. New Signature has pro- The rapid evolution underway in CAPABILITY: IT analyst at Ambit Capital. Omkar
vided the foundation for a dedicated Microsoft Business Group within Cogni- cutting-edge domains such as AI, Digital services Tanksale, tech analyst at Axis Secu-
zant. Earlier this month, we closed the acquisition of 10th Magnitude, one of IoT, ML, data analytics and others rities, points to three kinds of ac-
Microsoft’s longest-standing Azure-centric partners. This deal will expand the is helping generate entirely new quisitions: the first is to bolster
Microsoft Azure expertise within our new Microsoft Business Group, and add lines of business, lik e enabling transac tions cloud deployment, the second si to expand in new
development and managed services hubs throughout the US. through smart speakers or automating manufac- geographies (Tech Mahindra and HCL have
In our other digital battlegrounds, with the acquisition of Tin Roof, we have turing. This means massive internal reinvention bought out firms in Australia and New Zealand)
expanded our digital engineering footprint in the US. Last week, we agreed to of technology shops built to serve client needs and the third is because deploying experts from
acquire Bright Wolf, a technology services provider that specialises in custom such as server maintenance, business software India is becoming difficult with frequent changes
industrial IoT solutions for Fortune 1000 companies, and which will expand implementation or internet applications. in work visa laws, particularly in the US, which ac-
our smart products and industry 4.0 expertise. If the previous technology shifts were driven by counts for around 70% of the business for Indian
a single technology, digital is a confluence of tech- firms. So acqui-hiring local businesses and using
Are valuations more attractive now? Would you nologies, including cloud, automation, AI, IoT, them for business development in those territo-
have had to pay more for them earlier, say, in 2019? ML etc. Each segment is a massive opportu- ries are gaining traction. Many of these com-
Everything we are doing as a company, including M&A, nity in itself but Indian providers lack ca- panies, espec ially smaller consulting
is focused on making Cognizant one of the biggest ben- pabilities in-house, prompting a global shops, also come with their o wn roster of
eficiaries of the new opportunities in digital. Our acqui- talent hunt through acquisitions. Pan- clients.
sition strategy takes valuations into consideration to demic has only accelerated this shift. “As Besides, while the pandemic saw busi-
ensure the right return for shareholders while deliver- Covid-19 impacts every aspect of our ness eroding in travel, aviation, hospital-
ing on the digital expectations and needs of our clients. work life, we have seen two years ity, retail, logistics and touri sm
worth of digital transformation in sectors, the demand for digital so-
Do you see an accelerated buy-rather-than-build strate- two months,” Mic rosoft CEO “Acquisition lutions in healthc are and BFSI
gy going ahead, and will Cognizant be looking at ac- Satya Nadella said in a media inter - velocity has space went up by 18–20%, accord-
quiring more companies? If so, in which areas? view early on, as the pandemic ing to Axis Securities, accelerating
Our M&A strategy continues to befocused on spread.
increased due to the move to buy assets to deliver
advancing our digital priorities across the Providers of Amazon Web Ser- accelerated the services. “As businesses open
globe. We’ll remain acquisitive, looking for vices, Microsoft Azure and Google adoption of digital. up and accelerate growth (if and
the right deals to bring the right technolo
gy Cloud are growing in high double Valuations are when a vaccine tames the pan-
and expertise to our clients, at the right digits. These ar e to the digit al realistic now” demic), they will seek more digital
price and return to shareholders. world what ERP (enterpri se re- capabilities. That’s what service
source planning) was to the earlier Sangeeta Gupta, providers anticipate and are pre-
era of tech services. senior VP, Nasscom paring for,” adds Tanksale.

Cognizant

El-Technologies, Code Zero Lev, Indianapolis Collaborative New Signature, Tin Roof 10th Magnitude, Bright Wolf,
Paris Consulting, Solutions, Reston Washington, DC Software, Chicago Durham
Atlanta WHEN: March Atlanta
WHEN: January WHEN: May WHEN: July WHEN: September WHEN: October
WHEN: February CAPABILITY: WHEN: August
CAPABILITY: Digital marketing CAPABILITY: Cloud CAPABILITY: CAPABILITY: CAPABILITY:
Salesforce specialist CAPABILITY: Microsoft cloud CAPABILITY: MS Azure cloud Industrial IoT
Cloud consulting provider Digital products specialist
06 cover story
NOVEMBER 01-07, 2020

“Today, every sector “Legacy firms have “There is always a

has realised that the discovered it is hard to ‘grow build-vs-buy debate.
future of their your own digital’. The legacy The decision depends
business as an agile or mindset and pace at which on when we have to
intelligent enterprise you have to develop this market and how we
is dependent on the capability have made this a service customers. If it
extent of digital steep hill to climb. Hence the is single point, single
transformation they invest in” need for acquisitions” tech, partnership is
often better than a buyout”
Pawan Kumar S, Peter Bendor-Samuel, Vivek Agarwal, global head for healthcare
partner, technology, media & telecom, PwC India CEO, Everest Group and financial services, Tech Mahindra

Shifting Tech
Landscape e
Previous tech shifts
were led by one
technology
ow
Digital disruption is now
driven by a confluencee of
technologies, including cloud,
blockchain, 3D printing, AI, data
Each of these technologies
presents a massive market
opportunity (cloud alone is more
than $100 billion a year)
IT services providers have been
seeing a slower revenue growth
rate, digital will change this
Gearing Up for
a New Normal
Covid-19 has led to a structural
shift in IT services companies.
Acquisition is one big part of the
changing contours of Indian IT
services. Here are others:
All recent acquisitions have been in
client markets; unlike earlier when
buyouts were mostly in India
The thrust that ERP gave
earlier is now coming from
cloud, digital services
Most additions are to capability in
cloud, digital businesses
Deeper geographic inroads in new
markets
Companies with huge cash piles
think it is better to make strategic
buys instead of letting money get
low interest rates
While Covid has accelerated
demand for healthcare; need for
digital solutions is felt in travel,
retail and hospitality as well
Legacy firms find it hard to grow
digital strengths organically. So
they opt for collaboration,
partnerships, buyouts, etc
Valuations of target companies
are attractive
Niche Buys
New Signature, which was acquired by Cogni-
zant, hhas provided the company a founda-
tion for a dedicated Microsoft Business
Group. It boasts a global client portfo-
Gr
lio that includes businesses across a
li
rrange of industries. Engagements
hhave included cloud mig ration for
Virgin Atlantic Airways, an IoT solu-
V year 2020–21, from 0–2% earlier. The full-year
tion for The Hershey Company and a
solution
l to map all public defibrillators in
the UK for the National H ealth Service (NHS) and
the British Heart Foundation.
Tin Roof Software, which it bought in August,
works across a range of industries, including tel-
ecom, media, financial services, retail, hospital-
ity, consumer products, travel, logistics and
transportation. Meanwhile Chicago-based 10th
Magnitude, acquired by Cognizant in Septem-
ber, provides data intelligence and AI-driven
analytics, among other services.
“We are complementing organic investments
with targeted acquisitions focused 100% on digi- next phase of growth from digital. Early in Octo-
tal, including our key battlegrounds of AI, analyt-
ics, cloud, digital engineering and IoT,” says Bri-
an Humphries, CEO of Cognizant. His company
has so far spent $1 billion in buying eight compa-
nies, six of which offer cloud services.
Wipro acquired Salesforce implementation
partner 4C for €68 million and Brazil-headquar-
tered IVIA Servicos for $22.4 million to expand
consulting and project management services to
businesses in the L atin Americ an
country. E ximius Design, which
Wipro acquired in mid-October for
$80 million, provides solutions and
services to build smar ter, smaller
and connected products for multiple
use cases. “We will continue to look
to acquire assets that improve our
digital footprint , help us build
stronger domain capabilities in cer-
tain industry verticals and enable us
to grow some of our low-penetrated
but high-potential g eographies,” Global Cloud
says Anil Raibagi, senior VP for M&A
at Wipro.
Market
Most acquisitions target cloud
Wipro’s Bengaluru neighbour In-
fosys bought US-based Kaleidoscope computing as the opportunity
for $42 million to expand its engi- for tech services providers is
massive there
neering services portfolio in medical
devices, consumer and industrial
markets. Kaleidoscope designs mi-
Size ($ bn)
crosurgical instruments used in min-
imally invasive surgeries and user- 257.9
centric w earables, among other 242.7
things. With GuideVision buyout,
Infosys has strengthened its Service-
Now (cloud computing) capability.
“The thrust that ERP gave earlier is
now coming from digital. Traditional
models of building capabilities (or-
ganically) t ake time (ar ound t wo-
three years) while clients’ need to go
2019 2020* 2021*
digital has accelerated, resulting in
* Forecast
these acquisitions,” says a business
leader with one of the top-tier firms, who asked
not to be named. For example, the aggregate
growth of the four Infosy s buyouts was 4 5%
CAGR in the last two years, making them very at-
tractive targets.
In fact, in the Q2 earnings announcement, In-
fosys revised its revenue growth guidance up-
ward to 2–3% in constant currency for financial
operating margin guidance also revised upward
to 23–24%, against 21–23% earlier. Infosys had re-
ported 20.5% year-on-year (YoY) increase in net
profit from the September quarter. Consolidat-
ed r evenue fr om operations inc reased
to `24,570 crore in Q2FY21, up by 8.6% YoY.
Most acquisitions have been like small tuck-in
buys with very niche capabilities in digital do-
mains, particularly cloud. The kind that Accen-
ture has been doing for years (buying several
dozen small companies to build capabilities) is
now being done by Indian IT.
Also, the landscape is clearly shifting with the nit, which has worked with clients like BMW, Fe-
ber, tech giant IBM split its business into two —
separating the low-margin legacy business from
the high- growth digit al ser vices, including
cloud and AI.
Realistic Valuations
Most acquisitions have been in the $35 million to
$60 million range. On the lower side, Tech Mahi-
ndra spent just $10.2 million to buy Momenton,
IT Services
in India
How India’s IT-BPM sector
has grown over the last
two decades
Revenue ($ bn)
Employees (mn)
177
0.3 2.2 4.1 4.3
72
364.1
306.9 4 vice outage during Covid-19,” says
FY 1999 2009 2019
Source: Nasscom
2022*
Source: Gartner
a digital enterprise tech firm based in M el-
bourne, while Infosys spent $250 million to buy
Simplus, a Salesforce consulting company. Sim-
plus was bought at 3.7 times its 2019 revenue,
Wipro bought 4C at close to 2x ervenue multiple
while HCL acquired DWS at 1.3 times its 2019
sales. “Valuations are marginally lower than pre-
Covid levels,” says Mehta of Ambit.
“In the early days of the pandemic, broader
market valuations dropped but they ha ve re-
bounded quickly,” says Raibagi of Wipro. “Our
valuations of these companies are in line with the
market which has already factored in growth op-
portunities for these businesses.” Eximius De-
sign had sales of $3 5 million in 201 9 . Wipro
bought it just a fortnight back for $80 million,
around 2.3 times its sales.
While acquisitions have clearly stood out ,
companies have also accelerated deeper engage-
ment in client markets by setting up studios, labs
and centres. Wipro’s strategic design arm Desig-
dEx and Cisco, opened a studio in Dallas to dem-
onstrate user experiences and product design.
Infosys, Tech Mahindra, HCL have similarly set
up “ideation chambers” for blockchain, 5G, cy-
bersecurity and other technologies.
The pandemic has also been a good one for
big deals. For instance, Infosys inked a $1.5 bil-
lion deal with US financial firm Vanguard, fol-
lowed by a large IT infrastructure digitisation
deal with German speciality chemical manufac-
turer Lanxess. In July, HCL signed a
$600 million, five-year deal with Er-
icsson to provide cloud and other
services to the S wedish telecom
equipment maker. TCS expanded its
partnership with Walgreens Boots
Alliance to transform its IT operating
model. The 10-year contract is val-
ued at $1.5 billion. According to re-
ports, TCS is in talks to acquire Post-
bank Systems, Deutsche Bank’s IT
back office based in Bonn. Accord-
191
ing to Bloomberg, a deal could mate -
rialise by the end of 2020.
The pandemic has been a test of
resilience for India’s IT industry and
it has cleared the bar with flying col-
ours. “It has driven home the mes-
sage that tech and outsourcing are
resilient and safe. Never heard of a
Fortune 500 company having a ser-
2020 Amit Singh, executive director and
co-head of enterpri se technolo gy
and services at investment bank Av-
endus Capital. While Indian IT has
proven itself yet again, the pandemic
has also shown our companies are
not entirely risk averse. But will they
be bold enough to split le gacy and
new businesses, as IBM has done ?
That, industry watchers say, might
yet be a step too far for Indian IT
.„
shelley.singh@timesgroup.com
 biz watch 07
NOVEMBER 01-07, 2020

