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Tag: india

  • Leo Burnett India Introduces ‘StreetEye’

    Leo Burnett India Introduces ‘StreetEye’

    Leo Burnett is a global multi-disciplinary consultancy firm that specializes in, advertising, brand consultancy, communication, marketing, and so on. While the company isn’t active in the business of road safety, Leo Burnett recently introduced a first-of-its-kind product in India. Called the ‘StreetEye’, this two-wheeler mounted device is designed to detect potholes and alert a two-wheeler rider of the same in real-time. StreetEye was conceptualized, designed, and manufactured by Leo Burnett and the project was sponsored by Acko Insurance.

    India has one of the densest road networks in the world. Traffic data from 2019 suggests that 4,775 road accidents were caused by pot holes, resulting in 2,140 deaths. So a device that can be mounted on a two-wheeler and alerts motorists of pot holes well in time, has the potential to save thousands of lives and even prevent injuries to two-wheeler users.

    Leo Burnett says that the StreetEye device uses stereo cameras and light detecting to map potholes on the road’s surface and alert the rider so that he/she can take adequate action to avoid the same. The device has a pot-hole detection range of up to eight meters. The device will be light and gets a sleek design. And it is encased in a weatherproof body.

    Speaking about the prospective launch Rajdeepak Das, CEO, and Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett said “At Leo Burnett we believe the only way to predict the future is to create it ourselves. We have always been driven by our HumanKind philosophy which puts people and problems at the center of all our initiatives. The teams at Leo Burnett have been tirelessly researching, developing, and testing various versions of StreetEye to find a solution to one of the vital problems i.e. accidents due to potholes. And we are very excited about this product and would be launching it soon in the market.”

    The StreetEye device is yet to be launched in India and so far,

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  • Tesla Scouts For Showroom Space In India, Hires Executive For Lobbying

    Tesla Scouts For Showroom Space In India, Hires Executive For Lobbying

    Tesla in January registered a local subsidiary in India, which is expected to import and sell the Model 3 sedan by as early as mid-2021. Tesla has recruited Manuj Khurana, a former executive of India’s investment promotion body Invest India.

    Tesla Inc is scouting for locations to open showrooms in three Indian cities and has hired an executive to lead its lobbying and business efforts ahead of its planned entry into the country, sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters. The electric-car maker in January registered a local company in India, where it is expected to import and sell the Model 3 sedan by as early as mid-2021, seeking to target rich customers in a niche market.

    The world’s most valuable automaker by market capitalization is looking for commercial properties as large as 20,000-30,000 square feet each to open showrooms and service centers in the capital New Delhi, financial hub Mumbai in the west and tech city Bengaluru in the south, three sources said.

    Separately, Tesla has recruited Manuj Khurana, a former executive of India’s investment promotion body Invest India, in the first major hire to lead its policy and business development efforts in the country, two other sources said. Tesla did not respond to a request for comment, while Khurana declined to comment.

    In October, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Twitter the company will enter India in 2021 “for sure”, though the billionaire had issued similar tweets in the past. The search for showroom space and Khurana’s appointment signal Tesla is moving faster.

    Global property consultant CBRE Group Inc – hired for the showroom searches by Tesla – has been surveying places for several weeks and is focussing on locations that will give the company easier access to affluent customers, sources said.

    Some luxury car showrooms in upmarket areas of metro cities are typically between 8,000-10,000 square feet, but most showrooms are far smaller in India where high-end real estate space is usually in short supply and property prices in New Delhi and Mumbai are among the highest in the world.

    “If you look at Tesla’s showrooms globally, they are like experience centers. It would look at replicating that with some modifications for the Indian market,” said one of the sources, all of whom declined to be identified as the talks are private.

    CBRE said it does not comment “on work we may be doing on behalf of our clients”.

    Khurana has previously been on a government panel on the future of transportation led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s top scientific adviser. In his new role, he is also handling Tesla’s market-entry process in India, two sources said.

