AB InBev, Airtel lead second cluster 2 of IIM Ahmedabad placements

Unlike many other B-schools, IIM Ahmedabad follows a cluster system of final placements process where sectors are invited in cohorts at regular intervals.

Consumer goods and consumer services majors AB InBev and Airtel led the second cluster of final placements process for the two-year post graduate programme (PGP) batch of 2020 at IIM Ahmedabad.

Including pre-placement offers (PPOs), while AB InBev made the highest number of offers at eight, Airtel extended seven.

IIM Ahmedabad follows a cluster system of final placements process where sectors are invited in cohorts at regular intervals. The first cluster of the final placement process for the PGP class of 2020 at IIM Ahmedabad comprised six cohorts including advertising & media, consumer goods, consumer services, consumer electronics, general management & leadership as well as retail B2B & B2C.

Among the general management cohort, CK Birla Group made the highest number of offers at six.

Apart from AB InBev and Airtel, the consumer goods, consumer services and consumer electronics cohorts included regular recruiters like Asian Paints, CavinKare, Dabur, ITC, Lenovo, L’Oreal, Nestle, Procter and Gamble, Samsung, Tata Sky and Wipro.

The General Management and Leadership cohort comprised regular recruiters such as the Aditya Birla Group, CK Birla Group, Reliance Industries Limited and Tata Administrative Services, while the Retail B2B & B2C cohort consisted of firms like Amazon, eShakti and Apparel Group among others. New recruiters, including Colgate and Diageo, also participated in the process.

Having always had a healthy mix of diverse cohorts, a variety of roles were offered across geographies including UAE during the second cluster. In all, consumer goods firms extended the highest number of offers, closely followed by consumer services and general management firms.

Jeff Bezos bets on 'Indian century', gives MSMEs $1-billion push

Commits to exporting $10 billion India-made goods by 2025.

Amazon.com Inc Founder and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos said on Wednesday that his company would invest an additional $1 billion (about Rs 7,000 crore) to help bring small businesses online in India, and also committed to using the retail giant’s “size, scope and scale” to export $10 billion of made-in-India goods by 2025.

Bezos’ India visit — for the maiden edition of his firm’s micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME)-focussed event, Amazon Smbhav — comes at a time when the Competition Commission of India (CCI) is probing his company, as well as Walmart-owned Flipkart, on complaints of deep discounting practices and tie-ups with preferred sellers.

Seeking to reach out to critics, Bezos, donning traditional Indian attire, said his company was committed to being a long-term partner of India.

“Actions speak louder than words,” he added, addressing a packed house in New Delhi.

“We’re making this announcement now because it’s working...When something works, you should double down on it.

I want to make a prediction for you. I predict that the 21st century is going to be the Indian century. The dynamism, the energy… everywhere I go here, I meet people who are working in self-improvement and growth. This country has something special, democracy,” he said.

“I make one more prediction for you: In this 21st century, the most important alliance is going to be the alliance between India and the US,” Jeff Bezos added. The firm aims to digitise 10 million MSMEs with the proposed investment. In addition to providing training and enrolling MSMEs into its programmes, Amazon will help them work on cloud technology through specialised Amazon Web Services offerings at low costs. It will also establish 100 “digital haats’ in cities and villages throughout India.

Huawei likely to conduct trial runs of 5G waves for Airtel, Vodafone

Sources said both Airtel and Vodafone have also joined ZTE, Nokia and Ericsson, apart from Huawei, for conducting the 5G trials.

Company News : Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei is expected to conduct 5G trials for Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, sources said, as the central government finalises the trial runs before the spectrum auctions.

Sources said both Airtel and Vodafone have also joined ZTE, Nokia and Ericsson, apart from Huawei, for conducting the 5G trials. Reliance Jio will rope in South Korean equipment maker Samsung.

State-owned BSNL is also likely to go with ZTE. The firms have submitted applications for 5G trials, industry sources said.

The Chinese firm had had come under a cloud after there were allegations that its electronic and telecom devices helped China to spy on US corporations and agencies. The firm has been barred in Australia and Japan, but welcomed in Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

The central government had even constituted a committee headed by its principal scientific advisor to decide on Huawei’s participation in the 5G trials. The trials would establish use cases in the country as a precursor to the full-fledged launch of 5G services.

However, last month, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said the government will allocate airwaves to all telecom service providers for conducting trials of super-fast 5G network, and will not bar any equipment suppliers in the trials. The stance had spelt relief for Chinese telecom gear maker Huawei, which rivals western equipment makers such as Ericsson and is facing curbs in the US.