maker expects CNG variants’ sales to gr ow 36%

to 144,000 units in FY21. It plans to make the
fuel option available on all small cars.
Its South Korean rival Hyundai offers facto-
ry-fitted CNG options in 3 of its 10 models.

GAS GAMBIT
Tarun Garg, director, Hyundai Motor India,
says CNG engine sales have been picking up
month on month for Santro, Nios and Aura. In
CY19, Hyundai sold 11,416 CNG powered mod-
els. It aims to reach 3,000 units a month.
Factory-fitted CNG vehicles are increasingly
becoming the preferred choice of many as they
come with the added advantage of normal war-
ranty and no additional hassles in registration,
says Shashank Srivastava, ED, Maruti Suzuki.
OEMs have been highlighting the dangers of
retrofitment in terms of acci-
dent risks and engine dam-
age. Factory-fitted CNG kits
come with high-quality, leak-
proof design that offers peace
of mind, says Tarun Garg, di-
rector, Hyundai Motor India.
“CNG sales have The government has to
been picking up play an active role in regu-
month on month lating the unorganised ret-
for Santro, Nios rofitment industr y, sa ys
and Aura. The Ravi Bhatia, pr esident of
Aura CNG Jato Dynamics.
variant The ratio between retrofit-
Car companies are focusing more on factory-fitted CNG contributes
more than a
ted and fac tory-fitted CNG
vehicles was 2:1, says Srivas-
variants as customers find these models relatively cheaper. third of its total
sales volume”
tava of Maruti Suzuki, but it
has fallen to 1.2:1. The perfor-
The trend is in line with the government’s larger plan Tarun Garg, mance parameters are much
director, Hyundai better in factory-fitted vehi-
Motor India cles, he adds.
PASSENGER VEHICLE MODELS WITH CNG VARIANTS Although CNG offers lower
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 power and torque, it i s the
best engine to deal with bumper-to-bumper

25 16 15 21 25 37 traffic.
A barrier in the widespread penetration of
CNG engines was the poor egographical spread
Souce: Jato Dynamics of refilling stations. But the number of CNG out-
lets and the number of cities where the fuel is
:: Lijee Philip available is set to double soon. As man y as

R
avi Bakshi, 41, spent a few weeks trying to de-
cide which car model would best suit him and
his family. Finally, in August, the Delhi-based
marketing professional decided to go in for a
hatchback.
It didn’t take long for him to decide on the
fuel option. Bakshi dumped plans to get a diesel
engine and opted for a compressed natural gas
ted CNG vehicle market. Car buyers are realis-
ing that the gap between the prices of petrol/
diesel and CNG is widening and the diesel BSVI
engines are leading to a huge increase in the
cost of vehicles.
Though passenger vehicles’ sales fell 18%
last year, say industr y watchers, CNG c ar
sales increased 7% to over 117,000 units in
3,400 CNG distribution outlets are scheduled
CNG MODELS to become operational across 373 cities by the
SALES BOOK end of the year. There were 1,730 CNG stations
2019 2020 (Till in 190 cities at the end of 2019. Minister of Pe-
September) troleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan
had inaugurated some 50 CNG st ations this
year across 11 states and Union territories. He
had said the use of such sustainable fuel would
135,974

123,393

(CNG)-powered vehicle. Not only was the oper- FY20. The number of CNG vehicles on the
ating cost lower, but carmakers were offering roads rose from 22 lakh to 34 lakh in the last
factory-fitted CNG vehicles. So these were safer 5-7 years. Sales of CNG vehicles are projected
and used better equipment. to shoot up in double digits in thecurrent fi-
Bakshi is among the large number of people nancial year on lower running costs and wid-
who have been fuelling sales in the factory-fit- er availability of the fuel.
Car companies are making the most of the
OVERALL SALES
trend. CNG variant sales account for 13.5% of
FUEL PRICE Maruti Suzuki’s business an d nearly 7% to
Hyundai’s sales. Others like Ford and Mahindra
CNG price/kg Petrol price/litre
are also getting into the CNG line. With the gov-
figures in ` ernment looking at expanding the network of
90
2,200 CNG stations to 10,000 in 10 years, this
81.06 segment is set to see more demand.
2,972,786
help the country achieve energy security. The
the Modi government intends to make India a
gas-based economy as it has several benefits.
The running cost for CNG cars is `1.60 per
km against `3.5-4 a km for diesel and petrol.
The premium paid on the acquisition cost of a
CNG vehicle at `50,000-60,000 is lower than
the `1,25,000-1,50,000 of diesel vehicles.
Globally, the fuel has seen mixed success as
an alternative transport fuel. CNG cars are sold
in 27 countries. The global share of CNG en-
gines in passenger vehicles is 0.3%, from 0.5%
in 2015. The drop, experts say, needs to be seen
in the light of the increase in the adoption of