    But India isn’t likely to be an easy market to crack for Tesla. The country has negligible charging infrastructure and high taxes on imported cars, as well as low adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). India recorded just 5,000 EV sales out of the total 2.4 million cars sold last year, while in China new energy vehicle sales touched 1.25 million.

    However, analysts say India’s rising number of affluent consumers makes it a market the automaker can’t ignore as the government increases its focus on promoting clean cars.

    While Tesla plans to import cars at first, India’s road minister told Reuters last month that the government is ready to offer incentives to ensure the carmaker’s production cost would be less than in China if it commits to local manufacturing.

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  • Switch Mobility And Siemens Partner To Work On Electric Mobility Projects In India

    Switch Mobility And Siemens Partner To Work On Electric Mobility Projects In India

    Home-grown commercial vehicle manufacturer, Ashok Leyland’s global electric mobility arm, Switch Mobility has entered into a partnership with German technology conglomerate, Siemens Limited. The two companies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) towards building a cooperative technological partnership in the electric commercial mobility segment and work on eMobility projects in India. The company says that the main objective of this partnership between the two brands is to offer efficient, cost-effective and sustainable e-mobility solutions to various commercial vehicle customers in India.

    Commenting on the partnership, Nitin Seth, Director, Switch Mobility said, “Our collaboration with Siemens will focus on key identified areas, which will be critical to propel ourselves as an industry, towards clean and sustainable mobility solutions. Our overarching objective is to achieve the lowest Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and our endeavour with Siemens will focus on it to make eMobility a compelling solution for businesses and the environment in India.”

    At the same time Sunil Mathur, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Siemens Limited, said, “Siemens is a global leader in e-mobility solutions for commercial vehicles. We have been implementing projects for electric commercial vehicles across the globe. Together with Switch Mobility, we intend to implement high-quality techno-commercial solutions to address the needs of the growing E-mobility market in India.”

    To achieve their joint objective, for its part, Switch Mobility will offer its strong electric commercial vehicle industry experience. Siemens, on the other hand, will bring its flexible, high-efficiency charging infrastructure technology to the table, which comes with efficient and reliable medium-voltage grid connection solutions. The company says that Siemens’ charging infrastructure management software solution would enhance the energy-efficient operations of the chargers.

    As part of the MOU, Siemens Financial Services (SFS), the financing arm of Siemens AG, will consider a minority investment in OHM Global Mobility Private Ltd., the eMaas platform company to be formed as a subsidiary of Switch Mobility Automotive Limited.

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  • Malabar to open 56 stores most sit in Asia

    Malabar to open 56 stores most sit in Asia

    In India, the expansion will span Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Delhi, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, and Kerala, and globally, new outlets will open in Singapore, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, and the UAE.

    In India 12 new stores are slated to open in Q1 of the fiscal in Chennai, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, and Bengaluru, and in small towns like Eluru, Mancherial, Solapur, and Ahmednagar. Globally, new shops will open in Little India in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Penang in Malaysia, Ruwi, Baushar and Al Khoudh in Oman, Jeryan Jenaihat and Rawdat in Qatar, Bab al Bahrain in Bahrain, and in the UAE in Al Zahia and Muweilah in Sharjah, and Silicon Oasis and Dubai Gold Souk Dubai.

    Malabar Group Chairman, MP Ahammed, said: “In over 25 years, we have transformed from a small retail jewelry business to a global player across the verticals of gold and diamond jewelry retail, manufacturing, and multi-retail business. Transparency and customer trust have been our growth pillars and the new expansion will take us to the next level.”

    He said the new stores will offer an unparalleled customer experience in line with the Malabar Promise of incomparable quality and service assurance. The group’s goal is to be the number one jewelry retail brand in the world in terms of showroom numbers and turnover.

    Abdul Salam KP, Group Executive Director of Malabar Group, said: “In line with our social commitment, the expansion will create 1,750 new jobs. We follow industry best practices, ethical sourcing, and professional fund management.”

