Retail News CRM

Tag: Indonesia

  • Indonesia’s Elevenia marketplace gets $50 million from existing investors

    Indonesia’s Elevenia marketplace gets $50 million from existing investors

    Elevenia just raised another $50 million from its existing investors. The ecommerce marketplace is a joint venture of South Korean company SK Planet and Indonesian telco XL Axiata.

    Elevenia launched in Indonesia in early 2014 with an initial capital of $18.3 million from each partner. It has since received multiple capital injections from its parents, bringing Elevenia’s total funds – including the latest round – to about $110 million.
    The company claims to have clocked $95 million in revenue in 2015. It also says it has about 20,000 daily transactions and four million products listed from 30,000 sellers, with 40 million visitors.

    That’s double the figures it released around its first anniversary in early 2015. At that time, Elevenia announced 20 million visitors a month, 18,000 sellers, and two million product listings. It did not release revenue figures for 2014.

    Elevenia has been a steady yet somewhat quiet presence in Indonesia’s crowded ecommerce landscape. It competes alongside companies like Lazada, Bukalapak, Tokopedia, Qoo10, Rakuten, Blanja, Blibli and MatahariMall.

    With fresh funds at hand, it plans to grow its team, increase its marketing efforts, improve its product and services, and move to a new office, the company said in a statement.

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  • Garuda Indonesia unveils new Business Class

    Garuda Indonesia unveils new Business Class

    The layout of Garuda Indonesia’s new Business Class with Super Diamond Seats is unveiled in this Garuda photo. The Airbus A330-300 is configured with 24 Business Class seats and 263 Economy Class seats.

    Garuda Indonesia has unveiled its new Business Class service following the arrival of its latest Airbus A330-300 aircraft on Monday.

    The aircraft, which is the first of four Airbus A330-300s that will be delivered in 2016, features 24 and 263 Business and Economy Class seats, respectively.

    The former, dubbed Super Diamond Seats,  offer an all-aisle configuration (1-2-1), fully flat-bed seat, adjustable arm-rest, head-rest, meal table and reading light, integrated baby bassinet stowage, new mini bar display, 16-inch LCD touchscreen with a touchscreen handset/remote, double USB plug and power outlet.

    “Garuda Indonesia is the first airline in the world to implement the Super Diamond Seat Business Class service on its A330-300 aircraft; as opposed to competitors who implement it only on their A350 aircraft,” said Garuda Indonesia president and CEO Arif Wibowo in a press release on Monday.

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    Meanwhile, passengers sitting in Economy Class seats can expect new features such as a 4-inch articulating recline ability, foot-rest, 11-inch LCD touchscreen, USB plug and power outlet.

    The national flag carrier also received the delivery of its last Boeing 777-300ER aircraft on Monday, of a total of 10 that were ordered in 2013. Configured with a 393-seat capacity, the 10th aircraft consists of 26 Business Class seats and 367 Economy Class seats.

    Six out of 10 Boeing 777-300ERs operated by Garuda Indonesia are equipped with First Class service, with eight First Class seats, 38 Business Class seats and 268 Economy Class seats.

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    As part of Garuda’s fleet revitalization program, the airline is set to receive 16 new aircraft in total throughout this year, consisting of the one Boeing 777-300ER, four Airbus A330-300s, four ATR72-600s and eight Airbus A320s to be operated by Citilink.

    By the end of 2016, Garuda Indonesia Group expects to operate a total of 188 aircraft; 144 aircraft by Garuda Indonesia and 44 aircraft by Citilink.

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  • President urges to accelerate development of tourism sector in 2016

    President urges to accelerate development of tourism sector in 2016

    President Joko Widodo has called on his officials to expedite the development of Indonesias tourism sector in 2016 in a bid to boost the countrys economic growth.

    President Widodo noted in his opening remarks during a limited meeting held to discuss the Lake Toba Tourism Destinations Development Plan at the presidential office in Jakarta on Tuesday.