1,544,486

73.98 72.86 Maruti Suzuki currently offers CNG variants electric vehicles.
68.26 69.59 in 7 of its 14 models. The country’s largest car- In India, the share of CNG variants in the
commercial vehicle segment has grown from
61.87
5% in CY19 to 8% in September 20 20.
“With a huge increase in the Wide-spread use of CNG cars will also help
45.7 number of CNG stations the country fulfil its climate change commit-
42 44.23
38 40.61 across the country, SALES SHARE ments under the UN Climate Change Confer-
38 customers are no longer ence agreements to reduce India’s carbon foot-
anxious about poor print by 2030.
30 refuelling infrastructure” It makes sense to give the CNG plan some
2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020
Till
September Shashank Srivastava,
ED, Maruti Suzuki
5% %8 gas. „
lijee.philip@timesgroup.com
Note: Average price in India | Sour
ce: Maruti Suzuki Souce: Jato Dynamics
08 big story
NOVEMBER 01-07, 2020
RACE TO
THE TOP
Marquee global brands have joined the race for India’s premium
motorcycle segment with a slew of exciting models. Market leader
Royal Enfield must defend its long-held turf
:: Lijee Philip and Ketan Thakkar
C
apping months of negotiations, when
iconic US motorcycle-maker Harley Da-
vidson last week announced an alliance
with Hero MotoCorp, India’s largest two-
wheeler maker, it underscored a trend
that has been gathering speed in the In-
dian motorcycle market — growing con-
sumer demand in the mid-size segment,
or vehicles with engine di splacement
between 200 and 500cc.
The premium motorcycle market in
India (classified by the industry as 200cc-
plus) sees annual sales of 800,000 and its
undisputed king has for long been Royal
Enfield. Now, a slew of new players and
partnerships are revving to grab market
share, even as changing customer prefer-
ences indicate that this segment is poised
for massive expansion. Of all the motor-
cycles sold in India, the mid-
size segment
accounts for 5-8% marketshare.
“The premiumisation oftwo-wheelers
in India is as fundamental as the demo-
graphic age of the country and despite
New Rollouts Royal Enfield
Some 12 to 18 models in Model and
the 200-500cc category displacement:
are expected to hit the Meteor, 350cc
road in the next few
Price: `1.6 lakh*
months. Here are some
models that are in and To be launched
are expected soon: on November 6
the temporary disruption on wages, the
direction is unmistakable,” says KN Rad-
hakrishnan, CEO of TVS Motor. Premium
bikes now account for 30% of the com-
pany’s total sales.
While the Hero-Harley combine will
also cater to the global mid-size motorcy-
cle market out of India, a number of mar-
quee global badg es, Indian brands as
well as partnerships between them are
introducing new pr oducts in the se g-
ment. Apart from Hero-Harley, Bajaj has
joined hands with Triumph and has an
existing partnership with KTM, TVS has
joined hands with Nor ton as w ell as
BMW, while Japanese majors Honda, Su-
zuki and Yamaha are also introducing
models in the segment. The player to
beat, Royal Enfield, is not idling, either. It
is also intr oducing a pipeline of new
models and preparing for the coming
battle.
India’s 9 million units commuter seg-
ment which accounts for 50% of overall
Honda
Model and
displacement:
Highness, 350cc
Price: `1.9 lakh
Launched in
September
market has got saturated with little differ-
entiation between models and continues
to grow at a steady state, fulfilling the mo-
bility needs of users.
The excitement kicks in beyond 200
cc — that’s where differentiation is rife
and enthusiasts can choose from catego-
ries such as street bikes, sports bikes, rac-
ing bikes, tourers, cruisers, rally bikes
and adventure bikes, among others. But
within the premium segment, the 350cc
mark is where the action appears to be
most intense.
Royal Enfield ’s upcom ing M eteor
(350cc), Honda’s recently-launched
Highness (350cc), BMW Motor-
rad’s G310 R (313cc) and G310
S (313cc), TVS Apache RR310
BMW
Motorrad
Model and
displacement: G310
R, 313cc
Price: `2.45 lakh
Launched in October
“The premiumisation of
two-wheelers in India is
as fundamental as the
demographic age of the
country and despite the
temporary disruption on
wages, the
direction is
unmistakable”
KN
Radhakrishnan,
director & CEO, TVS
Motor Company
(312cc), Bajaj KTM 390 Duke (373cc) and
the S vartpilen/Vitpilen (250 -400cc)
model from the Bajaj-KTM-Husqvarna
partnership will be jostling for market-
share around that sweet spot. Enfield has
for years sold motorcycles with that en-
gine capacity.
Enfield’s Lalit Malik, chief commercial
officer at Royal Enfield, says the youth is
gravitating towards the middle-weight
motorcycle segment and that has trig-
gered increased action from rivals in the
space. This surge is primarily driven by
increasing affordability and urbanisation
of towns and villages but there’s also a
growing desir e for self -expression
among the youth, which is accelerating
leisure motorcycle riding in India, he
adds. “The younger generation wants
motorcycles to be a reflection of their
personality, and a means for furthering
their passion for riding, travel and explo-
ration,” Malik says.
“The definition of the mass mar ket
will change with ri sing disposable in-
come. It is a matter of time, the bikes
above 125 cc will account for a significant
chunk of the mar ket,” says Devashish
Handa, VP sales, marketing & after sales
at Suzuki Motorcycle India.
The centre of global motorcycle con-
sumption started shifting to emerging
markets in the last dec ade, with India
leading the charge. A rising disposable
income, improving road infrastructure
and a young demographic combined to
trigger the need for upgrade options for
millions of bike owners.
Unlike evolved markets such as the US,
UK or Europe, where a motorcycle for
leisure and commute are different, in the
“Riders have always been
the focus in the evolution
of the CB350 and it was
Indian riders who
motivated the
development of Highness-
CB350, exclusively
designed and developed
for customers in India”
Atsushi Ogata, president &
CEO, Honda Motorcycle &
Scooters India
 Battle Royal
Royal Enfield Brand has
is the king of market share
the 250-350 cc of over
segment 80-90%
Some
bikemakers
take alliance
route to counter
Royal Enfield
emerging markets of India, South East Asia
and Latin America, the mid-size motorcycles
served both the daily commuting need as
well as the leisurely weekend ride.
Apart from lower per c apita incomes,
the physical build or body frames in emerg-
ing markets are relatively smaller when
compared to the population in Europe and
US, and hence the 200–500cc motorcycles
have become just the right
size to meet their varying
mobility needs.
In an era w hen only two
out of 10 products launched
succeed, bike makers have
been compelled to unite in
the back end, even as they
fight fiercely in the market Alliances
place. Bajaj-KTM unite was
the pioneer in the space al- Hero-Harley
most a dec ade back . The
Pune-based global motorcy-
Bajaj-Triumph
cle maker not only offered Bajaj-KTM
Stefan Pierer-owned KTM a TVS-BMW
new beachhead to serve the
large Indian market but the
partnership also catered to
the international market with bikes made in
India — which has delivered an optimal cost- well as a couple of models under the Yezdi
quality mix.
Earlier in 2020, Bajaj Auto rolled out the
Swedish Husqvarna brand (part of KTM) in
India and in another w t o years, a range of Tri- introduce two or three more offerings on
umph Motorcycles, too will hit the roads.
The 250-800cc segment has seen an expo-
nential growth over the last 5–8 years, grow-
ing almost 7 times to about 7 lakh units.
Bike makers say the 250-350cc segment is
the gateway to the world of premium motor-
cycling, allowing consumers from the com-
muter segment to upgrade to this next afford-
able category. “It’s the stepping stone and
gives entry into premium ownership for the
young urban consumer,” says Kaushik Mad-
havan, VP, Frost & Sullivan.
Cognizant of the changing competiti ve
landscape, Royal Enfield on its part is in the
midst of revamping its product portfolio
based on its J platform. Within a year, all its
BMW Motorrad
Model and
displacement: G310 GS,
313cc
Price: `2.85 lakh
Launched in October
Japanese bike
makers Honda,
Suzuki,
Yamaha to ride
solo
core models will have been refreshed. Thun-
derbird is being reborn as Meteor, the much-
loved Classic is getting a replacement and the
company is also introducing a lighter Bullet
model. Even as bigger motorcycles based on
K and Q platform ar e underworks for the
global market.
For Royal Enfield, the pressure is coming
from both ends of the market.
The mainst ream t wo-
wheeler mak ers — H ero,
Honda, Bajaj and TVS — are
moving up the price points
through their premium
range and the global big bike
makers — K TM, T riumph,
Harley and BMW — are shift-
ing do wnwards thanks to
their Indian allies.
Jawa from Classic Leg-
ends, which hit the r oads
two years back, has gradu-
ally started chipping away at
RE’s marketshare. Classic
Legends today sells about
5,000 units a month of aJ wa
and within the ne xt 1 2- 1 8
months, it is likely to add a 650cc model as
badge.
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter, which has
joined the race with the 3 50cc Highness, will
the same platform.
Royal Enfield will face the stiffest competi-
tion from Bajaj Auto, which is adopting a
comprehensive approach to corner the up-
grader space.
Rakesh Sharma, ED, Bajaj Auto, says the
company will be straddling the entire space
of premium motorcycles in India. The com-
pany will do this through a combination of its
own brands as well as through alliances with
KTM and Triumph. “We will be seeding mul-
tiple positions in the market across different
dimensions. Be it for young or matured cus-
tomers, sporty, racing or tourer bikes, mod-
ern or a classic bike, racing or tourer bikes
and bikes for the racetrack , the Tarmac and
TVS Apache
Model and
displacement:
RR310, 312cc
Price: `2.4 lakh
Launched in
January
big story 09
NOVEMBER 01-07, 2020
Sales in 200-500cc The 2 Biggies
1,013,648
964,633
842,005
814,462 (E)
800,105
766,552
651,569 (E)
Royal Enfield
636,463
Bajaj Auto
132,245
114,520
FY17
FY18
FY19
FY20
FY21
FY22
FY19
FY20
FY19
FY20
E is estimates | Sour
ce: Companies
the dirt track! These positions will be built more than 1,400 bookings in 20 days, that is
through multiple brands — Bajaj-KTM-Husq- more than half of w hat BMW sold in the
varna or a Triumph,” adds Sharma. whole of last year. “The next 2-3 months are
Rivals will rely on domestic plus export crucial as we expect pent-up demand andthe
strategy to stay competitive. The price elas- festive season to buoy sales. With the riding
ticity that RE enjoys today may no longer season peaking in winters, could also add to
exist. the sales numbers,” says Shivapada Ray,
Beyond new products, the tactical move head of BMW Motorrad India.
from competition like price rationalisation Royal Enfield is a strong brand in its catego-
also has an impac t. BMW India r ecently ry, both in terms of persuasion and aware-
launched the 310 R and 310 GS at reduced ness. This, combined with a near absence of
prices of `54,000 to `64,000 to `2.45 lakh competition, has contributed to its high mar -
and `2.85 lakh respectively, which can wean ket share. But the company’s unrivalled run
away buyers. in the premium segment is now coming to an
The demand for these bikes has been more end and it might have to rapidly adapt to a
than expected. Informed sources say the market with competition fr om pedigreed
BMW motorcycles 310R/GS 310 have clocked makers such as Harley, BMW and Triumph,
whose local partnerships give them reach
and agility in the market.
Due to the lack of choice, a lot of Royal En-
field owners accepted niggles over quality or
service e xperience. W ith mor e options
emerging, the tolerance level may wane. The
company fares poorly in third party surveys
on parameters such as quality and service
experience. It has largely followed a conserv-
ative approach to marketing. Royal Enfield
has traditionally relied on below-the-line ac-
tivities and rides to build brand salience.
The company’s biggest risk might be that
it’s still largely a single-product company. Its
Classic range accounts for over 80% of its to-
“We have seen gravitation tal volumes. As the premium market sees the
entry of differentiated categories such as
towards the middle-weight cruisers, tourers and sports bikes, RE will
motorcycle segment, and need a more diversified product mix.
have seen an encouraging To be fair, its Interceptor 650 has got off to
growth in the segment, a very good start. RE is betting that it will
eventually turn into another Classic for the
especially among youth” company.
Lalit Malik, While the entr y of Bajaj-Triumph, TVS-
chief commercial officer, Royal Enfield Norton and Hero-Harley over the next 2–3
years will challenge Royal Enfield, analysts
believe its strong franchise network will hold
it in good stead.
As for the Indian consumer, a bonanza of
premium bikes at mouthwatering prices is on
the anvil.„
lijee.philip@timesgroup.com
Bajaj-KTM Bajaj Husqvarna
Model and Model and displacement:
displacement: 390 Vitpilen 401,
Duke, 373cc Svartpilen 401;
Price: `2.53 lakh
373cc
(ex-showroom Delhi) Price: `2.8-3 lakh*
Launched in January To be launched in 2020-21
* expected price | No
te: Prices are ex-showroom Delhi | Sour
ce: Companies
10 centrespread centrespread 11
NOVEMBER 01-07, 2020 NOVEMBER 01-07, 2020

ALL THE PRESIDENTS’ SLOGANS They might be a short string of words but campaign slogans can have an outsize impact. They can play a key role in US presidential
elections, depending on whether they strike a chord with the voter or turn them off. With US election day coming up on November 3, here’s
a run-down of some of the most popular as well as notorious campaign slogans that have rent the air in US presidential campaigns
:: Indulekha Aravind

THE BUCK STOPS HERE A SAFER WORLD AND

Candidate: HARRY TRUMAN (Democrat) I LIKE IKE A MORE HOPEFUL
Year: 1948 Candidate: DWIGHT EISENHOWER
Incumbent Harry Truman’s campaign office’s official slogan was (Republican) AMERICA
"I’m just wild about Harry" but "The Buck Stops Here", which he had Year: 1952 Candidate: GEORGE W BUSH (Republican)
written on a sign he kept on his desk, was more popular
The slogan used by the former Allied Year: 2004
Supreme Commander, nicknamed Ike,
became one of the most celebrated in In the campaign for a second term in office, Bush was
the history of US elections. His cam- appealing to a country scarred by 9/11. His pledge to build
paign was also the first to focus on a safer world struck a chord
pitching the candidate through TV ads