    “The expansion will strengthen the group’s retail footprints in territories where it has a strong presence,” said Shamlal Ahamed, Managing Director, International Operations of Malabar Gold and Diamonds.

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  • Indian Consumers Prefer 3D Catalogues As Digital First Trend Takes Off Because Of COVID19

    Indian Consumers Prefer 3D Catalogues As Digital First Trend Takes Off Because Of COVID19

    Eccentric Engine’s One 3D platform has been powering the virtual showroom and 3D catalogs for various automobile OEMs has released a survey which reveals 7.6 million Indians chose to experience cars virtually in 3D on platforms enabled by its technology in 2020.

    It reports a 300 percent increase from 2019 for its visualization platform One 3D. The data is based on 100 million interactions and over 500 respondents spanning tier 1, tier 2 and tier 3 cities. Its platform enabled research for cars in a virtual 3D format.

    Eccentric Engine’s 3D configurator has been in the market since 2018. Most recently, it enabled the 3D experiences for MG Motors, Citroen and Tata Motors.

    “In India, we work with Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, MG, Citroen, Toyota, and Nissan. And also with the newly formed Stellantis (which is the whole PSA group plus FCA),” revealed Varun Shah, the co-founder of Eccentric Engine.

    Shah reveals his platform enables users to explore granular details about vehicles, including details that can’t be explored in review videos or online activations.

    The survey revealed that 51 percent of the sessions were from the 6 top-tier cities including New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai. Even Lucknow broke into 3 percent of the digital sessions making its way into the top 10 cities in India. Interestingly, tier 3 cities accounted for 9 percent of the queries which is an impressive number.

    The survey also revealed that 91 percent of the users who experienced the car online ended up buying the same car offline.

    “By intuitively integrating the real and digital world with One 3D we are excited to create an unprecedented level of customer engagement for our OEM partners to understand evolving consumer needs and help them serve their customers better by offering world-class product visualization that can create surprise and delight and personalize their buying experience,” said Varun Shah.

    The survey also revealed that non-resident Indians were making buying decisions for their families in India digitally. 4.6 percent sessions were from NRIs out of which 31 percent were from North America, 32 percent were from the Middle East, 10 percent were from Europe, 5 percent from the UK, 4 percent from Australia, 2 percent Africa and 1 percent from Latin America.

    The survey also showed blue and white were the most popular shades by more than 40 percent. 35 percent people preferred the colour grey, brown and silver. Red, black and orange were preferred by 15 percent.

    Indian automakers have seen a sharp rise in digital interaction over the past couple of years and yes, it’s been largely driven by the pandemic. Audi India, Volkswagen India saw an uptick of 70% in online interface compared to pre-covid times and with new tech, enhancing that experience for customers is going to be paramount. More manufacturers are now getting into the game and innovation is at the top of everyone’s agenda.

  • Rapido, Zypp Electric Join Hands For Electric Bike Taxi Service

    Rapido, Zypp Electric Join Hands For Electric Bike Taxi Service

    Indian bike taxi platform Rapido, has joined hands with Zypp Electric to provide electric bike taxi service to its customers. Called Rapido EV, the new electric bike taxi is intended to reduce carbon footprint and encourage customers to use environment-friendly two-wheelers. More than 100 riders and electric two-wheelers will be onboarded on to the Rapido platform from Zypp as part of Rapido’s captain fleet. The service will be a pilot run for three months starting from March 2021 and will be tested for its demand and veracity in the Delhi-NCR area. Rapido is looking to on-board more such EV partners to further expand this business model across its Tier I market in the country, according to a press statement from the company.

    Announcing the launch of Rapido EV, Aravind Sanka, Co-Founder, Rapido, said, “While India is the largest two-wheeler market, only 1% of it is electric. With the launch of Rapido EV rides, we want to give a unique experience to our users along with contributing positively to the environment and reduce our carbon footprint. The recent World Air Quality report by Swiss technology company IQAir ranked Delhi as the world’s most polluted capital among 106 countries and we hope that this move helps contribute to the betterment of the air quality in the city.”