    “I have urged the tourism minister to speed up development activities in the top ten tourist destinations,” he noted.

    The top ten tourist destinations to be developed based on the “single destination, single management” concept are the Borobudur temple, Mandalika resort, Labuhan Bajo beaches, Mount Bromo-Tengger-Semeru, Thousand Islands, Lake Toba, Wakatobi diving spot, Tanjung Lesung beaches, Morotai Islands, and Cape Tanjung Kelayang.

    President Widodo is optimistic that by developing the tourism destinations, the local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) would also boost their productivity and absorb more manpower.

    “We need a quick breakthrough in terms of regulation and work in other areas to deliver results at the earliest,” he emphasized.

    In particular, the president has called to boost connectivity and accessibility in Lake Toba by improving the airport and road infrastructure.

    “I am aware that two or three weeks ago, Coordinating Minister of Economy (Darmin Nasution), Public Works Minister (Basuki Hadimuljono), and Tourism Minister (Arief Yahya) had visited Lake Toba,” he remarked.

    President Widodo hoped that the visit would be followed up by a concrete action plan to be rolled out in the area, including organizing marketing activities, implementing international service standards, and holding cultural and art performances.

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  • Berrybenka beefing up eCommerce

    Berrybenka beefing up eCommerce

    With demand from Hong Kong, Brunei and Malaysia, Indonesian fashion brand Berrybenka is taking steps to beef up its eCommerce services.

    It will also be opening more pop-up stores outside Jakarta, its main stronghold, The Jakarta Postreports.

    CEO Jason Lamuda says the brand is also aiming improve customer relations through digital media. It aims to step up customer interaction this year through messaging apps, improve its mobile app, and partner with convenience store ChainIndomaret on a possible new payment mechanism.

    He says this will help promote Berrybenka as a national fashion eCommerce platform. “Our goal in the end is to not only become the most notable fashion brand in Indonesia, but to also help promote the creation of local brands.”

    Berrybenka has 1.5 million subscribers in its database, with demand from Hong Kong, Brunei and Malaysia through sister company Hijabenka. Berrybenka has partnered with around 1000 small and medium enterprises.

    In Indonesia, the company plans pop-up stores in Medan, North Sumatra, Makassar in South Sulawesi, Yogyakarta, Semarang in Central Java, Manado in North Sulawesi and Balikpapan in East Kalimantan. Medan will have the first of the new outlets, opening on Thursday.

    Also being considered are eCommerce hubs for Surabaya, East Java and Bandung, West Java.

    About 90 per cent of Berrybenka sales comprise local products. Between 2013 and 2014, the company had 150 to 200 per cent revenue growth, with a further 200 per cent growth between 2014 and 2015.

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  • Courts opens second Indonesia megastore

    Courts opens second Indonesia megastore

    Courts Indonesia has opened its second megastore – inside BSD City, about 42 km west of Jakarta.

    The new store is part of a strategy by Singapore-listed Courts Asia to expand its footprint beyond its core Singapore and Malaysia markets.

    Billed as the largest Courts Megastore in Asia, the new outlet covers 22,694 sqm of land and boasts a shopping area of about 20,400 sqm.

    “Indonesia is currently the driver of Courts’ growth,” said Roy Santoso, Courts Retail Indonesia CEO in a statement.

    “Since we first entered Indonesia in 2014, we now operate two megastores and three regular outlets. We aim to open 12 more outlets by 2018. This is our commitment in catering to the demands of Indonesians,” he said.

    The first Courts megastore, pictured above, opened at Bekasi, in Kota Harapan Indah, on the eastern side of Jakarta.

    Courts Asia said that as of November 2015, Indonesia accounted for 1.7 per cent of the company’s total sales of S$186.1 million – up 4.2 per cent year-on-year.

    Indonesia is expecting retail growth of between 11 and 12 per cent this calendar year, after a modest 8 per cent growth in 2015.