NOW, MORE MAKE

THAN EVER LET’S MAKE
Candidate: RICHARD NIXON AMERICAN AMERICAN
(Republican)
GREAT AGAIN GREAT AGAIN
Year: 1972
Candidate: RONALD REAGAN (Republican)
IT’S THE ECONOMY, Candidate: DONALD TRUMP (Republican)
Nixon might have won his debut term
by a narrow margin but he returned Year: 1980
STUPID YES WE CAN Year: 2016

with a landslide victory, helped by a Candidate: BILL CLINTON (Democrat) Candidate: BARACK OBAMA (Democrat) Trump knocked a word off the popular Reagan slogan
It’s a slogan that evidently works because it
slogan and a campaign that painted his and used it to great effect, abbreviating it to MAGA, so
helped two Republican candidates become Year: 1992 Year: 2008 it could easily be a hashtag. His slogan of America First
opponent as someone who was against President, Reagan in 1980 and Donald Trump
American values The Clinton campaign’s official slogan was "For People, Obama’s slogan was “Change we can believe had been used successfully by Republican Warren
36 years later
For a Change", but it was the unofficial slogan coined in” — the supporters who gathered to hear the Harding in 1920
by his advisers that caught the imagination of voters man who would be the first black president of
smarting under a recession the US would shout back “Yes, we can”

THE BLOO PER REEL

MAKE YOUR WET
DREAM COME TRUE
Candidate: AL SMITH, Democrat
Election Year: 1928
The New York governor was running as a
“wet” candidate: that is, someone who
opposed Prohibition. The question is
whether his campaign team, in 1928,
was aware of the sexual double entendre.
Since the first recorded use was in 1851,
historians feel it’s likely. Smith lost to
Republican Herbert Hoover
PLAY SAFE WITH IN YOUR HEART, YOU HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE
HOOVER KNOW HE’S RIGHT AGAIN (WITH) FORDZIE
Candidate: HERBERT HOOVER (Republican) Candidate: BARRY GOLDWATER (Republican) Candidate: GERALD FORD (Republican)
Election Year:1932 Election Year: 1964 Election Year: 1976
In the first year of his presidency, the US sank Republican candidate Goldwater had voted against Gerald Ford faced a tough election in 1976, in the
into the Great Depression. Hoover’s the 1964 Civil Rights Act and was considered by shadow of Nixon’s corruption cases. His campaign
popularity was at such a low that areas opponents as the head of right-wing extremists. His slogans did not help. One of the campaign pins
which came up to shelter unemployed, slogan was interpreted to be conveying his extremist featured Ford dressed up like the Happy Days
homeless Americans were nicknamed views, indicating he was saying what others believed character Fonzie, with the slogan "Happy days are
“Hoovervilles”. The 1932 slogan in. Rival LB Johnson responded with “In your guts, here again", and referring to him as Fordzie
“Play safe with Hoover” evidently did not you know he’s nuts”. LBJ won with a landslide
convince voters, who preferred rival FDR Source: Business Insider, www.history.com
12 spotlight
NOVEMBER 01-07, 2020
:: Shailesh Menon
I
n 2019, the Kansara family of Ahmedabad exited its gold re-
fining business after running it for nearly 28 years. At its
peak, Gujarat Gold Centre — helmed by Anil Kansara and his
three brothers — posted a trading turnover in excess of `1,200
crore, refining nearly 30 kg of gold a day. But the constant
need for exceptionally high working capital, excessive bor-
rowing cost, low margins and the dwindling supply of do-
mestic scrap gold forced the Kansaras out of business.
“I was not happy exiting the business I built from scratch.
It was like selling my own child,” says Kansara, a metallurgy
engineering graduate of the mid-70s from NIT-Rourkela.
“You’ll not be able to operate aoldg refinery profitably if your
only source of raw gold is from dore imports. You cannot
survive by just refining scrapped household gold either.
You’ll need a good mix of both to get a fair chance of survival.
And to be really profitable, you may have to bend yourself to
market forces and give into unfair trade practices.”
Raw material supply is the biggest curse in the gold refining
business. The 30-odd accredited gold refineries in India bat-
tle it out every single day to get their share of dore
(imported impure gold ores) and scrap household
This Year (tonnes)
jewellery from jewellers who receive them as “ex-
changed gold” in lieu of fresh purchases by custom-
ers. The refineries melt and purify raw gold (both
dore and scrap) to refinement grades as high as
44.8
99.99%, and sell them back to jew ellers, banks,
commodity exchanges and even to asset manage-
ment companies that run gold-backed exchange
traded funds.
“This industry has a fast turnaround time,” says
James Jose, MD of CGR Metalloys and secretary of
31.5
the Association of Gold Refineries & Mints. “In peak
sale season (October-May), refineries may have to
churn out large quantities of pure gold every day.
But during slack season, especially during rains, we
operate at 20% capacity.”
The industr y faces a lot of sup ply-side con-
straints, he e xplains. “This business c annot be
done only by relying on dore imports – which can Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep
get prohibitively expensive when gold prices are
Mess
Melt
in the
In a country known for its craze for gold,
legitimate refiners are finding the going tough
because of crippling supply-side issues
Gold
high. Scrap gold supply is very cyclical in nature — and almost
Imports all the time, a large chunk of it goes to unorganised refiners
who do not ask for any purchase papers or bills.” Such deals
Yearly (tonnes)
remain out of the tax purview.
866.6 To understand the importance of scrapped household
gold in the refining industry, one has to know more about
765.9
708.5 dore imports. Gold miners (or their representatives) do not
ship dore to importers without getting full payment first. So
if a mid-sized refinery relies only on dore imports as the raw
material source, it will have to shell out about `10-15 crore
every day to ensure continuous raw material supply. After
refinement, the refiner has to wait 7-10 days before getting his
money from the buyer of pure gold. Lack of option to pur-
chase raw material (dore) on credit and delayed buyer pay-
208.2 ments often land gold refiners in a tight spot. When gold de-
mand drops suddenly, refiners are forced to deal with unsold
inventories of pure gold. In such times, if the refiner is cash-
strapped, he is forced to sell his stock at a loss.
2017 2018 2019 2020* Anil Kansara decided to import dore when his supply of
scrap gold dropped to a trickle in 2013 . “We needed
* Till September
capital to import dore. So we inducted an equity
58.5 partner. But even after that, the nature of the joint
venture did not give revenue to the company as ex-
pected. That is when we exited the business,” he
elucidates.
Using scrap household gold as a raw material
source gives more control and manoeuvrability to
the refiners as these come with easier pa yment
terms and buyback guarantees.
29.7 Indian jewellers collect nearly 100 tonnes of
scrap gold every year. But nearly 60% of that lands
21.7 up in unorganised “street-corner” refineries locat-
ed in almost all Indian cities and villages. Gold Re-
fineries Association data suggests that the informal
10.9 sector processes over 200 tonnes of sc rap gold
every year.
9.2 “Scrap gold has always been a dicey matter in In-
0.05 1.86 dia,” says Somasundaram PR, MD (India), World
Gold Council. “It becomes even more suspect when
Source: WGC, Infodrive India, Commerce Ministry scrap gold goes to the unorganised sector for re-
 spotlight 13
NOVEMBER 01-07, 2020

Not to Own Gold Holdings (tonnes)

Total 25,953.5
Domestic Gold Consumption
(tonnes)
Total Jewellery

Precious Metals is 250 236

213
Bars and coins

to Trust Politicians, 200 183 56 194

Households 25,270 44
34.4 180 159 45
150 169

Central Bankers RBI gold reserves 661.4 149 34 124 149

125 102 102
100
28
87
22
Gold ETFs 22.1 74
64 34
50 20
44 53
About 20 years ago, Swiss investor Marc Faber had 0
correctly predicted a bull run in the oil andommodities
c Q3’18 Q4’18 Q1’19 Q2’19 Q3’19 Q4’19 Q1’20 Q2’20 Q3’20
market. Now, Faber expects gold prices to remain firm over Source: Metals Focus, World Gold Council

the next few months. The author of the widely followed

Gloom Boom & Doom Report ells t Shailesh Menon gold will
outperform the equities market in the near- to medium-
finement. You c an never be
sure of its source. It could even
term. Edited excerpts of the email interview: be smuggled gold.”
The gold industry India still
has antiquated practices. Jew-
Top Gold Sources gled gold. We do not want to
get associated with such enti-
for India ties.”
Gold refining yields just 0.1-
0.2% of the scrap value. So to