    On the partnership with Rapido, Akash Gupta, Co-Founder, Zypp Electric, said, “We at Zypp are becoming the de-facto EV layer when it comes to goods and people movement. The partnership with Rapido is part of highly focused EV utilization project where we wish to ensure that every segment is able to switch to EVs comfortably. With our robust battery-swapping network which will be tested with bike taxi services with Rapido, we’re here to bolster the EV proposition together with this partnership and would love to scale this nationally making people get pollution-free taxi rides too.”

    Rapido EV Rides will be available under the Ride section on the app and will be priced at the Rapido Ride rate with a minimal convenience fee. Customers have to download the app, log in to their account and book a Rapido Ride, through their iOS/Android phones. Rapido is a bike taxi service spread across all of India from Tier I to Tier III cities. The app allows customers to book bike taxis conveniently with very less wait time.

    Zypp Electric offers dedicated electric vehicles for delivery of essentials, goods, medicines and food packages. The company was started in 2017 to make last mile delivery carbon-free for local merchants to e-commerce giants. The company currently has more than 1,000 Zypp pilots (delivery executives) using IoT enabled electric scotoers for delivery services.

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  • Indian lingerie model, age 52, hopes to inspire inclusivity

    Indian lingerie model, age 52, hopes to inspire inclusivity

    A 52-year-old Indian lingerie model is pushing e-commerce firms to hire older women for their advertising campaigns, challenging what she says are the ageist norms practiced by many companies.

    Geeta J, a former teacher who took to modeling when she turned 50, says she wants innerwear companies in India to be more inclusive and avoid featuring only younger women in their promotion drives.

    “Are women no more fit to become a lingerie model past a certain age?,” Geeta has said in an online petition on Change.org, captioned with the hashtags ‘#AgenotCage’ and ‘#LingerieHasNoAge’, which she started this year.

    Her job is bold and unusual in the largely conservative Indian society where religious and cultural norms limit women’s freedom to dress the way they want.

    Such norms are even more restrictive for women over the age of 40, Geeta told Reuters in an interview.

    More than 11,000 people have signed up to support her petition, which is addressed to the chief executive of the popular innerwear company Zivame.

    “This will lead to a change in the mindset of people in our country who think that after 40, women should dress and behave in a certain way,” Geeta said in the petition, adding that she hoped it would lead to more companies following suit.

    Geeta began her career after winning a runners-up prize in a beauty pageant for older women. While her family and friends had been supportive of her switch in careers at 50, however, she said she was aware many Indian women her age would find it hard to do so.

    “I want to tell this to all women that they should care about the dreams of their husbands and loved ones and support them, but they should never think that their own life is not important or their wishes are not important,” Geeta said.

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  • Reliance Jio increases spectrum footprint by 55% in India

    Reliance Jio increases spectrum footprint by 55% in India

    Through this acquisition, RJIL’s total owned spectrum footprint has increased significantly, by 55%, to 1,717 MHz (uplink+ downlink). RJIL has the highest amount of sub-GHz spectrum with 2X10 MHz contiguous spectrum in most circles. It also has at least 2X10 MHz in 1800 MHz band and 40 MHz in 2300 MHz band in each of the 22 circles. RJIL has achieved complete spectrum derisking, with an average life of owned spectrum of 15.5 years. RJIL’s spectrum has been acquired in the most cost-efficient manner with an effective cost of Rs 60.8 crore per MHz.

    With the enhanced spectrum footprint, especially contiguous spectrum, and pan-India infrastructure deployed, RJIL has enhanced network capacity to service its existing users as well as hundreds of millions of more subscribers on its network.

    The acquired spectrum can be utilized for the transition to 5G services at the appropriate time, where Jio has developed its own 5G stack.

