KARTHIKA 4
Big push to small-town hiring by consumer durables companies
Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies in India and their distribution partners have started hiring people in small towns and rural areas because these markets are showing signs of revival
Mandates have been handed out to staffing solutions companies such as Randstad India and TeamLease, officials at these firms have said, as players increasingly push into rural areas to capitalise on the uptick in the hinterland
In contrast, auto companies and their dealers have not been that bullish with hiring, despite tractor sales increasing in May. . Most point to the requirement of
skilled manpower in the auto sector
Sanjiv Mehta, chairman and managing director, Hindustan Unilever, said he would wait for the September quarter to get a good assessment of the nature of demand for FMCG products. “The June quarter has seen too many disruptions
“There is demand coming for categories such as oral care and health care in rural areas. The offtake of products such as Dabur Red toothpaste, Hajmola candy, honey, and Chyawanprash has grown sharply. We are pushing affordable price points in most of these categories, especially in rural areas, to capitalise on this demand,” said Malhotra.
. An executive at Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL),“We have a large manpower already for rural sales. So fresh hiring may not be required as we are yet to reach last year’s level in terms of sales,” said Shashank Srivastava,
executive director-sales and marketing, MSIL
A Hero MotoCorp spokesperson said it was not looking at hiring people in the immediate future. “While there is strong uptick in retail sales, it has yet to reach the pre-Covid level,” the spokesperson said.
Reliance leverages technology to expand farm-to-forkmodel
Reliance Industries (RIL) is raiding into the growing agritech business through a combination of online technology, leveraging the strength of its new partner Facebook and collaborations in farm equipment innovations as part of its move to expand its “farm to-fork” model.
For its own retail supply for Reliance Fresh and other stores and also for the soon to-be-launched e-commerce play through JioMart, the focus is on ensuring a 12-hour delivery schedule between the harvest to the store by sourcing nearly 50 per cent of all vegetables required by consumers shopping in modern retail.
, the company has recently launched the JioKrishi app in the beta stage which aims to help farmers undertake precision farming.
Precision agriculture refers to the precise application of agricultural inputs with respect to soil, weather and crop need in order to improve productivity, quality, and profitability in agriculture. ... It enables farmers to use crop inputs more efficiently including pesticides, fertilizers, tillage and irrigation water
Reliance has already brought 65,000 hectares of land under improved cultivation and trained over 38,500 farmers on agri-allied skills.
The company also sources 77 per cent of its fruits directly from farmers. The company’s agritech business has been attracting a bevy of investors. For instance, Ninjacart, the biggest player in the country, has Walmart and Tiger Global as one of the investors.
According to BofA research, while the market for fruits and vegetables is $150 billion, 97 per cent of these items are sold through 12 million kirana shops — a reflection of the fragmentation of the market by farmers who own less than an acre of land each.
S&P move unlikely to hit Axis Bank, Bajaj Fin much
Godrej Appliances sales at pre-Covid level, may max cap utilisation by Sep
Godrej Appliances has almost reached its pre-Covid-19 sales level this month, and expects to attain full manufacturing capacity utilisation by end of September this year, said a top company official.
The company is expecting to attain its peak capacity by September, just before the festive season starts as sales are gradually increasing due to various factors
the company also expects degrowth for the industry due to lost sales of April and half of May, which account for almost one-third sales of cooling products.
We are operating our plants at 60 per cent plus now. We are intending to have 80 per cent utilisation in July and then onwards enhancing further, Nandi said
While talking on sales, Nandi said that in the last week, the company has almost attained the same numbers as the corresponding period last year.
This has been witnessed by the company in all the segments, which it operates including refrigerators, washing machine, air condition etc.
Last week, the company has extended its offerings by introducing a new ingenious refrigerator ranges - Godrej Edge Rio and Godrej Edge Neo and new age semi-automatic washing machine Godrej Edge Ultima.
RITES to pick 24% in Railway’s station redevelopment entity
The Centre’s ~1-trillion plan to redevelop 400 stations across the country is likely to get a boost with Railways’ subsidiary RITES in the final stage of taking up 24 per cent stake in the Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation (IRSDC).
To speed up the first phase of the redevelopment of 42 stations, the Centre had last year adopted a cluster approach by making five public sector companies in charge of each cluster
The firms included RITES, Mecon, National Project Construction Corporation, Engineering Projects (India) and Bridge and Roof Company (India).