50%
ellers sending their s hare of widen their revenue streams,

G
old prices have firmed up o ver the pas t six t o eight
months. What reasons would you allocate for this trend?
Gold prices have been rising since December 2015, follow-
ing price corrections between 2011 and 2015. This year, gold is up
26% and silver 33% in US dollars. The reason precious metals are
up is endless money printing by the US Federal Reserve and ex-
ploding US fiscal deficits, which will continue forever. Not only
the US Fed, central banks around the world are printing money to
infuse liquidity into the system. If all these monetary authorities
are printing money like drunken sailors, the value of money will
diminish. And when currencies collapse, the value of gold will
skyrocket. Many central banks have started shoring up their gold
reserves. So the price of the yellow metal will remain firm.
What is your medium-term outlook for gold?
Not to own any precious metals is to trust politicians and central
bankers. Just look at the two US Presidential candidates and the
case for owning gold is clear. I expect prices to move up — at ir-
regular intervals.
So, will only investment-led demand for gold drive prices up?
Do you foresee a pickup in demand for gold jewellery as well?
I expect that more and more people and institutions will allocate
some money to gold and silver especially if, as I expect, the US
dollar declines sharply. Demand for jewellery will also increase
marginally over the next few months.
Will gold outperform asset classes such as eq-
uities and debt?
Yes, that is quite possible, as it had for brief pe-
riods since 2000 and 201 5. Gold and silver have
done well since 2015, and many global stock
indices have managed to outperform gold this
year.
What is the trend with other
precious commodities such
as silver and platinum?
Silver and platinum are far
less expensive and could
outperform g old sig -
nificantly. Platinum,
especially, has a
great chance to
move up in val-
ue.
India’s gold imports
have risen in the
l a st c o u p l e o f
months. Will this
create a balance of
payment crisis?
No, thi s i s not a
problem I w ould
worry about.
scrap gold to street-corner re- large players like MMTC-PAMP
fineries is one such practice, (a venture between the Swit-
Switzerland
he says. “And it is done to es-
cape a minor t ax incidence. 18% zerland-based bullion brand
PAMP and the Indian govern-
Such cheap practices prevent Others ment’s MMTC ) have st arted
the industr y fr om bringing offering retail products such
progressive reforms.” as gold coins, bars and even an
There is a 3% charge on gold option to buy digital gold.
ornaments under the g oods “Our digital gold product is
and services tax regime (this is doing extremely well,” says Vi-
over and above 12.5% import kas Singh, MD &CEO of MMTC-
duty). In case of scrap gold, the PAMP, which also operates 12
seller of old jewellery will have retail-specific stores in 9 cities.
to buy new gold to offset the at x 5% 5% 6% “Purity and trust is very impor-
incidence. Many jewellers help South Peru Ghana tant in the gold refining busi-
customers circumvent this levy Africa 10% ness. Y ou’ve to k eep high
by buying old gold off-the-book
1% 5% standards to meet the expecta-
UAE Dominican US
and passing it to unorganised Republic tions of buy ers. Digit al gold
refiners. The r efined g old helps us forge a relationship
comes back to the jew eller Source: Metals Focus, IHS Markit with buyers directly.”
without any tax payout. Singh says demand for gold
“Such practices erode the will pick up soon. “Demand
trust quotient of the Indian gold industry. Gold is an was low in the initial months of the lockdown as there
international product, and if we’ve to be in business, were practically no walk-ins at jewellery shops. But
we’ll have to adopt international standards,” says So- that is changing. It is not going to be a bad Diwali, for
masundaram. “There’s no guarantee of purity of gold sure,” he reassures.
refined by unorganised refiners. Millennials are al- Even though the jewellery market is hopeful of bet-
ready walking away from gold and jewellers. It is high ter times, gold refiners continue to scramble for their
time, the gold jewellery industry walked on the right precious raw material. Well-established players like
path to regain buyers’ trust.” Bangalore Refinery still rely on scrap gold to fire up
The last few months have seen a significant build- their melting pots and crucibles. Ketan Dhruv, a di-
up of scrapped gold in the Indian jewellery market, rector at Bangalore Refinery, affirms that it is not fi-
probably because of the cash shortage at households nancially viable to import gold. “Mid-sized refiners
caused by the pandemic. A bulk of it has come from like us cannot send unending cheques as advances to
NBFCs, which offer loans on gold jewellery (pledged miners for dore,” he says. “The government should
as collateral). Jewellers, however, are also seeing re- work on a policy that allows refiners to import dore
newed buying interest from customers ahead of from small-scale artisanal miners. There are
the upcoming festival and wedding season. many small private mines in Canada, Austral-
“People have again started making small- ia and Africa. These mines also sup ply to
ticket purchases like bangles, pendants and buyers in Switzerland and Dubai. We’ll be
even diamond-studded jewellery,” says Ku- able to negotiate favourable terms of trade
mar Jain, the promoter of Umedmal Ti- with small mine-owners.”
lokchand Zaveri, one of the oldest There are just about 20 accredited
jewellery shops in Mumbai’s Zaveri gold refiners who are active in busi-
Bazaar. “There’s a fair bit of sc rap “It is high time, the ness currently. It takes `20-150 crore
gold sup ply as w ell. We send our gold jewellery to set up a modern gold refinery. An
share of scrap gold to accredited re- industry walked on unorganised refinery can be set up in
finers only.” the right path to a day for about`50,000.
The promoter of a prominent South It is unfair that organised refiners
India-based jewellery chain says on regain buyers’ trust. — particularly the law-abiding ones —
condition of anonymity: “Quite often, Millennials are are on the losing side. Experienced
we don’t get the desired level of purity already walking players like Kansara ha ve already
and fineness from even accredited re- away from gold and bowed out because they do not want
finers. So we send a part of our scrap to engage in “under-the-table trades”
gold to our in-house r efining unit .
jewellers. ” to increase profits. They still believe
We’re scared to try out new refiners
Somasundaram PR, gold is a “noble” metal.„
because many of them deal in smug- MD (India), WGC shailesh.menon@timesgroup.com
14 poll watch
NOVEMBER 01-07, 2020

The Alphabet Soup in Bihar

Citizens of Bihar are reluctant to disclose their voting preference. “Jo jeet raha hai ussi ko na vote denge
(we will vote for whoever is winning)” or “yeh raaz ki baat hai (that is a secret)” are common responses
across caste and social divide. As the state gets ready for the second and third phases of polling on
November 3 and 7, here is a look at the ABCDs — and an unavoidable P — of Bihar polls
:: Prerna Katiyar

E lections in Bihar are incomplete without strongmen. Despite

JD(U)’s claims of good governance and development, there seems
to be no dearth of such people contesting the polls. In fac t, no party
has shied away from giving tickets to them. While Anant Singh — w ho is
in jail and faces 38 criminal cases — is trying his luck on an RJD ticket
from Mokama, Ritlal Yadav, who was released from jail just last month,
is contesting from Danapur on an RJD ticket. In some constituencies,
tickets have been given to spouses of bahubalis. Vibha Devi is contest-
ing from Navada, while her husband, former MLA Raj Ballabh Yadav, is
in jail. When asked about his crime record, Ritlal, an accused in the
murder of Satyanarayan Sinha and now facing Sinha’s wife and BJP’s
for sitting MLA Asha Devi, says: “I am a bahubali and will remain a bahu-
for
ALLIANCES BAHUBALIS bali. Charging and exonerating someone is in the hands of the courts.”
In the first phase of polls on Oc
tober 29, 319 of 1,066 candidates had
& BIHAR criminal records. In the second phase, 34% of the 1,463 candidates
have criminal records, says the Association for Democratic Reforms.
The data for the third phase is not yet available.

A lliances have always been

the key to forming a gov-
ernment in Bihar. But pre- and
post-election alliances are
made on shifting sands.
The top alliance makers –
T he entire BJP machinery is busy highlighting brand Nitish Kumar. But
some within the party say the five-time CM has become a liability of sorts
for BJP. But they don’t have a state-level leader with mass following to fall
and breakers — are back on. They resent that they have to spent a lot of time projecting him as a
Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal pro-development person knowing well there is anti-incumbency. Recently,
United (JDU) and late Ram Vi- the strategy was changed to seek votes in the name of PM Modi; even Nitish
las Paswan of the Lok Janshakti followed suit.
Party (LJP). JDU contested the The BJP has another problem. Many star campaigners have tested posi-
2005 and 2010 state polls with tive for Covid — including deputy CM Sushil Modi, Bihar incharge Devendra
the BJP but jumped ship in for Fadnavis, former Union minister Shahnawaz Hussain and Union minister
2015 to form a government Smriti Irani. The campaigning pressure is on state home minister and Uji-
with the RJD. He returned CM & COVID arpur MP Nityanand Rai, who has been making all types of promis-
to the BJP-led NDA in 2017
after suddenly finding Lalu
TROUBLES es. In Raghopur, where Tejashwi is contesting, he promised four
revolutions in Bihar — agricultural, industrial, milk and blue rev-
Prasad’s party “corrupt”. olution.
LJP has tagged along with
parties across the
political spec-
trum. In 2005, it
allied with left
parties but
sided with
RJD in 2010.
It allied
with BJP in
2015 and de-
spite carry-
ing “Narendra
Modi in his heart
for for
like Hanuman DYNASTS PROHIBITION
had Ram”, Chi-
rag Paswan has
decided to
keep the LJP N o party has shied away from giving
tickets to sons and daughters of
(RJD); former Union minister Digvijay
Singh’s daughter and CWG shooter
W hile at least a section of wom-
en voters was vocal in wel-
coming prohibition, which Nitish
out of any al- their partymen, except the BJP, which Shreyasi Singh from Jamui (BJP); Kumar imposed in 2016 to control
liance in the has avoided giving a ticket to the sons & Shatrughan Sinha’s son Luv Sinha from hooliganism and domestic vio-
state. daughters of a sitting MLA, MP or minis- Bankipur (Congress); former minister lence, most voters are angry with
ter. RJD and the Congress are ahead in Avdhesh Kumar Singh’s son Shashi the sharab-bandi.
this trend. Some of the prominent Shekhar Singh from Wazirganj; Jitan The prohibition has led to a
names are: Sharad Yadav’s daughter Manjhi’s son-in-law Devendra Manjhi boom in bootlegging and killed the
Subhashini Raj from Bihariganj (Con- from Makhdoompur; Sikkim governor traditional toddy tapping business
gress ticket); Chirag Paswan’s cousin Ganga Prasad’s son Sanjeev Chaurasia — the mainstay for a large section of
Krishna Raj from Rosda (LJP); BP Man- from Digha (BJP) and RJD state unit Extreme Backward Classes and
dal’s grandson Nikhil Mandal from head Jagdanand Singh’s son Sudhakar Dalits. Locals say police harass
Madhepur (JDU); Lalu Prasad’s close Singh from Ramgarh. Then there are those involved in toddy tapping as
aide Jayaprakash Narayan Yadav’s Lalu Prasad’s sons Tejashwi (Raghopur) they are seen as illegal liquor
daughter Divya Prakash from Tarapur and Tejpratap (Hasanpur). vendors.„
pr erna.katiyar@timesgroup.com
 in focus 15
NOVEMBER 01-07, 2020

Mr Noodles in Northeast How a Bangladesh conglomerate has managed to make its FMCG
products popular in parts of India
Rumpum, a noodles brand from Nepal,
for example, is the market leader in Naga-
land.
Meanwhile, Indian mic ro, small and
medium enterprises (MSMEs) cannot eas-
ily explore markets in Bangladesh even
when they boast geographical proximity
because of the steep duties slapped by
the latter, says Deorah, who is also the
national secretary of Laghu Udyog Bhara-
ti, a national-level association of MSMEs.
Deorah sa ys it has submitted sev eral
memoranda to the Union ministry of com-
merce and industry, highlighting Bangla-
desh’s duties that virtually block India’s
agri and food processing products from
reaching its markets.
“Our processed products are not at all
competitive in Bangladesh due to the ex-
orbitant duties. Meanwhile, if a Bangla-
deshi company exports, say, juices to In-
dia, it pays only the GST, which is 12%, and
zero import duties,” he says, adding that
an Indian exporter to Bangladesh ends up
paying 45% as duties (customs duties plus

:: Shantanu Nandan Sharma PRAN: The Big special duties) for juices, 55% for cereal
products and 60% for sweet biscuits.
Bangladeshi