Huawei India CEO Jay Chen had earlier stated the company firmly believes that only technology innovations and high-quality networks will be the key to rejuvenating the Indian telecom industry.

“We have our full confidence in the [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi government to drive 5G in India. We have our full confidence in Indian government and industry to partner with best technology for India’s own long-term benefit and also for cross-industry development,” Chen had recently said.

Airtel $3-billion QIP plan: Issue price at a discount over floor price

Bharti Airtel has to pay nearly Rs 35,586 crore in additional statutory dues.

Company News : Bharti Airtel has announced allotment of 32.35 crore equity shares to eligible institutional buyers at an issue price of Rs 445 per share as part of $2 billion (over Rs 14,000 crore) qualified institutional placement that closed on Tuesday.

The issue price was at a discount of 1.57 per cent to the stated floor price of Rs 452.09 per equity share. The company had embarked on a mega fund raising exercise, the proceeds of which will be used to pay the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) liability and invest in the network.

Bharti Airtel has to pay nearly Rs 35,586 crore in additional statutory dues, after a Supreme Court ruling on AGR liabilities of telecom companies in October last year.

Earlier this month, shareholders of Bharti Airtel had approved proposals to raise up to $2 billion (over Rs 14,000 crore) in equity and another $1 billion (around Rs 7,000 crore) in debt.

Airtel has announced the closure of the issue period for the qualified institutional placement (QIP) and fixed the issue price at "Rs 445 per equity share which is at a discount of 1.57 per cent to the floor price of Rs 452.09 per equity share".

As many as 32.35 crore equity shares are being allotted to eligible qualified institutional buyers, the company said in a regulatory filing. The special committee of directors for fund raising exercise also cleared the terms of foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) including the issue price.

"FCCBs due 2025, convertible into fully paid-up equity shares of face value of Rs 5 each of the company at a price of Rs 534 per conversion equity share to the initial purchasers subject to receipt of funds, satisfaction of other conditions precedent and settlement as per applicable laws and procedures and relevant agreements," the filing said.

Reliance, Bharti Airtel, 2 others bid for 3 Anil Ambani group companies

11 offers submitted for RCom, Reliance Telecom and Reliance Infratel.

Business Standard : Four companies, including Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance group and Bharti Airtel, on Monday collectively submitted 11 bids for three Anil Ambani group companies, which are up for sale as going concerns as part of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) process.

The three companies for sale are Reliance Communications (RCom), Reliance Telecom (which holds the spectrum), and Reliance Infratel (which controls the tower and fibre assets). RCom also owns real estate and enterprise businesses.

The bids were opened by the committee of creditors, which held a meeting that continued until late night on Monday in Mumbai. It will meet again on Friday to discuss and possibly finalise the winning bids for the three companies

The value of the financial bids as well as which companies they have bid for, however, could not be ascertained.

Keep Reading : Market News

The two other bidders include Varde Partners and Delhi-based U V Asset Reconstruction Company (UVRCL). The latter had earlier won its sole bid for the Aircel group (which was also under the IBC) for Rs 150 crore. However, it is unclear as to whether UVRCL will eventually bring in a telecom or infrastructure partner to join in later. A Reliance Jio spokesperson did not respond to a query and an e-mail to UVARCL remained unanswered.

Under the current regulatory rules, Reliance Jio (which is not a listed entity) acquiring RCom (a listed entity) would require the Mukesh Ambani firm to merge with the latter. However, based on public pronouncements, this is not a possibility — Mukesh Ambani had made it clear that he will take Reliance Jio public through an IPO some time. Sources say that one other alternative would be to delist RCom, as then there would not be any regulatory issues in a merger between the two unlisted companies. Another alternative would be to float a special purpose vehicle to buy the firms.

Bharti Airtel had already given a bid on November 13, the earlier deadline for the bids. But the RP on the request of Reliance had extended the bid deadline by 10 days. The telco protesting against the extension had decided to withdraw its previous bid.

While Bharti Airtel spokesperson did not respond to a query, in its earlier offer it had made a conditional bid for the spectrum. The bid, it said, include that the overall consideration will primarily be by way of the deferred spectrum payables to the government being passed on to the company on terms and schedules applicable to such deferred payments.

Telecom tariff: Jio to follow Airtel, Voda Idea, raise rates in a few weeks

In anticipation of the tariff hike, Reliance Industries' market cap crossed the Rs 9.5-trillion mark on Tuesday.