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  • Government operating marine vessel power plant in North Sulawesi

    Government operating marine vessel power plant in North Sulawesi

    The Indonesian government is operating a marine vessel power plant (MVVP) called Zeynep Sultan to deal with electrical power deficit in North Sulawesi province.

    “The presence of this vessel is part of the governments attention to the current electrical power deficit affecting various areas (in the country),” acting North Sulawesi governor Sono Sumarsono said while inaugurating the operation of the electrical power supplying vessel in South Minahasa on Sunday.

    The operation of the marine vessel power plant is part of the governments program to develop power plants with a combined capacity of 30 thousand megawatts to overcome electrical power deficit in several regions in the country.

    “Hopefully, this national program will be successful so all areas in Indonesia will have electricity in the future,” he said.

    Sumarsono, who is also director general of regional autonomy at the Home Affairs Ministry asked South Minahasa district head Rene Hosang to help secure the vessel while it is in the district.

    The Santiago military district command 131 will also deploy its personnel everyday to safeguard the vessel, he said.

    He expressed the hope the operation of the vessel will deal with electrical power crisis in the provinces of North Sulawesi and Gorontalo.

    “The power crisis has become cause for major concern in the two neighboring provinces. Mr Habibie (Gorontalo Governor Rusli Habibie) and I have been protested almost everyday in case of power blackout,” he said.

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  • Indonesia lures Indians with free visas

    Indonesia lures Indians with free visas

    Indonesia may be attracting almost double the number of global tourists than India but visitors from here are few and the southeast Asian country has decided to grant free visas to Indians to attract more travelers from India which is a “big market” for them.

    Vinsensius Jemadu, Indonesia’s tourism director, was in India to promote Indonesian tourism and attract more Indians. He says Indonesia and India enjoy very good relations which will help in attracting more tourists. Indonesia is also participating in the South Asian Tourism and Travel Expo (SATTE) 2016.

    Jemadu said that more than 10 million people from across the globe visit Indonesia every year – but only 270,000 from India. Indonesia attracts the highest number of tourists from Singapore, followed by Malaysia, Australia, China, Japan, South Korea and then India.

    “Realising that India is a big market, the Indonesian government decided to grant free visas to Indians. We have set a target to attract 350,000 tourists from India this year, which is a big challenge for us,” he said. “Most of the people from India visit Bali. May be it is because they do not know about other places there. We want them to explore other places of the country as well,” he said.

    Indonesia’s tourism industry contributes nine percent to the country’s GDP. “Our plans are to boost tourism industry and increase it to 15 percent of the GDP by the end of 2019.”

    “As many as 60 percent of the total tourists visit Indonesia because of its rich cultural heritage while 35 percent come to the country to see its natural beauty. Five percent tourists come here to enjoy manmade activities,” Jemadu told IANS.

    Expressing concern over lack of direct connectivity between India and Indonesia, Jemadu said: “So far there is no direct flight between the two countries. People from India reach Indonesia via Singapore or Malaysia which is not good for tourism because people have to spend more time and money in travelling.”

    He, however, added that this issue will be sorted out soon as both the governments have agreed to start direct flight between the two nations.

    “I am hopeful that the direct flight between Mumbai and Bali will start by March or April. Garuda Indonesian airline had agreed to operate flights between the two countries,” he said.

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  • Indonesia’s ex-President Habibie to build billion-dollar apartment project in Batam

    Indonesia’s ex-President Habibie to build billion-dollar apartment project in Batam

    The company of former president BJ Habibie, who ruled Indonesia from 1998-1999, is set to built luxury apartments worth a total of US$1 billion (S$1.42 billion) in Batam.

    The project, which features 11 towers of apartments, offices, hotel rooms and a hospital on a nine-hectare plot of land, aims to attract buyers from Indonesia’s neighboring countries, particularly Singapore.

    Work on the project, called Meisterstadt, will start in the middle of this year, Ilham Akbar Habibie, President Habibie’s son and commissioner of his company, Pollux Habibie International, told thejakartapost.com at the project’s launch in Batam on Saturday that the Meisterstadt superblock would be built in four stages.