M
r Noodles is heartily slurped up in parts of vulge the company’s revenue from India The only way out for Indian com-
northeast India. Packets of Pran h
Potato Crackers, Dry Cake and Family
J al Muri, operations, adding that Assam and Tripu-
ra have been its key markets. He claims
Exporter to NE panies is to set up a factory in
Bangladesh to esc ape duties.
Toast — possibly unfamiliar names in the that at least one of their products, Pran Product Portfolio: Potato But that again w ould be a
rest of the country —fly off the small shops Dry Cake, is a market leader in the seg- chips, noodles, juice, bread, costly proposition.
there. Even in Siliguri, West Bengal, if you ment in the region. While local MSMEs are con-
bun, cakes, cookies, puffed rice,
ask for a mango juice at a shop, you might Bangladesh is finding a growing market cerned about competition from
be handed a Frooto instead of a Frooti. Do in the region, thanks to its booming econ- soya bean, pickles Bangladesh, FMCG and agri-busi-
you want a litchi-flavoured drink? There is omy and India’s zero import duties. Inter- Major Markets: Assam, Tripura ness major ITC, which has a good pres-
Pran Litchi. estingly, this has been unfolding even as ence in eastern and northeastern India, is
These are all products of PRAN — Bang- the Northeast, particularly Assam, has Drivers: Large market, not. “ITC’s extensive distribution infra-
ladesh’s largest agribusiness conglomer- been protesting against illegal migration geographical proximity, zero structure is enabling it to expand reach
ate, set up four decades ago by a retired from the neighbouring country, with the import duty in India and penetration in eastern and nor th-
army officer, Amjad Khan Cho wdhury. agitation peaking during the recent anti- eastern region. FMCG brands in the foods
And it is in no mood to CAA demonstrations. Factories in India: Agartala in and personal c are se gments from the
slow do wn in n eigh- Bangladesh’s economy has been grow- Tripura; Kalyani in West Bengal neighbouring countries have not made
“We have set an bouring India. ing rapidly since 2014, with its GDP growth any significant inroads in thi s region,”
ambitious target to “We have set an am- hovering around 8% in 2019. The country says an ITC spokesperson.
grow 10 times (in bitious target to grow 10 recently hit the headlines when the IMF’s data.) Apart from PRAN, the big Bangla- PRAN’s growing clout in the Northeast
India) in the next five times (i n I ndia) f rom World Economic Outlook projected that deshi companies, some of w hich have can’t be downplayed. In Tripura, it is the
years. A third the current levels in the its per capita GDP was set to surpass In- global operations, are BEXIMCO, ACI, Na- largest private sector employer. Its factory
manufacturing facility next fi ve y ears,” An- dia’s in the Covid year of 2020 — quite a vana and Bashundhara. employs about 700 people apart from
may be set up in the janabha Majumdar, di- feat, considering Bangladesh was earlier PRAN’s push is causing worries on this providing indirect jobs to many more.
next quarter. An rector of PRAN’s Indian branded as an impoverished, underdevel- side of the border, though. Ashish Deorah, The problem, say MSME entrepreneurs
expansion programme subsidiary, Pran Bever- oped nation. (India si supposed to bounce cofounder of Meghalaya-based Excel in the Northeast, is not Bangladeshi com-
is on the anvil in ages (India), tells ET back in 2021, according to the report, sur- Foods that manufactures Yummy Noo- panies setting up factories in the region.
north Bengal” Magazine over tele - passing Bangladesh once again. Also, In- dles, which competes with Mr Noodles, “We don’t have any problem if a company
phone and email. dia’s per capita GDP in terms of purchas- says the Northeast has become a “dump- from Bangladesh establishes a factory in
Anjanabha Majumdar,
“Many new products ing power parity is still 11 times more than ing ground” for processed fruits and food India and sells goods in the Northeast. The
Director, Pran Beverages
(India) are at an ad vanced that of Bangladesh, according to 2019 from Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nepal. problem arises when it imports most of its
stage of commer cial products from Bangladesh where the in-
launch.” When the put cost is very less. And India charges
company set up a food processing unit in DUTY BARRIER them zero import duties,” says Deorah,
Agartala, Tripura, in 2014, it was the first Northeast’s entrepreneurs complain of high customs duties in neighbouring countries adding how PRAN’s litchi drink, manufac-
such Bangladeshi plant in India. They fol- tured in Bangladesh, is a big challenge to
lowed it up with a second plant in Kal yani, Product Bangladesh* Nepal Myanmar many local entrepreneurs.
in West Bengal’s Nadia district, which bor- PRAN’s India subsidiary is called Pran
ders Bangladesh, in 2015. “A third manu- Juices 45% 40% 15% Beverages (India), but the one thing it
facturing facility is likely to be set up in the doesn’t produce are beverages. As Deo-
next quarter. Meanwhile, an expansion
Pasta 55% 40% 15% rah says, probably, it still makes business
programme is on the anvil in north Bengal Prepared Cereal 55% 40% 15% sense for the company to import some
where negotiations to acquire a commer- products from Bangladesh rather than
cial shed are at an advanced stage,” says Sweet Biscuits 60% 40% 15% roll out their production in India.„
Majumdar. He, however, refuses to di- *For Bangladesh, figures represent customs duty plus special duty | Source: Laghu Udyog Bharati shantanu.sharma@timesgroup.com
16 trendspotting
NOVEMBER 01-07, 2020

Gourmet

A S H WA N I N AG PA L
Comes
Home
“It isn’t just that
the food has to
have top-end
restaurant-quality
taste but it also
has to come in
good packaging.
We have made
Restaurants forced to close their dining rooms YouTube style
tutorial videos for
during the pandemic have found a business our chefs and
opportunity in home delivery of gourmet food they can hit the
ground running
from day one”
:: Varuni Khosla

N
Anirudh Singhal
achiket Shetye and Bansi Kotecha have a lot of taurants were adapting to the new reality.
their plate since the pandemic be gan. Six In a pandemic-struck world, where going toa
months ag o, they co -founded Kytchens, a restaurant has become anxiety-ridden or both-
“kitchen as a ser vice” tech platform, out of ersome, restaurateurs have decided to t ake Shackhood, Gurgaon
Mumbai. Almost inst antly, restaurants from gourmet food and great experiences to the cus-
CUISINE: Gourmet cloud kitchen
across the country inundated them with re- tomers. Hundreds of high-end restaurants have Food Services
quests to create models to take food to clients’ suddenly popped up on the delivery map for FOUNDERS: AnirudhSinghal, Prasanjit Market
doorsteps, while retaining the packaging, pres- the first time and a bunch of firms have gotten
Singh and Abhijit Mukherjee
entation and taste patrons would have experi-
enced if they had come in to eat.
on to the gourmet cloud-delivery bandwagon.
The pandemic was reason enough for hospi- SET UP IN:September 2020
9% CAGR
Many of these requests that turned into busi- tality industr y v eterans Anirudh Singhal,
ness for Shetye and Kotecha — who get into stra- Prasanjit Singh and Abhijit Mukherjee to set up Uses local produce to make
USP: `5.9 lakh cr
tegic par tnerships with food and bev erage a new gourmet cloud kitchen, Shackhood, in gourmet food
brands to help them grow and expand — were Gurgaon. They didn’t want to sell step-down af-
`4.2 lakh cr
DELIVERY FOCUS: Smart, ecofriendly
from restaurants that seldom or never delivered fordable food like other cloud kitchen brands.
before. It showed how even the fanciest of res- Ripped bags, crumpled packaging or soggy packaging
boxes were just not accept able. “It
EXPANSION PLAN: Set up 4 outlets in
isn’t just that the food has to have top-
end restaurant quality taste, it also has Delhi and then expand to other cities 2018-19 2022-23
Masque, Mumbai “Customers don’t mind paying
to come in good packaging,” says Sin-
a little extra for personalised ghal, who was k een on c atering to EMPLOYED
CUISINE: Gourmet dining menus and qualitative food.
Kitchens are adapting to this
their target audience in upscale resi- for our chefs on how to make and pack food to 7.3 MN
FOUNDERS: Prateek Sadhu dences even during the pandemic. retain the gourmet experience.” Everything is IN 2018-19
and restructuring their Two months into the business, boxed in the finest q uality c ardboard with
and Aditi Dugar
business models” Shackhood has enough busi- glazed butter paper. This is not the usual cloud-
SET UP IN:2016 Prateek Sadhu ness to look at expanding. kitchen product, he clarifies. The average order
Food has nev er look ed for their gourmet delivery business is about Organised
Organised tailgate
USP:
more attractive, Singhal `1,500 for two — 3.5-4x more than the usual. Players
events in parking lots says. “Inconsi stencies Gourmet deliveries are especially character-
DELIVERY FOCUS: Started
were not an option for ised by customi sed ser vice offering, better 15% CAGR
us. We have made You- trained riders and food handlers as well as a
sending packs with Tube style tutorial videos dedicated call centre for patrons.
special surprise elements Since the in-home dining experience has to
`2.6 lakh cr
like balloons be different albeit mor e attractive, Shet ye `1.5 lakh cr
says, it also must come with correct-sized ser-
EXPANSION PLAN: Will
vice portions. “Some of these restaurants are
shift focus back on not designed for delivery orders and are deliv- 2018-19 2022-23
in-dining ering large-sized sharing portions. It has tobe
more p ersonalised t han t hat. C ustomers EMPLOYED
wouldn’t mind paying restaurant-style prices
but only as long as they egt customised experi- 3.7 MN
ence,” he says. IN 2018-19
As the pandemic shut down restaurants for
good for a short period, Amit Ahuja, who runs Make up 35% of the
Asian restaurant chain Misu in Bengaluru, real-
ised that people’s cravings for good food would restaurant market
remain unfulfilled. Deliveries were never a big
money spinner for Misu as their in-restaurant Paid `18,000 cr in
dining experience was the star attraction. So
taxes in 2018-19
Ahuja decided to adapt to the new reality at
warp speed. “With restaurants shut, we quickly Source: National Restaurant
Association of India