Reliance Jio, which disrupted the telecom market ever since its commercial launch in 2016, has decided to follow rivals Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea in raising mobile phone tariffs. Having kicked off a no holds barred tariff war three years ago, the Mukesh Ambani-owned firm is now stepping back.

According to sources in the know, the tariff hike decision by the telcos is in response to the government wanting the industry to stop the long-drawn price war and set their house in order. In the absence of a tariff hike, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) may have been forced to impose a floor price for the operators. Also, the government has been of the view that any relief measure for the telecom industry should be given only after telcos get out of the price war, that has left the incumbent operators with record losses and high debt, the sources said.

On Tuesday evening, Jio announced it would take measures including “appropriate increase in tariffs’’ in the next few weeks. The move, industry watchers believe, may bring down the pitch of the bitter battle between the incumbents and a new player. Jio’s announcement comes a day after Airtel and Vodafone Idea said they were hiking tariffs from December 1.

In its statement, Jio has asked the government to mandate a ‘2G mukt’ India in the shortest time if the objectives of Digital India mission has have to be achieved. The Jio demand for a 2G-free country is significant as it’s the only operator offering just 4G services pan-India. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea still have a bulk of their customers using 2G.

In anticipation of the tariff hike (the announcement came after market hours), Reliance Industries’ market cap crossed the Rs 9.5-trillion mark on Tuesday.

It’s the first Indian company to reach the milestone, with its stock price rising 3.59 per cent, closing at Rs 1,511.55 on the NSE. Shares of rival firms Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea also rallied by 8.66 per cent and 38.2 per cent, respectively.

After the Supreme Court judgment, asking telcos to pay dues related to adjusted gross revenue (AGR) that could amount to more than Rs 1.33 trillion, the incumbents sought a moratorium on deferred spectrum payments and a cut in spectrum user charges among other relief measures.

Business Standard

Reliance Jio's festive offer of low-priced phone led by piling inventory

Last week, Jio, telecom arm of Reliance Industries, said it would during the Dussehra and Diwali period make the JioPhone available for a special price of Rs 699.

Reliance Jio’s festive offer of a lower-priced JioPhone is likely to have been driven by higher inventory of the feature phone in a market where new buyers are increasingly turning to smartphones.

“While this will boost Jio’s October subscriber additions, given that this offer is limited to the festive season, it is unlikely to clear the 40 million in channel handset inventory. Thus, an extension cannot be ruled out. In addition to risk of increased subscriber churn, the cut in the price may adversely impact Airtel’s and Vodafone Idea’s ability to monetise voice subscribers,” wrote Deepti Chaturvedi, analyst at CLSA.

Last week, Jio, telecom arm of Reliance Industries, said it would during the Dussehra and Diwali period make the JioPhone available for a special price of Rs 699, against the current Rs 1,500. Feature phone users can get a JioPhone for Rs 501 under an exchange; they will have to pay another Rs 594 upfront for six months of service, taking the effective upfront cost of switching to Rs 1,095.

Chaturvedi says there have been almost 110 million 4G (fourth-generation technology) feature phone shipments between June 2017 and September 2019. The JioPhone user base itself is around 70 million. So, at least 40 million phones are in the inventory and this will take three or four months to clear.

“More, the recent stepdown in Jio’s monthly subscriber addition from an average of 10 million in FY19 to 8 million during April-August (first five months of FY20) could also drive Reliance Jio to extend this offer. After two years of launch, JioPhones have gained a mere estimated 15 per cent share of the almost 500 million feature phone base. Extension of this offer will help boost its share in the future,” wrote Chaturvedi.

The firm said the offer was targeted at the 350 million 2G users, currently paying extremely high rates for poor quality data. “This offer indicates Jio’s intention to continue to focus on user addition, especially at the low-end. While we consider the ARPU (average revenue per user) upgrade decision — particularly on its smartphone offering — to be independent to this offer, we do not expect tariff (rate) hikes any time in the near term (for the next six months at least),” said Sachin Salgaonkar, analyst, Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Business Standard

Despite big 5G plans, debt-laden Airtel wobbling in war with Ambani's Jio

Airtel added 53,500 subscribers, Jio 17 million in first two months of 2019.

Business Standard : In a war for the control of India’s billion-plus mobile-services market, tycoon Sunil Mittal seems to be floundering in the face of a juggernaut unleashed by Mukesh Ambani.

For at least a fourth quarter in a row, Mittal’s Bharti Airtel Ltd. shored up its profits with one-time gains, masking headwinds posed by upstart Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. Jio’s roll-out, after its 2016 debut, has knocked Airtel from its perch in a consolidation that shrank the industry to three players from about a dozen four years ago.