    “Initially, the plan to construct a hospital in the superblock was in the last will and testament of my mum (the late Ainun Habibie) it will be implemented in the third stage of this superblock’s construction,” said Ilham.

    Pollux Properties Indonesia president commissioner Muladi, who was known as Habibie’s right-hand man during the latter’s presidential term, Batam Free Trade Zone Authority (BPK FTZ) head Mustofa Widjaja, Batam mayor Ahmad Dahlan and Meisterstadt Batam operational general manager Yosef Eduardus attended the ceremony.

    Ilham said the property business in Batam was promising because the area was quite close to Singapore. The developer hoped Singaporeans would be the main buyers of the apartments.

    “Singapore now has 5 million residents and it has continued to grow. We hope that we can benefit the country’s population, particularly in the property sector,” said Ilham.

    He added: “It happened in Hong Kong in the 1950s, during which the region’s population had flown to several provinces of the Chinese mainland near Hong Kong. We’ve now seen a similar situation in Guangdong, in which industries and businesses from Hong Kong have flown to the city.

    “Such an effect will happen between Singapore and Batam.”

    Ilham said the company hoped that a third of the apartments in the superblock complex would be bought by foreigners while the remainder would be marketed to local buyers.

    As many as 1,575 apartments in two of the towers, which will be built in the first stage of the construction project, have been booked by potential buyers with VVIP pass cards who attended the launch. In total, 1,874 VVIP pass cards were issued for the event.

    Three sizes of apartments, namely 24.82 sq m, 42.51 sq m and 51.59 sq m, will be built in the first stage of construction from 2016 to 2019. Prices for the units start at Rp 400 million (S$41,618).

    Batam mayor Ahmad said it was time for Batam to shift from landed to vertical housing due to its limited land.

    “The land in Batam is very limited. For our urban planning, we have recommended residences with the tower or vertical building concept. From the business aspect, it is very prospective because many noted developers have built their projects here. It means they see a huge market potential here,” said the Batam mayor.

    Mustofa said the authorities need to accommodate the need for premium residential compounds in Batam.

    “The growth of the number of Batam residents is the fastest in the world because of migration. To anticipate such a rapid growth, the Batam administration will also complement this city with toll roads and overpasses, which have been included in the national strategic project,” he said.

    “The toll roads and overpasses are aimed at anticipating traffic congestion in the next 10 years.”

  • Expatriates Start Acquiring Properties in Surabaya

    Expatriates Start Acquiring Properties in Surabaya

    About 10 percent of 450 apartments and Small Office Home Office (SOHO) developed by Operational Cooperation (KSO) PT Darmo Permai and PT Waskita Karya in the 88 Avenue Surabaya Project had been purchased by expatriates.

    KSO Wskita Darmo Permai managing director Kevin Sanjoto said that 65 percent of the 450 units had been sold. About 50 percent of the buyers were from Surabaya, 10 percent were expatriates, 15 percent from Jakarta and the rest of them were buyers from East Indonesia.

    “The expatriate buyers are from Japan, Singapore, and Korea. Some of them need places during their stay in Surabaya, including as preparations to face the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC),”Kevin said during the ground breaking ceremony of the project on Saturday, January 30, 2016.

    Waskita Karya Realty president director Didit Oemar Prihadi said that KSO Waskita Darmo Permai would hold road shows in big cities to boost the sales.

    “With such a strategy, we believe that we will gain new buyers, because many investors outside Java are interested in investing in Surabaya,” Kevin added.

    The apartment and SOHO project was a part of a superblock project developed on a 3.4-hectare land in West Surabaya. It was planned that the project would have eight towers consisting of SOHO, The Residence, The Suites, The Sky, The View, The Terrace, The Heritage and The Infinity. SOHO and The Residence would be the first towers to be completed.