switched fr om being a dine -in
space to a delivery platform. We
noticed there was so m uch de-
mand for good-quality restaurant
food at home that we even opened
another cloud kitchen space to
service a differ ent par t of the
city.” Misu’s restaurants are now
open but it will continue to oper-
ate its cloud kitchen to acter to the
additional demand, Ahuja adds.
during the pandemic we
If that does not indicate the po-
tential of this segment, check out
these numbers: Before the Cov-
id-19 outbreak, Misu made only
10% of its revenue from deliveries.
Now, it deli vers 60 -70% of its
food; in-dining business is yet to
take off like earlier. “It helped
that we already had a brand. We
only had to set up extra kitchens
and make newer delivery friend-
ly recipes,” he adds.
While restaurant promoters are
gung-ho about the revenue poten-
tial of the new model,gourmet chefs
are happy to go beyond their kitchens to
reach patrons.
So when Sorrentina in Mumbai decided to
send its exotic dishes to customers’ homes, it
added a chef to the package. That way, its ta-
jarin tartufo and burrata caponata can have
the restaurant’s signature flavour till the end. We’ve been getting a lot of queries for pre-
Executive chef Aabhas Mehrotra says the
restaurant has done about 10 such experi-
ences since they launched this service a cou-
ple of months ago and has another 13 events
lined up for next month. “This is not exactly
Lite Bite Foods, multi-city
CUISINE: Multi-cuisine multi-format
dining
FOUNDERS: Amit Burman and
Rohit Aggarwal
SET UP IN:June 2020
USP: Changed menu to include
more local and seasonal
depending on availability
Focused on delivering
DELIVERY FOCUS:
gourmet products in tamper-proof
packs
EXPANSION PLAN: Delhi-NCR and
Mumbai-MMR are immediate focus
“We have made many improvements in packaging our gourmet
products. The packaging is now tamper-proof, contactless methods.
No bare hands touch the food, food handlers’ temperature is
mentioned in all stages — cooking, packing and delivery”
trendspotting
NOVEMBER 01-07, 2020
Misu, Bengaluru
CUISINE: Asian dining
FOUNDER: Amit Ahuja
Set up in: July 2020
USP: Took experiential Asian
food to customers’ doorsteps
With restaurants shut
DELIVERY FOCUS: Moved focus
switched from being a from in-dining to take-aways
till the time restaurants were
dine-in space to a
delivery-only platform shut in Bengaluru
EXPANSION PLAN: Set
up two
more cloud kitchens across
Bengaluru
personalised men us and
qualitative food. Kitchens are
restructuring their business
models,” says Sadhu.
In Delhi, Rishiv Khattar has
taken the concept a step ahead b
targeting the home chefs. His com-
pany, Makery, delivers do-it-yourself
kits to customers who want ingredients
— fresh and cleaned — so that they c an
a restaurant experience but we’re able to at make gourmet food at home easily.
least bring the gourmet experience to homes. It has signed up with some of the most
eclectic restaurant companies to
Diwali parties,” he says. The average at home cater to patrons. Makery puts
experience from Sorrentina is `2,500 per the kits together, with an in-
person. struction c ard, w hile the
In Mumbai, Chef Prateek Sadhu, the co- restaurants collaborate at
owner of Masque, says businesses will have to the r ecipe st age. The
adapt to keep business going. The fine-dining packages are hand-deliv-
restaurant delivered everything from brisket ered b y the compan y
burgers to thukpas during the pandemic with staff — sometimesin a car
surprise elements like balloons with the bas- to ensure the packaging si
kets of food. They also hosted at ilgate events intact.
in their parking lot — customers could come As fine -dining r estau-
and eat in their cars while main- rants join the delivery band-
taining s ocial d istance. wagon, pure cloud-kitchen
“Customers don’t mind players are getting into the gourmet
paying a little e xtra for space.
Zomato sees a big potential in
the segment, says Mohit
Sardana, COO-food deliveries.
The restaurant aggregator set
up a gourmet delivery service
this month with 350 partner res-
taurants in five cities. “Consumer
behaviour has changed a lot since the
pandemic. It has created this opportu-
nity for us and the restaurants.
And as we’ve noticed before,
once a beha viour g ets in-
stilled, it i s less lik ely to g o
away. People are likely to con-
tinue to order gourmet food at
home even after the pandemic,”
adds Sardana.
Zomato didn’t have a gourmet
category before. Next year, the com-
pany expects 15-20% of its business from
this segment. “That is close to double of w
A S H WA N I N AG PA L
it is right now. We will also soon have a dedi-
cated fleet of riders for gourmet deliveries.
They will be specially groomed and trained,”
he adds. The company will also help create
more rider-friendly packaging solutions.
Restaurateurs say aggregators charge 20-
30% of the order value as commission. The
bigger the order, the larger the commission.
Swiggy, the other major food aggregator in
the country, has partnered with hotels such
as ITC Hotels, Marriott, Hyatt and the Hilton
across major cities. Some of these chains
Rohit Aggarwal
17
even tailored their offerings with a delivery-
specific menu to ensure the experience is
best suited for home delivery.
The aggregator has noticed that one in
seven customers now order from gourmet
restaurants. When compared with its pre-
Covid levels, there has been a five-fold in-
crease every month in signing up fine-dining
restaurants for online deliveries. Its order
value has grown 3X from pre-Covid days.
Swiggy even has a curated gourmet selec-
tion for its sub-platform, Scootsy, in Mumbai.
A Swiggy spokesperson says it has on board-
ed top-notch restaurants like Yauatcha and
Hakkasan, The Table, Masque and Royal
China, among others. “The delivery partners
for Scootsy undergo a specialised training
programme which covers grooming, food
handling, restaurant etiquette and customer
interaction. In fact, Scootsy on Swiggy has a
list of special items for which we provide de-
tailed training on right handling,” the spok es-
person adds.
As malls and restaurants shut down, Lite-
Bite Foods, which usually positions its brands
y in food courts, was quick to
realise that innovation was
required to stay afloat. So
it improved its packag-
ing to enter the gourmet
delivery space. Sushi is
Makery, NCR
Gourmet
CUISINE:
meal kits from
restaurants like
Olive and Indian
Accent
FOUNDERS: Rishiv
Khattar & Tarika
Khattar
SET UP IN: July 2020
USP: Delivered ready-to-cook
meal kits from top restaurants
DELIVERY FOCUS: Ecofriendly
packaging, white-glove service
deliveries
EXPANSION PLAN: Likely to
expand to other tier-1
cities in the coming year
“We are creating an online
cooking platform for meal
kits. The business is not just a
reaction to the pandemic and we
don’t see it as a replacement for a
restaurant but for someone who likes
to cook at home”
Rishiv Khattar
hat
delivered on ice packs so it remains cold and
fresh, airlock packaging keeps food hot, the
company changed its menus five times in the
last seven months to incorporate local, sea-
sonal products. It also added more “food that
travels better”.
Rohit Aggarwal, director at Lite Bite, is
confident of this business doing well. “Eating
out has reduced but celebrations will contin-
ue,” he adds.„
v aruni.khosla@timesgroup.com
18 food & drink
NOVEMBER 01-07, 2020

Baked
into
History
The biscuit has a crisp story — from
a reliable hardtack for navies on
their long voyages to a cheap, safe snack
mass-produced during Industrial Revolution

:: Vikram Doctor

W
hen the history of Covid-19 in India is writ- nickname used for people from there, cheap and convenient food, but biscuits
ten, it should mention the biscuits. As mi- like the Beatles. were one answer, just as they were for In-
grant workers made their way home, most Countries that aspired to be maritime dian migrant workers travelling home this
of them only carried biscuits like Parle-G. powers r ealised the need for r eliable year. Consumers in colonies like India were
They knew this was the one safe, cheap hardtack supplies, and the large-scale bak- another market for the big Briti sh biscuit
and portable food that might help them get home. eries they set up were among the world’s Smoother systems of brands, not least because their foreign origin
Lizzie Collingham’s splendid new history of biscuits, The first food factories. John I of Portugal, who travel, like rail and and relatively simple (and vegetarian) ingredi-
Biscuit: The History of a Very British Indulgence, must have spurred his country’s maritime growth in canal, enabled brittle ents made them acceptable across all castes.
been finished too late to include this latest example of their the 15th century, built one next to the royal biscuits to be British companies emphasised how little hu-
indispensability. But she does include Parle-G, describing palace which probably supplied Vasco da transported widely man contact was involved in biscuit-making as
how an election campaigner in Uttar Pradesh is offered Gama’s voyage in 1497. Ships needed biscuits without breaking, and a way to get their products into hygiene-ob-
them by one of the poorest households she visits: “What for their return voyages, too, so when the sheet metal sessed Victorian homes, and the same appeal
was once a luxury product for Europe’s bourgeoisie is now British established themselves in India “the manufacturing proved useful in caste-obsessed India. Colling-
an affordable food item even for the world’s poorest.” navy brought in wheat and built flour mills technology resulted in ham notes how “in Bibhutibhushan Bandyo-
Collingham has written a history of curry that is essen- and bakeries in Calcutta and Madras….”
the production of padhyay’s no vel Adarsha Hindu Hote l, the
biscuit boxes that both
tial reading, so she is well aware of the Indian history of Christian ritual was another reason for the main charac ter st ays in a Calcutt a hostel
kept the products safe,
biscuits. One example is with sweet biscuits. These could spread of biscuits. Because the Mass requires where the men are forbidden to bring in any
and served as
not be made with honey, the oldest sweetener, because it communion wafers, the knowledge of how foods that might offend Hindu sensibilities,
advertising through
is hygroscopic and the water it attracts quickly makes bis- to make them was taken across the world. the number of ways but are allowed to bring in man ufactured
cuits lose their essential crisp texture. But Wafers are made by cooking a they were reused. bread and biscuits”.
when cane sugar emerged from India, de- batter or dough sandwiched Companies like Huntley Collingham’s main focus is the British biscuit
pendably crisp sweet biscuits became pos- between hot met al, so they & Palmers, Peek Freans experience, but s he
sible. Arabs improved sugar-refining and are technic ally not t wice- and McVitie’s were briskly co vers other
used their bread ovens to make baqsamat- cooked bi scuits, but their among the first really countries, like the US
bi-sukkar, their term for these twice-baked crisp texture puts them in the global brands whose cookie tradition,
concoctions. same category. People started she notes, derives more
The prac tice of t wice baking br ead to making wafers for more secu- from Dutch and other
make it crisp is far more ancient, going back lar purposes, like eating after dunking them north European baking cultures.
to the origins of bread in Mesopotamia. Dry- in wine at the end of meals. This was the lit- Australia features through Anzac
ing bread in the residual heat of ovens might eral origin of toasting the health of notable biscuits, made of oats, coconut and Dried rusks were the
simply have been a way to preserve excess people, who, as an added honour, could have syrup, which became popular original long-storage
quantities of such an important food prod- special cooking ir ons that st amped their through association with Australian food. In the 17th
uct. Collingham also mentions the theory names into the wafers. and New Zealander troops in World century, a traveller
that people started making bread in order to The Industrial Revolution hugely expanded War I. This was the first time these noted how residents
add water and ferment it into a kind of beer . biscuit manufacturing. Factories improved countries were participating in a of Santorini, whose
The dried rusks were then raw material for the machinery pioneered by navy bakeries to global conflict, and Anzac biscuits, lives were
In her new history of
home-made alcohol (as some people have biscuits, Collingham create new kinds of biscuits, including many by extension, became a symbol of devastated by
started making again in Covid lockdown). says how a luxury sweet ones. Smoother systems of travel, like national identity. volcanic eruptions,
Dried rusks were the original long-storage product for Europe’s rail and canal, enabled brittle biscuits to be Collingham quotes Gandhi noting survived on rusks
food. In the 17th century, a traveller noted bourgeoisie is now an transported widely without breaking, and how biscuit-eating had become pop- brought from
how residents of Santorini, whose lives were affordable item even sheet metal manufacturing technology result- ular with the “ so-called educated another island
devastated by volcanic eruptions, survived for a poor household in ed in the production of biscuit boxes that both Indians, chiefly due to British rule”.
on rusks brought from another island. On Uttar Pradesh, which kept the products safe, and served as advertis- But she leaves out his own experiments with biscuit-making
long ship voyages, plain sea-biscuits called offers Parle-G to an ing through the number of ways they were in South Africa, using banana flour and coconut, which he
hardtack w ere eaten rather than bread, election campaigner reused. Companies like Huntley & Palmers, thought would make for long-lasting and nutritious biscuits.
along with salted meat. They had to be sof- Peek Freans and McVitie’s were among the Collingham mentions biscuits named after famous figures,
tened first, and stews that combine salted first really global brands. like Garibaldi and Marie (an erstwhile Russian princess),
meat a nd b iscuits, l ike c howder o r l ob- Capitalist expansion also created new de- and there is an opportunity here for an Indian baker to
scouse, became emblematic of por t cities mand for biscuits. In the rapidly expanding come up with a Gandhi biscuit that would be an excellent
like Liverpool, the origin of the “scouser” cities, it wasn’t easy for people to find safe, Indian addition to the long global history of biscuits. „
 tech talk 19
NOVEMBER 01-07, 2020