Airtel is struggling to add subscribers in a saturated market after Jio managed to lure more than 300 million users over the past three years -- a quarter of the world’s second-largest market. The aggressive expansion of Jio with free calls and cheaper data, backed by the deep pockets of Asia’s richest man, was bad news for highly indebted incumbents engaged in a tariff war that had pushed call rates to less than a cent.

Shriveling earnings portend further trouble for Airtel. Already saddled with more than $17 billion of debt -- the highest among Asian peers -- it is also preparing to spend billions more on 5G airwaves at a government auction in coming months. Adding to its woes, Moody’s Investors Service cut its rating to junk earlier this year.

The New Delhi-based company is counting on some asset sales, a rights issue and an initial public offering in London of its Africa unit to bolster its finances.

Airtel said in an exchange filing Monday that a one-time net gain of Rs 20.2 billion ($291 million) on account of a credit related to “re-assessment of levies” boosted its net income to Rs 1.1 billion for the quarter through March. Analysts had predicted a loss of Rs 9.66 billion.

Although revenue rose 6 per cent to Rs 206 billion in the period, data provided by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India show Airtel added a net 53,493 subscribers in the first two months of the year, compared with Jio’s 17.1 million. While Airtel didn’t provide user addition data for the quarter, Jio reported an increase of 26.6 million.

Shares of Airtel have advanced 17 per cent this year, compared with a 7.6 percent gain in the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex index.

Jio races ahead of Airtel to become India's 2nd largest telecom company

Jio, since its launch in Spetember 2016, has seen a meteoric growth on the back of aggressive and dirt-cheap consumer tariff plans.

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio is now reportedly the second-largest telecom company in the country. The company is said to have overtaken Bharti Airtel in terms of customer base and now trails only Vodafone Idea.

While Jio presently has 306 million customers, Vodafone Idea continues to lead the industry with 387 million subscribers, according to a Times of India report. Airtel has 284 million subscribers.

Jio, since its launch in Spetember 2016, has seen a meteoric growth on the back of aggressive and dirt-cheap consumer tariff plans.

On the other hand, Airtel, which dominated the Indian telecom space for almost two decades, is witnessing a dramatic fall.

It was first overtaken by Vodafone Idea in the middle last year and now finds itself at the third spot.

In February, Jio had added 7.79 million subscribers, while Vodafone Idea lost 5.78 million customers, according to data published by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). Airtel lost 49,896 customers.

ALSO READ: Jio's GigaFiber to offer broadband, landline, TV combo for Rs 600 a month

Over the past year, Jio's active subscriber market share has gone up to 24 per cent, gaining 9 percentage points (ppts), while Bharti has maintained its share at 32 per cent and Vodafone Idea lost 5 percentage point to fall to 37 per cent, according to a report released by brokerage firm CLSA this month.

Business Standard

Apple Watch 3 LTE goes on sale: Airtel offer, Jio's new service and more

Apple Watch 3 LTE goes on sale in India from today and is available on both online and offline platforms

The much-awaited Apple Watch Series 3 Cellular edition is now available in India through Reliance Jio and Airtel owned platforms.

The watch, which comes in several variants, can now be purchased from Jio stores and Reliance Digital outlets.  Airtel users can order the watch through the telecom's online store.

The 38 mm variant of the watch is available for Rs 39,080, while the 42 mm model is being sold at Rs 41,120.

On the hardware front, the GPS only model of the watch comes with 8GB internal memory, while the GPS+Cellular model comes with 16 GB internal memory.

Watch Series 3 comes with a dual-core S3 processor and a W2 wireless chip.

Airtel is giving a cashback of Rs 5,000 to its customers who buy the watch through ICICI Credit EMI transactions from May 11 to June 10. The cashback will be credited within 90 days of the transaction.

Jio  has launched a new service called JioEverywhereConnect, especially for the watch. The service will allow users to use the same Jio number on both their iPhone and Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS + Cellular).

The latest variants of the Apple Watch Series 3 comes with built-in cellular features. "Whether users are out for a run, at the pool or just trying to be more active throughout their day, Apple Watch Series 3 with cellular allows them to stay connected, make calls, receive texts and much more, even without iPhone nearby. The third-generation Apple Watch is an amazing health and fitness companion with intelligent coaching features, water resistance 50 meters and a barometric altimeter that measures relative elevation, " Jio said in a statement.

Pre-booking for the watches had begun on May 4 on all platforms for Airtel and Reliance Jio.