    “By looking at the sales figure, and since the development project has been started, we expect to complete the project by 2018, and the handover can be conducted on August 8, 2018,” Didit said.

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  • Indonesia’s Best Honored at the 2016 Frost & Sullivan Indonesia Automotive Awards

    Indonesia’s Best Honored at the 2016 Frost & Sullivan Indonesia Automotive Awards

    Frost & Sullivan today honored Indonesia’s best Automotive companies at the 2016 Frost & Sullivan Indonesia Automotive Awards, held in Jakarta.

    Now in its 9th year, the Indonesia Awards program has identified many outstanding companies in Indonesia across various industries.The Indonesia Excellence Awards are a timely and fitting acknowledgement of the progress within best practices in these industry segments and the companies that have demonstrated growth leadership. Award recipients are those with the diligence, perseverance, innovation and dedication required to develop a successful business plan and excel in the increasingly competitive global marketplace.

    Spike Choo, Country Director, Frost & Sullivan Indonesia said that the Indonesia Excellence Awards, in its nine year running now, have identified and honored best-in-class companies that have demonstrated excellence in their respective industries.

    Spike Choo said that he hopes the awards will serve as an inspiration and a source of encouragement for Indonesian companies to continue striving hard to grow and expand their business.

    “We are extremely proud and happy to host the 9th annual Indonesia Excellence Awards to celebrate best practices in Indonesian companies. I am confident that the Award recipients will put Indonesian companies on the global map of Excellence,” said Vivek Vaidya, Vice President of Automotive & Transportation, Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific.

    The recipients of the 2016 Frost & Sullivan Indonesia Automotive Awards were identified based on an in-depth research conducted by Frost & Sullivan’s analysts. The short-listed companies were evaluated on a variety of actual market performance indicators which include revenue growth; market share and growth in market share; leadership in product innovation; marketing strategy and business development strategy.

    Frost & Sullivan congratulates all the outstanding recipients of the 2016 Frost & Sullivan Indonesia Automotive Awards

  • Indonesia’s central bank forecasted 4.8% economic growth in 2015

    Indonesia’s central bank forecasted 4.8% economic growth in 2015

    Bank Indonesia (BI), Indonesias central bank, had estimated the economy to grow by 4.8 percent in 2015, slightly higher than the Finance Ministrys forecast of 4.74 percent.

    “The central bank had estimated a 4.8 percent growth throughout 2015,” BIs Deputy Governor, Perry Warjiyo, stated here on Friday.

    Despite last years economic growth being far from the revised budget assumption of 5.7 percent in 2015, the economy is believed to grow at a better pace in 2016, Perry affirmed.

    “This year, the economy could grow at 5.2 percent,” remarked Perry.

    Domestic economic growth is being supported by several factors, such as the global economic growth, which is believed to improve though not that strongly.

    Besides this, the government has implemented the fiscal stimulus in the first quarter of 2016 in addition to BI relaxing the macroprudential policy to boost liquidity, thereby helping banks in lending.

    “And finally, of course, yesterday, the central bank had given a signal of monetary easing by scaling down the BI rate by 25 basis points, which will give a positive perception to the business community to buy government securities,” Perry remarked.

    Currently, the BI rate is at the level of 7.25 percent, with the deposit facility rate at 5.25 percent and lending facility rate at 7.75 percent.

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  • ADB offers new loan scheme to Indonesia

    ADB offers new loan scheme to Indonesia

    The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has offered a new loan scheme to the Indonesian government, and currently, both parties are still reviewing the potential financing that can be availed through it.

    Development Financing Deputy of the Indonesian National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) Wismana Adi Suryabrata stated that the newly offered scheme is different from the earlier three schemes of result-based lending, direct lending, and conventional loans.

    “They are offering the loan based on the need to fund projects in the state budget. So, it is not similar to procurement, but when the project is completed and there is still a shortage of funding, then they can cover it,” Wismana explained here on Friday.