    Sh. Mukesh D Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries, said, “Jio has revolutionized the digital landscape of India with the country becoming the fastest adopter of Digital Life. We want to ensure that we keep on enhancing experiences, not only for our existing customers, but also for the next 300 million users that will move to digital services. With our increased spectrum footprint, we are ready to further expand the digital footprint in India as well as get ourselves ready for the imminent 5G rollout.”

  • Apple is moving up to 10% of iPhone 12 5G production to India

    Apple is moving up to 10% of iPhone 12 5G production to India

    Apple and its partners have already moved some iPhone 11 and iPhone XR production to India, and the iPhone 12 could too be manufactured in the region as the company looks to further reduce its dependence on China.

    iPhone 12 production is soon going to start in India, where devices for both the domestic market and export will be manufactured.

    The move means Apple will be able to avoid India’s hefty smartphone import tariffs. It might be able to lower the starting price of its flagship iPhone 12 in India as well, in turn providing a much-needed boost to its business.

    Apple doubled the size of its Indian business in the final quarter of 2020, but Tim Cook himself admitted that the company’s presence in the market is still very small considering its overall size.

    Apple’s initial goal is to shift between 7-10% of total iPhone 12 production to India from China. The Silicon Valley-based giant has discussed moving iPhone 12 mini production to India too, but a final decision is yet to be made.

    Foxconn is leading these local efforts and is planning an expansion to its factory in Tamil Nadu, where two of the best cheap iPhones — iPhone 11 and iPhone XR — are assembled, to accommodate for Apple’s iPhone 12.

    Later in 2021, Pegatron is expected to start manufacturing the iPhone 12 in India too. However, partner Wistron doesn’t seem to be involved at this stage, likely due to recent riots at an Indian factory that led to it being put on probation by Apple.

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  • Vodafone Idea acquires spectrums in five telecom circles to enhance 4G capacity

    Vodafone Idea acquires spectrums in five telecom circles to enhance 4G capacity

    Being India’s third-largest telecom operator in the 4G spectrum auctions, Vodafone Idea entered with the largest quantum of spectrum with a very small fraction. “This was administratively allocated and used for GSM services, coming up for renewal,” the company said.

    With the telecom industry gearing up for the 5G revolution, VI hopes that a large quantum of spectrum would be made available for all operators in the future at fair prices. The operator had reportedly submitted an earnest money deposit of Rs 475 crore. Yet, the company did not disclose the exact quantity of spectrum bought.

    In line with the government’s effort to innovate the country’s telecom sector, Vodafone Idea claimed that the Indian telecom segment is well-positioned to drive the Digital India agenda, as long as sufficient spectrum availability and an adequate number of market players are involved.

    Broadly speaking, India has 22 telecom circles. All major telecom operators — Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, Bharti Airtel Ltd, and Vodafone Idea — participated in the auction. According to the department of telecommunication (DoT), they put on the block 2,308.8MHz of spectrum at a base price of ₹3.92 trillion in the auction. Moreover, spectrum in the 700MHz, 800MHz, 900MHz, 1,800MHz, 2,100MHz, 2,300MHz, and 2,500MHz bands were put up for sale.

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  • India’s Flipkart mulls US listing

    India’s Flipkart mulls US listing

    Walmart Inc.’s Flipkart is exploring going public in the U.S. through a merger with a blank-check company as it seeks to quicken its listing process, according to people familiar with the matter.

    The Bengaluru-based online retailer has been weighing a U.S. initial public offering and it’s now also looking at other options, the people said. Flipkart’s advisers have approached several SPACs, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is not public. Flipkart could seek a valuation of at least $35 billion in a blank-check transaction, the people said.

    Deliberations are at an early stage and Flipkart could still explore other options, the people said. A representative for Flipkart had no immediate comment.

    The e-commerce firm is joining other Indian firms like online grocer Grofers in exploring a U.S. listing through SPAC deals. ReNew Power last week agreed to merge with a U.S.-listed special purpose acquisition company in a deal that will give India’s biggest renewable power producer an enterprise value of $8 billion.