Galaxy Tab A7

BUDGET
DELIGHT
The value-for-money GET IT FOR:
device is apt for the era of Starts at `16,999
video conferences
HIGHLIGHT:
:: Komal Mohan Battery life
Google Pixel 4a

SUBSTANCE
OVER STYLE

W
If you are tired of bulky and big
hile looking for a tablet, a paired with 3GB RAM and 32GB inter-
phones, this 5.8-inch wonder is for you typical buyer looks for nal storage. Users get up to 19.6GB in-
lasting battery, pleasing ternal storage with a microSD card
:: Aabhas Sharma

D
on’t blame us for thinking that Google
isn’t “serious” about selling smar t-
phones in India. The last two flagship
phones completely missed the coun-
try, a critical market for others, for a variety of
reasons. However, with its latest offering, the
Pixel 4a, one does get a sense that Google means
business. For starters — and perhaps for the first
time — Google has got the pricing right. At
`29,999, the Pixel 4a is a phone that’s not just
about the camera. It’s an unfortunate percep-
tion that Pixel phones are just about the camera.
The 4a may look like a boring phone. There’s
no bling, gradient designs or flas hy colours.
There are no multiple cameras either. Instead,
you get a polycarbonate body with a matte fin-
ish which looks nice. At just 143 g, the compact
phone has a fingerprint scanner at the back. It
all seems like — in millennials’
viewing experience and,
especially after C ovid, a good front
camera for conferencing. Samsung’s new mid-range offering, the
Galaxy Tab A7, is a package of everything we just mentioned.
The Galaxy Tab A7 comes with w t o connectivity models — 4G and
WiFi. In the box is a USB-C cable and a power adaptor. The device
sports a sleek design with a metallic finish that certainly makes it
look premium.
With this tablet, Samsung offers a TFT display with 2000x1200-
pixel resolution that is of 10.4 inches — good enough for the price it
is available at. The viewing experience is good during video calls,
online classes or binge-watching sessions. The colours on the
screen turn out to be crisp and accurate.
The display experience is complemented with 4 speakers — 2 on
each side in a landscape mode — that are quite loud. There is no
need to attach any external speakers for everyday needs.
Powering the tablet is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 SoC,
:: Aabhas Sharma
support of up to 1TB, which is advised
for a no-hiccup experience. Perform-
ing everyday tasks such as browsing, video calls, streaming on-
line content was a lag-free affair.
All this is supported by a 7040mAh battery that is easily the
biggest strength of the tablet. While the battery life varies on the
usage for every user, you can get about 12 hours of screen time on
a single charge.
The cameras on the Galaxy Tab A7 are quite basic as it offers an
8MP sensor at the back and 5MP sensor on the ont. fr
Available at a starting price of`16,999, the Galaxy Tab A7 is easily
a complete value-for-money device. You get a good package of es-
sential specs from a reliable brand to satisfy your everyday needs.
Unless you want an iPad. If you are fine with a tablet which isn’t an
iPad and don’t want to spend ot o much, the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7
will be a good bet. „
The writer is with gadgetsnow.com

language — a #throwback de- GET IT FOR:
vice. Yet, there’s a lot to like in
the 4a, especially if you are `29,999
tired of bulky and big pho nes. HIGHLIGHT:
The 5.8-inch OLED di splay Compact
produces vibrant colours. It si
easy to carry it around and form factor
hold it for a considerably long
time without feeling any fatigue.
Google has cut corners. Take the case of the
processor. The Pixel 4a has a Qualcomm Snap-
dragon 730G processor — not the most po werful
chipset, but it does the job well. The OnePlus
Nord, priced in the same segment, boasts of a
faster Snapdragon 765 processor. Having said
that, we faced no issues with the 4a’s perfor-
mance, though it’s not the snappiest. You get
three years of software support. And the clean-
est user interface on any Android phone.
The 4a has a 12MP sensor at the back and an
8MP lens in front. You might scoff at these specs
but the cameras are impressive. Google uses
machine learning and computational photogra-
phy better than most brands, including Apple.
The result is nothing short of excellent images.
The Portrait shots capture excellent details, the
edge detection is spot on and colours are natu-
ral. Low-light photography is also quite a good
experience on the Pixel 4a.
Yes, there are other phones with better specs
and design in this price segment. The Pixel 4a,
however, chooses substance over style and that
always gets a thumbs up from us. Go for it. You
won’t be disappointed.„
The writer is with gadgetsnow.com
T
he importance of having a good set of
headphones has never been felt more
than in 2020. With most people com-
municating through video calls/con-
ferences, a good headset has become a must-
have. Jabra’s Evolve2 85 are new premium
over-the-ear h eadphones t hat b lend
work and play.
These ar e one of the few head-
phones that come with a retractable
mic. The mic is on the right side and
folds back if you want to use it for an
outdoor run or during workouts.
The headphones aren’t heavy and
there’s enough padding on the
headset band as well as the ear cups.
The control buttons are placed on
both the ear cups and take timeto get
used to . C onnecting the head-
phones is quite easy and they pair
really quickly with any device.
The call quality is really good
thanks to the 10 mic rophones
that ha ve been embedded in
these headphones. We used the
headset with both phone and lap-
top and the c all q uality r eally
stands out.
To get the best out of these head-
phones for music, you will need the
Jabra companion app. Simple plug-
and-play doesn't give good performance
but with the app, there are tons of customi-
sation options that combine to deliver really
GET IT FOR: `55,101 good audio output. All genres of music sound
good with vocals being finely separated from in-
HIGHLIGHT: Call quality
struments. The active noise cancellation (ANC)
feature works smoothly and blocks all outside
noise. There’s an ambient mode as well for those
who don’t want to use ANC all the time. To be
fair, we didn’t use the headset in busy areas
to see how effective it really can be.
Jabra Evolve2 85 The batter y life of the headset i s a
standout feature. Jabra gives a charging
SMART stand with the headset — a nice acces-
sory. The headphones come with
HYBRID fast charge support as well. Jabra
claims that after a 51 minute charge,
The retractable mic may it can last for 8 hours and we found
make you feel like a super that to be fairly accurate. Overall,
spy but the price will the headphones c an last for 30
hours on a full charge, which is re-
spook you
ally impressive.
At `55,101, these are among
the more expensive over-the-
ear headphones you can get.
The retractable mic makes
it more than your normal
premium headphones as
they become a headset as
well. However, Jabra will
find these a har d sell at
this price point , espe-
cially when the likes of
Sony and B ose have
really competent offer-
ings at a lesser price. „
The writer is with gadgetsnow.com
 20 feel smart
NOVEMBER 01-07, 2020

Diamonds from the Sky THIS WEEK,

PEOPLE, PLACES AND THINGS BEYOND HEADLINES
THAT YEAR
NOV 1-7

Nov 1, 1993

What’s the process

like?
It uses something
called chemical
vapour deposition
The Maastricht Treaty comes
where a “diamond
seed” is put in a into effect, formally establishing
sealed chamber that the European Union.
is heated to 800
Isn’t that a Beatles song – I degrees C and filled
think it went Lucy in the with methane gas, Nov 2, 1988
sky with diamonds? which is full of Cornell University student
Your Beatles knowledge is on carbon. The carbon Robert Tappan Morris releases
point but I’m talking about elements will bond the Morris
diamonds that are supposed with the “seed” and,
Worm from a
to be “made entirely from the voila, you have a
sky”. diamond. MIT computer.
It is considered
It sounds most fanciful. And this diamond the first
But go on. will be like the ones internet worm.
A millionaire mined from under
environmentalist in the UK is the earth?
planning to create thousands Yes, it is supposed to Nov 3, 2014
of carbon-negative, be identical to those The One World Trade Center,
laboratory-grown diamonds that take millions of the primary
from the sky. years to form
building in the
naturally. That’s the
Lab diamonds are a familiar magic of science. new World
concept. But where does Trade Centre
the sky come in? Will there be takers for these diamonds, though? complex in
Dale Vince, the founder of green energy company Ecotricity, Well, it is true that lab-grown diamonds have been gaining New York, is
says he has developed diamonds made from carbon, water popularity of late because of the conflicts associated with open to the
and energy captured directly from the sky, using wind and diamond-producing regions and the fact that diamond public.
solar power, and water stored from rainfall. production has a huge environmental impact.

Source: The Guardian

It sounds very ecofriendly. The most important question – how much will these
According to Vince, it is the world’s first “zero-impact “sky diamonds” cost? Nov 4, 2008
Ha. You might have to wait a little longer to know. Vince
Barack Obama wins
diamond”. He says the process can make the air cleaner by
removing the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere directly. told journalists he has not decided that yet. the presidency,
Text: Indulekha Aravind becoming the first
African American
to be elected
president of

Voting Systems Marbles

Till 2018, Gambia had a cheaper
the United
States.
It is election season. Citizens in the US as well as closer home in Bihar are headed to and much simpler decades-old
system. Election officers gave each
polling booths. The result in Bihar could alter the course of politics in the country. voter a marble. The polling booth Nov 5, 1988
And the outcome of the US elections could alter the politics of the world. While you had drums with candidates’ Birth of
wait for the results, check out these election snippets: photos. Voters dropped the
Virat
marbles into a hole on the barrel
Kohli, the
that showed the candidate of their
choice. Sawdust or sand was used captain of
in the barrel to mute the fall of the the Indian
marble. But officials listened cricket
carefully for the clang of a bicycle team.
bell that is attached to the end of a
tube inside the drum, preventing
people from voting more than Nov 7, 1990
once. The marbles were counted Mary Robinson
by placing them on a special tray. becomes the
first woman to
Source: BBC, CNN

be elected
president of the
‘Phone-Booth’ Machines Republic of
In 2000, Brazil became the first country to Ireland.
Biometrics
organise full electronic elections. The voting
Several countries, especially those in Africa and Latin America,
machines have number pads, much like a Source: onthisday.com, timeanddate.com
use fingerprint systems to select lawmakers. The biometric
telephone. Each candidate has a number
system can prevent fraud, at least in theory. In Ghana, for Write to us with feedback
which voters punch into the machine. They
example, the fingerprint reading kits failed in the middle of an
can also see the picture of the candidate. etmagazine@timesgroup.com
election day. Critics say it is an expensive system, too.
Compiled by: Ram Mohan

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