    Wismana noted that the loan scheme is directly based on the matrix of infrastructure projects in the state budget, and it is a new scheme that has not yet been offered to other multilateral or bilateral financing institutions and partners.

    Indonesia will benefit from the governments criteria for the projects under this new scheme. Moreover, the government has received assurance for additional sources of funding if there is a shortage of funds to finance any government infrastructure projects.

    “This new scheme is only for infrastructure projects,” Wismana stated while referring to the ADB, which is also expanding its role to finance social and environmental projects.

    However, the Indonesian government and ADB are still formulating other provisions in this new scheme, Wismana added.

    Currently, the ADB is offering a lending rate of 1.2 percent, with a five-year grace period and a repayment tenor of 20 years.

    Previously, the ADB had increased the loan limit to Indonesia in 2014, when it had disbursed funding worth US$710 million.

    The loan was then increased to US$1.5 billion.

    In 2016, the ADB has committed to lend US$2 billion to Indonesia.

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  • 3M Indonesia eyes increased market share

    3M Indonesia eyes increased market share

    Diversified technology company PT 3M Indonesia aims to gain a bigger market share by targeting specific markets to better meet demand from various industries.

    The company, whose market share is now less than 5 percent, did not disclose its market share growth target, but globally it aims to boost sales by around 2-3 percent.

    3M Indonesia president director Karina Chaves Rodriguez said the company had divided its market into four groups: industrial and original equipment manufacturer (OEM); infrastructure, construction and energy; health care and consumer retail.

    “This market-focus [strategy] is also in line with the country’s strategic plan to achieve growth by providing better infrastructure to the population, better healthcare solutions and diversifying itself from the commodity based economy to industrial based. All of that will increase people’s purchasing power,” she told a media gathering on Thursday.

    The company, a subsidiary of the US-listed Minnesota, Mining and Manufacturing (3M) Co., is known for its wide array of products, from Post-it sticky notes to 3M window film.

    Karina added that the company initially marketed its products based on the 46 technology platforms they are made of, such as abrasive and adhesive. However, starting 2015, it compressed them into four market centers.

    3M Indonesia, which entered the local market in 1975, sells 10,000 products, ranging from Scotch Brite kitchen sponges, Nexcare masks, oil-absorbing facial sheets, stethoscopes, industrial tape, cleaning liquid, vehicle sound absorbers, machine filters, cable joints to reflective sheeting for road signs, to businesses, individuals as well as the government for infrastructure projects.

    The company is optimistic about sales growth in the country despite slowing demand, especially from the automotive sector last year. Local car production saw a decline from 1.2 million vehicles in 2014 to 1 million in 2015.

    It believes that the government’s goal to build 15 new airports, 172 seaports and 35,000 megawatt (MW) power plants by 2019 will help boost its industrial product sales and enliven other sectors.

    The new strategy is also applied worldwide to achieve its 2 to 3 percent sales growth this year after booking US$30.3 billion sales, mostly from industrial products followed by infrastructure, consumer retail and health care, from the 200 countries in which it operates and sells 80,000 products.

    For Indonesia itself, 3M refuses to disclose the firm’s domestic target but said that it would comply with the government’s local component regulation.

    3M Indonesia country technical leader Audist Subekti said the state obliged the automotive sector to have 20 to 40 percent local content and a minimum of 40 percent for infrastructure.

    “With such policy, the company will either outsource more local producers or prioritize marketing specific products,” she said.

    The company’s wide playing fields also face huge competition from present players, including thousands of Chinese products, ACE, Llumar, Solar Gard, Nexgard and Voksel Electric.

    Audist said the company had one diversified manufacturing plant in Tambun, Bekasi, West Java that fabricated various goods, from automotive-related products to consumer retail. 3M Indonesia employs around 300 people.

    “The rest of the items are imported from different countries but this year we’re planning to make one of the countries in ASEAN our fabrication hub for consumer retail products. The choice depends on which country offers the proper incentives that will help save costs,” she said.