    Merging with SPACs, which are shell companies that raise money from public investors intending to acquire a business within two years, will allow Walmart to take its India unit to market at a faster pace than the usual IPO route. As many as 10 Indian companies could go public through SPAC deals before the end of the year, Utpal Oza, head of investment banking for India at Nomura Holdings Inc., said in an interview.

    Flipkart, which is battling with e-commerce arch-rival Amazon.com Inc. and Mukesh Ambani’s retail venture for market share in India, started operations in 2007 and now sells 80 million products on its platforms. Walmart acquired a majority stake in Flipkart in a $16 billion deal in 2018.

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  • All-New Suzuki Hayabusa Teased For India, Launch Soon

    All-New Suzuki Hayabusa Teased For India, Launch Soon

    The all-new Suzuki Hayabusa finally broke cover last month and it turns out the new offering will come to India sooner than we were expecting. Suzuki Motorcycle India has released a teaser video on its social media handles for the new Hayabusa with the caption, “The ultimate superbike, coming soon.” It is likely that the all-new superbike will arrive in India in the next quarter of the year, and will be one of the first markets outside Japan to get the offering. It needs to be noted that India was one of the last markets globally where the second generation Hayabusa was sold before the model had to be pulled off the shelves with the transition to BS6 emission norms.

    The third-generation Suzuki Hayabusa has seen a comprehensive overhaul over its predecessor. The model gets a revised twin-spar aluminum frame and swingarm. The design language is an evolution over the older model and makes it instantly recognizable. There are plenty of changes including the new LED position lights on either side of the headlamp, new DRLs and air intakes on the side. The fairing has been completely revised and gets larger air scoops, while the LED taillight is all-new as well.

    Power on the 2021 Suzuki Hayabusa comes from the 1340 cc, liquid-cooled, DOHC, 16-valve, in-line four-cylinder engine. The motor has been thoroughly updated for Euro5 compliance. There are new internal components including an exhaust header pipe, optimized cam profiles, 1 mm education in throttle body inner diameter and a 12 mm extension in the overall intake pipe. While Suzuki says that the engine’s performance has been improved, power figures have seen a reduction with the model now producing 187 bhp at 9700 rpm and 150 Nm of peak torque at 7000 rpm. The motor is paired with a 6-speed gearbox. Compared to the second-gen model, the new Hayabusa is lighter by 4 kg but still tips the scales at 264 kg (kerb).

  • Walmart’s Flipkart expands grocery sales to more Indian cities

    Walmart’s Flipkart expands grocery sales to more Indian cities

    Walmart-owned Flipkart will sell groceries online in more Indian cities, as it seeks to compete better with Amazon and Reliance in an e-commerce market that has grown rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Flipkart has already expanded online grocery sales to more than 50 Indian cities and intends to reach over 70 locations in the next six months, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

    The Bengaluru-based firm said its grocery service had grown “exponentially” in the past year when many Indians began buying essential supplies online due to the health crisis.

    “Grocery continues to be one of the fastest-growing categories,” said Manish Kumar, senior vice president at Flipkart, adding that the company had seen increased demand for the service from smaller cities in 2020.

    Reliance Industries-owned JioMart last year became the latest big entrant to India’s e-grocery market, a sector that also includes Amazon.com Inc, BigBasket and several smaller players. Indian conglomerate Tata is reported to be buying a majority stake in Alibaba-backed BigBasket.

    Reliance, backed by India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, raised over $20 billion last year from global investors including Facebook and Alphabet’s Google for its digital arm, which is expected to support JioMart.

    India’s broader retail industry is also witnessing a high-stakes legal battle between Reliance and Jeff Bezos-led Amazon on the Future Group’s $3.4 billion sale of its retail assets to Reliance, which Future’s partner Amazon is contesting.

    Flipkart’s recent expansion has taken its grocery services to big cities including Kolkata, Pune and Ahmedabad, it said.

