Coca-Cola Launching Sports Drink
Coca-Cola is set to launch its global sports drink Powerade in India within the next two months, says a report.
This will be ahead of the ICC World Cup to compete head-on with PepsiCo’s Gatorade in the small but emerging sports drink market, sources said.
Powerade, which is among the US beverage maker’s billion-dollar retail sales plus brands globally, has been so far available only through imports in the country. This will be Coca-Cola’s second attempt to launch locally-made Powerade in India — its earlier plans did not take off.
Telecom Firms In Automation Push
Vodafone Idea Ltd and Bharti Airtel are opting technologies such as machine learning to automate their networks, says a report.
This will transform them into “self-healing networks” to offer better customer experience. Both telecom operators are also cloudifying their respective core networks to be ready for 5G technology.
Bharti Airtel is investing heavily in the area of automation and orchestration, and is also working with a lot of partners, a top official said.
VW Planning To Merge Three Entities
European car major Volkswagen Group has announced its intention to merge its three separate entities in India, says a report.
Volkswagen India Private Ltd, Volkswagen Group Sales India Pvt Ltd and Skoda Auto India Pvt Ltd, will be merged into one entity to be headed by the current managing director of Volkswagen India and Skoda India, Gurpratap Boparai.
The merger that has been considered and approved by the boards of the three companies and is now subject to regulatory and statutory approvals is part of the Skoda led India 2.0 project that the Group embarked upon last year.
IKEA To Expand Furniture Rental Tests
IKEA will expand tests to allow customers to rent desks and sofas rather than buy them, says a report.
This comes as the company shifts away from selling low-cost disposable furniture in response to growing environmental concerns.
The world’s biggest furniture group first said it was looking into furniture leasing in February.
Jio Consolidates AGR Lead
Reliance Jio has consolidated its lead over India’s older carriers on adjusted gross revenue (AGR) in the quarter to December, says a report.
This was a period when licence fee and spectrum usage charge (SUC) collections looked up sequentially after nine quarters, indicating the start of a revival for the telecoms industry.
Mukesh Ambani-led Jio’s adjusted gross revenue or revenue from licensed services, climbed 14.63% on-quarter to 9,482.31 crore rupees at the end of December, according to data collated by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).
Swiggy-UberEats Tie-Up Talks Stalls
Swiggy and UberEats India have stalled their merger talks after months of negotiations, says a report.
The two food delivery companies could not agree on the financial terms and taxation clauses of the proposed deal, sources said.
Aside of the deal terms not being agreeable for both sides, sources said SoftBank, an existing investor in Uber, had proposed to infuse primary capital at a reduced valuation in Swiggy, which also derailed the discussions, the sources added.
MG Motors Eyeing Electric Car For India
British carmaker MG Motors is working on an electric car for the Indian market that will be priced below 10 lakh rupees, a top executive of its Indian unit said.
“We feel that for markets like India, an electric car priced below 10 lakh rupees will work.
The company is working on making it possible,” Rajeev Chhaba, managing director of MG Motors India, said. “We expect our second EV launch will be priced below.`10 lakh.”
Oyo To Develop Centre In Mumbai
SoftBank-backed Oyo Hotels & Homes has taken up 40,000 sq ft in VKG Corporate Centre at Andheri East in Mumbai, according to a report.
The company plans to develop this into a co-working space for mid-scale startups and corporates.
The move comes days after Oyo introduced its coworking brand, Power Station, which seeks to offer customised services, private offices, and virtual working space. The Mumbai facility will start operations by the second quarter of this year.
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