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  • Indonesian telecom minister slams operator inefficiency

    Indonesian telecom minister slams operator inefficiency

    Operators in Indonesia have been warned by the country’s telecoms minister that their licences could be revoked unless they consolidate or improve their build-out efforts.

    Minister Rudiantara – who follows the Indonesian tradition of using a single name – has set out the consolidation goal of no more than four operators by the end of his term in 2019. To achieve this, he has advised smaller operators to either merge with rivals or leave the market.

    Rudiantara worked at two of the largest operators in Indonesia prior to his appointment to the government. “My background is in the private sector, so I’m pragmatic. I will suggest they consolidate to have the capability to invest and retain their permits”, he said. “Each permit has requirements for the operator to invest and to build, so if they don’t build anything, I can revoke their permit.”

    There are currently seven players in the Indonesian market; at the end of Q4 15 Telkomsel took the lead with around 153.3 million connections. It is tailed by Indosat with 69 million, 3 Hutchison with 51.2 million, and XL Axiata with 40.8 million. At the lower end of the scale are Smartfren with 12.5 million connections, Bolt with 2.4 million, and Ceria with 68,688.

    Rudiantara’s frustration with the inefficient coverage in Indonesia is widespread throughout the upper echelons of government. Without identifying specific companies, the minster has hit out at operators for not delivering on promises to develop and build out infrastructure, adding that the government had already fined some firms for this transgression.

    “So far we’ve handed them fines and penalties, but my job isn’t to accumulate funds for the government,” he said. “I only need to enforce the permits and I’m prepared to do that, but I’d rather take a friendly approach and suggest they merge to keep operating.”

    Indonesia has over 300 million mobile connections. The country’s five largest operators have stated that they will begin offering 4G services over 1.8GHz spectrum following investment in the technology.

  • BNI Syairah resolved to attract more investors

    BNI Syairah resolved to attract more investors

    State-owned Bank BNI Syariah is determined to attract more strategic investors this year as part of its efforts to increase capital, according to its President Director Dinno Indiano.

    The Bank BNI Syariah has opened itself to investors over the past three years.

    “This year we will make even more intensive efforts to lobby for investors. After all, we have the confidence, supported by good performance over the past three years,” Dinno told a press conference in Jakarta on Tuesday.

    Earlier, President Director of Bank BNI, Achmad Baiquin, said the state-owned bank was exploring the possibility of cooperating with strategic investors to support the BNI Syariah business. Bank BNI Syariah is a subsidiary of Bank BNI.

    Bank BNI was willing to sell 20 percent or more of the stake of its subsidiary to strategic investors. Yet, Bank BNI will remain the majority holder of the Bank BNI Syariah stake.

    Last week, Bank BNI said it was optimistic that its Peoples Business Credit (KUR) would increase rapidly in 2016 after the interest rate on the credit scheme was cut to 9 percent per year.

    Achmad Baiquni said in a statement that between August 2015 till 2015-end, the publicly traded state lender had already disbursed more than Rp3 trillion in KUR.

    Baiquni said this amount is predicted to surge to more than Rp10 trillion in 2016 .

    KUR disbursement by BNI was made symbolically at the Glenmore sugar factory in Banyuwangi, East Java, on Wednesday in the presence of the Minister for State Enterprises Rini Soemarno and Achmad Baiquni.

    Baiquini said the KUR funneled by BNI in 2015 represented an increase of 70 percent from 2014.

    In 2015, there were more than 12,200 KUR recipients all over Indonesia. In East Java alone, BNI funneled Rp476.5 billion in KUR to 2,022 clients, including micro businesses, retailers and workers.

    In East Java, KURs are offered to labor intensive and productive sectors such as processing industry, agriculture and trade.

    There is a potential KUR market in East Java, and it may attract sugar farmers under the coordination of state plantation company, PT Perkebunan Nusantara (PTPN).

    BNI is optimistic that there would be more KUR users in 2016 because of the cut in interest rate and improved economy.

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