    “Grocery is the next big frontier for online shopping and is a key focus area for Flipkart to bring new customers online,” the company added.

  • Lamborghini Urus Sales Hit 100 Units Milestone In India

    Lamborghini Urus Sales Hit 100 Units Milestone In India

    Automobili Lamborghini has achieved a new sales milestone in India by selling 100 units of its super-luxury SUV – the Lamborghini Urus. Currently the most affordable Lamborghini model in India, the Urus was launched in January 2018, and the first car was delivered the same year in September. Within one year, the company managed to sell 50 units of the car in India, and despite the coronavirus pandemic the Italian marque has managed to sell the next 50 units in less than 18 months. In fact, before the pandemic, the company was delivering one Urus every week, which is huge for a car in this uber-luxury segment.

    Sharad Agarwal, Head of Lamborghini India, said, “When we launched Urus, we always knew that it’s going to be a gamechanger for us. Also, because it’s a car that comes with the dynamics of a sports car, but also has the versatility of an SUV. And limitations what we have in the Indian market with our congestions and roads we knew that it is a right answer or a right Lamborghini for an India user. When we launched the car, we delivered the first Urus in September 2018 and we were delivering one Urus every week, till we were hit by the pandemic. There were challenges in the market and also on the supply side, but the good thing is we are now back on track, we are now back on delivering almost one Urus every week, and now we could achieve the fastest hundred in the super-luxury segment, and this makes it really, really special.”

    The Lamborghini Urus has been a big contributor to the company’s sales in India. In 2019, the company sold a total of 65 units in the country and posted a growth of 30 percent compared to 2018, and this big boost to the sales was thanks to the Urus. With the pandemic hitting sales sharply in 2020, Lamborghini still managed to cross the 50 unit sales mark last year. The company sold 52 units in 2020 and is looking to grow on this momentum in 2021 spearheaded by the Urus.

    Talking about the expectations from 2021, Agarwal said, “The segment is slowly coming back. There are still challenges. Last year we saw that the segment was about -30 percent. This year, my anticipation is that the segment should come close to the 2019 level. As a brand, we are still going strong and we have set a target for us that we want to have another record year of performance in India despite what we face in terms of market conditions. So, we can say that 2021 will be another record year in terms of our volumes in the country. So, well definitely do much more than what we did in 2019.”

    The Lamborghini Urus has currently priced in India around ₹ 3.10 crore (ex-showroom, India) and it still commands a waiting period of about 10 months, and despite that, the company says, its order bank is growing healthier and healthier. Moreover, Lamborghini also says that the demand is not restricted to metros alone, but is growing in each part of the country, across the length and breadth. The Urus is powered by a 4.0-litre Twin Turbo V8 engine, which is tuned to produce 641 bhp and 850 Nm of peak torque. The SUV can go from 0-100 kmph in 3.6 seconds and reach 200 kmph in 12.8 seconds, before reaching the electronically limited top speed of 306 kmph.

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  • Ikea starts building shopping mall in India

    Ikea starts building shopping mall in India

    Ikea’s arm Ingka Centers is to launch India’s first Ikea mixed-use destination in the outskirts of Delhi, Noida.

    The plan was announced after the retailer secured a 47,833sqm plot of land in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The project will cost about US$760 million and take seven years to complete. The Ikea mega mall will feature two multi-storied buildings of more than 20 floors with separate blocks for retail, office, and hospitality.

    The project will provide more job opportunities, support infrastructure development, and the growth of the organized retail and home furnishings sector in the region.

    “Delhi NCR is one of our most important markets in India and we will reach the many people with our beautiful, affordable, well designed, and sustainable home furnishing products,” said Peter Betzel, CEO at Ikea India.

    “This next step in our expansion is in line with Ikea’s ambition to [reach] 100 million people in India in the coming years.”

    Entering India in 2018 with its first outlet in Hyderabad, Ikea opened its second store in the country last December in Navi Mumbai.

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