Business RoundUp #Week18

Business
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Wok Express Eyes Outlet In Pune

Lenexis FoodWorks is mulling a 100 crore rupees investment to expand its presence to up to 150 locations, including Pune, in the next five years, says a report.

It is the owner the owner of quick service restaurant (QSR) chain Wok Express and at present has 25 of those outlets in Mumbai and its surrounding areas. In the next five years, the company is planning to add 100-150 restaurants in Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune.

It has already invested 30 crore rupees and will invest another 100 crore to fund this expansion, a top official said.

Insurance Firm Buys Commercial Building

Max Life Insurance Company has bought an entire pre-leased commercial building in Pune’s Magarpatta City, a report revealed.

Spread over 1.79 lakh sq ft, the company bought it from a high net-worth individual on an outright basis for about Rs 175 crore, sources said. The subsidiary of the listed Max Financial Services has acquired the property as an investment and not for end use.

Based on average monthly rentals of Rs 75-80 per sq ft in the vicinity, the property’s annual income is estimated to be in the region of Rs 18-20 crore.

Harley-Davidson To Enter Used Business Segment

Harley-Davidson has announced plans to enter the used business segment, says a report.

The US-based cult motorcycle manufacturer was currently piloting the concept in some of its dealerships, a top company official has said.

Some of the company’s dealerships were already testing the concept for the last few months, a top official said.

Mobile Wallet Industry Blow

India’s mobile wallet industry registered a sharp fall in usage in March as new Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regulations were imposed, according to a report.

However, it was not as drastic as had been feared.

The number of transactions through mobile wallets fell 13 per cent to 268.79 million in March from 310.01 million in February, and the value of money settled through wallets dropped 23% to 10,000 crore from 13,100 crore, RBI data show.

Kraft Heinz Upbeat On Growth

Kraft Heinz India is confident of bouncing back to double digit growth in 2018-19 after a setback in the last fiscal, a report said.

The world’s fifth largest food and beverage company’s  growth slipped last fiscal with the roll out of goods and services tax (GST). It is now chasing volume growth in the first half of the fiscal and value growth in second, a top official said.

The makers of Glucon-D, Complan and Heinz tomato ketchup, Kraft Heinz India will focus on the existing portfolio to get back into the growth mode.

Tax Setback For Restaurant Chain

Casual fine dining restaurant chain TGI Friday’s India has shut down 25% of its outlets over the past few days, and has put its growth plans on hold, a report said.

This was mainly due to rollback of the input tax credit (ITC) in November last year. Besides the tax levy, the industry saw a tough year due to various factors including SC’s liquor ban along highway.

The rollback of ITC led to an almost overnight 18% increase in all capital expenses and rentals,” a TGI Friday’s India a top official said.

5G Trials To Pick Up Pace

Indian telecom operators will begin field trials or fifth-generation of 5G technology in India, Finnish telecom gear maker Nokia said.

Having already kick-started 5G lab trials that will also pick pace this year,  telcos look to prepare themselves for the upcoming technology.

The government expects it to be commercially rolled out by 2020 at par with global timelines.

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Babu Kalyanpur
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